World Book Club - Penelope Lively – Moon Tiger

Harriett Gilbert talks to acclaimed British writer Penelope Lively about her Booker Prize winning novel Moon Tiger.

A haunting tale of loss, loneliness and secret desires Moon Tiger is the kaleidoscopic story of maverick historian Claudia Hampton.

Telling nurses on her death bed that she will write a "history of the world and in the process my own," she charts her intensely-lived life from her childhood in England after World War I to the war-torn desert plains of Egypt, 30 years later – and beyond.

Egocentric and condescending as well as vulnerable and gutsy, Claudia is a complex heroine for our times who lingers in the mind long after you put the book down.

(Image: Penelope Lively. Copyright: Penguin)

Motley Fool Money - Motley Fool Money: 12.02.2011

The unemployment rate falls to its lowest level in more than two years.  Retailers report big sales numbers.  Pfizer loses its patent protection for Lipitor.  And pop music group Hanson taps into a new business opportunity.   Our analysts discuss those stories and share three stocks on their radar.  Plus, James Rickards discusses his book, Currency Wars: The Making of the Next Global Crisis.

 

 

 

 

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More or Less: Behind the Stats - Pensions, and the Eurozone crisis.

In the week of a nationwide strike over pension changes, Tim Harford explains how the government can make public sector pensions sound generous, at the same time the unions can make them sound small. And he finds out why a Greek national statistician is under suspicion of committing crimes against numbers. Plus, is it really true that there are more Porsche Cayenne owners than tax payers declaring an income of more than 55,000 euros in Greece? Also, are affordable homes affordable? And can the whole world fit on the Isle of Wight? Tim tries to cram his studio full of Radio 4 presenters and producers to test the theory.

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