I have never read any of Paulo Coelho’s books but I never forgot what my mentor told me before. We were discussing about great books to read and he always would mention the book “The Alchemist” because he said that it taught him great virtues in life and that …

“Cowgirl Rosie And Her Five Baby Bison” is a children’s book authored and illustrated by Stephen Gulbis and published in 2001. It is a cute book about a little cow girl that my daughter liked quite a bit. She has made several requests for the “cowgirl book.”
Pros: …

Thomas Hardy’s poem The Man He Killed follows one soldier’s brutal murder of another, and paints a portrait of war’s irony. Interestingly, the theme of the entire poem is somehow quaint with a twist of irony thrown in. One thematic statement is found throughout the poem: a message that …

The Pagan Stone is the final installment in the Sign of Seven Trilogy. And I gotta say, this final installment simply rocks!
The first 2 books focused on Cal & Quinn, Fox and Layla. No surprise then, that this book sees more of Cybil and Gage. i love both characters …

Split by a Kiss by Luisa Plaja is a very easy read for me, and at times, I need something light to read and just relaxing my mind.
The character in the story is teenager Jo and she is a girl with a very big heart and yet she …

“How Scary” is a children’s book written and illustrated by Bernard Lodge and published in 2001. This is a rather short book that basically just introduces the reader to all sorts of strange animals and creatures, each of which is allegedly scarier than the previous one.
Pros: The …

In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry and his friends are grown up and are getting prepared to fight Voldemort after figuring out that the Ministry was involved and did not want the students to learn self defense. Also, they told the students that Voldemort was …

The Invasion of the Tearling is the second novel in a projected trilogy, (the first being The Queen of the Tearling, which I reviewed previously). The Invasion of the Tearling continues the amazing saga of former Princess and now Queen Kelsea Glynn, as she prepares to defend …

‘The obsession’ is a book written by Kim Chernin. The author reflects on the tyranny of slenderness. The book is an analysis which is beautifully written. The analysis is about our society’s increasing demand that women be thin. The author says that men have encouraged this obsession and women …

This manga is fun to read, although perhaps not appropriate for children, as there is violence and a few deaths occur. The format of the book, while a bit confusing because it can be difficult to determine who is talking or even the order the dialogue goes in, adds …

“Max’s Bunny Business” by Rosemary Wells is a brand new Max & Ruby book published in 2008. It is big and bright and has a cute story, although it is not as funny and charming as some of the other stories. However, my daughter loves all that is …

Tatted Snowflakes by Vida Sunderman is a tatting pattern book filled with, you’ll never guess, patterns for tatting a variety of snowflakes.
Even though I was not a beginning tatter when I purchased the Tatted Snowflakes book it does have a small section on how to tat on the introduction …

This book, No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog by Margaret Mason gives no indication that it’s going to be a technical one for me. When I first took a look at the title, I already sense that this is going to be …

I’ve been a long-time fan of Jane Austen’s; like every other geeky girl, I’ve sympathised with her feisty heroines and their lovelifes as a teen, then came to appreciate the gentle humour of the stories, then realized how profoundly disturbing the shame she shows them to feel can be. …

This book by Eric Jerome Dickey is part of the collection of Urban Erotic Tales. I received this book when I joined www.blackexpressions.com book club a few months ago. Its about a woman who discovers her husband is cheating, so as revenge she cheats with the other woman’s husband.
I …

Recommended ages7 and up
Molly McIntire is living on the homefront of World War II in 1944. Molly’s fathers away at war caring for wounded soldiers in England. Things have changed drastically in her home. With her mother working at the Red Cross, her older sister acting more superior to …

“Scuba Bunnies” is a children’s book authored by Christine Loomis and illustrated by Ora Eitan. It was published in 2004. As one may deduce from the title, it is a story about little bunnies who decide to go diving in the ocean.
Pros: The language is quite …

Superman is put on trial for treason. He’s given an attorney who does what he can to spin the story in Kal’s favor. The soldier with whom he’s being tried even tries to take the bullet for Kal, but Kal interjects saying that it was his decision …

This is a great collection of quotations carefully selected from various segments of the Health and Home Magazine and published into a single book. The quotes are artistically presented with amazing photographs carefully picked and placed appropriately throughout the pages. I very much appreciate how nature, ranging from cute …

The Giver is Lois Lowry’s crowning glory in my opinion. I also loved her World War II novel Number the Stars, but The Giver is a different story that fills a different niche, and most importantly, serves a different purpose. This novel tells of a world that …

Lolita is a tragic love story. This novel tells of a professor and writer named Humbert. Because the memories of his past romance with a girl, Annabel, he is obsessed with a teenage girl named Dolores Haze. To be close to Dolores, Humbert eventually marrying the girl’s mother, Charlotte …

‘Brave New World’ is a classic masterpiece of dystopian literature. It’s the book for everybody who wants to understand more about the world we live in. Written in the 1930’s as a kind of prophesy and warning, it contained many predictions which actually turned out to be true or …

This is the first book in a very popular series of children’s fantasy novels called “The Underland Chronicles” and one I thoroughly enjoyed reading. And yes, adults can enjoy this book, too, so don’t let the fact it’s published for kids stop you from reading it. In many cases, …

This wonderful publication, Reminisce, is a magical trip back in time when life was simpler. It brings to mind golden moments and days gone by that bring smiles to the faces of the readers.
One of my favorite sections is ‘When Sundays Were Funny’ where a comic from yesteryear …

This is a book review on Slummy Mummy by Fiona Neill. I had reviewed before the other story with a pretty similar title by the same author, Fiona too. And that title is The Secret Life of a Slummy Mummy.
However, this time round, I am reviewing the novel …

Arguably one of Ray Bradbury’s more widely known efforts; The Illustrated Man is an anthology of some of his best short stories. Sandwiched by a curious tale of a drifter who meets an “illustrated man” covered head to toe in strange tattoos; the anthology offers up a varied mix …

The Great Expectations School: A Rookie Year in the New Blackboard Jungle by Dan Brown and Randi Weingarten is a heartwarming story that makes me remember about the sacrifices done by a teacher and what it could have been and etc. The students in the class that Dan Brown …

Do you enjoy a good, well written murder mystery? Mary Higgins Clark never fails to entertain in this arena. She writes excellent books with well thought out plots and characters.
The story, We’ll Meet Again, starts out with the murder of a doctor and the arrest of his …

Synopsis
Written through the eyes of Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Jane Boleyn. Three young women caught up in the power hungry and volatile court of King Henry VIII.
Anne of Cleves, picked to be the fourth Queen of England yet a fatal mistake dashes her hopes before they have …

Sometimes an author really shakes up his reader’s expectations. This is what happened to me when I started “The Sorcerer of the North,” book five in The Ranger’s Apprentice series by Australian novelist John Flanagan. Flanagan’s first four books in the series had Will training under Halt to become …

Billy Budd, a classic by Herman Melville, is by far the WORST book I’ve ever read.
For starters, Melville died while the book was still in progress. That means that those of us who decide to read the novel are stuck with more than a few paragraphs and chapters that …

Despite its few failings, this novel is in my opinion a good read for every suspense fan. Dean Koontz once more proves his mastery and delivers a truly gripping tale of mystery and horror. The protagonist, Susan Thornton, a young woman of about thirty, wakes up in hospital to …

We found this delightful book in the children’s section of our local library. It is the Usborne edition of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, beautifully illustrated by Serena Riglietti. The story of the mischief caused by fairies on Midsummer Night in the forest is enchantingly encapsulated in this small hardcover …

When people think of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, they naturally think of his most famous character, Sherlock Holmes. But, he actually had another character that could match up to the famous detective.
In reading the book The Adventures of Gerard, I was introduced to a French soldier who served during …

Fateful follows a maid named Tess Davies who is a passenger on the Titanic. She works for the nasty Lady Regina, who is a first class passenger aboard the Titanic. Desperate to escape her life as a maid, Tess plans to run away when the Titanic arrives in New …

I bought the book called Fit and Fabulous in 15 Minutes by Teresa, Tapp, Barbara and Smalley features the most popular fitness program, called T-Tapp. This is actually a fun workout to do, and my colleague at work recommended me to this video. I wanted to burn …

This book is the second book in the Deltora Shadowlands trilogy. These are great books for kids. Each book is full of little puzzles and tricks, so you really have to pay attention to what is going on.
In this book, Lief, Barda, and Jasmine are looking for the second …

Bitter Virgin is a manga by Kusunoki Kei. It is a four volume long manga with the genre of drama, mature, romance, school life, seinen, slice of life, and tragedy. The manga is about the relationship of high school student Daisuke Suwa and his classmate Hinako Aikawa. Daisuke is the …

Batman Issue 500 is a landmark issue in the “Knightfall” story arc featuring Bane’s famous defeat of Batman, breaking his back in the process. Bruce Wayne is forced to choose a replacement Batman, the former assassin known as Azreal.
Issue 500 features a fantastic extended fight between the new …

Wow—¦ what a cool book. This is an illustrated novel put together by Brian Selznick. In my opinion, there really aren’t enough of these. It might seem a bit childish, and it may be difficult for some to take seriously—¦ but the pictures are adorable, and …

This is my favorite of Dave Barry’s books. It is screamingly, hilariously funny. It is a nice, thick book with medium sized print, so you are getting a good amount of material in one book. In his typical style, Barry takes his every day life and …

This story that I have read have a genre of fantasy, and to be honest, I think this story is a dumb and dubious story.
Fantasy genre is pretty fine by me, but this story makes the plot to the brink of insanity and nonsense. That is my truthful …

My wife enjoys Russian classics, and she introduced me to Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. I admit I am not very much into classics myself, but this one had gotten me interested. Leo’s writing takes some getting used to; he uses long sentences and puts so much thought into …

While I absolutely fell in love with William Goldman’s screenplay of “The Princess Bride”, his abridged 25th anniversary edition of S. Morgenstern’s novel came as a slight disappointment. There were a combination of things that did not sit well with me about the book that I feel lead to …

I had high hopes for this book. After all, Brennan Manning’s “The Ragamuffin Gospel” may not have been the best written book out there, but it still had a lot going for it in the realms of depth and insight. Manning’s “Journey of the Prodigal,” however, quite frankly struck …

Space Medic is a book written by Harry Harrison and published by Puffin books in 1983 (first publishing was in 1970).
I acquired this book at a library sale, where they were selling off books for a song (well, twenty cents actually). I noticed this, and thought it was a …

If you’re a makeup and beauty addict such as myself, then you will already have your own copy of Sephora’s beauty book about makeup, skin, and hair; if you don’t, then you should go grab you a copy from Amazon immediately after reading this review. Every since I purchased my …

Look at the television, on the Internet and in the bookshops and you will see Jamie Oliver’s wicked little face grinning back at you.
Jamie is endeavouring to enrol people to be a part of his food revolution. A campaign to encourage people to `Go back to basics` to start …

My dad found this odd little book at a yard sale, and it’s a really interesting read for anyone interested in gardening or the outdoors. Although most people think of spring and summer flowering gardens, this book is a collection of information and pictures of winter plant species. It’s …

This is the second installation in Sweet Valleys’ The Frightening Four series, and the first book shows that Juliana wasn’t really dreaming at all and someone was really attacking her in her dreams or when she wakes up, as she has deep scratches on her back.
Now that Elizabeth is …