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[Daveo]

The Choirboys by Joseph Wambaugh.

 

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The classic novel of the LA Police.

 

They are the Choirboys, the patrol squad of the LA Police attempting to stay sane in an insane world.

 

The Choirboys are five sets of partners on the night watch, all men of varying temperaments and backgrounds, but they are joined together by the job, and they have elected to spend their pre dawn hours in MacArthur Park in relaxing drink and sex sessions they call "choir practice".

This is the story of men endangered ultimately not by the violence of their jobs but by their choice of off duty entertainment.

 

Simultaneously darkly funny and terrifying, this is as chillingly authentic as only a veteran police officer could make it.

[Daveo]

We have a good selection of Wambaugh's Novels, here are just a few?

https://en.wikipedia...Joseph_Wambaugh

[Daveo]

City Primeval by Elmore Leonard.

 

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Clement Mansell, knows how easy it is to get away with murder. The crazed killer is back on the Detroit streets, thanks to some nifty courtroom moves by his crafty looker of a lawyer and he's feeling invincible enough to execute a crooked Motown judge. Homicide Detective Raymond Cruz thinks the Oklahoma Wildman crossed the line long before this latest outrage, and he's determined to see that the psycho does not slip through the legal system's loopholes a second time.

But that means a good cop is going to have to play somewhat fast and loose with the rules, in order to maneuver Mansell into a wild Midwest showdown that he won't be walking away from.

[Daveo]

A Dead Hand, A Crime in Calcutta; by Paul Theroux.

 

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Jerry Delfont is a travel writer with writer's block.

Lounging in Calcutta one day, he receives a mysterious letter.

It comes from an American philanthropist, Mrs Merrill Unger.

An Indian friend of her son is in trouble: he woke up in a hotel room with a dead body next to him; he panicked and fled.

Mrs Unger would like someone to discreetly look into this matter, to find out the truth.

Will Delfont do her the honour?

But Jerry is at first more intrigued by the beautiful, beguiling Mrs Unger and her Tantric massages.

Yet as he begins investigating the circumstances surrounding the body he wonders what exactly is the nature of her philanthropy .

[Daveo]

If You Liked School, You'll Love Work by Irvine Welsh.

 

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In 'Rattlesnakes', three young Americans find themselves lost in the desert, held captive by armed Mexicans, in 'The DOGS of Lincoln Park', a mysterious Korean chef may or may not have something to do with the disappearance of a socialite's pooch; an English bar owner battles to keep all his balls in the air on the Costa Brava; a film biographer becomes a piece of movie memorabilia himself in 'Miss Arizona' and in the 'Kingdom of Fife an ex-jockey and table football star of Cowdenbeath takes on the charms of Jenni Cahill and her remarkable jodhpurs...

[Daveo]

The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason

by Sam Harris.

 

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This important and timely book delivers a startling analysis of the clash of faith and reason in today's world.

Sam Harris offers a vivid historical tour of mankind's willingness to suspend reason in favour of religious beliefs, even when those beliefs are used to justify harmful behaviour and sometimes heinous crimes.

He asserts that in the shadow of weapons of mass destruction, we can no longer tolerate views that pit one true god against another.

Most controversially, he argues that we cannot afford moderate lip service to religion, an accommodation that only blinds us to the real perils of fundamentalism.

While warning against the encroachment of organised religion into world politics, Harris also draws on new evidence from neuroscience and insights from philosophy to explore spirituality as a biological, brain-based need. He calls on us to invoke that need in taking a secular humanistic approach to solving the problems of this world.

[Daveo]

Hunger: by Knut Hamsun.

 

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A true classic of modern literature that has been described as "one of the most disturbing novels in existence"

Hunger is the story of a Norwegian artist who wanders the streets, struggling on the edge of starvation.

As hunger overtakes him, he slides inexorably into paranoia and despair.

The descent into madness is recounted by the unnamed narrator in increasingly urgent and disjointed prose, as he loses his grip on reality.

 

Arising from Hamsun's belief that literature ought to be about the mysterious workings of the human mind, an attempt, he wrote, to describe "the whisper of the blood and the pleading of the bone marrow", Hunger is a landmark work that pointed the way toward a new kind of novel.

 

"The whole modern school of fiction in the twentieth century stems from Hamsun. ,They were all Hamsun's disciples: Thomas Mann and Arthur Schnitzler . . . and even such American writers are Fitzgerald and Hemingway."

[Daveo]

Edge of Eternity (The Century Trilogy) by Ken Follett.

 

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Five families. Three decades. One extraordinary era.

 

As the decisions made in the corridors of power bring the world to the brink of oblivion, five families from across the globe are brought together in an unforgettable tale of passion and conflict during the Cold War.

 

When Rebecca Hoffmann, a teacher in East Germany, finds herself pursued by the secret police, she discovers that she has been living a lie.

Her younger brother, Walli, longs to escape across the Berlin Wall to Britain to become part of the burgeoning music scene.

 

In the United States, George Jakes, a bright young lawyer in the Kennedy administration, is a fierce supporter of the Civil Rights movement, as is the woman he is in love with, Verena, who works for Martin Luther King, Jr. Boarding a Greyhound bus in Washington to protest against segregation, they begin a fateful journey together.

 

Russian activist, Tania Dvorkin, narrowly evades capture for producing an illegal news sheet.

Her actions are made all the more perilous as her brother, Dimka, is a rising star in the heart of the Communist Party in the Kremlin.

 

From the deep south of America to the vast expanses of Siberia, from the shores of Cuba to the swinging streets of Sixties' London, Ken Follett's Edge of Eternity is a sweeping tale of the fight for individual freedom in a world gripped by the mightiest clash of superpowers anyone has ever known.

[Daveo]

The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government; by David Talbot.

 

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An explosive, headline making portrait of Allen Dulles, the man who transformed the CIA into the most powerful and secretive colossus in Washington, from the founder of Salon.com and author of the bestseller Brothers.

 

America’s greatest untold story: the United States’ rise to world dominance under the guile of Allen Welsh Dulles, the longest-serving director of the CIA.

Drawing on revelatory new materials including newly discovered U.S. government documents, U.S. and European intelligence sources, the personal correspondence and journals of Allen Dulles’s wife and mistress, and exclusive interviews with the children of prominent CIA officials, Talbot reveals the underside of one of America’s most powerful and influential figures.

 

Dulles’s decade as the director of the CIA, which he used to further his public and private agendas were dark times in American politics.

Calling himself “the secretary of state of unfriendly countries,” Dulles saw himself as above the elected law, manipulating and subverting American presidents in the pursuit of his personal interests and those of the wealthy elite he counted as his friends and clients, colluding with Nazi-controlled cartels, German war criminals, and Mafiosi in the process.

Targeting foreign leaders for assassination and overthrowing nationalist governments not in line with his political aims, Dulles employed those same tactics to further his goals at home, Talbot charges, offering shocking new evidence in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

 

An exposé of American power that is as disturbing as it is timely, The Devil’s Chessboard is a provocative and gripping story of the rise of the national security state and the battle for America’s soul.

[Daveo]

A Game of Thrones by George R R Martin.

 

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Here is the first volume in George R. R. Martin’s magnificent cycle of novels that includes A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords.

As a whole, this series comprises a genuine masterpiece of modern fantasy, bringing together the best the genre has to offer. Magic, mystery, intrigue, romance, and adventure fill these pages and transport us to a world unlike any we have ever experienced.

Already hailed as a classic, George R. R. Martin’s stunning series is destined to stand as one of the great achievements of imaginative fiction.

 

A GAME OF THRONES

 

Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing.

The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall.

At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.

 

Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys.

Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.

[Daveo]

The Kitchen as Laboratory: Reflections on the Science of Food and Cooking (Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History) by César Vega, Job Ubbink & Erik van der Linden.

 

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Eating is a multisensory experience, yet chefs and scientists have only recently begun to deconstruct food's components, setting the stage for science-based cooking.

In this global collaboration of essays, chefs and scientists advance culinary knowledge by testing hypotheses rooted in the physical and chemical properties of food.

Using traditional and cutting edge tools, ingredients, and techniques, these pioneers create, and sometimes revamp, dishes that respond to specific desires and serve up an original encounter with gastronomic practice.

 

From the seemingly mundane to the food fantastic, from grilled cheese sandwiches, pizzas, and soft-boiled eggs to Turkish ice cream, sugar glasses, and jellified beads, the essays in The Kitchen as Laboratory cover a range of creations and their history and culture.

They consider the significance of an eater's background and dining atmosphere and the importance of a chef's methods, as well as the strategies used to create a great diversity of foods and dishes.

This collection will delight experts and amateurs alike, especially as restaurants rely more on science-based cooking and recreational cooks increasingly explore the physics and chemistry behind their art.

Contributors end each essay with their personal thoughts on food, cooking, and science, offering rare insight into a professional's passion for playing with food.

[Daveo]

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.

 

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Reader review;

I have watched "No Reservations" since it premiered on the Travel Channel.

I have also read all of Bourdain's nonfiction books, and I recommend both this series and his books to anyone serious about different cultures and the foods they eat.

 

It is no surprise, then, that overall I give the material in this book five stars, but have to take away a star for a couple of reasons. The first and most obvious problem with this set is that it isn't complete, as has been noted by others. It would certainly have been better (even if it was somewhat pricier) if it was complete; likewise some extras (outtakes, commentary, etc.) would have been a welcome, though not strictly necessary, addition. I do have a cautionary tale about my set specifically: mine came without the Iceland and Vietnam , which happen to be, in my opinion, the best two shows of the series. In its place I got an additional copy of the Sicily and Las Vegas , which is the weakest of the four discs in my opinion. Fortunately I had bought the Vietnam and Iceland episodes as separate but it is an annoyance nonetheless.

 

Without question this is my favorite travel show. I think Bourdain better than other hosts goes out of his way to unearth the fundamental nature of the places he visits (most notably in the excellent Malaysia episode) and truly values and respects the people he meets, despite his acerbic and sarcastic nature. While there are views where we differ, I know that Tony Bourdain and the "No Reservations" staff are fundamentally straight shooters who excel off the beaten path of cuisine and culture. While there are things I would obviously change about this set, it is an excellent value, and any reservations I have are in no way related to the actual content.

 

I truly recommend this with no reservations.

[Daveo]

The Stranger at the Palazzo d'Oro by Paul Theroux.

 

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From the best-selling author of Dark Star Safari and hotel Honolulu, Paul Theroux's latest offers provocative tales of memory and Desire.

The sensual story of an unusual love affair leads the collection. The thrill and risk of pursuit and conquest mark the accompanying stories, which tell of the sexual awakening and rites of passage of a Boston boyhood, the ruin of a writer in Africa, and the bewitchment of a retiree in Hawaii.

Filled with Theroux's typically exquisite yet devastating descriptions of people and places, The Stranger at the Palazzo D'Oro evokes "the complexities of matters of the heart with subtlety and grace"

[Daveo]

Cold Fire by Dean Koontz.

 

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In Portland, he saved a young boy from a drunk driver.

In Boston, he rescued a child from an underground explosion. In Houston, he disarmed a man who was trying to shoot his own wife.

Reporter Holly Thorne was intrigued by this strange quiet savior named Jim Ironheart.

She was even falling in love with him.

But what power compelled an ordinary man to save twelve lives in three months?

What visions haunted his dreams?

And why did he whisper in his sleep: There is an Enemy.

It is coming. It’ll kill us all...?

[Daveo]

How to Write First-Class Letters; by L. Sue Baugh.

 

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Provides guidelines and techniques for writing almost every type of letter.

Includes dozens of model letters and can be used as a quick reference for finding the answers to specific questions about form, style, and grammar and punctuation.

[Daveo]

The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering; by Norman G. Finkelstein.

 

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Controversial indictment of those who exploit the tragedy of the Holocaust for their own gain.

 

In an iconoclastic and controversial study, Norman G. Finkelstein moves from an interrogation of the place the Holocaust has come to occupy in American culture to a disturbing examination of recent Holocaust compensation agreements.

It was not until the Arab-Israeli War of 1967, when Israel's evident strength brought it into line with US foreign policy, that memory of the Holocaust began to acquire the exceptional prominence it enjoys today.

Leaders of America's Jewish community were delighted that Israel was now deemed a major strategic asset and, Finkelstein contends, exploited the Holocaust to enhance this newfound status.

Their subsequent interpretations of the tragedy are often at variance with actual historical events and are employed to deflect any criticism of Israel and its supporters.

Recalling Holocaust fraudsters such as Jerzy Kosinski and Binjamin Wilkomirski, as well as the demagogic constructions of writers like Daniel Goldhagen, Finkelstein contends that the main danger posed to the memory of Nazism's victims comes not from the distortions of Holocaust deniers but from prominent, self-proclaimed guardians of Holocaust memory.

Drawing on a wealth of untapped sources, he exposes the double shakedown of European countries as well as legitimate Jewish claimants, and concludes that the Holocaust industry has become an outright extortion racket.

Thoroughly researched and closely argued, The Holocaust Industry is all the more disturbing and powerful because the issues it deals with are so rarely discussed.

 

In a devastating new postscript to this best selling book, Norman G. Finkelstein documents the Holocaust industry's scandalous cover up of the blackmail of Swiss banks, and in a new appendix demolishes an influential apologia for the Holocaust industry.

[Daveo]

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher; or The Murder at Road Hill House, By Kate Summerscale.

 

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It is a summer's night in 1860.

In an elegant detached Georgian house in the village of Road, Wiltshire, all is quiet.

Behind shuttered windows the Kent family lies sound asleep, at some point after midnight a dog barks.

 

The family wakes the next morning to a horrific discovery: an unimaginably gruesome murder has taken place in their home. The household reverberates with shock, not least because the guilty party is surely still among them.

Jack Whicher of Scotland Yard, the most celebrated detective of his day, reaches Road Hill House a fortnight later.

He faces an unenviable task: to solve a case in which the grieving family are the suspects.

 

The murder provokes national hysteria.

The thought of what might be festering behind the closed doors of respectable middle class homes, scheming servants, rebellious children, insanity, jealousy, loneliness and loathing arouses fear and a kind of excitement.

But when Whicher reaches his shocking conclusion there is uproar and bewilderment.

 

A true story that inspired a generation of writers such as Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle, this has all the hallmarks of the classic murder mystery, a body; a detective; a country house steeped in Secrets.

In The Suspicions of Mr Whicher Kate Summerscale untangles the facts behind this notorious case, bringing it back to vivid, extraordinary life.

[Daveo]

This room available soon, 500 baht per night, deals for longer.

[Daveo]

World Famous Dictators by Ian Schott.

 

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[Daveo]

World Famous Dictators by Ian Schott.

 

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[Daveo]

‘Political Order and Political Decay,’ by Francis Fukuyama.

 

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Writing in The Wall Street Journal, David Gress called Francis Fukuyama's Origins of Political Order "magisterial in its learning and admirably immodest in its ambition."

In The Book Review, Michael Lind described the book as "a major achievement by one of the leading public intellectuals of our time."

And Gerard DeGrott exclaimed "this is a book that will be remembered.

Bring on volume two."

Volume two is finally here, completing the most important work of political thought in at least a generation.

Taking up the essential question of how societies develop strong, impersonal, and accountable political institutions, Fukuyama follows the story from the French Revolution to the so-called Arab Spring and the deep dysfunctions of contemporary American politics.

He examines the effects of corruption on governance, and why some societies have been successful at rooting it out.

He explores the different legacies of colonialism in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, and offers a clear-eyed account of why some regions have thrived and developed more quickly than others.

And he boldly reckons with the future of democracy in the face of a rising global middle class and entrenched political paralysis in the West.

A sweeping, masterful account of the struggle to create a well functioning modern state, Political Order and Political Decay is destined to be a classic.

[Daveo]

Solomon Creed af Simon Toyne.

 

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http://www.harperreach.com/solomon-creed-part-2-characters-simon-toyne-writing/

[Daveo]

Collins Discovery Dictionary and Thesaurus.

 

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This first edition of 'Collins Discovery Dictionary and Thesaurus' is specially tailored to meet the needs of home, school and office.

[Daveo]

Youth Without Youth by Mircea Eliade.

 

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Bucharest, 1938: while Hitler gains power in Germany, the Romanian police start arresting students they suspect of belonging to the Iron Guard.

Meanwhile, a man who has spent his life studying languages, poetry, and history a man who thought his life was over lies in a hospital bed, inexplicably alive and miraculously healthy, trying to figure out how to conceal his identity.

 

At the intersection of the natural and supernatural, myth and history, dream and science, lies Mircea Eliade's novella.

Now in its first paperback edition, the psychological thriller features Dominic Matei, an elderly academic who experiences a cataclysmic event that allows him to live a new life with startling intellectual capacity.

Sought by the Nazis for their medical experiments on the potentially life-prolonging power of electric shocks, Matei is helped to flee through Romania, Switzerland, Malta and India. Newly endowed with prodigious powers of memory and comprehension, he finds himself face to face with the glory and terror of the supernatural.

In this surreal, philosophy driven fantasy, Eliade tests the boundaries of literary genre as well as the reader's imagination.

 

Suspenseful, witty, and poignant, Youth Without Youth illuminates Eliade's longing for past loves and new texts, his erotic imagination, and his love of a thrilling mystery.

It was adapted for the screen in 2007 as Francis Ford Coppola's first feature film in over ten years.

[Daveo]

The Armies of the Night: History as a Novel, the Novel as History by Norman Mailer.

 

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One of the first examples of "new journalism" daringly combines reportage with a novelistic style and garnered Mailer his first Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award.

 

Armies of the Night centers on the March on the Pentagon, the most famous anti-Vietnam War rally in Washington DC, and the characters that occupy this opposition, the intellectuals, students, African Americans, liberals, and marching women.

Mailer, a novelist as character, sculpts this impressionably fragile world of the Left versus Authority and Peace versus War, prodding at the Vietnam generation’s deepest anxieties.

 

In the same way Truman Capote's In Cold Blood introduced the "nonfiction novel," Armies of the Night renders this form, with turns historical and fictional