His friends consist of rich dudes who earn money in ‘unusual’ ways, just like him. His close friend, David Ambrosia, is in the music industry and is doing what he can to make his fiancée, Godiva, a singing superstar. He’s also connected to drug dealers and such. Then, there’s Whiskey’s father, Snookey and his younger brother, Alonzo. Snookey’s stuck in jail but can still run operations from in there. Alonzo frequently lands himself into trouble of some kind.

Whiskey is also protective of his older sister, Tasha, and her kids. She took care of him and Alonzo since they were young when their mother was too busy doing drugs or going after men. Therefore, Whiskey and his family are tough characters who have been through a lot. In fact, most of the characters in this book are tough people.

Anyway, Whiskey’s biggest job is to murder a Police Chief, Mickey O’Malley, who’s determined to eradicate drug trafficking and other drug-related crimes. Whiskey and his cronies find this worrisome because they’ll be losing a lot of money if O’Malley is successful. Therefore, lots of them want to see O’Malley dead and gone.

This book is definitely different from all others that I’ve read in my life. Initially, I wasn’t used to the street language being used but as I kept reading, I got the hang of it. I wanted to stop reading halfway because I got kind of bored with it but continued because I’m curious to know if O’Malley will be killed or not!

The main characters are all bad-a$$ guys who are impossibly rich and treat women like objects but they’re undeniably loyal. Those who snitched on others to the cops will obviously be murdered. People who don’t keep their promises will likely get their ‘punishment’ too.

I’m guessing that there’s a second book after this one as the story wasn’t quite finished. There’s a “To Be Continued…” on the last page. For those who’d like to read from the bad guys’ point of view, then you can try reading this book. It’s certainly been an extraordinary reading experience.

Thanks to Tracee Gleichner from Pump Up Your Book Promotion for sending me this book.

In this book, Coriander tells her tale in seven parts. She also lights seven candles to represent each part and blows them off one by one as she finishes one part after another. Now this candle-blowing thing is really intriguing but I don’t understand what it means.

First, Coriander introduces herself (she was born in 1643) and her parents. Where they lived, how her parents met, how her mother could ‘cure’ the neighbours by recommending them to take some of her homemade remedies. Some people secretly called her mother a witch or a cunning woman but they still flock to her home to be treated.

Now one day, a package arrives for Coriander and what does she find in there? Why, it’s the pair of silver shoes that fit her so darn well. Unfortunately, her mother doesn’t allow her to wear them. Six-year-old Coriander who has fallen in love with the shoes just couldn’t understand why she wasn’t allowed to wear them. She knew that the shoes were made especially for her.

Unable to resist not being able to have those shoes, Coriander sneaks into her father’s room and discreetly wears them. She panics when she couldn’t take them off, as if they wouldn’t come off. Well, it was only temporary. The shoes acted normally after that and Coriander’s parents let her wear them freely.

After a while, something odd happened to Coriander’s mother. She died not much later and the family’s broken-hearted. To make matters worse, Coriander’s father is advised to take on a Puritan wife so that he can keep his properties. Mr. Hobie was supportive of the Royalist cause and the Royalists had lost the English Civil War.

Mr. Hobie’s new wife, Maud, is like the wife/step-mother from hell. She finds fault with almost everything and is set on making the house more Godly by removing and changing many things which she considers to be linked to witchcraft. She also brings a preacher, Arise Fell home and insists that he stay with them.

Arise Fell is definitely one person whom I would never like to meet! He’s an extremist, heartless, cunning, and just a really hated character in this book. I felt angry and sympathetic towards Coriander and the others who had to suffer from Arise Fell’s ‘hand of wrath’. He even forces Coriander to change her name to ‘Ann’ because Coriander is not a suitable name for a God-fearing person. Ridiculous!

You’ll enjoy reading I, Coriander as it’s magical and beautifully-written. The parts with Arise Fell were quite disturbing because he just seemed so cruel! He’s quite remarkable because he can influence people with what he preaches but things go too far when he takes matters into his own hands. For example, the part where he and Maud deliberately kill an old, defenseless woman while other people just stood by watching.

I should like to see this book turned into a movie. It would be quite fascinating to watch Coriander, Arise Fell, Tycho (Coriander’s love), and other characters on screen.

Other Reviews: Jenne, Jen Robinson, Casey

Her father has been missing for quite a long time. People gossiped that he’s probably run away with another woman. He used to write to the family but stopped after a while. Meg’s mother still continues to write letters to him but they go unanswered and this has caused more unkind stories to be spread about the Murry family.

Meg has 3 younger brothers, 10-year-old Sandy and Dennys are twins while five-year-old Charles Wallace is the youngest. Meg is closest to Charles Wallace and usually turns to him for comfort after having a bad day. He also seems to know what she’s thinking, making Meg feel that he can actually read her mind. Besides Meg, Charles Wallace also always knows what their mother is thinking and feeling.

One day, Charles gets Meg to go with him to a supposedly haunted house to meet three strange women with strange names: Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which. They reveal that they are there to help Meg and Charles find their father who is in grave danger. Another boy, Calvin joins them too. He is considered to be of the same kind as Charles Wallace so he’s accepted by the three women to take part in their journey.

After that, they travel to another planet that’s very, very, very far away from Earth and they discover something sinister called IT. IT has captured their father and they have to save him. IT is evil. IT wants everybody to act like robots and unable to think for themselves. IT is in favour of uniformity. IT is also just a brain. I have no idea why IT was represented in the form of a brain though. The only way to handle IT is to try to resist what IT wants them to do.

One of my favourite parts in this book is Meg’s and Charles’ encounter with Calvin where Charles interrogated Calvin and Calvin being surprised that Charles wasn’t as dumb as everyone else thought he was. It shows that you can’t truly judge a person unless you got to know them! Actually I find Charles Wallace an absolutely interesting character. Such bombastic words and ideas from a mere five-year-old!

I decided to read this because a lot of other people have already read and loved it. It’s also a banned book so I wanted to find out what could contribute to it being such a book. This story reminds me of something out of a Diana Wynne Jones book. I can’t say that I really liked this book. It wasn’t thoroughly enthralling but still something that we need to read. There are some scientific terms in it and they are explained in simple ways so even science-phobic readers can easily understand how science plays a part in the story.

Other Bloggers’ Reviews: Nymeth, Natasha, Book Dads

It’s supposed to be Harry’s 7th year of schooling at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry but Harry has more important things to do than go back to school. Albus Dumbledore had left Harry with an important job and that is to destroy Voldemort’s Horcruxes. Voldemort found a way to “divide” his soul so nobody can finish him off that easily. He then kept parts of his soul in various objects and these objects are called Horcruxes. Only Harry, Ron, Hermione and Dumbledore know about them.

Nevertheless, it’s not an easy job for Harry to do. Since Voldemort’s gaining power and spreading his influence to as many places and people as possible, Harry, Ron and Hermione are forced to carry out their mission in secret. Also, Dumbledore did not leave much information to help Harry make faster progress. But then, in his will, Dumbledore did leave a Snitch and the Gryffindor sword to Harry, a Deluminator to Ron and a copy of “The Tales of Beedle the Bard” to Hermione. They’re puzzled as to why Dumbledore left them seemingly-useless things but somehow, they know that these items would eventually help them destroy Voldemort.

As they try to find the remaining undestroyed Horcruxes, Harry, Ron and Hermione become more and more frustrated. Harry also begins to lose faith and trust in Dumbledore who was almost like a father to him. He also learns more about Dumbledore’s shadowy past which doesn’t improve matters at all.

Anyway, like the previous six books, this one is just as exciting and gripping. I read to see how Ron and Hermione are getting along, what will happen between Harry and Ginny, the extremely mysterious Severus Snape and more! What are the Horcruxes that Voldemort managed to make and how will Harry find them? Was Albus Dumbledore good or bad? Was he actually helping Harry to succeed or helping Harry to die? These questions were being played frequently on my mind while reading this page-turner of a book.

You can expect lots of twists and turns, just like before. Lots of pleasant surprises too! I’m amazed at how Rowling managed to connect the many events together so that they make sense and that not many loopholes occurred.

I also felt sympathetic towards Snape. In fact, I thought that he was the most unfortunate character in the book and that’s why I really felt sorry for him. You’ll have to read it to know why.

Sigh….I can’t believe it’s the end of the Harry Potter series! I’m pretty sure other Potter fans can’t believe it too. I felt close to the characters ever since I started reading the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. I’ve read so many times about Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, the Weasley family, Dumbledore, the other professors and became so familiar with them that they’re almost like friends (even Draco Malfoy!)! Do you feel the same way? Do you cheer when your favourite character triumphs? Or do you feel devastated when some characters are killed off? I’ve read somewhere before that Rowling shed tears when she was killing off some of the characters! Well, it’s already hard to read about them dying let alone writing about it.

So, what are your thoughts on this book? I’d love to hear all about it!

Other Bloggers’ Reviews: gautami tripathy, nymeth, tanabata, Tuesday

So, it’s Harry Potter’s sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and times are more exciting than ever. Voldemort, the evil enemy of all things good, is at large and his followers are trying their best to help him regain complete power of the wizarding world. Voldemort’s crew call themselves the Death Eaters.

As usual, Harry is always given special treatment and more attention than the other students. This time, he has to endure being called the Chosen One by the others due to some prophecy that he’ll be the one to finish off Voldemort for once and for all. Also, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, is giving Harry extra lessons during the weekends, supposedly to help Harry understand his enemy, Voldemort.

All the same, what’s going on with Harry’s best friends, Ron and Hermione? Hermione, as usual is the one who’s obsessed with studying and being the only one enthusiastically answering teachers’ questions in class. Ron, on the other hand, is still jealous of Harry at times. But this time around, he’s a prefect and playing Keeper in Gryffindor’s Quidditch team. Therefore, his self-esteem isn’t really low nowadays. Harry’s the Quidditch Captain, by the way.

There’s some romantic tension between Ron and Hermione but neither one would admit that they like each other. I was quite annoyed when Ron started going out with Lavender Brown instead of going out straight with Hermione. I wonder if other people thought the same thing too, that Ron should be with Hermione. Anyone else who thinks otherwise? And speaking of love, Harry secretly likes Ron’s younger sister, Ginny, but she’s already in a relationship with Dean Martin, one of Harry’s friends. See, I told you times were exciting.

We are also introduced to a new professor, Horace Slughorn, who’s also the new Potions teacher. The previous Potions teacher, Professor Snape finally got his dream job, which is teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts. Slughorn plays favouritism rather openly, showing interest in students who are connected to famous people or students who are just smart and different from the others. Harry is definitely one of them.

Throughout the book, we are also suspicious about Snape’s loyalty. Harry insists that he’s on Voldemort’s side but Dumbledore is adamant that Snape’s on their side. Harry frequently wears his Invisibility Cloak when he’s spying on the enemy and discovers some very interesting facts.

I was also guessing who the half-blood prince could be. Harry’s been using an old Potions textbook which belonged to The Half-Blood Prince. The Prince seems smart and made a lot of useful notes in the book. Thanks to the book, Harry’s doing really well in Potions class, a subject he has always been weak at.

All right, this has been a pretty long post for a book which I think most of you have already read. Now I’m off to read Book 7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!

Other Bloggers’ Reviews: nymeth

I was sobbing away while reading the ending of The Book Thief. Yes, this book has that effect on you especially if you’re an emotional kind of person. I don’t wish to reveal the ending but I’ll tell you the beginning.

This book received a lot of attention and praises that I had really high expectations from it. However, the first 50 or 60 pages didn’t impress me much. I wasn’t used to the odd, short paragraphs and short sentences. But as I went on, the reading became enjoyable and I found myself lost in the Liesel’s story.

As most of us who have already read or have an idea on what the book’s about, the narrator is Death. Death? Sounds frightening and morbid, don’t you think? Actually, it’s anything but that. Death sounds kind of melancholic and it’s (or he???) obsessed with talking about colours. I did not care about the colours though. Also, it’s not a totally depressing book. There are parts that can make you laugh too. Seriously, Death can also joke.

Okay, so I read about Liesel’s story. She’s the book thief because she steals books so she can read them later. While travelling to Munich with her mother and brother on a train, her brother dies. He was only six. Liesel would be sent to live with foster parents at Himmel Street. That was in 1939. She does not meet her mother again.

Liesel’s foster parents are Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Hans is a really cool and kind foster father. The total opposite of his loud-mouthed, cursing wife, Rosa. Because of his caring and calm nature, Liesel warms up to him. He comforts her when she wakes up from recurring nightmares of her dead brother and he teaches her to read after those nightmares. He’s like the father she never had.

Oh, I have no idea where or who or what her father is. He’s deemed as “missing”. Was he a Jew or a German? Why was he missing? I assume that Liesel’s mom’s a Jew because Liesel overheard Hans and Rosa talking about what “they” might have done to her? Well, if Liesel’s mom was taken away, how come Liesel’s safe? I think I had better read up more on my history. Perhaps there are exceptions for kids? Hmmmm….. (ETA: I just found out that Liesel’s parents were Communists!)

Anyway, Liesel makes new friends with the kids from her neighbourhood, particularly with her neighbour, Rudy Steiner, who obviously likes Liesel a lot and is always asking her for a kiss whenever the opportunity seems right. Rudy and Liesel become best friends and they always go on stealing sprees together.

I guess my favourite character in the book would be Max Vandenburg. He’s a Jew and with the Hubermanns’ help and permission, he hides in their basement. He feels sorry for putting them to so much trouble but they can’t turn away a man whose father once saved Hans’ life. The sub-chapter, “Liesel’s Lecture”, was an emotional one. It’s where Hans tries to make Liesel understand the danger of spilling out an absolutely dangerous secret, which will ultimately cause unpleasant events.

Liesel and Max, they too become friends. Liesel would find newspapers for him to read and do crossword puzzles. They would sit together in the basement, each doing their own reading. They share a strong bond and you could feel Liesel’s sadness and sorrow when they’re separated later.

All in all, it’s a riveting and keeps you glued to the pages kind of book. It does not have a strong introduction but if you keep on reading, you won’t regret it. Of course, I assume that you’ll keep on reading to find out what happens to all the characters. Read the book and I hope you’ll like it like I do.

Other Bloggers’ Reviews: Nymeth, Laura, Leah, Kristine, Reading Monk, Rimi, Natasha, Alessandra

Do I even need to review this book??? I mean, it’s an Enid Blyton book, for goodness’ sake! Well, I’ll write about it anyway.

This is the fifth book in the Barney mystery series. Barney, Diana, Roger, Snubby, and Snubby’s dog, Loony, appear in all the Barney books. Diana and Roger are sister and brother while Snubby’s their cousin. He has no parents so he’s always sent to live with relatives during his school holidays but he enjoys spending his holidays with Diana and Roger. Barney is their friend. He has a pet monkey called Miranda. Pretty name, huh?

By the way, it’s the winter holidays for the kids. Barney has finally found his father after an endless search for him and he’s spent Christmas time with his newfound family. After Christmas, Barney invites Roger, Diana, and Snubby to stay at a house owned by his grandmother by a lake and surrounded by hills. Of course, Roger and Diana’s parents agreed to let them have fun by themselves. A Mrs. Tickle will be cooking their meals, washing their stuff, and just basically looking after them.

So at the house, the children spent their time skating and tobogganing down the snowy hills and having the time of their lives. Meanwhile, at night, they hear mysterious knocking sounds like ‘rat-a-tat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat’. Haha! Can you imagine such sounds? To me, it sounds odd but there you go.

As usual, the children being their inquisitive selves and with a huge sense of adventure, they decide to investigate the sounds. They even found a large glove on the ground outside and Snubby thought he saw somebody standing outside looking at the house. Therefore, they found reason to suspect that something was wrong.

I’ve now read 4 of the books in the Barney mystery series. The other three are The Rockingdown Mystery, The Rilloby Fair Mystery, and The Ring O’ Bells Mystery. Being an Enid Blyton fan and one who has grown up reading her books, I find them enjoyable and a great way to ‘relive’ my childhood.

All the same, I immensely loved the movie! Now that I’ve finally read the book, I found that it’s quite different from what I saw on the big screen. But it still was a magnificent read. Although the book looks like it’s meant for children, it certainly is not. There are parts and words in it which would not be appropriate for younger readers at all. That was another surprise to me too. I’ve always thought it’s a children’s fantasy book but it’s not.

So, at the beginning, Dunstan Thorn crosses the gap that separates Wall, England and Fairie or Stormhold. Fairie is nothing like Wall. Wall is like our normal world while Fairie is a magical place with creatures and objects you will not find in Wall. Dunstan then meets a pretty slave girl and falls for her. They slept with each other and nine months later, a baby was delivered to Dunstan. That baby was Tristran Thorn.

Tristran grew up to be an ordinary young boy with some extraordinary features like an ear which is almost pointed for example. He’s also in love with the beautiful Victoria Forester. Unfortunately, she’s not that interested with him. She’s broken lots of hearts anyway, so why should she show interest in an ordinary boy like Tristran?

However, one evening when Tristran managed to walk Victoria home, they witness a falling star. Hoping to win her heart, Tristran promised Victoria that he’ll find the star for her. In return, she should grant him anything he desires. Because of that, the love stricken young man bid farewell to his family and set off to find the star in Fairie.

During his journey, he meets a little man who helps him. He gives Tristran a special candle and a thin silver chain. In the movie, his mother gave him a Babylon candle and the chain instead.

Now, Tristran isn’t the only one who’s looking for the fallen star. The witch-queen is looking for it too. She and her sisters are old hags but if they eat the heart of a star, their youth and beauty will be restored for a while at least. Michelle Pfeiffer did a really good job acting as the witch in the movie.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell how the star fell in the first place! Well, she was hit by the topaz necklace which was released by the dying Lord of Stormhold. The son who manages to retrieve the necklace will be the next Lord of Stormhold.

Nevertheless, when Tristran and the star, Yvaine first meet each other, they didn’t get along well. She didn’t get along with him actually. She was just a miserable, bad-tempered fallen star and he was only interested in bringing her back to his true love, Victoria.

All in all, it was a great book. The movie’s fabulous too. I’ll watch it again and again. Oh, Captain Shakespeare’s not in the book. It’s Captain Johannes Alberic instead and his role was very small unlike Robert De Niro’s in the movie! This book was kind of serious with not much humour in it. Hmm, I don’t think there was any humour at all but I’m not complaining!

Other Bloggers’ Reviews: Care, Robyn, Kim, nylusmilk

So, the story’s about Winston Smith who lives in London, Oceania. It’s the year 1984 and there are only 3 countries in the world: Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia. Oceania is always at war with both countries but will always insist that it has been at war with one country at all times. Meaning, if they’re at war with Eurasia now means that they’ve always been at war with Eurasia. But then, they’ll suddenly be warring with Eastasia and then they’ll say that they’ve always been at war with Eastasia. Anybody who contradicts will of course be punished severely. Then, they’ll be altering newspapers, books, documents so that ‘mistakes’ will be cleared. It’s pretty stupid actually but then that’s how it is in Oceania.

Winston works in the Ministry of Truth. One day during his lunch hour, he goes back home and starts a diary secretly. No one was allowed to keep a diary. No one was allowed to have personal thoughts. And no one had privacy. There were telescreens in the houses of those who belonged in the Inner Party and Outer Party. The telescreens transmits and receives, like an advanced CCTV (closed-circuit television). Meaning those in charge will be monitoring your daily lives.

The Party rules Oceania. Big Brother is the leader and he’s always right. No one knows if Big Brother exists but his posters are everywhere to remind everyone that he’s ‘watching’ them. Big Brother is like the symbol of Oceania. Anyone who has thoughts of going against Big Brother will be caught by the Thought Police and will be tortured and brainwashed so that they’ll really love Big Brother again. To even think of something bad about the Party or of Big Brother is called ‘thoughtcrime’.

Thoughtcrime is a word in the Newspeak language. Newspeak is the official language of Oceania. According to Syme, one of the characters in 1984, ‘Newspeak is the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year’. You’ll encounter new words like ‘doublethink’, ‘crimestop’, ‘doubleplusungood’, and so on in this book. These are words in Newspeak. Oldspeak is what we’re speaking now.

Anyway, a woman from the Fiction Department, Julia, secretly hands Winston a note. He thought she’s a spy and that she’ll report him to the authorities sooner or later. However, this was what’s in the note:

“I love you”

Since then, they’ve begun a secret and illicit affair. It’s not allowed to love another woman so what they’re doing is going against the Party. Like Winston, Julia hates the Party and will do anything to go against them discreetly. They also know that they will be caught. Winston knows that they are as good as dead.

Oceania would be a really scary and tough place to live in. There’s no chance to be an individual. Everything is for the Party. Everyone must love Big Brother and the Party. The three slogans of the Party are:

I finally read this book because my lecturer mentioned it in class. I’m glad I read it. You should pick it up soon so you’ll know how terrible it is to live in a country where there’s no freedom to do what you want, to believe in what you feel is right, to be a unique individual, etc.

Other Bloggers’ Reviews: Laura

This was my first Georgette Heyer book and at least, it’s better than Austen. It is still dull for me, the story was slow and I really couldn’t wait to finish the book! So I’m really, really glad it’s over.

Anyway, what day were you born on? I was born on a Wednesday and I guess I’m full of woe. Friday’s child is loving and giving, which describes Hero perfectly. Hero’s an orphan and she’s been under her cousin’s care ever since she was young. Well, her cousin wasn’t really fond of her and her life’s actually quite miserable.

The hero in the story would be Sherry or Lord Sheringham. He has asked the Incomparable or Isabella for her hand in marriage but was rejected. Feeling indignant that he should be married right away so that he can have full control of his money, which was left to him by his late father, he vowed that he’d marry the next girl he meets. Sherry’s quite addicted to gaming and he is in a lot of debts.

And it’s no other than Hero Wantage who’s about to be sent to Bath to become a governess. She’s also Sherry’s childhood friend and adores him completely. When he suggests that they get married, she agrees on the condition that they don’t interfere in each other’s lives. It’s like they’re free to do what they want but in a discreet way, I guess. So, they set off to London and Hero says goodbye to being a governess.

With the help of Sherry’s cousins, Gil and Ferdy, the wedding goes smoothly. They nickname Hero ‘Kitten’. After that, life goes on as usual. Hero gets along very well with Gil, Ferdy, and another of Sherry’s friend, George, who’s completely smitten with Isabella and has always been trying to win her heart. Thanks to the characters of Gil, Ferdy, and George, as they make the story much more interesting! What would the book be without them?

Hero also lands herself in a number of scrapes and Sherry helps her out since he’s her husband and he’s responsible for her. But for how long will he tolerate it all? Hero utterly worships him and would do anything to make him happy. Whatever he says, she follows. She doesn’t really have a mind of her own but then when it comes to love, can’t blame her, right?

If you want to try Georgette Heyer’s books, I’m not sure if you should start with this one. I have more Heyer books to go and I hope that they might be better than this.

Other Bloggers’ Reviews: Ames