Gulf Weekly Book Club

BOOK OF THE WEEK with Linda Jennings. Guinness World Records 2016, ISBN 9781910561010 (Guinness) BD12 for Gulf Weekly Book Club members

It must be coming up to that time of the year again as the world’s best-selling annual is back on the shelves and bursting with thousands of amazing new records, never-before-seen images, fact-packed info-graphics and mind-boggling trivia for you to enjoy.

And, as always, there are a few more surprises in store for you. As well as all your favourite records relating to talented pets, superhuman achievements, big stuff and extreme vehicles, you’ll find show-stopping superlatives from new categories.

Topics making their Guinness World Records debut this year include waterfalls, twins, ballooning, apps, lightning, manga, archaeology, drones and pirates – and that’s just for starters.

There are more in-depth records than ever! Check out the all-new PROFILE BOXES, offering a more comprehensive look into the inspiring stories behind the record-breakers. INFO-GRAPHIC FEATURES let you see some of the most iconic records while IN FOCUS uncovers their awe-inspiring secrets.

Do you dare to peek into the Tambora volcano – holder of the record for most powerful eruption, or will you marvel at the scale of the mighty blue whale – the largest animal on the planet ever? Discover what happens when atoms smash together at close to light speed. Think that’s quick? Wait until you read about the fast-and-furious world of sport stacking!

So, get ready for your yearly dose of mind-blowing feats and wonders in Guinness World Records 2016 – the global authority on record-breaking and in The Bookcase now!

Read it now in paperback
The Ghosts Of Sleath, James Herbert, ISBN 9781447294597 (Panmacmillan) BD4.500 for Gulf Weekly Book Club members

The nights are drawing in and Halloween is around the corner; plenty of scary books being reviewed next week, but here is one to whet your appetite!

Can a ghost haunt a ghost?
Can the dead reach out and touch the living?
Can ancient evil be made manifest?

These are the questions that confront investigator David Ash when he is sent to the picturesque village of Sleath in the Chiltern Hills to look into mysterious reports of mass hauntings.

What he discovers is a terrified community gripped by horrors and terrorised by ghosts from the ancient village’s long history. As each dark secret is unveiled and terrible, malign forces are unleashed, he will fear for his very sanity.

Sleath. Where the dead will walk the streets.

My favourite read of the week
The Art Of Baking Blind, Sarah Vaughan, ISBN 9781444792256 (Hodder) BD4.500 for Gulf Weekly Book Club members

This came into my hands as a special order for a customer. It is simply delightful and I am recommending it as my favourite read this week:
‘There are many reasons to bake: to feed; to create; to impress; to nourish; to define ourselves; and, sometimes, it has to be said, to perfect. But often we bake to fill a hunger that would be better filled by a simple gesture from a dear one. We bake to love and be loved’.

In 1966, Kathleen Eaden, cookery writer and wife of a supermarket magnate, published The Art of Baking, her guide to nurturing a family by creating the most exquisite pastries, biscuits and cakes.

Now, five amateur bakers are competing to become ‘the New Mrs Eaden’ and each of them has a reason to bake. There’s Jenny, facing an empty nest now her family has flown; Claire, who has sacrificed her dreams for her daughter; Mike, trying to parent his two children after his wife’s death; Vicki, who has dropped everything to be at home with her baby boy, and Karen, ‘perfect Karen’, who knows what it’s like to have nothing and is determined her façade shouldn’t slip.

As unlikely alliances are forged and secrets rise to the surface, making the choicest choux bun seems the least of the contestants’ problems. For they will learn – as Mrs Eaden did before them – that while perfection is possible in the kitchen, it’s very much harder in life.