Salman Rushdie’s “ The Satanic Verses” is one of those works of arts that suffers from the paradox of being as infamous as it is famous. Yet with all it’s supposed notoriety, there is, & always has been, a fantastic novel at the centre at it’s heart. Winner of the Whitbread Prize, & a fatwa for its creator, the book is a marvelously erudite study of good & evil, a feast of language served up by a writer at the height of his powers, & a rollicking comic fable. The book begins with two Indians, Gibreel Farishta (“for fifteen years the biggest star in the history of the Indian movies”) & Saladin Chamcha, a Bombay expatriate returning from his first visit to his homeland in 15 years, plummeting from the sky after the explosion of their jetliner, & proceeds through a series of metamorphoses, dreams & revelations. Rushdie`s powers of invention are astonishing & should not be overcrowded by outside views, opinions, & accusations. Find out for yourself, you won’t regret it. ...

Set against the backdrop of Nigeria`s ongoing terrorism tensions, Satans & Shaitans tells the story of two powerful men, Chief Donald Amechi & world acclaimed televangelist, Chris Chuba, both members of an internationally renowned occult, the Sacred Order of the Universal Forces. Members of the occult from Southern Nigeria, desperate to gain control of their country, deceive an Islamic terrorist organisation into carrying out attacks in order to undermine & overrule the Nigerian President. This powerful story is one of morality, choices & consequence. ...

In the darkening embers of a Communist utopia, life in a desolate Hungarian town has come to a virtual standstill. Flies buzz, spiders weave, water drips & animals root desultorily in the barnyard of a collective farm. But when the charismatic Irimias
- long-thought dead
- returns to the commune, the villagers fall under his spell. The Devil has arrived in their midst. Irimias will divide & rule: his arrival heralds the beginning of a period of violence & greed for the villagers as he sets about swindling them out of a fortune that might allow them to escape the emptiness & futility of their existence. He soon attains a messaianic aura as he plays on the fears of the townsfolk & a series of increasingly brutal events unfold. Satantango follows the villagers as they are exploited & taken in by Irimias; as they drink & stumble their way toward the gradual realization of their mistake & ultimate demise. In its measured prose & long, Tolstoyan sentences, Satantango is nothing short of a literary masterpiece; a formal meditation on death & avarice, human fallibility & faith.

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In the darkening embers of a Communist utopia, life in a desolate Hungarian town has come to a virtual standstill. Flies buzz, spiders weave, water drips & animals root desultorily in the barnyard of a collective farm. But when the charismatic Irimias
- long-thought dead
- returns to the commune, the villagers fall under his spell. The Devil has arrived in their midst. Irimias will divide & rule: his arrival heralds the beginning of a period of violence & greed for the villagers as he sets about swindling them out of a fortune that might allow them to escape the emptiness & futility of their existence. He soon attains a messianic aura as he plays on the fears of the townsfolk & a series of increasingly brutal events unfold. Satantango follows the villagers as they are exploited & taken in by Irimias; as they drink & stumble their way toward the gradual realization of their mistake & ultimate demise. In its measured prose & long, Tolstoyan sentences, Satantango is nothing short of a literary masterpiece; a formal meditation on death & avarice, human fallibility & faith.

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Oslo, 1969. When a wealthy man collapses & dies during a dinner party, Norwegian Police Inspector Kolbjorn Kristiansen, known as K2, is left shaken. For the victim, Magdalon Schelderup, a multimillionaire businessman & former resistance fighter, had contacted him only the day before, fearing for his life. It soon becomes clear that every one of Schelderup`s ten dinner guests is a suspect in the case. The businessman was disliked, even despised, by many of those close to him; & his recently revised Will may have set events in motion. But which of the guests
- from his current & former wives & three children to his attractive secretary & old cohorts in the resistance
- had the greatest motive for murder? With the inestimable help of Patricia
- a brilliant, acerbic young woman who lives an isolated life at home, in her wheelchair
- K2 begins to untangle the lies & deceit within each of the guests` testimonies. But as the investigators receive one mysterious letter after another warning of further deaths, K2 realises he must race to uncover the killer. Before they strike again.. .A gripping, evocative & ingenious mystery which pays homage to Agatha Christie, Satellite People is the second Norwegian mystery in Hans Olav Lahlum`s series. The third, The Catalyst Killing, will follow soon.. .



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The Satmap Active 10 is a lightweight, rugged, easy-to-use GPS unit using Ordnance Survey mapping, ideal for walking or mountain biking. The unit comes with Ordnance Survey UK 1:250, 000 Road Atlas maps already installed, & has an SD card slot for loading extra maps ...

This semi-autobiographical tale of Kerouac`s own trip to France, to trace his ancestors & explore his own understanding of the Buddhism that came to define his beliefs, contains some of Kerouac`s most lyrical descriptions. From his reports of the strangers he meets & the all-night conversations he enjoys in seedy bars in Paris & Brittany, to the moment in a cab he experiences Buddhism`s satori
- a feeling of sudden awakening
- Kerouac`s affecting & revolutionary writing transports the reader. Published at the height of his fame, ” Satori in Paris” is a hectic tale of philosophy, identity & the powerful strangeness of travel.

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The 1:50 000 topographic map gives a more general picture of the ground features than a basic map. It shows settlements, houses, roads, cultivated areas, waterways, cutting areas, mires, rock exposures, & relief. One map sheet covers an area of 30 x 40 km & one centimetre corresponds to 500 metres on the ground. The 1:50, 000 topographic map is also an ideal complement to nautical charts as it provides useful information about the land areas adjacent to waterways. For example, all Finnish sea areas are covered by 1:50 000 topographic map sheets. ...

Saturday, February 15, 2003. Henry Perowne is a contented man
- a successful neurosurgeon, the devoted husband of Rosalind &
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This cult classic of working class life in post-war Nottingham follows the exploits of rebellious factory worker Arthur Seaton & is introduced by Richard Bradford. Working all day at a lathe leaves Arthur Seaton with energy to spare in the evenings. A hard-drinking, hard-fighting hooligan, he knows what he wants, & he`s sharp enough to get it. Before long, his carryings-on with a couple of married women become the stuff of local gossip. But then one evening he meets a young girl & life begins to look less simple... First published in 1958, ` Saturday Night & Sunday Morning` achieved instant critical acclaim & helped to establish Alan Sillitoe as one of the greatest British writers of his generation. The film of the novel, starring Albert Finney, transformed British cinema & was much imitated. ...