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BEST BOOKS – NON FICTION

BEST  BOOKS – NON FICTION

In an effort to become a bit more reflective and “ worldly” this year my  list of best  books – NON FICTION has skewed away from fiction to non-fiction.  Although I am recommending these books for the start of 2013 some of them are from the 2012 publication lists; those I didn’t get around to.

My suggestions may make good bedtime reading for yourself or a perfect present for someone you know.  According to last weeks’ edition of the Sunday Times, ‘E Readers’ seem to be on the wane! Whilst very convenient for transferring books around and for changing font size, unlike books, they are subject to misbehaving and being low on battery power just when you want to finish the book. Hands up! How many of you would readily lend someone your e reader?  If you wanted to share a book as a recommended read with your friends a ‘real’ book is so much easier and who doesn’t like being able to handle a book, smell it (! ?) fold down a corner or scribble a comment here and there (sorry!) Books you handle like this tend to stay in your mind for longer.  One other aspect I enjoy is being able to see the book cover lying around, urging me to pick it up !

So here are the ‘real’ editions of my recommendations for the Spring of 2013.  So Get Reading !

The Examined Life: How We Lose and Find Ourselves

Isn’t a psycholanalyst a posh term that means a friend you can talk over your problems with? No apparently not, but this book takes the stories of numerous patients of psychoanalyst Stephen Grosz and condenses the 50, 000 hours of sessions in a London clinic into what sound like a series of mini episodes of  Tales of the Unexpected. Non fiction that reads like thrilling fiction and will surely leave us questioning why we behave the way we do.

The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies?

It’s a fact we’re living longer so who is going to look after all of us old people ? Jared Diamond explores what we can learn from traditional societies that might help with the older people problem but also help with other modern malaises. I love the idea of a tribe who’s only entertainment is talking, try telling that to your teenagers. Perhaps old really is gold. A great book for us here in the Middle East where traditional behaviour and modern thinking sit side by side.

French Children Don’t Throw Food

Is it true? And if so why don’t they throw food? Are there no maids in France! Apparently according to Druckerman, an American who brought up her 3 kids in Paris children are taught to wait until they are really, really hungry and then they eat everything up. Read it and see what you think !

Dear Lupin…: Letters to a Wayward Son

“I am very fond of you but you do drive me round the bend” Which parent will not be able to relate to the above line taken from one of many letters written by Charlie to his well pretty disappointing son nicknamed Lupin. The letters started when he was 15 and continued for 24 years. Everyone I know who has read it loved it. I am waiting for the book of affectionate emails from Daughter to Mother entitled “Soz”

THANKYOU to anyone who buys from Amazon via my links, thereby contributing in a small way towards the costs of running the doindubai website.

And for all those diehard Kindle People if you must get one (or upgrade) then it has to be this one The Kindle Paperwhite, 6″ High Resolution Display with Built-in Light, Wi-Fi better than the iPad on the eye and miles more battery life, weeks as opposed to 10 hours in fact and easy to read in the sun, perhaps they had Dubai residents in mind. Also it fits in a man’s jacket pocket ! Be bold, click on the link and take the quick Kindle white tour (3 min) it’s really informative but hilarious to see the lady reading her Kindle in the pool, more ideas for Dubai residents from Amazon?

If you like my recommendations, do like and share on Facebook, Happy Reading.

Let me know what your MUST READS for this year will be.  

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CHRISTMAS PRESENTS FOR EXPATS

PURE EVOKE Flow, Portable DAB/FM/Internet Radio

One of the best presents you could give an expat is an Evoke Pure Flow Internet radio, I got mine for my birthday last March and regret not getting one earlier. You only need wifi to simply plug it in to any wall socket and listen to any radio station in the world, I’m transported when I listen to Woman’s Hour on Radio 4, even the Today Programme and sometimes Play for Today.  I can almost hear the cold. The kids listen to Capital Radio but also have stations that play only Kylie Minogue music (when I’m out !) , another called Disco Ball and some Latino music stations from Brazil. There are French stations and other stations from all over the world playing a variety of different music genres.  I haven’t learnt to do half the functions of the radio but I know you can store all your favourite radio stations and the Lounge facility means you can listen again via podcasts and easily create playlists. Best of all, it even looks like an old fashioned radio transistor and it doesn’t have any kind of keypad so use it for what it is, a fabulous, easy to use world wide radio. Thanks Heather for recommending it to me.

Luckies Scratch Map Personalised World Map
I love world maps and we have a large one on our kitchen wall in Dubai, many of us travel much more from here than we would have from the UK so it’s great to see where we’re going next. I thought this personalized world scratch map from Luckies was a brilliant idea and perfect gift for any expat kids who can peel off the next area on the agenda and learn something about it. Apparently the whole map comes with a foil leaf covering that you can easily peel off, place by place. I like the tube it comes in; so easy to give as a present.

Kindle Fire 7″, LCD Display, Wi-Fi, 8 GB – With Special Offers

Books of course are brilliant to give at Christmas time so if you haven’t given your significant other a Kindle Fire now is the time to do so,and there is no accounting for taste as far as books are concerned, but I recently bought the book Capital by John Lanchester for my husband who couldn’t put it down, a great big London story full of instantly recognizable eclectic London characters to remind you of home including a Nigerian Traffic Warden with a degree!

 

And if you haven’t switched to solar Fairy lights yet, then do so for delightful DEWA bills, easy to charge up solar pads that soak up the sun’s energy and then give you up to 8 hours of pretty fairy lights for the Christmas tree or garden, make the switch…and save money and the planet at the same time.

200 LED Warm White Solar Fairy String Lights Waterproof, choice of light effect. Ideal for Christmas, Halloween, Home & Garden outdoor decorative, 22M Super Bright

 

 

What’s your ideal expat present ? Let me know by leaving a comment below and Thank You to anyone who’s ordered from Amazon via one of my links, eventually I get a little voucher as a Thank You from them which helps support the websites costs. Doindubai appreciates any recognition for good service.  Next post is about unusual presents from the Change Initiative you can buy nearer home. Thanks also for liking and sharing the post Facebook.

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BOOK REVIEW : Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

The only woman to have won the Man Booker Prize twice in a row, Hilary Mantel’s Bring up the Bodies deserved to win. Despite the novel being set in Henry VIIIs Tudor England much about the novel has huge relevance to life today with political scandals and major figures falling from grace because of a woman’s wrath, only instead of damming emails we have messengers despatched via secret passages and every nuance that could mean something, anything is carefully recorded in Cromwell’s computer like mind. Mantel’s keen observations of how Ann Boleyn captures the attention of her next victim and makes him believe he is the only man in the room are brilliant. The Faux French Queen’s pearls in her necklace are likened to little beads of fat around her neck and her nails are described as tiny knives. She describes Anne’s anger as scissored up sewing, broken glass and her presence as ‘barbed’ so her ladies avoid getting too near.

The second guessing of what everyone else is thinking and how to avoid falling out of Henry’s favour provide much of the substance of the book and Mantel’s Cromwell or Crmuell is shown as master manipulator who manages at least in this book to keep his head. She has been persuaded to write a third book to complete this dazzling trilogy and I have no doubt it will be as sharp and thrilling as Bring Up the Bodies, Bring on the next book…

I read it with a pencil so I could mark the many insightful and clever descriptions Mantel deployed to transport us to this dark but compelling world.  A no brainer Christmas present for anyone who takes their reading seriously and fabulous for bits to read aloud to inspire the younger members of the family to write like this.

Let me know what you thought of Bring Up the Bodies in the comment box below and thanks for liking and sharing on Facebook. Monica.

Older books on my library shelf are here, click on the jackets to find out more and easily order here direct from Amazon , done.

OTHER BRILLIANT BOOKS ON MY LIBRARY SHELF

  

      

 

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BOOK REVIEW: The Dinner

Click to look inside

A Dutch (not Swedish this time) bestseller by Herman Koch is set mainly in one of those impossible to get a table at restaurants (not in DIFC). The “Dinner” group comprises of two brothers – one is an aspiring politician – and their wives having a fancy meal as part of a sophisticated evening.

The book seems to focus in the first half or so on the absurdities of haute cuisine and the haute price tags for your food and all that accompany it but then the real reason behind the dinner is revealed.

The sons of the two brothers seem to have been caught on camera indulging in what you’d never believe your teenager could be capable of, after all they’ve been brought up properly with your sense of values and you’ve taught them right from wrong.   And this is so wrong.

But something despicable has happened and political incorrectness is the least of the problems discussed.  The story then turns to explore how far parents will go to protect their children and their sanity. This is not a parenting book at all but an interesting thriller with a novel format.

 If you want some advice on how to handle your teenagers then listen to parents speaking out at the talk called  ‘NEGOTIATING THE TEENAGE TUNNEL’ next week in the Arabian Ranches.

Sometimes books are hard to get in Dubai, so I have linked you here, click on the highlighted name or the book pictured above:  The Dinner  to get yours.

How would you rate this book ? Leave me a comment and rating ( 1 – 10) 1 in the box below.

Please also like and share the post on Facebook.

For more of my book reviews click here

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