On two occasions, I have read the book before seeing the movie. On one occasion (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) I was incredibly disappointed with the visual fruition of one of my favorite childhood books. The other book, Tuck Everlasting, fared much better; however, to be fair, I didn’t really remember the book well enough to remember anything that was missing from the movie. My problem with reading the book before the movie is that there will always be some sort of disappointment about what is included and what is not.

It also bothers me much more to know the ending of a movie than of a book. This is why.

Every time I see a movie that was a book, I hear people rave that the book is much better. I hear how the director left out this or that, and blah blah blah. My point is, there is always some sort of disappointment because books always contain more information, more subtleties, more everything. So why would I set myself up for disappointment? The wonderful thing about seeing a movie first is that you get the full story in the movie, surprise ending and all. Then you get to go home and read a familiar story with all of these extra, wonderful details that weren’t in the movie. You learn more back stories, get better insight into the character and learn so much more. And even though you know how it ends, there is so much additional stuff there, that you still feel fulfilled after it all.

Can you say that about watching a movie after reading the book?

I didn’t think so.

Now I know most people won’t believe me, but it’s really something you need to try before criticizing it. You may not be hooked, but I guarantee you will learn something new in the book that adds new depth to the movie.

If you’re interested in picking up a bargain book, here are a few tips to finding something just right for you. Remember that reading should interest you somehow, so don’t look for something you “heard” is good – read the backs of many books and only stop once one of them catches your interest. Why read what someone else is interested in? It’s much more enjoyable (and rewarding) when it’s something you pick out that you are interested in.

Next, set a budget for yourself. How much money are you willing to spend on something that could be totally awful? I say $5 for me, but that’s not for everyone. Some people may be on a tighter budget, or they may have more money to work with. Do what’s right for you.

And remember that time is just as much of an investment as money. Think of your time as an investment. How much time are you willing to give up for this book? If time is precious, make sure you don’t buy the biggest book on the rack (unless it’s got the biggest font!) because you could be spending a lot of time on something that you end up hating.

Once you’ve taken these things into consideration, head for the bargain rack. When you pick something that’s fantastic, you’ll feel fantastic that you found this little gem hiding on the bargain rack. And if it’s awful, it’ll only make you appreciate the next good book you read even more.

I am bringing this up because I grew up near Cleveland, Ohio and I am a fanatic supporter of all Cleveland sports teams, no matter how bad we suck. I don’t really care, either, because no matter how bad we are, it only makes us love our teams that much more than any fans of winning teams could possible understand.

It baffles me that this book was so far under my radar, so I wanted to share with everyone, or at least anyone who is a LeBron-hating Cleveland fan. This book pretty much says what any of us in Cleveland would like to say to the man who abandoned us after all of his promises not to. It’s not polite – in fact, Raab has been banned from Miami Heat games as a result – and it’s not what you’d expect from a book released by a major publisher. But it’s definitely an honest opinion that many Cleveland fans feel, so I think it’s a great book to pick up for anyone who loves Cleveland sports as much as I do.

Whether you pick this book up as a laugh or you sincerely hate LeBron as much as Raab does, this book does more than bash Miami’s golden son: it offers insight into how most every Cleveland fan felt after his decision to leave us.

All of this creates a truly fascinating world, where political factions war, secret agendas are hidden, and magic is akin to technology. During the course of the book, the idea and correctness of thinking machines is also examined and pondered. The writing is lovely and I was at first, drawn into the story simply because of the creativeness displayed. However, although Mattie continually harps on her feelings, she remains very blasé. Other characters seem two-dimensional, and the plots I was really interested in are very slow to develop. This book may be worth reading simple for the imagination within it, but, ultimately, I found it to be a bit dull.

The idea behind this story is very clever and imaginative. The emotions the two main characters, the alien and the human, feel are very compelling. The romances that evolve throughout the story are intense and very enjoyable. The entire book comes across as both exciting and intelligent.

There are a few flaws, though. The thing I had the biggest problem with the panic. Throughout the entire book, Wanderer lives in a state of acute panic. This panic goes on for days or weeks at a time. This is too farfetched- after a few days, your body can’t maintain that panic level anymore. It was also annoying. However, the book is still worth reading.

I loved the excitement of this book. It really held my attention all the way through. The idea of a poison taster isn’t new, but in this book, it’s presented in a very fresh and fascinating way. I also enjoyed the characters. They were well constructed and interesting. The tension of the romance also added a lot to the story.

However, ‘Poison Study’ is only the first book in a trilogy, and I completely disliked the next two books. The characters didn’t remain true- I felt as if I were reading about completely new and different people. Although the story was still interesting, I felt like I couldn’t get involved because I was too busy wondering when the personalities of the characters changed.

Del is a young man who was taken over by the Hellion, a childhood demon. Doctors thought they exorcized the demon, but now Del can hear it in his head again. He goes on a quest, looking for answers, not only to his own problem, but to the question of who and what the demons are, and where they came from.

The premise for this story is amazingly original, and the plot and pacing really held my attention all the way through the book. The characters are well thought out, and the story is exciting. It’s also rather believable, for something that should be completely unbelievable, which shows a lot of talent in the writing.

The only thing I found disappointing about this was the ending. I don’t want to say why, because I don’t want to give anything away. It just wasn’t everything I thought it could be. However, this book is still worth looking into.

The story is about Theodora, a young woman who gets stuck on the planet Ivory. Without the money for passage, she can’t return to her home world. Luckily for her, she catches the eye of a native, a man named Ran. He’s a type of magician, and he hires Theo as something of an assistant. The pair eventually fall in love, and throughout the course of the three books, they have many exciting adventures together.

I loved the adventure aspect of this series. The plot is always intriguing and fast-paced. I was never bored with the story line, and, I think this great plot makes the series worth reading. I was, however, slightly disappointed with the character development. I felt that, although they were lively and individual, each character could have used a little more background or emotion. The emotional impact was lacking here. However, these books are still worth reading, in whatever form you can find them.