The Book Review Club (Feb Meeting)

We're here! We're here! It's the very first meeting of The Book Review Club!

We've brewed you a pot of robust Kona coffee and baked up a bunch of chewy chocolate chip cookies (no calories!). So, grab a cup and a treat, drag over a comfy chair and join us for some excellent book talk.

We have a smorgasbord of reviews from a picture book to nonfiction to self-help, from middle grade to young adult to adult. We hail from all over the map, including Canada, Britain, and several US states. Our goal? To topple your To-Be-Read pile!

Getting a little business out of the way first: If you posted a review and I didn't link to you, sorry, sorry, sorry. Just let me know in the comments. I'll get right on it.

Without further ado, I'll start off with my review. I'll TRY (although you know how I love to roam and ramble!) to keep it short and sweet and give you lots of time to click through to everyone else's posts.

Here's cover copy for WE ALL FALL DOWN, a contemporary YA by Eric Walters. Today is September 10, 2001, and tomorrow Will, a grade nine student, will be spending the day at his father’s office. As a school assignment, all the students in his class will be going to their parents’ workplaces, but Will isn’t looking forward to it – he’d rather sleep in and hang around with his friends. His father doesn’t even have an exciting job like his best friend James’s dad, who is a New York City fireman. Will’s dad works for an international trading company and has to wake up early every morning to commute to his office on the eighty-fifth floor of the south building of the World Trade Center in Manhattan. The situation that evolves changes Will, his relationship with his dad, and the entire world.

You've got to admit that the premise is brilliant. Brilliant. Nine-one-one from the perspective of a teen. The story is fast-paced with oodles of tension. Emotional tension: especially between Will and his dad. Physical tension: these people are trapped in one of the towers. This is a great read for either gender. It was first recommended to me by one of my nieces.

If you haven't yet had the pleasure of reading a book by Eric Walters, let me fill you in on three things. He's massively popular in Canada. He's massively prolific. He's massively great.

Perhaps he'll read that last paragraph and send me a Tim Horton's gift card! Totally kidding, Eric!

And you know how I live for those weird links in life? One of Eric Walters' kids goes to school with my best friend from high school's kid!

Please please visit our intrepid reviewers. They've gone to loads of trouble for your reading enjoyment. You'll learn about some terrific books. And you know how you love to support fellow bloggers. :)

Oh yeah, and I couldn't figure out a way to organize everything. So, it's a hodge podge of brilliance.

Bee Drunken: SOMEWHERE TOWARDS THE END by Diana Athill (biography)

David Cranmer of The Education of a Pulp Writer: HIGH PROFILE by Robert B. Parker (Mystery/adult)

blueviolet: THE WEDNESDAY LETTERS by Jason Wright (Contemporary Fiction/adult)

Dan Riser of the Writing Greek: PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS by Rick Riordan (YA Fantasy)

PJ Hoover: BLISS by Lauren Myracle (YA paranormal)

Sarah Lynn of Yeah, but Houdini didn't have these hips: ONCE UPON A POTTY by Alona Frankel (picture book)

Stacy Nyikos: THE WHITE GIRAFFE by Lauren St. John (Middle Grade)

Maureen McGowan: I SO DON'T DO MYSTERIES by Barrie Summy (Middle Grade) The check is in the mail, Maureen! (wink, wink)

Ellen Booraem of Freelance Ne'er-do-well: MRS. WOOLF AND THE SERVANTS by Alison Light (nonfiction)

Zu Vincent: JUMPED by Rita Williams-Garcia (Young Adult)

Scott Parker: HYPERION by Dan Simmons (Science Ficion/adult)

Alyssa Goodnight: UNPREDICTABLE by Eileen Cook (Romantic Comedy/adult)

Kathy Holmes: THE BREAKUP BIBLE by Melissa Kantor (Young Adult)

Shana O'Brien: THE VIGOROUS MIND by Ingrid Cummings (Self-Help)

Mitch of The Sphagnum Patch: THE LAST LECTURE by Randy Pausch (with Jeffrey Zaslow)

Thao of serene hours: THIRTEEN REASONS WHY by Jay Asher (Young Adult)

Beth Yarnall: PUTTING ON THE DOG by Cynthia Baxter (Mystery/Series/adult)

Sandy Levin: THE ALCHEMIST by Paulo Coelho (Literary Fiction/adult)

WunderWoman: JOHNNY ANGEL by Danielle Steel (Contemporary Fiction/adult)

Gary Dobbs/Jack Martin of The Tainted Archive: I'm not sure what Gary's got up. You'll have to pop over to see. :)

Jenn Jilks: ANGELS CREST by Leslie Schwartz (Contemporary Fiction/adult)

Sarah Laurence: WATER DOGS by Lewis Robinson (Mystery/adult)


We'll be back for the second meeting of The Book Review Club on WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4. Huge incredible shout-out thank-yous to the participants linked above. You did an OUTSTANDING job! You really should be paid. But, alas... ;)

Okay, people. Go forth and read! xo