The Final Detail Order Now

Myron Bolitar is a great character and is so well written by Coben. I have read and reread them all ... super stories, well crafted -- real page turners.Get more detail about The Final Detail.

When You Reach Me Best Quality

This is a great light mystery (with a bit of sci-fi thrown in) that I think will appeal to a wide variety of readers, including those who would never think of picking up a sci-fi book or a mystery. For most of the book, the story is just a regular story, with a bit of intrigue. No aliens, no men with dark mustaches, just a story about Miranda and how she has to get on when her best friend stops speaking to her for no reason. The relationships that Miranda, who has only ever really been friends with Sal, ends up forming with her classmates are what keep the book light-hearted in spite of the weird notes she keeps receiving. They are what keep everything normal.


At the same time, these relationships also highlight what is different. At school they are all just kids and they, for the most part, make friends easily. Outside of school, though they are still friends, they are very different. Miranda, whose hair is just brown and who gets stuck with hot pink construction paper for self-portraits, is the daughter of a single mom (as is Sal) who sometimes struggles to make ends meet, but they do alright. Annemarie lives in a building with a doorman and has an elevator that opens right to her apartment; her dad is always making her special snacks and her mom is always as work. Marcus receives free dental care at school because his family cannot afford it otherwise (46). Alice Evans is always really close to peeing her pants (she's not in the "group," and this is why). Julia travels the world with her parents and describes herself as "café au lait" colored with eyes the color of "sixty-percent-cacao-chocolate" (34). We don't get to learn much about Colin's home situation because, well, he's a boy and doesn't invite Miranda over for a sleepover, nor is it blatantly evident from what happens at school. He's just a goofy guy who gets along with everyone. Other than talking a lot about rushing rivers in front of Alice, the kids don't care about any of this, except that Julia is a snob, having picked up her fancy names for light brown and brown (Miranda's assessment of the situation) while learning about chocolate in Switzerland. Some of the adults, on the other hand, care a lot about this stuff. There is one big confrontation, caused by an adult, which starts out about Julia's race and ends up being about Miranda's lack of money. The way that the group handles it, without any intervention or input from the grown-ups, is possibly unrealistic, but it keeps things from getting too preachy. No one ever has to say, "Judging people based on their perceived race or financial status is wrong," and yet the point is made very clearly.

And, of course, there are the letters and the mystery. I don't want to say too much or give anything away. A large part of the fun while reading a mystery is trying to figure out whodunit, and When You Reach Me is no exception. There were definitely points when I thought I had something figured out and I was so frustrated with Miranda because she Just. Didn't. Get. It., but when the end finally rolled around, there was so much more to it than I could have guessed.



Book source: Philly Free LibraryGet more detail about When You Reach Me.

Bite Me: A Love Story Get it now!

Tommy's practically out of this book, and the Animals have a reduced role. The center of attention goes almost squarely to one of my favorite characters Moore has ever made, Abbey Normal (to clarify there's a good amount of non-Abbey parts but she gets a ton of play). The only thing I didn't like about this book is the word "Kayso" (an Abbey word)... it drove me crazy... but that's about it. Super entertaining. Awesome plot!!!!! My favorite of the three! And, in my opinion, a nice ending to wrap up what I suppose is the trilogy.Get more detail about Bite Me: A Love Story.

Relentless: A Novel Buy Now

I like Dean Koontz for his fast pace, realistic chases. Makes for exciting, fast reading. Without giving away the plot, this book fits the description until the last 50 pages, then it just sucks. Totally unrealistic, inadequately developed. The ending seemed an afterthought. Perhaps Koontz is more concerned with flipping out quick novels in a cookie cutter fashion now-a-days. This will be my last Koontz novel for a long while.Get more detail about Relentless: A Novel.

Life of Pi Immediately

Somehow I missed this book when it first came out, but everyone I've spoken to about it since has told me it changed their life. It is not often one hears more than one or two people say such a thing about a particular book, unless perhaps it's an old classic, like the Bible. So when I heard this claim yet again a few weeks ago, I finally decided I had to do something about it. I had to read the book.

As the title claims, the book is about the life of a character named Pi. (It's not about Pi's entire life, but still.) Pi's real name is Piscine Molitor Patel, but he changes his name to Pi in school after being called a nickname after the bodily function one is reminded of when they hear the name Piscine. He is an Indian boy from town named Pondicherry. His father is a zookeeper and teaches Pi about the nature of animals from an early age. (Most explicitly when he feeds a goat to a tiger in front of his sons. Be warned, there is LOTS of animal violence in this book.) Pi is a curious boy and absorbs all the information he can. Eventually his interests move from the natural world onto the spiritual plane. Born a Hindu, he becomes a Christian and a Muslim after coming across a Church and a Muslim baker. (There's a hysterical scene where Pi is walking with his parents, who have no idea he's practicing three faiths, and they bump into Pi's priest, imam, and pandit all at the same time.) He learns as much of these faiths as he can and appreciates the benefits of each. When his cross-denominational penchant is discovered, he's surprised to find everyone insists he pick one.

Pi's world receives a jolt when his father decides to sell the zoo and move the family to Canada. Since they have to transport some of the animals to sell in the States, they catch a ride on a cargo ship. It sinks in the Pacific. As his family and everyone else on-board drowns, Pi ends up in a small lifeboat with a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a Bengal tiger. Soon, nature takes its course- the hyena eats the zebra and orangutuan only to be eaten by the tiger- and Pi is left alone on the boat with the tiger. At first, Pi is terrified he too will be eaten. But soon he realizes he would be alone without the animal and comes to the conclusion he must not just keep himself alive, but also an animal that could kill Pi in an instant. Pi must use all the knowledge of spirituality and zoo keeping he has garnered to survive.

I thought Life of Pi was brilliant for many reasons. The prose is conversational (the pretext is that Pi is telling the story to the author in a series of interviews.) and witty. Pi is a character we can like right away for his boundless curiosity. But it is the larger themes that make this book hum. Spirituality and science take center stage. Pi's needs to draw upon both to survive. Is Martel telling us we need to do the same? There is an element of storytelling too. Pi is drawn to religion because he likes the stories. (Another great part- there were so many- when Pi compares and contrasts the core stories of Christianity and Hinduism) And a twist at the end suggests perhaps Pi needed storytelling to survive as well. Is it all just an allegory? As Pi says to close his interview with representatives of the cargo company after his ordeal, "And so it goes with God."

Okay, I won't say the book changed my life. But it addresses some themes and ideas that sure could change the way we see life; the way we accept or reject religion in our lives- or even refuse to decide. It is up to us to do the rest.
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Life of Pi This instant

Somehow I missed this book when it first came out, but everyone I've spoken to about it since has told me it changed their life. It is not often one hears more than one or two people say such a thing about a particular book, unless perhaps it's an old classic, like the Bible. So when I heard this claim yet again a few weeks ago, I finally decided I had to do something about it. I had to read the book.

As the title claims, the book is about the life of a character named Pi. (It's not about Pi's entire life, but still.) Pi's real name is Piscine Molitor Patel, but he changes his name to Pi in school after being called a nickname after the bodily function one is reminded of when they hear the name Piscine. He is an Indian boy from town named Pondicherry. His father is a zookeeper and teaches Pi about the nature of animals from an early age. (Most explicitly when he feeds a goat to a tiger in front of his sons. Be warned, there is LOTS of animal violence in this book.) Pi is a curious boy and absorbs all the information he can. Eventually his interests move from the natural world onto the spiritual plane. Born a Hindu, he becomes a Christian and a Muslim after coming across a Church and a Muslim baker. (There's a hysterical scene where Pi is walking with his parents, who have no idea he's practicing three faiths, and they bump into Pi's priest, imam, and pandit all at the same time.) He learns as much of these faiths as he can and appreciates the benefits of each. When his cross-denominational penchant is discovered, he's surprised to find everyone insists he pick one.

Pi's world receives a jolt when his father decides to sell the zoo and move the family to Canada. Since they have to transport some of the animals to sell in the States, they catch a ride on a cargo ship. It sinks in the Pacific. As his family and everyone else on-board drowns, Pi ends up in a small lifeboat with a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a Bengal tiger. Soon, nature takes its course- the hyena eats the zebra and orangutuan only to be eaten by the tiger- and Pi is left alone on the boat with the tiger. At first, Pi is terrified he too will be eaten. But soon he realizes he would be alone without the animal and comes to the conclusion he must not just keep himself alive, but also an animal that could kill Pi in an instant. Pi must use all the knowledge of spirituality and zoo keeping he has garnered to survive.

I thought Life of Pi was brilliant for many reasons. The prose is conversational (the pretext is that Pi is telling the story to the author in a series of interviews.) and witty. Pi is a character we can like right away for his boundless curiosity. But it is the larger themes that make this book hum. Spirituality and science take center stage. Pi's needs to draw upon both to survive. Is Martel telling us we need to do the same? There is an element of storytelling too. Pi is drawn to religion because he likes the stories. (Another great part- there were so many- when Pi compares and contrasts the core stories of Christianity and Hinduism) And a twist at the end suggests perhaps Pi needed storytelling to survive as well. Is it all just an allegory? As Pi says to close his interview with representatives of the cargo company after his ordeal, "And so it goes with God."

Okay, I won't say the book changed my life. But it addresses some themes and ideas that sure could change the way we see life; the way we accept or reject religion in our lives- or even refuse to decide. It is up to us to do the rest.
Get more detail about Life of Pi.

Alex Cross's TRIAL Top Quality

James Patterson always writes a good book and I love the character of Alex Cross and this one didn't let me down. It was interesting to learn the history of Alex Cross.Get more detail about Alex Cross's TRIAL.