"Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life" is actually my introduction into the Harvest Moon series. It is creative and addictive, but a lot of work as well (much more so than "Animal Crossing"). The goal of the game is to run a small farm successfully and build relationships within a short amount of time. 1 second in real time is equal to 1 minute in game time, so the hours of each day on your farm literally fly by. It does have 4 distinct seasons, but each season is only 10 days long. It takes an organized effort to efficiently care for your animals, plant and water crops, meet people and make money. If you have time in between all the chores, there are a variety of activities your character can engage in such as fishing, cooking, shootin' the breeze with the locals and hanging out at the bar (which sells energy-restoring drinks such as red punch and moomoo milk).

Work ethic counts: Harvest Moon will reward you for treating your animals well and working hard. If your cows, chickens and sheep are treated well and like you, they will provide higher quality milk, eggs and wool for you to sell.

The enclosed booklet doesn't quite provide all the detailed information you may want to know about "A Wonderful Life", so I would recommend perusing the web for helpful hints and charts. There are also some minor things about characters and events that bother me, and some stuff is just downright random (your source for making hybrid seeds is, of all things, a talking 2 headed plant named Tartan). But, it is surprisingly entertaining and addictive - a nice change of pace from the other games out there.

For 17 years, I had a beloved Siamese cat, also by the name of Koko, who was very intelligent and perceptive. It was because of her that I was quickly drawn to the mystery-solving Koko (Kao K'o-Kung) and all the "Cat Who" books. Many of the older books in this series are actually very entertaining mysteries written skillfully with characters and plots that have depth. I will forever be a fan.

Having said that, the last several books have been quite disappointing, and it appears to have gotten worse with "The Cat Who Went Up The Creek". The author seems to be just going through the motions with bland and uninspired writing. Qwill suddenly appears to be disinterested in solving a murder. Instead, he spends his time gathering quaint little stories for his newspaper column and throwing "K Fund" money around to solve everyone's problems. Oddly enough, he still managed to have all the answers and solve the murder mystery at the end . . . . he must have been sleuthing around for clues when I wasn't looking.

There is no mystery here, no suspense, no character development and no great Koko moments. If you are a cat lover and enjoy good mysteries, you will for sure be entertained by many of the previous books in this series, but please don't start here. Instead, start from the beginning with "The Cat Who Could Read Backwards".

This game stays true to the Wallace & Gromit series so well. The graphics are great and everything flows smoothly. In each level, Wallace and Gromit work through a series of unique areas in the zoo to rescue baby animals and catch up to Feathers, the evil penguin mastermind behind it all.

The great thing about Project Zoo is that as the Gromit character, you have the freedom to explore just about every inch of each area and get to do a lot of creative thinking and problem-solving in the process. It gets very, very challanging at times, but not impossible. The hidden bonus levels are fun to find and add nicely to the adventurous feel of the game. Wallace's role in all this is to build contraptions and weapons, but it is Gromit that has to...well...work like a dog (sorry) through each adventure-packed level. Very high entertainment value, family friendly and highly recommended.

I really didn't know anything about this book, so I was expecting the typical John Grisham tale - greedy people with even greedier lawyers and good courtroom drama. Those elements are there in good measure, but the real story takes place deep in Brazil with Nate O'Riley, a burned out, alcoholic lawyer who takes a soul-searching trip through the dangerous waters in the wild Pantanal. Why? To find an American missionary who had suddenly inherited billions of dollars from her late father's estate. Meanwhile, legal proceedings are immediately started by the other children of Troy Phelan to challenge the will.

I've always thought of John Grisham as a good writer, but wow, he surprises me here. His story telling of Nate's journey, both physical and spiritual, is written masterfully. The reader is taken along for the ride with Nate and his guides as they try to navigate their way through very isolated rivers in hopes of finding the missionary. It is then through his eventual encounter with Rachel that Nate's life is changed forever.

Back in the States, the courtroom proceedings are classic Grisham - lots of greedy, corrupt characters to keep things juicy. It is an intriguing, thought-provoking story that has now become my favorite John Grisham novel.

Who is Ted Dekker? I didn't even know about this author until I came across a bookstore display for "Three". I bought the book, and funny enough, finished it in 3 days.

In 400 pages, the reader is thrust into the life of Kevin, an intelligent seminary student who finds himself suddenly being stalked and terrorized by a demented maniac bent on Kevin's destruction. Kevin's life and mysterious past are masterfully unfolded as the story continues to build the suspense and gain speed. This book pretty much has it all for those who want to read a good thriller: great character development, lots of suspense-dripped action, thought-proving moments and heck, even a little romance.

I know this is being billed as a "Christian Thriller", but please don't mistake this as something like the "Left Behind" series. The writing is VASTLY better here and will have a much broader appeal to all suspense fans.

So, who is Ted Dekker? Apparently, a great story teller.

One of the more common formulas in the "cozy mystery" genre is to have a strong female character running into murderous plots amongst her acquaintances/clients, while trying to run a business and live her life with a significant other who is a cop or detective.

This series with Goldy and her catering business uses this formula, but unfortunately (and I feel bad for saying this), not very well. The first half of this book was extremely bland. Character development seemed to be sacrificed for unnecessary details about recipes and Goldy's constant catering concerns. I knew more about how the food was packed and transported to the catering sites then about the murdered person and those who were possible suspects. Now, personally, I love to cook, and the recipes are a great idea, but I really was disappointed in the lackluster story development and dialogue between characters. There were some occasional good moments and plot twists, but not enough to give this mystery reader a reason to continue reading books in this series.

Who have I liked in this particular genre? Mary Daheim's Bed-and-Breakfast series and Dolores Johnson's Dry Cleaning series are both fun to read.

Out of the 4 books I have read so far from Mary Daheim, this one is the best. It has a little bit of everything: humor, suspense, romance, family secrets galore and a good mystery to boot. The two main characters in the story (and in this series) are cousins Judith and Renie, whose witty banter back and forth keep the story flowing well. Just a warning, though - Mary Daheim is a good mystery writer who likes to have a lot of murder suspects in each book, so pay attention as new characters are introduced into the story!

My one beef with this book is an unrelated scene where Renie flips off an evangelical Christian woman after a brief exchange back at the B-and-B. How in the world this adds to the story is beyond me. It left a bad taste in my mouth for an otherwise very enjoyable and funny book.

For other good mysteries with zany characters, I also recommend Charlotte Macleod's "Peter Shandy" series and Dolores Johnson's "Mandy Dyer" series.

I have to admit, I purchased this book for my nephew because of the great illustrations. The story is short, sweet and simple, and the pages are fun to look at. My only complaint is that it doesn't make much sense for a book geared towards very young children to come with a dust jacket. These kind of books need to be pretty much indestructable!

This book tends to jump around a little bit, but it is chalk full of intriguing and sad stories of life in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. The reader is taken along with Dayna and Heather as they wander through the streets, interact with Afghan women and children and make regular visits at a hospital with woeful conditions. Years of war and oppression are evident everywhere. The Taliban had no qualms at all about beating their own people just for breathing wrong. Dayna's and Heather's compassion for these people are quite evident, although there is very little focus on what specific projects they or Shelter Now International were involved with. Instead, the focus of the book is on the Afghan people, the power of God and life in prison. The reader is also given a very detailed account of the chaotic events leading up to their dramatic helicopter rescue.

Were Dayna and Heather perhaps a little careless in showing the life of Jesus on CD-rom to an Afghan family (which lead to their arrest)? Possibly, but that is a topic for another forum. Missionary/aid work is always extremely difficult and hard to do in a country where persecution runs rampant and not many are eager to do it.

This is a fascinating and inspiring story - an excellent reminder of the tremendous freedom and prosperity we tend to take for granted here in America.

"What's up with the hair, Donald? Things are bad up there." - O'Reilly

A book for the O'Reilly fan or even just the curious. It covers bits and pieces of Bill O'Reilly's life, career, opinions (naturally) and politics (most in the way of short stories and pep talks). Although it feels a little disjointed at times, it is fairly well-written with none of that ridiculous psychobabble or lawyer speak - no beatin' around the bush with this guy. Also includes many amusing stories, such as cafeteria line-cutting Morley Safer and a double-date experience with Donald Trump. A quick, fairly entertaining read.