"The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde

Does eternal youth deserve the price of your soul?

This is the question I kept asking myself as I read through Oscar Wilde’s book. The narrative is characteristic of the author’s flamboyant nature and readers will find certain descriptions a little uncanny. Overall, this is an interesting story, written with purpose and to me this was the most important thing. Although the moral of the story has been copied over by many other authors (with slight variations), the dilemma remains the same – is one willing to sacrifice his internal peace for the price of the eternal beauty? The best answer to this question is a quote from Thomas Wolfe: “The surest cure for vanity is loneliness.”

- by Simon Cleveland

"Why Do Men Have Nipples?" by Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg

It can make you laugh, but it is really worth the money?

This a book filled with plenty of trivial information, some none of us had ever wandered about. Indeed, I was curious to learn about the effects of coffee on human growth (there are none by the way), but truthfully, I could have gone without the data on bodily functions and human waste. My advice is, if you are looking for a book to discuss over dinner with your friends and friends, skip this one. Frankly, I wouldn’t even bring it up at the bar and if that’s the case, then why read it at all when you can just go to the net directly for answers to common questions?

-Simon Cleveland

"Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad

A classic that must be revisited every once in a while as a reminder

Apocalypse Now doesn’t do justice to this story. You need to actually lose yourself amidst the pages to discover the true darkness humanity possesses. With each page, you’ll be drawn further and further into the jungle of emotions, where you’ll try to keep away from the tentacles of nausea and disgust as you traverse the primordial struggle for survival. Sure, you’ll fight the mosquitoes and humidity of ethics, but in the end you will succumb to what Joseph Conrad refers to as the dreams of men, the seed of commonwealths and germs of empires.

-by Simon Cleveland

"Present at a Hanging and Other Ghost Stories" by Ambrose Bierce

Tap into the mind of one of the greatest ghost story writers of all times

This short collection is guaranteed to make you feel eerie in those cold, dark nights when you stayed home alone to read. But then again how else to savor these stories? Here is a pointer. Get your hands on a copy of this book sometime around mid-day Friday. Blow off your friends for the night and go straight home. Wait until the daylight is just a memory and then sit with this book on your favorite old chair, preferably near a window, and delve into it with only the nightstand light on. Take time reading each page, relish each word, don’t pay attention to the creepy scratching on you window, or the squeaking in the other rooms, it’s all just in your mind. Whether you’ll remember about the serial murders in the book, or the ghostly apparitions– it won’t matter. What’ll matter is how you experience reading about them…give it a try, be brave…

-by Simon Cleveland

"Blood Diamonds" by Greg Campbell

It’s ironic how marriage engagements are sealed with other people’s blood

What? The title doesn’t make sense? Did you know how many people suffered to get the diamond on your wife’s or fiancé’s hand? I don’t either, but you can take a guess once you read this book. Come, take a ride to a place where children spend their last breaths in a ditch, sifting dirt and mud for the precious stones. Take a walk with the men that die in jungles while transporting this contraband to another country. Sit down with the monsters who butcher the pregnant women, who cut the arms of teenagers, who kill for pleasure.

This is not fiction, my friend, this is real and it occurs even now as you read this review. And it will continue to occur until the value of diamonds remains artificially inflated by DeBeers’ monopoly. But I know, next time an anniversary or marriage comes along, you’ll still buy a diamond for your wife or fiancé. What do you care, you don’t have to die to buy…

By Simon Cleveland

"The Ruins" by Scott Smith

Oh wasted time, what can I do to win you back?

I didn’t read Scott Smith’s first book, but if I had, I would have stayed away from this one. No, seriously, what were the publishers thinking? What was Mr. Smith’s agent thinking? What happened to professionalism, intelligent plots, believable stories? I mean, common, a talking vine? Mr. Smith, you could have done so much more with this book? You could have taken the ruins and actually combined them with the history of the ancient Indians (invent one if you don’t know it, that’s what you are paid for), then woven it with contemporary superstition and this book could have been worth reading. Did you really think you will win fans with a plain trip to Mexico and a bunch of urine-collecting, tequila drinking youths?

I’m not surprised though - this is what commercialization does to the literary world. Mr. Smith got his advance check and the readers paid for it. Thankfully, there are libraries and I didn’t spend a dime on this book…now if I can only find a way to get someone to pay for the time I wasted reading it…

-by Simon Cleveland

"Under and Alone" by William Queen

In my booklist Mr. Queen’s book gets the highest rating.

Besides keeping you interested until the end, this book does one other thing – it teaches you bravery. I know you know what bravery is, but do you know what bravery is?

In this day and age when a word like that can only make sense when associated with far away lands of Arabic speaking people, deserts and terrorist actions, this book will bring you back to American soil, to the cities we live in, to the streets we walk on, the roads we drive on, our own back yard. Bravery exists here and is made of self sacrifice and duty.
In the pages of this book you will discover what it takes a man to overcome the impossible, to expose himself to danger every day in order to accomplish his mission.

This is the true story of a hero who sacrifices himself daily for two years as an undercover agent of the FBI to bring down one of the worst motorcycle gangs in the history of America. I guarantee it’ll keep you thrilled and the story will touch you deep inside and leave a mark.

-by Simon Cleveland

"End of Faith" by Sam Harris

If you haven’t heard of Sam Harris by now, you are seriously behind the news wagon.

I believe it wasn’t by mistake that you end up here checking out this book? Most likely you heard about it from a coworker, a fellow churchgoer, or your friend’s mother (or wife) and most likely it went something like: “There is this fellow by the name of Sam Harris, who is trying to turn good and honest folks like yourself away from the truth…”
We all know that similar conversations in the past stirred movements like the inquisition or the infamous witch hunts. So, let’s just say these people were a little bit behind on their reading (they were behind on a lot more, but let’s be polite)

First and foremost, you need to proceed with a ‘very’ open mind when reading this book. See, it’s not that it will introduce something so incomprehensive or unreal that you’ll need to reread each page…oh, no, on the contrary, it will make so much sense, that the abundance of it will cause you to cringe. And cringing you’ll do until the last page.
And why, you ask? Because it has been so damn long (nearly 2,000 years) since someone stood up on the fifty-foot pedestal flashing the bright light in the faces of the masses and then pointing to the common sense that had been crucified in exchange for a couple of table spoons of a sugary substance called faith.

People, what went wrong? Was it our need to feel safe by disillusioning ourselves with beliefs in superstition and immortality? What else could it be? Deep down inside of us there is this basic need to be absolutely sure that the ego will stay alive forever. You know what I’m talking about. I am talking about the desire to persist for epochs. And what offers us this absolute guarantee? Yes, religion, you are catching on my dear reader. And what happens once we follow it? Slavery, torture, terrorism , death…stop me if it gets too monotonous.

But you won’t make sense of this review until you get your hands on a copy of this book. It will change your life.

-by Simon Cleveland