Dur­ing the sum­mer vaca­tion, our daugh­ter (7 and going into sec­ond grade) is assigned to read a book a day and write a “read­ing response”. Here is her second response (she read more book but we don’t fight her about doing the videos). Please leave her a nice encouraging comment. Buy this book from Amazon.com More Books by Bob Scotton

Reviewed by Ren Zelen Buy this book in paper or electronic format While Vampires and Zombies have been jamming the highway to the bookshelves and multiplexes, Werewolves have largely been left to idle by the side of the literary road. With Glen Duncan’s protagonist, Jacob Marlowe, you get more than you bargain for: not just a man but a werewolf, not just a werewolf, but an existentially philosophical one. The novel is, ostensibly, a diary. The tale begins after a ‘feed’ “Two nights ago I’d eaten a 43-year-old hedge fund specialist,” Marlowe states with what will be his trademark insouciance, “I’ve been in a phase of taking the ones no-one wants.” We learn his backstory, a 19th-century costume tragedy, by means of his journal entries, composed in breaks between violent action and meaningless fornication. Two centuries of living have endowed him with a vast reserve of cultural expertise and a linguistic style that moves between the wisecracking cynicism of his noir namesake and the syntactical flourishes of the 19th century literary gentleman. Marlowe imparts the contents of his inner life and his impressions of the modern world in a series of dryly succinct verbal morsels: the topography of Wales is…

A fictional alternate history book published in 2007. This book has won several science fiction awards: the Nebula Award for Best Novel, the Locus Award for Best SF Novel, the Hugo Award for Best Novel, and the Sidewise Award for Alternate History for Best Novel. It was shortlisted for the British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novel and the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel.

Article first published as Book Review: An African Affair by Nina Darnton on Blogcritics. About: An African Affair by Nina Darnton is a fictional book taking place in Nigeria. Ms Darnton is a seasoned reporter who found herself in a Nigerian jail after her husband, a New York Times reporter, filed some uncomplimentary stories about the ruling regime. 272 pages Publisher: Viking Adult Language: English ISBN-10: 0670022888 My rating for An African Affair – 3 Buy this book in paper or electronic format Thoughts: An African Affair by Nina Darnton (Facebook | Huffington Post) might make a stirring memoir and is a descent political thriller. I truly enjoyed how Ms. Darnton captured Nigerian culture and corruption which is accompanied with vast internal tribal interests as well as vast outside ones such as oil and drugs. I have been in several places where blatant bribery is not only accepted, but expected (I’m looking at you South American border guards) and as shocked as I was the first time, I realize that not many places are that different. But please consider that I spent most of my life in New Jersey where bribery is legal. The writing style is clear, fast and easy to read. Ms. Darnton does…

“Youth” is a story about two young boys on a farm who find and capture strange animals

Article first published as Book Review: The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells on Blogcritics. About: The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells is another classic book by the famous English author written in 1901. At the time the novel was ridiculed, however it stood the test of time for over more than a Century. 176 pages Publisher: Dover Publications (December 18, 2000) Language: English ISBN-10: 0486414183 My rat­ing for The First Men in the Moon — 3 Buy this book paper or elec­tronic for­mat More books by H. G. Wells Part of the League of Extra­or­di­nary Gen­tle — Men of la — Book Chal­lenge (Vol. 1) Thoughts: The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells is a very imaginative book which, in the context of what we know now, is an amazing testament to Mr. Wells’ imagination, logic and foresight. In this book objects float in space, weightlessness is applicable, humans are able to cover large distances on the moon due to low gravity and spaceships generate an immense amount of heat returning to earth. The story also has several philosophical tones. The two main characters, Cavor and Bedford are at odds with one another…

Article first published as Book Review: Brenner and God by Wolf Haas on Blogcritics. About: Brenner and God by Wolf Haas is a detective novel taking place in Germany.Mr. Haas, a popular author in Germany, has recently had his first translated work published. 224 pages Publisher: Melville International Crime; Language: English ISBN-10: 1612191134 My rating for Brenner and God – 3 Buy this book in paper or electronic format More Books by Wolf Haas Thoughts: Brenner and God by Wolf Haas is an entertaining, yet wildly strange novel. The book is narrated by an unnamed person who has a wicked, dark and wry sense of humor – much like my own which is why I thought I’d enjoy the book more. The style of the novel is unwieldy and I never got used to it. I don’t know whether the style is that way because it’s meant to be that way or simply lost in translation – meaning the translation is fine, but the style simply doesn’t conform to the English reader. The narrator says things like “listen carefully”, “take note” etc. and reminds himself things retrospectively. The main character of Brenner walks around the novel, basically it seems just…

So far, this was the shortest part of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy and also the least dramatic. This part, it seems to me, is a setup for things which are upcoming in the novel.

The part which I mostly enjoyed in this section is the wolf hunt. Tolstoy goes into the minds of the wolf as well as the hunting dogs and the reader gets to share their thoughts and excitement. The way the wolf hunt was written reminded me greatly of the great battle scenes earlier in the book.

Article first published as Book Review: Only One Life by Sara Blædel on Blogcritics. About: Only One Life by Sara Blædel is a fictional mystery book set in Denmark. This is the second book translated into English in the series featuring Detective Louise Rick. The pub­lisher is giv­ing away one copy of this book— use the Raf­fle­copter form at the end of the post to enter. 352 pages Publisher: Pegasus Language: English ISBN-10: 1605983500 My rating for Only One Life – 4 Buy this book thru Amazon.com More Books by Sara Blædel Thoughts: Only One Life by Sara Blædel (website | Facebook | @sarablaedel) lives up to the previous novel, Call Me Princess, which I read about a year ago and enjoyed as well. The book is exciting and the characters are well written and continue to build up and expand from the previous book (even though I understand that there are more untranslated books). The book touches on some relevant topics, such as honor killing, social intolerance and sexual based crimes. The author explores these subjects, and more, without forcing her own morality or ideology down the readers’ throats, which is a big plus for me. I love to read about…

Daniel Sempere and his wife are content with life and baby. When a strange walks in the book shop and threatens to divulge a secret, their happiness subsides.