The Fat Man's Monologue - Aliza Galkin-Smith

                The Fat Man’s Monologue is the ultimate book for anyone who loves to read about food, have a good laugh, and indulge in a little food porn via the delicious recipes within the pages. It is the story of a very overweight man who just doesn’t give a care about exercise, eating right, or what anyone has to say about the matter. It is told entirely from his point of view and the book follows him as he writes about his foodie adventures in his popular blog and juggles his very active love life, a love life that would make most any man blush. He doesn’t have a lot of luck maintaining the relationships but he does seem to have a lot of them. For someone who is an acknowledged fat nerd, he sure does get a lot of women. Everything is written with a healthy dose of humour which makes this one of the most enjoyable books I have read in a long time. The author is unapologetic about his weight and love of all things edible and he readily admits his flaws. It’s this ability to look at himself honestly, both the good and bad aspects, that makes him so very likeable. His relationships with various people are wonderfully explored throughout the book. A former student, Aviram, who is now a chef, becomes a very close friend and some of their discussions about food were my favourite parts of the book. The chemistry between him and Tanya, one of his love interests, oozes off the page and the dialogue between him and Tanya’s teenage daughter, Gali, is funny and truthful. The book travels throughout various places such as Israel, Italy and the U.K. The writing about the various foods native to these areas is so vivid that my mouth was literally watering. The recipes are wonderful and, because the author’s mother was a Polish Jewish woman, I was extra interested in her recipes and ways of preparing food because I can make them for my Polish husband. This is an extremely easy book to read because the writing flows along smoothly and the author had me cracking up the whole way through the book. There is one paragraph discussing “rope poop” that was so blunt that it couldn’t be anything else but funny.

                The front cover is different and unique but really didn’t draw my attention as much as the title did. I read this in a digital format and it worked very well on my ereader. This book will delight and amuse foodies all over.

Turtles and Ancient Secrets - Ronald Ritter and Sussan Evermore

                Turtles and Ancient Secrets is a historical fiction novel that tells about the love story of Augustus and Alice Dixon Le Plongeon, two adventurers many years apart in age but true soul mates. They travel the world on a variety of explorations, visiting different places and cultures. One of the adventures is a visit to Yucatan where they came upon a small pox epidemic. Augustus tries to give the inhabitants vaccinations but the Mayan people are terrified.  How he deals with this is one of the more interesting parts of the book. Augustus and Alice also witnessed the Massacre at Tizimin where they narrowly escaped death as well as living conditions that were less than comfortable, even for Victorian times.

                I picked this book to read because I thought it would involve more about spirits and séances because the book starts with a séance and a pirate ghost who tells Alice about her future. Unfortunately, although there is a tad bit of the supernatural element, the book is almost scattered in the story telling. By that I mean the writing didn’t really flow easily for me and I found it hard to keep track of what was going on. I can’t really put my finger on why I couldn’t get into the story but I just never really found that I could lose myself in the story. I always say that for me to love a book I need to be able to view it in my mind like a movie but with this book I found that almost impossible. The characters were not badly written but Augustus was blustery and unlikeable and I found him to be very arrogant. I also didn’t see the need for the modern aspect of the story with Lucy and the senior Alice. It would have worked well leaving that part out of it and just having Augustus and Alice’s tales. I liked the main idea of the story and loved reading the historical accounts of various things, such as sailing on the ocean liner and little details such as how they dressed, ate and travelled. I guess for me the style of writing is what took away from the book because the story itself was interesting.  

                I read this book on my ereader and it formatted very well. The cover, unfortunately, really didn’t draw my eye as it is rather bland.

Strong Reflection - Cate Mckoy

                Strong Reflections is the second book in the Dark Series Trilogy and is listed as a part of the romance/suspense genre. I haven’t read the first book but I liked the premise and found the cover quite eye-catching so I decided to take a chance. I’m not usually a fan of romance books but if it’s mixed with a healthy amount of mystery I can find enjoyment in the book. This particular book is about seventy-five percent romance and fifteen percent suspense so there were times that I found myself laughing at some of the cheesiness of the dialogue. Pet names such as “Babydoll” for a supposedly tough FBI agent and some of the wording that I won’t write here due to the explicitness of it provided me with some humour in places that I’m pretty sure weren’t supposed to be funny.  It is also quite sexually explicit which didn’t bother me and was, for the most part, quite well written but if that’s a problem for some readers they should give this book a pass. I would have liked to have read the first book in the series so that I could have had some back story to Ashley’s trauma and relationship connections to other characters. Ms. McKoy does a really good job of providing enough information without giving the whole first book away. I’m conflicted as to whether I find the characters of Ashley and Kyle believable. Maybe two people falling in love do act and speak with enough sugary sweetness that I felt nauseous but it seemed strange coming from seasoned federal agents. This is probably just me though. The characters are well fleshed out and multidimensional even if they are overly saccharine towards each other. I really enjoyed the suspense part of the book. There’s a great twist at the end that made me want to read the third and final book in the series. Overall, I’m left confused with myself because the romance was neither here nor there for me but I loved the style of writing and the mystery. I hope this author has written or will write a novel where suspense plays the main part. I will say that the erotic writing is very well done. I’ll be sure to look for the third book to add to my reading list. I read this on my ereader and it formatted well. The cover, as I’ve already said, is very attractive and is what initially drew me to the book.

Chameleon - Zoe Kalo

                Chameleon is another fantastic supernatural novel for young adults written by one of my favourite authors, Zoe Kalo. Paloma is a troubled young lady whose parents decide that the best place for her is a boarding school run by some creepily nasty nuns. She falls in with a group of girls who act like they are the mean girls of a college sorority with a leader, Rubia, who is enough to give anybody a set of goose bumps. One of the girls, Adelita, has an imaginary friend that Paloma comes to realize may actually exist as the ghost of a former student who died while attending the school. The girls want Paloma to run a séance so they can contact the ghost and Paloma wants to contact her deceased father. The outcome of this event leads to mysteries within the school being revealed and some tragic results.

                I love Zoe Kalo’s style of writing. Her characters are always so complicated and unique that I find it amazing that the author can come up with them. The setting for this book was one of my favourites. Who doesn’t love a creepy old boarding school with a church and a graveyard? Best of all, one of the punishments for misbehaving at the school is having to scrub clean the old tombstones after class. Dark and creepy is happening all over the place and you have to love it! There’s even an old nun who hauls off students by their ears. I’m not a young adult but I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I know younger readers (and older ones) would as well.

Friendship: A True Story of Adventure, Goodwill, and Endurance... - Francis Mandewah

                Friendship is the touching story of a young Sierra Leonean boy, Francis Mandewah, and the American helicopter pilot he meets who ends up changing his life forever. All Francis wanted was to be able to go to school but because of extreme poverty his mother had to send him to live with a family member so that he could attend an affordable school. Here he was treated like a slave and beaten often. Then one day, due to the mysterious workings of God as Francis believes, he met American Tom Johnson, a helicopter pilot who transported blood diamonds. Tom paid for Francis to move to a new place where he wouldn’t be abused and be able to attend a better school. Eventually, in adulthood, he went to America and built a new life, all with Tom’s help.  Throughout the book, Francis’s belief and trust in God help him overcome many obstacles and his spirituality shines through. This is not a “feel-good” book that preaches religion and positive thinking. Mr. Mandewah takes the reader on a journey across the continents as he travels to Sicily, Greece, London and other places, always recounting the good and the bad in a factual and entertaining manner. The writing is not just good, it’s really good. He manages to recount events that had to have been difficult to for him but he doesn’t become hung up on emotion and lose the focus of his story. He provides an equal amount of information about events in his life and the details about the area he is writing about. I found his years in Africa to be fascinating. The way he lived would be very difficult for those of us in the Western world but was normal for him. I know that, for myself, I could never live without all of the amenities I have now or even without Western medicine. Mr. Mandewah never complains. In fact he makes it clear how much he cherished family time even during the hardships. These things are what makes this book such a great read. He keeps the pace moving so it’s a very fast and easy book to finish. The pictures at the back of the book provide a look at where Mr. Mandewah was born and the cover has a charming picture of Tom and him. The author writes that he would “never make a general negative statement based on whiteness” and that has really hit home with me. This formatted well to my ereader and is truly a wonderful read.

Awakening! - Dr. Tomer Sivron

                Awakening is a spiritual look at how to live our lives gracefully, heal ourselves using our minds, and be spiritual yet practical in our everyday lives. The book is broken up into three main sections. Part One is about how the author discovered the concepts he discusses in the book, partly through a “ride” he had while smoking cannabis a couple of times. The book is well written with a style that is easy and fast to read as well as being entertaining and interesting. He explains the scientific reasoning behind some things discussed in the book and this part is quite heavy reading where, I have to admit, I lost a bit of interest but it picked up quickly after I waded through the science. Part Two is the author explaining how to integrate what he has discovered into everyday life. He writes about self-healing (which I have some belief in), how to keep your body as fit as possible spiritually and physically, as well as a few other things that are very interesting to read about. Finally, the third and final section pulls the whole book together, intertwining all of the concepts in an easily read format.

                I enjoyed this book and found it to be very thought provoking. The author writes about a lot of ideas without being too “preachy”. He conveyed the sadness of Felix’s passing along with a relief that he would finally be free of his ruined body. I’m not sure I can buy into all of the ideas laid out, such as humans needing to be vegetarians, or letting our bodies use fevers to fight off infections without treating the fever, but I found it all quite interesting to read. I liked that there were lots of mini-sections within the three parts of the book. Also the bold print and type of font used helped make it easier to process the information. This book needs to be read with an open mind in order for the reader to enjoy it. If done, it will make for an entertaining read.

                I read this on my ereader and it formatted well with great editing.  I’m not sure why I loved the cover so much but it is eye catching and peaceful.

No Accountability - Keith Lawton

                No Accountability is the follow up book to Mr. Lawton’s first book, No Photographs. It is the true account of the author’s childhood as he is moved through the system, care homes to foster homes, after tragedy strikes his family at the young age of five. As I read, keeping in mind this was a factual non-fiction account of Mr. Lawton’s life, it seemed almost unreal that this is a true story and parts of it were very hard to read. Knowing that a child was treated so horribly and nothing was done to help him is both tragic and disgusting. These things should never happen to anyone and my hopes are that things are better in today’s system, although I’m not naïve enough to think bad things don’t still happen. Mr. Lawton writes with a passion and drive that makes the reader want to understand what happened through a child’s eyes. It is an easy flowing style of writing that is both engaging and thought provoking. He doesn’t just write about what happened to him but also implores people to start doing something to make changes to the system and to be aware and report any wrongdoings. These things happened in the U.K. so I’m not altogether sure if the laws are the same here in Canada, but I’m in hopes things have gotten better. The book’s timeline starts in the 1950s and I loved reading about what life was like growing up during this time, pre-tragedy. The search for what happened to his father, because he didn’t remember due to his tender age at the time, is a tug at the heart strings. Mr. Lawton’s emotions are conveyed so well that the reader is able to feel the author’s pain throughout the book. I like the fact that this is written directly by Mr. Lawton and not a different writer that he has told his story to, because he expresses the feelings in a raw way and nothing is sugar-coated to make the story “pretty”. I hope Mr. Lawton has found some peace and happiness in his life and I thank him for opening up his life in hopes of helping others and raising awareness. 

                I read this in digital format and it was very well edited with a sweet picture on the cover. Excellent!