Beyond Books

I am no writer, and have no intention of becoming a published author. But sometimes, I do feel like penning my thoughts on all things bookish. Here are a few of my thoughts and writings.
(As is evident, this page is a work-in-progress. I have written a lot more than these few articles. Stay tuned. 😃)

Author Specials:


Bookish Write-ups:



✤ Five Types of Non-fiction that Even Fiction Lovers Will Enjoy! - Guest Article for Blogchatter's BeStorified series. - March 2025.





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Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree - Robert E. Barry - ★★★★.½

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AUTHOR: Robert E. Barry GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: January 1, 1963 RATING: 4.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A comically sweet Christmas picture book. Lovely story, lovely characters, lovely illustrations. A classic for a reason. Definitely recommended. Plot Preview: Mr. Willowby is quite excited that his Christmas tree delivery has finally arrived. Unfortunately, the tree is just a tad too tall for his parlour. He gets his butler to cut off the top so that it fits just right. The butler knows just the right person who would be happy to decorate the tree top in their room, so he passes it to his friend, the maid. She is very excited but the top is just a tad too tall for her room. So she snips off a bit from the top, discards it, and decorates the rest. The broken piece is found by…. Read the book to find out! I didn’t intend to read a Christmas book beyond the festive season, but c’est la vie. 😁 We all know that Christmas trees are *trimmed* with plenty of wonderful...
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The Water Princess - Susan Verde - ★★★★★

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AUTHOR: Susan Verde ILLUSTRATOR: Peter H. Reynolds GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: September 13, 2016 RATING: 5 unhesitant stars! In a Nutshell: A touching picture book about the water scarcity issue affecting so many children around the world but especially in Africa and Asia. Excellent writing, message, and illustrations. Informative back matter. A must-read. Plot Preview: “Princess Gie Gie”, our young lead character, knows she rules over the wide African sky and the vast land. But the one thing that doesn’t listen to this princess is water. No matter how much she tries commanding water to come closer to her home, it doesn’t. So she is forced to wake up early every morning and walk many miles along with her mother to carry a pot of water back home. Sadly, this water lasts just a day, so the cycle has to repeat every day. Gie Gie dreams of the time when water will finally listen to her and be more accessible from home, but can such a dream come true? This story is...
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Sky Color - Peter H. Reynolds - ★★★★.¼

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AUTHOR & ILLUSTRATOR: Peter H. Reynolds SERIES: Creatrilogy GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: August 28, 2012 RATING: 4.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A beautiful picture book about thinking beyond the box. Cute story and gorgeous illustrations. Recommended! Plot Preview: A little girl named Marisol loves to share her art with the world. So when the opportunity comes to paint a mural for the school library, she is an enthusiastic volunteer. She has chosen the paint the sky for the mural, but she soon realises that the colour box has no blue paint. How can she colour the sky without blue? This is a lovely story that is delightful to the mind and the heart. Mirasol is a wonderful lead in so many ways. I love how the book establishes her personality first by showing how she shares her art with others. And later, when she learns about the missing blue paint, we also learn how calm she is in the face of uncertainty. She doesn’t cry or throw a tantrum or yell or accuse. She ...
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My Dear You - Rachel Khong - ★★★.½

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AUTHOR: Rachel Khong GENRE: Speculative Story Collection PUBLICATION DATE: April 7, 2026 RATING: 3.45 stars. In a Nutshell: A collection of (mostly) speculative fiction stories. Excellent in creativity. Diverse in humans yet unified in emotions. Good writing and pacing. A bit too much of back-and-forth in a few stories. Recommended to SFF lovers. This collection contains ten stories, mostly from the speculative fiction genre. There is no introductory note or foreword, but the publisher’s note called this a set of stories "about love, life, and the anguish of becoming oneself in a time when it's so easy to be someone else." It sounds almost abstract, but oddly, it fits the stories well. The stories cover a wide range of emotions and timelines. Each story feels innovative, with no repetition of themes. The blurb says that they are stories about love, and it is right. But they aren’t about romance, which makes all the difference. The writing and the character development ar...
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Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir - ★★★.½

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AUTHOR: Andy Weir NARRATOR: Ray Porter GENRE: Science Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: May 4, 2021 RATING: 3.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A space drama about an astronaut trying to save Earth. Way more comical than I expected. Just as much of “Yay, USA” as I had anticipated.” Offers quite a geek fest with plenty of STEM topics. Racist and stereotypical at times. Somewhat dragged in between. Portrayal of woman characters annoying. Quite an entertaining read  despite the flaws . Plot Preview: Dr. Ryland Grace wakes up in a strange location, only to learn that he is in a space ship light years away from earth, that he is the only human alive on the ship, and that he is on a mission to save his home planet. Unfortunately, he doesn’t remember all the details from his mission, thanks to the induced coma he had been put in for the journey. Can he actually succeed when he can't even recollect the exact nature of his assignment? The story comes to us in Ryland’s perspective from two timelines: present ...
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