176. Ms Ice Sandwich by Mieko Kawakami

BOOK REVIEW: Ms Ice Sandwich by Mieko Kawakami (courtesy of Pansing)

Japanese stories are cute and short and to me, they hold enough essence to make you feel what the author is trying to tell without overdoing things. This is one such story by Mieko Kawakami. What attracted me at first sight was the cover which was oh-so-cute and attractive. 

Ice Sandwich here is not ice cream sandwich though, don't be fooled. It means sandwiches kept in a cooler like chilled egg mayo sandwiches and cold chicken salad sandwiches. Ms Ice Sandwich seems to lack social graces, but our young narrator is totally smitten with her. He is in awe of her aloofness, her skill of slipping sandwiches into bags, and most electric of all, her ice-blue eyelids (no prizes for guessing where part of the title is from).

Every day he is drawn to the supermarket just to watch her in action. But life has a way of interfering - there is his mother, forever distracted, who can tell the fortunes of women; his grandmother, silently dying, who listens to his many musings; and his classmate, Tutti, no stranger to pain, who shares her private thrilling world to him.

Most of the young urchins today can relate to this story: preoccupied parents, loss of a dear family member and infatuations for people who normally aren't accepted by others as normal. It actually made me shed a few drops of tears as the young narrator spilled his feelings all over the pages of the book.

Tender, warm, yet unsentimental, this book is a tale about new starts, parents who have departed, and the importance of saying goodbye. I loved this book and highly recommend it to those who want a fresh read besides those from Western writers.

175. Murder, Interrupted: Shocking True-crime Cases by James Patterson

BOOK REVIEW: Murder, Interrupted - Shocking True-crime Cases by James Patterson (courtesy of Pansing)

Ahhhh....what's better than a good book complete with the most macabre murders that you can ever imagine? Twisted thinking you might think...when you read this book your mind becomes equally twisted at just how foul murder can actually be.

Derived from the television series Murder is Forever, the two gruesome stories in this book are brought to life through the tip of his pen making these true cases jump out at you at the worse possible moments.

In the first story, Murder, Interrupted, rich, cheating financier Frank Howard wants his wife dead, and he's willing to pay Billie Earl Johnson whatever it takes. When the bullet misses the mark, Billie and Frank will turn on each other in a fight for their lives.

For Mother of all Murders, you will be wondering how a mother's mentally sick ways almost killed her daughter and how the tables are turned on her. Dee Dee Blancharde is a local celebrity. Television reports praise her as a single mother who tirelessly cares for her wheelchair-bound, chronically ill daughter. When Gypsy Rose realises she isn't actually sick and Dee Dee has lied all these years, the daughter exacts her revenge by murdering her mother.

Reading this book made me feel queasy and utterly at unease because I never knew how criminally charged are the brains of these cold-hearted murderers. Imagine being shot in the face and being left to die but you survive the harrowing ordeal though you are in pieces. 

Unputdownable, this book is great for those who love a good murder novel made even better as these are actually true crime cases. Highly recommended, I'd give this book a 5/5!

174. Howl: Everything the Modern Werewolf Needs to Know by Serena Valentino

BOOK REVIEW: Howl - Everything the Modern Werewolf Needs to Know by Serena Valentino

Books, movies on the silver screen and many other influences have romanticized werewolves, good and bad, and left an imprint on much of the younger generation. There is much attraction (especially from girls) when these shapeshifters are around. Maybe one among us is a werewolf...If the answer is a hushed yes for fear of being hunted down, this book is the one for you.

This book is a claws-on guide for today's lycanthrope (ability to change into a wolf). For those who have yearned to run wild and free, howl at the moon or join a pack of bloodthirsty wolves, this book reveals:

• Time-tested techniques for controlling your transformation.
• Shocking secrets of real-life werewolves.
• All the amazing powers that await lycanthropes.

In the first part, Unleashing Your Wild Side, it portrays what type of werewolves there are, the signs of werewolf transformation and other werewolf characters and instincts. Part two, The Stylish Lycanthrope, details how werewolves can remain stylish among human company, decorate their homes to suit their needs and much more. Moonlight Mastery relates werewolves in movies, books, folklore and fairy tales for more information on these sexy and mysterious creatures of the night. 

If you have a dormant werewolf in you, I suggest you read this book to release your inner beast. I have unlocked mine and seen its wondrous talents and superpowers. Time for the change!

173. In The Devil's Garden: A Sinful History of Forbidden Food by Stewart Lee Allen

BOOK REVIEW: In The Devil's Garden - A Sinful History of Forbidden Food by Stewart Lee Allen

An apple a day keeps the doctor away. This famous saying paints a positive connotation of the humble fruit, but did you know it was once so blasphemous to eat that it was considered sinful? Piqued your curiosity, haven't I? This frolicking read relates the history of food that was and sometimes still are taboo.

Deliciously organized by the Seven Deadly Sins (lust, gluttony, pride, sloth, greed, blasphemy and anger), here is a scintillating history of forbidden foods through the ages - and how these mouthwatering taboos have defined cultures around the world.

From the lusciously tempting fruit in the Garden of Eden (the aforementioned apple, it got stuck in Adam's throat when he ate it to become the 'Adam's apple') to the divine foie gras (deliciously unctuous goose liver), the author engagingly illustrates that when a pleasure as primal as eating is criminalized, there is often an astonishing tale to tell.

Among the foods thought to encourage lust, the love apple (now known as the tangy tomato) was thought until the 19th century to possess demonic spirits. The gluttony 'course' invites the reader to an ancient Roman dinner party where nearly every dish served - from poppy-crusted rodents to "Trojan Pork" - was considered a crime against the state.

The vice known as sloth introduces the sad story of the "lazy root" (the potato), whose popularity in Ireland led British moralists to claim that the Great Famine was God's way of punishing the Irish for eating a food that breed degeneracy and idleness.

Filled with incredible food history anthropology and the author's travels to many exotic locales, this tome also features recipes like the matzo-ball stews outlawed by the Spanish Inquisition and the forbidden "chocolate champagnes" of the Aztecs. 

This is truly a delectable book that will be consumed by food lovers, culinary historians, amateur anthropologists and armchair travelers alike. I loved this book so much that I continued reading day and night. 

172. Otherworld by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller

BOOK REVIEW: Otherworld by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller

Have any of you readers played MMORPG games before? What in God's name am I blabbering about you may be thinking? MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) is an online role-playing video game in which a very large number of people participate simultaneously. 

When I was younger I used to play Ragnorak online and World of Warcraft. I used to have avatars, characters that I create myself in the gaming world so that other gamers would recognize me. The games used to pull me into their depths, denying me access to my surroundings. I have since left the gaming world though I occasionally visit them for a breath of fun. 

However, I believe I'm going to lay off them for good after reading this book. It gave me an insight into how twisted the gaming world has become and how those responsible for creating the video games have little conscience with their only aim of making gamers addicted for life on games.

In this novel, there is a company called The Company because they are one of the giants in the corporate industry. One thing they are most famous for is the creation of Otherworld, a virtual reality MMORPG that has gamers hooked on its life-like graphics and they even give you the sensations of the worlds you are in using cutting edge technology (haptic booties and gloves to feel cold, heat, pain, etc.).

Just like any other gamer, Simon thinks Otherworld is just a game. What he doesn't know is that the software is being tuned to make people enter a dangerous new world of virtual reality that can practically get you killed...When his friend Kat is diagnosed with locked-in syndrome (which at the end of the book you find she doesn't, The Company made her fall into the dreaded syndrome) after a freak accident, she is used as a beta-test for The Company's new software called The Disk that promises a new life in virtual reality for those who are in a coma.

Simon begins to unravel The Company's darkest secrets and what he finds leaves him shell-shocked and fighting for his life with many others stuck in the virtual world.

A gripping read for this year, I highly recommend this book to anyone who is addicted to gaming or for those who want a read that has you clinging to your seat. I'm definitely looking for the second book in the series due late this year which is Otherearth.

171. Wolfsbane and Mistletoe by Charlaine Harris

BOOK REVIEW: Wolfsbane and Mistletoe by Charlaine Harris

We associate Christmas with Santa Claus and gifts, cookies and milk, candy canes and gingerbread men. How about werewolves and other things that go bump in the night? Can the stuff of Halloween become the stuff of Christmas dreams as well? This book might just make you howl with pleasure (pun intended) once you read this book.

Best-selling authors Charlaine Harris and a few other authors offer stories on werewolves and the holidays, a fresh variation on the concept of birthdays and vampires found in Many Bloody Returns.

The holidays can bring out the beast in anyone - literally - particularly lycanthropes. The authors have harvested the scariest, funniest, saddest werewolf tales, best read by the light of a full moon with a silver bullet close at hand.

Whether wolfing down a holiday feast or craving some hair of the dog on New Year's morning, the werewolves in this frighteningly original stories will surprise, delight, amuse, and scare the pants of readers who love a little wolfsbane with their mistletoe.

Great fresh read for Christmas or any time of the year, it's a lovely melange of stories you definitely won't want to miss.

170. Still Me by Jojo Moyes

BOOK REVIEW: Still Me by Jojo Moyes

Have you all watched the funny yet tear-jerking Me Before You movie? Did you read the books Me Before You and the sequel After You by Jojo Moyes? No? Get the books ASAP from your nearest bookstore because the books are really heart-warming and relates to each and every person.

In this prequel, the lovable Louisa Clark arrives in New York ready to start a new life, confident that she can embrace this new adventure and keep her relationship with Ambulance Sam (he's a paramedic by the way, a tiny spoiler if you haven't read the sequel) alive across several thousand miles.

Louisa is hurled into the world of the super-rich Gopniks: Leonard and his much younger second wife, Agnes, and a never-ending array of household staff and hangers-on. Lou is determined to get the most out of the experience and throws herself into her job and New York life within this privileged world.

Before she knows what's happening, Lou is mixing in New York high society, where she meets Joshua Ryan, a man who brings with him a whisper of her past. He looks so much like Will (the disabled guy whom she fell in love with in the first novel), that she becomes so attracted to him.

In this novel, as Lou tries to keep the two sides of her world together, she finds herself carrying secrets - not all her own - that cause a catastrophic change in her circumstances. And when matters come to a head, she has to ask herself: 'who is Louisa Clark?' and 'how do you reconcile a heart that lives in two places?'.

Through her triumphs and tribulations, Louisa learns that she just has to remain the way she is and that if people can't accept her the way she is, then TOO BAD! She learns that love, even with distance, can still stand strong once you really understand each other.

A wonderful book from Times Reads, I laughed uproariously at the funny parts and was sniffling into a tissue when Louisa had her downs. All in all it was a beautiful prequel, as beautiful as the two novels before it. I highly recommend this book to my girlfriends and family.

Thanks to Times Reads as well for their wonderful freebies, a magnetic bookmark and two gorgeous Reign of the Fallen character cards. I have been using the Kasmira character card as a bookmark for this book. Haha... Thank you Times Reads!