Bird by Bird is a 1994 book on writing and life by novelist and writing instructor Anne Lamott. This is partly a book on writing and partly a memoir – obviously, when writers write books on writing, this is not an infrequent combination, although Lamott more or less melds them inextricably together – there is no "writing" section and "memoir" section...

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a novel by Mark Twain, originally published in 1876. In this review, I will not attempt to analyze it from any pretentious literary perspective, but rather as just another novel...

The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a 2008 book written and illustrated by J. K...

Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse is a 2008 post-apocalyptic novel by Victor Gischler, written with a humorous tone. In it, nine years after the end of the world, Mortimer Tate emerges from seclusion, whereupon he has many harrowing adventures...

The Sparrow is a philosophically- and spiritually-oriented "literary" science fiction novel by paleoanthropologist Mary Doria Russell. Here, Father Emilio Sandoz is the only survivor of a Jesuit-sponsored expedition to an alien planet to make first contact...

The Art of Fiction is John Gardner's book on how young writers can improve their fiction writing. This book is divided into two sections: the first covers literary theory, and the second deals with technique, errors, and plotting...

Chas Addams Happily Ever After is a collection of one-panel cartoons by Addams Family creator Charles Addams. Many were previously published in The New Yorker...

With a title like Supernatural Childbirth, you'd probably expect Jackie Mize's book to be about the Virgin Mary. Instead, it's about her own experience carrying and delivering babies after she was told that she was unable to have children...

Persepolis, originally published in two volumes, is an autobiographical graphic novel by Iranian expatriate Marjane Satrapi. It chronicles her childhood in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, her coming of age in Austria, her return to Iran and her second departure, to France, after her failed marriage...

Spiritual Arts: Mastering the Disciplines for a Rich Spiritual Life is a book on Christian living by Jill Briscoe. Based on Paul's letter to the Philippians, Briscoe outlines eight "spiritual arts" that Christians should practice and master: ministry, harmony, humility, intimacy, tenacity, maturity, serenity, and receptivity...

The Whisper of Glocken, by Carol Kendall, is a children's fantasy novel, and the sequel to The Gammage Cup. Five years after the events of The Gammage Cup, when a flood of biblical proportions strikes their valley, the Minnipins must send forth a group to find a solution...

A Natural History of the Senses is Diane Ackerman's celebration of smell, touch, taste, hearing and vision. It is one part science text, as Ackerman gives thorough coverage of how each sense works, and part ode, as she also provides many vivid, detailed examples...

The Gammage Cup, originally published in 1959, is a children's fantasy novel by Carol Kendall. It centers on the Minnipins, an isolated race of stuck-up traditionalists, who eject the nonconformist elements from their midst...

Kids Say the Darndest Things!, by Art Linkletter, is a collection of highlights from his talk show House Party. It was originally published in 1957...

Make Room! Make Room!..

A Bear Called Paddington, written by Michael Bond and illustrated by Peggy Fortnum, is a children's book, and the first in a series of books featuring the Paddington Bear character. This book is a collection of stories about Paddington, an anthropomorphized bear from Darkest Peru, who is well-mannered and well-intentioned, but bumbling and destructive...

Adam of the Road is a children's novel written by Elizabeth Janet Gray and illustrated by Robert Lawson. It won the Newbery Medal in 1943...

The Customer Is Always Wrong is a collection of essays on retail life. The book is edited by Jeff Martin, manager of a Tulsa Barnes and Noble, and features 21 anecdotes by writers you most likely will never have heard of about their own personal experiences working at a wide selection of retail jobs...

William Gibson's Neuromancer, which won the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Award and the Hugo Award, is considered the seminal cyberpunk novel...

The Crusades, written by Anthony West and illustrated by Carl Rose, provides a brief overview of the First through Fourth Crusades. This volume is just under 200 pages, which barely enough space for West to cover the who, what, why, where and when of things (most everything but the "what" is often glossed over)...