You're Next - Terry Green

Every so often I intersperse my reading with a nerd book and this is one of them. Lurking on a bookshelf

with the spine looking like a crime thriller it is reminiscent of it's author - blending into it's environment.
Which is something Terry Green does a fair bit of, watching how both customer and supplier deal with their queues.
Mainly based on retail environments the book does touch on the difference between those and healthcare queues, but only in passing.
He starts by introducing himself as the voice behind "cashier number 3 please" at the post office and then manages to write a whole book on queue management illustrating bottom line improvements should a business be inclined to care about customer satisfaction.
An interesting book with bits and pieces that could be applied to a business with no queues at all.
My final impression? a small bookseller in Inverness has got it right and BHS need to read it!

Publisher - Marshall Cavendish Business

Babble - Charles Saatchi

Horrible shiny pages from an art expert? An extremely heavy book with no nod at FSC paper standards.

That said the content is interesting enough. With more emphasis on art collections, including plates of various works, this book is Saatchi's opinions on a range of subjects.
From mafia to depression to schizophrenia Saatchi has a take on most subjects and this proves to be an enjoyable book. If you have a strong coffee table.
A dip in and out of book that shows just how full of little facts Saatchi is. And how well he has educated himself since leaving school early.

Publisher - Booth-Clibborn

The Night Rainbow - Claire King

Bittersweet I think is the word I'd use for this book.

After a family bereavement the child tries hard to both be noticed and also not to be noticed. The first for herself and the second for her mother. With some help from a lonely man in the area she gets through her days in an imaginary world.
There's occasional intervention from neighbours in the area but nothing consistent.
It's an interesting tale in a year that seems to have produced a fair number of books published by authors with unusual tales.
It's alongside My Imaginary Friend and Snow Child and The earth hums in B flat for surreal strangeness.
I'm not sure I'd try another one.

Publisher - Bloomsbury

Butterfly Cabinet - Bernie McGill

 For some reason I had thought that this was a crime thriller. It isn't.

After disciplining one of her children Harriet is jailed when the discipline goes fatally wrong.

Based in the 19th century in an era of seen and not heard the story tells the tale of the mother and her household from the maid's perspective 70 years later and the prison diary of the mother.
The sharp contrast between today's nanny state and the 19th century really gives pause for thought.
Just how unhinged was this woman? or was this acceptable behaviour? With added interest in the families this is a clever book that actually makes you wonder about your own viewpoint as you read it.
I may have been mistaken about the type of book but I'm glad I got the opportunity to read it.

Publisher - Headline Review

Wrong time wrong place - Simon Kernick

Designed to encourage reading this is a quick read book.

Rather than lurking in the shadows of the library quick reads books are now front of house. Maybe because of the calibre of authors they attract.
As a sample of Kernick this is good. It has the high octane chase from the baddies, the innocents caught up unwittingly and the crime thriller aspect.
It's also a great introduction to reading with wide spaced wording and an easier way for a person to read a whole book at a time.
All for a £1 if you're not lurking in the shadows of the library.

Publisher - Arrow

Born to run - Michael Morpurgo

I know- it's a children's book. But you have to make an exception for 

a Morpurgo children's book. Aimed at ages 8 plus Morpurgo has transcended the bracket defined with this one.
With such classics as Private Peaceful in his collection a Morpurgo book has to be a dream for teaching children both history and social science.
Born to run is in the social science category.
Using a dog's life to travel around social issues Morpurgo tells of tower block living, bullying, step families and the closure of old people's homes.
The books raise an awareness subtly while telling a story entertaining enough to keep a child enthralled.
And an adult for the duration of a bus journey.

Publisher - Harper Collins

Two Brothers - Ben Elton

Based in Germany and starting in 1920 with the arrival of a set of twins to a

Jewish family this book has the pportunity to become a glorified history of the holocaust with lots of titillating cruelty added in. It doesn't take the opportunity and is instead a sensitive tale of the lives of one family and their friends. When one twin dies at birth an immediate replacement is available in the hospital and so a life of deception begins. But how long can a Jewish mother keep secret from a child that he's not Jewish?
While the history is in the book a lot of the story is pre war and tells of the insidious way the German mind was distorted until horrendous became normal and acceptable.
This is a skillful book with subterfuge all the way through from the 20's to the early 21st century.
A credit to it's creator.

Publisher - Bantam Press