Adsense Secret 4 by Joel Comm

AdSense Secrets is an e-book has been designed by Joel Comm. Like many others he was also looking for making some online money when he stumbled upon the secrets waiting to be discovered. With few simple changes he was able to convert his AdSense page and to increase his earnings from it.
He developed his product by doing an extensive research on the Google AdSense program. He had experimented with various styles, color, layout, block size and others things as well. This helped him to dig up unique tips and techniques to increase his income from Internet business.
Joel Comm has compiled whatever knowledge that he gathered in the e-book which has become one of the best selling books on AdSense. His e-book stresses the importance of content rich websites that contains information that the people are looking for. As a result these websites will receive traffic from Google and which in turn will attract more visitors.
All the chapters of this book are filled with advices that can be put to practice. It also includes screen shots of actual web pages and also tips on how to carry on successful Adsense business. It throws light on how to optimize the websites for high paying clicks without adopting any illegal methods and techniques.
You can also learn the techniques of attracting relevant ad on demand with the help of Google Search. With the use of the methods of this e-book you will be able to attract legitimate traffic better and also to discover information about Google’s new AdLinks and other new Ad Formats.
Users of this e-book of Joel Comm have expressed their satisfaction when it comes to this product. They have been able to optimize their websites which has greatly increased their income. The users are now able to format their advertisements better so that the visitors are compelled to click on them.

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man reveals a game that, according to John Perkins, is "as old as Empire" but has taken on new and terrifying dimensions in an era of globalization. And Perkins should know. For many years he worked for an international consulting firm where his main job was to convince LDCs (less developed countries) around the world to accept multibillion-dollar loans for infrastructure projects and to see to it that most of this money ended up at Halliburton, Bechtel, Brown and Root, and other United States engineering and construction companies. This book, which many people warned Perkins not to write, is a blistering attack on a little-known phenomenon that has had dire consequences on both the victimized countries and the U.S.
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In his controversial book, John Perkins tells the gripping tale of the years he spent working for an international consulting firm where his job was to convince underdeveloped countries to accept enormous loans, much bigger than they really needed, for infrastructure development — and to make sure that the development projects were contracted to U. S. multinationals. Once these countries were saddled with huge debts, the American government and the international aid agencies allied with it were able, by dictating repayment terms, to essentially control their economies. It was not unlike the way a loan shark operates — and Perkins and his colleagues didn't shun this kind of unsavory association. They referred to themselves as "economic hit men." This is a story of international political intrigue at the highest levels. For over a decade Perkins traveled all over the world — Indonesia, Panama, Ecuador, Columbia, Saudi Arabia, Iran — and worked with men like Panamanian president Omar Torrijos, who became a personal friend. He helped implement a secret scheme that funneled billions of Saudi petrodollars back into the U. S. economy, and that further cemented the intimate relationship between the Islamic fundamentalist House of Saud and a succession of American administrations. Perkins' story illuminates just how far economic hit men were willing to go, and unveils the real causes of some of the most dramatic developments in recent history, such as the fall of the Shah of Iran and the invasions of Panama and Iraq.
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, which many people urged Perkins not to write, is a blistering attack on a little-known phenomenon that has had dire consequences for both the lesser-developed countries and for American democracy.

One Child by Torey Hayden

Review by BeatleBangs1964
This is truly one of the most inspiring books I have ever read. Torey Hayden has truly raised the bar in working with children and has, in pioneer fashion, blazed new trails and set new standards.
Sheila, a 6-year-old girl living in grinding poverty and raised by her single father faced some daunting odds when she entered Torey Hayden's special needs class. Abandoned by her mother, beaten by her father and facing a court ordered sentence to a hospital after a particularly violent episode, Sheila was extremely aggressive and wary. Since she had no bathing facilities in the home she shared with her father, Sheila was often dirty and underfed. It is a true testament to her courage and Torey Hayden's belief and persistence that Sheila began confiding in her within 3 days of her classroom placement. I like the way Torey Hayden started a grooming routine for Sheila, which positively impacted her behavior and interactions with others.
Sheila entered that classroom under very inauspicious conditions. The court ordered that she at least be educated until the state hospital opening was available. In that class, Sheila flourished and even made overtures to her classmates, some of whom functioned well below age level.
Luckily for all, Torey Hayden was able to recind the court order; Sheila stayed in that class for the remainder of the year and made quantum leaps and bounds. During an early testing session it was determined that Sheila had an IQ of 182. This highly gifted little girl was able to express herself eloquently. Quick to assess people and situations, Sheila had developed a survival mode early. In that class she used her natural endowments to her advantage.
The gifts this child had to offer and the gifts she received in that class are a song to the soul. There is a poignancy about her courage. She is, to a large extent, accepting of her life conditions and makes the best with available resources.
This is a book that will evoke just about every possible emotion, from sadness to anger to cheering gladly. The close of the term is indeed bittersweet; the parting of teacher and pupil is very moving indeed. One sees the progress Sheila has made and marvels at what this child unknowingly had to give.

Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings

The Pawn of Prophecy is the entry to a fantastic world full of amazing characters with depth and personality that will make you love or loathe them. The story begins with this: The Pawn of Prophecy and at the time, and throughout the entire book, you dont really know a lot of what anything has to do with Garion. If you only read this book you will not be able to wholly understand or appreciate the story as a whole. Pawn of Prophecy has a nice flowing beginning, nothing pops up that has not been carefully constructed and well thought out, a lot of what is hinted at will seem meaningless, but in the end will mean a lot more. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but as I said, you will appreciate it more as you read through the series.
Review by Steven Wu
Pawn of Prophecy begins with some of the worst fantasy cliches I have ever read. Just to list a few of them: In the prologue, we read about an Evil Dark Lord who steals an Artifact of Great Power, only to have a Group of Great Heroes come and wrest the Artifact of Great Power from him. In the first chapter, we encounter a peaceful rustic setting, black riders, a woman who is Not What She Seems, an old man (dressed in gray) who enjoys amusing children in the village but who has a Greater Purpose, and a young man with a Mysterious Past. Let me put it this way: by the end of the first chapter, I already knew who was who, what they were looking for, why they were looking for it, and what Garion would eventually do.
The book also does not hesitate to use whatever mechanisms are at Eddings's hands to advance the plot. Garion, for instance, gets all sorts of weird hunches that turn out to be very important--for instance, at one point he suddenly decides to start lying, even though he has never lied before. And a "dry voice" within Garion makes him do all sorts of things that any ordinary person wouldn't think of doing. Of course, it is possible that this "dry voice" is part of Garion's Mysterious Past (I'll have to read the rest of the series to find out), but it still feels jarring to encounter it guiding the plot.
But, strangely enough, despite all these problems, I grew to enjoy this book a great deal. Halfway through I reminded myself that almost every major fantasy series post-Tolkien begins with the same cliches. But there's a reason why they're overused: they work. And sure enough, they do their magic here too. More importantly, Eddings does a pretty good job portraying the different characters. Although they're hardly subtle, he makes them seem so friendly, good-hearted, and earnest that I couldn't help but start liking them. And, most importantly, this series is funny. Aunt Pol pretending to be the Duchess of Erat, the banquet scene with King Fulchra, and even the scene where everything that I had already predicted was revealed--these scenes all left me in stitches.
I think it's best not to approach this series as the greatest fantasy series ever. Instead, think of it as a juvenile fantasy series, with much the same appeal as Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles (which I should reread some day). With that mindset, Pawn of Prophecy becomes a fun, easy read. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

The Power of One by Bryce Courtney

1st Review by Jana
I found this book to be an inspiration. It outlined the cruelty that the black people had to endure. I love how the unthinkable happened when a white man was destined to lead the the blacks and bring all races together. I now relise one person can make a difference in the world and if we all tried to help our fellow man then what a beautiful world it would be. I have reccommended this book to plenty of my friends and family and they all agree with me, your book is a master piece and it speaks to your soul. Once you read the power of one your way of thinking is changed forever.
2nd Review by Judith Miller
Bryce Courtenay makes THE POWER OF ONE seems so authentic that the reader is carried right into the story.
The book begins when a five-year-old boy is being sent off to boarding school. He's small for his age, white and of English descent. His name is Peekay and he lives in South Africa. Up to this point in his life he's known only his family and his beloved black Nanny. Now, he's forced to take care of himself and survive under the most brutal of circumstances. The time is World War II and Peekay spends years in a boarding school where he's the only English student among Afrikaners who are sympathetic to the Nazi cause. He's beaten, tortured and treated as a "prisoner of war" by the older boys. The Afrikaners are the descendents of the Dutch and there has been a great deal of conflict between them and the English settlers who came to South Africa at a later period of time.
When I first started reading this novel, I wasn't sure if I could handle the passages about the brutal treatment of the little boy. However, I quickly learned that Peekay is a spirited survivor and would make it through that horrible period of his life. On his vacations from school, he meets several people, both black and white who really influence him and teach him to work hard in order to fulfill his dreams. I found an uplifting joy in every success that Peekay experienced.
This is a big book, but I looked forward to my reading sessions every day and I'm sure that part of this story will remain in my mind forever. The character of Peekay is very inspiring.

Circle of Friends by Mauve Binchy

Review by Ratmammy
Maeve Binchy's Circle of Friends focuses on the friendships of Benny and Eve, starting from their childhood years in Knockglen, to their days at college in Dublin. Benny is a large over weight young woman, somewhat shy, and Eve is a petite girl who grew up as an orphan with a convent of nuns. Together, they share life's joys and sorrows and experience what growing up is all about.
While a few chapters focus on their early childhood, the bulk of the book takes place in College. Eve and Benny decide to go to school in Dublin, and while Eve gets to move out from the convent and into her own place, Benny ends up living at home with her over-protective parents.
Despite the fact that she doesn't have as much freedom as her college-mates, Benny does make many new friends at the college. Benny and Eve meet Nan, a beautiful young woman who befriends them on their first day of school. The three of them become best of friends, and are always seen hanging out together. On the same day, they also meet Jack Foley, a very good-looking son of a local doctor, and soon Benny falls in love with him. These two and many other new friends become part of Benny and Eve's new life at college. A lot of parties and lunches and good times are had by all.
As always, there is a huge cast of characters in this Maeve Binchy novel, along with complicated plot twists which all get resolved at the end. The book takes us back and forth between the two towns, throwing in various subplots including the story behind Eve's family history, which could be a novel in itself. The book's main emphasis, however, is friendship and betrayal, and the loyalties that one makes throughout their lives. Circle of Friends comes highly recommended from this reader.

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

Enjoyed all three books. Agree with many here, that Eclipse is the weakest, but still an enjoyable read. I really liked that Bella seems more to consider the unpleasant aspects of becoming a vampire. The thought really occurred to me too...what if the physical elements that seem to bind Edward and Bella together (much sensual appeal like scent and touch), change after she becomes a vampire? Has anyone ever willingly become a vampire before? Will Bella's eagerness to be transformed affect what actually happens to her? No one else ever seems to have wanted to become a vampire before.I was much amused by Bella's attempt to try to seduce Edward. Seemed realistic to me. She is a contemporary girl yet he still has the moves of someone born 100 years ago. In Eclipse, Bella is physically obsessed with Edward. But there is another physical obsession looming on the horizon that Bella, in her youth, is totally oblivious to: the desire to bear children. Rosalie hints at the pain of being denied children when she shares her history with Bella. Also, we learn that Esme "makes do" with her "sons" and "daughters" but still, Esme did end her human life by committing suicide over a lost baby. Since Stephenie Meyer is a mom herself, she must know those overwhelming urges, once you've found your life partner, to create a family. Will Bella realize all of what she's giving up before it's too late?

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

How would you feel if you loved someone with all your heart and one day they just left you? Wouldn't you be depressed? Well, in New Moon Bella Swan has to deal with this problem.

Isabella Swan (Bella) has been dreading her eighteenth birthday ever since she learned that her vampire boyfriend, Edward Cullen, never ages. The Cullen family is made up of vampires who swore off human blood and substitute it with animal blood. To lighten Bella's mood, the Cullens decide to throw her a birthday party but something goes terribly wrong. While Bella was opening a present, she accidentally slits her finger on the wrapper and got a paper cut. The newest member of the family, Jasper, looses his self-control and tries to attack Bella.

With this unexpected incident, all the Cullens expect her to run away, but she doesn't. She still loves all of them and wants to be part of their family. Edward, on the other hand, took this event seriously. He realized the danger that he was putting Bella through and decided that the best alternative was for him to leave her. He forced himself to tell Bella that he didn't love her anymore and leave her without any pictures or possessions that she could remember him by. He wanted to get himself completely out of her life so that she could live the best possible life for herself without being in danger.

Months after Edward leaves Bella can't do anything but think about him and moan around all day. She looses all her friends after ignoring them and even looses herself. Her father, Charlie, encourages her to go out and do something active to get her spirit up. As a result, she goes to visit her friend Jacob Black. Hanging around Jacob is the only thing that helps Bella keep her mind off of Edward. Not too long after Bella and Jacob become best friends, Jacob turns into a werewolf because it was in his genes. Bella of course, still loves Jacob for who he is and doesn't worry that he's a werewolf.

A visit from Alice Cullen surprises Bella but the news Alice brings her isn't too good. Apparently, Alice saw a vision of Bella jumping off a cliff and didn't know if she was alive and that was why she came to check on Bella. Glad that she was Alice stays a day and finds out about Jacob. A little disappointed at Bella she tells her about how having a werewolf would be a problem. Apparently for many years, the vampires and werewolves have always been enemies. It is in their nature to hate each other. Thus for the time Alice is spending in Forks, Jacob doesn't come around to see Bella anymore. Before Alice has time to tell Edward that Bella is okay, Edward assumes that Bella doesn't make if off the cliff and goes to kill him. Desperate to catch Edward in time, Bella and Alice flee to Rome. Will they be able to make it in time?

After reading Twilight this book was incredibly depressing because most of the book just talks about how depressed Bella was when Edward left her. I still really like how Stephanie Meyer has such a superior word choice that you feel like you know exactly how the character in the book is feeling. Overall I would rate the book 4 stars because besides the depressing mood, this book is very well written. Even though there is no action Stephanie Meyer still manages to end every chapter with a cliffhanger, making you want to read on. This book is a fantasy book because it talks about vampires and werewolves. The theme of this book is friendship because Bella needed a friend who would stick by her at all times and Jacob was that someone. If you want to read this book I truly recommend that you read Twilight first because if you don't, most of the book won't make sense. I recommend this book to young adults and to teens that want to read about love, friendship, and depression. The only thing that you should be careful about before you read this book is that it is a very depressing in the beginning then in the middle it picks up the pace. I love Stephanie Meyers writing style, words, and I applaud her creativity in coming up with such a story line.
Thank you for reading my book review, I hope that it was helpful!

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Stephenie Meyer has published three books of the Twilight series with stories relating to vampires and werewolfs living among the ordinary people in the books. The Twilight series is capable of taking your breath away, leaving you addicted and eagerly waiting for more. While the first book, Twilight, is in the process of being adapted into a Movie, readers are also anxiously awaiting for the fourth book to be published out this August.
The Title of the first three books of the Twilight series are Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse. These books are categorized under the genre of fantasy, romance and horror.
Despite the age group which many suggest is for junior high/high school girls, Twilight was actually an interesting read. Now, there is a fair amount of romance thrown around and declarations of love or thoughts of it get thrown around quite a bit but it's not really nauseous or sickeningly-sweet so that was quite the plus. Meyer's writing is also a good plus as its quite serviceable and neither flashy and scholarly in tone, nor is it simplistic and almost elementary level.
Isabella Swan (though she prefers just Bella) is leaving Phoenix and is off to the town of Forks, Washington to live with her dad, Charlie. Like most new kids, there's a level of immediate interest in her which she's quite annoyed at, especially by all the guys vying for dates. But she has her eye on mysterious Edward Cullen who she barely gets along with her but they both feel strong attraction to each other though in Edward's case there's a reason he wants to stay away: he's a vampire and Bella's "scent" makes it difficult to keep him from killing her. But romance grows though Edward and his family aren't the only vampires around and not all can show restraint.My one complaint is in its pacing as most first novels tend to be a bit more slower-paced to establish characters and setting but the book is never boring or time-killing on Meyer's part but there's never really a sharp case of tension and when the "villains" are introduced, they're so near the end of the story that they don't really establish a real sense of dread or menace, they just sort of arrive (after probably the quirkiest use of vampires since the "Once More With Feeling" episode from Buffy).

Make Easy Money with Google: Using the AdSense Advertising Program

by Eric Giguere (Author)
Get your Web site to "show you the money" by using Google to draw more eyes--and wallets--to your content. In this friendly, four-color guide from veteran author and Web developer Eric Giguere, you'll learn all about Google's AdSense program and how you can use it to make your Web site or blog more profitable. Written in an easy-to-read, non-technical style, this book follows three average people--Claude, Stef, and Anita--as they learn to create money-making blogs and Web sites. Through their experiences, you'll learn: basic Web terminology; the Google Adsense nuts and bolts; how to host, build, and publish targeted ads and Google search boxes to your Web site; filter out inappropriate ads; track page performance; drive traffic to your site; and more. A four-part companion Web site features a blog, includes reader resources, and details the techniques discussed in the book.
Online marketers agree that AdSense is one of the best tools you can use to draw dollars to your site. Let Giguere show you how to make the most of Google and have fun doing it!

A Thousand Splendid Suns

By Jennifer Reese

Laura Bush loved it. Isabel Allende loved it. Howard Stern loved it; so did The New York Times. Afghan-born Khaled Hosseini's 2003 novel The Kite Runner arrived at the perfect post-9/11 moment, hooking readers curious about the suddenly notorious Islamic nation of Afghanistan, then reeling them in with a deeply affecting and sentimental melodrama of undying friendship, treachery, Taliban cruelty, and redemption. The novel affirmed the humanity of ordinary Afghans while decrying the barbarity of their erstwhile leaders, and became a top pick for book clubs across America. It has spent more than two years on the best-seller list and sold more than 4 million copies.

While Afghanistan has virtually disappeared from the headlines, Hosseini's follow-up, A Thousand Splendid Suns, offers all the crowd-pleasing appeal of his debut, with some star-crossed lovers thrown in for good measure. The main action begins in the early 1970s, when 15-year-old Mariam, after her mother's suicide, is forced to marry Rasheed, a much older Kabul shoemaker. One of the most repulsive males in recent literature, Rasheed has ''watery bloodshot eyes'' and fingernails ''yellow brown, like the inside of a rotting apple.''

He's not just ugly on the outside: He keeps his nubile bride under a burka, essentially tethered to the grounds of their shabby house where, over the years, she gradually loses beauty, teeth, and her fighting spirit.But through the turbulent 1980s and '90s, another would-be heroine is growing up down the street. Pretty Laila has a liberal, bookish father and a best friend named Tariq, who eventually becomes the focus of her sexualawakening,described in regrettably purple prose: ''When he was near, she couldn't help but be consumed with the most scandalous thoughts, of his lean, bare body entangled with hers...'' Tariq feels the same, but there is one force stronger than young love: history. Mujahideen rockets rain on Kabul; Tariq and his elderly parents flee to Pakistan; and through a hideous twist of fate, Laila ends up, at 14, as Rasheed's second wife. There's no joy in this grotesque union, but Laila's slow-growing friendship with Mariam sustains and transforms the women over the gruesome years that follow.Hosseini's depiction of Mariam and Laila's plight would seem cartoonishly crude if it were not, by all accounts, a sadly accurate version of what many Afghan women have experienced. The romantic twists and fairy-tale turns are not so accurate. But, as in The Kite Runner, they are precisely what make the novel such a stirring read. Childhood promises are sacred; true love never dies; justice will be done; sisterhood is powerful. It's unrealistic, and almost impossible to resist. B+

NYTimes Best Sellers List. (200408)

Fiction

01. "Unaccustomed Earth" by Jhumpa Lahiri
02. "Small Favor" by Jim Butcher
03. "Compulsion" by Jonathan Kellerman
04. "The Appeal" by John Grisham
05. "Belong to Me" by Maria de los Santos
06. "Change of Heart" by Jodi Picoult
07. "Remember Me?" by Sophie Kinsella
08. "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini
09. "7th Heaven" by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
10. "Winter Study" by Nevada Barr

Nonfiction

01. "Mistaken Identity" by Don and Susie Van Ryn and Newell, Colleen and

Whitney Cerak, with Mark Tabb
02. "Home" by Julie Andrews
03. "Beautiful Boy" by David Sheff
04. "Armageddon in Retrospect" by Kurt Vonnegut
05. "Vindicated" by Jose Conseco
06. "Brett Favre: The Tribute" From Sports Illustrated Magazine
07. "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan
08. "The Bin Ladens" by Steve Coll
09. "Stori Telling" by Tori Spelling with Hilary Liftin
10. "Losing It" by Valerie Bertinelli

Walk Two Moons

Thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle leads a perfectly normal life in Bybanks, Ky. -- a small town nestled on the edge of the Ohio River. "Sal" enjoys living in this ideal rural community, with plenty of space and a good view of the river. It is the type of town where you can walk down the street and recognize everyone who passes by.
Sal lives on a farm with her grandparents, mother and father. But when Sal's mother, Chanhassen , unexpectedly announces that she's
leaving her family and going to Lewiston, Idaho, to "find herself," Sal's normal world suddenly begins to unravel.
Sal and her father are crushed by Chanhassen's absence. Margaret Cadaver, an acquaintance of Sal's mother, convinces Mr. Hiddle to find a change of scenery. Reluctantly, Sal's father packs up and drags his unwilling and upset daughter to their new home in a box-like suburb near Cleveland, Ohio:
"...My father plucked me up like a weed and took me and all our belongings (no, that is not true - he did not bring the chestnut tree, the
willow, the maple, the hayloft, or the swimming hole, which all belonged to me) and we drove three hundred miles straight north and stopped in front of a house in Euclid?"

In Euclid, Sal meets unforgettable characters like Phoebe Winterbottom, a "respectable" 13-year-old worrywart, and Mrs. Partridge, Margaret Cadaver's blind mother. As time passes, Sal gets used to living in Euclid, although she still misses her grandparents and Bybanks.
Sal and Phoebe become fast friends, and Sal begins spending most of her time at Phoebe's house, which ironically is located next door to Margaret Cadaver's. One day, when Phoebe finds a mysterious note on her doorstep, its meaning initially confuses her: Don't judge a man until you've walked two moons in his moccasins. Phoebe wonders what this cryptic message has to do with her life, until Sal helps her discover the surprising, intertwined relationship between the message and herself.
Over a year later, Sal's mom still hasn't returned. Because her dad still does things like weep over family albums, Sal senses that he is not ready to go searching for answers. She convinces her grandparents to travel to Idaho to find Chanhassen. Sal believes that if she gets to Lewiston by her mother's birthday, she will be able to bring her back and everything will return to the way that it used to be.
During the long car trip to Lewiston, many stories begin to unfold. Sal tells her grandparents about Phoebe and the mysterious messages -- and the potential lunatic whom she believes is sending them. Also on their journey, readers learn more about the characters' lives. These stories are a key element to the reader's understanding of the story.
Walk Two Moons is a thought-provoking tale that uses humor and a well-written plot to enlighten its readers. Its insightful themes are expressed in a very creative way, as the messages that Phoebe discovers on her doorstep: In the course of a lifetime, what does it matter? And, You can't keep the birds of sadness from flying over your head, but you can keep them from nesting in your hair.
I enjoyed Walk Two Moons so much that I also read Sharon Creech's other novels, including Chasing Redbird, Absolutely Normal
Chaos, Bloomability and The Wanderer. Although these books are not a series, the characters and settings are linked. For example, Absolutely Normal Chaos tells the story of Mary Lou Finney, one of Sal's friends from Euclid, and Chasing Redbird is about Zinny Taylor, Sal's best friend from Bybanks.

Walk Two Moons is a must-read for kids ages 11 and up. Adults would also enjoy this book. It won a well-deserved Newbery Medal in 1995.

Chocolat

Joanne Harris was born in her grandparents' candy shop in France and is the great-granddaughter of a woman known locally as a witch and a healer. As most first novels often carry a fair-sized load of autobiographical elements, it comes as no surprise that Chocolat is set in a chocolatiers' shop owned by a mysteriously bewitching woman in the south of France. Harris blends these familiar (to her) ingredients to create a novel as delightful and indulgent as the taste it celebrates.
Free-spirited drifter Vianne Rocher blows into the tiny French hamlet of Lansquenet on a warm February wind, right behind the Shrove Tuesday carnival. Sensing something special about this conservative little town just off the tourist maps, Vianne decides to stay for a while. She and her precocious young daughter Anouk alight in the village square, setting up a chocolate shop right across from the town's Catholic church. As in any small town, the locals are chary of strangers, but Vianne's almost preternatural sensitivities to their needs and desires draws the townspeople to her and her shop. One notable exception: the village priest, a suspicious man whose secret guilt and shame ties him fast to a community whose petty sins and predictable ways he despises.
A band of gypsies making camp in their houseboats on the river outside town becomes a flashpoint between Father Reynaud and his "Bible groupies" and the newcomer and her friends. While Vianne tries to help an abused woman get out of her marriage, to reconcile a dying woman with her estranged grandson and to console an old man who is losing his best friend, Reynaud connives to put a stop to the chocolate festival Vianne has planned for Easter Sunday. He is convinced that such a debauch must be planned by a minion of the devil. Certain that Vianne can only be a witch, Reynaud pits himself against the supposed author of the paroxysm of sinful indulgence ruining his flock. This contest of wills for the spirit of a community rolls toward a final confrontation that is funny, sad, and deliciously ironic.
Not quite as profound as it wants to be, Chocolat delivers a sweetly satisfying story all the same. The Catholic Church takes some hard knocks without any answering redemption. "Good," in the guise of treating yourself, inevitably triumphs over "evil" Lenten (and other) asceticism. But there's no way the pursed-lipped priest is going to win the battle of appealing against the delightful Vianne. Period. This ode to the kitchen and the heart was made into a movie (that garnered several Oscar nominations) starring beautiful people Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche, and tasted just as delicious to theater-goers. May Joanne Harris continue to make good on the promise she shows here.

The Kite Runner

THE KITE RUNNER is an outstanding first novel, devoid of the cliches the blurb might have presaged. The characters have life and complexity, the story is involving and relevant to the present sociopolitical climate, being centred in Afghanistan over the last forty years, and the Afghan community in America. The author, KHALED HOSSEINI, an Afghani who has lived in America since his family received political asylum in 1980, is a skilled and gifted writer.

Amir is the son of Baba, a huge Pashtun, "a force of nature", who is something of a legend, with a story that he had once wrestled a black bear. The son wants desperately to be thought well of by his towering father, who is the sort of man brave enough to risk being shot by a Russian soldier in order to defend a young woman from rape. To counter this legendary status, which could reduce the character to cartoon hero, the author has Amir’s tortured asides to temper it ("Do you always have to be the hero?"), as well as Baba’s own, gradually revealed, complicated personality.

Baba has servants, the polio-afflicted Ali and his cleft-lipped son Hassan, Hazaras who are teased mercilessly by the older children of the area, and persecuted because of their perceived lower status. But Ali and Baba are more than servant and master: they grew up together, and the bond between them is strong. Hassan’s mother ran away five days after the birth, and Amir’s mother bled to death after he was born: the two boys were nursed by the same woman, at Baba’s instigation, forging another bond that is not easily broken.

But Amir is cruel to Hassan, just as much as he values his friendship, and loves him in his own way. Hassan stands up for Amir time and again, but Amir fails his friend, and on one particular day, the day of the famous kite flying contest, he fails him in a way which haunts him for years to come.

The kite flying contests occur every year in their neighbourhood, and the crucial one which forms the moral centrepoint of this novel is in 1975, when Amir is thirteen. It is brilliantly told, every detail described to advance the story, and colour the images forming in the reader’s mind of the world in which the characters live. Amir is a deeply flawed young man, lacking the courage which his father possesses so abundantly, and yet I also felt him to be very likable and sympathetic, which attests to the skill of the author in developing his characters as rounded and vital entities.

The narrative makes integral the political events occuring throughout the time period from the 1970s through to 2001, so that we get an idea of the effects wrought by the Russian invasion, the Mujaheddin and the Taliban. Hosseini is capable of writing very moving, but unsentimental prose, particularly about

people struggling to make a life despite gross adversity. He is able to meld the global political with the local everyday survival of those caught up in horrendous upheavals and the destruction of their country, livelihoods and families.

I have obtained, through powerful storytelling, a feeling of what it is like to be an Afghan, to see one’s beautiful country destroyed, to live in fear. The author is able to depict moral complexities without clunkiness, instead catching the breath, and heart, of the reader. Because of this skill, I feel he is able to do risky things with both character and plot, so that any occasional moment where the reader’s credulity could be stretched turns out to be a moment of immensely satisfying narrative pleasure.

This is, apparently, the first Afghan novel to be written in English. It is a most distinguished beginning.

(the movie site is here: http://www.kiterunnermovie.com/ will have to wait until it releases in India)

CHANGE OF HEART

by Jodi Picoult
Shay Bourne - New Hampshire’s first death row prisoner in 69 years – has only one last request: to donate his heart post-execution to the sister of his victim, who is looking for a transplant. Bourne says it’s the only way he can redeem himself…but with lethal injection as his form of execution, this is medically impossible. Enter Father Michael Wright, a young local priest. Called in as Shay’s spiritual advisor, he knows redemption has nothing to do with organ donation – and plans to convince Bourne. But then Bourne begins to perform miracles at the prison that are witnessed by officers, fellow inmates, and even Father Michael – and the media begins to call him a messiah. Could an unkempt, bipolar, convicted murderer be a savior? It seems highly unlikely, to the priest. Until he realizes that the things Shay says may not come from the Bible…but are, verbatim, from a gospel that the early Christian church rejected two thousand years ago…and that is still considered heresy.
Change Of Heart looks at the nature of organized religion and belief, and takes the reader behind the closely drawn curtains of America’s death penalty. Featuring the return of Ian Fletcher from keeping Faith, it also asks whether religion and politics truly are separate in this country, or inextricably tangled. Does religion make us more tolerant, or less? Do we believe what we do because it’s right? Or because it’s too frightening to admit that we may not have the answers?

Nineteen Minutes

by Jodi Picoult

In this emotionally charged novel, Jodi Picoult delves beneath the surface of a small town to explore what it means to be different in our society.
In Sterling, New Hampshire, 17-year-old high school student Peter Houghton has endured years of verbal and physical abuse at the hands of classmates. His best friend, Josie Cormier, succumbed to peer pressure and now hangs out with the popular crowd that often instigates the harassment. One final incident of bullying sends Peter over the edge and leads him to commit an act of violence that forever changes the lives of Sterling’s residents.
Even those who were not inside the school that morning find their lives in an upheaval, including Alex Cormier. The superior court judge assigned to the Houghton case, Alex—whose daughter, Josie, witnessed the events that unfolded—must decide whether or not to step down. She’s torn between presiding over the biggest case of her career and knowing that doing so will cause an even wider chasm in her relationship with her emotionally fragile daughter. Josie, meanwhile, claims she can’t remember what happened in the last fatal minutes of Peter’s rampage. Or can she? And Peter’s parents, Lacy and Lewis Houghton, ceaselessly examine the past to see what they might have said or done to compel their son to such extremes. Nineteen Minutes also features the return of two of Jodi Picoult’s characters—defense attorney Jordan McAfee from The Pact and Salem Falls, and Patrick DuCharme, the intrepid detective introduced in Perfect Match.
Rich with psychological and social insight, Nineteen Minutes is a riveting, poignant, and thought-provoking novel that has at its center a haunting question. Do we ever really know someone?