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Books Alive - 50 Books you can't put down

	Books Alive is an Australian Government initiative that aims to encourage all Australians to experience the joys of reading. Every year, Books Alive runs a nationwide campaign to ignite the country's passion for books and make it easier to choose a really great 'read'. Whatever you're into you're assured of finding a truly great book with The 2008 Books Alive 50 Books You Can't Put Down Guide. Our independent panel of book industry experts from right around Australia has done all the hard work for you, selecting 50 remarkable books across a huge range of genres and styles: biography, crime, fantasy, history, science, children's books and much more. They're 50 books so good everyone will want to read them!		FREE limited edition book The explosive new novel BOMBPROOF by Michael Rowbotham is exclusive to Books Alive, and is yours FREE with any purchase from the 50 Books You Can't Put Down Guide.

Fiction

	Those Faraday Girls From the bestselling author of Family Baggage and The Alphabet Sisters comes a warm and captivating story of family secrets, traditions and ties. As a child, Maggie Faraday grew up in a lively, unconventional household with her young mother, four very different aunts and her eccentric grandfather. With her mother often away, her aunts took turns to look after her - until, just weeks before Maggie's sixth birthday, a shocking event changed everything. Twenty years on, Maggie is living alone in New York City when a surprise visit from her grandfather brings a revelation and a proposition to reunite the family. As the Faradays gather in Ireland, Maggie begins to realize that the women she thought she knew so intimately all have something to hide ... Author: Monica McInerney Publisher: Penguin Books ISBN: 9780143006978 Format: Paperback Book In Store Price: $24.95 Online Price: $22.46
	The Rouseabout Kate Webster is a loveable larrikin who likes to play hard now and worry about the consequences later. She can't help mucking up the opportunities life gives her. Rocked by the death of her mother, she takes on a dare at one of Australia's wildest rural social events - a Bachelors & Spinsters ball - to 'scalp' gorgeous farm boy Nick McDonnell. It's a dare that changes everything. For just as Kate is ready to start her new life, away from her grieving father and the pressures of the family farm, she discovers she is pregnant. Now, several years later, with toddler Nell by her side, it's time for Kate to come home to face the music - and the father of her child...Set on the beautiful island of Tasmania, where Rachael Treasure once kicked up her own heels at B&S balls, The Rouseabout is an unforgettable story about discovering the things that truly matter, and finding love that lasts. Author: Rachael Treasure Publisher: Penguin Books ISBN: 9780143007890 Format: Paperback Book In Store Price: $24.95 Online Price: $22.46
	Breath When paramedic Bruce Pike arrives too late to save a boy found hanged in his bedroom he senses immediately that this lonely death is an accident. Pike knows the difference between suicide and misadventure. He understands only too well the forces that can propel a kid toward oblivion. Not just because he's an ambulanceman but because of the life he's lived, the boy he once was, addicted to extremes, flirting with death, pushing every boundary in the struggle to be extraordinary, barely knowing where or how to stop. So begins a story about the damage you do to yourself when you're young and think you're immortal. In his first novel for seven years, Tim Winton has achieved a new level of mastery. Breath confirms him as one of the world's finest storytellers, whose work is both accessible and profound, relentlessly gripping and deeply moving. Author: Tim Winton Publisher: Penguin Books ISBN: 9780241015308 Format: Hardback Book In Store Price: $45.00 Online Price: $40.50
	The Household Guide to Dying When Delia Bennet, author and domestic advice columnist, is diagnosed with cancer, she knows it's time to get her house in order. After all, she's got to secure the future for her husband, their two daughters and their five beloved chickens. But as she writes lists and makes plans, questions both large and small creep in. Should she divulge her best culinary secrets? Read her favourite novels one last time? Plan her daughters' far-off weddings? Complicating her dilemma is the matter of the past, and a remote country town where she fled as a pregnant teenager, only to leave broken-hearted eight years later. Researching and writing her final household guide, Delia is forced to confront the pieces of herself she left behind. She learns that what matters is not the past but the present - that the art of dying is all about truly living. Fresh, witty, deeply moving - and a celebration of love, family and that place we call home - this unforgettable story will surprise and delight the reader until the very last page. Author: Debra Adelaide Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia ISBN: 9780330424257 Format: Paperback Book In Store Price: $29.95 Online Price: $26.96
	This Charming Man 'Everybody remembers where they were the day they heard Paddy de Courcy was getting married' But for four women in particular, the big news about the gorgeous politician is especially momentous... Stylist Lola has every reason to be interested in who Paddy's marrying - because although she's his girlfriend, she definitely isn't the bride-to-be. Heartbroken, she flees the city for a cottage by the sea. But will Lola's retreat prove as idyllic as she hopes? ... Not if journalist Grace has anything to do with it. She wants the inside story on the de Courcy engagement and thinks Lola holds the key to it. Grace knew Paddy a long time ago. But why can't she forget him? Grace's sister, Marnie, might have the answer but she also has issues with the past. Her loving husband and beautiful daughters are wonderful, but they can't take away memories of her first love: a certain Paddy de Courcy. What will it take for Marnie to be able to move on? And what of the soon-to-be Mrs de Courcy... Alicia will do anything for her fiancé and is determined to be the perfect politician's wife. But does she know the real Paddy de Courcy? Four very different women. One awfully charming man. And the dark secret that bnds them all... Full of laughter, full of tears, full of heart and full of life... It could only be the new Marian. Author: Marian Keyes Publisher: Penguin Books ISBN: 9780718149130 Format: Paperback Book In Store Price: $32.95 Online Price: $29.66
	People of the Book People of the Book crosses continents and centuries to bring stories of hope amidst darkness, compassion amidst cruelty, all bound together by the discoveries made by a young Australian woman restoring an ancient Hebrew book. When Hanna Heath gets a call in the middle of the night in her Sydney home about a precious medieval manuscript that has been recovered from the smouldering ruins of war–torn Sarajevo, she knows she is on the brink of the experience of a lifetime. A renowned book conservator, she must now make her way to Bosnia to start work on restoring the Sarajevo Haggadah – a Jewish prayer book – to discover its secrets and piece together the story of its miraculous survival. But the trip will also set in motion a series of events that threaten to rock Hanna's orderly life, including her encounter with Ozren Karamen, the young librarian who risked his life to save the book. As meticulously researched as all of Brooks' previous work, People of the Book is a gripping and moving novel about war, art, love and survival. "dazzling ... Brooks writing at her very best" Publishers Weekly Author: Geraldine Brooks Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers ISBN: 9780732280376 Format: Paperback Book In Store Price: $32.99 Online Price: $29.69
	Les Norton and the Case of the Talking Pie Crust Set in Bondi and the Central Coast, this is vintage Les Norton - who has been called in to help Albanian would-be filmmaker, Bodine Menjou locate a missing script. Les is giving advice to Bodine, dealing with an enraged ice addict who won't stay down, and confronting a shot gun and an exploding building. Les is quite happy resting up after the flu, when Warren has to tip him into an earn. Norton's mate from the Albanian Mafia, Bodene Menjou, is planning to make the most politically correct movie ever made in Australia, Gone With the Willy Willy, and has a script stolen. If Les can find it, a lazy $50,000 could fall in. How can Norton say no? After almost getting his head blown off in a drug lab, being attacked by crazed women with broomsticks, and beaten up by monstrous drag queens, Les is wondering if it is all worth it. The trip to Terrigal and the magical mystery tour with Marla is good. And Topaz with her chicken soup is an unexpected delight. But apart from that, Les doesn't find much joy at all in his search for the missing film script. Especially not trapped in a fight for his life with a sadistic giant, where only one thing can save him: the Mongolian Death Lock. Author: Robert G. Barrett Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd ISBN: 9780732283971 Format: Paperback Book In Store Price: $19.99 Online Price: $17.99
	A Thousand Splendid Suns Mariam is only fifteen when she is sent to Kabul to marry Rasheed. Nearly two decades later, a friendship grows between Mariam and a local teenager, Laila, as strong as the ties between mother and daughter. When the Taliban take over, life becomes a desperate struggle against starvation, brutality and fear. Yet love can move a person to act in unexpected ways, and lead them to overcome the most daunting obstacles with a startling heroism. Author: Khaled Hosseini Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN: 9780747585893 Format: Paperback Book In Store Price: $24.95 Online Price: $22.46
	The Forgotten Garden A foundling, an old book of dark fairy tales, a secret garden, an aristocratic family, a love denied, a mystery - The Forgotten Garden is a captivating, atmospheric and compulsively readable story of the past, secrets, family and memory from the international best-selling author Kate Morton. Cassandra is lost, alone and grieving. Her much loved grandmother, Nell, has just died and Cassandra, her life already shaken by a tragic accident ten years ago, feels like she has lost everything dear to her. But an unexpected and mysterious bequest from Nell turns Cassandra's life upside down and ends up challenging everything she thought she knew about herself and her family. Inheriting a book of dark and intriguing fairytales written by Eliza Makepeace, the Victorian authoress who disappeared mysteriously in the early twentieth century, Cassandra takes her courage in both hands to follow in the footsteps of Nell on a quest to find out the truth about their history, their family and their past little knowing that in the process, she will also discover a new life for herself. Author: Kate Morton Publisher: Allen & Unwin ISBN: 9781741149982 Format: Paperback Book In Store Price: $32.95 Online Price: $29.66
	The Memory Room 'What is a spy? Are they born, or are they made?' With these words, Vincent Austin analyses his future occupation. Some spies are made, he says, but his kind is born. He is devoted to secrecy for its own sake. Vincent is orphaned early, and his boyhood in Tasmania is spent with an elderly aunt. His fascination with secrecy and espionage - and much else besides - is shared to an uncanny degree by Erika Lange, daughter of a post-World War German immigrant. She too has lost her mother, and she and Vincent see themselves as twin spirits, inhabiting a shared, platonic world of fantasy and ritual. At University, Vincent aims to enter Foreign Affairs - an ambition shared by his easygoing friend Derek Bradley. However, in his final year, Vincent is recruited by ASIS - Australia's overseas secret intelligence service - and his adolescent dream becomes reality. Erika becomes a journalist, eventually entering the overseas service as a press officer. She is an attractive and magnetic woman, but her emotional life is chaotic. She, Vincent and Bradley meet again in 1982, when they are in their thirties, and have all been posted to the Australian Embassy in Beijing.Here, Erika and Bradley begin an affair which is ultimately doomed to fail. At the same time, Vincent attempts an espionage coup which ends in disaster for himself and Bradley. Both men are expelled from China, and are based in Canberra, where Vincent is confined to the ASIS Registry: the 'memory room' of the book's title. This is the year of Star Wars, and the final phase of the Cold War. Erika, also returning to Australia, becomes a television journalist, and enjoys a period of national prominence. The fantasies of youth have become reality for Erika and Vincent, and lead to a tragic climax for them both. It is left to Bradley, who inherits Vincent's diaries, to contemplate their fate. Although THE MEMORY ROOM deals with espionage, its aims go far beyond those of a thriller. A psychological study of a brilliant but ec... Author: Christopher Koch Publisher: Random House Publishers ISBN: 9781741667301 Format: Paperback Book In Store Price: $32.95 Online Price: $29.66
	Change of Heart One day June Nealon was happily anticipating a lifetime of laughter and adventure with her family, and the next, she was staring into a future that was as empty as her heart. Now her life is a waiting game. Waiting for time to heal her wounds, waiting for justice. Waiting for a miracle to happen.For Shay Bourne, life holds no more surprises. The world has given him nothing, and he has nothing to offer the world. In a heartbeat, though, something happens one day that changes everything for him. Now he has one last chance for salvation, and it lies with June's twelve-year-old daughter, Claire. But between Shay and Claire stretches an ocean of bitter regrets, past crimes and the rage of a mother who has lost her child.Would you give up your vengeance against someone you hate, if it meant saving someone you love? Would you want your dreams to come true, if it meant granting your enemy's dying wish?Once again, Jodi Picoult mesmerises and enthralls readers with a story of justice, love and redemption. Author: Jodi Picoult Publisher: Allen & Unwin ISBN: 9781741750737 Format: Paperback Book In Store Price: $32.95 Online Price: $29.66
	Avoiding Mr Right Offered the professional opportunity of a lifetime, Peta leaves her coastal life and doting boyfriend James in Sydney for a 12-month stint in the 'fashion capital of Australia', Melbourne. Although Melbourne is full of straight males compared with Sydney, she's not looking in fact, she's avoiding the Mr Right so many of her girlfriends have been seeking. Peta's holy grail will never be an IVF-created baby, but rather the title 'Minister for Cultural Product'. While focusing on her professional career, Peta doesn't allow herself to fall in love or succumb to the suited uptown males that cross her path, but she does date a much younger artist, an anthropologist, a born-again Christian, a completely-wrong-for-her muso, a naive cop and a sleazy but very hot estate agent. Once assimilating into the Melbourne culture by dressing in mostly black (she refuses to ditch her favourite watermelon coat), Peta finds comfort in the cake shops of Acland Streets and wine bars between St Kilda and the city. The highlight of her stay, though, is the experience of astral travelling after her nights out in the city's finest restaurants. Dinner in Lygon Street takes her to Venice and Florence, Johnston Street takes her to Barcelona and Madrid, dinner in the city's finest French restaurant leads her that night to Paris, Bordeaux and to her surprise, French Quebec, where there are even more men to distract her than in Melbourne. Author: Anita Heiss Publisher: Transworld Publishers (Division of Random House Australia) ISBN: 9781863256049 Format: Paperback Book In Store Price: $23.95 Online Price: $21.56
	Addition Addition is novel about being in love with numbers. The main character is Grace Vandenburg - damaged and screwy, but not a victim: she's quick-witted, flirtatious and headstrong. She's not the least bit sentimental but she may be about to lose count of the number of ways she can fall in love. Debut novel from an Australian author. Author: Toni Jordan Publisher: Text Publishing Co ISBN: 9781921351242 Format: Paperback Book In Store Price: $29.95 Online Price: $26.96
	The Spare Room An extraordinary work of fiction from one of Australia's best-selling and most admired writers First, in my spare room, I swivelled the bed on to a north-south axis. Isn't that supposed to align the sleeper with the planet's positive energy flow, or something? She would think so. I made it up nicely with a fresh fitted sheet, the pale pink one, since she had a famous feel for colour, and pink is flattering even to skin that has turned yellowish. Helen prepares her spare room for her friend Nicola, who is flying down from Sydney for a three-week visit. But this is no ordinary visit - Nicola has advanced cancer. She is coming to Melbourne to receive treatment she believes will cure her. From the moment Nicola steps off the plane, Helen becomes her nurse, her protector, her guardian angel and her stony judge. The Spare Room tells a story of compassion and rage as the two women - one sceptical, one stubbornly serene - negotiate their way through Nicola's gruelling treatments. Garner's dialogue is pitch perfect, her sense of pacing flawless as this novel draws to its terrible and transcendent finale. Author: Helen Garner Publisher: Text Publishing Co ISBN: 9781921351396 Format: Hardback Book In Store Price: $29.95 Online Price: $26.96