Happy Dungeon Daddy Day

Some branches of Tesco and W H Smith have featured The Crimes of Josef Fritzl: Uncovering the Truth as an ideal gift for Father's Day. One W H Smith store displayed the title as one of its "Top 50 Books for Dad" (buy one, get one half-price), declaring on a nearby display: "Fathers are heroes". A Tesco store in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, alarmed shoppers with its suggestion that the book would be a suitable symbol of father-offspring love (The Independent.)

In the spirit of these chain bookstores, here are some more ideas of gifts to give your loved ones on those special days:


Mother's Day: Finding Shannon: The Inside Story by Richard Edwards


International Children's Day: When Kids Kill: Unthinkable Crimes of Lost Innocence by Jonathan Paul


International Women's Day: Hot Chicks with Douchebags by Jay Louis


End Racism Day: Identity. Magazine of the British National Party # 100 by John Bean


Christmas Day: Luciferian Witchcraft by Michael Ford


Valentine's Day: Beyond Belief: The Moors Murderers: The Story of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley by Emlyn Williams


Pope Benedict XVI's birthday: Gay Men and Anal Eroticism: Tops, Bottoms and Versatiles by Steven G. Underwood


Gay Pride Day: The Pursuit of the Good Life by Ted Haggard


World Vegetarian Day: Meat: How to Choose, Cook and Eat it by Adrian Richardson


International Day of Peace: The Leadership Genius of George W.Bush: 10 Commonsense Lessons from the Commander in Chief by Carolyn B. Thompson and Jim Ware

Did I miss out any day?

One Hundred Years of Solitude

Sebastian Barry, The Secret Scripture, 2008
This Booker prize short-lister and winner of the Costa and Irish Novel of the Year award had all the ingredients to be a great read. An Irish centenarian once famed for her beauty decides to write a secret diary after decades in a mental asylum. Meanwhile, her recently widowed and bereaved doctor is drawn to the mystery of her arrival and presence in the asylum, leading him into an investigation of her past and, to a certain extent, Ireland's great dark secrets. Unfortunately, and sadly, the story doesn't quite hang together despite an easy going (and page turning) narrative. Clumsy dialogue and half-fleshed characters never come alive, the story is full of cliches explored more successfully before by other authors and films, and the ending has a twist you see coming a mile away - the sort of contrived finale that snuffs the life out of any story rather than generate great emotion or understanding. It's a good enough story if you want a hint of melancholia that will disappear within the week.