Review: The houses in Germany, in Berlin, lie nestled together as close as two lovers. Their multi-storied structures overlook the sidewalks on which pedestrians pass from home to work or to school or to the market and back again. Neighborhoods are filled with friends who call out to each other, who joke, and who share the day over similar chores or chance encounters. It is here, on these sidewalks, that fifteen year-old Michael Berg nearly collapses as he fights an illness and is rescued by Frau Schmitz. It is there, in her home, fresh from vomiting that the seeds of passion are planted. He falls in love with her, a woman twice his age. Read the rest of this entry »

Breaking Dawn: Best Seller or Bad End
By Clare Beusch

Most fans of the Twilight Saga would think “How can this series get any better?”  Anyone who has read the fourth book of the thrilling saga will say, “It can!”  Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer is the fourth and most adventurous of the books in the series.

In the previous books and in the beginning of Breaking Dawn, we get a sense of how Bella, a girl who moved from sunny Arizona to dreary Forks, Washington, feels about her vampire sweetheart, Edward Cullen.  Through a series of vampire battles and struggles, she discovers the fantasy world of immortals that she never thought existed.

The second book in the saga, New Moon, shows how Bella’s life is altered again when she discovers that her best friend, Jacob, is a werewolf.  Werewolves and vampires don’t get along, so Bella is constantly conflicted about which side to be on, without hurting anyone she loves.  Read the rest of this entry »

Two rogues swindle and fight their way through the bloodthirsty and brutal landscapes of the 10th century. Amram, a towering pillar of virility, carries a giant axe known for its propensity to remove heads from necks. His companion is Zelikman, a scarecrow of a man clad all in black who uses a much less devastating but no less effective physicians lance. Their tongues are nearly as nimble as their weapons of choice and get them into and out of more trouble than a lifetime needs. Like two amiable brothers, they carry a strong bond between them, and they work together to separate the drunken and debauched from their money as easily as possible. They are mercenaries, criminals, thieves. They are gentlemen of the road, but when one of their plans goes awry, the two find themselves entangled in a war between nations, and they are forced to choose what is right and what is wrong. Read the rest of this entry »

Review: This book records the life and times of Enzo the dog. Enzo is part labrador, part poodle and german-shepherd, unofficially part terrier (because terriers are problem-solvers, and Enzo would like to believe that he comes from “a determined gene pool”) and wholly sagacious. Plucked as a pup from the lap of his mother by Denny Swift, Enzo becomes fast friends with his new owner. Frustrated by his lack of thumbs, lips that cannot pronounce words, and inability to sit on a toilet and flush it, Enzo works hard both to understand his master and to be understood. Surprisingly, television finally serves a useful purpose, and Enzo becomes assimilated to the urban world he inhabits through days spent watching T.V. while waiting for Denny to return home. The two share a common bond: race car driving. Denny possesses an uncanny ability behind the wheel, especially when weather conditions in the Pacific Northwest make track conditions far from ideal. The two, master and dog, share in Denny’s dream, but life gets in the way and they both must find ways to cope with the harrowing turns that are thrown at them. Read the rest of this entry »

Review: Growing up turns out to be a hard task. Ask any teenager (of whom I know many), and I am sure that they will agree that their lives are filled with drama of the highest order. Friends turn on friends, potential suitors are taken up and discarded in awkward moments, and occasionally one is confronted with emotional trauma related to some horribly embarrassing moment. If there was no angst, the music industry would be broke and Stephanie Meyers would be writing about something other than hormonally charged young vampires. For Robyn Scott, the author of Twenty Chickens and a Saddle, growing up in Selebei, Botswana is infinitely more difficult. Read the rest of this entry »

Review: For three years Shadow has been biding his time in prison and waiting for the day when he can return home to the woman of his dreams, his wife Laura. Prison has neither broken him nor enlightened him, but it has taught him coin tricks. He has continued to maintain the same modicum of behavior: thoughtful, patient, observant. He moves through prison with minimal entropy, and although his sentence was six years, good behavior has gotten him three. But days before he gets out the warden calls him into his office, and Shadow finds out his wife was killed in a car accident. The world he knows crumbles beneath his feet. Read the rest of this entry »

City of Thieves

Review: Eggs. Why did it have to be eggs? In a Russian city under siege by German forces, food runs scarce and eggs seem to be the scarcest of all. A Russian commander plans a birthday celebration for his beautiful, ice-skating daughter, and amidst the chaos of the war, he wants the very best for his sweetest little lady. What birthday would be complete without a cake, and what cake would be complete without eggs. He finds two men, Lev and Kolya, to steal these eggs and gives them one week to do so.

Cost of eggs in Leningrad during WWII: your life.

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Review: Zimbabwe is dying. Robert Mugabe who began his presidency by helping to stimulate the economy and providing a foundation for rapid growth now cripples his country. White farmers are driven off their prosperous farms and into exile or hiding while Mugabe uses them as scapegoats to cover his own failings. War veterans set up camp on properties, harassing, beating and occasionally killing blacks and whites alike. Caught in the middle of this crisis, Peter Godwin illustrates the tragic downfall of his homeland.

His successful career in journalism has moved him from Zimbabwe to London and then, finally, New York. He transits between the two in order to keep an eye on his aging parents who continue to live in the country they call home. Each time he touches down in Harare airport his situation becomes increasingly tenuous and desperate. Read the rest of this entry »

Review: Inside the country of India is a place called The Darkness. Here the people work in filthy conditions, live in sordid huts, and struggle for little. Rickshaw pullers wait by the road, emaciated and oppressed, waiting for the rich to buy their services. Corruption thrives like maggots in rotting flesh. Business men bribe police, landowners exact painful costs from their tenants, and teachers keep government funding for themselves. Balram, one of many poor children is one day labeled as a diamond in the rough. And, for the first time, he starts to dream of bigger things. Read the rest of this entry »