The bookroom

Reviewed this issue:

Read any good books lately?

The Good Reading Guide is compiled by McLeish who promises to "describe books, not to be clever at their expense." It is a listing not based on literary merit, but genres and subject matter. The purpose is to provide you with suggested reading based on 'if you liked that you'll like this'.

McLeish attempts to stand back and give objective descriptions rather than subjective responses. The reading paths he provides show his analysis, and those which I checked were straightforward and uncontroversial recommendations.

For example, if you like Sara Paretsky, try Sue Grafton (although he didn't add Val McDermid).

Content aside, this guide is a peculiar document, kind of like a print out of a CD-ROM. It has a set of icons which point to authors who are listed elsewhere, possible titles or authors to seeks out, and so on.

At around $17 for the paperback edition, this is a good investment for people who like to read

A new novel from Australian novelist and editor Lucy Sussex will be released this weekend.

Lucy writes crime and fantasy, and her new book The Scarlet Rider is a melding of the various genres, informed to a small degree by her own experiences researching other writers.

A review of The Scarlet Rider is due for upload next week.

If you love coffee, or travel books, In Search of Great Coffee is the book for you. Written by Dianne Cleary and Jon Gorton, this book is the result of self-research into cafes and coffee people in 18 different countries.

Celebrities with coffee connections include Kaldi the Ethiopian herder, Frederick the Great, Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, Hemmingway, Picasso, Satie and Debussy.

A review copy has been requested. I promise faithfully to drink coffee and eat coffee creams while checking it out.