Canterbury Tales Guesthouse

[Daveo]

Baudolino by Umberto Eco.

 

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An extraordinary epic, brilliantly imagined, new novel from a world class writer and author of The Name of the Rose.

Discover the Middle Ages with Baudolino, a wondrous, dazzling, beguiling tale of history, myth and invention.

 

It is 1204, and Constantinople is being sacked and burned by the knights of the fourth Crusade.

Amid the carnage and confusion Baudolino saves a Byzantine historian and high court official from certain death at the hands of the crusading warriors, and proceeds to tell his own fantastical story.

[Daveo]

The Field of Fight: How We Can Win the Global War Against Radical Islam and Its Allies by Lieutenant General (Ret.) Michael T. Flynn & Michael Ledeen.

 

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A war is being waged against us by radical Islamists, and as current events demonstrate, they are only getting stronger.

Al-Qaeda has morphed into a much more dangerous, menacing threat: ISIS.

Lt. General Michael T. Flynn is blunt and urgent.

This book aims to inform the American people of the grave danger we face in the war on terror? and will continue to face?until our government takes decisive action against the terrorists that want nothing more than to destroy us and our way of life.

Flynn spent more than thirty three years in Army intelligence, and as Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency worked closely with Generals Stanley McChrystal and David Petraeus, Admiral Mike Mullen, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and other policy, defense, intelligence, and war-fighting leaders.

From coordinating on-the-ground operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, to building reliable intelligence networks, to preparing strategic plans for fighting terrorism, Flynn has been a firsthand witness to government screw ups, smokescreens, and censored information that our leaders don’t want us to know.

The Field of Fight succinctly lays out why we have failed to stop terrorist groups from growing, and what we must do to stop them. The core message is that if you understand your enemies, it’s a lot easier to defeat them? but because our government has concealed the actions of terrorists like Osama bin Laden and groups like ISIS and al Qaeda, and the role of Iran in the rise of radical Islam, we don’t fully understand the enormity of the threat they pose against us.

A call to action that is sensible, informed, and original, The Field of Fight asserts that we must find a way to not only fight better, but to win.

[Daveo]

The Guilty by David Baldacci.

 

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Will Robie is the government's most professional, disciplined, and lethal assassin.

He infiltrates the most hostile countries in the world, defeats our enemies' advanced security measures, and eliminates threats before they ever reach our shores.

But now, his skills have left him.

Sent overseas on a critical assignment, he fails, unable to pull the trigger.

Absent his talents, Robie is a man without a mission, and without a purpose.

To recover what he has lost, Robie must confront what he has tried to forget for over twenty years: his own past.

THE GUILTY

Will Robie escaped his small Gulf Coast hometown of Cantrell, Mississippi, after high school, severing all personal ties, and never looked back.

Not once. Not until the unimaginable occurs.

His father, Dan Robie, has been arrested and charged with murder.

Father and son haven't spoken or seen each other since the day Robie left town.

In that time, Dan Robie, a local attorney and pillar of the community, has been elected town judge.

Despite this, most of Cantrell is aligned against Dan.

His guilt is assumed.

To make matters worse, Dan has refused to do anything to defend himself.

When Robie tries to help, his father responds only with anger and defiance.

Could Dan really be guilty?

With the equally formidable Jessica Reel at his side, Robie ignores his father's wishes and begins his own desperate investigation into the case.

But Robie is now a stranger to his hometown, an outsider, a man who has forsaken his past and his family.

His attempts to save his father are met with distrust and skepticism . . . and violence.

Unlike the missions Robie undertook in the service of his country, where his target was clearly defined, digging into his father's case only reveals more questions.

Robie is drawn into the hidden underside of Cantrell, where he must face the unexpected and possibly deadly consequences of the long ago choices made by father and son.

And this time, there may be no escape for either of them.

[Daveo]

The Innocent by David Baldacci.

 

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America has enemies, ruthless people that the police, the FBI, even the military can't stop.

That's when the U.S. government calls on Will Robie, a stone cold hitman who never questions orders and always nails his target.

But Will Robie may have just made the first and last mistake of his career . . .

THE INNOCENT

It begins with a hit gone wrong.

Robie is dispatched to eliminate a target unusually close to home in Washington, D.C. But something about this mission doesn't seem right to Robie, and he does the unthinkable.

He refuses to kill.

Now, Robie becomes a target himself and must escape from his own people.

Fleeing the scene, Robie crosses paths with a wayward teenage girl, a fourteen-year-old runaway from a foster home.

But she isn't an ordinary runaway, her parents were murdered, and her own life is in danger, against all of his professional habits, Robie rescues her and finds he can't walk away, he needs to help her.

Even worse, the more Robie learns about the girl, the more he's convinced she is at the center of a vast cover up, one that may explain her parents' deaths and stretch to unimaginable levels of power.

Now, Robie may have to step out of the shadows in order to save this girl's life . . . and perhaps his own.

[Daveo]

Fifty Dead Men Walking by Martin McGartland.

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For more than four years, Martin McGartland lived the astonishing double life of a secret agent. 
To the IRA, he was a trusted Intelligence Office and an integral member of an active service unit. 
To the British Government however, he was known only as 'Agent Carol'. 
Martin McGartland is credited by British Intelligence with saving the lives of at least fifty people. 
Every time he tipped off the authorities, he risked detection and yet, heroically and fearlessly, he continued to pass on life saving information. 
Finally, his cover was blown. 
Martin was taken from Sinn Fein headquarters in Belfast to an IRA safehouse for questioning and almost certain execution. Though guarded by armed men, in a desperate bid for freedom, he dived from a third floor window...
This breathtaking story is now a major film starring Sir Ben Kingsley and Jim Sturgess.

[Daveo]

In Pursuit of the Truth by Clive Driscoll.

 

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Former Detective Chief Inspector Clive Driscoll is most famous for being the man who finally secured convictions for the murder of Stephen Lawrence, a case previously mired by claims of institutional racism and corruption.

For Clive, it was the pinnacle of a 35-year career with the world’s most famous police force, the Metropolitan Police Service.

 

Clive’s prodigious rise through the ranks of the Met saw him head up some of the most high profile units at Scotland Yard and saw him put in charge of their policy for sexual offences, domestic violence, child protection and the paedophile unit before heading up the Racial and Violent Crime Task Force tackling their backlist of cold cases.

 

From action packed moments chasing down criminals to more tender occasions, like gaining the trust of a murder victim’s family, to making crucial legal history, and unearthing huge national scandals, In Pursuit of the Truth is the definitive account of modern day policing, its successes and failings included, seen through the eyes of a man who has dedicated his life to making a difference.

This is a book that every part of society can learn from.

[Daveo]

Geordies vs Mackems & Mackems vs Geordies by Ian Black.

 

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The rivalry between the cities of Newcastle and Sunderland is one of the fiercest and longest standing in Britain.

Now Geordies vs Mackems & Mackems vs Geordies takes a look at the funny side of this enduring rivalry.

Just to give you a flavour of how much Geordies and Mackems mutually detest each other, try this little jibe from the Newcastle terraces: Thieves broke into the trophy room of the Stadium of Shite, as the Geordies have lovingly christened Sunderland's Stadium of Light, and stole the entire contents.

Police are looking for a 50-foot red and white stripy carpet.

Or how about: A Geordie fan is leaving the ground after yet another Keegan tactical disaster.

A lady of the night comes up to him and says: 'Do you fancy a blow job, pet?'

He stares at her in a dim, Geordie-like way, and asks: 'Will it affect me Giro?'

Within this volume you will find the reasons why a Geordie would rather take Osama Bin Laden home for tea that a Mackem.

Of course all Geordies know that Mackems have all the qualities of a poker, except for its occasional warmth, and that the worst two things about any given Mackem is his (or her) face.

The people of these two great cities have traditionally regarded each other with the greatest possible loathing, mistrust and contempt.

They are both absolutely right. And this book is the proof.

[Daveo]

Don't Drop the Coffin by Barry Albin-Dyer, Greg Watts.

 

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From graveside punch-ups and gangland style funerals to the sci fi mysteries of cryonic suspension, this is the story of Barry Albin-Dyer, who runs one of the UK's oldest family firms of funeral directors, in Rotherhithe, South London.

Now an ITV documentary, this edition contains extra photographs and a new cover.

At times funny, at times bizarre, this is an insight into the profession of death.

He describes all aspects of his work, from removing bodies from suicide and murder scenes to eccentric morticians, cryonics, spooky happenings and fights in cemeteries.

As well as explaining the tricks of the trade, Barry, a Roman Catholic convert, ponders the meaning of death, the afterlife and the process of grieving, and refutes the claim that funeral directors prey on the vulnerable.

[Daveo]

The Double-Cross System: The Incredible True Story of How Nazi Spies Were Turned into Double Agents

by J. C. Masterman.

 

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THE DOUBLE-CROSS SYSTEM is the amazing true story of how British intelligence penetrated and practically operated Nazi Germany’s spy network within the British Isles.

With great imagination, care and precise coordination, the British were able to identify Nazi agents, and induce many to defect, and supplied Germany completely false information about bombings, battles, and even the D-Day invasion.

Told by the man who himself masterminded the entire unbelievable four and a half year scheme, and filled with dazzling tidbits and extraordinary stories, THE DOUBLE-CROSS SYSTEM is a testimony to Britain’s skill in the fine art of counter espionage.

 

Also included is an appendix listing each of the 120 double-cross agents and their tasks, a comprehensive index, and a glossary of military abbreviations.

[Daveo]

Glasgow's Godfather: The Astonishing Story of Walter Norval the City's First Crime Boss by Robert Jeffrey.

 

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Walter Norval was a man marked by destiny to be a career criminal in one of Britain's hardest cities.

As a boy he grew up in a world of illegal betting, violent canal bank pitch and toss schools, sleazy dance halls, brothels and bars where the denizens of the slums in the north side of Glasgow slaked gargantuan thirsts and plotted murder and mayhem.

Before he had reached his teens, close relatives had died as blood was spilled in the streets.

As a youngster he ran 'messages' for the toughest gangsters in the city and stood guard over the pots of cash in illegal gambling schools.

It was a remarkable apprenticeship, dangerous and sometimes deadly.

It honed a latent toughness and a talent for lawbreaking that saw him emerge in the Seventies as the first of a succession of Glasgow godfathers.

Dressed in pinstriped style, he controlled his foot soldiers with fearsome fists and planned robberies with the attention to detail of a military general.

He organised various Glasgow fighting factions into a single gang, which pulled off a spectacular series of robberies.

But, unlike his successors, he abhorred drugs and drug-dealing. And, in a remarkable twist, he joined the anti-drugs war in later life.

His story, told by the best-selling crime historian Robert Jeffrey provides a fascinating insight into the making of a criminal mastermind, from boy to man.

[Daveo]

Grass by Phil Sparrowhawk, Martin King & Martin Knight.

 

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Grass is the incredible story of Phil Sparrowhawk, a working-class boy with gambling in his blood.

He enjoyed an incredible run of luck, but finally rolled the dice once too often.

With his large capital base, he launched a business importing clothes.

Enter Howard Marks, who introduced him to the far more lucrative world of drug smuggling.

Phil struck out on his own and from his new base in Thailand became involved in many large scale cannabis deals, while at the same time developing highly successful legitimate businesses.

The winning streak came to an end when the US Drug Enforcement Agency closed in. Phil's fortune was promptly confiscated and he spent the next four years in two of Thailand's most notorious jails before being extradited to the US, where he served further time in a series of penitentiaries.

[Daveo]

206 Bones By Kathy Reichs:

 

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206 Bones is the twelfth novel by Kathy Reichs starring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan.

The book opens with Brennan imprisoned in an enclosed space, unable to remember where she is and how she got there.

The plot is interspersed with Brennan's account of how she escapes, culminating in the final dénouement.

[Daveo]

The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus by Lee Strobel.

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A seasoned journalist chases down the biggest story in history, is there credible evidence that Jesus of Nazareth really is the son of god? 

Retracing his own spiritual journey from atheism to faith, Lee Strobel, former legal editor of the Chicago Tribune, cross-examines a dozen experts with doctorates from schools like Cambridge, Princeton, and Brandeis who are recognized authorities in their own fields. 
Strobel challenges them with questions like: How reliable is the New Testament? Does evidence for Jesus exist outside the Bible? Is there any reason to believe the resurrection was an actual event? 

Strobel's tough, point-blank questions make this Gold Medallion winning book read like a captivating, fast-paced novel. But it's not fiction. 
It's a riveting quest for the truth about history's most compelling figure. What will your verdict be in The Case for Christ? 

"Lee Strobel probes with bulldog-like tenacity the evidence for the truth of biblical Christianity." Bruce M. Metzger, Ph.D., Professor of New Testament, Emeritus, Princeton Theological Seminary

"Lee Strobel asks the questions a tough-minded skeptic would ask. His book is so good I read it out loud to my wife evenings after dinner. 
Every inquirer should have it." Phillip E. Johnson, Law Professor, University of California at Berkeley.

Edited May 6, 2017 by Daveo

[Daveo]

Island by Aldous Huxley.

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In Island, his last novel, Huxley transports us to a Pacific island where, for 120 years, an ideal society has flourished. 
Inevitably, this island of bliss attracts the envy and enmity of the surrounding world. 
A conspiracy is underway to take over Pala and events begin to move when an agent of the conspirators, a newspaperman named Faranby, is shipwrecked there. 
What Faranby doesn't expect is how his time with the people of Pala will revolutionize all his values and to his amazement, give him hope.

[Daveo]

@ Canterbury Tales Bookshop / Book exchange / Guesthouse / Cafe, Pattaya, Thailand...

[Daveo]

Jake's Thing by Kingsley Amis.

 

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Nearing sixty, Jake goes in pursuit of his lost libido.

But is sex really worth it?

As liberationists abuse him; a hostess bores him into bed; and even his wife starts acting oddly, Jake seriously begins to wonder.

[Daveo]

No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline by Brian Tracy.

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Most people think success comes from good luck or enormous talent, but many successful people achieve their accomplishments in a simpler way: through self-discipline. 
No Excuses! shows you how you can achieve success in all three major areas of your life, including your personal goals, business and money goals, and overall happiness.
Each of the 21 chapters in this book shows you how to be more disciplined in one aspect of your life, with end of chapter exercises to help you apply the "no excuses" approach to your own life. 
With these guidelines, you can learn how to be more successful in everything you do, instead of wistfully envying others you think are just "luckier" than you. 
A little self-discipline goes a long way…so stop making excuses and read this book!

[Daveo]

Hannibal and Me: What History's Greatest Military Strategist Can Teach Us About Success and Failure by Andreas Kluth.

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The life of Hannibal, the Carthaginian general who crossed the Alps with his army in 218 BCE, is the stuff of legend. 
And the epic choices he and his Roman enemies made on the battlefield and in life offer timeless lessons to us today about how we should respond to our own victories and defeats. 
Inspired by ancient history, Hannibal and Me explores the triumphs and disasters in our lives by examining the decisions made by Hannibal and others, including Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, Steve Jobs, Ernest Shackleton, and Paul Cézanne. 
Kluth shows why some overcome failure and others succumb to it, and why some fall victim to success while others thrive on it. 
The result is a page turning adventure tale, a compelling human drama, and an insightful guide to understanding behavior.

[Daveo]

Family Treason: The Walker Spy Case by Jack Kneece.

 

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For over 17 years John Walker, an ex-Navy warrant officer, led a spy ring that ruptured military security so gravely that the final repercussions were felt for many years.

In an era when the notion of patriotism gets batted about like a ping-pong ball, it's interesting to take a look back on how the actual face of treasonous activities rears its head.

Walker provided the then Soviet Union with the most sensitive of Naval intelligence concerning U.S. nuclear submarine communications and deployment.

Moreover, the strategic ad-vantage the U.S. enjoys with its ability to monitor the exact whereabouts of each sub in the Russian fleet was also compromised when they were given the Secrets to our tracking methods.

The leaks forced the U.S. to spend $100 million dollars to rebuild secure communications.

The shrinking and aging of their fleet may have ultimately been the best counter to the Walker's actions or at least made them moot by now.

 

So who was John Walker? How and why did he convince his friend, his brother and his own son to commit treason against their country? Why did his estranged wife turn him in and where did the security process fail in the first place?

 

Jack Kneece, a former Associated Press reporter, attempted to answer these questions with usually fascinating (but at times frustrating) results.

 

A story like this works best when we get under the skin of the main character, we want to know why he sold out his country.

Kneece's approach to explaining Walker's behavior and influences are sometimes heavy-handed.

For example, in describing Walker's high school days as a movie usher he says: "The steady diet of movies fed his impressionable ego Johnny began to live in a dreamworld of heroic and daring accomplishments, the daring do he saw on the silver screen"

 

There is also a seemingly endless stream of tales relating Walker's penchant for practical jokes and drunken exploits.

Some of these stories have attribution, others do not.

And that's the problem; one doesn't know if one's getting second-hand braggadocio or revealing insight into a man's behavior.

 

Aside from this, however, the book makes interesting reading when describing submarine life and the machinations of espionage and the difficult battle to stop it.

[Daveo]

Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil.

 

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Shuklaji Street, in Old Bombay.

In Rashid's opium room the air is thick and potent, a beautiful young woman leans to hold a long stemmed pipe over a flame, her hair falling across her dark eyes.

Around her, men sprawl and mutter in the gloom, each one drifting with his own tide, here, people say that you introduce only your worst enemy to opium.

 

Outside, stray dogs lope in packs, street vendors hustle, hookers call for custom through the bars of their cages as their pimps slouch in doorways in the half-light.

There is an underworld whisper of a new terror: the Pathar Maar, the stone killer, whose victims are the nameless, invisible poor. There are too many of them to count in this broken city.

 

Narcopolis is a rich, chaotic, hallucinatory dream of a novel that captures the Bombay of the 1970's in all its compelling squalor.

With a cast of pimps, pushers, poets, gangsters and eunuchs, it is a journey into a sprawling underworld written in electric and utterly original prose.

[Daveo]

Dambusters Raid by John Sweetman.

 

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A comprehensive account of the most audacious bombing raid of the Second World War.

[Daveo]

The Quiet Twin by Dan Vyleta.

 

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Vienna, 1939. Professor Speckstein's dog has been brutally killed and he wants to know why.

But these are uncharitable times and one must be careful where one probes.

When an unexpected house call leads Doctor Beer to Speckstein's apartment, he finds himself in the bedroom of Zuzka, the professor's niece.

Wide eyed, flirtatious, and not detectably ill, Zuzka leads the young doctor to her window and opens up a view of their apartment block that Beer has never known.

Across the shared courtyard there is nine year old Anneliese, the lonely daughter of an alcoholic.

Five windows to the left lives a secretive mime who comes home late at night and keeps something, or someone, precious hidden from view.

From the garret drifts the mournful sound of an Oriental trumpet, and a basement door swings closed behind the building's inscrutable janitor.

 

Does one of these enigmatic neighbours have blood on their hands?

 

Doctor Beer, who has his own reasons for keeping his private life hidden from public scrutiny, reluctantly becomes embroiled in an enquiry that forces him to face the dark realities of Nazi rule.

[Daveo]

The Druid's Lodge Confederacy: The Gamblers Who Made Racing Pay by Paul Mathieu.

 

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The Druid's Lodge Confederates were a syndicate of five inspired gamblers, a stud owner, a Royal vet, a Master of Foxhounds and two City financiers, who decided that racing could, and would, pay handsomely.

In total secrecy, from isolated, purpose built stables near Stonehenge, the 'Hermits of Salisbury Plain' prepared a string of horses to secure some of the most fabulous betting coups ever landed on the Turf.

[Daveo]

The Friend Request by Alex Ford.

 

In Now @ Canterbury Tales Bookshop / Book exchange Pattaya, Thailand.....

 

Alex Ford’s Dark Comedy. Have you accepted a 'friend request' when you should have clicked ignore? Do you really know all the people listed as 'friends' on your Facebook page? What if somebody from your past assumed the identity of someone from your present, so they could get close to you? What if they wanted to get close to you, just to hurt you, again.

 

David Andrews’ life is going well.

With an imminent promotion at work he’s content in his job.

His girlfriend is gorgeous and looking at the amount of friends on his Facebook page he’s very popular too.

So, when he sees a friend request from a Barry Taylor, he doesn’t understand why it makes him so nervous, he’s not sure he even recognises the name.

 

Eventually he forgets all about it, until the day he is forced to remember a past that was erased from his memory by a terrible accident.

Little does he realise that all the information on his Facebook page might make him a little too vulnerable, especially to a sociopath like Barry Taylor, who is intent on destroying David’s life, for a second time.

This leads David, with a little help from his friendly shopkeeper, on a journey of revenge and self discovery.

[Daveo]

Killing For Company: Case of Dennis Nilsen by Brian Masters.

 

In Now @ Canterbury Tales Bookshop / Book exchange Pattaya, Thailand.....

 

On February 9th 1983 Dennis Nilsen was arrested at his Muswell Hill home, after human remains had been identified as the cause of blocked drains.

Within days he had confessed to fifteen gruesome murders over a period of four years.

His victims, all young homosexual men, had never been reported missing.

Brian Masters, with Nilsen's full cooperation, has produced a unique study of a serial killer's mind, revealing the disturbing psychology of a mass murderer.

In our extensive True Crime section at Canterbury Tales Bookshop, Pattaya, Thailand.