Llew's Reviews

Archive for March, 2008

Personal Finance For Dummies by Tyson

Sunday, March 16th, 2008 by Miss Laura

personalfinance.jpg I don’t think I blogged about Dave Ramsey’s ‘Total Money Makeover’. Perhaps, I did. It certainly seems to be many people’s personal finance bible and contains good advice – especially for those mired in debt. However, it made me twitchy. I had all these questions and felt slightly uncomfortable with some of Ramsey’s instructions so I turned to this book which seems more complete in it’s information. It’s less of an personal instruction to finance and more informational, although it certainly offers some advice. I found it incredibly helpful and really liked it. I’ve already made a couple of changes that should have been obvious to me that I hadn’t thought of (example: I switched the emergency fund to a high interest savings account.)

Plus it is a really good overview of things I always hear about but I don’t know exactly what they are. You know annuities and whatnots. I keep trying to get Ben to read this one too because I think it has a lot of information that *all* adults should know — whether they’re ready to implement them or not.




Secret History of Moscow by Ekaterina Sedia

Sunday, March 16th, 2008 by Miss Laura

secrethistoryofmoscow.jpg This was recommended to me as the Russian version of Neil Gaiman’s “Neverwhere”. In fact, it even has a quote by Gaiman on the cover of the book saying the same thing. The quote makes Neil seem a little cocky.

“A lovely, disconcerting book that does for Moscow what I hope my own Neverwhere may have done to London.”

While I was a little meh about Neverwhere, I really enjoyed this book. In fact, I’ve been thinking that it’s only fantasy on a young adult level that I like, but I think it’s really this sub-genre known as Urban Fantasy that tickles my fantasy. I can relate and get into that kind of story more so than a full out unbelievable fantasy land. Although with all of the Russian fairy and folktale characters which I was completely unfamiliar with, it might as well been an unbelievable fantasy land for me.

I quite liked the characters, the writing, and the storyline in this one. The ending WAS disconcerting and unhappy which sealed the deal for me.




Attack of the Fiend by Joseph Delaney

Sunday, March 16th, 2008 by Miss Laura

attackoffiend1.jpg Spooks, boggarts, and witches – oh my!

This is the fourth in the Last Apprentice series which is a middle school level fantasy/horror series. I can’t handle scary things so a fifth grade horror book is about as much as I can handle. This is a good series that I’ve been fond of suggestion to that age of readers.

With this new addition, I’m a little weary to recommend it because it deals a lot with believing in God. I think it’s good for children this age, but I don’t think every child’s parents would agree with me.





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