I love poetry and I love birds. So, when I saw this book with a bird on the cover, titled Axis Mundi, or the center of the world—the connection between Heaven and Earth, between man and woman, the cosmic axis—I thought to myself, this is a book I need to read. Axis Mundi was written by a poet, Karen Holmberg, who happens to be from Oregon, another lovely part of the Pacific Northwest. She writes of powerful things in her poetry, evoking strong emotions and visceral reactions in some. …by the mother who gives to us, and gives to us, Then wrenches away what we love In her vast wave. (Ward, 17-18) I can feel it being wrenched away, that which I love, whatever that is to me. Karen plays with language like an architect plays with lines and creates something beautiful, an emotion jumping off the paper through my eyes into my mind, burrowing for days so I might keep thinking about the meaning of her words, her poems, this book. She also writes her poetry with varying structure. Some were concrete poems which mix visual form and text to make a statement, staggering lines in some of her poems like, Negative (45-48). This adds a sense of dramatic effect, allowing the reader to fall off long-awaited cliffs or abruptly, like the emotion, or experience. It helps the readers experience the poem, rather than just read it. If you like poetry, you will like this book. I definitely recommend...

  Anyone who knows me, knows why this book would pop out at me. I love crows and I have the nickname crow-gyrl, so, what is not to love about a book with this title? I was given the opportunity to read this book by the publisher in electronic format at the end of last year. I lovedit. This book was geared towards reluctant readers but it is good for even us eager readers! This is a story about a girl, Lily, who doesn’t feel comfortable in her own skin. She feels like an outcast and turns to food whenever life troubles her. Soon, she stumbles upon some crows who change her life forever. She begins to feed the crows the excess food, and begins to feed her woes within. This is a story of a girl who finds her own way in this world by way of some lovely crows. This book is well worth reading. I will be purchasing the print version for my...

  I was recently given the opportunity to read a part of Simon Flynn’s, The Science of Magpie: A Hoard of Fascinating Facts, Stories, Poems, Diagrams and Jokes, Plucked from Science and Its History. Funny little scientific quips, interesting facts such as a yearly winner of the Molecule of the Year award given out by Science journal. They were interesting to read. Silly jokes, random scientific explanations, history, it had it a little bit of everything for scientists or laymen alike to read. Albeit, the electronic review copy I received was only 30 of the over 200 pages of scientific fun, just enough to whet my appetite for more. This was an easy, fun...

Hello! And Happy National Book Month! =) We are half way through and I am enjoying every moment of it. I haven’t been posting my reviews, but! I will. Here is one for now. I have been a fan of Mitch Albom’s work since his first novel, Tuesdays With Morrie, and so naturally I picked up The Time Keeper as soon as it came out. I read it in less than an evening. It was a heart-warming story of life and the importance of appreciating the quality of life, for time is finite and we wouldn’t want it any other way. The story line starts with Father Time himself and explains how he came to be and how it affected all humans. Time is shifty and you just need to appreciate every moment you get, love the people in your life, do the things you want to do and stop staring at the clock. I would definitely recommend this book....

I came across a website, I Wrote This For You dot me, and found the writing of this person enamoring. He had published a book of various posts he had written over the years illustrated with photographs taken by his partner,  Jon Ellis. Naturally, I bought the book, I Wrote This For You straight away. I actually read the entire book aloud to a friend the night I bought it. We finished within an hour and a half and it was definitely worth the read. We stopped and discussed many of the passages, as well. The author has lovely insight into human frailty, pain, suffering and love. His words touch some part of us that are wounded, that may never heal. He writes to and for all of us. Telling us things we all need to hear every now and again. Reminding us it is OK to be gentle and open, to love without fear or love despite fear. A few passages stood out for me. I bookmarked a lot of pages. But one really resonated because it reflects how I feel lately. It is titled, “The Bleach”: You are your hair and your eyes and your thoughts. You are what you look at and what you feel and what you do about it. The light from the sun is still a part of the sun. My thoughts of you are as real any part of you. This book is filled with lovely snippets of human emotion. Bravo to the author willing to share and lay his soul bare for the whole world to read and I hope it was as well-received by others as it was by me. You can get this book here.   This book was part of my reading challenge — the 2012 Eclectic Reader Challenge — under my favorite genre:...