Shock and Awe on Wall Street
Dear Readers, All of us have been watching and reading the dizzying convulsions of the financial markets, particularly in the US, with a mixture of shock and awe. In the space of weeks, or even days, companies we thought we knew well have disappeared, been sold, merged or simply collapsed. The scale and speed of...
High Browse – Special F1 Edition – The Race is On!
[HBeditor - 18 September 2008: If you don't already know, the latest issue of High Browse Print hit the (library) stands about a week ago. This latest issue covers the Singapore F1 Race that is happening next weekend. Just grab a copy when you're in a library. We'll be uploading the articles onto High Browse...
Matthew Reilly – Photo Finish
Photo Finish Matthew Reilly New York, N.Y. : Aladdin Paperbacks, 2007 Call No.: Y English REI It’s a story with the usual suspects: teen prodigy, sabotage, a hero who will let nothing get in the way of him, and random parts about the pretty girl who sends hearts afire (and who of course is the...
Stephen King – From A Buick 8
From A Buick 8 Stephen King New York: Scribner, c2002 Call No.: English KIN This is a story about a storied, classic American car, and yet it is not. That’s because this is a Stephen King story, and all his stories contain elements of the surreal and the macabre, and this is no exception. The...
Phil Shirley – Deadly Obsessions
Deadly Obsessions Phil Shirley London: HarperCollinsPublishers, 2000 Call No.: English 796.72 SHI–[REC] Maybe Hemingway said it best, when he said that ‘there are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering, all the rest are merely games’. Arguably no other sport has quite sparked as much interest and fascination as motor racing. The combination of...
J. G. Ballard – Crash
Crash J. G. Ballard London: Vintage, 1995 Call No.: English BAL James Graham Ballard’s Crash is, in short, simply not for the weak. An acute sense of flatness lies paradoxically at the heart of this novel, if there is a heart to begin with. Despite what its title suggests, and this review being a tie-in...
Andrew Vachss – The Getaway Man
The Getaway Man Andrew Vachss New York: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard Original, 2003 Call No.: English VAC-[TH] Paying tribute to the noir fiction that flourished in the 1940s and 50s, Andrew Vachss has written a love song to all the greats before him with The Getaway Man. The story is told from the perspective of simple...
Jim Thompson – The Getaway
The Getaway Jim Thompson New York: Vintage Books, 1990 Call No.: English THO Only 133 pages but The Getaway certainly delivers a knockout blow. Jim Thompson (1906 – 1977) is highly regarded amongst crime aficionados (especially those who love hardboiled) but his writing was mostly ignored during his lifetime. Derided for writing pulp, critics have...
Paul Maher – Jack Keroauc’s American Journey
Jack Kerouac’s American Journey Paul Maher, Jr New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2007 Call No.: English 813.54 MAH Kerouac’s On the Road is considered a seminal novel in American letters. The novel, first published in 1957, has become inseparably bound-up with a whole host of watershed cultural landmarks – the rock-and-roll era, the Beat generation,...
Geoff Tibballs – Motor Racing Strangest Races
Motor-racing’s Strangest Races Geoff Tibballs London: Robson, 2001 Call No.: English 796.7209 TIB-[REC] If your forward gear is stuck, and you are left with only your reverse gear, how do you move ‘forward’? Simple. Just turn your car around and drive in reverse. Incredible? Not really, if you were as determined as Fernand Charron during...
Timothy Collins – Team Schumacher: The Men Who Painted F1 Red
Team Schumacher: The Men Who Painted F1 Red Again Timothy Collings Newbury: Highdown, 2005 Call No.: English 796.720922 COL–[REC] After 1369 points, 68 pole positions, 91 wins and 7 Grand Prix championships, it is without a doubt that Michael Schumacher’s achievement in motor racing has remained unequalled. Not bad for a young German lad whose...
Drift
DEAR READER . editorial Drift By Lim Lee Ping You can almost taste the excitement. Singapore is to have its very own Formula 1 race – seemingly an impossible dream less than a year ago. But hey, the race is now a reality and the organizers are literally moving mountains (and stopping traffic) to ensure...
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