It's Dark! Mysterious! Suspenseful! Tragic! A Preteen Book?

I would just like to preface this review by saying that I enjoy watching fantasy and science fiction on a screen but outside of Tolkien's Lord of the Kings, I am not well versed in the world of fantastical fiction. Still, that didn't stop me from enjoying this book. In fact, this book may be one of the finest books I have read in a long time.

From the start of the book, the reader is introduced to a young girl named Lyra and her daemon Pantalaimon. In The Golden Compass daemons are the physical manifestation of the human soul. Each human being has an animal, which can change shapes when the individual is of a young age, who serves as both a protector and companion. From the first chapter of the book Lyra is roped into an intreging story of suspense and action. In England, children all across the country are being kidnapped. While rumors arise of a dark group called the "Gobblers" which kidnap the children for food, Lyra eventually finds out that things are more complicated than that. In fact her very world is turned upside down.

This book had more suspense than, honestly, anything else I read in a long time. I know I am becoming very repetitious but I don't know how else to convey the sincerity of my argument. While this book was written during the mid-90s, it is a shame that it did not receive the success of such books like those of the Harry Potter series. The characters in this book are so detailed and engaging. Even the somewhat of an anti-hero, a bear mind you, can be one of the most likeable characters in the entire novel.

While this is only the first installment in the trilogy of Dark Materials, it makes you want to run out and buy the others immediately.

The Walking Dead is a family/love story under the backdrop of zombies. What else can anyone ask for?

As hackneyed and clichéd as the zombie genre of, well anything, can be, one cannot help but be enthralled by the rising dead. The fascination of zombies transcends many cultural barriers with examples of rising hordes of the undead in biblical and ancient text. But, it wasn’t until films such as Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead in which the main characters were pitted against a legion of zombies that the genre really took off.

With many films after Romeo’s “dead movies” trying to capture a bit of the limelight with little success, the genre began to fall into the tacky and campy. While this review is not of the evolution of where zombies have arisen from, it gives a good context to what makes The Walking Dead so interesting. After main character Rick wakes up from a coma in a deserted hospital he learns that not only the hospital, but the entire city is desolate. Seeking his family, friends and old lifestyle, Rick learns that the world he woke up in is rendered in the post-apocalyptic. Buildings damaged, bodies everywhere, and thousands and thousands of cars deserted, leaving escape by vehicle nearly impossible.

What makes The Walking Dead so interesting are the interactions between the survivors. Disputes over food, weapons and in some cases love, propel this story beyond any zombie tale ever told. It is a must read for any fan of horror or the undead. While I mentioned the undead all too much in this review, zombies are at times few and far between in this story, because of that reason it becomes all the more suspenseful. The antagonist in the story is usually never a zombie and may in fact be the love torn friend or the power hungry companion. So, the reader is almost as surprised as the characters are when a zombie pops up out of nowhere. Please, read, enjoy and remember that sometimes no one is safe. Not even Rick. Or You!

And you think your family is messed up?

This is the general theme of the almost-too-insane-to-be-possible memoir written by Augusten Burroughs. After the bitter divorce battle between his mother and father concludes, and the intense psychiatric help that his mother undergoes, a young Augusten is sent to live with his mother's psychiatrists. From the moment he steps into the house, curses are flung by all family members as general dialogue, and in fact, many of the brothers and sisters living in the house are not even related. Garbage is rarely taken out, children defecate on the living room floor and left over Thanksgiving turkey isn't disposed of until June.

It is here, in this crazy house, that the reader is taken through various moments in the life of a young Burroughs as he learns, and experiences, growing up. Never attending school, having his first sexual encounter at the age of thirteen and faking suicide are just some of the moments in his life that are almost too off the wall to believe in. But, they did happen.

This book is high recommended to anyone who is looking to retreat from the insanity of their own lives and is willing to accept the absurd. While maybe not for everyone, the book is as witty as anything David Sedaris could image.

One critic described this Nick Hornby novel as the book you would not want your girlfriend to read because it would give away all your secrets. While the quote is valid and painstakingly true, there is an endearing factor associated with the novel. For all its silly, pathetic rants about women and the toils of being, well, a bum, the novel presents the fundamental difference between the sexes when it comes to dating. As the novel progresses one cannot help but feel sympathic to a character that is so close to ourselves.

In High Fidelity, the narrator Rob Fleming is trying to cope with the absence of his long term girlfriend Laura. In his sadness he reflects on his social status, past relationships and the direction of his life. The book is a must read for anyone who has ever been unemployed, dumped and, essentially, unsure of their direction. While it doesn't provide answers to all problems associated with relationships, it does invoke a certain sense of reflection and begs to ask the question of how you yourself would handle one of the many situations Rob is dealing with?

`Despite making one question their past relationships, the book gives several other areas of thought and analysis. Such as, what are the greatest records of all time? The best Cheers episodes? The best songs to play at one's own funeral? The book contains so many referrences to pop culture and is relevent for any individual growing up in the 90s.