Book 47 of the Animorphs. This ones stands out from the others. It has a cool parallelism drawn between the storyline and the Civil War. The ending is a bit confusing from the journals point of view, but is otherwise a great story and I recommend not missing this one.

A markedly Stephen King novel. A great cross country novel with echos of “The Body”. Overall it is a good read. There are parts that seem long and this is defiantly not for children. We see glimpses of Stephen Kings own drug issues as we move through this book. The point of a boy setting off on an adventure to save his mother goes against the too typical must be an orphan box most authors think of when talking about writing the hero’s journey. As with all of his novels, it leaves you with a lot to think about. Read but realize mature audiences recommended.

Book 1 of the Dark Paladin series. As most people know, I am a Vasily Mahanenko fan boy. This series is far less polished than the other two I have read. This leaves me feeling that this must be an older series. I see certain aspects that permeate all of his writing worlds. This is a edge of the seat wild ride into a game world. This world is very harsh and communicates not having faith in anyone and doing anything you can to survive. I hope that the series moves away from that in the next book. Still. I recommend this one bit to ages 16 and up due too mature themes.

Book 69 of the Boxcar Children. This was a good one. Kept you guessing to the end and it really has a bad guy behind it. What I loved was that it shows how villains are the heroes of their own stories. Definitely, makes you wish for older values. Unfortunately, I would see many now that would side with the villain on this one. Try it out for yourself.

Book 46 of the Animorphs. This was a great one. All about answering the question of what would you do to serve the greater good. While a lot of the previous novels felt like fluff I felt that this one really took a hard look at war and sacrifice. It all worked out, but you can tell we are nearing the end of the series. I recommend you not miss this one.

Book 68 of the Boxcar Children. What could jealousy drive you to do? This is an example of what pride could drive someone to do. This is a seemingly inconsequential mystery however how much can a person justify doing? If you think about it a little deeper you can see a very good lesson in this one.

Book 5 of the Alchemist series. This leaves an opening for future books, while still being a satisfying conclusion. If you’re as big of fan boy as me you’ll enjoy this one. I was worried for a minute it was going to become an Adam and Eve story, but it did not and let me feeling great about the series. The only disappointing part of this RPGLit was that we understand so little about the game. We are given more hints in this book, but it is just so nebulous that it leaves me guessing most of the time about how they became part of the world. Still a strong recommend.

Book 67 of the Boxcar Children. This was a great one as it allowed us to suspect the guy who seemed the least likely. I like how it played out and did well on keeping the focus. Although not my favorite so far, I feel like this was a good one. Pick it up.

The logic in this book is solid. Definitely staying active in your life will help our overall health. I do line the idea of a more holistic approach to our health. It is sound too look at any problems in our life are interconnected with our eating habits and exercise habits. We all understand that stress has effects on us far deeper than originally thought. More and more we need to start treating all ailments on a holistic level instead of continuing to push pills. I strongly recommend you take a look at this one and see where you can improve your health and overall life.

I have not seen the movie, but this was a good book. Made you really feel like a prisoner. There are some pretty graphic parts, which I really don’t feel added much to the plot. Overall I loved the way he choose to end this one. Several mindset ideas were discussed including how mentally you become part of your environment. Those items get you thinking. As with anything by Stephen King, this is firmly in the adult category and would not recommend to anyone who would be offended by graphic scenes of violence.