December 31, 2013

Happy New Year 2014 !!!

"Greetings to all our readers, past, present and future! The year is finally closing down on us, with a new one ready to take its place as soon as the clock strikes midnight.

We would like to sincerely thank you all from the depths of our hearts for allowing this website to become what it has, and our only hope is that we will outdo your expectations come January. We wish you happy holidays, and a very happy new year!


“Someone Else’s Love Story” by Joshilyn Jackson – The Threads of Destiny

Someone Else’s Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson (Book cover)
Someone Else’s Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson is a rather light, cutesy, and still thought-provoking romantic story that goes well with the atmosphere brought unto us by the holidays.

The story follows the life of Shandi Pierce, a young single mother who is raising a three year-old genius and trying to make her way through college… all while playing the mediator between her always-warring divorced parents.

December 29, 2013

“The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion” by Fannie Flagg – A Life-Changing Connection

The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg (Book cover))
The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion is a novel written by Fannie Flagg, and it is completely within her realm of mastery. In other words, it has the same style and humor as one can find in Fried Green Tomatoes, and what’s more, I believe that this novel is on the same level as the afore-mentioned classic. In any case,

The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion tells us two stories separated by time but connected by one letter. First off, there is the story of Mrs. Sookie, who just married off her children and wants to travel the world with her husband Earle.

December 24, 2013

Happy Holidays!

Greetings to all our readers, regular, irregular, and first-timers! Thank for taking the time that you did, let it be seconds or hours, to have visited our website during this amazing year that is about to come to a close.

We are going to slow down a tad for this holiday season, but rest assured, once the new year finally makes its way to us we will return to full gear and just keep on doing what we have been doing for the past years.

So happy holidays to you all, enjoy what’s left of this year, and look forward to the next one!


“The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” by Haruki Murakami – Spinning Out of Control

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami - book cover
Haruki Murakami has made quite a name for himself with his unique and engrossing style of writing which at times can be cheerful, thought-provoking, morbid and fascinating.

It can be argued that The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is one of the earlier works by Murakami which gained him some of the recognition he has now, and just like in the spirit of many of his other works, it is quite expansive in its scope, combining numerous elements which generally have nothing to do with each other to deliver a unique and compelling story like none other out there.

December 23, 2013

“The Gods of Guilt” by Michael Connelly – No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

The Gods of Guilt by Michael Connelly (Book cover)
Mickey Haller has already had a relatively long and tumultuous career at his early age, and with The Gods of Guilt Michael Connelly has extended it even further.

Being another entry in the Lincoln Lawyer series, it once again follows Mickey Haller as he takes on a peculiar case. This time though, the involvement is rather personal as the whole thing revolves a former client of his: a prostitute Mickey help put on the straight and narrow.

December 22, 2013

“Severe Clear” by Stuart Woods – Stone Against Terrorism

Severe Clear by Stuart Woods (Book Cover)
In recent years it seems that Stuart Woods has lost his touch, with his novels having noticeably dropped in quality. His fans have been yearning for a comeback for some time now, and lo and behold, it seems they might get what they were asking for.

Severe Clear is a return by Stuart Woods to the Stone Barrington series, bringing to us virtually the whole case, including Stone’s son, Holly Barker, Mike Freeman, Kate Lee, Herb Fisher, Dino, and some others.

December 21, 2013

“Hyperbole and a Half” by Allie Brosh – Simple Humor made Simpler

Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh (Book  cover)
Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh is not the kind of book that is easy to describe, especially when done in a quick book review format… nevertheless, I’ll give it my best shot.

To give you the best idea possible of what the book is all about, one can think of it as a compilation of original content, web comics, and basically thoughts that appeared in the author’s head.

December 20, 2013

“Double Cross” by Ben Macintyre – The Brain Behind the Brawn

Double Cross by Ben Macintyre (Book cover)
Virtually anyone who has studied the Second World War is familiar, at least in some capacity, with the events of June 6th, 1944, when the Allies took to the beaches of Normandy in an attempt to start pushing the Nazi war machine at the Western front.

Though there were certainly many casualties, on the whole, many consider the operation to have been a resounding success, with the number of lives lost being far less than what was expected.

December 18, 2013

“For One More Day” by Mitch Albom – The Importance of Family

For One More Day by Mitch Albom (Book cover)
As is usual with Mitch Albom, For One More Day is a novel which touches upon a rather heavy subject, following the story of Charley who, from a very young age, was always forced to choose between his father and his mother after they got separated.

Things don’t change as he grows up, and one day he decides to secretly go visit his father on a weekend rather than his mother… a decision which doesn’t end well, considering she dies while he is gone.

December 17, 2013

“The First Phone Call from Heaven” by Mitch Albom – The Power of Belief

The First Phone Call from Heaven” by Mitch Albom (Book cover)
The First Phone Call from Heaven is a rather unique and peculiar novel written by Mitch Albom, focusing on the citizens of a small town who have allegedly started to receive phone calls from those in the afterlife.

As far as the people are concerned, the calls seem real enough and there is not a single indication that it may, in fact, be a hoax.

December 16, 2013

“Mrs. McGinty’s Dead” by Agatha Christie – The Dirt of a Cleaner

Mrs. McGinty’s Dead by Agatha Christie (Book Cover)
Throughout her illustrious career Agatha Christie has delivered to us many unforgettable and moving classics in the crime mystery genre, but that happens to be a two-sided coin; though nearly everyone may be familiar with her popular works, her lesser-known efforts are overshadowed, and not for a lack of quality.

It seems to me that Mrs. McGinty’s Dead is one of those novels, following Hercule Poirot as he leads an investigation inside a small village into the murder of an elderly cleaning lady who wouldn’t dare hurt a fly.

December 15, 2013

“King and Maxwell” by David Baldacci – Investigating Beyond the Grave

King and Maxwell by David Baldacci (Book Cover)
David Baldacci has already gifted us with an incredible amount of mesmerizing mysteries, and with King and Maxwell comes a new one that no fan of the author should miss.

This time around, we once again follow the duo of Sean King and Michelle Maxwell, two private investigators and former Secret Service agents. They are tasked with a seemingly innocent case from a teenage boy: though his father is said to have died in Afghanistan recently, the boy received a communication from him after the fact.

“Miracles and Massacres” by Glenn Beck – The Hunt for Truth in History

Miracles and Massacres by Glenn Beck (Book cover)
Though in school most of us thought differently, history is about much more than remembering names, dates and facts. If recounted in the right way, history is basically the true story of humanity, the tale of what happened us and what led us to where we are.

Miracles and Massacres by Glenn Beck is basically an attempt to not only correct many of our erroneous beliefs about history, but also to present us with the story of humanity in an epic and entertaining way, or as much as that is possible at least.

December 12, 2013

“Killing Jesus” by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard – Jesus the Regular Person

Killing Jesus by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard (Book cover)
It can be argued that in the grand scheme of things, today there are two different “sides” to Jesus. The first one is the religious Jesus, the pale-skinned white man who came down on Earth to share the teachings of his father, the one who died on the cross and got resurrected three days later.

The other one is the real Jesus, a very average Middle-Eastern man who became a cult leader before being brutally assassinated by the Romans.

December 10, 2013

“1Q84” by Haruki Murakami – A Meditation on Life

1Q84” by Haruki Murakami – Front Cover
1Q84 is perhaps one of the better-known and more popular novels by Haruki Murakami, even though it certainly drew mixed reactions out of the public. For those who are not familiar with the author, Murakami has won a great number of awards for his many works of writing, making a name for himself as a humorous, original and philosophical author whose approach is unique in itself.

What precisely is 1Q84 about? Well, giving you a brief summary really won’t do this book justice, but I’ll try anyways. We follow two narratives surrounding a young man and a young woman who spent a part of their childhoods together.

Though separated by time and space, they both vividly remember each other, and very slowly their stories come together over the course of the book. Before that happens though, the young lady, Aomame, enters a bizarre parallel existence she refers to as 1Q84, and Tengo, the young man, sees his life unravel in unexpected ways after taking on a suspicious and mysterious ghostwriting job.

December 9, 2013

“Gifted Hands” by Cecil Murphey and Ben Carson – The Biography of a Real Miracle Worker

Gifted Hands by Cecil Murphey and Ben Carson (Book cover)
Many great doctors and surgeons have come and gone over the past centuries, and it can be argued that today, Ben Carson is the most celebrated neurosurgeon, or at least one of the most revered ones.

Basically-speaking, Carson worked miracles day in and day out, saving innumerable lives in the process and even being the pioneer of the surgery used around the world to separate twins who are conjoined at the head.

December 8, 2013

“Smoke and Mirrors” by Neil Gaiman – Unreal as Ordinary

Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman (Book cover)
Neil Gaiman has a habit of bringing us fantastic and surrealistic stories with a colorful cast of characters, and his rather famous collection of stories, Smoke and Mirrors, may be considered as part of the pinnacle of his craft.

In this collection of some thirty stories and poems, we are introduced to a strange world which on the surface seems like ours, but underneath it is very different and in some cases even unsettling.

December 5, 2013

“The Two Minute Rule” by Robert Crais – The Past Never Forgets

The Two Minute Rule by Robert Crais (Book cover)
Max Holman has always followed his own rules to the letter, and not for nothing: being that his profession was to rob banks, the slightest deviation from that survival codex means either prison or death.

Unfortunately, there was one job during which Holman forewent his rules, resulting in a botched job and years spent in a federal prison.

Upon his release, Max learns that his son has recently been gunned down in cold blood, with the truth behind the matter still eluding those on the case.

December 3, 2013

“The Last American Man” by Elizabeth Gilbert – Being One with Nature


The Last American Man
by Elizabeth Gilbert is the biography of Eustace Conway, and an exploration of his philosophy. For those of you who haven’t heard of him, Conway is a man who, when he was seventeen, decided to move away from what he sees as an unnecessarily cruel and materialistic world into the Appalachian Mountains, coming as close to nature as is humanly possible. He has been living in the mountains ever since then, feeding off the land and wearing the skins of animals he trapped.

December 2, 2013

“The Monkey’s Raincoat” by Robert Crais – Out of the Frying Pan…

The Monkey’s Raincoat by Robert Crais (Book cover)
The Monkey’s Raincoat by Robert Crais is one of those mystery detective novels that grabs you from the first paragraph and tries to never let you go until the end, and in my opinion, it surely succeeds in that aspect.

It starts off as we are introduced to the hard-boiled war veteran, Elvis Cole, who decided to turn to private investigating as a way to make ends meet. However, he isn’t the average sleuth as the wise-cracking detective could give some of literature’s most well-known private dicks a run for their money.

December 1, 2013

“Living Big” by Pam Grout – Follow the Life you Want

Living Big by Pam Grout (Book cover)
Living Big by Pam Grout certainly isn’t your traditional novel, nor is it your run-of-the-mill self-help book, filled with obvious pointers and downright cheesy tips and tricks. Rather, this self-help book aims to teach you how to turn around a dead-end life into something you will truly enjoy and be passionate about.

In order for this to happen, the author realizes that there are numerous hurdles or barriers that need to be eradicated from our lives, but the problem is that we are the ones who put them there in the first place.