Arabian Nights (Penguin Selection)

Translated by: Sir Richard Burton
Genre: Short fictional stories

A selection of stories from the people that brought you Aladdin! This abridged version of the interesting tales woven by the sneaky wife of the king is an easy and entertaining read. Unlike the disney-fied versions of Arabian nights that gets filtered to the North American public, these tales have erotic, sometimes frightful plot twists and endings. Read one a day!

The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud

By: Ben Sherwood
Genre: Inspirational Fiction?

Cool book, similar in it's freeflow easy reading style to My Sister's Keeper. Similar issues with life and dealing with it. Charlie St. Cloud's life wasn't the same after he killed his brother; they were hit by a drunk driver in a "borrowed" vehicle, and Charlie never forgave himself. He had a cross-over experience and now stays near the Waterside Cemetary in order to fulfill a promise to his little brother. He and Sam, now an immutable spirit boy, play catch every sundown.

Thirteen years of guilt ridden life have passed by, and one day, Charlie meets Tess, a woman who has just survived boating nightmare, a practice run before she was set to sail around the world. They share an instant connection, and the rest of the book tells the story of how Charlie regains his life back...*spoiler!* Tess is a ghost!

Waverly

By: Sir Walter Scott
Genre: Historical Fiction

Military history buffs would have probably enjoyed and understood more of this book than I did!!

I did enjoy following Edward Waverly on his journey of growing up, and his romantic support of "The Pretender's" cause. The love story twist in it was pretty good. But the archaic and sometimes overly descriptive language made this book a tough one to get through. I think I started this book in Mauritius (wee, good deal on English books, ~$1, at the local supermarket) and finished it after 4 months in Vietnam.