-The Reincarnationist

-Once Upon a Blue Moon

- Memoirs of a Geisha

- They Walked Like Men

The Reincarnationist

by M. J. Rose

Ancient and present-time mysteries blend inseparably in The Reincarnationist, when real, likable characters find themselves involved in unreal, and yet unavoidable circumstances. Throughout the book the reader fights together with the main character, in his struggle to define the border between reality and imagination, and cannot help feeling that those two planes are separated by too fragile a barrier.

What I liked most in The Reincarnationist was the originality of the setting, which the author used masterfully to keep the reader from escaping the time trap in which he got caught after the first few pages, until the very end.

Once Upon a Blue Moon

by S. E. Blakeslee

If what you need is a book to bore your child to sleep, don’t open Once Upon A Blue Moon. Gorgeously illustrated and beautifully printed, it captures your attention from the very first moment. But beyond the visual impact of its pages, this is a moral tale that will make your child sit up and ask questions.

Once Upon A Blue Moon contains all the elements of a tale with which you want your child to grow up:
- the importance of friendship and of selfless giving;
- the power of your will that can make good things come true;
- the sad truth that we learn as we grow up, that nothing lasts for ever.

Reading the book for the first time made me think of "Puff, the Magic Dragon" and the innocence of childhood lost. It has the quality of Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree, but with only a fraction of the sadness that comes from reading Silverstein's immortal tale. Being the first of a series, it teaches those lessons in small doses and leaves the reader wanting more.

Once Upon A Blue Moon is a book to delight children and parents alike, and I strongly recommend it.

      It is seldom that I find a book capable of taking me away to a foreign place in just a few pages, which makes me want to keep on reading at all hours. This is just what Arthur Golden did for me in this acclaimed book.

      From the very first pages Chiyo, the little girl from the fishermen's village, comes alive and attracts the sympathy of the reader. Her tribulations are related so convincingly, that one can almost feel them on his own flesh.

     I enjoyed this book immensely, because of the fine writing and in spite of its somewhat hurried ending. This is fine literature in every respect, and saying more about the book would only spoil your reading pleasure.

    If you haven't read "They Walked Like Men" you have missed out on one of the very best examples of classic science fiction. Imagine being evicted from your home, being unable to find a house and having to live in a car, a pariah in you own city. Imagine that all the property is being bought by aliens.

    Simak's narrative is hauntingly vivid and scary, without losing the sense of humor that makes humankind prevail against all odds.

    If you have missed that original 1975 hardcover and the 1979 paperback, you have a second chance now that this wonderful book has been published again in hardcover (in 2003).