Reviews

Why has Miles spent his entire life chasing after Hayden, his mentally ill twin? Each time he receives communication from Hayden, he packs his things and embarks on another wild goose chase in hopes of catching up with him.

Why don’t things don’t go as planned for George Orson and Lucy? When they leave Pompey, Ohio where George Orson taught high school English and Lucy was his student they have big plans to live in glamorous places. It doesn’t quite work out.

Why is Ryan on his way to the hospital with his severed hand in an ice cooler?

Children of first generation Vietnamese immigrants, Van and Linny grew apart when their mother bought a house allowing them separate bedrooms. Once close, as adults they are now bound together only by their traditional father who has called them home to celebrate his finally having applied for U.S. citizenship.

Diana Campanella is coasting through life. She’s left the security of a steady job and purchased “Second Time Around”, a high-end second hand clothing store. She’s terminally engaged to a politically connected lawyer from an important Washington D.C. family. As the shop fails to gain new business and a wedding date remains undeclared, Diana grows more and more discontent. Harry blows into Diana’s life like a breath of fresh air and provides just the catalyst needed to set changes for Diana in motion.

The premise behind Water with Lemon is that it is a diet book told in the format of a novel. I appreciate the concept and can even say the story line had the potential to be very engaging. In a novel, however, I need a little more character development and a little less beating over the head with diet habits.

Alford’s exploration of what constitutes wisdom and where it comes from read a little more lightly than I would have expected. While Alford has done his research and shares many of the gems he has gleaned from his reading, I didn’t feel enlightened. His experiences during his mother’s divorce and his interviews with the elderly are entertaining, but they impart no wisdom in the end.

Dedicated to editor Hornby's son Danny, $2 of the cover price of this collection will be donated to Treehouse, a school for autistic children. Hornby’s explanation of why this collection came about in the introduction is in itself a heart-felt piece of writing. And then he's topped it with NippleJesus, a story about a nightclub bouncer turned art gallery security guard and his reactions to a controversial work called NippleJesus.

The Hunger Games is the story of North America after an apocalyptic war has broken out. Now the continent is made up of 12 districts, ruled over by a wealthy capitol city. Each year, to remind the districts of their loss in the war and how powerless they are, the Capitol chooses two teenagers from each district to participate in a reality TV show. The participants, called tributes are chosen at random from a lottery, one boy and one girl.

One of my favorite books is being made into a movie, it is just one of those books that as you are reading you are selecting cast members in your head. I Love You, Beth Cooper is the story of one teen's experiences at the end of high school. Denis Cooverman has always been a geek. For as long as he can remember he has been the butt of every joke, getting swirlies in between classes and practical jokes played on him ever day.

When Gwen Merchant unexpectedly bumps into Elliot Hull, a man whom she had dated furiously for three weeks during college, her seemingly perfect life and perfect marriage are dragged under a microscope for examination. It isn’t until what could have been presents itself that Gwen begins to question the difference between love and marriage. At the encouragement of her husband, Gwen poses as Elliot’s wife in order to appease his mother Vivian on her deathbed. At the dying woman’s insistence, Gwen sets out to discover the truth…and finds more truth than she was prepared for.