Khaled Hosseini…

L’Yan has read The Kite Runner. Magda has read A Thousand Splendid Suns. We both agree: an author worth a look.

Crime-James Lee Burke

James Lee Burke is an American author of mysteries, many of which feature Detective Dave Robicheaux. They are set in Louisiana and Burke gives us a good feel for the settings through the language of the South, the food, the humidity and the people. Burke is a great crime writer who gets you in with his characters and makes you want to read everything he has written.   

Early days. Burke’s college English papers earned him a string of D-minuses until he talked to his professor about what was wrong. “She said, ‘Your spelling is an assault upon the eyeballs. Your penmanship makes me wish the Phoenicians had not developed the alphabet. But I couldn’t give you an F because you have so much heart,’” ‘Burke’ said in a 1996 interview with People. “Every Saturday I went with her and rewrote the essay for the week. I got a B and made the dean’s list. (She) changed my life.” (A quote from Barnes and Noble-Meet the Writers)

If you like James Lee Burke you might also like Lee Child, John Sandford and Dennis Lehane. 

Seeking: New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

Cassie* is looking for New Moon. If you have a copy of this book you are willing to recycle please phone on 4751 8010, email magda@jimmyds.com.au or bring it in to the shop. We buy and credit books in great condition. 

*not her real name.

Blue Mountains Dreaming – Eugene Stockton (ed)

Edited by Eugene Stockton

In 1788 the Aborigines of the Blue Mountains had had no contact with Europeans; within 30 years almost all of them had disappeared.
Of the generations of new Mountain dwellers who followed, few appreciated the Aboriginal heritage of the region, even though evidence of their presence was known from the Nepean River and the adjacent escarpment.

Increasingly however, widespread discoveries of art sites, occupation shelters, stone tools, axe-grinding grooves and stone arrangements, research into the journals and early writings of European explorers and settlers, and the compilation of oral histories, are providing a rich, if incomplete, account of the former existence of the Gundungurra and Dharug in the Blue Mountains.

This book gathers together the current information about Blue Mountains aborigines. It provides a fascinating account of lifestyles, languages, legends and European contact.
Available at JimmyDs Bookshop.

Seeking:Observer books

Ernest H* is looking for any of the Observer hardcovers. 

We buy or trade books in very good condition. If you have a copy of this book you are willing to recycle please phone on 4751 8010, email magda@jimmyds.com.au or bring it in to the shop.

*not his real name.

BOOKSEATS – a seat, for your book.

Read in bed? Read on your stomach? Read on the beach? Cup of tea going cold while you are busy holding your book?? Let the bookseat do all the work for you…

The adjustable elastic cord lets you move the clear bar forwards or backwards to hold the book in place, it has a handy pocket in the back for those of us who need to wear glasses (or should be wearing them), and it comfortably sits on your lap or on a table/bench/chair etc.  The Bookseat is an Australian invention, it comes in a range of colours and can be sponged clean with woolwash.

For comfy, cosy reading! JimmyD’s stocks Bookseats at the rrp, $39.95.

Peter Watt – for ‘saga’ fans

Peter Watt is Australia’s answer to Clive Cussler, with beautiful, practical characters, spectacular settings and a working knowledge of his subjects.

 If you enjoy sprawling sagas (especially Australian ones!), give his first trilogy a go: book one is Cry of the Curlew, book two is Shadow of the Osprey, book three is Flight of the Eagle.  They explore the intricacies of complicated relationships and the harshness of outback Australian life… and whilst it all sounds very typical, I promise you a fantastic read. I couldn’t put them down. The Aboriginal characters are particularly beautiful.

Author blurb taken from Papua: ‘Peter Watt has spent time as a soldier, articled clerk, prawn trawler deckhand, builder’s labourer, pipe layer, real estate salesman, private investigator, police sergeant and adviser to the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary. He has lived and worked with Aborigines, Islanders, Vietnamese and Papua New Guineans and he speaks, reads and writes Vietnamese and Pidgin.  Good friends, fine food, fishing and the vast open spaces of outback Queensland are his main interests in life.  Peter Watt can be contacted at www.peterwatt.com’

JimmyD’s currently has two Peter Watt titles in stock, Papua and To Chase the Storm.

Recommended for people who read: Clive Cussler, Wilbur Smith, Bryce Courtenay, Tom Clancy, William Stuart Long, Colleen McCullough.

Enjoy! L’Yan

Pig – cleared by the vet.

Piggy puppet does not sneeze or cough so everyone is safe. This is the friendliest piggy you’ve ever met. A big smiley face ready to tell your little one a bedtime story.  And when you’ve finished Piggy will stand next to the bed just waiting for the next cuddle.

Piggy is one of the Folkmanis rage of puppets we keep in stock. These high quality puppets are designed in California to encourage play and discovery by children, an important part of their development.

The Pig Puppet is 30cm long. RRP $39.95

Covers so bad…Three Quarters by G De Timms

“Jelly fish, stewed in the boiling sea, flopped around his head. The sand was red and sizzled; the pebbles burned and a prune walked across his stomach.”

Truly disgusting.

Seeking: Kate Grenville – Secret River