reviews

What happened at the bloody barbecue?! Author: Liane Moriarty Australian novelist Liane Moriarty is a crazy good writer, but she defies labels. She doesn’t write chick lit (for lack of a better word), and she doesn’t write thrillers. She doesn’t write literary fiction, either, although she does have a cunning way with plot and character development. Instead, her books make you feel like you’re at a cocktail party, surrounded by a knot of clever and fashionably dressed women who are relishing their gossip and cosmos. But just when you start to wonder if the cocktail party has any real substance, [...]

Silent Hero... Author:  Denis Avey Why?  It’s the question that immediately jumps to mind before you even open the book.  In The Man Who Broke into Auschwitz, one has to wonder why anyone would do such a thing.  The answer may surprise you, but it’s just one part of this almost unbelievable true story. Young Denis Avey’s wartime adventures were plenty harrowing even before he got to Auschwitz.  Having enlisted in the British Army in 1939 at the age of 20, he fought the Italians and the Germans in North Africa.  Eventually taken prisoner by Rommel’s forces in Libya, he [...]

The Quintessential Pirate Tale Author: Robert Louis Stevenson A buccaneering classic with lively characters such as the dour Billy Bones, the rakish Blind Pew, and the backstabbing pirate king turned cook, Long John Silver, Treasure Island follows my pre and post vacation sea mood while continuing my monthly tradition of adding a classic into the growing reading list. From the start, it’s obvious that Treasure Island is one of those unique novels which, although ostensibly a children’s tale, holds an equal, if not greater appeal for an adult audience. A coming of age story told through the perspective of teenage Jim Hawkins, it all [...]