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!

Angel Girl is the story of a young man trapped in a concentration camp who comes into contact with a young girl that sneaks him food and provides him company. In the story the young man quickly falls in love with the girl and after being separated for years is later reunited with his savior by chance through a blind date in the United States. The two are then married.

The book was given the all familiar tag, “Based on a true story.”

However on December 27, Mr. Rosenblat (the subject of the story) and his agent released statements to the public announcing that certain parts and events in his own version of the story were made up. Rosenblat revealed that his accounts of time in the concentration camp were true, but the love story aspect was all false, including the reunion later on in life.

Laurie Friedman, the author of the book, said, “I, like many others, am disappointed and upset to now learn of Herman’s fabrications.”

Friedman had interviewed Mr. Rosenblat at an earlier time in order to prepare for writing the novel. “My goal in writing Angel Girl was to communicate that even in the darkest of times, no one should give up hope.”

Apparently now her stance has changed.

Adam Lerner, president of Lerner Publishing Group announced to the public, “We have been misled by the Rosenblats, who gave us and our author what we believed to be an authentic and moving account of their lives.”

Misled, indeed. Although being a writer myself, I don’t understand why the author would agree to having the novel removed from the shelves. The company only needs to remove the “Based on a true story” tag.

What do you think?

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.

In order to qualify for the reader’s prize, all you need to do is have a comment published* for any article posted during the month of December.  Comments will be accepted for this contest through January 7th.  One comment will be chosen randomly, and the author of that comment will receive $25!

So, start reading, and submitting comments.  The more comments you submit, the more likely you are to win.

*In order for a comment to be published, an editor will determine if the comment is relevant to the article and meets WMG’s standards for appropriate language.

**Employees of Wasabi Ventures are not eligible to submit comments for this contest.

The library was not just any library, however. It was the New York Public Library, and Betty and her husband were waiting to see a $126,000 book named Michelangelo: La Dotta Mano or Michelangelo: The Learned Hand. The book is an Italian language celebration of Michelangelo’s artistry work. It was donated to the library and was on display for the first official public viewing in the United States.

The entire work cost a total of 100,000 euros, which translates roughly to 126,864 in US dollars. It took a matter of months of custom and skilled handiwork to print, requiring most of all serious Renaissance skills. The entire masterpiece has 264 pages that are plastered with bas-relief adaptations of Michelangelo’s most extravagant works including the “Madonna of the Steps”. Only a total of 33 copies out of a later planned 99 (limited edition) have been made.

The book is certainly not the most expensive ever made or sold, but when compared to most books of that price range it should be noted that most others are adorned with very expensive and rare rubies or gems. This book has nothing so special, just a red velvet covering, which is crafted by the same Italian workshop that made curtains for the Metropolitan Opera. It also has pure cotton paper sheets, which were produced directly in Italy, that show the photographic plates and drawings of Michelangelo’s work in the Sistene Chapel.

Thomas expresses articulately how life changes when one’s partner is injured in such a manner.  Rich’s life is frozen in time, sometimes able to recall names and places and at other times trapped in a different world.  But for Abigail, life moves forward.  New memories are created, changes occur.

If you are seeking a book that will make you appreciate all that you are given, A Three Dog Life is an excellent choice.

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.

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.

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.

For those who hate reading, it’s hard to understand the blissful zen of submerging into material that one is incredibly interested in. Reading is amazing and can open up new worlds and in many cases a new life, but only when it is something interesting to the reader. That means the material needs to be chosen by the reader, not by others. If you are one of those people always being forced to read content assigned by others, then you need to find some reading time for yourself. Yes, unfortunately, you will still have to balance out time to read the required material, but so does everyone else around you. Pick a relaxing spot to chill out and read, and then find material that completely interests you. It can be anything from magazines to novels to children’s books and even letters or brochures. Whatever you are interested in, that is what the material must pertain to.

I say to all those out there who don’t enjoy reading, at some time you must embrace the fact that reading takes a large part in everyone’s life; it’s about time you got a little more involved.