The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, Book 1)

Amazon.com

Some books improve with age--the age of the reader, that is. Such is certainly the case with Philip Pullman's heroic, at times heart-wrenching novel, The Golden Compass, a story ostensibly for children but one perhaps even better appreciated by adults. The protagonist of this complex fantasy is young Lyra Belacqua, a precocious orphan growing up within the precincts of Oxford University. But it quickly becomes clear that Lyra's Oxford is not precisely like our own--nor is her world. For one thing, people there each have a personal dæmon, the manifestation of their soul in animal form. For another, hers is a universe in which science, theology, and magic are closely allied:

As for what experimental theology was, Lyra had no more idea than the urchins. She had formed the notion that it was concerned with magic, with the movements of the stars and planets, with tiny particles of matter, but that was guesswork, really. Probably the stars had dæmons just as humans did, and experimental theology involved talking to them.

Not that Lyra spends much time worrying about it; what she likes best is "clambering over the College roofs with Roger the kitchen boy who was her particular friend, to spit plum stones on the heads of passing Scholars or to hoot like owls outside a window where a tutorial was going on, or racing through the narrow streets, or stealing apples from the market, or waging war." But Lyra's carefree existence changes forever when she and her dæmon, Pantalaimon, first prevent an assassination attempt against her uncle, the powerful Lord Asriel, and then overhear a secret discussion about a mysterious entity known as Dust. Soon she and Pan are swept up in a dangerous game involving disappearing children, a beautiful woman with a golden monkey dæmon, a trip to the far north, and a set of allies ranging from "gyptians" to witches to an armor-clad polar bear.

In The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman has written a masterpiece that transcends genre. It is a children's book that will appeal to adults, a fantasy novel that will charm even the most hardened realist. Best of all, the author doesn't speak down to his audience, nor does he pull his punches; there is genuine terror in this book, and heartbreak, betrayal, and loss. There is also love, loyalty, and an abiding morality that infuses the story but never overwhelms it. This is one of those rare novels that one wishes would never end. Fortunately, its sequel, The Subtle Knife, will help put off that inevitability for a while longer. --Alix Wilber

Book Description

In a landmark epic of fantasy and storytelling, Philip Pullman invites readers into a world as convincing and thoroughly realized as Narnia, Earthsea, or Redwall. Here lives an orphaned ward named Lyra Belacqua, whose carefree life among the scholars at Oxford's Jordan College is shattered by the arrival of two powerful visitors. First, her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, appears with evidence of mystery and danger in the far North, including photographs of a mysterious celestial phenomenon called Dust and the dim outline of a city suspended in the Aurora Borealis that he suspects is part of an alternate universe. He leaves Lyra in the care of Mrs. Coulter, an enigmatic scholar and explorer who offers to give Lyra the attention her uncle has long refused her. In this multilayered narrative, however, nothing is as it seems. Lyra sets out for the top of the world in search of her kidnapped playmate, Roger, bearing a rare truth-telling instrument, the compass of the title. All around her children are disappearing—victims of so-called "Gobblers"—and being used as subjects in terrible experiments that separate humans from their daemons, creatures that reflect each person's inner being. And somehow, both Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are involved.

Download Description

Pullman introduces readers to a world as convincing and thoroughly realized as Narnia, Earthsea, of Redwall, wherein lives a half-wild, half-civilized girl named Lyra Belacqua, whose carefree life among the scholars of Jordan College is about the shattered by the arrival of two powerful visitors.

Average customer rating:

Fun and well done.
Great book. Thought provoking.
Missing Link by Peter Morse

Missing Link
Peter V Morse
Manufacturer: iUniverse, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Adventure | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0595404553

Book Description

To Humbolt's surprise, Schwimer has much different news. "I have just returned from the Cascades and believe I have found the missing link." There is a pause at Humbolt's end. Schwimer softly shouts, "Did you hear me, Humbolt?"

When a new creature is discovered in Washington State's Cascade Mountains, adversaries Arthur Schwimer, an evolutionist, and Gary Humbolt, a creationist, join forces in a common quest to determine the scientific veracity of the latest discovery of the so-called missing link between ape and man.

A sophisticated research facility is set up in the remote section of the forest where the creatures live. The substantiation of Darwin's theory- and the possible demise of the world's most established religions-rest on the results. But after the analysis begins, three members of the study group are mysteriously killed. Judith Moses, Humbolt's assistant, wades through the perplexing clues, desperately seeking answers before the seemingly indisputable research can be presented to the public. Have the researchers indeed discovered the missing link, or have they been duped by a marvel of genetic engineering?

Customer Reviews:

Fun and well done........2007-04-04

Creationists to the extreme right and Darwinists to the extreme left; if you find these views of how humans came into being too extreme or simplistic, and enjoy well crafted science fiction stories, then Missing Link will be worth your while.

Great book. Thought provoking........2007-04-02

Missing Link pursues the question of "Why are we here" with murder, mytery and intrigue. This is a short science fiction thriller that is worth reading.

Missing Link by Peter Morse.......2007-04-01

Whether you believe in the Creator, Darwin or both, you'll find Missing Link missing very little. A page burning mystery that can be consumed in a few hours. A great companion for a cross-country flight or while stuck in an airport.

Average customer rating:

the LAST and the BEST book!
Missing You
A Beautiful Ending
A Tidy Wrap-Up
1-800-Where-R-You #5: Missing You (1-800-Where-R-You)

Missing You (1-800-Where-R-You, Book 5)
Meg Cabot
Manufacturer: HarperTeen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0060874309
Release Date: 2006-12-26

Book Description

Ever since a walk home on a particularly stormy day, Jessica Mastriani has had an ability like no other. She became known worldwide as Lightning Girl—a psychic who could find the location of anyone, dead or alive. Jess finally had no choice but to embrace her newfound talent, and ended up lending her skills to the U.S. government.

But her work for them has taken a terrible toll, and Jess resurfaces months later a shadow of her former self, her powers gone, Lightning Girl no more. Her only hope is starting over in a new place, a big city where nobody knows her. It's only when Rob Wilkins unexpectedly shows up on her doorstep that she's forced to face her past. Rob, all the way from back home, needs her help. But how can Jess, her powers gone, find anyone, let alone the sister of a man she once loved . . . when she can't even find herself?

Missing You, the fifth and final book in the 1-800-Where-R-You series

Customer Reviews:

the LAST and the BEST book!.......2007-09-02

This book is simply amazing! I loved it loved it loved it! If you even LIKE Meg Cabot you are going to fall in love with her writing in this one! It is simply amazing and just fantastic! I definitely did not expect it to be this great but it was!! Buy with confidence- you are going to love this book!! This is the sequel to the many 1-800-Where-R-You books! I've read it five times!! It is the last book!

Missing You.......2007-06-20

As is tradition for these books, I finished this one in less than a day. And it is probably the best one in the series. Jess is 19 now, and I can definitely tell she's grown up. She handles the problems better, and the ending is one of the bests. I couldn't think of a better way to end this series. :P

A Beautiful Ending .......2007-05-20

This series is one of my all-time favorite Meg Cabots. I've learned to grow to love all the characters in this story- Jess, Rob, Ruth, Doug, her entire family... You can't help but like them and admire them for everything they've gone through. Plus, Rob and Jess are just great together.

And I know there was a huge gap between the fourth one and this finale, but I have to say, this series ender was better than anything I could have imagined. It was funny and über romantic. I found myself laughing, getting butterflies, even shedding a tear or two... all the good stuff that you could possibly ask for. It was highly satisfying, and at a different pace from the previous books. More mature somehow.

Apparently, Jess has apparently taken a few years off to work as a field agent of sorts, finding missing people amidst war in the Middle East. That is, until the trauma from the violence she was witness to caused her to lose her powers and subsequently attempt to lead a normal life as a college freshman. But then Rob turns up at her doorstep, the ex-love-of-her-life asking for her help.

It was gut-wrenching to see Jess messed up and not herself, and slowly finding her way back. Not to mention, you empathize with a lot of the decisions and doubts she has, which culminates in a highly satisfying and thoroughly enjoyable book worthy of a series finale. No regrets, it's been a great ride with 1-800-Where-R-You. :)

A Tidy Wrap-Up.......2007-05-16

I kind of thought that the ending for 1-800-Where-R-U #4 was all we were going to get for this series, but I was pleasantly surprised by the final book. The hiatus of the series corresponded well with the hiatus in Jess's life - she went off to help find people in Iraq, to New York City, to Julliard. A lot's been going on her life and there've been some changes. The Jess we know is still there, but grown up a bit, and she's been seriously affected by the events in the last couple of years. I don't know how closely her experiences and reactions parallel those of soldiers in Iraq, but I like that the war influenced the direction of this book. The characters are all still solid and entertaining, but a little more mature. Jess's new problem-solving style left me grinning and Rob is still a great counterpart to Jess, with hinted at depths yet still so very much a guy. I also liked Jess's resolutions of issues with her mom and the friendly sort of relationship Jess seems to have developed with Dr. Krantz.

1-800-Where-R-You #5: Missing You (1-800-Where-R-You).......2007-02-21

Awsome book i loved it, i couldn't put it down! a must have for meg cabot fans!

Average customer rating:

Hack job but a fun read
Big Change--Not a Good Ending.
Same Formula Different Book
Hard Work
Totally unreal and boring

Tripwire
Lee Child
Manufacturer: Putnam Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0399144676

Amazon.com

Ex-military policeman Jack Reacher is lying low in Key West, digging up swimming pools by hand. He is not at all pleased when a private detective starts asking questions about him. But when the detective, Costello, turns up dead with his fingertips sliced off, Reacher realizes it is time to move on.

As in Lee Child's two previous thrillers, Die Trying and Killing Floor, Reacher is soon up to his neck in lethal trouble, this time involving a vicious Wall Street manipulator, a mysterious woman (of course), and the livelihood of a whole community. Even the fate of soldiers missing in action in Vietnam is stirred into the brew.

But this is not a book by one of the new breed of U.S. thriller writers. Child prides himself on his ability, as an Englishman, to write American thrillers that are utterly convincing in milieu and toughness of action, without a trace of English sensibility. Tripwire is no exception. Every bit as lean and compulsive as its predecessors, it also builds on the freshest aspect of those books: Reacher may be a tough, epic hero, but he always remains human and vulnerable. --Barry Forshaw

Book Description

The New York Times bestselling author of Killing Floor and Die Trying returns with a new Jack Reacher thriller-in which a labrynthine trail of murder leads Jack straight into a trap...set by the most vicious opponent he's ever faced.

Customer Reviews:

Hack job but a fun read.......2007-09-10

You don't read a Child novel to experience great pros or a classic novel of immense proportions. You read Child to escape into a simple world with easy to understand characters and easy to follow plot lines with enough twists and enough heroics to make you turn the page. Such is the case with Jack Reacher who finds himself embroiled in another messy situation with Captain Hook for a villain and the standard love interest that is also smart and sassy. I had immense fun reading the novel and burying my worries inside of this work of fiction. Yes there are sentence fragments all over the place and yes some of the dialog needed a rewrite but after all Child is there to entertain.
My one pet peeve would be to abandon two major characters -- the stone family. That's part of the problem of throwing this together in a hurry. It's sloppy on Child's part even though we can predict what would happen to them. This is airport reading material and nothing more but it's still a great ride.

Big Change--Not a Good Ending........2007-08-19

I am reading the Jack Reacher series in order. This is the third I have read and this is weakest. Lee Child writes a great story and this moves well but it lacks in suspense and there is no real ending. I wonder if in writing this Child was wondering whether to end the series. As one reviewer says there is no explanation of any of the parts of the story. For example it is hard to understand why Hobes stayed around. We do not know what happens to the Stones.

Same Formula Different Book.......2007-08-09

If you have read any of the other Reacher novels you know exactly what to expect. Reacher is the ultimate embodiment of the lone-hero archetype. He is nearly super human in strength. He gets pulled in to a situation completely by fate, and in the end must destroy a character that is evil beyond human comprehension. There is also the obligatory female character that he feels a strong affinity towards. This of course leads to super human stamina in the bedroom. Nothing graphic of course, everything is tastefully implied.

Yet with all of that said, this is one of the better Reacher novels. The plot is paced nicely. Reacher's skills of deduction seem human instead of super-human. There is a believable tension between Reacher and the female character. It isn't the sudden lust seen in most of the novels. It carries a good plot and pace for an action/thriller plus shows Reacher at his most human emotionally.

Hard Work.......2007-07-18

This is the first of Child's books I have read and I can't say it has inspired me to read any more. There is a good story hiding somewhere in between the dense description, but by about half way through it becomes so tiresome getting there that I lost all sympathy with the characters. Child is able to spend pages describing the simple act of getting ready for bed, and many sections, even chapters, fail to advance the plot in any way.

The plot itself is pretty transparent, there are no twists waiting for us along the way - we are given everything on a plate pretty early on then tortured to sit through over 500 pages for it to play out. If two hundred pages had been shaved off, Child would have had a great book on his hands - my blame lies with the editor on this one.

At times the characters are interesting, but most of the time they act in unnatural ways to contrive future action, or to spell out exposition for the reader. Child is clearly a writer who is into detail, but he has gone way too far here and left nothing for the most important part of any book - imagination.

Totally unreal and boring.......2007-07-15

The plot and the characters are totally unreal. The characters also lack depth, are uninteresting and very often behave in a non rational, unreal way. Nobody, under extreme threat and blackmail, talk to a friend or call the police!
You soon get bored, do not believe the plot, and get bothered by the author attitude to try to keep you wired.... with pages and pages of silly, detailed and useless descriptions of offices, clothes, traffic lines, airplane seats, and so on.
The main bad character, Mr Hobie, would be perfect for a Spider Man or The Fantastic Four cartoon.

For me, it is for sure the first and last thriller of Mr Child.
I also resent his adolescent like admiration for armies and weapons.

Average customer rating:

A victory of an American family over the ugliness of war..
Great book! Sure makes you wonder.
High quality reading-true to human emotions

To Have and to Hold
Fern Michaels
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0345384512
Release Date: 1994-06-26

Book Description

The year is 1970, and Kate Starr wants to be the perfect wife and mother. Her husband Patrick is her whole world when he departs for a tour of duty in Vietnam. But when he is listed MIA, Kate must rely on herself for the first time in her life. It is an uphill struggle--emotionally, physically, financially. But the the fight to find out more information about her husband inspires her to do more, to gain more confidence, to fight until she has gotten some answers. And as Kate discovers she has talents and intelligence, she discovers a new kind of love, too.

Customer Reviews:

A victory of an American family over the ugliness of war.........2000-02-21

A splendid book. The plot is intricate. The characters are well developed and believable. This book is an interesting study of the changes in the role of family in American society from the '70s to the '90s. Patrick, Kate, Gus, Della, Donald, Ellie and Betsy have all won a place in my heart.

At the begining of the book the husband Patrick, who in my opinion is a "male chauvanist pig" goes off to war(Viet Nam). Patrick is excited to be doing what he loves best --flying. He has felt trapped in his marriage and has little respect for his wife. As an Air Force pilot, he sees freedom and adventure. He wants to be a hero. Kate,stays home to be the perfect military wife and the perfect mother to thier daughters Betsy & Ellie. She is not happy that Patrick is leaving. She is devastated. What will she do with out her childhood sweetheart and her "lord of the castle"? He has promised her that he will come back to her. She believes him. For twenty years she believes him..... she is left to raise her daughters by herself with little financial support . Finally,she is able to symbolically bury him and look to the future with hope and Patrick comes back into her life. He the tragically different but expects her to be the same a woman of the '70s not a woman of the '90s

Great book! Sure makes you wonder........1998-07-16

To Have and to Hold was really a great book. The characters were all so fantastic. You just love Kate & Della. What a great ending too.

High quality reading-true to human emotions.......1998-07-06

'To Have and to Hold' was the best fiction book I have read thus far. It describes every key event in detail so that you feel like you are there living it with the main character, Kate. She becomes your friend quickly as you see her not only survive a terrible event, but come out on top with the aid of two incredible friends.

True to the deepest of human emotions do not be surprised if you cry and feel various emotions as Kate ages. Her feelings directly match those of people in her situation and maturing character. For example, she feels mixed emotions as her daughter leaves home for the first time to get a degree. I enjoyed the placement of this story in history (Vietnam War). It enabled me to live through the event and understand what it meant to real people. The novel is also full of surprises and unexpected twists in the plot. Be prepared for a thrilling ride.

Women will find Kate to be a positive role model, but not in any simplistic manner. She truly earns our respect by picking up her life from the most desperate situation of pity to personal control and achievement. Her deep commitment to her loved ones is admirable and a tribute to love at its best. The story will teach you essential things you need to live a successful life, such as perseverence, loving oneself, faithfulness, and learning to let go of the past as you forge your future.

I did find a small part of the book 'a bit much' when the character meets a new man. Sharing every interest from thoughts to favorite drinks seems almost too much at times. I felt we had departed reality for a brief time and was disappointed that an author who had just built up such a true, tragic story made meeting someone to be a 'Cinderella Experience.' This relationship had no difficulties; it was like 'floating on a cloud.'

Customer Reviews:

A good book..........2003-07-20

...I'm not sorry I read it.

Throughout, there are hints of "conspiracy theories" but I think that is unavoidable in a topic as sensitive as this one. Did the US knowingly abandon troops in Vietnam and Laos? Do we know they are still there but unwilling to do what's necessary to get them home? These questions are answered, I think, satisfactorily. It's well-documented and the photographs are very applicable.

While not necessarily what I consider a 5-star book, it was recommended to me by an avid history and military history reader whose opinion I regard highly. If these topics are your "cup of tea", I'd recommend this even more.

The end of the MIA mystery?.......2003-05-26

For two decades following the Vietnam war, ill-fated attempts by the United States to obtain conclusive evidence concerning the fate of hundreds of POW/MIA's from the Vietnam war finally found success. In a bold and daring espionage mission, former U.N. refugee officer Theodore G. Schweitzer was the acting agent for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in what later became known as Operation Swamp Ranger.

Beginning in March of 1992 and lasting several months, Schweitzer was granted access to Vietnamese war archives that held a voluminous amount of information on U.S. servicemen that were missing in action and others that were held as prisoners of war. Vietnam, up until this point, had strenuously denied for years that they had any useful data on missing servicemen and they blatantly withheld documents that would solve many discrepancy cases on unknown losses of U.S. personnel. Using previously unreleased photographs, meticulously annotated files, and physical evidence, Operation Swamp Ranger completely exposed Vietnam's attempts to bury the POW/MIA issue over the years. Although only suspected by the U.S. government, Vietnam's General Political Directorate (GPD) finally admitted that many U.S. servicemen were killed in cold blood.

Operation Swamp Ranger also proved to be useful in the aspect that it helped dispel the widespread theory that Americans had been abandoned by the U.S. government after repatriation of POW's in 1973. Furthermore, scams and other fraudulent activities aimed at the grieving families of MIA's were exposed and contradicted by evidence gained from Hanoi's archives. Lastly, there appears to be no conclusive facts to date which could verify that there are actual live POW's still held in Vietnam today.

Although limited cooperation with the Vietnamese government regarding POW/MIA's faltered after revelations from Operation Swamp Ranger became known to the public at large, the U.S. government still claimed a large victory in what amounts to a monumental breakthrough in the enduring POW/MIA controversy. Unfortunately, this long and arduous journey does not have a happy ending. Not yet, anyway. Even as the Defense POW/MIA Office (DPMO) continues to negotiate, haggle, bargain, cajole, and mediate with Vietnam regarding additional unreleased material they still hold, there are no clear indications of just how much further progress will be accomplished in the future. As stated in the author's narrative, communist archives are notoriously known for disinformation and forgeries and nothing in Vietnam is ever straightforward or simple.

Inside Hanoi's Secret Archives is a remarkable investigation into previously hidden wartime data. Generously footnoted and offering revealing photographs, this is a fascinating and memorable reading experience. Anyone having the slightest or even most demanding questions concerning the ongoing legacy of missing U.S. servicemen in Vietnam, I would enthusiastically recommend this book to you and to everyone in general.

Average customer rating:

A delicious surprise

"Snow's not simple at all..."

One of the best books I have ever read

"Simple" and Complex

Couldn't put it down

As Simple as Snow (Alex Awards (Awards))
Gregory Galloway
Manufacturer: Putnam Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Gil's All Fright Diner (Alex Awards (Awards))

Upstate : A Novel (Alex Awards (Awards))

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Looking For Alaska

Inexcusable

ASIN: 0399152318

Book Description

A mesmerizing labyrinth of art, magic, cryptic codes, and young love that sparks the imagination and teases the mind-an arresting first novel about a young man's quest to unravel the puzzle his missing girlfriend may (or may not) have left behind.

Anastasia (Anna) Cayne is a complicated high school girl with a penchant for riddles and affectionate mind games, who spends much of her time writing obituaries for every living person in town. She is unlike anyone the narrator has ever known, and her energy and enthusiasm explode his quiet universe, revealing a world of Houdini tricks, strange art, covert messages, and ghost stories-although her past remains an even bigger enigma. Even so, he couldn't be happier.

But a week before Valentine's Day, Anna disappears, leaving behind nothing except a dress placed neatly near a hole in the frozen river, and a string of unanswered questions.

Determined to find Anna-to comprehend what happened, and why-he begins to retrace their past five months together. Soon the fragments of events, conversations, and letters (and new messages that continue to arrive) coalesce into haunting and surprising revelations about friends, about family, and especially, about Anna Cayne. And perhaps these revelations will solve the puzzle of Anna's disappearance, whether it was her own invention, or is simply another of life's great mysteries.

Customer Reviews:

A delicious surprise.......2006-06-20

I went out on a limb with this book. It was really outside of my comfort zone; but it did have something to do with a creepy little goth girl so I figured I'd give it a try. IT WAS PHENOMENAL! I have never once read a book that provoked so much catharsis from me. At more than one point in this journey I cried. But don't worry about what I have to say about this book...just take a chance and read it!

"Snow's not simple at all...".......2006-02-02

This novel is easily one of the best books I've ever read. After simply reading the very first sentence of Gregory Galloway's As Simple as Snow, I was completely emersed into the story and the mystery that is Anna Cayne. This aspect of mystery layered with the awkwardness of adolescence, which we can all relate to, makes this book an instant classic and forces the reader to open one's mind and heart to the characters and their distinctive personalities. Galloway's simple, yet amazingly complex, prose guides the reader through each page allowing just enough fact to slip through the clouded surface to make the story a different experience for everyone.
In the story, an unnamed boy falls in love with a girl, Anna Cayne, who changes his life and then disappears. Our unnamed narrator is then left to deal with the grief and frustration of her disappearance and forces to ask the question, "what now?". The characters succeed in bringing life to the story in a way that anyone who has suffered through high school can relate to and for once, does not glorify the jocks and preps, but focuses on the loners, the kids who stay on the outskirts and watch from the sidelines. I loved this about it because I could relate exactly to what the characters were saying and the ways that they were acting. Not many books focus on these "average" types of characters so it was a breath of fresh air compared to the other coming-of-age novels that are out today. I reccommend this novel to anyone who wants to expand their mind and just read a touching story about a boy who loves a girl. I give it an A++++++.

One of the best books I have ever read.......2005-10-25

This book is simply amazing. I am a teen librarian and have read lots and lots of books. I have read this book four times, it is a great mystery and so brilliantly written. I have never read a book so fast and didn't want it to end. I gurantee if you read this book you will want to pass it on to somebody else to read just so you have somebody to discuss it with. I can't believe that it is not on the bestseller list. Shame on the publisher for not promoting this book more. It is AWESOME. I hope the word gets out, I know I am trying to get more people to read it.

"Simple" and Complex.......2005-08-17

"As Simple as Snow" will be haunting me for a long, long time.

Some say that all stories can be narrowed down to one of two plots. This story employs the "new person moves to town" plot - but it's far more complex than that.

Anna, a high school student, is more than what she seems. She likes to write obituaries for people who are still alive - for every person in town, even though she's just moved there with her parents. She wears black clothes, black boots, dark makeup, offsetting her blond hair. She loves Lovecraft, making mix CDs, and discussing the codes Houdini and his wife shared. She can argue both sides of a debate with equal passion and knowledge, thus making it unclear which side she herself would support. She insists that people call her Anastasia.

The narrator calls her Anna. He's a high school student as well. His name is unknown; it is unimportant. What is important is their relationship. He finds himself intrigued with Anna, despite her status as a "Goth," and the two begin dating. Her ideas challenge him; her intelligence impresses him; and, seven months later, her disappearance baffles him.

Author Gregory Galloway has created a stunning and haunting tale. Just as Anna herself, this book is hard to categorize. Many would call "As Simple as Snow" a mystery, but just as many might refer to it as a coming-of-age story. The writing is engrossing, placing the reader on the same page (no pun intended) as the narrator, trying to figure out Anna herself as well the codes she used. Readers will be looking for clues in the grand design while falling for this strong, willful character and wondering why she left.

It even has an appropriately creepy website, where you may download the mix CDs Anna created and watch a unique trailer for the book. If the trailer doesn't make you want to read the book immediately, I don't know what will.

This isn't a run-of-the-mill mystery, nor a cautionary tale. It's a story about a boy, a girl, a town, a code. It's a story about that time in your life when you realize nothing is as simple as it seems. Once you realize that, you can't go back, no matter how hard you try. You can only go forward.

Couldn't put it down.......2005-05-16

The subtle details and alternative and pop culture woven into this masterful tale make for a book I was unwilling to put down. Galloway's writing style improves as the book progresses. I'm not sure if that's intended or not, but it works. As a busy college student, I don't have time to read a lot of unassigned fiction, but I'm so glad I worked this one into my schedule. You should too!

A Life In Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII

Average customer rating:

A devastating, gripping tale
An amazing woman told by an amazing author
Female spymaster
A life with so many secrets
Unlocking the Doors of a Checkered Past

A Life In Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII
Sarah Helm
Manufacturer: Nan A. Talese
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 038550845X
Release Date: 2006-08-22

Book Description

Once rumored to have been the inspiration for Ian Fleming’s Miss Moneypenny, Vera Atkins climbed her way to the top in the Special Operations Executive, or SOE: Britain’s secret service created to help build up, organize, and arm the resistance in the Nazi-occupied countries. Throughout the war, Atkins recruited, trained, and mentored the agents for the SOE’s French Section, which sent more than four hundred young men and women into occupied France—at least one hundred of whom never returned and were reported “Missing Presumed Dead” after the war. Twelve of these were women and among Atkins’s most cherished spies. When the war ended in 1945, she made it her personal mission to find out what happened to them and the other agents lost behind enemy lines, tracing rigorously their horrific final journeys. But as the woman who carried out this astonishing search appeared quintessentially English, Atkins was nothing of the sort. As we follow her through the devastation of postwar Germany, we learn Atkins herself covered her life in mystery so that even her closest family knew almost nothing of her past.

In A Life in Secrets Sarah Helm has stripped away Vera Atkins’s many veils. Drawing on recently released sixty-year-old government files and her unprecedented access to the private papers of the Atkins family, Helm vividly reconstructs a complex and extraordinary life.

Customer Reviews:

A devastating, gripping tale.......2007-06-26

"A Life in Secrets", in addition to being a multi-faceted portrait of a remarkable woman, and a fascinating mystery, is a searing indictment of bureaucracy. Helm tells the story of many courageous men and women who were betrayed for their bosses' errors. Lower-ranked workers who suspected the mistakes were not allowed to speak up, and even the second-in-command, Vera Atkins, had to hold her tongue for personal reasons uncovered by the author. After the war, the search for survivors was hampered by Allied governments who began wrangling with each other before all the battles were even over.

I had never heard most of these stories before. I had never even known of the existence of SOE, although several books on the group have been written over the years. However, I suspect Helm's is the best. She's a tireless researcher, is unafraid to tell what she believes is the truth about her subject, even when it's unflattering to her main character, and really knows how to tell a story. She parcels out her discoveries for maximum impact, and gives the reader warm, human portraits of most of the characters. She also doesn't fail to describe the impact the war had on the families of SOE agents. The photo section is especially good; Helm takes care to provide an image of almost every person involved.

Helm's research is impressive; the endnotes show that her work depended mainly on original interviews and private papers. This is not a rehash of previously published material. "A Life in Secrets" is an important contribution to WWII literature, and a memorial to little-known people whose bravery should be admired.

An amazing woman told by an amazing author.......2007-02-15

I ordered the book following a review in the Jerusalem Post. I don't often do this but it proved a good read. I rationed myself to a few pages daily. The disclosures were unbelieveable both about SOE and about Vera Atkins. Equally amazing was the investagative journalism of the authoress, Sarah Helm. I feel that Vera and Sarah would have made a fearsome pair. The book has left me wondering about other aspects of the war fought against the Nazis. I shall dip into it again and again. I fully recommend it.

Female spymaster.......2007-01-04

The story about Vera Atkins and her agents sent to occupied Europe was most interesting -- what brave people they all were. Vera Atkins was determined to find what happened to those lost agents who did not return. After the war, she deligently went to France, Belgium and Germany to pick up leads, so that she could tell their families the true answers. She was a wonderful organizer and had great responsibility for a woman (at that time). The reader will enjoy the tales and photographs, even though the ending was very sad for many of them.

A life with so many secrets.......2007-01-03

It`s a very good biography of a very unusual woman, capable of sending young girls to their deaths and then pursuing all leads to know what happened to them. One of the problems is that in the end we don't know the real Vera - I suspect that she is the young girl born in Roumania up to the end...

Unlocking the Doors of a Checkered Past.......2006-12-30

In "A Life in Secrets," Sarah Helm tells the riveting story of the courageous men and women of the British SOE, the Special Operations Executive, who, during World War II, were parachuted into France, and thence into the arms of the Gestapo. The author also delves into the life of the woman who sent them there, the enigmatic Vera Atkins, who, as a perfect spy, covered her traces so expertly--and so completely--that the biographer has been left with more questions than answers.

Ms. Helm nevertheless engages the reader from the first page, beginning with the recruitment and subsequent departure of the seventeen women and seventeen men who were to serve as organizers, couriers, and wireless transmitter operators of resistance circuits in Nazi-occupied France. After stretching the tension to its limit, she breaks off that narrative thread and weaves in the story of Vera Atkins, who, even though she was a Romanian subject (and thus technically an enemy alien) at the beginning of the war, nevertheless, became a major protagonist in the SOE during the course of the conflict (She was naturalized as a British subject in 1944). By continually alternating the topic between the fate of the agents and the account of the formidable woman who persistently searched for them in bombed-out Germany after the war, Ms. Helm captivates the reader--who must relentlessly follow the increasingly horrific narrative, through the Ravensbrueck, Dachau, and Natzweiler concentration camps--from the first page to the last.

One of the implicit questions the book asks is how, when MI5 was running their deucedly clever and successful "double-cross" system, in which they "turned" numerous Nazi agents parachuted into Britain into double agents, playing the "wireless game" (successfully transmitting disinformation back to the Abwehr), SOE could not catch on to the fact that its own agents had been captured, and that the messages being transmitted back to England were bogus and being run by the Gestapo.

Seems to be another classic case of the left hand of one agency not knowing what the right hand of the other agency was doing!

When Lightning Strikes (1-800-Where-R-You)

Average customer rating:

grreat!
Enjoyable says a middle aged man
Sixth Sense
When Lightning Strikes: #1
When Lightning Strikes

When Lightning Strikes (1-800-Where-R-You)
Meg Cabot
Manufacturer: Simon Pulse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 1416927050

Book Description

JESS MASTRIANI

was misunderstood by her teachers and had a crush on the local bad boy, but that didn't mean she was trouble. But trouble found her when she survived a lightning strike and discovered that a newfound talent had been bestowed upon her.

Now, whenever she sees a picture of a missing child, Jess knows exactly where he or she is when she wakes up the next morning. Reuniting lost children with their desperate parents is one thing, but Jess must choose whether to use her power for good...or for evil.

Customer Reviews:

grreat!.......2007-09-02

Enjoyable says a middle aged man.......2007-08-07

From the perspective of a man in his middle fifties, I have found Meg Cabot's adventure books, the Lightning Girl books and the Mediator books are very enjoyable.
I read YA books for their light content and fairly happy ending. A series like this allows for some character development that is often not found in adult adventure fare.
There are many of us who were hooked on the YA genre as our children went through this age group. When they stepped up to Dickens or Evanovich, we often returned to these books.
So often they deal with social issues neglected by adult genre fiction and made deadly dull by the more "literate" novels. Meg Cabot's books are no exception.

Sixth Sense.......2007-07-18

Another best-seller from meg cabot this book aboards the sixth sense like cabot has never done.
A serie that promises a normal girl that suddenly has to deal with completely new problems.
Diferent from the mediator because this girl receive her abilities when she is sixteen so you see how she deals with it since the beginning.
Such a great book that I ordered it from another country.

When Lightning Strikes: #1.......2006-12-23

I read this whole book in one night. It was amazing. It was funny, and suspenseful. I just couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen next.
I suppose if you are looking for an in-depth description, you could look at some of the other freakishly-long reviews. This review is just meant to tell you that I loved this book so much.

When Lightning Strikes.......2006-10-16

When Lightning Strikes is about an ordinary girl who, like the rest of us girls, goes to school, has a crush, gets good grades, has problems, and has one weird family she loves. Her best friend loves her guts but forces her to walk home when she could've driven home in a car because her friends thinks she has a lot of meat on her due to some football jock of an idiot. That's where the glitch comes in. She has super powers. Yeah: you heard right; she has superpowers.

Average customer rating:

A Must-Read Book
So Yesterday? No -- So Right Now!
Incredibly Anticlimactic
So Yesterday
Anti-climatic satire

So Yesterday
Scott Westerfeld
Manufacturer: Razorbill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1595140328

Book Description

Ever wonder who was the first kid to keep a wallet on a big chunky chain, or wear way-too-big-pants on purpose? What about the mythical first guy who wore his baseball cap backwards? These are the Innovators, the people on the very cusp of cool. Seventeen-year-old Hunter Braque's job is finding them for the retail market. But when a big-money client disappears, Hunter must use all his cool-hunting talents to find her.Along the way he's drawn into a web of brand-name intrigue—a missing cargo of the coolest shoes he's ever seen, ads for products that don't exist, and a shadowy group dedicated to the downfall of consumerism as we know it.

Customer Reviews:

A Must-Read Book.......2007-09-20

So Yesterday is a must-read book! It's a book by Scott Westerfeld. It is about a kid named Hunter who is what they call a cool hunter. He's one of the guys who would find who wore their hat backward or would tie their shoes a certain way. He's the first guy to find something cool and new. One day Hunter ends up meeting a girl named Jen. They become good friends. Hunter took Jen to a cool hunting meeting and Hunter's boss, Mandy, liked Jen and told both of them to meet her at an abandoned building. When they showed up, they found nothing but Mandy's cell phone and a pair of really awesome shoes that Mandy wanted to show them. So the book is about Jen and Hunter chasing after the people who kidnapped Mandy. It's got excitement, action, adventure, and a bit of romance. So, my opinion is that this is a great book. I bet your opinion will be the same too!

Max M.
Grade 6
Ms. Kawatachi

So Yesterday? No -- So Right Now!.......2007-06-27

When a middle school teacher I know recommended this book to me (a university professor of sociology), I wasn't sure about the fit, but I loved it! It's smart, funny, and too, TOO relevant in the U.S. today. Now, I find myself recommending it to others. Who knew that a book for young people could be such a good read AND have such a hopeful message about the future of our culture?

Incredibly Anticlimactic.......2007-06-23

Honestly, i read this book cause i loved the cover.(how superficial).
It turned out pretty intriguing. The action, the language, etc. were pretty intense. However, since all the flashing camaras, cool shoes, and shampoo and blah were seriously 'cool', I really wanted to see the BAM! ending that connects everything.
But there is none of that in So Yesterday's ending. Disappointment.

All 200 something pages of intrigue spoiled by 5 pages of "Are you serious? There's gotta be more to that".

So Yesterday.......2007-04-23

Hunter has a job as a cool hunter. He is shy, smart, and loyal. His boss Mandy, is nice and finds lots of advertising jobs for him, and he is content with his lifestyle. Then, he meets Jen. She is risky and ready for anything and everything. So, once his boss disappears Hunter and Jen are lead on a chase throughout Manhattan, and soon everything changes for Hunter. In Scott Westerfield's realistic fiction novel So Yesterday join Hunter and Jen as they search for Mandy and the true meaning of "Cool."
As you learn about Hunter's job and what he does for a living, you might become confused but just keep reading and you might not want to even put the book down. Westerfield leads you into hunter's life, and into all the twists and turns and dark Manhattan allies. From an amazing shoe to a magazine party Hunter and Jen are mystified. Westerfield portrays Hunter as a normal average person with a lot of information. So during each of the chapters you'll learn little odd facts, and be taken into Hunter's mind.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes mysteries, fashion or adventure and I gave this book 3 stars.

Anti-climatic satire.......2006-12-24

Hunter isn't an innovator or even a trendsetter; he is just invisible in his search for all things cool. Until he meets the ultimate innovator of cool, Jen. Together they set out for a wild ride to protect coolness as we know it but find that maybe "cool" needs to be change up every once in awhile.

In the usual Westfield style, this book hits modern satire head on, making readers question what makes cool and why we are all so set on finding it. The characters are also amazing examples of what every teen wants to be--a trendsetter who gets recognized for his/her creativity. But the plot falls flat with an anti-climactic ending. After rooftop chases, mind-altering TV and uber-cool shoelaces, the ending doesn't deliver that punch that is needed to round out the story. Even the history lessons in useless facts and interesting typographic parodies cannot make up for the letdown.

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