BookTalk
Book Talk with Smiffs book & card store , Nerja
A new work from the Australian writer Peter Carey – only one of four authors to have won the coveted Man Booker Prize twice – is always an international publishing event . In his novel A Long Way From Home ( l ) we meet Irene Bobs , who loves driving fast . Her husband is the best car salesman in rural southeast Australia . Together with Willie , their lanky navigator , they set off on the Redex Trial , a brutal race around the continent , over roads no car will ever quite survive . This is a high-speed story that starts in one way , then whisks readers off to another place entirely . Set in the 1950s in the embers of the British Empire , painting a picture of Queen and subject , black , white and those between , it illustrates how the possession of an ancient culture spirals through history - and the love made and hurt caused along the way .
Carey ’ s novel leads off this month ’ s Soltalk Hotlist of titles , some entirely new , others moving into small paperback format for the first time or being reissued , sometimes after a long time out of print . All are due for publication on various dates in January or early February . The Soltalk Hotlist helps readers to plan and budget for book ordering .
The Pyramid Of Mud ( l ), is Andrea Camilleri ’ s twentysecond Inspector Montalbano mystery . It has been raining for days in Vigata ; violent floods are overtaking the inspector ’ s hometown , leaving a sea of mud behind . On one of these grey days , Giuglu Nicotra is found shot dead , his half-naked body dumped in a large sewage tunnel . The investigation is initially slow and tricky , but when Montalbano realizes that every clue and interview leads to the
realm of public spending and the Mafia , the case picks up pace . One question nags him though : in his strange and untimely death , was Nicotra trying to tell him something ?
Other thrillers worth considering include : Zen And The Art Of Murder ( l ),
the start of a new series set in Germany , by Oliver Bottini ; The Guilty Wife ( p ), by Elle Croft ; The Woman In The Window ( l ), by AJ Finn ; Camino Island ( p ), by John Grisham ; The Binding Song ( p ), by Elodie Harper ; Hellbent ( p ), by Gregg Hurwitz ; The Whispering Room ( l ), by Dean Koontz ; The Shout ( l ) and Light Touch ( p ), by Stephen Leather ; Anything You Say ( p ), by Gillian McAllister ; A Dark So Deadly ( p ), by Stuart MacBride ; The Thirst ( p ), by Jo Nesbø ; Kill Or Be Killed ( p ), by James Patterson ; A Damned Serious Business ( l ), by Gerald Seymour ; and , The Legacy ( p ), by Yrsa Sigurdadottir .
After the gain , the pain . If festive sluggishness leaves you resolved to shape up , the early crop of celebritychef cookbooks for 2018 includes Gordon Ramsay ’ s Ultimate Fit Food ( l ). The Michelin-starred Scottish chef and keen athlete describes these as his ‘ go-to recipes ’ for eating well at home . They include breakfasts , lunches , suppers , sides and snacks with different nutrition benefits . There are nourishing recipes for general wellbeing , lean ones to support healthy weight-loss efforts , and pre- and postworkout dishes to build strength and energise .
Jane Ashley is as interested in lean budgeting . She asks , ‘ can you really eat well on a tight budget ?’, and answers her own question in Home Economics ( l ). Here are delicious , quick recipes and simple instructions for a range of techniques , from how to joint a chicken to making bread , pastry , sauces and
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