Canterbury Tales Guesthouse

[Daveo]

The Shadow of Ararat (Oath of Empire #1)

by Thomas Harlan

 

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In what would be A.D. 600 in our history, the Empire still stands, supported by the Legions and Thaumaturges of Rome.

Now the Emperor of the West, the Augustus Galen Atreus, will come to the aid of the Emperor of the East, the Augustus Heraclius, to lift the siege of Constantinople and carry a great war to the very doorstep of the Shahanshah of Persia.

It is a war that will be fought with armies both conventional and magical, with bright swords and the darkest necromancy. Against this richly detailed canvas of alternate history and military strategy, Thomas Harlan sets the intricate and moving stories of four people.

[Daveo]

Gangs of Glasgow: True Crime from the Streets

by Robert Jeffrey.

 

In today @ Canterbury Tales Bookshop / Book exchange / Cafe / Guesthouse, #Pattaya..

 

'Gangs of Glasgow' takes an in depth look at the evolution of the city's gangs from organised mobs of the thirties to the smart suited men of violence of the modern day.

[Daveo]

Confessions of a Bangkok Private Eye: True stories from the case files of Warren Olson by Stephen Leather.

 

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Two timing bar-girls, suspicious spouses, and lesbian lovers, it was all in a day's work for Bangkok Private Eye Warren Olson. Fluent in Thai and Khmer, Olson walked the mean streets of Bangkok and was able to go where other Private Eyes feared to tread.

The stories are based on Olson's case files, fictionalized (to protect the innocent, and the guilty) by author Stephen Leather.

[Daveo]

Stephen Leather was a journalist for more than ten years on newspapers such as The Times, the Daily Mail and the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. His bestsellers have been translated into more than ten languages. He has also written for television shows such as London's Burning, The Knock and the BBC's Murder in Mind series. His bestselling book The Chinaman was filmed as The Foreigner, starring Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan and grossing more than $100 million.

[Daveo]

Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston.

 

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On Saturday, 26th April 2003, Aron Ralston, a 27 year old outdoors-man and adventurer, set off for a day's hike in the Utah canyons.

Eight miles from his truck, he found himself in the middle of a deep and remote canyon.

Then the unthinkable happened: a boulder shifted and snared his right arm against the canyon wall.

He was trapped, facing dehydration, starvation, hallucinations and hypothermia as night time temperatures plummeted. '

Five and a half days later, Aron Ralston finally came to the agonising conclusion that his only hope was to amputate his own arm and get himself to safety.

[Daveo]

The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia Under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-79. by Ben Kiernan

 

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The Khmer Rouge revolution turned Cambodia into grisly killing fields, as the Pol Pot regime murdered or starved to death a million and a half of Cambodia's eight million inhabitants.

This book, the first comprehensive study of the Pol Pot regime describes the violent origins, social context, and course of the revolution, providing a new answer to the question of why a group of Cambodian intellectuals imposed genocide on their own country.

[Daveo]

Memoirs of a Geisha; by Arthur Golden

 

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A literary sensation, this brilliant debut novel presents with seamless authenticity and exquisite lyricism the true confessions of one of Japan's most celebrated geisha.

 

In Memoirs of a Geisha, we enter a world where appearances are paramount; where a girl's virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder, where women are trained to beguile the most powerful men and where love is scorned as illusion.

It is a unique and triumphant work of fiction, at once romantic, erotic, suspenseful and completely unforgettable.

[Daveo]

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

 

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An unforgettable journey into one man's remarkable life, and an epic story about the power, intimacy, and curious beauty of the work of healing others set in 1960's & 1970's Ethiopia and 1980's America.

 

Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa.

Orphaned by their mother’s death in childbirth and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution.

[Daveo]

The Book of Lies by Brad Meltzer

 

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In Chapter Four of the Bible, Cain kills Abel.

It is the world's most famous murder.

But the Bible is silent about one key detail: the weapon Cain used to kill his brother.

That weapon is still lost to history.

In 1932, Mitchell Siegel was killed by three gunshots to his chest.

While mourning, his son dreamed of a bulletproof man and created the world's greatest hero: Superman.

And like Cain's murder weapon, the gun used in this unsolved murder has never been found.

[Daveo]

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China; by Jung Chang

 

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The story of three generations in twentieth century China that blends the intimacy of memoir and the panoramic sweep of eyewitness history,

An engrossing record of Mao’s impact on China, an unusual window on the female experience in the modern world, and an inspiring tale of courage and love, Jung Chang describes the extraordinary lives and experiences of her family members: her grandmother, a warlord’s concubine; her mother’s struggles as a young idealistic Communist; and her parents’ experience as members of the Communist elite and their ordeal during the Cultural Revolution.

[Daveo]

At the regular Sunday morning service, Reverend Roberto announces that he is planning to leave for a larger church that would pay him more. 

 

There is a hush within the congregation. No one wants him to leave, because he is so popular. Colin, who owns several car dealerships, stands up and proclaims, 

"If Reverend Roberto stays, I will provide him with a new Mercedes every year, and his wife with a Honda CRV, to transport their children!" 

 

The congregation sighs in appreciation and applauds. 

 

Daniel, a successful businessman and lawyer, stands and says, 

"If Rev Roberto will stay on here, I'll personally double his salary, and establish a foundation to guarantee free university education for his children!" 

 

More sighs and louder applause ...

 

Mary, age 68, stands and announces with a smile, "If Reverend Roberto stays, I will give him sex!"

 

There is total and stunned silence.

 

Reverend Roberto, blushing, asks her: 

"Mary, you're a wonderful and god fearing lady. Whatever possessed you to say that?"

 

Mary's 70-year old husband, Mike, is now trying to hide, holding his forehead with the palm of his hand, and shaking his head from side to side, while his wife replies,

 

"Well, I just asked my husband how we could help, and he said: 'Fuck him!'"

 

Moral of the story:

Women sometimes do not understand men talk!!!

[Daveo]

The Black Arts; A Concise History of Witchcraft, Demonology, Astrology, and Other Mystical Practices Throughout the Ages

by Richard Cavendish.

 

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This text describes the practice, theory, and underlying rationale of black magic in all its branches, the summoning and control of evil spirits, necromancy, psychic attack, devil worship, witchcraft, evil charms and spells, as well as other branches of occult theory.

[Daveo]

Your Nostradamus Factor: Accessing Your Innate Ability to See Into the Future by Ingo Swann

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Nostradamus factor, their innate abilities to see into the future, explaining how to use dreams for prophecy, understand the natural predictive cycle, and other tips.

[Daveo]

The Mad Ship by Robin Hobb.

 

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The Farseer trilogy continues the dramatic tale of piracy, serpents, love and magic.

The Vestrit family's liveship, Vivacia, has been taken by the pirate king, Kennit.

Held captive on board, Wintrow Vestrit finds himself competing with Kennit for Vivacia's love as the ship slowly acquires her own bloodlust.

Leagues away, Althea Vestrit has found a new home aboard the liveship Ophelia, but she lives only to reclaim the Vivacia and with her friend, Brashen, she plans a dangerous rescue.

[Daveo]

I'll Walk Alone by Mary Higgins Clark.

 

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Mary Higgins Clark’s novel, the thirtieth and most spine-chilling of her long career as America’s most beloved author of suspense fiction, is about the newest and most up to date of crimes, identity theft.

 

Who has not read about, or experienced, with a sinking feeling the fear that someone else out there may be using your credit cards, accessing your bank account, even stealing your identity.

In I'll Walk Alone, Alexandra “Zan” Moreland, a gifted, beautiful interior designer on the threshold of a successful Manhattan career, is terrified to discover that somebody is not only using her credit cards and manipulating her financial accounts to bankrupt her and destroy her reputation, but may also be impersonating her in a scheme that may involve the much more brutal crimes of kidnapping and murder.

[Daveo]

Other Times by Leslie Thomas

 

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At the start of the war in 1939 James Bevan is a junior officer approaching middle aged, attached to a small anti aircraft unit on the south coast.

 

Abandoned by his wife, the soldiers he command are his family, Bairnsfather, whose sexual encounters with his girl friend Muriel take place in an air raid shelter; Cartwright, trying to keep two women on his gunner's pay of a shilling a day; Hignet, cosily educating himself in the orderly room.

It is a rude awakening when they are called upon for the real war.

[Daveo]

Pop Goes the Weasel by M.J. Arlidge.

 

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The body of a middle aged man is discovered in Southampton's red light district, horrifically mutilated, with his heart removed.

 

Hours later and barely cold, the heart arrives with his wife and children by courier.

A pattern emerges when another male victim is found dead and eviscerated, his heart delivered soon afterwards.

 

The media call it Jack the Ripper in reverse; revenge against the men who lead sordid double lives visiting prostitutes.

For Grace, only one thing is certain, there's a vicious serial-killer at large who must be halted at all costs.

[Daveo]

One Night in Winter by Simon Sebag Montefiore.

 

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Inspired by a true story; Historian and acclaimed novelist Simon Sebag Montefiore explores the consequences of forbidden love in this heartbreaking epic of marriage, childhood, danger, and betrayal that unfolds in Stalin's Moscow during the bleak days after World War II.

 

As Moscow celebrates the motherland's glorious victory over the Nazis, shots ring out on the crowded streets.

On a nearby bridge, a teenage boy and girl, dressed in traditional nineteenth century costumes, lie dead.

But this is no ordinary tragedy, because these are no ordinary teenagers.

As the son and daughter of high ranking Soviet officials, they attend the most elite school in Moscow.

[Daveo]

The Tunnels of Cu Chi by Tom Mangold & John Penycate

 

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Recounts the discovery of a network of tunnels around Saigon and the resulting underground fighting between Viet Cong guerrillas and American special forces for control of the tunnels.

[Daveo]

Eureka by Anthony Quinn

 

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Summer 1967.

As London shimmers in a heat haze and swoons to the sound of Sergeant Pepper, a mystery film – Eureka – is being shot by German wunderkind Reiner Werther Kloss.

The screenwriter, Nat Fane, would do anything for a hit but can’t see straight for all the acid he’s dropping.

Fledgling actress Billie Cantrip is hoping for her big break but can’t find a way out of her troubled relationship with an older man.

And journalist Freya Wyley wants to know why so much of what Kloss touches turns to ash in his wake.

Meanwhile, the parallel drama of Nat’s screenplay starts unfurling its own deep Secrets.

[Daveo]

John Lennon: The Life by Philip Norman

 

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For more than a quarter century, biographer Philip Norman's internationally bestselling Shout, has been unchallenged as the definitive biography of the Beatles.

Now, at last, Norman turns his formidable talent to the Beatle for whom being a Beatle was never enough.

Drawing on previously untapped sources, and with unprecedented access to all the major characters, Norman presents the comprehensive and most revealing portrait of John Lennon ever published.

[Daveo]

Doors Open by Ian Rankin.

 

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Three friends descend upon an art auction in search of some excitement.

Mike Mackenzie, retired software mogul, Bachelor and fine art enthusiast, wants something that money can't buy.

Fellow art lover Allan Cruickshank is bored with his banking career and burdened by a painful divorce, and Robert Gissing, an art professor, is frustrated that so many paintings stay hidden in corporate boardrooms, safes and private apartments.

After the auction and a chance encounter with crime boss Chib Calloway, Robert and Allan suggest the "liberation" of several paintings from the National Gallery, hoping Mike will dissuade them.

Instead, he hopes they are serious.

[Daveo]

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

 

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Patty and Walter Berglund were the new pioneers of old St. Paul, the gentrifiers, the hands-on parents, the avant-garde of the Whole Foods generation.

Patty was the ideal sort of neighbor, who could tell you where to recycle your batteries and how to get the local cops to actually do their job.

She was an enviably perfect mother and the wife of Walter's dreams. Together with Walter, environmental lawyer, commuter cyclist, total family man, she was doing her small part to build a better world.

[Daveo]

The Road by Jack London

 

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The Road is Jack London's collection of stories from his life as a hobo.

In this entertaining collection of tales and autobiographical essays, London relates every aspect of the hobo's life, from catching a train to cadging a meal.

The wealth of experiences and the necessity of having to lie for a living brought depth London's subsequent stories.

In "The Road," Jack London relates the tricks that hobos used to evade train crews, and reminisces about his travels with Kelly's Army.

Jack London later credited his story telling skill to the hobo's necessity of concocting tales to coax meals from sympathetic strangers.

[Daveo]

The Voyage of Odysseus by Glyn Iliffe

 

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The armies of Troy have been defeated and the city lies in ruins, but for Odysseus his greatest challenge is just beginning.

 

With his oath fulfilled, Odysseus sets sail for Ithaca and the long awaited reunion with his family.

But the gods who were once his allies have turned against him, exiling him and the warrior Eperitus into a world populated with seductive demi-gods and man eating monsters.