Club Dead

I am completely hooked with Charlaine Harris's novels about Sookie Stackhouse. Having recently finished Dead Until Dark, and Living Dead in Dallas, I started reading Club Dead. It is the third in the Sookie series, also called the Southern Vampire Mysteries.

This book introduces us to many new characters, and takes place in Mississipi. Bill, Sookie's vampire boyfriend, is kidnapped, and Eric demands for her to go to Mississipi to learn what she can about his disappearance. Eric arranges for a local werewolf to accompany her, named Alcede, who helps her circumnavigate the supernatural underworld to help find Bill and save his life. As Sookie investigates Bill's wherabouts, she learns that he had left of his own free will, and she realizes there is more to Bill and his history than she knew about, and she learns new things about him that shake their relationship to it's foundation.

I really love the Sookie books, if it isn't obvious with how quickly I'm reading the series. I am almost done with the fourth, Dead to the World. As I said with Living Dead in Dallas, Harris doesn't waste copy giving more backstory than what's needed, and only fills you in on the past stories enough to follow along with the new information. The characters are starting to become more and more involved, and people are starting to show their true colors.

I give this book a 5/5. Once I'm done with the series I'll give an overall score.

Living Dead in Dallas

The second book I finished this week was the sequel to Charliane Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series, Living Dead in Dallas. I had read the first book, Dead Until Dark, a few books past and really fell in love with the series. I managed to pick up the rest of the books at Barnes & Noble, so I have a feeling I will be sweeping through the series before reading anything else.

Living Dead in Dallas tells the story of Sookie's travel to Dallas, after she is loaned out by Eric the vampire. Sookie is supposed to use her telepathy to find a vampire, Farrel, who has gone missing.

I really enjoyed the lengthened character development of Living Dead in Dallas. Eric is much more involved in the second story, and there is an interesting and complex love trial forming between Eric, Sookie and Bill. Harris also doesn't waste half the book explaining things from the previous novel, and only does gentle reminders.

I give this book a 5 out of 5. I am very excited to read the next in the series, Club Dead.

Button, Button

So, I just finished two books in quick succession. I wondered if I should do two separate posts, or one big one. I decided on two separate ones, so forgive me if this seems long and drawn out.

The first book was Button, Button, by Richard Matheson. Button, Button is a collection of short stories, some ranging from the bizarre to the hilarious and the touching, and many with a great twist ending. The first story, which shares the title of the book, is short but has a twist at the end that you don't see coming. It is currently being made into a movie. It seems odd to me, but whatever.

Some stories were just plain weird, and at the end of them I wasn't really left with a feeling of "that was a great story!" but more like "what the hell?" The final story, Tis The Season To Be Jelly, was one in particular that I just didn't care for. Another story about L.A. being some sort of spreading land parasite also just left me wondering why it was included. Others, like There's No Such Thing As Vampires, or Mute, really were great to read and I wish they had been longer.

Overall, I give Button, Button a 4 out of 5.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I finally finished The Perks of Being a Wallflower. This book has been on my list of books to read for a long time now. I finally picked it up on a whim at the bookstore a few days ago. It's a short book, but it took me a while to read because I'm also going through a book of short stories by Neil Gaimen (Smoke & Mirrors).

The story is about a boy named Charlie, who is a High School freshman during the 90's. The Perks of Being a Wallflower are written from his perspective in the form of letters sent to an anonymous person who is never identified or named. Charlie tells about his family, and his friends, the crush he has on his friend Sam, and how he deals (or doesn't) with his depression and anxiety. Ultimately, he uncovers locked memories about his past, and learns how to truly heal from it.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower reads like a modern Catcher in the Rye. You become attached to Charlie quickly, and feel protective of him throughout his troubles. As he begins to uncover problems with his family and his past, you feel the anxiety and upset as Charlie does.

The writing is very easy to get into and follow along with. Charlie's "voice" develops over the course of the novel, and you can see influences in his writing after he reads a new book given to him by his English teacher. The character development of the other characters is also really well done, with each person having their own history and voice, and you feel like you know who they are.

I give this book a 5 out of 5.

Dead Until Dark

I was a big fan of the HBO show True Blood, and I knew they were based on a series by Charlaine Harris. I picked the first book up on a whim, and I am really glad I did. The first in the series is Dead Until Dark.

Dead Until Dark follows the story of Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic waitress in Louisiana. The vampires in the world have recently "come out of the coffin" and are starting to mainstream into society. Sookie meets Bill, one of the mainstreaming vampires, and after finding her vampire, strange things start happening. There are multiple murders in the town of Bon Temps, and Sookie needs to find out who is behind it so she can clear Bill's name, and the name of her brother Jason. Jason, a local lethario, is implicated because of his relationships with most of the murdered women.

I really enjoyed reading Dead Until Dark. I had watched the season of True Blood before reading it, and I was unsure as to how they'd be translated. The show is so close to the book, down to the dialogue. The biggest discrepency is the addition of a character in the show that is not in the book, but that's not a big issue for me.

I know there are a few other books in this series, and I'm very tempted to pick the rest of them up. I enjoyed Harris' storytelling, and her character development is amazing.

I give this book a 5 out of 5.

The Third Angel

I followed up the disappointment that was Handle With Care with a new book by my other favorite author, Alice Hoffman, which I had borrowed from a good friend who also loves this author. This book, called The Third Angel, does not take place in her usual setting (New Hampshire or Connecticut) but instead in London. More specifically at the Lion Park hotel.

The story centers on the inhabitants of the Lion Park hotel during three different periods of time; modern day, 1952 and 1966. As the stories unfold, you realize that everyone from the modern day story are involved in the hotel in some way, and their lives entwine in the most intricate of ways. There is also the story of the ghost of the Lion Park hotel, and how he touches each and every life of the characters in The Third Angel. Hoffman's writing is so intricate and precise, and you never feel that the connections between the characters are forced.

The name comes from the idea that when a doctor visits a patient, there are three angels in the car with him. One is the angel of life, and one is the angel of death. Then there is the third angel, and he is the one that is harder to spot. He could be anywhere, from the people you see on your way to the suffering, or the person suffering themselves. The idea of the third angel is interwoven with all the characters of the novel.

After finishing Handle With Care and being so disappointed, I am really glad that I read The Third Angel. I think if I would have read just anything I probably would have put it down and stopped reading for a while. Instead I started The Third Angel and finished it in just days.

I give The Third Angel a 5 out of 5, for a rich complex story line that isn't forced, and restoring my faith in prolific writers.

Handle With Care

I am a big fan of Jodi Picoult, and I know this isn't the first time I've said it. I was really excited to see she had a new book coming out this year, and I picked it up as soon as it had been released. I didn't know the basic premise of Handle With Care when I bought it, but I didn't much care. Now I wish I did a little more research on it... I wasn't really happy with this book upon finishing it. I would have read it anyway, but I probably wouldn't have put off reading other books to read this one first.

Handle With Care tells the story of the life of Willow O'Keefe, a young girl suffering with OI (osteogensis imperfecta), or brittle bone disease. Her disease affects the life of her mother, Charlotte, and her father, Sean, as well as her sister, Amelia. On a trip to Disney Land, Willow breaks two bones slipping on a napkin, which puts her in the hospital, her parents in jail and her sister in foster care. Sean visits a lawyer, wanting to sue for damages. The lawyer says they have a case, just not the one they had thought. The O'Keefe's file a wrongful birth suit against their OB-GYN (who happens to be Charlotte's best friend), saying that if the OI had been detected sooner, Charlotte could have aborted the baby. What ensues is an epic legal battle that pits friend against friend, husband against wife, and mother against daughter.

One of the main problems that I had with Handle With Care was the character of Charlotte. I could not empathize with her at all, and I disliked her from very early on. The other problem I had was that I felt like I had read it all before, in her novel My Sister's Keeper. There's a major medical crisis between one of two daughters, and an ensuing legal battle because of it. Hmm... yeah, too familiar.

I give Handle With Care a 3 out of 5. I enjoyed the intigrated recipes within the story, and I learned a lot of trivia throughout the pages. Neither, though, was enough to get a higher rating. I could have just re-read My Sister's Keeper and been alright.

Duma Key

I finished this book a few days ago, but I have been wrapped up in work and the next book to post. Sorry!

I haven't read Stephen King in a long time, not since Dream Catcher. I really loved his older books, like Carrie and Salem's Lot, but I just hated the weird alien stories he was writing. I heard good things about Duma Key from a few different people, and my interest was piqued. My mom sent me the book, so after I finished Nocturnes, I picked it up.

The story is about a man named Edgar Freemantle who moves to the island of Duma Key, off the coast of Florida, after a construction site accident that left him missing and arm and severely impaired. There he meets Jerome Wireman, and the woman he cares for, Elizabeth Eastlake. Edgar falls into a painting frenzy, and starts prophecising the future in his art, as well as Elizabeth's past. He soon realizes that there is a dark and evil force behind his artwork that can, and will, reach out and hurt the ones that he loves.

I have a saying about Stephen King novels, "I suffer through the first half of the book to be rewarded in the second half." That wasn't true in Duma Key. I was invested in the characters immediately, but the story was slow. There was a bit of paranormal freakiness here, then 50 or 60 pages of just random story, so I forgot about the freaky stuff that had happened before. It was like that until the last 1/3 of the book, when the paranormal shit hit the fan. It seemed to end too easily, though...

Ultimately, I liked Duma Key, but I give it a 3 out of 5.

Nocturnes

It's been a long time since I've read a book of short stories. I used to love the Stephen King short story collections in High School, but haven't read another collection since. After finishing Connolly's The Book of Lost Things, I went and picked up his book of short stories, called Nocturnes. I toyed with the idea of having each short story count as a separate book on my list, but I decided against it. :)

Nocturnes has short stories that are previously unpublished, as well as a novella featuring a character from Connolly's mystery novels (Charlie Parker), and finished with a section titled Nocturnes: Coda that had 5 five stories that had been published elsewhere. The stories are all dark, twisted, and slightly horrific. They become progressively darker and darker as the stories unfold, starting with The Cancer Cowboy Rides. A few of the stories are very short, taking up less than 10 pages of the overall 471 pages, while others take up a lot more. The Charlie Parker Novella, The Reflecting Eye, comes in at over 100 pages.

There is no horror that is left out of Nocturnes. As someone who is both afraid of clowns and spiders, I found myself totally horrified at two stories (Some Children Wander By Mistake and The Wakeford Abyss) and unable to read for a day or two. Other stories are horrifying for different reasons, not having a twinge of the paranormal and instead relying on the horror of human beings themselves and the things they do to each other.

The horror of the book is never cliche, and is always completely believable. That is a fine line when writing dark short stories, you can either make them really cliche and transparent, or you can make them just believable enough that they haunt your thoughts for hours after finishing the story. For Nocturnes, the second half of that is true. I never thought "oh, that's so unbelievable" after any story.

I give this book a 5 out of 5. I will now go to all the used book stores in my area and grab up Connolly's other stories.

High Voltage Tattoo

I just recently received Kat Von D's biography/memoir/portfolio book titled High Voltage Tattoo.  While it was very picture heavy, as I expected, it also had a lot of backstory.  There was the story of how Kat Von D got into tattooing, her philosophy behind it, and the tattoos she has.  There was also stories by the people who's tattoos feature prominently inside the book, from her friends to famous musicians and skaters.  High Voltage Tattoo was a great book to read and look through, with high-quality images and great information from how to best take care of a tattoo to dispelling common tattoo myths.

This book took me a few days to flip through, which was more than I expected.  I am also reading another book at the same time, Nocturnes by John Connolly, as well as all the random things going on in my life.  I thought I could sit down with High Voltage Tattoo and read it cover to cover in an afternoon.  I was pleasantly surprised.  As I said above, there was a lot of story to actually read, where I had thought the book was just pictures.  I enjoyed reading about Kat Von D's life and how she found tattooing.  As a fellow tattoo-fan, artist and woman I understood everything she talked about, from art and love being a way of life to wanting to be an individual in a world where women are easily pigeonholed.  High Voltage Tattoo was more than I bargained for, and I found a lot of inspiration for future tattoos in its pages.

High Voltage Tattoo is broken up into sections: Kat's story and starting her parlor, and then by tattoo style.  There's a section for portraits, lettering, roses and nautical, and then some.  Some pieces are familiar if you watch Kat's show, LA Ink, but there was a lot that was new to me.

Overall, I give this book a 4 out of 5.  I did find a few typos (I am ALWAYS proof-reading), as well as some cheesy typography choices.  Other than that, I was really pleased with this book and I am glad that I have it to add to my library.

The Book of Lost Things

Over the last few weeks, my mother has been telling me over and over to read this book, The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. After checking for it in a few different stores, I finally ordered it from my local bookstore downtown. It was definitely worth the trouble and wait.

The Book of Lost Things is a modern fairy tale, that features fairy tales of old set in a new light. It all takes place in England, during the beginning of World War II. The story starts with David, and the death of his mother. His father remarries and has another child, and the family relocated. David is full of anger and resentment towards his step-mother and his new half-brother. Shortly after the move, David starts experiencing "attacks" and as a result he becomes able to hear the thoughts of books. This is where the Crooked Man enters his life, as well. One night David find himself in a sunken garden next to the house, where a German airplane crashes. David hides in the sunken garden, only to find himself transported to a fairy tale land. He meets a bevvy of characters, including the Woodsman and Roland the Knight, who join David on his quest to return home. The Crooked Man tries to thwart them at every turn, however, as does a series of nefarious beasts and characters.

Many of the fairy tales used in The Book of Lost Things are familiar, where others were brand new to me. Most have been twisted in such a way as to appear more relevant to David's plight. At the end of the edition that I purchased (paper back), there is notes by Connolly about the stories used and why they were important, as well as reprints of the original stories.

I give this book a 5 out of 5, and I think it has definitely found its place among my Top 10 Favorite Books.

Turtle Moon

When I find a new author that I haven't read before, I often find myself immersing in all of their works over a short amount of time. I did it years ago with Jonathan Kellerman and James Patterson, then again a while ago with Jodi Picoult. Last year, I did it with Alice Hoffman, who I started reading because it was Picoult's favorite author. I purchased a lot of her books at once, and am slowly making my way through that cache. I just knocked another Hoffman book off, as well as adding a book to my 2009 list. That book was Turtle Moon.

Turtle Moon tells the interwoven story of two single mothers, a cop with a haunted past, and a boy called the meanest in all of the town. When one of the mothers is murdered, the one left behind, Lucy, takes it upon herself to figure out who this person was, and why she was dead, to clear her son Keith, who was at the scene of the crime and runs away with the now orphaned baby. With the help of the cop, Julian, the past of everyone involved is unraveled, and answers come out of the woodworks.

Initially, I wasn't drawn in by the book like I normally am with her stories. I struggled through the first 50 pages or so. I almost set it down, but I knew that Hoffman always comes through, so I kept going. I was rewarded, and by the end of the book I was connecting with characters and their motives.

I give this book a 3 out of 5. The ending was redeeming, not just for the characters but also the doubt that I felt when I started the book. If I would have been sucked in right away, like I have been with Hoffman's writing in the past, this book would have ranked higher.

Second Glance

I took a detour from what I called the "let's re-read all the novels in your library" spree to read book 7, The Commitment. After I finished the book, I immediately started the spree back up again! I was organizing my bookshelves, and had put my Picoult books in order. As I was doing so, I realized that after The Tenth Circle, Second Glance was my next favorite.

Second Glance tells the story of a number of characters, so it is hard to summarize. The story is about love that is timeless, about ghosts who are so tied to the world that they cannot leave, and the sacrifices that everyone makes for the people that they are tied to. It also spans across decades, taking place in the 1930's, and the current days of the 2000's. There is romance, there is death, there is life, and there is hope. On top of that, there is an unsolved mystery of a murder, a missing baby, the sordid history of eugenics, and the study of the paranormal. I know it sounds like she's grasping at plot-straws and trying too hard, but it all works and comes together.

This is Picoult at her finest. There are so many characters in this story that I worried, the first time I read it, that I would get certain people lost with others, or that there wouldn't be enough character development. Within just a few pages I knew that I had been wrong, and that the story needs all of these characters, and Picoult does not let one of them fall through the cracks and get lost. By the end of the book, you know exactly why each and every character was there, and what their lives and actions mean to all the other characters.

I give this book a 5 out of 5.

The Commitment

I took a break from my "let's re-read all the novels in your library" spree to read a memoir, one I've been carrying around for about a year. When sex columnist Dan Savage came to the University of Idaho last year to do a talk, I went with a few friends. I had seen Savage on Real Time With Bill Maher, and I loved hearing him talk. He's an avid gay-rights activist, and while he was there he was selling copies of his latest book, The Commitment. It discusses the gay rights issue, as well as chronicles his own feelings about it and if he and his partner of 10 years should marry.

I am also a supporter of gay marriage. I think it's ridiculous that a citizen of the United States is denied any right that other citizens share. It was done when African Americans couldn't marry Caucasians, and done when women were not allowed the vote. It's something I feel strongly about, and so does Savage. I am not sure why it took me so long to read this book... like I said, I've had this book for a while. It's also signed.

The Commitment is hilarious, and poignant. Savage is bombarded at all sides with pressure; from his mother to marry, from his son not to. The roller-coaster from beginning to end is endearing, and you are taken through both sides of this debate. I definitely recommend it to people from all walks of life; gay, straight, Republican and Democrat. There's something to be taken from this book and I think it is this: love is love. The love between Savage and his partner is no less or no more than the love I have for my husband, and their love should be just as legal, respected, and celebrated.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

The Tenth Circle

Just a few days after finishing book 5, The Pact, I have finished another re-read by Jodi Picoult. This one, The Tenth Circle, is probably my all-time favorite Picoult book. As an avid reader and collector of graphic novels, the included artwork by character Daniel Stone from his "Wildclaw" series is a total delight, and it mirrors the plot of the novel around it.

Stone is the father of a 14 year old girl, Trixie, who comes home one night saying she was raped. Stone's wife, Laura, is in the arms of another man. What unfolds between the family is one of loss, betrayel, pain and redemption. Their sins mirror Dante's Inferno, of which Laura is a scholar and professor of. The story reads as a classics lesson, as well as a true morality tale about the lengths you're willing to go to for yourself, for your family, and to be saved.

As I said before, this is one of my favorite Picoult books, and is probably why I chose to re-read this one second. It is more recent than The Pact, released in 2005. It seems like both have been made into Lifetime movies... I watched about 5 minutes of The Pact and turned it off, angered by how drastically the story changed in a short time. I have not seen the t.v. version of The Tenth Circle, so I'm holding my reservations on it till I see it. It stars Kelly Preston (Laura) and Ron Eldard (Daniel), and just by looks alone I am not happy with casting.

Overall, I give this book a 5 out of 5.

The Pact

It seems I've started a pattern of reading a new book or two, then going back to a re-read. This re-read was Jodi Picoult's The Pact. It was the first book I read of hers, and it was the book that got me hooked on her as an author. I gobbled up her books in quick succession when I start to read her, I think two years ago. Regardless, I came back to this book and I have a distinct feeling that I will go through the rest of her books before starting anything new. Not that it's a complaint.

The Pact chronicles the lives of the Hartes and the Golds, and their children. Emily Gold, and Chris Harte, grow up together in a small town in New Hampshire. They are so close they seem like family, and eventually become lovers. Suddenly, Emily is found dead and Chris is at the scene. What first seems like an interupted suicide pact between teenagers quickly becomes something more, as you're taken through the drama of Chris's murder trial.

As I said before, this is a book that prompted a quick and obsessive love for a particular author. Picoult's chapters are short, which I personally love in a novel, and her characters are deep and intense. Even though I had read it before, I could not recall all the minute twists and turns and character details, and the twist at the end was as fresh to me as when I had first read it. This book takes place in a locale she uses often, and introduces us to a character who shows up in a few more of her novels, lawyer Jordan McAfee and his family.

This book is rich in detail and while it jumps through time, you never feel like you're lost in memories. Emily is as real a character as Chris, even though she is dead by the first page. Her story, and their love, become so real to you that you are sure you knew them.

I give this book a 4 out of 5. The only reason I didn't give it a higher rating was because I am often weary of court books written by someone who has no court experience. Picoult has done a mountain's worth of research, however, and the scenes are all believable, regardless of my trepidation.

Atonement

After much longer time than I anticipated, I have finished my 4th book 0f 2009. I feel like this book has been a labor for me to finish, but in actuality, it wasn't a book that I was unhappy to read. I think the problem is that edition I purchased used a small font, and had small header/footer space, and compared to The Reader, it was rich in detail and nuance. All this lead to a read that seemed long and intense, but never boring.

I had watched the film version of Atonement a year ago, and was immediately struck by the story and the twist ending (which I won't ruin in case someone is not familiar with the story). I knew it was based on a book, but had not read it. My mother told me that the book and movie are identical, which is important for me. I hate books and movies that are two separate entities... When I read Atonement this month I was pleasantly surprised. They are exactly the same, and the movie images do not compete or challenge the ones drawn up by my mind's eye.

The beautiful thing about this book is that you completely understand the main characters involved, and while you may hate their choices and know how it will all fall apart, you still know that it had to be done. I loved the characters of Cecilia and Robbie, and the telling of their romance in particular. The descriptions where great, even if they were a bit overwhelming when I read at a late hour or with noise in the background.

Overall, though, I was very happy that I finally read this book. I give it a 4.5 out of 5.

The Reader

I started 2009 thinking that I would spend the first part of it re-reading books that meant something to me. I re-read book 2, The Time Traveler's Wife, with this in mind. After, something happens that always does when I re-read that book; I had to find something totally different to follow it. Nothing I had read already would suffice, I had to start fresh. So, I picked up The Reader, by Bernhard Schlink. It was exactly what I needed.

The story reads like a memoir, but isn't. It follows the life of Michael Berg, and his romance with Hanna, which starts when Michael is 15 and Hanna is more than twice his age. Their romance is short-lived and tumultuous. They separate, for reasons unknown to Michael, only to meet later when Hanna is being tried for war crimes, although that is not her worst secret. All takes place after WWII, in Germany.

Overall, I liked the story very much. You feel for Hanna, which is unusual in books about people who were involved in WWII. She is not painted as a monster, in Michael's eyes, but she is in other's. Once I started reading it, I could not put it down, and finished the book quickly. At first I attributed that to the largish type and low page count (218), but in all actuality it was the story that kept me riveted and would not let go. The book has been made into a movie, starring Kate Winslett, released the 9th of January.

I give this book a 4.5 out of 5.

The Time Traveler's Wife

The second book I read this year is one I've read a million times... I think I read this book at least once a year. It is The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. It's a book recommended to me by my brother a few years past, and I fell in love with the story. The book chronicles Henry, who involuntarily time-travels, and his romance with Clare. Clare's live is dotted with Henry's appearances, and she grows up knowing him before he has ever really met her. They meet in real-time, though, and theirs is a love story that time has no control over.

Like I mentioned, this is a book I've read a million times before. Every time someone asks me for a book request, this is the first thing I tell them to read. I have two copies of this book, even, a trade-paper back and a special edition hard-back with cover art by Niffenegger.

A movie version of this book, starring Rachael McAdams and Eric Bana. I have mixed feelings about this, since I am worried they will totally screw this up. The movie will be out this year, so I'm holding my breath...

I give this book a 5 out of 5.

A Lion Among Men

The first book finished in 2009 was Gregory Maguire's A Lion Among Men. This book is the third in the Wicked Years, coming after Wicked and Son of a Witch. Where Wicked followed the life of Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West), and Son of a Witch followed her "son" Liir, this book follows the story of the Cowardly Lion, also known as Brrr.

I really enjoyed the first book, and found the second lacking. I also found this one hard to read. I suffered through the first 2/3 of the book, only to be rewarded in the last third. I was invested more in the side character of Yackle than I was in the Lion. When everything started to come together at the end of the book, however, I was very interested and had a hard time putting the book down. That was a stark contrast to when I started the book, where I often left it lying around and didn't feel obligated to pick it up.

There were a lot of loose ends at the finish of this book, but there have been at the end of the two predecesors, so I was expecting it. I assume Maguire will write more in this series, and I'll probably end up reading them as well.

Overall, I give this book a 2.5 out of 5.

welcome

Hello everyone. I just wanted to write out a quick post to say hello, and explain what this blog is about.

I am an avid reader, and for the last few years I've had a goal of reading 50 books in one year. 2007 I didn't make it, but I did in 2008 (just barely). I kept a running list of the books that I read, but I realized that in 2009 I wanted to make it a little different. This year I want to keep a blog of the books I read. So, each time I finish a book I'll update the running list, but I'll also post a review of the book and give a bit more information than just the author and title.

If you've got any questions, or if there's anything you'd like to ask, don't hesitate to leave a comment, or even send me an e-mail.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy what you read here, and that it inspires you do to more reading yourself!