Stories from Nauru by Ben Bam Solomon and others.

Published by the USP (University of the South Pacific) Centre of Nauru.

Excerpted from the book's foreword:

The stories in this collection were written by participants of a workshop on Creative Writing and Drama in Nauru in 1990. Most participants were Nauruans. It was published by the USP (University of the South Pacific) Centre of Nauru.

May these stories bring
satisfaction to those who read them
inspiration to those who write them
joy and hope to those who hear them.

May the readers, writers, and listeners
be motivated to add to this collection
to record, retell and recreate
the richness of Nauruan folklore.

May the future generations of Nauruans
be inspired to build pride in this collection
to capture the essence of hidden talents
to explore the music, dances, paintings and many tales
of a unique existence
revealing the beauty of this small island nation

This was an intruiging little book. It's next to impossible to get hold of but I had the opportunity of reading a copy during a bookcrossing bookring. I am glad I did. I adore learning of other cultures and my only flaw with this book was that the twenty pages were just not enough. I wanted more.

These are simple and yet vivid little stories which vary from giving a glimpse into the past and mythical side of Nauru, through to the present problems they have. I loved seeing all of it and hope that we see much more from this place.

Notes From A Small Island by Bill Bryson

From the Publisher (Harper Perennial - An Imprint of Harper Collins Publishers) :

After nearly two decades spent on British soil, Bill Bryson-bestselling author of The Mother Tongue and Made in America-decided to return to the United States. ("I had recently read," Bryson writes, "that 3.7 million Americans believed that they had been abducted by aliens at one time or another,so it was clear that my people needed me.") But before departing, he set out on a grand farewell tour of the green and kindly island that had so long been his home.

Veering from the ludicrous to the endearing and back again, Notes from a Small Island is a delightfully irreverent jaunt around the unparalleled floating nation that has produced zebra crossings, Shakespeare, Twiggie Winkie's Farm, and places with names like Farleigh Wallop and Titsey. The result is an uproarious social commentary that conveys the true glory of Britain, from the satiric pen of an unapologetic Anglophile.

"Suddenly, in the space of a moment, I realized what it was that I loved about Britain-which is to say, all of it."

I had been curious about this book for some time and I was sent a copy for my birthday this year so I was thrilled.

It started off well, even if it came across as Bill Bryson painting a less than good picture of England (most especially up north). This wasn't an enjoyable book for me as the author comes across as derogatory, hostile, offensive and arrogant.

There were better moments in the book where a softer side shows through, especially at the end where you would hardly believe it was the same person.

A quote on the cover said: "Hilarious and observant", yet another quote said "Bryson is unparalleled in his ability to cut a culture off at the knees in a way that is so humorous and so affectionate that those being ridiculed are laughing too hard to take offense".

Speaking as someone who was born and raised in England I can safely say I often didn't find it hilarious or affectionate and at times I found it very easy to take offense. That was a shock to me as I am usually really difficult to offend. The main saving grace for this book is that it did allow me the luxury of revisiting many familiar places that are close to my heart and it brought me many moments of fond memories. For that I will always cherish this thoughtful gift and I will still be checking out this author again at some point, if only to sate my curiosity as to whether I would prefer some of his other books.

Author's website http://www.randomhouse.com/features/billbryson/

The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde

From the Publisher (Viking Adult - An Imprint of Penguin Group USA) :

Jasper Fforde does it again with this dazzling new series

It’s Easter in Reading—a bad time for eggs—and no one can remember the last sunny day. Ovoid D-class nursery celebrity Humpty Stuyvesant Van Dumpty III, minor baronet, ex-convict, and former millionaire philanthropist, is found shattered to death beneath a wall in a shabby area of town. All the evidence points to his ex-wife, who has conveniently shot herself.

But Detective Inspector Jack Spratt and his assistant Mary Mary remain unconvinced, a sentiment not shared with their superiors at the Reading Police Department, who are still smarting over their failure to convict the Three Pigs of murdering Mr. Wolff. Before long Jack and Mary find themselves grappling with a sinister plot involving cross-border money laundering, bullion smuggling, problems with beanstalks, titans seeking asylum, and the cut and thrust world of international chiropody.

And on top of all that, the JellyMan is coming to town . . .

This book is one of my favourites, easily. I loved reading Lost In A Good Book by this author and had bought this with the hope that it would be as much fun to read and it didn't disappoint.

The reader gets to tag along as Detective Inspector Jack Spratt heads up the NCD (Nursery Crime Division) and tries to solve the crime that begins when Humpty Dumpty is found shattered at the base of a wall.

I challenge anyone to read this and not get drawn into repeating childhood nursery rhymes about each character as you recognise them! I loved the humour and found myself laughing out loud so many times and it didn't hurt that so many things in the book reminded me of growing up in England.

Great book and I will definitely be reading it again and looking out for more by this brilliantly funny author.

You can read an excerpt of this book here

Author's website: http://www.jasperfforde.com/

Nursery Crime website: http://www.nurserycrime.co.uk/index.html

Beloved by Toni Morrison

From the Publisher (Vintage Books - An Imprint of Random House Inc)

Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, Beloved is a towering achievement.

Someone recommended I try this book after I stated I couldn't really get into The Bluest Eye (Though I did finish it). This one is definitely a better book but I still found the same problem in parts. I would have to read and reread certain paragraphs in order to make sense of them and even then at times I fell short of doing so.

This book is just filled with so many intense emotions and covers the best and worst of human traits. The characters are brilliantly written and it is one of those books you can easily become lost in and it's also a book that will stay with you for a long time. The content is both haunting and tragic as would be expected with a book covering slavery and racism.

I know I want to reread it at some point in the future and maybe even try The Bluest Eye again too.

Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud

From the Publishers (Hyperion Books for Children & Miramax):

Three years have passed since the magician Nathaniel helped prevent a cataclysmic attack on London. Now an established member of the British Government, he faces unprecedented problems: foreign wars are going badly, Britain’s enemies are mounting attacks close to London, and rebellion is fermenting among the commoners. Increasingly imperious and distracted, Nathaniel is treating Bartimaeus worse than ever. The long-suffering djinni is growing weak and vulnerable from too much time in this world, and his patience is nearing its end.

Meanwhile, undercover in London, Kitty has been stealthily completing her research on magic, demons, and Bartimaeus’s past. She has a plan that she hopes will break the endless cycle of conflict between djinn and humans. But will anyone listen to what she has to say?

In this thrilling conclusion of the Bartimaeus trilogy, the destinies of Bartimaeus, Nathaniel, and Kitty are thrown together once more. For the first time, we will learn the secrets of Bartimaeus’s past, and get a glimpse into the Other Place -- the world of demons -- as together, the threesome must face treacherous magicians, unravel a masterfully complex conspiracy, and defeat a formidable faction of demons. And worst of all, they must somehow cope with one another....

This book is part 3 of the Bartimaeus Trilogy and out of all of them, my favourite one by far. It brings us the conclusion of the battle between the wizards and the commoners but in a totally surprising way that I would could never have anticipated.

Great storyline, brilliant character development and the number of surprises in this book are just countless. The humour that started in book one, only to vanish mostly in book 2, returns with a vengeance. It really was a terrific read and I know I will be reading this trilogy again sometime.

Read Chapter 1 at Hyperion Books for Children.

Trilogy website: http://www.bartimaeustrilogy.com/home.html

Author's wesbite: http://www.jonathanstroud.com/ (check out the news and events section for all the awards this series won.)

The Mercy Room by Gilles Rozier

From the Publisher (Little, Brown & Company - An Imprint of Hachette Book Group USA):

A brilliant exploration of sexual obsession and human frailty in a country gripped by war.

In a small town in occupied France during World War II, a teacher of German is recruited by the Gestapo to translate sensitive documents. Every week, waiting for the next assignment, our narrator sits outside the commandant's office and watches prisoners being led to detention cells before being deported. Always existing on the fringes of life, caring only for books, the teacher has never done anything heroic. And certainly this is no time to get entangled in other people's problems.

But one day a stunning Jewish soldier is among the prisoners. His name is Herman and the teacher recognizes him from their lives before the war. In an unprecedented act of boldness, the teacher sneaks Herman out of headquarters, brings him home, and hides him in the cellar, along with a cache of banned books. So begins an extraordinary and shattering affair in which two people and two antagonistic languages, Yiddish and German, are magnetically attracted.

In a tour de force of novelistic technique, Gilles Rozier never reveals the gender of his narrator--opening the question of how many levels of transgression and risk the teacher is taking by hiding Herman. THE MERCY ROOM is an exquisite novel about the power of desire and the competing forces of good or ill in the heart of each of us.

I really tried to love this book as it is about a period in time which greatly holds my interest. I just couldn't connect with the characters in the way I usually would but despite that, it's still a good little book to read.

Since I know this book is originally written in French, I will likely end reading this again at some point in both languages as something may have been lost in translation.

I admit I hadn't even noticed the sex of the main character wasn't revealed at any point but for some reason my mind automatically assumed the character was a female. Next time I may try reading it with the character as a male and see if that makes a difference also.

The Golem's Eye by Jonathan Stroud

From the Publishers (Hyperions Books for Children & Miramax):

The second adventure in the Bartimaeus trilogy finds our young apprentice magician Nathaniel working his way up the ranks of the government, when crisis hits. A seemingly invulnerable clay golem is making random attacks on London. Nathaniel and the all-powerful, totally irreverent djinni, Bartimaeus, must travel to Prague to discover the source of the golem’s power.

In the ensuing chaos, readers will chase a dancing skeleton across London’s skyline, encounter the horror of the dreaded Night Police, witness a daring kidnapping, and enter the Machiavellian world of the magician’s government. Eventually, Nathaniel and Bartimaeus have to go head to head with the fearsome golem before the surprise identity of his master is finally revealed.

This book was pretty fun but not as good as the first one, for me at least which was mainly because it seemed to have less humour. The plot was awesome but it was transparent way too soon in the book. I felt a lot more of bartimaeus could have been done. It seemed to just rehash a lot of his earlier quirks and personality traits rather than give us a deeper/closer look into him. I did note a few nice surprises along the way though.

I am still looking forward to reading the 3rd book in the trilogy

Trilogy website: http://www.bartimaeustrilogy.com/home.html

Author website: http://www.jonathanstroud.com/ (check out the news and events section for all the awards this series won.)