Silver Chips Online

Instant messaging, sex, e-mail and more sex- "Anatomy of a Boyfriend" contains all the stereotypical teenage-novel elements possible in 260 pages, and even more that should be left to the imagination. But the worst part is, it's hard to put down.

Fans gave Harry Potter author JK Rowling a tall order: craft a final tale that matches the quality of the previous books but also ties up the myriad loose ends dangling throughout numbers one through six. And, using style, wit and a wave of the wand, Rowling delivers. In an ideal world, the series would never end, but what better way to end than with "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," which clocks in at a monstrous 759 pages (though it is no doubt slimmer than "Hogwarts: A History").

*SPOILER ALERT* For the past 735 days, diehard Harry Potter fans have been left in the dark, wondering who will die, who will prevail and who will come together to fight in the final Harry Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," which comes out July 21. Since the sixth book was released, numerous websites, books and articles have been created to predict how this popular series will end. So, two muggles have put their heads together to speculate on seven of the questions left unanswered by the first six books.

Right from the beginning, readers can tell that the title character from "Lulu Dark Can See Through Walls" isn't a typical mystery detective. She can't spot a crime scene like "CSI" folks, drill a witness like Sherlock Holmes or even properly tail a suspect like Nancy Drew. But, despite these shortcomings, Lulu Dark makes an intriguing and humorous heroine thrown into unpredictable circumstances with wild results.

Who says that an intellectual African Grey parrot with human gene therapy can't help you with your math homework? Don't dismiss it too quickly; this and more oddities of the genetic nature run amuck in Michael Crichton's imaginative and thoughtful new novel, "Next."

If "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" is the epitome of spaghetti Westerns, and Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" series is the epitome of fantasy fiction, then the new Marvel comic "The Gunslinger Born" is their offspring whose godparents are H.P. Lovecraft and Clint Eastwood.

A neurotic ex-wife, her recently-released-from-jail-ex-husband and their son, split between the two. A jilted obsessed wife, a cheating husband with a quick temper and the investigator pulling them together. A trashy co-ed, several religious maniacs and a fugitive on the run from the law. At first glance, the cast of Carl Hiaasen's recently released novel "Nature Girl" appears to be compiled of characters from a soap opera, but soon they reveal themselves to be something far worse: not worth anyone's time.

You can draw pictures, guns, curtains, conclusions and lines. You can draw a breath, draw to an end, be drawn to a place and have a drawn face. And then you can draw a blank.

Dear Reader, You have undoubtedly arrived at this page with the intention of reading a review, a word which here means a "warning begging you to tread with caution," of Lemony Snicket's new novel, "The End." If that is the case, I sincerely hope that for the sake of your own well being, you cease your pursuit of such grim information. Your time would be much better spent perusing the charming Humor section of this website, as you will find none here. But, should you choose to remain, I cannot deter you. It is my solemn duty as a journalist to inform, and I shall therefore go about this as best I can and claim no responsibility for the head-smashing which will inevitably accompany your reading of this review.

When Dante Alighieri wrote his classic novel "The Divine Comedy" about the nine levels of hell, nobody knew where he drew his ideas. The hell created by Dante has long been feared by humanity, who constantly struggle with the idea of the dark pits of an eternity of misery. Yet an ever more torturous experience than Dante's version of hell is enduring Jodi Picoult's "Tenth Circle."