Chicken Soup for the Soul - Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen

Westland books

I guess any person who has anything to do with books has to have heard of the Chicken Soup series...

I have read a few of the books...and each has touched me in many ways...hats off to the people who brought about this phenomenon...

I have to mention a few very special articles in this particular book...

The smile
A simple gesture
Puppies for sale
I think I can...

They just never fail to touch me and lift my spirits...

The Swiss Family Robinson - Johann Wyss

Illustrated Classics

This book does remind you a lot of Robinson Crusoe. Unlike Crusoe, a whole family of Robinsons are shipwrecked. Dad, mom Elizabeth, fifteen year old Fritz, Thirteen year old Jack, eleven year old Ernest and the youngest boy Francis, who is six.

They get stranded on an island and the father and sons immediately starts killing all the animals in sight, mother plants a vegetable garden , they build a tree house(all necessary tools and implements were left for them on the ship, which they later salvage).

In winter they bore into a cave and discover a salt mine. they thrive on an abundance of ostriches, flamingoes, giant turtles, fish, oysters,coconuts, cocoa,and hav a cow for milk, dogs to help them hunt, a donkey to carry load etc etc..they also discover cotton for making clothes...all of them automatically seem to know what to do with all the resources at hand...

Then they discover a bed of oysters with precious pearls, then the oldest, Fritz discovers a shipwrecked maiden Jenny ..few days later, another ship sails near their land. Fritz and Jack decide to return to europe with all their riches and Jenny also sails with then to go to her father...the rest of the Robinsons bid them goodbye and stay behind.

It has clearly been inspired by Crusoe, but in my opinion, it fails to meet the mark.

The Harry Potter Series - J K Rowlings

I would never attempt to summarise these books.....!!!!!!!

Anyway, I thought I should join the millions of fans who have commented and raved about the Harry Potter books.

Other than the err...magical plot , the amazing continuity in all the seven books, the great characters who will remain forever in the memory of the readers, and everything else, the best thing about the whole series,(in my humble opinion), is the way Rowlings has portrayed Harry and the others.

Harry is not the brave, handsome adventurous hero..... Snape is not just the meanest professor....and Dumbledore is not omnipotent despite being the greatest wizard of all......... Not to mention all that goes on in Voldermot's mind!.........In fact, they are all so.......soooo human!!!

Just to drive my point home, Harry is resigned to his fate...orphaned, bullied, barely tolerated by his relatives...until he is introduced to the wondorous world of magic, where he belongs, is accepted, and is....famous!!!! His noble spirit is revealed when he befriends Ron, chooses Gryffindor over Slytherin and has an instinctive aversion to Malfoy!

As the series progress, it is amazing how Harry's acts and thoughts reflect his age....Quidditch, girls, aurors....being cast as a hero does not keep him from turning envious of Ron, when he is made a prefect, nor is he very bright when his emotions are involved....good thing Hermione is around to provide some feminine perspective!....

I have watched all the movies, played the PC games and read all the books many times over....... If there are people out there who have not read these books, I have only one thing thing to say.....Your loss!!!!!!!!!!!

Saving Grace - Julie Garwood

Pocket Books



Scottish warrior Gabriel MacBain is persuaded by Baron Nicholas Sanders into marrying his widowed sister, Lady Johanna. MacBain slowly falls in love with his breath-takingly beautiful wife, though he had agreed to marry her sight unseen, just to gain back the lands of his ancestors that Johanna's first husband had seized.



In her turn, though she had reservations due to the abuse she had suffered in her first marriage, Johanna soon learns to trust and love her tough and handsome warrior. She earns the respect of all members of the clan, gains the love of Gabriel's natural son Alex, the loyalty of his fiersome dog Dumfries, rescues Claire MacKay from her bethrothed and his clan, and discovers that she was not barren .

Days pass on more or less eventfully, when Baron Nicholas comes back with the awful news that Johanna's first husband Baron Raulf had not died and was demanding the return of his wife. To avoid destruction of her beloved clan, since Raulf has the army of England at his disposal, Johanna slips off and goes with him to the Gillevrey keep that he had taken over , after having arranged the marriage between Claire MacKay and Nicholas. Gabriel and his allies follow and kill Raulf, but not before Johanna declaires her love for her scottish warrior and her disdain for Raulf and his companions.

The story has a lot of interesting characters and incidents....a summary cannot do it justice.

That Boy From Trash Town - Billie Green

Silhouette - Special Edition

Whitney Grant of the elite Boston Harcourts and Dean Russell, a boy from trash town form an unlikely bond in order to escape their growning pains. Even years later, after Whitney had graduated with a degree in Art History, and Dean had become a lawyer, they maintained their unlikely friendship. Or rather, their friendship had grown into love, with Whitney accepting the fact, and Dean nearly unaware of it and fighting his feelings tooth and nail...

Things come to a head when Whitney accidentally discovers that her father, Lloyd Grant,whom she had thought dead, and had mourned for years, was actually alive! Whitney, who rushes off to tell Dean her news, catches him at a vulnerable moment. Reluctant to acknowledge his feelings for her, Dean panics and tells off Whitney......that proverbial straw that broke the Camel's back.....!

Whitney decides to go in search of her father. She finds her father and establishes a friendship with him as Mary White. Dean follows her, offering the excuse that after all the years together, he felt responsible for her fate. Inadvertently, Dean lets the cat out of the bag, and Lloyd finds out that Mary is actually his daughter Whitney.

All is well in Whitney's world except for the fact that Dean still does not think that the boy from trash town has any future with his Whitney. Lloyd also seconds his opinion by citing his own marriage as an example.Whitney tells both the special men in her life that she had what it took to be loyal and steadfast in any adverse conditions. Happily, Dean was finally ready to face his own fears and was convinced..

Anyway, he had already found out from his few days without Whitney that his life was not the same without her....and if the boy from trash town could become an afflent lawyer, it did indicate that he was no fool!! .............And so, they lived happily ever after.......

The Devil's Cub - Georgette Heyer

Pan Books

An all-time favourite with me...have read this book sooo many times, that I have lost count.

The Marquis of Vidal, Dominique is in trouble ... being hot-headed and used to getting his own way, he shoots someone and is being banished to Paris by his father, The Duke of Avon. To help relieve his boredom during the journey, he decides to take along Sophia Challoner, who in her turn was scheming to trick the Marquis into marrying her. As the author would have it, his urgent note with the plans of elopement falls into the hands of Sophiya's straight-laced sister Mary Challoner.

The Marquis discovers the switch only after setting sail, and as is his habit, tries to have his way with Mary. But the resourceful lady manages to thwart him by shooting him in the shoulder. By the time they land in Paris, both the Marquis and Mary are in love,undeclaired to each other. Having eloped with the Marquis who had earned his nickname as the Devil's cub, they decide to protect her reputation by trying to hide her away from the english population in Paris.

Happily, after a lot of confusion created by Juliana, the Marquis' cousin and her beau Mr. Comyn and their quarrels, misunderstandings, duels, intervention on behalf of His Grace of Avon, Lady Fanny the Marquis' mother , his uncle Rupert.....they discover that Mary is the grand-daughter of the Duke's oldest friends, and arrange their wedding .


The gist of a book can be explained in a few lines...but nothing compares to the experience of reading the book. I have always felt that the success of a book lies in the narration...the way Mary finds ways to handle the impossible Devil's cub, the way the Marquis declares his love for Mary to his cousin.....the love evident between the Duke and Duchess of Avon who appear in These Old Shades.....and uncle Rupert who is in a class of his own......

Love this book..I do!

About my blog....

Not many people in my family have appreciated the connection I have with books....I have a collection of over 350 books. Due to monetary constraints as well as sheer pleasure in collecting, the majority of my books are paperback romances. Mills & Boon, Silhouette, Loveswept, Harlequin.....Also books of my favourite authors like Nora Roberts, Julie Garwood, Jude Devereaux...the list is endless....And I really love it when I come across stories of characters I had read in some other book...

The comments and opinions are strictly my own and others are welcome to agree or disagree.