Wizard and Glass, the fourth episode in King's white-hot Dark Tower series, is a sci-fi/fantasy novel that contains a post-apocalyptic Western love story twice as long. It begins with the series' star, world-weary Roland, and his world-hopping posse (an ex-junkie, a child, a plucky woman in a wheelchair, and a talking dog-like pet named Oy the Bumbler) trapped aboard a runaway train. The train is a psychotic multiple personality that intends to commit suicide with them at 800 m.p.h.--unless Roland and pals can outwit it in a riddling contest.

It's a great race, for the mind and pulse. Movies should be this good. Then comes a 567-page flashback about Roland at age 14. It's a well-marbled but meaty tale. Roland and two teen homies must rescue his first love from the dirty old drooling mayor of a post-apocalyptic cowboy town, thwart a civil war by blowing up oil tanks, and seize an all-seeing crystal ball from Rhea, a vampire witch. The love scenes are startlingly prominent and earthier than most romance novels (they kiss until blood trickles from her lip).

After an epic battle ending in a box canyon to end all box canyons, we're back with grizzled, grown-up Roland and the train-wreck survivors in a parallel world: Kansas in 1986, after a plague. The finale is a weird fantasy takeoff on The Wizard of Oz. Some readers will feel that the latest novel in King's most ambitious series has too many pages--almost 800--but few will deny it's a page-turner. http://bookstorecommunity.com/wizard-and-gla…k-tower-book-4/

All Summer Long

Three friends meet at a 25th high school reunion. In different ways, each is unhappy with his present life. "Summer," mourns Ben, a TV journalist of modest fame, "used to be the best part of our lives, and now it's not." A month later, all three have left families and jobs behind to set off on one final summer of cruising. They crisscross the country without connection or purpose, stopping wherever they land. Unexpected love interests for each of them and a personal crisis apiece add spice to their otherwise bland adventure. The penultimate stop is Las Vegas, where they contrive to sleep in Elvis's suite. Riddled with cliches, this marshmallow of a book trivializes such truly serious matters as the midlife adjustments that men make, the importance of friends and memories, and the value of male bonding.

Meg Cabot - Giving Back: Or, You’re Probably Fine

Meg Cabot - Giving Back: Or, You’re Probably Fine

A gracefully written account of one woman's physical and spiritual struggle to surmount childhood cancer, permanent disfigurement, and, ultimately, ""the deep bottomless grief...called ugliness."" After surviving relentless medical horrors -- the removal at age nine of half her jaw due to Ewing Sarcoma, two and a half years of chemotherapy, and two years of reconstructive surgery -- Grealy's true battle begins when she looks in the mirror and finds herself trapped behind a face, in a ""self"" that she hates, and for which her peers cruelly punish her. Grealy endured insults and ostracism as a teenager in Spring Valley, N.Y. At Sarah Lawrence College in the mid-1980s, she discovered poetry as a vehicle for her pent-up emotions. During graduate school at the University of Iowa, she had a series of unsatisfying sexual affairs, hoping to prove she was lovable. No longer eligible for medical coverage, she moved to London to take advantage of Britain's socialized medicine, and underwent a 13-hour operation in Scotland. She finds solace and inspiration in the company of horses and other animals, and as a young adult, she cultivates an enriching inner life through reading, and later writing. Grealy now lives in New York City. Her discovery that true beauty lies within makes this a wise and healing book. http://bookstorecommunity.com/autobiography-of-a-face/

The Reader

Michael Berg, 15, is on his way home from high school in post-World War II Germany when he becomes ill and is befriended by a woman who takes him home. When he recovers from hepatitis many weeks later, he dutifully takes the 40-year-old Hanna flowers in appreciation, and the two become lovers. The relationship, at first purely physical, deepens when Hanna takes an interest in the young man's education, insisting that he study hard and attend classes. Soon, meetings take on a more meaningful routine in which after lovemaking Michael reads aloud from the German classics. There are hints of Hanna's darker side: one inexplicable moment of violence over a minor misunderstanding, and the fact that the boy knows nothing of her life other than that she collects tickets on the streetcar. Content with their arrangement, Michael is only too willing to overlook Hanna's secrets. She leaves the city abruptly and mysteriously, and he does not see her again until, as a law student, he sits in on her case when she is being tried as a Nazi criminal. [...] The theme of good versus evil and the question of moral responsibility are eloquently presented in this spare coming-of-age story. http://bookstorecommunity.com/2010/the-reader/

In her shoes

Twenty-eight-year-old Maggie Fuller relies on her looks and size zero body to flirt her way through life while working dozens of dead-end jobs and dreaming of stardom. At the other end of the spectrum is her older, larger sister, Rose, who relies on her intelligence and is an accomplished attorney at a large Philadelphia firm. The only things that these two seem to have in common is their shared history, a loathing for their "stepmonster," Sydelle, size six feet and a passion for luxurious shoes. When Maggie is evicted from her apartment and loses yet another job, Rose takes her in and tries to endure her closet raids and endless insults. But her patience abruptly ends when Maggie crosses a line so sacred that Rose kicks Maggie out and all but terminates their relationship ("Her sister was like a fucking Weebel, [Rose] thought. She'd wobble, she'd screw up, she'd steal your shoes... but she'd absolutely never fall down"). The sisters go on with their lives and Maggie discovers that she has a brain and a will to learn, while Rose learns to loosen up a bit and finds that there is more to life than work. The two sisters also get to know their maternal grandmother, Ella Hirsch, who they haven't seen since their mother's funeral more than 20 years ago. With Ella's love and support, Maggie reaches out to Rose and the two begin to repair their relationship. In the end, these three remarkable women learn that they are stronger than they thought they were, that family ties are worth preserving, and that there are perks to sharing the same shoe size. Weiner, a marvelously natural storyteller, blends humor and heartbreak to create an irresistible novel.
http://bookstorecommunity.com/2010/in-her-shoes/

Runaway, the conclusion to the Airhead trilogy, is a snappy and smart read that goes by far too quickly! The novel picks up only days after the tension filled conclusion of Being Nikki, and dives into the action right away, with all of the drama surrounding Brandon Stark’s attempt at whisking Em and the Howards away to his summer home. They are quickly rescued, but when they return to New York, it is evident that they aren’t any safer there. Lulu and Gabriel Luna quickly join the group as Em and Christopher attempt to get to the bottom of the mystery through a series of fast paced action scenes, complete with plenty of quick thinking, computer hacking, and romantic tension. With everyone Nikki loves furious with her for something she can’t explain, and nothing but the live Stark Angel fashion show on New Year’s Eve to look forward to, Em’s reached the end of her rope. Not to mention the person her body use to belong to wants it back. But she is getting closer to discovering the reason why her brain was transplanted into Nikki’s body. Emerson Watts is on the run: from school, from work, from her family, from her friends, from herself. To all the people that say what can I do it…I’m too young, not pretty, not smart enough watch what a group of teenagers and her non-boyfriend (who just happens to be the power hungry son of her evil employer)can do.
http://bookstorecommunity.com/2010/runaway

Ain’t She Sweet Book Review

A small town’s prodigal daughter returns to face her past in bestseller Phillips’s cheeky, diverting fairy tale. Sugar Beth Carey, “the wild child of Parrish, Mississippi,” was once the queen of all she surveyed, but after 15 years and three marriages, she’s a broken (and broke) husk of her former self. Who’s loving the schadenfreude? The Seawillows, for starters-the gaggle of Southern belles Sugar dumped years ago, plus Winnie Davis, the half-sister she treated like dirt. And there’s more: not only did Sugar stomp on gorgeous Ryan Galantine’s heart (luckily, Winnie caught him on the rebound), she also got Colin Byrne, the sexy British high school teacher, fired for ostensibly coming on to her. Colin now owns her family’s manse, and she’s inherited the carriage house on his property-along with a highly valuable painting, location unknown (might it be hiding in Colin’s attic? Or is it right under her nose?). Phillips keeps the tension high, with Colin (now a successful writer and member of the town’s “in” crowd) and all of the rest of Parrish looking to make Sugar pay for past misdeeds. Colin hires her to be his housekeeper, and soon their days are filled with bickering, backstabbing and lots of orgasmic sex. A subplot involving Gigi, Winnie and Ryan’s rebellious teenage daughter, who somewhat improbably turns to Sugar Beth for advice, detracts from the primary drama.
http://bookstorecommunity.com

Ryan Murphy Calls for Boycott of Newsweek - Glee

Ryan Murphy Calls for Boycott of Newsweek - Glee

Tales from Q School: Inside Golf’s Fifth Major

Q School (or, more formally, the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament) is golf's Long March, the winding road that aspiring professionals must negotiate if they are to qualify to play on the PGA Tour. Even though the players in the annual event are mainly unknowns, golf fans are fascinated by the grueling, heartbreaking nature of the competition--three separate tournaments during which more than 1,000 aspirants are winnowed down to 30 qualifiers, the survivors of the 108-hole, six-day Final Stage. It's surprising, really, that it's taken the best-selling Feinstein, master of the year-in-the-life sports chronicle, this long to write about Q School. The subject is made to order for his slices-of-life approach. There's plenty of dramatic shot-by-shot reporting here, as Feinstein follows the action at the 2005 Q School, but the core of the book is taken up with getting inside the heads of the competitors, whether it's overmatched also-rans who don't know when to quit, talented rookies seemingly on the verge of great careers, or former champions struggling to hang on one more year. (Masters winner Larry Mize says it all for the last group: "It's been a long time since I had to put my golf shoes on in the parking lot.") What makes this account so compelling is the way Feinstein drives home the point recreational golfers know all too well: golf is, above all, a humbling, even humiliating, game.

http://bookstorecommunity.com/2010/tales-from-q-s…fs-fifth-major

Quick Bite

That hot guy tied to Lissianna Argeneau's bed? He's not dessert he's the main course!

Lissianna has been spending her centuries pining for Mr. Right, not just a quick snack, and this sexy guy she finds in her bed looks like he might be a candidate. But there's another, more pressing issue: her tendency to faint at the sight of blood an especially annoying quirk for a vampire. Of course it doesn't hurt that this man has a delicious looking neck. What kind of cold blooded vampire woman could resist a bite of that?

Dr. Gregory Hewitt recovers from the shock of waking up in a stranger's bedroom pretty quickly once he sees a gorgeous woman about to treat him to a wild night of passion. But is it possible for the good doctor to find true love with a vampire vixen, or will he be just a good meal? That's a question Dr. Greg might be willing to sink his teeth into if he can just get Lissianna to http://bookstorecommunity.com/2010/a-quick-bite

Blue Blood

As a Harvard graduate and regular writer for the New Yorker, Edward Conlon is a little different from most of his fellow New York City cops. And the stories he tells in his compelling memoir Blue Blood are miles away from the commonly told Hollywood-style police tales that are always action packed but rarely tethered to reality. While there is action here, there's also political hassle, the rich and often troubling history of a department not unfamiliar with corruption, and the day to day life of people charged with preserving order in America's largest city. Conlon's book is, in part, a memoir as he progresses from being a rookie cop working the beat at troubled housing projects to assignments in the narcotics division to eventually becoming a detective. But it's also the story of his family history within the enormous NYPD as well as the evolving role of the police force within the city. Conlon relates the controversies surrounding the somewhat familiar shoo! ting of Amadou Diallou and the abuse, at the hands of New York cops, of Abner Louima. But being a cop himself, Conlon lends insight and nuance to these issues that could not possibly be found in the newspapers. And as an outstanding writer, he draws the reader into that world. In the book's most remarkable passage, Conlon tells of the grim but necessary work done at the Fresh Kills landfill, sifting through the rubble and remains left in the wake of the World Trade Center attacks on 9/11 (a section originally published in The New Yorker). In many ways, Blue Blood comes to resemble the world of New York City law enforcement that Conlon describes: both are expansive, sprawling, multi-dimensional, and endlessly fascinating.
http://bookstorecommunity.com/2010/blue-blood

Secular religions are fascinating in the devotion and zealousness they breed, and in Texas, high school football has its own rabid hold over the faithful. H.G. Bissinger, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, enters into the spirit of one of its most fervent shrines: Odessa, a city in decline in the desert of West Texas, where the Permian High School Panthers have managed to compile the winningest record in state annals. Indeed, as this breathtaking examination of the town, the team, its coaches, and its young players chronicles, the team, for better and for worse, is the town; the communal health and self-image of the latter is directly linked to the on-field success of the former. The 1988 season, the one Friday Night Lights recounts, was not one of the Panthers' best. The game's effect on the community--and the players--was explosive.

http://bookstorecommunity.com/2010/friday-night-lights

2010 Walk Now for Autism Speaks: Chicago - Home

2010 Walk Now for Autism Speaks: Chicago - Home

The mystery behind the death of his older brother was just the beginning...When 12-year-old Ritsuka discovers a posthumous message from his brother indicating he was murdered, he becomes involved in a shadowy world of spell battles and secret names. Together with the mysterious Soubi, the search to find Seimei's killer and uncover the truth begins! But in a world where mere words have unbelievable power, how can you find true friendship and happiness when your very name is Loveless? http://bookstorecommunity.com/2010/loveless-volume-1

What makes you read.

I have been jumping from book to book each one a different type. I am visiting my sister and she asked me what makes me pick up a book and read? I think it is author, style of writing, size, subject and then the cover. I try to read all books from front to back and there are a few that I just could get into. I think a good book makes you think and feel. I just finished Babies, Bikes, and Broads by Cynn Chadwickck. Made me think that is the kind of writer I want to be she tells the 3 stories Cat Rising, Girls With Hammers, and the final Babies, Bikes and Broads are one of the best stories I have read. I think that anyone anywhere could understand these people.

"I am Iron Man." With those words, billionaire industrialist Tony Stark revealed his secret identity. Now a famous high-tech superhero, he uses his powers to protect mankind. Yet things are not going well for Tony Stark. The U.S. military demands control of the most powerful weapon on earth--the Iron Man suit. His beautiful new assistant has a strange, mysterious agenda while his best friend, Rhodey, has betrayed him. And Tony is hunted by a vengeful Russian criminal armed with a lethal technology that may be stronger than Tony's suit. But even as he fights his demons, the hero faces his greatest threat--one that no armor can defend against . . .

If you would like to review this book, please fill out this form:

http://snurl.com/ironmanreviewer

Psychic ex-cop Elizabeth Phoenix reluctantly takes the case after her foster mother, Ruthie, is murdered by monsters.What do these visions mean? And what in the world do they have to do with her former lover, Jimmy Sanducci? Soon she's pointing out demons to her ex-boyfriend Jimmy, a half-vampire battling an army of Nephilim who plan to enslave and destroy humanity. They fight their way from Wisconsin to the southwest, where Jimmy leaves Elizabeth with Sawyer, a powerful Navajo shape-changer who awakens her libido as well as her psychic powers. Elizabeth's wry demeanor and complex relationships with Sawyer and Jimmy share center stage with the dramatic story line dramatic dimension, and the demons' evil plans and vividly described handiwork create immense suspense for the final battle. http://bookstorecommunity.com/2010/any-given-doom…onicles-book-1/

Hell hath no fury like witch and bounty hunter Rachel Morgan when it comes to avenging her lover's murder. Her quest for justice holds some significant realizations for her too such as the strength in her bond with vamp partner Ivy, who helps her withstand the waves of power coursing through her body in one of the book's most emotionally gripping scenes. Through a welter of vampires, demons, pixies, and witches, Harrison conducts readers on a suspenseful, satisfying journey of payback, personal growth, and empowerment while setting the scene for Rachel's new romance. http://bookstorecommunity.com

Book Costs

I have just found out that one of my books might be worth BIG money. I am trying to find out what makes it more. I know that date, good condition ect. What else?

Books I love

I just wanted to say how much I love reading Susan Brockmann the women is...many wonderful things but I would say creative is one of the top she has Seal Team action mixed with gay rights and some "Secret" just to keep you on your toes I am on books 6 and still hooked.

My 1st DVD post "New Moon"

The time has come to yet again say that my nerd gene kicked in again I got up at 7:30am to get the 3 DVD set of New Moon I LOVE extras. Also I thought that posting something so "IN" would get my search rating up there so I thought I would try. I will let you know if it works. Check out the post and see what you think? http://bookstorecommunity.com/2010/the-twilight-s…e-edition-2009

Take Me There

This tale has likable and realistic teen characters. It takes place over an event-filled week, with Rhiannon, Nicole, and James telling the same story from their individual perspectives. Rhiannon is devastated by her recent breakup with Steve. Nicole has broken up with Danny for no apparent reason, and he is determined to win her back. James, who has always been Rhiannon's best friend, is finding his feelings for her undergoing a dramatic change. Many humorous events occur, including Rhiannon's surefire plan to get Steve back that backfires. Readers will be intrigued by how the same incidents can be seen in so many different lights. They may also gain perspective on how one action can have very different consequences for people. The story also addresses several difficult and all-too-common problems that many teens face. Nicole realizes that Sheila is being physically abused by her boyfriend and is able to get her some professional help. Nicole has her own dark secret—her father is sexually abusing her. It's through her interactions with her friends that she is finally able to acknowledge the abuse and start to get on with her life. Teens who are dealing with their own problems will benefit from the hopeful resolution of this story. http://bookstorecommunity.com/2010/take-me-there/

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

"The world had teeth and it could bite you with them anytime it wanted." Is how this book starts. Always one to go for the throat, King crafts a story that concerns not just anyone lost in the Maine-New Hampshire woods, but a plucky nine-year-old girl, and from a broken home, no less. This stacked deck is flush with aces, however. King has always excelled at writing about children, and Trisha McFarland, dressed in jeans and a Red Sox's jersey and cap when she wanders off the forest path, away from her mother and brother and toward tremendous danger, is his strongest kid character yet, wholly believable and achingly empathetic in her vulnerability and resourcefulness. Trisha spends nine days (eight nights) in the forest, ravaged by wasps, thirst, hunger, illness, loneliness and terror. Her knapsack with a little food and water helps, but not as much as the Walkman that allows her to listen to Sox's games, a crucial link to the outside world. Love of baseball suffuses the novel, from the chapter headings (e.g., "Bottom of the Ninth") to Trisha's reliance, through fevered imagined conversations with him, on (real life) Boston pitcher Tom Gordon and his grace under pressure. King renders the woods as an eerie wonderland, one harboring a something stalking Trisha. Despite its brevity, the novel ripples with ideas, striking images, pop culture allusions and recurring themes, plus an unnecessary smattering of scatology. It's classic King, brutal, intensely suspenseful, an exhilarating affirmation of the human spirit.
http://bookstorecommunity.com/2010/the-girl-who-loved-tom-gordon/

Yaoi Volume 1: Anthology of Boys Love

The first story of the incubus had the best story line, a prisoners of a medieval circus unite against their wicked ringmaster. I think it show that sometimes that appendices can be deceiving.

Second story was kind of a school-boy story. Two gangs fighting and two members had some kind of sexing in their past from reform school When they meet up again they want to hook up, but they're in rival gangs. Nice 'mutual enjoyment' in front of a naughty movie in this story.

Last was one with some seriously good art. Kind of Westerny, but still mangaish. It fit the story since it was about a cop and the boy he finds who escaped from hillbillies who were using him.

http://bookstorecommunity.com/2010/yaoi-volume-1-…y-of-boys-love/

Manga Messiah

This is genuine Japanese manga style, unlike other Christian "manga" books in the marketplace.
Features:

• Gives a unique presentation of the Gospel accounts
• Includes a map of Galilee, Samaria, and Judea
• Includes illustrated character profiles of key Bible people
• Features an illustrated page on the twelve apostles
• A great way to introduce anyone to the Bible

Escape

Seventeen years after being forced into a polygamous marriage, Jessop escaped from the cultlike Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints with her eight children. She recounts the horrid events that led her to break free from the oppressive world she knew and how she has managed to survive since escaping, despite threats and legal battles with her husband and the Church. Escape from FLDS is not easy. Their tight-knit communities have immense power and wealth. Even the local police officers are members of the cult and will not support a wife who seeks to emancipate herself or her family. Until Jessop, no woman had managed to escape the clutches of the cult with all of her children. Jessop, though, ran from the cult and fought against it in the courts, eventually winning full custody of her eight children. This was no small victory. In fact, it was worth telling in a book.
http://bookstorecommunity.com/2010/escape/

DON'T TRASH BOOKS

Borders is closing 200 of its Waldenbooks stores in January 2010. Meanwhile, libraries across the nation are serving more and more people in the face of budget cuts.

TELL BORDERS: DONATE UNSOLD BOOKS TO NON-PROFITS, DON'T TRASH THEM!

Tuesdays with Morrie

Life's Greatest Lesson

This true story about the love between a spiritual mentor and his pupil has soared to the bestseller list for many reasons. For starters: it reminds us of the affection and gratitude that many of us still feel for the significant mentors of our past. Morrie is particularly eloquent and seems to carry an upbeat dignity to the end. Sometimes it takes the wisdom of a dying man to jog us enough to realize that human relationships and health are more important than all the gadgets, modern conveniences, pressures to get ahead professionally and monetarily combined.What would it be like to look those people up again, tell them how much they meant to us.

People in my neighborhood

These are the people neighborhood. The cranky postal worker that knew that was not like the rich bitch women in Naperville. Decided to be nice today because I am a working stiff like her and she was funny this time. To the guy at the gas station to the people I work with who think it is funny to say "there coffee has kicked in" and tell me about there prostate. I am all ways shaking my head they are not bad people but sometimes I wonder what people think when they just open there mouths.

People Watching

Where I work there is a little bit of everthing. The people from day are from all over the globe. I am just happy if they speek English. It can make work interesting.

Food for thought

The book I just finished "Bold Cost Love" by Diana Tremain Braund was a great page turner about a small town in Mane. It was two parts that had me thinking.... The first was when physician Jackie faced with a go with the women she loves or stay doing what she love in the town she loves. Joni one of her nurses asks what would make you 50% happy? Jackie asks why 50%? Joni states that most people are only 50% content happy because we try to please everyone or there are just too many issues that we deal with everyday. It made me think that we get so wrapped in day to day that we get complacent. The second thing was said by Jackie's best friend Kristen that "you did love her but you weren't made to last forever." What makes love last forever? I have seen both sides of that coin. Where there are people that stay together for the wrong reasons or just go through the motions. There are those that you see the twinkle in there eye when they look at the person they love and you just know that everyday is a new day for them.

You are not alone.

I keep thinking of the movie Charlie Bartlet when he says that he has this reoccurring dream where he stands in front of a huge crowd and yells my name is Charlie Bartlet and you are not alone. That is why I am to tell you that you are not alone. There are other that are just as big of book lovers as you. I myself are 1 step from a 12 step program I don't get rid of books I just buy more bookcases. I also listen to audio books in the car there are no repeats or commercials. Let us know what is on your mind it doesn't have to be book related.