Classic Starts: Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm retold from the Kate Douglas Wiggin original by Deanna McFadden. Illustrated by Jamel Akib

Published by Sterling Publishing Co.,Inc.

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm is a classic from 1903. As part of the Classic Starts series, Deanna McFadden retells this tale in a way that will help adults and children alike, fall in love the book all over again.

As the title suggests, the novel is based around a young girl named Rebecca. Rebecca is one of seven children and has an amazing zest for life. She is feisty, talkative and often finds her way into trouble. When her Aunt Miranda asks if Hannah - Rebecca's sister - can come to stay, Rebecca's mother chooses to send Rebecca instead, in the hope that a different environment, schooling, and being with her Aunts will be good for her.

So begins a great adventure for Rebecca as she adjusts to a new life, a new school and new friends. An adjustment that isn't easy. Aunt Miranda never seems to be happy about anything that Rebecca does. Thankfully Aunt Jane also lives with them and has a personality which is the opposite so things balance out nicely.

Rebecca, for all her spirit, is really a gentle soul and tries her very best to please those around her but after her Aunt Miranda tells Rebecca that she won't stand for her acting in her father's silly ways, Rebecca decides enough is enough and plans to run away. Thankfully a neighbour, Mr. Cobb, who was also the coachman who brought her from Sunnybrook farm, is a friend to her and helps her.

We get to see the transformation as Rebecca grows into a young lady with fiery spirit intact, and also watch as the bond between Rebecca and her Aunts grows.

It's a truly heartwarming story that I am so glad I read. I have never read the original classic but this retold version has definitely inspired me to do so. As I read it, I could easily imagine myself reading this to - or with - a child and helping them to discover a love for the classics too.

Deanna McFadden does a wonderful job of making this classic more accessible to children of a younger age while still keeping much of the charm that helps adults stay in love with the story too.

The illustrations by Jamel Akib are wonderful and help inspire the imagination. What I liked too is that this book contains questions at the end, to make your child think, or for you to discuss the book with them. I thought that was a great touch!

Sterling Publishing Company have published many of the classics in this format and it makes a great collection for any young mind. I especially love the book design. Each spine has the title along with a small image which I imagine to be very aesthetically pleasing on a bookcase.

Click here to see more Classic Starts titles.

Author's blog: http://tragicrighthip.blogspot.com/

Illustrator's website: http://www.illustrationweb.com/JamelAkib/

The Burnt House by Faye Kellerman

Release date Aug 07, 2007.
Reviewed as part of the First Look program.

Published by William Morrow - an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers

Faye Kellerman has written another Decker and Lazarus novel. The Burnt House is a fast-paced and brilliant novel in which Peter Decker has to deal with the aftermath of a commuter flight crashing into an L.A. apartment building. Many questions are being asked and while most people are wondering whether it was terrorism or technical failure that caused the tragedy, Decker has other priorities in mind.

Decker receives a phone call from a frantic father who wants to find his 28 year old daughter. The newspaper has her listed as being on the doomed flight but her father is adamant that though she is probably dead, she was never on that flight but was in fact killed by her husband. Decker is relieved to finally have an answer for the father when there is another body of a female - or what's left of it at least - found at the crash site that has to be the missing woman. Surprisingly, tests show that the body is not from the crash at all, but is a body that has been buried in the building for some time. The skull leaves no doubt that foul play was involved.

Now Decker has two cases to solve. Will he ever find out what happened to Roseanne Dresden so that her parents can have a sense of peace? The airline she worked for are not giving out any answers, and while questioning those who knew her, many different versions of events are coming to light. The problem is, there is no evidence to back any of it.

As for the unidentified woman. Just how do you solve a crime that could have happened anytime in the last 30 years? Especially when the remains are so fragile that even the slightest attempt to use normal methods of ID will turn the evidence to dust.

The book follows Decker as he works with his team to solve these cases while also trying to help his daughter and son-in-law as they plan to redesign and expand their house. In a twist of fate, the very man he calls in to help with the construction, Mike Hollander - an ex detective, recalls a show on TV where they used a new technology to identify some remains. There just might be a solution on the horizon!

I just loved this book. The characters are excellently written and so vivid that you forget this is a novel and the relationships between those characters are brilliantly developed. I loved the various cultures which were featured in the book. From Peter Decker and his wife Rina, the Jewish lifestyle and little sprinkles of the yiddish language. Later in the book, when the body is identified and Decker visits the parents, we are are treated to a glimpse of a native culture also. It added something special to the novel, for me at least.

One thing that I found amusing was that part way into reading this, I was under the impression that I had it all worked out, I knew the answers as the author had made the info too transparent. Imagine my surprise when further into the book - after this had happened 2 or 3 times - I realised that the author had in fact been leading me down little dead ends on a journey, which had an ending I did not see coming. That was just fantastic!

A great book that deserves to be picked up and will be available in the first week of August, so order your copy now!

Author's website: http://www.fayekellerman.net/

Michael Tolliver Lives by Armistead Maupin

Published by Harper Collins Publishers

Michael Tolliver Lives is a touching novel with a cast of unforgettable characters. Michael himself is fifty-five years old and happily married to his much younger partner, Ben. It seems like life is on a good streak for Michael. He is happy and thanks to the AIDS-cocktail, his battle agaist HIV is going great.

Then comes a phone call from his family in Florida. His brother Irwin informs him that he should think about coming home to see his mother, as she is seriously sick. The idea doesn't go over too well. Michael isn't sure he wants to deal with his family who are fundamentalists and have never been really accepting of his life choices.

He would much rather stay in San Francisco, working on his freelance gardener business and sharing his time with his logical family as Anna calls them. Anna Madrigal is a darling woman who you can't help but adore. She smokes pot and has a genuine love for life which seeps from the pages. Brian Hawkins is a down to earth guy who has overcome so much and has been a steadfast friend for Michael through the years. He shares his life with his daughter Shawna as they both lives their lives under a shadow, cast by the leaving of Shawna's mother so many years ago.

When Michael and Ben finally go to Florida, so begins a truly heartwarming tale of friendship, love, loss, forgiveness, trust and more. Still more characters are introduced - my favourite being Patreese, a gay hairdresser who just lights up the pages with his personality. It's written in a revealing and oftentimes comical way which seems to make the darker subjects contained within the novel, so much lighter and easier to take.

What I loved most about this book, is the fact that it shows so clearly the love between two men in a truly positive light.

I have seen reviews with sexual content warnings and sure enough, there is sexual content within the pages of this novel. However - to me at least - it's tastefully done and doesn't take away from the novel at all.

It's a fantastic book and though I haven't read any of the original Barbary Lane novels containing this character, I know I shall be looking them up at some point. It is important to note though, that this book, while containing many of the same characters from the Tales of the City Series, is not a sequel. If you go into this book knowing that, you will enjoy it so much more.

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

Author's blog: http://www.armisteadmaupin.com/blog/

The End of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas

Published by Harcourt Inc
Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books

Scarlett Thomas was named one of the twenty best young British writers by the Independent on Sunday in 2001 and Writer of the Year at the 2002 Elle Style Awards. After reading The End of Mr. Y, it's easy to understand why.

This book is no slow starter. Right away the reader is thrust into a tension-building scene which finds the main character, Ariel Manto, rushing out of her office as the ground shakes beneath her, just in time to see the next building collapse. The mystery element is introduced from the start too, as Ariel sneaks back into her building to get her keys and reveals that her office, is shared with Professor Saul Burlem, who has been missing since the first week she arrived. Burlem is the only person in the world who has done research on the author Thomas E. Lumas, one of Ariel's main subjects.

Tragedy surrounds Thomas E. Lumas. It was believed that one of his books, The End of Mr. Y, was cursed. The author died soon after writing it, along with everyone who was ever involved with it. Only one copy of the book exists, safely tucked into a bank vault in Germany. Imagine Ariel's surprise as she walks home from work that night and enters a used bookstore. While looking for more works by Thomas E. Lumas, the store assistant mentions that the name sounds familiar and swears she has a copy of the book. Ariel can't believe her luck as a box is brought out, recently bought at auction, and tucked inside is a copy of the novel.

What follows is an adventure which is nothing less than spectacular. The reader gets to read the cursed novel along with Ariel, while at the same time, learning about her life, her bond with her neighbour, the affair with a college professor and her financial struggles. At the end of the book, she is troubled. There is a page missing and it's obvious that it was torn out. Why would it be removed? What did it say?

When her building resumes normal day to day business, she returns to find that two people from the collapsed building will now be sharing her office. In the process of making space for them, she is packing the books which belong to Burlem. As she does so, a piece of paper flutters out of a book. It's a page. No. It's THE page. Why did Burlem have it? Why did he have a copy of The End of Mr. Y? Where is he?

Ariel sets out to find the answers to these and many more questions and ventures into the Troposphere - A place where she can travel through time and space by using the thoughts of others. What she finds inside is beyond imagination, and while she begins exploring in awe and wonder, she soon finds herself within a nightmare that may end up costing Ariel her life.

Where do I even begin with this book? It's simply brilliant. I picked it up and was hooked from the very start. The author has a way of drawing the reader into the book, even when just sharing details of Ariel's day to day life. The characters are vivid, realistic and very easy to connect with.

The story itself is a perfect blend of present and past, and after reading it, it was easy to see why Jonathan Coe stated:

"Not only will you have a great time reading this book, but you will finish it a cleverer person than when you started."

This book explores so many theories about science, faith, conciousness, death and more. It's a book that will excite the senses, inspire the imagination, and tease the intellect.

I loved this book.

Author's website: http://www.bookgirl.org/

Delible by Anne Stone

Published by Insomniac Press

Delible is a haunting story which is shared with the reader by three women. A grandmother, a mother, and a daughter. The main character Melora Sprague, or Lora to those around her, begins the journey by sharing memories of playing with her sister Melissa, known to everyone as Mel. Their ages are seperated by less than a year and their close bond is clear from the start.

Both girls have much to deal with, including the fact that their father is not in their lives. Whenever they ask their mother about him, she becomes very cagey and the only detail they have really been given is that he works at the jail.

At the age of 16, Melissa is missing. The police are writing it off as running away. After all, it isn't the first time it has happened. The fact that she also tried to kill herself a short time before doesn't help either. Throughout the pages, Lora reveals a great deal about her sister and why she feels Mel didn't simply run away. Lora believes that Mel was taken, and the fact that she believes the responsible person isn't a stranger, leads her to look at those around her with distrust and doubt.

While most of the book is written from Lora's view, there are chapters which are written from the view of their mother Karin, and their grandmother Celia. Regardless of the views changing, the emotion and passion remain consistent throughout. There is also a tension as the family drift through the years, waiting for any clue or sign of what really happened.

The book is is written wonderfully and not many books can pull off such a mix of darkness, angst, intimacy and hope. The reader can't help but be drawn in as Lora tries to make sense of things while also trying desperately to hold on to the memory of her sister. I especially liked that within the unfolding story, we are treated to little pieces of Mel's life through the sharing of a personal letter from a friend, a book report on Lord of the Flies, and journal entries. I also liked that this is one of those books where you can't guess where the story is going as it leads you in many directions at once. Every new development is a surprise.

It's a wonderful novel which I know I will read again.

Beam Me Up Jesus: A Heathen's Guide to The Rapture by Jim Gerard

Published by Nation Books an imprint of Avalon Publishing Group.

Distributed by Publishers Group Canada

Jim Gerard - author of Yankees Suck, and Celebrity Skin - brings us a light-hearted and often laugh-out-loud funny look at the end of the world in his book Beam Me Up Jesus: A Heathen's guide to the rapture. It's written with a fearless and straight talking attitude which will leave you in tears with laughter. The introduction itself is comical and in the twenty chapters he delves into this subject with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek as the chapter titles show:

• The Rapture - A Brief Introduction
• The Book of Revelation - Reader's Digest Version
• Whose Rapture is it, Anyway?
• The Rapture in Pop Culture
• Signs That the Rapture is Near, or It's Not Global Warming, Stupid
• Televangelists and Other Public Figures Who Believe They Will Be Raptured, but Who Most Definitely Won't Be
• Why Jesus is Upset That the Christian Right Has Exploited Him for Their Own Purposes and Tarnished His Reputation, but Can't Do Anything about it
• Antichrists, False Christs, and False Starts
• How to Get Raptured, the Multicultural Rapture, What to Pack for the Rapture, and How to Make Sure You Get Left Behind
• The Rapture - God's Greatest Product Launch
• Rapture Spin Control
• The Tribulation - God and Satan's Lollapalooza
• The Post-Rapture Survival Guide (Including How to Protect Yourself against Plagues, Dragons, the Mark of the Beast, the Whore of Babylon, and Satanic Spam
• The Mark of the Beast
• Post-Rapture Culture
• Sex and Relationships
• Left Behind - What to Do After God Breaks Up with You
• Left Behind and Begrudging It (PTRSD - Posttraumatic Rapture Stress Disorder and Other Tribulations
• The Post-Trib: What Happens After the End of the World?
• God: The Last Word

This book is hilarious. It's a well balanced mix of information, sarcasm, digs and humour. I just adored the little lists that were included such as Miracles that were Falsely Attributed to Jesus, which includes the miracles of changing water into bud lite, and also not healing a leper, but offering to sign him up with an HMO. Another favourite of mine is the list of Christian Right Saturday Morning Cartoons which includes titles such as Casper the Holy Ghost, and Beavis and Butt-Head, Born Again.

It's a book that I believe people from all walks of life can giggle at, as long as they have an adequate sense of humour. If you think your faith may prevent you from enjoying this title, check Amazon.com. I was thrilled to see that in the reviews at Amazon.com there were Christian reviewers who had also given this book the thumbs up!

A fun read.

As an added note: I will be posting a review in the future of another title by this author: Who Moved My Secret? which is a parody of The Secret. I plan to read The Secret first so I can truly appreciate the parody.

Author's website: http://www.gangof60.com/

Author's blog: http://www.gangof60.blogspot.com/

Day Shift Werewolf by Jan Underwood

Published by 3-Day Books Distributed by Arsenal Pulp Press

Jan Underwood brings us a first novel that is just stunning. It's hard to believe, when reading this book, that it could have been written in just three days. It certainly won't take 3 days to read it. This fun little book has less than 100 pages and I raced through it in less than a day.

Day Shift Werewolf seems like a collection of short stories at first glance. Each of it's eight parts tells it's own tale but it soon becomes evident that this author has a gift for connecting each part to the other in a small, yet brilliant way.

Along the way we are introduced to a multitude of characters that are far from normal. Like Warren, the werewolf from the cover of the book who has problems making his quota at work. Perhaps that has something to do with the fact that he prefers to be a vegetarian. Then there is Andy, a zombie who is unlike the rest of his group. His mother - also a zombie - suspects he has ADHD. My personal favourite is Margot, a witch with seventeen cats and a brother who is unemployed and happy to sit on his backside all day. Margot has quite an adventure when her coven stage an intervention to deal with her cat 'problem'.

As you can tell, the book is definitely unique and I found it a joy to read. I am still in awe that the writer could create it in just three days and I plan on checking out more 3-day novels in the future.

A wickedly fun and entertaining book that will have you laughing out loud, and which you won't regret buying.

Learn more about the 3-Day Novel Contest here.

Glorious Autumn Days: Meditations for the Wisdom Years by Judith Lawrence

Self Published by the Author via Lulu

Judith Lawrence brings us another book which seems to speak straight from her heart, to that of the reader. I actually finished this book a couple of weeks ago but I wanted to savour the contents and let them sink in, before attempting to review it.

In Glorious Autumn Days, as the title suggests, Judith provides a number of meditations which are geared towards the golden years of our lives. In each meditation she captures beautifully the emotions, the doubts, the fears, any feelings of being lost that the reader may have and much more.

This book shines even more strongly - and beautifully - with Judith's faith and while I myself am open to all religions and religious expression, this book may not be for you if you don't want to focus intently on the Christian faith. The messages I gleaned from the pages though, are greatly inspirational and thought provoking. There are many little guided exercises for the reader to do too, which I liked.

While this book wasn't greatly suited to me personally, I highly recommend it for those who have, or are curious about, a firm Christian belief system.

Author's website: http://www.judithlawrence.ca/

Town House by Tish Cohen

Published by Harper Collins Publishers

Tish Cohen provides a deeply moving and wonderfully funny view of life through the eyes of Jack Madigan. Jack is the owner of a town house which though once magnificent has been made worse for wear by his father who was a rock superstar. I say was since he is dead now. He died after trying to bite a snapping turtle which felt understandably miffed and bit him back - fatally. Jack's life has been pretty straightforward for a while now as he shared his home with his teenage son Harlan and had the royalties to live on.

Okay, so life is less than perfect when you have agoraphobia but he always managed somehow. Then the money ran out and everything goes downhill from there. The bank forecloses and Jack's life is never quite the same after meeting the real estate agent who is very determined, yet who is also a bit of a disaster waiting to happen - in the most lovable way possible. At the same time, Lucinda enters his life. Lucinda is a precious little girl who lives next door and is filled with such a sense of life it's just awe inspiring. Sadly, Lucinda's parents have little time for her but she doesn't mind. She just decided to become Jack's personal life coach and will stop at nothing to get him out of the house.

In the midst of Jack's crisis. His ex-wife announces that she is getting married and wants to take Harlan to live with her in California. Can things get any worse? Will he ever find a way back to life as he knew it?

Buy the book, take the ride and see for yourself. I promise you that with Town House, you won't be disappointed. It's a great read with many laugh-out-loud moments and it's filled with an unforgettable cast of characters.

I personally can't wait to see the movie. You can read more about it at the CBC site

Take a peek at this video to see Tish Cohen talk about Jack in an amusing conversation with Leah McLaren

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

Send: The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home by David Shipley and Will Schwalbe

Published by Alfred A Knopf - A Division of Random House.

Send: The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home is one of those books that belongs on the bookshelf in every home. Within the pages we have the introduction - a real eye opener - in which we learn why we email so badly. This is followed by seven chapters titled: When Should We Email?, The Anatomy of an Email, How to Write (the Perfect) Email, The Six Essential Types of Email, The Emotional Email, The Email That Can Land You in Jail, and last but not least, S.E.N.D.

Each of these chapters holds a wealth of information to guide the reader through the perils of emailing. In When Should We Email we are shown when it is appropriate to send an email and when we should use the alternative means of communication such as phone, instant message, letter (yes, surprisingly some people do still use these) and so on. In The Anatomy of an Email, we learn how to correctly put together an email and address it to the right people. It sounds simple right? I actually learned a great deal from this section and I loved that it teaches the correct use of the CC and BCC fields.

How to Write (the Perfect) Email deals with grammar, punctuation (probably my biggest flaw if I am honest), paragraphs, emoticons and more. In The Six Essential Types of Email we are shown how to better express ourselves when sending emails dealing with Requests, Answers, Informative emails, Emails of Thanks, Emails of Apologies and lastly, Socialising Emails. The Emotional Email is probably my favourite chapter. Cyberspace can be a challenge to communicate within. There are no tones of voice or facial expressions to guide us in understanding the intention of words directed at us. When things get emotional, things can spiral out of control at an extremely fast rate. The Emotional Email helps us to discover how to prevent this from happening.

The Email That Can Land You in Jail covers the many things you can do to protect yourself while using email. Changing subject lines, being specific in email (none of those "Can we talk about that thing" comments), keeping emails that shouldn't be kept, sharing emails that shouldn't be shared, and so on. Lastly, in S.E.N.D we are taught how to use that simply phrase to perform a mental checklist on our email before we use the send button, a process that will save you from many embarrassing or inappropriate moments.

This is a great book that everyone should read. Whether you have been dealing with email for a very short time, or a great number of years, I would be surprised if this book didn't teach you something new. It is written in a very clear and concise manner and is extremely easy to understand, regardless of your computer literacy level. I highly recommend this book. My only regret is that this book didn't come out around 10 years ago. I could have saved myself from so many embarrassments. *grins*.

Also check out the book's website at http://www.thinkbeforeyousend.com/ (they have a hall of shame for bad emails which is pretty funny!).

Gargoyles by Bill Gaston

Published by House of Anansi Press

As those of you who read this blog regularly will know, it is not often that I comment on the cover of a book. With Gargoyles, the reader can't help but be affected by the vibrant, exhilerating and almost childlike design which whispers promises of an unforgettable experience. A promise which the author upholds brilliantly!

There are 12 stories within these pages. All of which take the reader on a rollercoaster ride through what seems like the entire spectrum of the human emotions. The style of writing is unforgettable and simply incredible.

In The Night Window, the author perfectly captures the mindset and personality of a teenager and names him Tyler. Tyler is about to take a trip with his mother and her boyfriend, which he is less than thrilled about. We are treated to his thoughts and feelings in such an energetic way and when Tyler ventures off in his own direction, the reader is then treated to a wonderfully suspenseful and eye-opening experience.

In Gargoyles, we are introduced to a trio of characters. A man in his seventies, his estranged wife and their son. The man is quite eccentric and has a fascination with gargoyles. I love that he also has a very novel way of trying to solve certain problems in the world. In this story we witness the complex dynamic within the family, as a son tries to understand more about his father and along the way, discovers himself.

One of my favourites, is probably Freedom. In this tale, we meet Wa, an American who has spent much of his life in Paris and has recently returned to America. He is filled with a sense of admiration, positivity and awe. How can he not? In paris they didn't have his two favourite types of stores, gunshops and pawnstores. After maxing out his mother's credit card, she kicks him out with his few possessions and an address for a shelter. A mixup involving a gun, a bull, and a beanbag, leaves him homeless and alone on the streets with little but his gun, poor language skills and innocence to keep him company. What follows in an intense situation that leaves the reader wanting to cover their eyes to block it out.

The author has a great way with words and is a master of storytelling. The only regret I had by the end of this book, was that it had ended. Bill Gaston is easily one of my most favourite writers of all time and I look forward to discovering more of his works. No matter what your reading tastes, try this book. I am sure you won't regret it. It's one of the best books I have read this year.

Update: Gargoyles has won the ReLit Award for Short Fiction!

Closed for Repairs by Nancy Alonso. Translated by Anne Fountain.

Published by Curbstone Press

Closed for Repairs is one of those books that makes me extremely glad to have explored short stories collections in the recent years. The book contains 11 tales which deal with aspects of Cuban life, something I knew next to nothing about. The stories often - if not always - maintain a focus on the problems that are faced everyday, whether it is a water shortage, transport issues, the subject of meat, health and many other issues which really give the reader a glimpse into a much different way of life.

I greatly enjoyed reading the entire book. The stories have a way of always reaching deep inside the reader and leading them on a journey filled with raw emotion, often accompanied with humour and ideas that provoke and inspire. The characters involved are often a shining example of how resilient people can be when faced with dire surroundings. The writing is not fancy, and that is just one of the many reasons I liked this book so much. It's very down to earth, clearly and precisely written, and yet the style of writing does nothing to minimize the impact of the experiences within. If anything, it is magnified.

I have many favourite stories within these pages. An Informal Visit, for example, brings us a tale of a town that is facing a visit from a minister who was raised there and left for greater things. The minister has a very clear image of what he expects his hometown to be like and the people from the town work so hard to meet those expectations. As with many of the stories in this book though, things are rarely as they seem, and an unexpected turn in events forces the characters to be quick thinking. The results are nothing less than brilliant.

The Test is among the shortest tales and yet has an amazingly powerful punch. Within two pages, the author manages to bring to the reader, a very vivid glimpse into the desperation and survival instincts of a person.

The Story of a Pothole is probably my most favourite. We meet a character, Noelia Torres. Noelia discovers a pothole in the road and files a complaint. The complaint is ignored and though Noelia writes letter upon letter to the government, newspapers and more, she is left to deal with the situation herself. How she deals with it is not only incredibly surprising and inspiring, but it also teaches a lot about how we can change the way we look at life.

I loved this book and I am so thankful it was translated from spanish so I could enjoy it. The original title of the book is Cerrado por reparación.

Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey by Chuck Palahniuk

Published by Doubleday - A division of Random House Inc.

Rant is the story of Buster Casey, a strange young man who we meet after his death. His story is told by those who shared their lives with him and the anecdotes they share are often filled with bizarre and disturbing facts. Buster Casey is known to most as Rant. He had a strange childhood, made all the stranger by his fascination for being bitten by poisonous and diseased creatures. He winds up repeatedly infected by rabies which he has no problem sharing with those around him.

The book is set in the future, in a world that has segregation between Daytimers and Nighttimers. Rant becomes a part of a pastime which many of the Nighttimers are involved with, known as Party Crashing. I know, you think of Party Crashing and you immediately think of someone coming to a party uninvited, right? In this case, Party Crashing is where teams of people take their car onto the road and have it decorated a certain way. Perhaps a learner's sign attached, a Christmas tree or sofa or mattress on the roof, cans attached to the bumper with a just married sign and the passengers being dressed as brides and grooms. Then the drivers of the cars set out to stalk other similarly decorated cars and crash into them.

Add to this already bizarre mix, the arrival of mysterious strangers, the frequent appearance of gold coins dated so far back that they are worth thousands, the dysfunctional family dynamics, the strange deaths that are occurring, and Rant's idea of decorating the space above his bed and you have a novel that captivates the reader and sends the imagination on a ride that won't soon be forgotten.

The author has an amazing way of writing. The way the reader is guided through the story by many narrators just really grabbed my attention. The way he describes everything in the most gruesome detail, and drops hints as the story continues, definitely kept me on the edge of my seat, needing to know more. What surprised me more than anything, is that even with all the hints, when the reader reaches the later pages in the book, the answers that begin to appear often leave the reader in a state of awe and wonder.

I loved the way the characters all seem to unfold. Each having different versions of the same event, and each offering opinions and thoughts about Rant's relationships with the rest. The dynamics are often complex and leave lots to the imagination. The reader is handed all of the information they could ever want and is left to decide for themselves what they want to believe.

It's a story that demands to be read (probably more than once in order to truly appreciate it) and I can say for certain that I will be reading this again and again. It's refreshing, brilliant, dark, troubling, sexy, just plain messed up and you won't be able to put it down.

Author's website: http://www.chuckpalahniuk.net/

Book website: http://www.rant-book.com/ (This site is neat. You can hear traffic reports from the book and so much more).

Chocolatherapy: Satisfying the Deepest Cravings of Your Inner Chick by Karen Scalf Linamen

Published by Revell Books - A division of Baker Publishing Group

Chocolatherapy is a book which any woman can relate to. It deals with the subject of cravings and emotional eating, in a fun, down-to-earth and very personal way. The author Karen Scalf Linamen guides us through the times in her life when she dealt with these cravings and shows us that with determination, understanding and a little searching inside of ourselves, we too can overcome these needs - or more accurately, habits.

Through the use of a dozen chapters - Hungry for a Change, Visibility, Escape, Love, Perspective, Community, Context, Viscosity, Sleep, Clarity, Control, and Transformation - the author provides useful information, shared in a way that is very easy to understand. Also a mix of personal anecdotes with a healthy dose of humour, all of which, truly touch the heart. Sprinkled throughout the book are also little treats from The Chocolaphile Files which are inspirational thoughts and wisdoms from other women also dealing with these issues.

I love that this book doesn't pull any punches. It really brings home the concept of looking for something more filling, more satisfying than a quick fix from the refrigerator. It inspires the reader to ask themselves some difficult questions and look to other sources for a solution. The main theme of the book is geared towards finding the answer on a spiritual level - in this case, Christianity. It's a great read and though I imagine some people could be turned off because of the religious tone in the book, I would suggest they read it. The author manages wonderfully to share her message and lessons with the reader, in a way that is far from overbearing and there is a wealth of information within the pages that would add to any life, regardless of spitirual choices.

This was a thought provoking and fun book which I know I will refer to often.