Archive for Fiction

A Wrinkle In Time is a fantasy book about Meg Murry, her brother Charles Wallace, her friend Calvin O’Keefe, her father Dr. Alexander Murry and a phenomenon called tesseract. One dark, stormy night, the Murrys receive a visitor named Mrs. Whatsit, a friend of Charles Wallace, who seeks temporary shelter at their place from a storm. Just as she is about to leave, she turns to Mrs. Murphy and tells her “that there is such a thing as a tessaract”. Mrs. Murphy almost faints when she hears this.

Curious, Meg tries to find out what a tesseract is and learns more about her father’s research. Together with Charles Wallace, they visit Mrs. Whatsit to try and know more about her father’s research when they run into Calvin O’Keefe. Calvin comes with them to help them get to Camazotz, where Dr. Murphy is held hostage by an evil creature called IT. It is up to Meg, Charles Wallace and Calvin to figure out how to save Dr. Murphy from IT and Earth from being engulfed into total darkness.

Although published in 1962, A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle still remains a classic and timeless
fantasy book that will appeal to anyone and everyone. The book entertains while creatively teaching us a thing or two about physics and the sciences. Just like CS Lewis did for religion and the Bible and Milan Kundera did for philosophy, L’Engle broke down science into terms that regular people will be able to understand. And more importantly, she creatively has made physics, science and their terms interesting to learn about.

The characters are also easy to relate to because they could easily be us. Meg is a bad-tempered teenager who could be good at anything and everything if she just applied more effort. Calvin is a popular teenager who is trying hard to break out of his stereotype. And the other mythical creatures introduced in the book lead to some very interesting substories.

A Wrinkle In Time is a book that must be read at least once and over and over again, if possible. So, be sure to grab a copy now!

Admittedly, when I go to a bookstore, I always go to a specific section. Most of the time, I don’t venture to the other sections of the store because I either am not interested at that time or I don’t have enough time. But there were times when venturing into other sections has led me to discover new books I never thought I would read.

Here are some suggestions for the particular reader:

1. For Fiction Readers - Try the Non-Fiction department. There are biographies of real people whose stories are more interesting than fiction stories.

2. For Travel Enthusiasts - Try the Cookbook section. Sometimes you get to know a place more through the food the local people eat.

3. For The History Buff - Try the Historical Fiction Section. It offers you a new twist to history through the eyes of an imaginative mind.

4. For the Art Lover - Try the graphic novel section. Analyzing the artwork of a graphic novel can be very satisfying for the art lover.

5. For the Classic Literature Lover - Try the Fiction department. It’s a good idea sometimes to fuse classic and modern literature and learn from them together.

Next time you go to a bookstore, don’t be afraid to venture into another area. It’s a good way to get out of your comfort zone. And it helps you to learn something new everyday. It’s quite easy: just cross the line between the departments and go from there. You don’t have to get anything at first, but you should try and browse through the books. It doesn’t hurt to get an idea first. So, cross that line next time.

One of my favorite murder mystery authors is Joanne Fluke, author of the Hannah Swensen Mysteries. Her novels are low in gore, as far as murder mysteries go. There usually is a single murder, and the main character, Hannah Swensen, is always the one trying to solve the mysteries, even if she’s being discouraged by the police.

The books do connect to each other. Although they aren’t impossible to follow when reading them out of order, I advise that you start from the beginning. The books aren’t simply murder mysteries; they involve a lot of character plots and flaws that keep it interesting without more violence or thrills. There are currently 10 novels in the Hannah Swensen Mysteries series:

• Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder
• Strawberry Shortcake Murder
• Blueberry Muffin Murder
• Lemon Meringue Pie Murder
• Fudge Cupcake Murder
• Sugar Cookie Murder
• Peach Cobbler Murder
• Cherry Cheesecake Murder
• Key Lime Pie Murder
• Carrot Cake Murder

The first of these was published in 2000, and as you can infer, Fluke has been quite busy since then. These books have become easy, obvious birthday or Christmas gifts between my sister and me. I have found all of them charming and comical, yet suspenseful.

One unique factor of Fluke’s books is that they actually include recipes. Hannah owns a shop called The Cookie Jar, and when she’s not solving a mystery she’s baking some sort of treat. Any time she describes one of her mouth-watering delights, a recipe is included. I have tried a handful of the recipes, and I have found all of them to be absolutely delicious. I give two thumbs up to Joanne Fluke, the Hannah Swensen Mysteries, and all of the great recipes found within the novels.

This holiday season there’s another piece of Harry Potter literature leaving JK Rowling’s hands to go up on display on store shelves, but this time it is not about Harry. The Tales of the Beetle Bard will hit store shelves on December 4th, and will retail (standard edition) for around $12.99. The collection of short stories is being published by the Children’s High Level Group and also is being released in the UK.

The book will feature five short stories, some of which were mentioned as being wizard fairy tales in the original Harry Potter series. The stories are as follow: The Wizard and the Hopping Pot, The Fountain of Fair Fortune, The Warlock’s Hairy Heart, Babbitty, Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump and The Tale of the Three Brothers.

J.K. Rowling wrote and illustrated a beautiful copy, which was later sold for a charity auction at Sotheby’s to Amazon for a whopping total of $1.95 million; the proceeds were donated to The Children’s Voice (charity organization). It is also rumored that J.K. Rowling made 7 or 8 additional copies and gave them as gifts to several crucial members that helped publish the Harry Potter series.

In light of these aforementioned rare editions, Amazon will publish a selective few special edition copies that are modeled after the first few beautifully created books. The special edition hardcover’s will retail somewhere around $100 each.

For those who do not know, in the original Harry Potter series, the Tales of the Beetle Bard was a book given to Hermoine that was later mentioned in the final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The book also mentioned that the collection of stories was a very well written group of wizarding fairy tales, much like the fairy tales we tell our children only ours are referred to as “muggle” (the term used for non-magical humans) fairy tales.

Thanks to J.K. Rowling’s very well mannered writing tones and excellent writing expertise we can be sure this new little add-on to the series will provide an even further out of world and brilliant reading experience for book lovers of all ages.

If you love chick lit or want to start reading chick lit, then Jane Green books should be in your collection. In my opinion, she is one of the best chick lit authors in the market today. Admittedly, her books always involve a love story. But, unlike other authors, it’s never just about a girl who meets a boy, who she doesn’t like, but falls in love with him nonetheless, and they get together in the end and live happily ever after. Her books always tries to explore different issues of love stories, from the good to the bad to unavoidable.

Let’s explore some of her books.

1. Jemima J

Jemima J is about very large British lady, who finally decides to conquer her weight and become a new girl. Jemima Jones is a twenty-something single British gal who always has been heavy. One day, she decides to take charge of her life and win the war with her weight. She enrolls in the gym and she cuts back on her food and pretty soon, she has dropped more than a hundred pounds to become a slimmer girl not a lot of people recognize. She starts to reinvent herself but realizes that things are never always what they seem.

2. Babyville

Babyville is the story of three completely different ladies who have one problem in common: babies. Julia wants a baby with her boyfriend but could learn to live without the boyfriend. Maeve doesn’t want babies but suddenly finds herself pregnant after one moment of passion. And Samantha has both the husband and the baby but finds herself resenting every moment of it. How will they cope now?

3. The Other Woman

Ellie and Dan are getting married. Everything is fine until their situation becomes a little overcrowded when Dan’s mother starts taking over everything about their relationship, starting from the wedding to their marriage to taking care of their son. Things take a turn for their worse when tragedy strikes. Now Ellie and her mother-in-law must settle matters once and for all and decide who the two people in the marriage are going to be.

These are just some of the books and issues that Jane Green tackles in her books. It’s light but every woman relates to it. And even if you can’t, Jane Green writes in a very light tone that makes you feel that you know the stories she’s been writing.

So, if you haven’t done it yet, grab a copy of any Jane Green book. It’s just one of those books that you will love to read over and over again.

I love vampires. I do not wish to see them in person, but I love to read about them, especially in fiction books. I always am fascinated when authors try to twist the story of the vampire and relate them to ordinary, mortal people like ourselves.

In The Historian, a young English girl discovers an old book of her father’s with a wood carving of a dragon on the cover and several letters addressed to “my dear and unfortunate successor”. When she confronts him about it, her father begins telling her about his quest during his university days for the legend of Vlad the Impaler, or Vlad Dracula, and how these things seem to be connected to this cruel ruler. He investigated the legend when he discovered that his professor, who did the same thing 20 years earlier, as a student, has suddenly disappeared.

The professor’s disappearance led him to meet his professor’s illegitimate daughter, Helen, who helped him discover and find out the truth about Vlad the Impaler. They journeyed to Budapest and Istanbul, hoping to find more answers, and met other experts who also wanted to know more about Dracula.

Despite the historical inaccuracies, Kostova delivers a book that will inspire you to learn more about Dracula yourself and, at the same time, scared to find out more. You want to put down the book because you’re scared Dracula will just pop out of the book and haunt you in your waking moments. But at the same time, you turn the page eagerly every time, desperate to find out what will happen next.

The Historian is a great book about history and legends. But at the same time, you have to read it at your own risk. Because your sanity will really depend on it.

Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, we like to let go of the award-winning, critically-acclaimed books, books that tug at your heart and force you into action. Sometimes it gets too much. And those are the times when we turn to the book that will make us laugh and giggle and make our hearts warm and help us escape even for awhile. These are the chick lit books.

I admit I have a weakness for chick lit. I love the tried-and-tested romantic angle, where girl meets boy, boy gives her a hard time, girl eventually falls in love with him, they kiss and the love story is complete. Or the angle where the girl gives up everything, goes somewhere alone and re-discovers herself. It’s not original, but it works because it gives “chicks” hope.

There are some chick lit books, though, where the formula becomes tiring, and it doesn’t work. It just fails throughout. But there are a lot of chick lit books that have succeeded everytime. If you’d like to read a chick lit, I suggest reading books from these authors:

1. Jane Green

She has tried to evolve and expanded her books to include other woman issues, including aging, fertility and the like. She knows she is writing chick lit, so she doesn’t try to be intellectual in any of her books, which works better anyway.

Notable Jane Green Books: Jemima J, Second Chance, The Other Woman, Swapping Lives

2. Marian Keyes

Marian Keyes and Jane Green are two of the authors leading the pack when it comes to chick lit. They invented what chick lit is all about. Marian Keyes, however, at first decided to concentrate on one family with five sisters and decided to create stories about three of the sisters. She later evolved to writing stories about different females that reflected the issues women are going through today.

Notable Marian Keyes Books: Rachel’s Holiday, Angels

3. Jane Austen

The ultimate female author who unofficially started the trend for chick lit. Even though her books were set in the 19th century, a lot of the issues back then are still the issues women are going through today. She has served as the inspiration of chick lit authors worldwide because she captures the emotions and the trials of a woman accurately all the time.

Notable Jane Austen Books: Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Persuasion

Do you like reading chick lit? What’s your favorite chick lit book?

It is often that we come to the end of a book series and look back and say, “Wow! What happened? It used to be so good.” Oftentimes, as with media and books, about the third installment the only thing the writer or producers care about is the money and profit to be reaped…so the storyline and depth somewhat drops off. Lately, however, the existence of this problem has begun fading away. Finally it seems writers and producers have realized quality matters certainly much more than quantity.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the final release in the magical series that JK Rowling brought it into fruition in 1997. Over the years the entire series has dealt with many underlying themes and meanings, which all seem to be rather collective in this final masterpiece.

The opening of the book finds Harry unable to return to Hogwarts due to the growing presence of evil at both the school and the nearby areas. Voldemort, the antagonist of the Harry Potter series, has been returned to power over the world of wizards and muggles (non-magical people). Harry is forced to discontinue his schooling early and search for a way to end this seemingly endless quest to destroy his malevolent arch rival. The particulars cannot be delved into without giving away much of the books entertaining plot, therefore I will go no further. The ending of the series, however, certainly does not disappoint like many other series that have come before. It fits perfectly into the quaint little world that is Harry Potter.

For those that have never read the Harry Potter series but have seen the movies, it is right to contest the books provide a much more vivid experience. The first book in the series was titled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in the United States; therefore novice readers should begin there and work their way through the entire series before starting the final chapter.

Overall the book does provide a very satisfying conclusion to the Harry Potter series, and JK Rowling has once again outdone herself.

Do you experience certain days when you want to read a book that exactly fit the mood you had in that exact moment? I know I have. I only read certain books with certain emotions. Otherwise, I will have a hard time grasping the whole story. I have to be in the right frame of mind before I tackle any book.

Rainy Days
On rainy days, I really don’t want to be thinking too much. The weather’s down, and all I want to do is just relax. On these days, I mostly choose to read love stories. They can range from chick lit to young adult novels to unconventional love stories. One of my favorite books about love is Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. It’s about a man who, because of some gene in his body is able to time travel to different periods of time, but only between the years he was alive on Earth. On one of his time travels, he meets his future wife. He was 27 that time, she was 6. This is a love story between two people perfect for each other that literally withstood time. It’s not the conventional love story we are all familiar with, but it will still tug at your heart.

Philosophical Moments
Franz Kafka’s The Castle is the perfect book when you want to work your brain and bring it to overtime. Because with The Castle, just when you think you’ve figured everything out, Kafka twists it again and forces you to think some more. You may get a headache when reading this book because of too much thinking, but you will learn a lot from The Castle. You will learn to observe and to question. You will learn to analyze and criticize. It’s not a very complicated story, it’s about a man searching for The Castle. But the things he learns while on his journey complicates the story. If you’re ready to read this journey, then I suggest you start this at the start of the day.

Scandalous
Do you want to expect the unexpected when reading a book? Try The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. It’s a story about a young woman who is searching for her father and finding the connection between him and Dracula. It’s scary and chilling. My only advice: Don’t read this alone at night.

What about you? What are the books you like to read on certain days? What kind of days are those?

Change Of Heart is the fifteenth and newest published novel from American author, Jodi Picoult. It is the story of Shay Bourne, a young man convicted of murder and sentenced to death in the town of Concord, New Hampshire. It also is the story of June Nealon, a young mother whose first husband died in a car accident, whose second husband and eldest daughter were killed by Shay Bourne and whose youngest daughter is suffering from a weak heart. Finally, it is the story of Michael Wright, the last juror to convict Shay Bourne and sentence him to his death who becomes the priest assigned to Shay Bourne as his spiritual advisor.

In this book, Jodi Picoult gives her readers her usual style of writing, which involves allowing her readers to think about the issues she presents in her books. And this time, she presents a discussion on how to justify killing a person by killing another person. When a person decides to make things right after having done something wrong, does it justify what he did? Or do his past actions weigh more than the good things he performs? Which weighs more: to be good morally or lawfully?

It’s not her best book, but her loyal readers will not be disappointed in Change of Heart. It may not be the best book to recommend to first time readers, especially since Picoult tended to underdevelop some of her main characters to stay true to the story. But it stays true to the spirit of her writing style.

Have you read Change of Heart? What did you think of it?