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“The Fat Girls Guide to Life” by Wendy Shanker

Reviewer: Linda

This is a book which discusses acceptance of one’s weight and appearance. The author is funny and her discussion of Duke’s weight loss center is wonderful.

When your weight is getting you down and you feel like you are ready for radical change, read this book. If you still feel that way after reading it, maybe you are ready for radical change. As for me, FAT GIRLS UNITE!

"Petty Pewter Gods (P.I. Garrett)" by Glen Cook

Reviewer: littlemissthing

Add one part Kolchak: The Nightstalker, a touch of Columbo, and heavy helping of wizards, elves, dragons, and all sorts of fantasy creatures. Blend quickly while tongue is planted firmly in cheek. There you have the entire Garrett P.I. series from fantasy writer Glen Cook. Petty Pewter Gods is the 8th book in the series. While it definitely helps to have read the first seven before jumping into this simultaneously zany and action filled installment, Cook does a great job providing just enough back-story to explain the sometimes (O.K. quite often) strained relationships between our hero and his so-called allies.

"Child of the Prophecy: Book Three of the Sevenwaters Trilogy (The Sevenwaters Trilogy)" by Juliet Marillier

A myth combined with fantasy. That’s a very short description of what this book is.

The story and plot is important, but the writing and the journey is more important than finding out what happens. And that’s a really good thing, since I picked this book up not realizing that it was the third in a trilogy. I was a good 40 pages into the book before I entered it on this site and discovered it was the final book of a trilogy. It obviously stands on its own. Some of the characters of the first two books are in this book and I’m sure they would be more interesting if I had read the first two books.

"Julie and Julia : 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen" by Julie Powell

Julie Powell felt she was in a rut. Turning thirty, dead end temp secretary job, crappy loft apartment and trouble with her husband. On a visit home, she finds her mothers copy of Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, 50th Anniversary Edition and decides to cook every recipe in the book. In one year. And write about it online.

"Shantaram: A Novel" by Gregory David Roberts

(Anonymous Submission to old ClubReading website)

Lindsay or Linbaba, as the Indian people named him, is a fugitive who escaped prison in Australia, where he served two years of his 19-year sentence of arms robberies, which he used to do to support his heroin addiction caused by loosing custody of his daughter in a failed marriage. After the escape, Linbaba lands in Bombay on a fake New Zealand passport. Upon landing, he meets Prabaker who plays the guide role and shows him even the most secretive parts of Bombay. In the same time Lindsay meets Karla, a beautiful Swiss-American who works at Leopold’s cafÈ the place where all the ex-pats hang out. Linbaba falls deeply in love with Karla and the love takes a complicated role in the plot.

"The Actors Guide to Greed (Actors Guide To...)" by Rick Copp

Jarrod Jarvis was a child actor in a successful sitcom in the 80’s. Now he is in 30’s and struggling to reignite is career. At the premier party of Jarrod’s latest disastrous movie roll (held in the Starbucks across the street from the theater), Jarrod is approached by Wallace Goodwin, one of the writers from the sitcom. Wallace has written a play and wants Jarrod for a particular part. Even more surprising, the play is being produced and will run on London’s West End.

"Candy Apple Red (Jane Kelly Mystery)" by Nancy Bush

If you enjoy light, easy mystery books, then this book is for you. Jane Kelly followed a boyfriend from California to Washington state. She stayed; he didn’t. She studied criminology because he was, and now she’s using that in serving eviction notices. But things get complicated when her ex-boyfriend shows up. And eventually the body of a man who has been missing for four years. There’s our mystery.

"Bokuru" by Jon C. Hall

Reviewer: bardsandsages

“Bokuru” by Jon C. Hall

When a prominent archeologist’s mysterious death is quickly ruled a suicide, trial attorney and amateur archeologist Jim Henderson is hired to go to Africa and investigate. What seems to be a museum simply trying to make sure it can collect on a life insurance policy soon turns into a dangerous mystery involving missing relics, native legends, and hints at the very origins of humanity.

"Lark Rise to Candleford: A Trilogy (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics)" by Flora Thompson

I learned of this book from Educating Alice (see previous review). While Alice is touring Jane Austin’s England, she receives the recommendation for this book. I also received that recommendation, and am so glad Alice shared it!

Lark Rise to Candleford is the story of England on the cusp of the Industrial Revolution. More specifically, it’s the story of one young woman’s memories of growing up in a very small hamlet, when the men still plowed the farms with horses, and the girls all “went into service.”

"Damaged!" by Bernadette Y. Connor

Reviewer: Bardsandsages

Author Bernadette Y. Connor spins a thought-provoking tale of abuse, survival, redemption, and the need for forgiveness in her novel Damaged! The novel centers around the relationship of teenager Adrena Reynolds and her psychiatrist Vivian Matthews. As a child, Adrena was raped and beaten by her violent father while her drug addicted mother sat by and watched. After being rescued from her abusive home, the girl is assigned to Dr. Matthews for treatment and placed in foster care. But Dr. Matthews’ inexperience in her position is evident, as she allows herself to become overly attached emotionally to her young charge, and Adrena’s own sociopathic tendencies readily become evident as she manipulates her relationship with Matthews like some emotional vampire.