Bookworm book listing

Vivian Wang from the Bookworm recommends the following best sellers to Beijing Today readers.

The Book of the Alchemist
By Adam Williams, 448pp, Hodder & Stoughton General, $18.99
In the 11th century, as Europe slumbers in the dark ages, Southern Spain is a beacon of enlightenment that draws artists, scientists and philosophers of all faiths. In this haven of tolerance, three boys meet by chance under a fig tree on a hot summer’s day. An alchemist, a mason and a prince, they establish a secret brotherhood that will construct a great monument to astonish the world.

Let the Great World Spin: A Novel
By Colum McCann, 400pp, Random House Trade Paperbacks, $15.00
Late on a summer morning, the people of lower Manhattan stand hushed, staring up in disbelief at the Twin Towers. It is August 1974, and a mysterious tightrope walker is running, dancing and leaping between the towers, suspended a quarter mile above the ground. On the streets below, a slew of ordinary lives become extraordinary in bestselling novelist Colum McCann’s stunningly intricate portrait of a city ad its people.

The Pool of Unease
By Catherine Sampson, 320pp, Pan Publishing, $6.99
The scream – feminine, high-pitched, terrified, breathless, a wordless, formless, plea for mercy – arrived from silence and was cut off, abuptly strangled, leaving a gurgling echo in its airy wake. Robin Ballantyne is investigating the murder of a British man in Beijing. Meanwhile, late one freezing night, Chinese private detective Song rescues a young boy from a fire on a building site. But witnesses appear from the murky environs to find bloody clothes on the ground and no body. As the flames blaze, Song panics and flees into the woods –still clutching the boy. Song and  Ballantyne must unravel the truth behind the murders before they find themselves silenced – and before the killer’s next sinister move.

(By He Jianwei)