Anne is all alone in the world with no job and no family. She goes to London looking for adventure, and finds it when she encounters the Man in the Brown Suit. A strange man falls to his death in the subway, and Anne is a witness to the mysterious behavior of a passerby who claims to be a doctor and examines the body in the subway station. The man drops a cryptic note, and Anne is determined to unravel the case and find the Man in the Brown Suit. A sea voyage to South Africa reveals a group of passengers who all behave suspiciously, and Anne doesn't know who to trust; At least, until Anne falls in love with the most mysterious passenger of all.

This book is just as wonderful reading it the second time! This is by far my favorite Agatha Christie novel!

The plot is fascinating with so many twists and turns that you really have to pay attention to keep up. I was completely thrilled with the mystery and the clues! Every little detail set my brain to wondering and analyzing and trying to puzzle it out. It is so tantalizing, and the ending is wonderfully satisfactory with all those loose ends explained and neatly tied up.

I love the striking settings on board the ship and then in South Africa. There were times when I could smell the salt spray of the ocean, or feel the heat of a sweltering afternoon in Rhodesia. The settings just felt so real and immediate!

The writing is stunningly beautiful and funny and suspenseful. There were so many hilarious little scenes and funny lines that had me laughing. And other scenes where I was on the edge of my seat, sure that everybody good was about to be killed. And there were many jubilant scenes of triumph for Anne where I wanted to cheer for her when she discovered some important clue or escaped the bad guys. And then right at the perfect moment, Anne would give some witty little remark that would make me laugh again.

Anne is an enchanting main character. I think I love her so much because she is complex and her personality contradicts itself with a perfect harmony of opposites that work together seamlessly. She can be brave, but she is also sometimes timid. She wants adventure, but not too much of it please. She has very definite opinions and ideas, but she is not really sure of herself. She is stubborn, but willing to be persuaded.

Ooh, I love it when she digs her heels in and refuses to budge! One minute, she will stare them all down until doomsday, and then meekly agree to whatever they like in the next scene. It all depends on the circumstances, and what her objective is, and mostly importantly who she is standing up against. Some people irritate her more than others; That delightful friction between the characters!

Anne is charming in her own sweet way, and the other characters feel her allure and we get to see their reactions to her strong but soft personality. She is wild; She is mild. She is bewitching. I adore her!

I love the insane romance in this book! Anne falls in love with the most unlikely person under the most ridiculous circumstances, and somehow it works. I love their passionate natures and the crazy honest way they would argue with each other. It was beautifully flirtatious in a weirdly quarrelsome way. Completely adorable and yet not cutesy or saccharine. A belligerent romance with lots of snappy dialogue, and running, and shooting guns at the bad guys. Wonderful and wild!

The other characters are wonderfully deep and mysterious. As Anne gets acquainted with the suspects, the reader is just as baffled as she is about who to trust. We get character sketches of such varied personalities, and everyone has a little bit of friction with the others. They are all dancing around each other, playing nice in social settings and having dinner together, but all eyeing each other and looking closely for any odd reactions or signs that they are lying.

The villain, once we find out who he really is, is another wonderfully complex character. It's almost like he has a split personality, because he can smile and do the most horrific things. I like how Anne analyzes his character, unmasks his true nature, and unravels his evil plans with the help of her real friends.

I think the reason this book is my favorite is because it checks off so many boxes. Mystery, adventure, romance, history; it has a little bit of everything!

Lewis shows the implications of the philosophical ideas that emotions are crude and invalid, and only "reason" should dictate our actions. Reason without emotion is unreality, and even if it were true it would only lead to the abolition of mankind. Lewis attacks the issue from several angles, debunking popular arguments that the purest form of reason is our instincts, or that benevolent actions can be found through pursuing "science" as the best moral compass for mankind to follow.

Lewis proves that moral absolutes do exist and that they are universal through all generations and cultures throughout all of time. These moral absolutes appeal to both our reason and our emotions, and you cannot cut them out of a person's life without destroying that person. There are basic truths that are self-evident and omnipresent in all mankind.

One of my favorite quotes from this book: "If nothing is self-evident, nothing can be proved."(pg. 40) You can't throw out all of traditional morality and say that there are no moral absolutes, because you erode the very foundation of your "new" morality, the idea of truth. Saying that there are no absolute truths is in itself an absolute statement, which contradicts itself. If you step outside of truth, you "have stepped into the void" as Lewis says on page 64. "...those who stand outside all judgements of value cannot have any ground for preferring one of their own impulses to another...." (pg. 65)

Another great quote talks about how if you follow the idea of obeying only "reason" and having no moral absolutes down to its logical conclusion, there is no value to anything, and mankind is left at the mercy of their impulses. Lewis says "Their extreme rationalism... leaves them creatures of wholly irrational behavior." (pg. 67)

The writing is a little bit rambling, and I get the impression that Lewis is answering a very specific argument from a specific set of people. Sometimes it would have been better to keep to a more general scope that would be applicable to everyone. However, the writing is powerful and compelling.

I love that Lewis can point towards Christianity without ever actually mentioning Christianity, because when you reach the conclusion of his logic proving that moral absolutes do exist and that they exist for everyone equally (whether people acknowledge that or not), then the next logical step is to conclude that those moral absolutes were not created by mankind, but by Someone outside of ourselves. He only mentions Christianity once or twice in the entire essay, but the overarching direction of all his logic is that everything comes from and to Christ.

As Bilbo sets off on his last journey from Rivendell to the shores of the sea, he sings this last poem as his farewell to MiddleEarth before boarding a ship that will take him to Valinor with Gandalf, Frodo, and Elrond. The poem itself is not very long, with one stanza on each page.

This book is beautifully illustrated with gorgeous settings that show Bilbo on his way to Valinor. The illustrations begin with Bilbo at Rivendell. He talks with Elrond about making the last trip, and they make plans for travelling. Bilbo and the company of Elves pass through the Shire, where Frodo and Sam join them. They reach the harbor where Cirdan the shipwright is waiting to greet them. They say goodbye to Sam, Merry, and Pippin. The final illustration shows Bilbo reaching the shores of Valinor.

Surrounding the text of the poem is lovely artwork of trees, flowers, and vines with little animals and birds.

At the bottom of each page are additional small bits of artwork showing Bilbo's adventures in The Hobbit. These little illustrations show Bilbo, Gandalf, Thorin, and the dwarves on their journey to the Lonely Mountain, and how they defeated the dragon Smaug. It's such a great little addition as Bilbo reminisces about his past adventures!

I was so enchanted with all the gorgeous artwork that I reread the book three times, noticing some new little detail in the illustrations each time!

The Bobbsey Twins have some new neighbors in Lakeport, a Mexican family, the Castillos. The twins make friends with the Mexican children, and even learn a little Spanish. When it's time for the Castillos to return to Mexico, they invite the Bobbsey twins to visit them on their hacienda.

I enjoyed this book a lot, because I grew up in Mexico as a child. The Bobbsey twins visit the same area in Mexico where I grew up, Mexico City D.F. They visit the pyramids at Tenochtitlan where I have been many times, and Bert even climbs the Pyramid of the Sun which I myself have climbed many times. Reading this book made me so homesick!

I only wish that the twins spent more time in Mexico. They don't actually go to Mexico until the second half of the book. They spend a lot more time at home in Lakeport going to a fair and getting stuck on the ferris wheel and seeing a midget theater show.

I love the sweet and simple plot lines, and how the writing is very straightforward. It's so nostalgic to read a Bobbsey Twin book!

Cindy and Jack are visiting a museum when they are magically transported through one of the displays into ancient Africa. In the middle of the jungle, the children meet a man with a beautiful flute who escorts them to the royal palace to meet the king of the Edo empire. There they find court intrigue and a royal secret.

I loved this fun story! The history is really interesting and we get to learn about the culture of the Edo empire (also called the Benin Kingdom) in ancient Nigeria. It was an amazing kingdom with roads and infrastructure and walled cities and trade. The king was called the Oba, and Cindy and Jack get to meet the Queen as well. I loved reading about the unique customs and manners of the people, their greetings and social hierarchy. Everything from the way they built their homes to the way they ate their food had a special organization to it.

The plot is simple enough for a child to follow, but also interesting enough to keep my attention. I love the straightforward writing style. There is a charm to the writing that draws the reader in.

I loved the interesting characters! Cindy and Jack are just normal kids, but they are quite intelligent to pick up on all the subtle mannerisms of their new friends. They adapt quickly to the culture, and they are wise to avoid any major faux pas.

It was very interesting to learn about the Oba and his family. The royal characters are likeable and mysterious. The characters who are servants and hunters are more fun and relaxed though.

There are also slaves in this society, who serve and do the difficult work. I think it's appropriate that that aspect of this ancient culture was not brushed under the rug. It's important to learn this history, so that we can learn from the mistakes of the past. There are also some mentions of human sacrifice, and the Oba says that he is trying to convince the priests to do away with human sacrifice. The Edo empire was not a perfect society, and I like that this book shows us the good with the bad.

This was such a fun read! I love Ruth Chew's writing!

This book was published in 1975 just before Agatha Christie's death in January of 1976. It includes a few chapters of biography about Dame Agatha and how she became such a success. There are also chapters about her most famous characters, her theater plays, and movie adaptations of her works. There is an analysis of the components of a good mystery, and whether or not mystery novels can be considered as artistic literature. There is an entire chapter full of quotes from her critics. The last chapter is a Mystery Quiz, where the reader can try to guess which Christie book has some particular factor or item.

I was disappointed in this book. First of all, the author includes several major spoilers for some of her most popular novels, such as the ending of Murder on the Orient Express. I started skipping ahead anytime that I saw the title of one of her books that I haven't read yet, so that I would not get spoiled!

Secondly, the information about Christie's life and background does not look reliable at all. At one point, the author says that "Frederick Miller figures in his daughter's life mostly by his demise, for he passed away while Agatha was still quite small. ... Agatha herself remembers only her mother."
However, the truth is that Agatha's father died when she was 11 years old. But this book makes it sound as if Agatha either has no memories from before the age of 11, or as if her father must have died when she was 3 or 4 years old (before a person would normally have long-term memories of childhood). The information in this book makes no sense at all, and it is misleading.

In another place, the author says "The family tree of Mrs. Miller... is generally surmised that she was from an extremely wealthy, multiply-titled family." However, Agatha's mother was quite poor, and her family were certainly not titled. Wikipedia says "Christie's mother Clara was born in Dublin in 1854 to British Army officer Frederick Boehmer and his wife Mary Ann Boehmer née West. Boehmer died in Jersey in 1863, leaving his widow to raise Clara and her brothers on a meagre income."
Yes, the author did say that it is "generally surmised", but seriously, a little investigation would have given you the facts. I didn't feel that I could trust anything this author wrote after that.

I did enjoy the quotes from Christie about how much she loves Dickens and Trollope and Jane Austen. I was delighted to find out that her favorite Dickens is Bleak House, which is also one of my favorites!

I also enjoyed the chapter that compares Christie's writing to other famous detective story writers like Dorothy Sayers, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, G.K. Chesterton, and one of the first mystery writers, Edgar Allan Poe. It was interesting to explore what made all these mysteries so great and so widely loved.

I had high hopes for the chapter about Christie's famous characters, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. I was hoping for a deep analysis of the characters, but the chapter was pretty superficial and just talked on and on about how popular the characters are and how they have found a place in literature that makes them memorable. Not what I was hoping for. I'm not really sure what the author's qualifications are as a literary critic or biographer, but this is not very well written.

It was okay, but not particularly good.

Emily is an assistant to the rich high-class ladies in London, making her living by planning parties, running errands, and doing little things that no one else wants to do. She lives in a small apartment where she is good friends with her landlady, Mrs. Cupp. Emily is hired to help entertain at a country manor and organize the yearly fête for the village children. She befriends one of the guests, Lady Agatha, and encourages her to attract the attention of the most eligible rich bachelor at the manor, Lord Walderhurst. But his lordship seems unimpressed with any of the single ladies present, until he reveals his true feelings to the one woman who has caught his fancy.

I do enjoy this author's writing style and the charm of the setting, but I didn't really like this plot. It was pretty obvious who Lord Walderhurst was going to end up with, and I didn't like the way the romance unfolded.

I also didn't really like the characters. They are all rather shallow and drab. Emily is so perfect and so self-sacrificing that it got on my nerves. I wanted to like her, but she is so completely angelic that she doesn't seem like a real person.

Lord Walderhurst is practically a non-entity. He has almost no dialogue, no personality, no charisma. He is taciturn and aloof with everyone. He admits that he is a selfish person, and he is looking for a wife who is unselfish. He is supposed to be the hero of the story, but I just hated him.

The supporting characters are made of cardboard. They have no depth at all. They serve their purpose to set the stage for Emily's story and then they fade quietly into the background with no more substance than a stage prop.

However, I still enjoyed this story because I do love the charming writing style. It kept my attention and I read it all in one sitting! I would probably reread this book someday, because it just sweeps you away into this beautiful Victorian setting of grace and glamour.

A businessman collapses in his office, poisoned by a rare substance. His widow has been hiding an affair, and the police inspector sees her smiling behind her fake tears. Miss Marple comes into the case to investigate the involvement of her former maid, and notices that the murdered man had rye grain in his pocket. Several other facets of the case seem to mimic the nursery rhyme about a king in his counting house, the queen eating bread and honey, and the maid in the garden hanging out the clothes. Inspector Neele will need Miss Marple's help to unravel the clues!

I liked the way this murder mystery followed the nursery rhyme, "Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye, four and twenty blackbirds baked into a pie..." There were so many red herrings and each of them were memorable and interesting! The plot really had me guessing, and I was fascinated by the way Miss Marple figured it all out.

We follow Inspector Neele much more than Miss Marple. In fact Miss Marple is only in three or four short scenes. I wish she had been a more central figure in the story, but I did enjoy reading from the perspective of Inspector Neele.

The characters are interesting and complex. They are all hiding things, and they all have various motivations for what they do and how they act and speak. It's quite a puzzle to figure them out. A recurring theme in the book is that these are "not pleasant people". They are mostly greedy and selfish and duplicitous. There are shady business deals, and blackmail, and extramarital affairs, and one or two innocent and sweet people who are the gullible victims of all these lies.

Such a great mystery! But not my favorite. In a weird way, it made me feel sort of uneasy and anxious as I was reading it. I'm not sure why.

It's impossible to read anything about the incredible life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and not be inspired by his faith, saddened by his suffering, and full of questions about your own beliefs and faith. Does my life reflect the kind of fearless faith that Bonhoeffer showed? Is my heart filled with joy in the midst of dark circumstances the way Bonhoeffer's was?
The answer is no. My faith looks rather puny next to his. My life looks pathetic next to his courage and generosity. One will always feel small when compared to giants, but at least we are looking up, striving for greatness, seeking to know God more intimately as they did.

I was surprised that this book was written for students in elementary school, and I suppose I was expecting something closer to a high school or middle school level. But then... if you're in high school, you might as well read the original version of Metaxas' book. As it is, it's a wonderful tool to introduce young children to the history and biography of a great spiritual warrior.

I loved that at the end of each chapter there are group questions about what Bonhoeffer's testimony means to us and how we can apply his example to our own lives. I thought it very helpful that many of the terms used to describe warfare, religion, and espionage are explained and defined in little aside boxes or in the glossary at the back. I can just imagine a family reading this together with their children and discussing the chapter questions at the dinner table.

Disclaimer: I received an ecopy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.

The Gunn family love their beautiful country home, but when a nasty factory is built across the road, they decide to attach a balloon to their house and float around the world looking for a new peaceful place to live.

I adore this book. I've read it several times now, and it is delightful every time!

I love all the different places that they visit; a desert oasis, the top of the Acropolis, an island with cannibals, a small village in the Alps, and the beautiful beaches of the French Riviera.

The adventure is so much fun, and there is always something crazy happening!

I love the sweet characters! Each member of the family has their own personality and I love the way that they work together. I especially love Mrs. Gunn and her daughter Petal. They are strong women who conquer the world with their kindness and compassion.