insideKENT Magazine Issue 36 - March 2015 | Page 26

ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT

top reads cont.

FANTASY
NON-FICTION
Stardust
by Neil Gaiman
SCIENCE FICTION

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became
one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now,
he's sure he'll be the first person to die there.
Discover The Martian.

Life moves at a leisurely pace in the tiny town of
Wall – named after the imposing stone barrier
that separates the town from a grassy meadow.
Here, young Tristran Thorn has lost his heart to
the beautiful Victoria Forester and for the coveted
prize of her hand, Tristran vows to retrieve a fallen
star and deliver it to his beloved. It's an oath that
sends him over the ancient wall and into a world
that is dangerous and strange beyond imagining...

RRP: £7.99
Published: 28th Aug 2014

RRP: £8.99
Published: 19th Sep 2005

The Martian
by Andy Weir

Do No Harm:
Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery
by Henry Marsh
From triumphs to disaster, this title provides an
astonishingly candid insight into the life and work
of a modern neurosurgeon. Not only is this book
a Sunday Times bestseller, it has been shortlisted
for the Guardian First Book Award and also the
Costa Biography Award, plus longlisted for the
Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction.
RRP: £8.99
Published: 9th Oct 2014

HISTORICAL

BIOGRAPHY

The Paying Guests
by Sarah Waters

There’s Something I’ve Been
Dying to Tell You
by Lynda Bellingham

There came the splash of water
and the rub of heels as Mrs
Barber stepped into the tub. After
that there was a silence, broken
only by the occasional echoey
plink of drips from the tap.
Frances had been picturing her
lodgers in purely mercenary
terms, as something like two great
waddling shillings. But this, she
thought, was what it really meant
to have paying guests; this odd,
unintimate proximity, this rather
peeled-back moment, where the
only thing between herself and
a naked Mrs Barber was a few
feet of kitchen and a thin scullery
door. An image sprang into her
head: that round flesh, crimsoning in the heat.

In 2013, Lynda Bellingham was
diagnosed with cancer. Having
kept the details of her illness
private, here for the very first
time Lynda talks with beautiful
poignancy about her life since
her diagnosis, her family, and
how together they came to
terms with a future they hadn't
planned.
Having been told that she only
had a matter of months left to
live and writing this in what was
sadly her final days, There's
Something I've Been Dying to
Tell You is a brave and brutally
honest memoir, and yet Lynda still manages to spread her infectious warmth
and humour, bringing light to a very dark time.

RRP: £20 (hardback)
Published: 2