The Prince of Mist (Carlos Ruiz Zafon)

The Prince of Mist

Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Blurb: Nothing is as powerful as a promise.

Strange things begin to happen when Max and his family move to an eerie house by the sea.

Time seems to slow, and move backwards An evil-eyed cat watches their every move. And Max is drawn to an abandoned garden where a mysterious statue stands, its arm outstretched, beckoning.

Then, from the shadows of the past emerges the Prince of Mist. A dark sinister character with the power to grant wishes and an age-old debt to settle.

The Prince of Mist is a haunting story of magic, mystery and adventure from Carlos Ruiz Zafon, the bestselling author of The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel's Game.

ISBN: 9781921656354 (Paperback)

Year: 1993

Publisher: Text Publishing

Pages: 202 (Fiction)

Links

1. Author's official English site

2. Buy from Amazon

3. Goodreads page

4. Wikipedia page for the book

5. Review of the book

The Pacific (Hugh Ambrose)

The Pacific 

Hugh Ambrose

Blurb: Historian Hugh Ambrose deepens the experience of the HBO miniseries The Pacific - revealing the intertwined odysseys of four US Marines and a US Navy carrier pilot and producing a powerful blend of first-person immediacy and historical perspective.

Sidney C Phillips, an easygoing Alabama teenager, enlisted along with a buddy. 'Manila John' Basilone was the son of immigrants who found happiness in the rough-and-ready life of a marine. Eugene B Sledge watched his best friend and his brother go off to war - and finally rebelled against his parents to follow them. 'Shifty' Shofner was the scion of a prominent family with a long record of military service. Ensign Vernon 'Mike' Micheel left the family farm to complete flight school.

Between America's retreat from China in late 1941 and the moment that MacArthur's plane landed in Japan in August 1945, these five men fought many of the key battles of the war in the Pacific. Here, Hugh Ambrose focuses on their real-life experiences and those of their fellow servicemen, enhancing and expanding upon the story told in the HBO miniseries.

Covering nearly four years of combat with unprecedented access to military records, letters, journals, memoirs, photographs, and interviews, this volume offers a unique historical perspective on the war against Japan, from the debacle in Bataan to the miracle at Midway, the relentless vortex of Guadalcanal, the black terraces of Iwo Jima, and the killing fields of Okinawa - and ultimately the triumphant yet uneasy return home.

These are the true stories of the men who put their lives on the line for their country, who were dispatched to the other side of the world to fight an enemy who preferred suicide to surrender; men who suffered hardship and humiliation in POW camps; men who witnessed casualties among soldier and civilian alike; and men whose medals came at a shocking price - a price paid in full by all.

ISBN: 9781921656101 (Paperback)

Year: 2010

Publisher: Text Publishing

Pages: 489 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from Amazon

2. Author's official site

3. Review of the book

4. Conversation with the author

5. Wikipedia for the TV series of the same name

The Chaser: Annual 2005 (Various)

The Chaser: Annual 2005

Various

Blurb: What they say about The Chaser Annual 2005.

'Every 3 seconds, a Chaser joke dies somewhere.' Bob Geldof

'This is my second favourite book, after the Koran.' Michelle Leslie

'I hope the Chaser keeps producing annuals every year. I'll need some good reading material.' Schapelle Corby

'I had a fabulous time pinching the authors' arses at their book launch.' John Brogden

'do u want my big cok?' Shane Warne (via SMS)

ISBN: 1920885978 (Paperback)

Year: 2005

Publisher: Text Publishing

Pages: 114 (Fiction)

Links

1. Series Wikipedia page

2. Penguin page for the book

3. Publisher's page

4. Fan forum for The Chaser

5. Official ABC page for The Chaser

Sydney Bridge Upside Down (David Ballantyne)

Sydney Bridge Upside Down

David Ballantyne

Blurb: 'There was an old man who lived on the edge of the world and he had a horse called Sydney Bridge Upside Down. He was a scar-faced old man and his horse was a slow-moving bag of bones, and I start with this man and his horse because they were there for all the terrible happenings up the coast that summer, always somewhere around.'

Harry lives in Calliope Bay, on the edge of the world. His mother has gone to the city, perhaps just for the summer, perhaps longer. But while Harry wonders when she'll be back he is free to explore the forbidden and dangerous meatworks, a place where the cries of animals long ago slaughtered can be heard in the wind.

When his beautiful older cousin Caroline arrives, Harry is torn between childish games and his desire to protect her from the attentions of Wiggins the butcher. With terrible consequences.

A great, untamed New Zealand classic, Sydney Bridge Upside Down is a coming-of-age story, a disquieting family tragedy and a sinister gothic thriller.

ISBN: 9781921520020 (Paperback)

Year: 1968

Publisher: Text Publishing

Pages: 278 (Fiction)

Links

1. Publisher's page of the book

2. Goodreads page of the book

3. Google books page for the book

4. Blog on the book

5. Youtube clip on how important the book is to one person