Wake Up Now – Stephan Bodian February 20, 2012

This is a very practical, hands-on book on the subject of enlightenment.  I found that the further you go into the exercises, the more your understanding of the process of awakening grows.  Whether you’re new to the subject of self-realization or an expert seeker, you will find this book immensely useful and insightful.  The book deals more with the pre-awakened state, although it also deals with what life is like as an awakened person.  I found the writing clear and concise, which is so important when you’re dealing with something that can become so confusing!

When you’re fully embodying the truth of your being, you’re living not as the story you’ve taken yourself to be for a lifetime, but as the pure, empty, radiant wakefulness you’ve always essentially been.

Don’t Breathe a Word – Jennifer McMahon March 27, 2011

Pub Date: 06-01-2011
HarperCollins

Twelve year old Lisa believes in fairy tales and magic, just like the stories her mom tells her that always begins with ‘once upon a time’.  When the King of the Fairies himself starts sending her presents, and tells her that he has chosen her to be his queen, his message has all the right elements in them to make her believe.  A small village called Reliance once lay in the woods close to their home, that was until all the inhabitants mysteriously disappeared.  One night Lisa leaves her brother Sam a message saying she’s going to the fairy world and won’t be back.  The next day, they find her bed empty.  Lisa has disappeared, leaving only her pink and silver sneaker near the woods as a telltale sign of where she might have gone.

For fifteen years, Sam tries to forget that summer, and when the past starts resurfacing, it threatens not only him, but everyone he cares for as well.  The secret that shouldn’t even be breathed is about to change everything, and with turn upon turn, it becomes impossible to tell who to believe.  Were there really doors that lead to other, darker worlds?  Or was the truth darker still?  Don’t Breathe a Word is a powerhouse of a novel, and made me stay up well past my bedtime.  Recommended.

Pre-order on Amazon: Don’t Breathe a Word: A Novel

Jennifer McMahon is the author of Dismantled, the New York Times bestseller Island of Lost Girls, and the breakout debut novel Promise Not to Tell. She grew up in suburban Connecticut, and graduated from Goddard College. Over the years, she has been a house painter, farm worker, paste-up artist, pizza delivery person, homeless shelter staff member, and has worked with mentally ill adults and children in a few different capacities. Currently, she lives in Vermont with her partner, Drea, and their daughter, Zella.

Long Gone – Alafair Burke March 15, 2011

Pub Date: 07-01-2011
HarperCollins

What would you do if you landed your dream job, only to walk in one morning and find the place cleared out and your new boss dead on the floor?  Alice Humphrey is offered the dream job of managing a new art gallery in Manhattan’s trendy Meatpacking District.  At first she feels like there must be a catch, but in the end the deal is too good to pass up, and she accepts.  Of course, there are some conditions, and Alice soon realizes that her new job will be slightly unconventional.  To start with the artist she has to give preference to will only communicate with her via email and SMS.  The other was that his work was controversial to put it mildly, and Alice had to feign interest and sell as much of his work as she could.  Then there was the fact that she would only ever really deal with Drew Campbell, the man who offered her the job, and he wasn’t technically speaking her real boss.  When she arrives at work one morning to find the gallery cleared out and Drew dead on the floor, she realizes that her friends were right, and that she must have been set up.

The story starts at a leisurely pace, but picks up speed once Alice finds herself in deep water.  The slow pace in the beginning can be attributed to the fact that there are so many characters, plots and subplots to establish, and speeding things up would confuse the reader.  It does, however, take a bit of patience, but you will be well rewarded for sticking with the slower start. 

Alice Humphrey is headstrong, independent, and just a little too eager to prove that she can live without her father’s money.   She soon realizes that her new job has more to do with her family than she realized, and in particular with one pivotal event in history that changed everything for them all.  There are skeletons aplenty in the Humphrey closet, and all is not as it seems.  There are so many twists and turns that, try as you might, you will still be left guessing right until the satisfying conclusion.

Pre-order is available on Amazon

Alafair Burke is the bestselling author of six novels, including 212, Angel’s Tip, and Dead Connection in the Ellie Hatcher series. A former prosecutor, she now teaches criminal law and lives in Manhattan. Long Gone is her first stand-alone thriller.

Hyddenworld – Spring by William Horwood March 6, 2011

The adventure of a lifetime is just beginning…

It has lain lost and forgotten for fifteen hundred years in the ancient heartland of England – a scrap of glass and metal melded by fierce fire. It is the lost core of a flawless Sphere made by the greatest of the Anglo-Saxon CraeftLords in memory of the one he loved. Her name was Spring and contained in the very heart of this work is a spark from the Fires of Creation.

But while humans have lost their belief in such things, the Hydden – little people existing on the borders of our world – have not. Breaking the silence of centuries they send one of their own, a young boy, Jack, to live among humans in the hope that he may one day find what has been lost for so long. His journey leads him to Katherine, a girl he rescues from a tragic accident – it’s a meeting that will change everything. It is only through their voyage into the dangerous Hyddenworld that they will realize their destiny, find love and complete the great quest that will save both their worlds from destruction.

Their journey begins with Spring…

I found the that the characters sometimes seemed a little one-dimensional, especially the main character.  I love stories involving folklore and hidden worlds, which is why it was surprising to me that I struggled through  certain parts this book.  I am glad I persevered, but I’m not sure if I’d read the next installment.  I would have to wait and see what William Horwood comes up with next, and if it’s more engaging than this, the first in a new series.

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert February 21, 2011

Let’s face it, reading is all about escaping from  everyday life into an exciting new world.  Elizabeth Gilbert manages to do just that, take you from your cozy couch and transport you into a world dripping with olive oil, drenched in beautiful Italian scenery, and then plunge you into dusty and exotic India, only to pull you out again and toss you straight into Indonesia.  Yet the story is woven so expertly that you can’t wait for the next adventure, the next change of scenery. 

In Italy, Gilbert lusts after a young Italian and eats her own body weight in pizza, bocconcini and pasta, all so deliciously described that it makes you want to step right into the book and join her at the corner cafe.  She makes new friends, has a few personal discoveries largely centred around her painful divorce and strained relationship with her husband, and learns to speak Italian. 

A quote from the book:

So tonight I reach for my journal again. This is the first time I’ve done this since I came to Italy. What I write in my journal is that I am weak and full of fear. I explain that Depression and Loneliness have shown up, and I’m scared they will never leave. I say that I don’t want to take the drugs anymore, but I’m frightened I will have to. I am terrified that I will never really pull my life together.
In response, somewhere from within me, rises a now-familiar presence, offering me all the certainties I have always wished another person would say to me when I was troubled. This is what I find myself writing on the page:

I’m here. I love you. I don’t care if you need to stay up crying all night long. I will stay with you. If you need the medication again, go ahead and take it—I will love you through that, as well. If you don’t need the medication, I will love you, too. There’s nothing you can ever do to lose my love. I will protect you until you die, and after your death I will still protect you. I am stronger than Depression and Braver than Loneliness and nothing will ever exhaust me.

In India, Liz lives in the ashram and learns to meditate.  As a meditator myself I know how hard it is to quiet your mind, so I can relate to this completely.  Liz finds it tough at first, but after a while she gets into the swing of things and she has many spiritual experiences that changes her life.  I especially loved this part of the book, since I can relate to the insights that she has at this time.  Life continues in the ashram, and she makes a lot of new friends, including a Texan who calls her ‘groceries’ because she eats so much!

Finally, she is off to Indonesia, where she learns healing tricks from a medicine man, gets to know a healer and her cute little girl, and has to learn how to fall in love all over again.

Eat, Pray, Love is a beautifully visual book, and even thought is simply about one woman’s journey, every reader will find something to relate to. 

In the end, Elizabeth says it best:

“Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it.”