The first book of the popular Shopaholic series, Confessions of a Shopaholic! It has another title, too, which is ‘The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic’. Yup, we meet Rebecca Bloomwood and in this book, she and Luke aren’t together. Yet. I wanted to know how they met and boy, it’s all absolutely exciting. I couldn’t stop reading last night and just kept turning the pages to know what happens next!

Rebecca or Becky is 25 years old and she completely adores shopping. She’s a financial journalist at Successful Saving magazine. Although she finds her work hopelessly boring, she sticks to it because it’s a job and she gets paid. Oh, she also gets bombarded with numerous letters from her bank and Visa. Why’s that? Well, she’s spent too much and hasn’t paid the bills yet, that’s why!

Finally, taking her dad’s advice, without his knowledge, she tries to C.B. which means ‘cut back’ on her spending. However, she ends up spending more money instead. When she felt like there’s no more hope, her flatmate, Suze, suggested that she tried to Make More Money so she can pay off her bills.

Somehow, Becky applied to be a Saturday shop assistant at a clothes store. Sure, she loves clothes and all, but hiding a pair of jeans from a customer??? That’s hilarious! You never know what she’ll do next. She makes up lies and all kinds of stories just to get her own way and to me, she comes across as a very selfish person.

How’s her relationship with Luke in this book? He’s deemed a genius and he built his company, Brandon Communications from nothing. Also, he’s in the list of the 100 Richest Bachelors. Tarquin, Suze’s cousin, has also made the list. He’s interested in Becky but she’s not that into him, unfortunately. Anyway, things changed after she spotted him in the richest bachelor list.

Becky thinks that Luke Brandon likes her. But, she’s not quite sure. She even had a good time choosing a luggage bag with him. Apparently, the luggage was for his girlfriend! Was she furious when she found out! And all the while she thought that he actually liked her. Since then, she’s never trusted him and decided to hate him.

At the beginning of the book, only bad things happened to her. Partly because she caused them to happen. You feel sorry for her and yet you just want to laugh out loud at her silliness! It’s like the other Shopaholic books I’ve read. And I have two more books to go – the one where she gets married and the other one with the baby!

Other Bloggers’ Reviews: BookChica

Popularity: 6%

This book really gave me the horrors! After reading the first 20 pages I felt tired and took a nap. And had a bad dream! But, I still continued reading the book nevertheless.

Carrie was Stephen King’s first horror novel and it definitely does its job. Carrie is just a plain girl with the gift of telekinesis. Nobody else knows about it except her mother. The most frightening character in this book is Carrie’s overly religious and completely paranoid mother, Margaret White. Carrie’s father, Ralph, passed away when she was small so, it’s only Carrie and her mother at home.

Their house is decorated with numerous religious pictures (mostly biblical characters in trouble) and also a huge crucifix with the dying Jesus Christ. Carrie’s mother is also always praying for her and her daughter’s sins. To her, it is already a sin for being a woman and also a sin for a woman to have her menstruation.

That was why she never explained to Carrie about the monthly cycle. While cleaning up after playing volleyball in the girls’ locker room at Ewen (U-win) High School, Carrie found blood dripping down her legs. She doesn’t know that she’s begun menstruating and the other girls weren’t any help. They only teased and bullied her.

Carrie was always the butt of jokes in school and she doesn’t stand up for herself. Anyway, one of the girls, Susan Snell, felt badly for Carrie and regretted teasing her in the locker room with the other girls, asked her boyfriend, Tommy Ross to bring Carrie to the prom.

Tommy nervously asked Carrie and she accepted. However, her mother was not very happy about it. In fact, she got hysterical and ordered Carrie to pray for her sins in the closet.

Then, there’s Chris Hargensen, the spoilt daughter of a rich lawyer. She’s forever making Carrie’s life like hell in school and she’s upset that she’s not allowed to go to the prom, as punishment for teasing Carrie in the locker room. No, she won’t sit down quietly of course. She’s going to pay back to Carrie. On Prom Night, too.

Initially, Carrie’s prom night was magical and thrilling. The popular Tommy Ross is her date and she looks stunning in her homemade dress. Lo and behold, Tommy and Carrie were even voted Prom King and Queen of the 1979 Spring Ball. Both went onstage and sat on the special ‘thrones’ for the King and Queen of the prom and Carrie felt terribly overwhelmed when something splashed all over her. Pig’s blood.

From then on, the terror began in the town of Chamberlain.

For the faint-hearted, no reading this book alone at night.

I’ve watched Carrie (1976 film) starring Sissy Spacek as Carrie. My sister did warn me about the chilling sound effects and Carrie’s mother but I watched it anyway. Don’t watch it alone, I’m warning you! =D

Other Bloggers’ Reviews: Erin

Popularity: 52%

This is the fourth Diana Wynne Jones book that I have read and it is also much better than Hexwood. Maybe because Charmed Life was a lot easier to read, as the language was simple and there were not many complicated names.

Eric and Gwendolen Chant were most unfortunate when their parents died during their family day trip. Then, they were sent to live with their neighbour, Mrs. Sharp. Mrs. Sharp was a certified witch and she was glad to have the children to stay with her. She was also interested in Gwendolen because she was a witch too. Eric, or Cat, as Gwendolen calls him, seems like a normal boy with no magical powers.

Gwendolen was then sent for magic lessons at Mr. Henry Nostrum’s place. He was very proud of her because she’s a very gifted witch and has the potential to rule the world. Well, that was what he told her.

One day, Chrestomanci paid the Chants a visit and invited them to live with him at Chrestomanci Castle. Gwendolen was ecstatic to be going there and it was her who wrote to him in the first place, telling him about her parents’ death. It seemed that Chrestomanci was somehow related to the Chants. Cat was not that excited to go there at all. He would miss Mrs. Sharp terribly.

The young Chants arrive at Chrestomanci Castle to find its surroundings were filled with magic. I like the way Jones described that you could smell magic or feel the magic in the air. I wonder how it’s like to smell magic!

Anyway, Gwendolen expected to be treated like a queen and waited on hand and foot. However, she was thoroughly disappointed when they did not fuss over her like how Mrs. Sharp and Mr. Nostrum did. Furthermore, she was not allowed to have magic lessons with Chrestomanci’s children, Roger and Julia.

I found that things got very interesting when nearing the end of the book. I also believe that this book is the first part of the Chrestomanci series. In other words, this book should be the first book in the Chrestomanci series to be read. The next one to read would be The Lives of Christopher Chant.

Buy Charmed Life

Other reviews: DogEar Diary

Popularity: 26%


I started reading Calvin & Hobbes when I was in my primary school years mainly because it was a comic! The comics are colourful, humorous and incredibly entertaining. I used to read C&H for hours. Calvin is smart yet stupid at the same time.

He uses big, bombastic words but he is frightfully hopeless in Math. His best friend is a stuffed tiger toy, Hobbes, which he imagines is a real and talking tiger.

He detests girls and loves to bully his classmate and neighbour, Susie Derkins. I truly enjoy the ones where there are Calvin and Susie. Susie is smart and friendly. Unfortunately, Calvin stubbornly remains unfriendly and hostile towards her. However, it may be possible that he likes her!

He frequently gives his teacher, Miss Wormwood, lots of headaches. He is also afraid of Moe, a big but not-that-smart bully who always asks him for money. Moe calls Calvin ‘Twinky’.

Calvin is also afraid of his teenage babysitter, Rosalyn. Rosalyn also considers him a little monster but she baby-sits him because she needs the money for college. Something always goes wrong when she comes over to baby-sit him for the evening.

His mom loves to throw him out of the house as he is always making a mess in there. His dad tells him things, which are not quite true. It seems that Calvin’s dad is a resemblance of the comic’s author, Bill Watterson.

The characters in Calvin & Hobbes never grow old. Calvin will be 6 years old forever. It would be awfully interesting if he did grow. But, I guess Mr. Watterson had no plans of making him older!

It’s still fun reading the comics anyway. =D I wonder how many Calvin & Hobbes books are there in total. There is a box set – The Complete Calvin and Hobbes – that includes ALL of Calvin & Hobbes comics and would be a must-have treasure for any Calvin & Hobbes fans. It is also priced at a whopping $90.00!

Buy The Complete Calvin and Hobbes (Calvin & Hobbes)

Popularity: 27%

This is the second time I’ve read this particularly hilarious book about a 15-year-old boy, Christopher who has Asperger’s Syndrome or autism. He lives in Swindon with his father and attends a special school. Christopher is brilliant at Maths and Physics and he aims to sit for the A Level Maths exam. He dreams of taking more A Level exams and then getting a degree to eventually become a scientist.

The story begins with the death of a neighbour’s dog, Wellington. Someone had intentionally stuck a garden fork through the poor dog and since Christopher had been quite fond of the dog, he is determined to find out who killed the dog. Thus, he writes a book with interesting illustrations to tell his story.

As he goes on his journey to find out the dog’s killer, Christopher finds out some secrets, which his father had hid from him. He has also started talking to strangers, something he never does because to him, strangers could be dangerous. Christopher finds comfort in familiarity.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a different kind of book and written in an unusual but likeable style. Definitely worth reading again!

Other Bloggers’ Reviews: Amanda, Bibliolatry

Popularity: 24%