Hunger - Gone Series #2 (Michael Grant)

Hunger (Gone Series #2)

Michael Grant

Blurb: 106 hours 29 minutes.

Suddenly it's a world without adults and normal has crashed and burned. When life as you know it ends at 15, everything changes.

An uneasy calm has settled over Perdido Beach. But soon fear explodes into desperation as starvation sets in. For the 'normals' the buck must stop somewhere - with the 'freaks'.

More and more kids are developing strange powers and, just as frighteningly, so are the animals in the FAYZ: swimming bats and deadly worms with razor-sharp teeth are just the beginning. 

And in the background, in an abandoned mineshaft, lies the greatest danger of all - and he too needs to be fed...

ISBN: 9781405251532 (Paperback)

Year: 2009

Publisher: Egmont

Pages: 586 (Fiction)

Links

1. Wikipedia page for the series

2. Buy from Amazon

3. Blog on the book

4. Review of the book

5. Goodreads page for the book

July - Conspiracy 365 (Gabrielle Lord)

July - Conspiracy 365

Gabrielle Lord

Blurb: Breaking out of the fishing net is the least of Cal's worries - all kinds of perils await him on deck. He dodges the cops, but comes indebted to the boat captain. How can he learn more about Piers Ormond's will if he is stuck carting fish to earn back his freedom?

Cal may have a chance if he can find his Great-aunt Millicent. But with Sligo's thugs hot on his heels, he may not be her only unexpected visitor. A sinister storm is brewing... Should Cal expose another relative to danger?

The clock is ticking. Any second could be his last.

Callum Ormond has been warned. He has 184 days. The countdown continues... 12 books. 12 months.

ISBN: 9781741693195(Paperback)

Year: 2010

Publisher: Scholastic

Pages: 181 (Fiction)

Links

1. Review of the book

2. Goodreads page

3. Buy from Amazon

4. Author's official site

5. Teacher's notes for the series

The Ruins of Gorlan - Ranger's Apprentice #1 (John Flanagan)

The Ruins of Gorlan - Ranger's Apprentice #1

John Flanagan

Blurb: The boy Will has the potential to be trained as a Ranger. I will accept him as my apprentice.

Will is small for his age, but fast and quick-witted. All his life, he has dreamed of becoming a great knight like the father he never knew, so he is devastated when he is rejected by Castle Redmont's Battleschool. Instead he is apprenticed to Halt, the mysterious Ranger whose uncanny ability to move unseen is thought to be the result of black magic. Reluctantly, Will learns to use a Ranger's secret weapons: a bow and arrows, a mottled cloak and a stubborn little pony. It may not be the sword and battlehorse he longs for, but when Will and Halt set off on a desperate mission to prevent the assassination of the King, Will finds that a Ranger's weapons are not so useless after all...

ISBN: 9781864719659 (Paperback)

Year: 2004

Publisher: Random House

Pages: 280 (Fiction)

Links

1. Goodreads page

2. Review of the book

3. Another review

4. Wikipedia page for the book

5. Buy from Scholastic

Disney's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time - Book of the Film (James Ponti)

Disney's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time - Book of the Film

Adapted by James Ponti

Blurb: Will time stand still?

Long ago, in the sand-swept land of Persia, one king ruled with fairness and strength. His name was King Sharaman. Blessed with two sons, Sharaman still longed for one thing - a son he knew would love him for himself alone, for for the crown that might one day be his. And so, one fateful day, Sharaman saved a young urchin from the streets of Nasaf. This boy would grow into the man known as Prince Dastan.

Years later, the task of ruling the vast Persian Empire has fallen on Sharaman's eldest son, Tus, and the king's brother, Nizam. When Tus lays siege to the sacred city of Alamut, he sets in motion events that threaten to destroy the entire world. Now Datsun - along with the beautiful but mysterious Princess Tamina - must set out on a journey to find the mythical Sands of Time and save all the prince holds dear.

ISBN: 9781407560168 (Paperback)

Year: 2010

Publisher: Parragon

Pages: 158 (Fiction)

Links

1. Wikipedia page for the film the book is based on

2. Buy from Amazon

3. Goodreads page for the book

4. Review of the book

5. Buy from Barnes & Noble

Gone - Gone Series #1 (Michael Grant)

Gone (Gone Series #1)

Michael Grant

Blurb: 299 hours 54 minutes.

Suddenly it's a world without adults and normal has crashed and burned. When life as you know it ends at 15, everything changes.

A small town in southern California: In the blink of an eye everyone over the age of 15 disappears and no one knows why.

Cut off from the outside world, those that are left are trapped, and there's no help on the way. Chaos rules the streets. Gangs begin to form. Sides are chosen - strong or wear. Cruel or humane.

A new world order is rising and, even scarier, some survivors have power - power that no one has ever seen before...

ISBN: 9781405246347 (Paperback)

Year: 2008

Publisher: Egmont

Pages: 560 (Fiction)

Links

1. Wikipedia page for the series

2. Author's official site

3. Goodreads page

4. Review of the book

5. Publisher's page for the book

When the Ghost Dog Howls: Goosebumps HorrorLand #13 (R.L. Stine)

When the Ghost Dog Howls: Goosebumps HorrorLand #13

R.L. Stine

Blurb: In HorrorLand's eerie gift shop Andy finds a hound's-tooth necklace. The big tooth is yellow, has two sharp points, and, according to the shopkeeper, is said to grant wishes.

But Jonathan Chiller knows something else about the tooth. It's said to be haunted by the ghost of a huge hound. A ghost that's got a mouthful of sharp teeth - but wants this one back.

ISBN: 9780545161947 (Paperback)

Year: 2010

Publisher: Scholastic

Pages: 137 (Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from Amazon

2. Goodreads page for the book

3. Review of the book

4. Wikipedia page for the Goosebumps series

5. Goosebumps Wiki

The Stand (Stephen King)

The Stand

Stephen King

Blurb: Dark dreams that warned of the coming of the dark man. The apostate of death, his worn-down boot heels tramping the night roads. The warlord of the carnel house and Prince of Evil. His time is at hand. His empire grows in the west and the Apocalypse loonms.

This is Stephen King's classic masterpiece in its original form, with a foreword by the author.

ISBN: 9780340920954 (Paperback)

Year: 1978

Publisher: Hodder

Pages: 1325 (Fiction)

Links

1. Wikipedia page for the book

2. IMDB for the miniseries based on the book

3. Author's official site

4. Buy from Amazon

5. Goodreads page for the book

The Cape Ann (Faith Sullivan)

The Cape Ann

Faith Sullivan

Blurb: Lark Erhardt, the six-year-old narrator of The Cape Ann, and her fiercely independent mother dream of owning their own house; they have their hearts set on the Cape Ann, chosen from a house catalog. But when Lark's father's gambling threatens the down payment her mother has worked so hard to save, Lark's mother takes matters into her own indomitable hands. A disarmingly involving portrait of a family struggling to stay together through the Great Depression, The Cape Ann is an unforgettable story of life from a child's-eye view.

ISBN: 0140119795 (Paperback)

Year: 1988

Publisher: Penguin

Pages: 342 (Fiction)

Links

1. Goodreads page for the book

2. Commentary on the book

3. Buy from Amazon

4. Excerpt of the book

5. Author's official site

May - Conspiracy 365 (Gabrielle Lord)

May - Conspiracy 365

Gabrielle Lord

Blurb: The sound of screaming fills the air. Cal's identity has been stripped from him and he's been locked up in an asylum where danger lurks on both sides of the bars. He has no idea who's put him there, but the doctors are convinced Cal - Ben Galloway - is delusional, and have no intention of setting him free.

Cal can't reach Great-uncle Bartholomew or solve the Dangerous Mystery of the Ormonds when he's wearing a straitjacket... No-one believes a word he says - not even the truth can save him now.

The clock is ticking. Any second could be his last.

Callum Ormond has been warned. He has 245 days. The countdown continues... 12 books. 12 months.

ISBN: 9781741690378 (Paperback)

Year: 2010

Publisher: Scholastic

Pages: 181 (Fiction)

Links

1. Review of the book

2. Buy from Readings

3. Goodreads page for the book

4. Official US site for the series

5. Wikipedia page for the series

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms - Book One of The Inheritance Trilogy (N.K. Jemisin)

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms - Book One of The Inheritance Trilogy

N.K. Jemisin

Blurb: Gods and mortals. Power and love. Death and revenge. She will inherit them all.

Yeine Darr is an outcast from the barbarian north. But when her mother dies under mysterious circumstances, she is summoned to the majestic city of Sky - a palace above the clouds where the lives of gods and mortals intertwine. 

There, to her shock, Yeine is named one of the potential heirs to the king. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle with a pair of cousins she never knew she had. As she fights for her life, she draws ever closer to the secrets of her mother's death and her family's bloody history.

ISBN: 9781841498171 (Paperback)

Year: 2010

Publisher: Orbit

Pages: 412 (Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from Amazon

2. Goodreads page for the book

3. Author's official page

4. Wikipedia page for the book

5. Review of the book

Dear John (Nicholas Sparks)

Dear John

Nicholas Sparks

Blurb: When John meets Savannah, he realises he is ready to make some changes. Always the angry rebel at school, he has enlisted in the army, not knowing what else to do with his life. Now he's ready to turn over a new leaf for the woman who has captured his heart.

What neither realises is that the events of 9/11 will change everything. John is prompted to re-enlist and fulfil what he feels is his duty to his country. But the lovers are young and their separation is long. Can they survive the distance?

ISBN: 9780751541885(Paperback)

Year: 2006

Publisher: Sphere

Pages: 338 (Fiction)

Links

1. Author's official site

2. About the book

3. Wikipedia page for the book

4. Buy from Amazon

5. Interview with the author

Ice Shock - The Joshua Files #2 (M.G. Harris)

Ice Shock - The Joshua Files #2

M.G. Harris

Blurb: No gang, no games, just Joshua.

Josh thought the worst was over - but it hasn't even started...

Josh is certain that his father's death was no accident. To make things worse, he's starting to wonder if he can really trust his closest allies. But when he finds out a shocking secret about the legendary Ix Codex, he must journey to the secret Mexican city of Ek Naab, where the riddle of the mysterious Bracelet of Itzamna awaits him...

The most pulse-pounding action you'll read this year.

ISBN: 9781407104034 (Paperback)

Year: 2009

Publisher: Scholastic

Pages: 373 (Fiction)

Links

1. Official site of the series

2. Wikipedia page for the series

3. Buy from Amazon

4. Goodreads page

5. Blog on the book

The Missing (Thomas Eidson)

The Missing

Thomas Eidson

Blurb: The year is 1886 and old Sammuel Jones - broken in body and soul - has ridden hard to reach his daughter's remote New Mexico ranch. Ridden hard so that he can die there.

But Maggie Baldwin, grown and with children of her own, wants nothing to do with this old man who abandoned her and her mother thirty years before.

Nothing, that is, until renegades shoot Maggie's husband kidnap her oldest girl. Then she has no choice but to ride with this dying father she detests in a desperate attempt to rescue her child before the girl disappears forever in the vast twilight land of old Mexico. 

ISBN: 0007181736 (Paperback)

Year: 1995

Publisher: Harper Collins

Pages: 299 (Fiction)

Links

1. Wikipedia page for the author

2. Wikipedia page for the book

3. Buy from Amazon

4. Goodreads page for the book

5. 10 questions with the author

The Avengers: The Avengers Assemble (Thomas Macri)

The Avengers: The Avengers Assemble 

Thomas Macri

Blurb: Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D are faced with a foe and no single person can defeat. So Fury sets out to bring together Earth's Mightiest Heroes and form the Avengers! Join Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk, Black Widow, and Hawkeye as they battle the Asgardian Trickster known as Loki. Loki plans to unleash a dangerous and powerful force upon the Earth. If he succeeds, the world as we know it will change forever - for the worse. Can the Avengers work together and rescue mankind from this vile villain's cruel grip? Or will Loki disassemble this new team and become ruler of Earth?

ISBN: 9781742833699 (Paperback)

Year: 2012

Publisher: Marvel

Pages: 167 (Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from Amazon

2. Google books page

3. Wikipedia page for The Avengers

4. Trailer for the film the book is based on

5. Parody site of the Avengers

Fifty Shades of Grey - Fifty Shades #1 (E L James)

Fifty Shades of Grey (Fifty Shades #1)

E L James

Blurb: Romantic, liberating and totally addictive, this is a novel that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever.

When literature student Anastasia Stelle interviews successful entrepreneur Christian Grey, she finds him very attractive and deeply intimidating. Convinced that their meeting went badly, she tries to put him out of her mind - until he turns up at the store where she works part-time, and invites her out.

Unworldly and innocent, Ana is shocked to find she wants this man. And, when he warns her to keep her distance, it only makes her want him more.

But Grey is tormented by inner demons, and consumed by the need to control. As they embark on a passionate love affair, Ana discovers more about her own desires, as well as the dark secrets Grey keeps hidden away from public view...

ISBN: 9780099579939 (Paperback)

Year: 2011

Publisher: Arrow Books

Pages: 514 (Fiction)

Links

1. Interview with the author

2. Author's official site

3. Review of the book

4. Goodreads page

5. Buy from Amazon

Funny Things - The Best New & Classic Jokes Volume 1 (Marty Fields)

Funny Things - The Best New & Classic Jokes Volume 1

Marty Fields

Blurb: 'I was so sick of reading joke books that were hit and miss and were all one style. I decided to put together a collection of the finest gags from every genre of comedy; one liners, stand up bits, old stories, situational and just plain odd. The rule was simple, no matter what the style, if the gag didn't make me laugh I didn't use it. After 25 years of standup, I don't laugh easy.' 

Marty

ISBN: 9781921667459 (Paperback)

Year: 2010

Publisher: Wilkinson Publishing

Pages: 88 (Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from the Book Depository 

2. Author's official site

3. Wikipedia page for the author

4. Youtube clip of the author doing standup

5. Author's Twitter

An Eye For Eternity: The Life of Manning Clark (Mark McKenna)

An Eye For Eternity: The Life of Manning Clark

Mark McKenna

Blurb: Manning Clark (1915-1991) was a complex, demanding and brilliant man. Mark McKenna's compelling biography of this giant of Australia's cultural landscape is informed by his reading of Clark's extensive private letters, journals and diaries - many that have never been read before.

An Eye for Eternity paints a sweeping portrait of the man who gave Australians the signature account of their own history. It tells of his friendships with Patrick White and Sidney Nolan. It details an urgent and dynamic marriage, ripped apart at times by Clark's constant need for extramarital love. A son who wrote letters to his dead parents. A historian who played narrative ahead of facts. A doubter who flirted with Catholicism. A controversial public figure who marked slights and criticisms with deeply help grudges.

To understand Clark's life is to understand twentieth century Australia. And it raises fundamental questions about the craft of biography. When are letters too personal, comments too hurtful and insights to private to publish? Clark incessantly documented his life - leaving notes to biographers he knew would pursue his story. He had a deep need to be remembered and this book means he will now be understood in an unforgettable way.

ISBN: 9780522856170 (Hardback)

Year: 2011

Publisher: Melbourne University Press

Pages: 793 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from Readings

2. Article on the book

3. Story on the book from ABC

4. Review from The West

5. Another review

Open Secrets: A True Story of Love, Jealousy, and Murder (Carlton Stowers)

Open Secrets: A True Story of Love, Jealousy, and Murder

Carlton Stowers

Blurb: On a fall afternoon in 1983, in an upscale Dallas suburb, Rozanne Gailiunas was found stripped, bound to her bed, and shot through the skull. Her four-year-old son had been napping peacefully in the next room when she was killed. Rozanne's husband, Dr. Peter Gailiunas - and her lover, Larry Aylor - immediately fell under suspicion. Until a surprise informant identified the mastermind behind the murder as Aylor's own wife, Joy - a woman so driven by jealously and greed that she put out a contract on both Rozanne and later her own husband.

On the run and managing to elude investigators for eight years, the two-year search for the socialite would eventually end in the south of France. There, authorities found the elusive femme fatale, living as comfortably among the world's elite as she was among hired killers. At last, the authorities' questions would be answered, to reveal a shocking insight into the heart of an unlikely killer, and a small-town Texas crime that made international headlines.

ISBN: 9780312982140 (Paperback)

Year: 1994

Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks

Pages: 386 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Goodreads page for the book

2. Buy from Amazon

3. Reviews of the book

4. Buy from Barnes & Noble

5. Information on the hitman and other aspects of the case

Shinsei Shinsei - Star Trek: The Manga (Edited by Luis Reyes)

Shinsei Shinsei - Star Trek: The Manga 

Edited by Luis Reyes

Blurb: Japanese-style sequential art combines with the most renowned science fiction franchise ever created to capture the spirit of the original series in a completely new way. Ten artists and writers deliver tales of triumph aboard the original NCC-1701. Like the original TV series, these new journeys venture into the terrain of social politics, personal reflection...and bare-knuckled brawls between the dashing Captain Kirk and various indigenous beasts. Spocks's unflappable logic, Bones' flare for drama, Scotty's perpetual struggle to keep the lights on...all come at you in fresh, new style...

Stories include;

-Side Effects

-Anything But Alone

-Oban

-'Til Death

-Orphans

ISBN: 1598167448 (Paperback)

Year: 2006

Publisher: TokyoPop

Pages: 192 (Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from Amazon

2. Trek wiki page for the book

3. Wikipedia page for the book

4. Goodreads page for the book

5. Buy from the official Star Trek Store

The Last Train to Kazan (Stephen Miller)

The Last Train to Kazan

Stephen Miller

Blurb: As World War One rumbles to a close and Russia is wracked by bloody civil war, ex-Tsarist agent Pyotr Ryzhkov is picked up by the Bolshevik secret police. He has two choices: find the Russian Royal Family, or face the firing squad. But as he ventures into the war-torn city where they are rumoured to be held, it seems that one choice is little better than the other.

Yekaterinburg is at the end of the line - a frontier town cut off from Moscow by the White Russians and their allies. It is a nest of foreign spies armed with gold and guns, those determined to sell the family to the highest bidder and local soviets desperate to kill them. Whispers and rumour flood the city, but in the fog of war Ryzhkov knows that only the last man to see the Romanovs will ever know the truth. 

ISBN: 9780007191239 (Paperback)

Year: 2007

Publisher: Harper

Pages: 420 (Fiction)

Links

1. Review of the book

2. Publisher's page for the book

3. Buy from Amazon

4. Author's official site

5. Goodreads page

1st To Die - Women's Murder Club #1 (James Patterson)

1st To Die - Women's Murder Club #1

James Patterson

Blurb: The Honeymoon Murders

As the only woman homicide inspector in San Francisco, Lindsay Boxer has to be tough. But nothing has prepared her for the brutal maniac who has begun a killing spree - slaughtering newlywed couples. Lindsay is sickened by the deaths, but her determination to bring the murderer to justice is threatened by a personal tragedy. So she turns to Claire Washburn, a coroner, Cindy Thomas, a journalist, and Jill Bernhardt, an attorney, for help with both cases.

The Women's Murder Club is born.

ISBN: 9780755349265 (Paperback)

Year: 2001

Publisher: Headline

Pages: 456 (Fiction)

Links

1. Author's official site

2. Wikipedia page for the book

3. Buy from Amazon

4. Goodreads page

5. Blog on book

The Mad Ship - The Liveship Traders Book Two (Robin Hobb)

The Mad Ship - The Liveship Traders Book Two

Robin Hobb

Blurb: Althea Vestrit has found a new home aboard the liveship Ophelia, but she lives only to reclaim the Vivacia as her rightful inheritance. However, Vivacia has been captured by the pirate, 'King' Kennit, and is acquiring a keen bloodlust. Meanwhile in Bingtown, the fading fortunes of the Vestrit family lead Malta deeper into the magical secrets of the Rain Wild Traders. And just outside Bingtown, Amber dreams of relaunching the Paragon, the mad ship...

ISBN: 9780006498865 (Paperback)

Year: 1999

Publisher: Harper Collins

Pages: 906 (Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from Amazon

2. Goodreads page

3. Review of the book

4. Another review

5. Author's official site

Skulduggery Pleasant - Skulduggery Pleasant #1 (Derek Landy)

Skulduggery Pleasant - Skulduggery Pleasant #1

Derek Landy

Blurb: 'With his sunglasses gone there was no denying the fact that he had no face. All he had was a skull for a head.'

Meet Skulduggery Pleasant: wise-cracking detective, powerful magician, sworn enemy of evil.

Oh yes. And dead.

ISBN: 9780007241620 (Paperback)

Year: 2007

Publisher: Harper Collins

Pages: 380 (Fiction)

Links

1. Review of the book

2. Buy from Readings

3. Official site of the series

4. Wikipedia page for the series

5. Wiki for the series

Percy Jackson and The Sea of Monsters - Percy Jackson and the Olympians #2 (Rick Riordan)

Percy Jackson and The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #2)

Rick Riordan

Blurb: You can't tell by looking at me that my dad is Poseidon God of the Sea.

It's not easy being a half-blood these days. You mortals can't even see the monsters we have to fight all the time. So when a game of dodgeball turned into a death match against an ugly gang of cannibal giants, I couldn't exactly ask my gym teacher for help.

And that was just for starters. This is the one where Camp Half-Blood is under attack, and unless I get my hands on the Golden Fleece, the whole camp will be invaded by monsters. Big ones.

Can Percy survive the treacherous Sea of Monsters and restore order to Half-Blood Hill?

ISBN: 9780141319148 (Paperback)

Year: 2006

Publisher: Puffin

Pages: 265 (Fiction)

Links

1. Goodreads page for the book

2. IMDB page for the upcoming film

3. Wikipedia page for the book

4. Official site for the book

5. Wiki for the series

The Viper's Nest - The 39 Clues #7 (Peter Lerangis)

The Viper's Nest - The 39 Clues #7

Peter Lerangis

Blurb: The hunt for 39 hidden Clues that lead to an unimaginable power have taken heavy toll on fourteen-year-old Amy Cahill and her younger brother, Dan. They've just seen a woman die. They're wanted by the Indonesian police. They're trapped on an island with a man who knows too much about the death of their parents. And a tropical storm is rolling in. Just when they think it can't get any worse, it does. Because the Cahills have one more rattling skeleton for Amy and Dan to discover... the terrible truth about their family branch.

ISBN: 9780545152938 (Hardback)

Year: 2010

Publisher: Scholastic

Pages: 190 (Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from Amazon

2. Good reads page for the book

3. Wikipedia page for the series

4. Review of the book

5. Buy from Barnes & Noble

April - Conspiracy 365 (Gabrielle Lord)

April - Conspiracy 365

Gabrielle Lord

Blurb: A high-speed chase gone wrong leaves Cal exposed to Oriana's thugs. If captured, all hope of solving the Ormond Singularity and having a normal life again disappears. He has to get away, but how can he leave an innocent man to drown?

If Cal survives, he must decipher the Ormond Riddle, and risk emerging from hiding to stop his little sister's life support being switched off. Even if Cal makes it to 31 December alive, will his family ever be the same again?

The clock is ticking. Any second could be his last.

Callum Ormond has been warned. He has 275 days. The countdown continues...

ISBN: 9781741690361 (Paperback)

Year: 2010

Publisher: Scholastic

Pages: 181 (Fiction)

Links

1. Review of the book

2. Buy from Amazon

3. Official site for the series

4. Goodreads page for the book

5. Author's official site

The Emperor's Code - The 39 Clues #8 (Gordon Korman)

The Emperor's Code - The 39 Clues #8

Gordon Korman

Blurb: One belief has sustained fourteen-year-old Amy Cahill and her younger brother, Dan, on their hunt for the 39 Clues: They are the good guys. But then a shocking discovery about their parents shatters everything Amy and Dan think they know, dividing the two siblings for the first time ever. When Dan disappears in a country of more than a billion people, Amy has to make a terrible choice - find the next Clue...or find her younger brother.

ISBN: 9780545152945 (Hardback)

Year: 2010

Publisher: Scholastic

Pages: 190 (Fiction)

Links

1. Goodreads page for the book

2. Buy from Barnes & Noble

3. Official site for the series

4. Wikipedia page for the series

5. Publisher's page for the series