Bargain @ $1.99 each (couponable @ Kobo if you want to use up any lingering contest codes while they're still valid, probably available in all the standard stores, prices good for Canada & US, perhaps also in other regions, etc.):
Sicily: Three Thousand Years of Human History by Sandra Benjamin, out from Steerforth Press, which happens to have as one of its imprints Pushkin Press, who've recently shown up in a
BBC article on books in translation. Anyway, this is a fairly substantial-looking 500 page reasonably comprehensive history for which some of the customer reviews say is a bit shaky on the early Greek-influenced portions and a few other things but fairly solid for the main part after that.
Tourists, armchair travelers, and historians will all delight in this fluid narrative that can be read straight through, dipped into over time, or used as a reference guide to each period in Sicily’s fascinating tale.
Emigration of people from Sicily often overshadows the importance of the people who immigrated to the island through the centuries. These have included several who became Sicily’s rulers, along with Jews, Ligurians, and Albanians. Greeks, Romans, Vandals, Goths, Byzantines, Muslims, Normans, Hohenstaufens, Spaniards, Bourbons, the Savoy Kingdom of Italy and the modern era have all held sway, and left lasting influences on the island’s culture and architecture. Sicily’s character has also been determined by what passed it by: events that affected Europe generally, namely the Crusades and Columbus’s discovery of the Americas, remarkably had little influence on Italy’s most famous island.
Maps, biographical notes, suggestions for further reading, a glossary, pronunciation keys, and much more make this unique book as essential as it is enjoyable.
A Dreadful Murder: The Mysterious Death of Caroline Luard by Minette Walters (SYKM,
Wikipedia). This is the popular crime novelist's dramatized true crime reconstruction of the unsolved "Seal Chart Murder" (
Wikipedia), in the form of a 144-page novella (according to the Amazon estimated page count), out from Pan Macmillan.
A body is found in the woods . . .
Based on the true story of the shocking murder of Mrs Caroline Luard, which took place in Kent in August 1908.
Caroline Luard is shot dead in broad daylight in the grounds of a large country estate. With few clues available, her husband soon becomes the suspect . . . But is he guilty?
Bringing to life the people involved in this terrible crime, in A Dreadful Murder bestselling author Minette Walters uses modern detective skills to attempt to solve a 100-year-old crime.
Bargain @ $2.99 from Sourcebooks (couponable @ Kobo, etc. etc.):
The Successful Novelist: A Lifetime of Lessons about Writing and Publishing by David Morrell (
Wikipedia), probably best known for his novel
First Blood, which was turned into the popular Rambo film franchise.
Dirty Little Secrets: Breaking the Silence on Teenage Girls and Promiscuity by Kerry Cohen (
Wikipedia), a cultural sociology-oriented follow-up to her 2008 memoir
Loose Girl.
301 Smart Answers to Tough Interview Questions by Vicky Oliver, has blurb praise from a couple of business coach and top exec types.