Let's get that out of the way right off the bat.

What it is, is a little harder to explain. The Word on the Street is a creative introduction to the Bible, written by British actor and broadcaster Rob Lacey. Lacey has a 16-year history in theater, storytelling, and performance poetry. He's even studied mime.

After being given one month to live from bladder cancer in 2000, Lacey began writing a paraphrase of the book of Job in his hospital bed, finding it easy to identify with the title character. Miraculously, despite multiple brushes with death, his condition began to improve, and he kept writing. Two years later, the completed The Word on the Street, or as it's called in the U.K., The Street Bible, was finished. And following his ongoing recovery, Lacey now performs parts of his opus as a live stage show. It's part teaching tool, part entertainment. And extremely creative.

As such, The Word on the Street doesn't read like a Bible. It's almost like reading a novel or a script. And it's entirely written in British "street language," complete with modern slang and speech patterns. (A handy reference guide is provided in the margins for U.S. readers who might not recognize words like "loo," "yonks," or "naff.") Without losing reverence for the source material, Lacey even injects plenty of sly moments of levity into the text, but always within context.

An important disclaimer to keep in mind is that The Word on the Street is not comprehensive. It's not a re-write of the entire Bible. A number of passages are bypassed entirely, although Lacey places brief summaries of those passages between his paraphrased text. He chooses instead to focus on paraphrasing the passages that contain the stories and tenets that are the most frequently read, skipping stuff like the long lists of lineages found in Old Testament books. This is not a study Bible. There are very few religious words to be found.

Perhaps most intriguing of all is how Lacey has restructured and modernized parts of the Bible to make it easier to relate to for contemporary readers. For example, the Psalms are presented as song lyrics (complete with side notes explaining the style of music that should be used for each, such as R&B, hip-hop, soul, and jazz). Lacey takes the four Gospels and compiles them into a single narrative. The New Testament letters of Peter and Paul and others are translated into emails for modern audiences. John is explained in Revelation as being "fitted with a virtual reality headset" so Jesus can show him what is to come.

The point behind all this is, in Lacey's own words, "to make the Bible a page-turner again." It's an overview, an introduction to the Bible, in modern language, not a substitute for the original. The idea is to spark your imagination with God's Word in a whole new way. And on that count, it definitely succeeds. Reading The Word on the Street is like reading a fast-paced bestseller, one that you don't want to put down.

In a word, Lacey has uncovered life within the pages of the Bible -- stories of hope and despair and humor and irony and tragedy. Too often, Bible-reading is a laborious, scholarly exercise, and we easily forget that it's a vivid, powerful account of real people who lived real lives, with all of the foibles, mistakes, highs and lows that we experience today. But God made himself known to them then, just as his Word makes him known to us now. Lacey does an excellent job of reminding us of this, and proving that while the Bible is holy, it needn't be tedious.

Told in three parts, the first is a mish-mash of time periods coherently jumping back and forth from Pi's childhood to his post-castaway university days at the University of Toronto, to recollections of various interviews the author had with Pi in the late '90s. We are treated to personal background (aside from being the only member of his family with any sort of curiosity whatsoever concerning God or religion in their various incarnations in this world, we also learn that Pi is the son of a zoo owner in India) and are very much given a sense of his extreme observational abilities (smells, sights, explaining human-animal relationships and their varying dynamics simply by taking note of a particular grunt of an animal, for instance). The second part, which forms the bulk of the story, recounts his harrowing voyage, focusing primarily on the 227 days he lay adrift in The Pacific Ocean (July 2, 1977-February 14, 1978). The final portion details, incredibly, both his arrival in Mexico, and subsequent interviews that are conducted by two members of the Japanese trading company that owned the now-sunken vessel. These interviews prove to be quite stirring, summing up the novel in satisfying and possibly unexpected (though thoroughly plausible) ways.

This is a gritty novel as no details are left unmentioned, and no action which appears unthinkable is treated as such. It is uncomfortable at times to read about Pi's various trials on this seven-month odyssey, with only an orangutan, hyena, zebra, and Bengal tiger to keep him company in the lifeboat, the vast world of potential predators in the vast ocean beneath him and the uncertainty of the weather he will encounter from day to day, but therein lies the authenticity that makes the read so compelling (and despite the near complete absence of humor in this portion of the story, it is filled with moments that make it a wholly engaging journey). It appears absurd that he is keeping such company in the boat, but as they are the remnant of a host of animals that were aboard the sunken ship, suspending your disbelief should not be as difficult as it might seem at first.

In seeing all that Pi goes through in order to survive, how staunchly he holds to his stubborn belief that he will live, that he ends up abandoning certain values he once held dear (being a vegetarian, not murdering), how he passes the time and uncovers various creative ways of protecting and sustaining himself, we are forced to look at ourselves and how we might respond to our world being turned upside-down. Even in extreme cirrcumstances such as these, what would we choose to do with the lives God has given us? Would we allow fear, despair, and resignation to overtake us and simply die, or would we at least make every effort to live, knowing and believing that perhaps God would mean for us to survive this experience?

Life of Pi is an enormous achievement, and if not because of the reasons listed in this review, then at least because of the effective balance that is maintained between the worlds of fiction and non-fiction. Lush visuals and vivid imagination (was all of this real? was some of it a hallucination?) help make this a dazzling piece of storytelling that absolutely lives up to the claim Mr. Adirubasamy makes at the beginning of the book.

Imagination is a powerful thing. We can choose either to call up images of comfort or dream up dreadful scenarios. Often, we employ it in an attempt to answer that consuming question, "What if...?" We can be held hostage by our imaginations or use them to draw closer to God. The choice is ours.

That choice is at the heart of I Can Only Imagine, the book based on the song by MercyMe. These words, which open the book, explain why the popular song was written, and set the stage for the stories of changed lives in the pages that follow.

MercyMe enjoyed an unprecedented success with "I Can Only Imagine," the song's message cutting to the heart of every listener who heard it. Its simple words contain a power to bring the mightiest to tears, because everyone has lost somebody, and we all want to know that the dead are never truly lost.

Building on the lives that have been touched by the song, I Can Only Imagine is a beautiful, 62-page gift book sharing many of the most moving stories and letters received by the band in response to the song. The stories are punctuated with quotes from the Bible and personal writings from members of the band, many of them quite moving.

But the real power that this little book holds is in the stories of regular folks who have been impacted by the songs. You'll learn of a man named Andy Kim, who was killed in the World Trade Center on 9/11, and how the song helped his friends and family make peace with his death. You'll hear of a high school student in Texas who died from a biking accident; he loved the song so much, his parents had the chorus engraved on his tombstone. And you'll read letters written by Lt. Col. Joseph Piek, who is currently stationed in Iraq, and has given out dozens of copies of MercyMe's CDs to other soldiers to help them grieve for fallen brothers-in-arms.

Go ahead. Pick up this little book and read about how God uses imagination as a comfort to the grieving. Read the stories, be heartened, and I dare you to hold back the tears.

As he prepares to go national, Carman talks with us about the series, his motives for writing the books, and the purpose behind them. As with the story itself, there's more going on than meets the eye...

The story concerns a young girl named Alexa Daley, who has a knack for getting into trouble and poking her nose into places it doesn't belong. This is strongly frowned upon by the citizens of Bridewell, the walled village she visits once a year with her father. Bridewell is connected to three other walled cities, via three vast, walled roads. In essence, all four towns and the roads that connect them are walled in together, with no way to reach the outside, and no way for anything outside to get in.

But things are not as they seem in Bridewell, as Alexa soon learns. The discovery of an engraved gemstone leads her to find a way out of the city, and it's there she learns from a group of animals that she is destined to accomplish a very important task concerning a buried chapter of Bridewell's dark past.

If these story elements sound familiar -- the young chosen one, the land full of mystery and enchantment, the fantastic creatures, and hints of a dark past -- it's because they are staples of the fantasy genre. Every fantasy writer from Tolkien and Lewis down to Rowling has used these archetypes to weave their tales. The trick, as always, is to find a new angle -- a new way of telling the story so that it seems fresh and exciting.

The angle that Carman takes is to pose the question: did the builders of the walls of Bridewell really intended to keep something out? Or keep something in? These questions naturally lead to universal questions about why walls of all kinds are built, and the importance of fair treatment and human dignity, which are certainly questions worth asking. The book doesn't delve quite as deeply into them as one might hope, but it's enough to spark conversation.

The story breezes along pleasantly with an easygoing prose and short, digestible chapters. Carman gives extra attention to describing architecture and objects in great detail, especially in the opening chapters. It's in those first few chapters where Carman stumbles a bit -- he takes a great deal of time setting up his backstory and establishing the locations and characters before the story ever seems to get underway. But if you can make it past those opening chapters, the story is worth getting to.

After the tale reaches its knuckle-biting conclusion, the book comes to a satisfying close. Yet we're left with the knowledge that this is only Book One, and there is much more to come. Carman is off to an auspicious start, and fans are already hungry for more. Fortunately, he's recently signed with Scholastic, Inc., to publish the entire series, so we can rest easy knowing that the rest of this classic tale-in-the-making, will surely be told.

To recap: Black introduced us to Thomas Hunter, a man who somehow is able to traverse between two realities -- one of them being the world that we live in, and the other a fantastic realm where a forest full of innocents live in perfect harmony. As the story progressed, Thomas learned that unconsciousness in one reality was his key to entering the other, and that events in one could hinge on his actions in another. It's quite an intoxicating story hook that might have easily caused another writer to lose the plot somewhere along the way, but it's a tribute to Dekker's skills that he keeps the story steadily on course, and throws in loads of surprise twists to boot.

Red draws us back into the story quickly, its chief conceit being that Thomas has remained and lived in the fantasy world for fifteen years, growing and changing and becoming a hardened warrior, while in our world only nine hours have passed. In the Forest world, things have changed drastically: Thomas and his people have taken up residence in one of seven great forests where Elyon's people are safe from the Horde -- an immense army that rejects Elyon, the maker of this realm.

Back in our world, the genetically-engineered virus is still threatening mankind, but Thomas' otherworldly knowledge brings him straight into the halls of power, where he becomes the pivotal figure in this worldwide crisis. Monique de Raison, the scientist who unwittingly developed the virus, is still missing, and she is the key to stopping the virus and saving the world.

Red's most gratifying quality is how it takes the story of Black and magnifies it times ten, raising the stakes to epic proportions. In both realities, the unfolding events take on global consequences, and Dekker takes the time to show us just how big this story has gotten. Often writers will simply tell us how big and bad their threat is with a story of this "epic" nature, but it isn't believable until we get to see it for ourselves, and that's what Dekker gives us in Red.

Dozens of new characters are added to the story, in both realities. As usual, giving too much away about what Dekker's up to would be inexcusable, but the unfolding plot forces Thomas to eventually confront everything he believes about himself and about his maker, in both worlds. The events and characters in both realities become tied even more closely together in a few particularly inspired revelations, and Volume 2 of the trilogy leaves us on an even bigger cliffhanger note than Black did.

Red brilliantly redefines the world Dekker created in Black, yet does so in an utterly believable way. Full of heroic action and deep meaning, Red's suspense is so palpable, your fingers will dig grooves into the book's outer cover. Dekker's biggest ace in the hole is that he understands what so many others never realize: substance and meaning can go hand-in-hand with exciting, cinematic storytelling.

Red, and indeed Dekker's entire trilogy (boy, is the wait for White going to be excruciating) is a thrilling, daring work of fiction that not only entertains -- it inspires. I'm more convinced than ever that White's conclusion is going to be one of the most surprising and captivating tales ever told. Why aren't there more stories like this?

Set on the British coast in the 1700s, Shadowmancer tells the story of Vicar Obadiah Demurral, who engages in all sorts of evil activities, including the titular speaking-to-the-dead. The Vicar is on a quest: he no longer desires to serve Riathamus (God), he wants to be Riathamus and control the world. In order to accomplish this, he must acquire both of the Kerauvim, two components of a powerful weapon that has the power to overthrow Riathamus.

As the story begins, Demurral already has one Kerauvim, which was stolen from its guarded temple in Africa. (Why the Kerauvim exist is never explained.) The two objects can't stand to be separated, so Demurral knows the second Kerauvim will come after the first one.

Stopping Demurral falls upon the shoulders of three young friends -- Raphah, Kate, and Thomas (Taylor's version of Rowling's Harry, Ron, and Hermione). Raphah is an Ethiopian whose people have guarded the Kerauvim for centuries. He comes to England to retrieve the Kerauvim and return them to Ethiopia. As a result, he becomes a missionary of sorts, introducing Riathamus to the people he encounters in England.

Kate and Thomas are childhood friends who have endured a hard life. Thomas' father was lost at sea when he was young. When his home, which is owned by Demurral, burns to the ground, he's tossed out onto the street while his dying mother is taken elsewhere. Kate's father has become an alcoholic since the death of her mother, and his inability to cope with the loss only increases his daughter's grief. As the trio struggles to keep the Kerauvim from Demurral, they find themselves caught up in the ancient battle of good versus evil, with supernatural warriors on both sides waging war all around them.

Most Harry Potter fans are probably too spoiled by Rowling's engaging work to be equally charmed by Shadowmancer, which never captured my imagination the way Rowling's books do. The comparisons may not be entirely fair, but they are inevitable. Shadowmancer lacks the intricately detailed world that Harry and his friends inhabit, and the main characters failed to attract my interest at all. They remained too distant with one another, more like acquaintances than the familial bond of the lead trio in the Potter books. The supernatural characters were all-too-stereotypical, lacking in personality and originality. The plot suffers a similar fate: no twists or turns keep you turning the page. It's all rather predictable and straightforward.

Bottom line: when I read a Harry Potter book, I hate putting it down. I had to force myself to pick Shadowmancer back up.

As a young adult book, Shadowmancer may very well tap into a youngster's imagination. It's a best seller in England, second only to the Harry Potter books. But I think it's too simplistic to hold the attention of most adults.

Is it "the Christian Harry Potter," as it's been called? That's a determination that must be left up to the reader. Be aware that the author hasn't taken this stance; that's a spin put in place by the media. Readers uncomfortable with the Potter stories may find Shadowmancer to be a more appropriate alternative.

But those who love storytelling enough to not box it into their own expectations will find that Shadowmancer lacks the rich detail and intricate structure of Potter's world. As always, if you're genuinely curious, we recommend reading the book for yourself to form your own opinion. But at best, this one should be considered a "borrow it" and not a "buy it."

If you'll bear with me a moment, J.R.R. Tolkien once wrote a poem, titled "Mythopoeia," that contains the following stanza:

The heart of man is not compound of lies,
but draws some wisdom from the only Wise,
and still recalls him. Though now long estranged,
man is not wholly lost nor wholly changed.
Disgraced he may be, yet is not dethroned,
and keeps the rags of lordship one he owned,
his world-dominion by creative act:
not his to worship the great Artefact,
man, sub-creator, the refracted light
through whom is splintered from a single White
to many hues, and endlessly combined
in living shapes that move from mind to mind.
Though all the crannies of the world we filled
with elves and goblins, though we dared to build
gods and their houses out of dark and light,
and sow the seed of dragons, 'twas our right
(used or misused). The right has not decayed.
We make still by the law in which we're made.

I'm guessing at some point, young Mr. Paolini has read that poem, because he has the gift that most writers only dream of -- the ability to create worlds. Most writers just dabble in what Tolkien refers to as sub-creation-building worlds that are fully formed and imagined to the smallest detail. Worlds that possess an internal logic and texture that is as complete in its form as our world; a universe that sometimes resembles our own, but isn't.

All that to say that Christopher Paolini is a genius writer and sculptor of worlds. He has taken elements of Tolkien and McCaffrey that most fantasy readers are exceedingly familiar with, but, used them in new and exciting ways that in no way taint or diminish their origins or seem mere reflections of those authors' works; as many works of fantasy end up being. It's obvious Paolini has read his Joseph Campbell as well. For the uninformed, Campbell's psychological treatise, Hero With a Thousand Faces, is the direct basis for George Lucas' original Star Wars movie, and Eragon follows the hero's mythic journey so precisely, I find it hard to believe he didn't explore it at some point.

Eragon's title comes from the name of the main character, a boy on the cusp of manhood, who is being raised by his uncle after being dropped off by his mother shortly after his birth. He has grown into a capable, if somewhat na�ve, young man who hunts where most fear to tread and does his best to do his part for his adopted family. While hunting in the woods of the Spine (a mountain ridge with a past), he is surprised by an explosion that chases away his targeted game. At the center of the blast radius, he discovers a curious blue rock that he hopes will bring him some money to offset his lack of game. That proves to be more of a challenge than he hopes.

While in town, he gets the privilege of hearing an ancient tale of the fate of the last of the Dragon Riders, a group of elves and humans who worked together with the highly intelligent dragons to keep the peace, until one of their own turned on them, killing all but a few and setting himself up as the ruler of the entire nation of Alagasia. His uncle points out that it is only the second time he has ever heard the whole story, and that if the Empire knew that Brom was telling the story, he would be dead within a month. Shortly thereafter, Eragon becomes the ward for a newly birthed dragon, which ultimately catapults Eragon and his unlikely teacher, Brom, onto a quest for vengeance and into a journey of adventure and heartache.

Along the way, Eragon and Saphira (his dragon) learn and grow into mature creatures with far larger responsibilities than Eragon ever anticipated he would see. He meets a variety of new people and finds a moral backbone that forces him to become a leader unmatched by men twice his age. Love is hinted at, but never delivered on, but I have a hunch we'll see more of that in Eldest, the second act of Paolini's anticipated trilogy.

There have been few books I have enjoyed in the past few years as much as Eragon, and his clean writing makes it more accessible to the casual fantasy fan than The Dragonriders of Pern or The Lord of the Rings. He even creates an ancient language with words of power that magic users and elves use to facilitate their magic. What's more, Eragon's abilities and learning are innocuous enough to avoid -- so far -- the criticism and condemnation directed towards another young wizard of literature.

My only regret is that there are only 497 pages to this volume, and no set date to expect getting my hands on the second volume. Paolini's made a fantastic start to his fiction career, and his writing can only improve with time, making me look forward already to volume three and what may come after.

In my business, it always pays to be informed and prepared. This is especially true in regards to a cultural phenomenon.

Two summers ago, the Harry Potter craze was at an all-time high, and strong opinions were flying in every direction. The majority of kids (and quite a lot of adults) out there seemed to be ga-ga for Harry, while most Christian parents hated the character and the books with the kind of vitriol and paranoia that's usually reserved for serial killers.

I was being constantly questioned from readers who wanted to know what I thought about Harry: the story, the characters, author J.K. Rowling herself. At the time, I had only a peripheral awareness of the series, so I had no real opinion to offer. All I had to go on was the mainstream media hype and the stern warnings from Christian leaders who believed that the books were to be feared, avoided, even boycotted, because they "could lead children into witchcraft." Some of these warnings seemed fairly reasonable, while others were downright laughable in their xenophobic lunacy.

Winner Take All gives the reader a further glimpse into the life of character Marcus Glenwood, who made his first appearance in Davis' The Great Divide. Still bearing the scars from fighting and ultimately winning a case against New Horizons, a North Carolina corporation, Glenwood is trying to get his life on track and pursue a future with his research aid and girlfriend Kirsten Stanstead.

The last thing Glenwood wants now is another fight, especially one connected with the company who almost destroyed him. But when the New Horizons CEO Dale Steadman approaches him with a desperate plea for help, Marcus finds that he cannot refuse to assist Steadman.

After an unexpected and humiliating divorce, Dale Steadman begins to build a life with his one-year old daughter, Celeste. But now Celeste is missing, taken by Steadman's ex-wife, world famous opera diva Erin Brandt. After taking the child, Brandt flees to Germany, leaving Steadman helpless and alone.

While Marcus pursues Steadman's case in the American legal system, a turn in events requires Kirsten to travel to Europe. In Europe, Kirsten is forced to face demons from her past and must decide whether or not a future with Marcus is worth the confrontation.

Although many of Bunn's books tend to wrap a story line around deep international issues such as Hedge Funds or slave labor, Winner Take All provides a lighter but certainly not watered down read.

The characters are riveting and believable and the plot has you on the edge of your seat until a surprising and satisfying finale. If you're a fan of T. Davis Bunn or like novels written by authors such as John Grisham, this is one book you'll definitely want to read.