Following on the heels of the critically-acclaimed Dragon Age: Origins, and its horribly rushed sequel Dragon Age II, Bioware has clearly taken customer feedback to heart and created something wonderful in Inquisition.
I know this is a somewhat older title with a copyright of 2006, but I missed it back then and every year since. Why? Why did I wait SO long to read it? And why can I only give it five stars? I want to give it ten on scale of one to five!
Combining world travel, video games, puzzles, archaeology, advanced technology, mysterious parents, growing danger, and a group of ambitious teenagers, this is quite the adventure.
“Even scientists fall in love, and it is said that some even talk to their dogs.”
Not memoir, not a training manual, not quite a call to arms, Bones Would Rain From the Sky is a combination of all of these. And more. Clothier examines her own journey from a child who longed to be an animal to a person who helps people like you and me connect deeply with, and better understand, our pets.
While steampunk as a subculture may be best known for corsets, goggles, and extraneous decorative gears, beneath those trappings is rich fodder for fiction often featuring plucky female protagonists--and publishers have certainly been taking note. Beth Cato's The Clockwork Dagger is one such tale, complex enough to entice existing steampunk fans but approachable enough to those new to the genre.
Camp Merrie-Seymour for Boys is the home to Ariel and Max for the summer. Six weeks without technology, living in the Jupiter cabin (all the cabins are named for planets) they quickly realize they are different from everyone else at camp. Sent there not to overcome their addiction to technology (the advertise goal of the camp) Max and Ariel are there because their father works for Merrie-Seymour and camp tuition is free for employees. The only ones not obsessed with getting a sweet taste of the internet, the boys of Jupiter quickly begin to win the cabin competition.
In short, this book is about dying. Yes it is sad, but also eye opening in showing how doctors are poorly equipped to deal effectively with the natural process of dying and the limits of medicine. Dr. Gawande is a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital who also teaches at Harvard Medical School. In this insightful and worthwhile book, Dr. Gawande wonderfully tackles the question of whether the objective of medicine should be pure survival at any cost, including more pain and suffering, or about the quality of life and what it means to die with dignity and control.
Riley MacPherson's older sister, Lisa, committed suicide when Riley was just 2 years old, leaving her family changed forever. Now Riley has returned to her father's home shortly after his death to settle his estate and check on her angry, mentally ill brother. She soon finds evidence that much of her life has been a lie when an acquaintance suggests Riley was adopted. Then she finds evidence that Lisa may have faked her death at age 17 to escape a murder charge.
Vampires in Saint Louis? Yes, and they need help. Guilty Pleasures is the first of the Laurell K. Hamilton’s wildly popular Vampire Hunter stories. Anita Blake is a necromancer, with an affinity for the dead in all their guises, but that doesn’t mean she wants to work for them. When the Master Vampire of Saint Louis sends sexy Jean Paul to procure Anita’s help her main response is, “I don’t date vampires.
Don’t let the 2001 publication date of Jezebel scare you (it was written even earlier in 1992.) Because however alarming you may find life with no cell phone, it’s not the really scary thing here. Animal Control Officer Tony Parker has serious trouble. Beloved family pets are unpredictably, and without provocation, turning on their owners. Most alarming, Jezebel, the first dog to “turn” is on the loose. It’s up to Parker to find her, stop the emerging trend, protect his family . . . and keep his job.
