| Book |
Author |
Review headline |
URL |
Transcript |
| 1000 Places To See Before |
Patrica Schultz |
Liked Less Obvious Travel Choices |
See review |
"I wanted to read 1000 Places to See Before You Die, because it was given to me, so that's a reason right there. But it's really interesting. You kinda wonder, "What exactly do I need to see before I die?" The book obviously covers a thousand places. It also covers things like places to stay, things to do, things to eat, and so it kinda is a sampling of - In many ways, it's a sampling of tour books from all areas of the world. The things I like about the book is just flipping through it. It's not the kinda book you can read from front to back - just flipping through it and getting an idea of, "Ah, why haven't I been to South Africa? I gotta go to South Africa. This looks fabulous."
One thing I found frustrating about the book that made me dislike it is that in many ways, some of the sections that she's picked or some of the places are kind of cliche. If I were to edit the book, what I'd ask her to do is take out the obvious stuff. Nobody needs to hear about the Eiffel Tower, and then, just sort of whittle it down to the surprises that not everybody knows about. Out of five stars, I'm gonna give the book three and a half, because on the one hand, it's really exciting to read about so many places, and she includes pictures too, so you get an image of what it looks like. But on the other hand, she's included so many things you could see in other travel books that it makes this book a little bit less valuable."
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| 102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers |
Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn |
Minute By Minute Account |
See review |
"I chose to read 102 Minutes in large part because of sort of a time had passed since 9/11, and I was reading a lot about the assassination of JFK and how a lot of the reports were done after a pretty fair amount of time. I started thinking about what it meant to have that day; and I know it that it was sort of like that in the same way, that that was our event for the era.
102 Minutes is about the story of the people that were actually in the two Twin Towers before they were hit, as well as when they actually came down. So the 102 minutes is from the point of the first plane hitting until the actual second tower falls. It's almost a minute-by-minute description of what's happening in the towers.
I think this book would be well read by just about anybody. I think even people that are sort of intimately involved might find some form of understand beyond the emotional just by reading what else is happening. I mean it doesn't mitigate the severity to read what happened; it really is sort of more comforting to understand that these people that were trapped really had a lot of opportunities. A lot of them really did get out. I mean a shocking number got out compared to how many were in the buildings, and response wasn't entirely bungled but in fact was actually really super-efficient given the circumstances. It really was sort of dumb luck that the buildings fell, and that there are a lot of things that people have emotionalized that would be useful to read and get a deeper sense of what happened.
I would give 102 Minutes four stars. It's an excellent piece of nonfiction."
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| 10 Minutes To Bedtime |
Peggy Rathman |
For Readers 3 To 46 |
See review |
10 Minutes To Bedtime
Peggy Rathman
"I read Ten Minutes til Bedtime because I have a 3 and a half year-old son and we read every night, and it's one of his favorite books. It was I guess chosen kind of at random, but it became one of those books where we read it every night, and then the next night, and the night after that, and a real actually, a classic.
It's about a boy who has a couple of pet hamsters and has hamsters over every night I assume every night before bedtime. My favorite part of the book, and I think my son's, is all the detail. So we're not only reading a book but we're talking about all the different activities going on. When he's taking a bath, there might be what appear to be like 100 hamsters around him; and they have lawn chairs set up, and parasols, and they're listening to the radio, and kicking a soccer ball around, and all these things that you would do at a beach maybe. We get to talk about all those little things, and there's enough detail that you can do it every night and still find more detail.
There is absolutely nothing that we don't like about the book. It's also a good length; it doesn't go on forever. It's the exact right length for a bedtime book. My son is 3 and a half, and I think he's pretty much at the perfect age for it although I'm enjoying it, and I'm 46, so maybe a lot of people can enjoy it. I'd give Ten Minutes til five stars. There's nothing that I would like different or better or more or less; it's really perfect."
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| 1421: The Year China Discovered America |
Gavin Menzies |
Alternative Views On History? |
See review |
1421: The Year China Discovered America
Gavin Menzies
"I read the book 1421 by Gavin Menzies because I've always been a fan of history, and the topic was 1421, the year the Chinese discovered America. So the title alone is what captured my attention to read it.
Primarily, 1421 is about the circumnavigation of the globe by the Chinese, and roughly 1421 is the year that the fleet left China; and it was at the time the world's biggest fleet. They discovered places like Antarctica, North America, South America, the Caribbean, Bahaman Islands, parts of Greenland and parts of Africa that hadn't been explored, as well as they left colonies in a lot of those places.
The author is a retired ex-British naval officer who sailed a lot of these seas that the Chinese - ancient Chinese explored or sailed. What I liked best about the book was all the evidence that he brings forth to support his argument that the Europeans weren't the first to explore North America and circumnavigate the globe. What I didn't like is that it's almost like reading a history textbook from school. It's very hard to get through; it's a very tough read. I would probably recommend this to anybody who has an interest in ancient history, as well as people who are interested in the beginnings of North America as far as when it was discovered. I would give this book about four stars out of five."
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| 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus |
Charles C. Mann |
Engaging...Not Boring |
See review |
"I read 1491. I read 1491 because it was recommended to me by my wife. It was actually an anniversary gift. The concept that we don't, in America, have a good notion of what life in pre-Columbus times was like. It's really about how Indians shaped both North and South America and how completely the continent was developing up until the time that Columbus first sailed. It definitely contained a lot of surprises and a lot of new information, at least for someone who has not studied pre-Columbian North and South America.
I really enjoyed the book, and I cannot think of anything that really stood out to me that I didn't like, because it was written in a very engaging way. Sometimes history can be boring, and so it was written, in a sense, just for a lay reader like me. And it was very much a book of presenting both sides to arguments, like in just about any scholarly community, there are going to be two sides to every story. I recommend, geez, every high school student should read 1491. I think it should replace some of the textbook material that exists out there. I would give 1491 five stars. I think it did an outstanding job of presenting history."
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| 1776 |
David McCullough |
"Page Turner" States History Major |
See review |
"I wanted to read 1776 because I'm very interested in history. I was a history major in college, and so it - the American Revolutionary period is certainly a very fascinating period.
This book is about the year 1776 from a military perspective. It's about George Washington and his victory at Boston - bloodless victory - his defeat in the Battle of Brooklyn and then subsequent, miraculous victory in Trenton, New Jersey.
McCullough actually does a very good job of describing conditions in the camp and just the way that a ragtag army could defeat an army of superior size. It doesn't read like a history textbook. A lot of history textbooks can be very dry and just recitation of facts, and 1776 is not one of those. It's a book that is written in a narrative form that's very exciting and fast paced. I would give this book four stars out of five. It's very - like I said, it's a very fast-paced novel, it's one that - not novel, but book - that grabs the reader's attention and keeps it throughout. It's what would be called a page turner."
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| 1984 |
George Orwell |
Brilliant and Timeless |
See review |
1984 by George Orwell, I'm trying to remember whether we were recommend - actually as I'm thinking about it now, I believe it was recommended when we were still in high school. I had heard about the book prior to that, where people were mentioning 1984, didn't really understand what they were talking about. And that book I enjoyed highly.
It's one of those books where it's just essentially timeless, not a matter of you're watching television, which is what we have now. The television literally watches you. Big Brother can see what you're doing. Thought Police - that whole term came from 1984.
I would think for somebody to read 1984 by George Orwell, I think it is a great book for high school. We were recommended the book in high school, and I think that is a very perfect time. I would highly give five stars. It is an absolutely brilliant book. And it is just so dense; you can always go back to it and find other things in it that really relate to things personally and things that are going on around you.
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| 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea |
Jules Verne |
Exciting and Surprising |
See review |
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Jules Verne
"I read it because I think it would be a good adventure book.
It's about a guy named Professor Aronnax. He goes on a boat to find this really big sea monster, and he goes with -- they call him the greatest harpooner in the sea; his name is Ned Land. They go on the ship, they think they found the sea monster, but it's actually a submarine, and it's -- I think the ship and Professor Aronnax and Ned Land fall off -- or jump off -- and they get onto the submarine when they still think it's a sea monster. Then people come out of it, and they go in and start the adventure.
My favorite thing about the book is all the exciting things that happen and the things that are surprising that you wouldn't think would happen at that time. There wasn't anything about this story that I didn't really like. It's a really good book. A lot of people that like the ocean and swimming and having fun in the water would like this book. I would recommend this to 11 years old. I'd give it five stars."
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| 28 Stories of Aids In Africa |
Stephanie Nolen |
"One Personal Story For Each Million" |
See review |
28 Stories of Aids in Africa
Stephanie Nolen
"I am very concerned about the AIDS epidemic. At times I wonder why is anyone talking about anything else.
The book is about the title, 28; the author is a journalist, Stephanie Nolan, and she is a journalist from the Toronto Globe and Mail. She's worked in Africa for years writing about the AIDS epidemic, and she approached her publishers to write a book 28. Why 28? Because there are 28 million HIV infected people in Africa and she writes one story - one personal story for each million. She covers - but she covers from east to west, from Nigeria to Ethiopia, and south to South Africa with very, very, very intense stories. It's impossible not to feel the suffering of these people.
As you read through this, you find people who are very strong and courageous. One of them is a high school teacher who is a refugee from Burundi in a refugee camp, and he and his wife; and his infant daughter dies. He ends up being tested for HIV because he wants to give blood for someone who needs a transfusion; he finds out he's HIV positive. His wife is tested; she is HIV positive. They fled Burundi after she was raped by five or six soldiers, and they have no idea which one of them was positive first, but this is what they have to live with. They don't know when it happened to her, when it happened to him.
There's an enormous amount of information about how people are behaving, both good and bad. It's not an easy book to read, but it is a mat - it's a very informative, very strong work of journalism. Five. Definitely five."
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| 60 On Up |
Lillian Rubin |
Is 80 the New 60? |
See review |
"I'm 68 and counting; my wife is 62 and not counting; my mother-in-law is 39 and holding. We're all fighting the aging process in our own way. The opening words of it were, "Getting old sucks," and I thought, "Well, this might be a book that tells it like it is."
Dr. Ruben says she's read all the books about the golden years and about how 60 is the new 40, and 80 is the new 60; but she believes these books are either written by people in their 40's who are sort of trying to cast a magic spell against getting older by saying nice things about it are liars. It covers things like the infirmities the accumulate as you get older. Basically we've stretched out the aging process so we remain younger or older in a sense, but the basic cycle is the same. A lot of people look back to an era when old age was revered, but she points out that in those days, old age was revered as long as the elderly person could make a useful contribution to the community.
I think that it affirms my point of view that it's not just positive thinking that's the answer to every solution - the solution to every problem. It's the right balance between positive and negative thinking. It raises issues for people who haven't yet reached that threshold about how society should be reorganized so that an increasing elderly population can still be accommodated.
Anybody who's over 60 and anybody who hopes to be someday - and I especially recommend to my wife. I'll give it five stars."
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| A Beautiful Mind: The Life of Mathematical Genius and Nobel Laureate John Nash |
Sylvia Nasar |
Would You Be Friends With Him? |
See review |
A Beautiful Mind
Sylvia Nasar
"I read A Beautiful Mind because I really enjoy reading biographies, and I'm also fascinated with science and math; and I had heard great things about the movie but never seen the movie, so when I found a copy of the book, I knew I wanted to read it.
John Forbes Nash, Jr. is this brilliant mathematician who has schizophrenia. In the 80's, his work kind of came back to the surface, and he ended up winning a Nobel Prize for economics for his game theory, the - this paper he wrote when he was in grad school. Around the same time he happened to win that Nobel Prize, he actually came out of this darkness, this schizophrenia, and kind of woke up again; and the book talks about his whole life.
I really liked that in no way did the author try to paint John Forbes Nash, Jr. as this perfect person who ended up getting schizophrenia. She portrayed him very honestly; he's a person that I don't think a lot of people would want to be friends with or like. He has this brilliant mind and can see things in a way that other people don't see them, but that doesn't make a person a good person.
I would recommend the book to anyone who really enjoys reading biographies or is interested in science or math. It just traces the history of science and math, and the making of the atomic bomb, and like something as simple sounding as game theory could end up being so important. I would give A Beautiful Mind five stars."
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| Absurdistan: A Novel |
Gary Shteyngart |
Tough Grader Enjoys Contemporary Fiction |
See review |
"I chose to read Absurdistan 'cause I'd somehow heard a good buzz on it, just like it had been popping up in magazines and things like that, and I was in the mood for a satire; I was in the mood for something kind of light but that also had a reputation of being a little smarter, and I also like contemporary fiction as much as possible.
Absurdistan is more or less about a fictional country called Absurdistan, which is located next to Iran and next to Russia. And this guy, Boris Vainberg, who is trying to defect to the United States after having lived there as a youth for a little while and getting a taste of the country. Luckily he's the son of a very rich Russian mobster, but his life goes haywire when his father is killed; and in order to get to the United States he has to go through the country of Absurdistan, and all these wacky situations befall him. But basically, it's just an interesting satire on how a country would react to be next to Iran having a lot of oil in it and United States involvement.
The thing I liked most about Absurdistan was piecing together as I was reading the similarities between Absurdistan and the situation in Iraq. At first I was charmed by the characters and their vulgar, obscene situations and how American this Russian seemed to be where he'd just throw away money and consume everything in his path; and then at the same time realizing that he was kind of a power player in a country similar to Iraq, thinking about how Iraqis are possibly reacting to United States involvement there. Taking the Iraq picture and looking at it from a different perspective was a real trip; it was a lot of fun.
I would recommend Absurdistan to people who can take a joke about contemporary politics. I would give Absurdistan a three, just 'cause I want to be a tough grader; but it was a lot of fun, even at 3.5.
"
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| A Chain of Voices |
Andre Brink |
"Cross Between Faulkner and Michener" |
See review |
"A Chain of Voices is the story of a slave revolt outside Cape Town in 1825. Slavery was legal in the Cape province 'til about, I don't know, 1836 or something like that. And there had been a rumor that on New Year's Day 1825 all the slaves were going to be freed. When it didn't happen, Galant, who is a colored slave in the employ of a family, rises up, kills one of the sons, wounds a bunch of other people. He leads an uprising, is captured, and brought to trial.
How does something terrible like this happen when the defendants, who were raised alongside the white - we would call them plantation owners, but settlers. What motivates that? And so I mean it may seem obvious to us in 2008 that there could be resentment. But Brink explores the story of how this happens from the ground up and he creates a whole world.
This book is written beautifully. All of Brink's stories are written beautifully and English is not even his first language. He's an Afrikaans writer, but writes mostly in English. He's like Faulkner, as I say, but much more accessible. I would say he's kind of a cross between Faulkner and maybe Michener on the accessibility scale with little Marge Piercy thrown in because there is political content.
I would recommend the book not just to people who are interested in South African, but anyone who likes historical fiction. Because Brink is a master of historical fiction. He gets inside this world of the past without seemingly any conscious effort. Although he's done obviously a great deal of research, but it just feels effortless that you're in that time. I'd give Chain of Voices, in fact Brink as a writer, five stars."
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| A Changed Man: A Novel |
Francine Prose |
Raises Questions |
See review |
"I've always been a fan of Francine Prose as a critic. I've always really enjoyed reading her essays in Harpers and elsewhere, and I'd never read anything by -- no, I'd read one book by her -- and so I thought I'd give this a try.
A Changed Man is about a man by the name of Vincent Nolan, who's a former neo-Nazi, and he leaves his life as a neo-Nazi and decides he's going to turn over. you know, change.
I think what I liked best about A Changed Man I thought was the set up. I thought it was a really interesting idea for a novel. I liked the dynamism of the book, I liked the way it kept moving, I liked the way the writer got into the heads of all the characters. I also found it entertaining. It was funny, and it was- in parts it was very funny and smart.
My major problem with the book was that I found it too scripted. In other words, I could feel the author on every page, and I found that all the characters were a little caricatured. They were a little wooden. I do have mixed feelings about A Changed Man because on the one hand, I enjoyed it, it was funny; but on the other hand, as I've said, there was things about it that really bug me.
A good book to grab you, to be funny, to be involving, give it a try. If you're looking for great literature, look elsewhere. I would give this book three."
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| A Child Called It |
Dave Pelzer |
"It Was Honest and Moving" |
See review |
"I wanted to read A Child Called It, because it was recommended to me, actually, by another teacher that worked at the school I was working at, at the time. And the children I've worked with have often been abused or neglected and that's kind of part of what the story's about. So he said it was really moving and touching, so I thought I'd read it.
It's a story of a young man named David Pelzer and he writes it himself. And it's about his youth growing up in an abused home. It was very honest and moving and I think it did a really good job of, like, going back to childhood and expressing kind of the feelings and frustrations and fears from a child's perspective; and then also from the perspective he learned as an adult.
I think it's a great story for everybody to read. I think it makes you very conscious of the things that may be happening right near you, of things that children in our communities go through, and I think it's just a really moving personal narrative.
I would give it four stars. It's better than your average book, but I don't think it's a great masterpiece of literature. It's a good read. It's really easy. It's fast. I did it in a night. I think it's really moving and it's a book I would buy - and I'm a big check books out of the library, because I don't always need to own them - but it's a book that I would purchase."
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| A Clockwork Orange |
Anthony Burgess |
Futuristic Britain |
See review |
"A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, I'm not - I believe we were recommended that book when we were in high school, also. I believe I was interested in it at first because I saw people wearing the t-shirts, and I would see the triangle with this guy's face; and it just seemed really weird and I didn't understand it.
A Clockwork Orange takes place in a futuristic Britain, a futuristic, bleak, Socialist Britain. I would definitely recommend it for someone in high school, definitely in college. I would think it was one of those things that you definitely have to read at one particular point of time. And one, just Alex's character, but then two, also basically the second half of the book and/or movie which gets into the states thing or trying to rehabilitate and how they're trying to rehabilitate, and whether it really does work and what is the end result going to be.
I would have to say overall I would give Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange five stars. The book has stuck with me my entire life. I've always looked on it fondly -"
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| A Cook's Tour |
Anthony Bourdain |
Bourdain Fan Raves |
See review |
"I chose to read A Cook's Tour because I am a huge Anthony Bourdain fan, as my other reviews on this site attest to. Anthony Bourdain was a chef in New York for several years who wrote this book, Kitchen Confidential, which was sort of an expose of the restaurant scene and the restaurant business. From the notoriety of that book, he moved on and got a show on the Food Network called A Cook's Tour, where the show basically followed him to various exotic locales where he would sample the local cuisine and just sort of drink in the culture and experience the world from a culinary perspective. The book is actually sort of a companion to the first season of the Food Network's show.
It's satisfying in a number of different ways. If you're a foodie, it's great, great food porn. If you're a travel junkie, it's wonderful travelogue stuff; and also, Anthony Bourdain just has this incredibly snarky, smart alecky humor. I mean he's not just a comedian all the time, and he's not just the super-serious food journalist all the time. He has different sides to his personality.
Sadly enough, I have actually not seen this season of A Cook's Tour, so a lot of the chapters in the book, I wanted to go back and watch the show so I could see what he was describing and see what he was talking about. I do think that for someone who has seen the show, the book would be more enjoyable because you have that perspective going in.
I would recommend it to anyone who loves food, anyone who loves travel, anyone who loves snarky, sarcastic humor, and anyone who loves Anthony Bourdain. I would give this book four stars out of five."
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| Adam's Curse |
Bryan Sykes |
No More Men? |
See review |
"I read it because I had read The Seven Daughters of Eve, and this is the other side of the picture. You can use the Y chromosome if you can find it to trace back through the family tree back to the Y chromosome Adam.
It turns out that the Y chromosome Adam goes back to only about 59,000 years, and that has to do with the fact that the sperm that a man carries in his scrotum are removed from the body because they need to be kept at a cooler temperature. But that means they're exposed to cosmic rays and therefore subject to mutations, which are almost always harmful.
Sykes believes that another thing that's happening is that the Y chromosomes themselves are deteriorating, that there are more and more of these 27 genes in the chromosomes that are being destroyed, so envisions a world in which - and he puts it at 125,000 years from now - there won't be any men left.
I think that I would recommend it to anybody who has some knowledge of genetics. I think I would recommend it to anybody, provided they first read a book about basic genetics before they read it. I'll give it four stars because three is neutral and I think it's a much better than neutral book. I would take a star off because of two things: One is the way he carries this idea of purposeful action of genes and being selfish a little too far, and because I think he's not a very good prognosticator about what will actually happen. And that's reflected in the very title of the book, Adam's Curse."
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| A Devil's Chaplain: Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love |
Richard Dawkins |
Confusing Atheism and Satanism |
See review |
A Devil's Chaplain: Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love
Richard Dawkins
"It's an anthology of all his works, but for various occasions, some of them presented elsewhere and some of them not.
Devils Chaplain has kind of a religious connotation from two opposite points of view, and people often confuse atheism with Satanism; but it turns out that that title comes from a quote by Charles Darvin where he's referring to the kind of book a devil's chaplain might around about the clumsy, chaotic nature or nature basically. He also touched on the subject of atheism, particularly in a letter that he wrote to his ten year-old daughter and is giving good and bad reasons for believing. You should believe in evidence and not because someone claims to have a revelation, for example; and he was very conscious of this concept that he had that children are true believers that need to be protected from forming beliefs for the wrong reason. I think the point is that he wants -- it's more important to him that she have the principles for arriving at truth rather than presenting her what he considers to be the truth. So it's quite an interesting grab bag of scientific and religious ideas.
I think what it showed about him as a person, that he was able to respect people who disagreed with him in the scientific field and present very good ideas for his disagreements with other people. I didn't find it as interesting as other books where he developed a theme from the beginning all the way through. I give it a four, I think, because I think it's a good book, but it didn't grab me quite as much as his other books."
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| A Dirty Job |
Christopher Moore |
"Laugh Your Butt Off" |
See review |
"I read A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore because I've read other novels of his. He has I think seven or eight now, and they're just hilarious.
A Dirty Job is a story about a young man named Charlie Asher who just lost his wife; and he becomes a death merchant, which means that he actually goes to where people are dying - unbeknownst to him - and actually takes their soul when they die and puts it in an inanimate object.
What I liked most about A Dirty Job was the intense emotions you can have. You can laugh out loud at this book. I mean, there are so few books that you would just literally laugh out loud while you're reading it. People look at you like you're crazy, but it's just that funny. And then there's times when you just want to weep because he makes things so sad and so emotional.
A Dirty Job is definitely a fictional book that has comedy elements, and I'm used to reading science fiction/fantasy - which I love. But for an author to pull me into this just plain fiction about someone being around in town, in San Francisco, definitely says something because it's not usually my genre. If you're having a bad day and you just want to laugh, pick up a Christopher Moore book; and you will just laugh your butt off and then you'll feel better. I'd give A Dirty Job five stars out of five stars because the writing is great, the characters are unbelievable. You'll never read characters that are so loving in the first chapter that you think wow, this guy's hilarious."
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| A Fine Balance |
Rohinton Mistry |
Caste System + Political Upheaval |
See review |
A Fine Balance
Rohinton Mistry
"I read A Fine Balance, and I was just looking for a book to read and this is a book that at least was nominated for Booker Prize, and so I figured it had to be worth my time reading it.
The book is about these four characters who come from entirely separate backgrounds, and it's set in India during the 70's when Indira Ghandi kind of forced her way back into power and then declared a state of emergency over India. So the four characters all come to live in this one apartment, and it's owned by this woman who, she is a really unique character set in that time period because she's very independent. She was widowed early, and chose not to remarry, and chose not to live with her family, and struggled for years to maintain her own separate life.
The book really explores the caste system in India in a way that explains - if you don't understand what it is, it explains - it makes you feel how horrible it would be to be in the lower caste; and it also really describes what it must have been like to live in that political upheaval.
I didn't like - and this is just a personal thing of the book - it didn't end happy, and I didn't like that; but the book wouldn't have made sense had it had a storybook ending. I would give A Fine Balance four stars."
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| Ahab's Wife |
Sena Jeter Naslund |
Historical Novel Set In By-Gone Era |
See review |
Ahab's Wife: Or, The Star Gazer
Sena Jeter Naslund
"Ahab's Wife I found out about I believe while browsing discounted remainder hard covers that were nonetheless sort of prominently displayed. I loved Moby Dick; I had a feeling that this book, Ahab's Wife, might appeal to some other sides of me - even other sides of me that were - or that are much better developed here in my early thirties.
What's unique, or at least very unusual about this particular novel is that it gives you the feeling of being an historical novel, not only set in a time period, but it gives you the feeling about being about a real person, a real historical character, by virtue of its tight connection with Moby Dick.
Perhaps as I read it, I felt that it could have been somewhat shorter. I've heard similar comments about Moby Dick and many other 500- to 1000-page or longer novels. It felt a little bit self-indulgent at times. But it's funny, I think that as soon as I say that, as soon as I realized that I have that feeling about the book, I realized that's actually a statement in favor of how well written the book is, because it actually gives you the feeling that this person actually existed and actually wrote this book.
I would give Ahab's Wife five stars, particular because it puts itself into a genre that existed many, many years ago. It really seems to stand as a 19th century work of literature, even though it was written at the very end of the 20th century, and that's a very unusual kind of achievement."
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| A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius |
Dave Eggers |
"Sentences With 15 Commas" |
See review |
A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius
Dave Eggers
"I originally wanted to read A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius because my friend said it was funny! And I do enjoy funny books, and I've read Erica Jong, I've read David Sedaris, and I thought, hey, that's what I need, something light.
The plot is about a young guy in his 20's who's suddenly - is himself an orphan and has to take care of his like nine year-old brother. He has to suddenly like become a single dad and raise someone else while he himself is in a very immature point in his own life. It's very obvious throughout the entire book that it was written by a guy in his 20's, because the sense of humor and the topic matter and just what goes on in his life is very much kind of the slacker - I don't want to say slacker, but the 20-something, post-grad lifestyle.
Perhaps the problem I had with the book is that I've never been a 20-something guy who has quite this intense personality as this writer. It is non-fiction; it is his own life, so you can't criticize him for having that life experience. But I probably never had to raise a child when I was 21, or I didn't have quite the same drive to be on MTV Real World. I didn't quite have the same obsessions as this guy, so maybe that made it hard to appreciate the book in its totality. I guess you want to finish it because you want to know if his life ended well. You want to know if it ever got easier, you want to know if his magazine ever launched and took off, you want to know if - I don't know, his brother makes it through junior high unscathed, unscarred.
Everybody says it's hysterical on the jacket cover. It is very original in that style, and there are some moments that are just hysterical; but I guess I had a hard time with sentences that have 15 commas, that just go on and on and these tangents that would take up several pages. It'd be like talking with someone, and something reminds him of another topic, and they just go on and on. I'm gonna give it a three out of five, just - part of the problem is I'm a little older than its targeted audience. It's probably much more popular with people in their 20's who can identify, and there maybe people who give it a five 'cause they find it funnier than me."
|
| A Hell Of A Woman |
Jim Thompson |
Masterpieces of Literature Disguised As Pulp |
See review |
A Hell of a Woman
Jim Thompson
"Jim Thompson is -- was a writer of pulp fiction novels back in the 50's. It's as though his novels are disguised -- they're like masterpieces of literature described as pulp novels.
This book is about a sort of a door-to-door salesman. He works for a shady outfit called Pay EZ Stores, which is a company that goes from door-to-door sort of preying on the poor by selling them junk for an initial low down payment and then hounds and harasses them. So Dolly Dillon is the character's name who works for Pay EZ Stores, and he becomes embroiled in this murder plot where he discovers this old woman who is -- has a beautiful granddaughter and is basically keeping her in the house enslaved, and they come up with a plot to murder her and take the money and rescue the girl. It's a first person narration. The character tends to go off on these digressions about how his life basically sucks. Slowly but surely, as the book comes to an end, he's sort of -- his personality is fractured, and he's sort of like -- he's two people, and he just goes completely insane.
I would give this book five out of five stars."
|
| A Little Princess |
Frances Hodgson Burnett |
Lessons Learned |
See review |
"A read The Little Princess, which is about a girl who, she was really wealthy and she went to a boarding school, by which her dad took her to, and she lived alone. And at the school, everybody admired her, but by the time her 11th birthday came, she found out her dad had died and all his money was invested into some diamond mines which failed, and he died of stress 'cause his friend ran away with all the money. The girl is poor, and she goes through all these touch changes. At the end she becomes rich again, and she finds out that that person was there all along and she didn't have to go through all those changes.
My favorite part was at the end when she became rich. She decided to go to the bun shop and said, "Is there any poor people out there that are really hungry? When they look really hungry, will you give them buns and send me the receipt to pay?" Yeah, I appreciate the lessons that she learns 'cause they meant a lot and they're just kind of cool to learn about.
I would give this book on a scale of one to five, a three and a half."
|
| All Over Creation |
Ruth L. Ozeki |
Environmental and Emotional Issues |
See review |
"I had some friends who very enthusiastically recommend "All Over Creation." "All Over Creation" is a kind of comic and dramatic novel about a young woman who's name is Yumi Fuller. People call her Yami. And she's kind of a prodigal daughter of Idaho farmers. She had run away from home. Her father, when she was young, her father now is older. She's in her late 30's. And he's growing ill and her friend called her back to help with his care.
This story collides with some environmental activists who identify the father as a kind of a guru, even though he's a curmudgeonly old conservative man because they have a seed catalogue that they send out and he puts these diatribes against genetic engineering and things like that. And then another person colliding on the scene is an old teacher of hers who had an inappropriate affair with her in high school when she was in high school. And he's a PR front man for the biotech industry.
What I liked about "All Over Creation," although it was very topical, very light and comical, it had a story that really worked emotionally. That Ruth Doseki spent time on the characters, made that very genuine.
I would recommend "All Over Creation" to anyone who is looking for a light, fun read, but not complete fluff, who wants to feel like they've been through something, when they read something. But, also have a lot of fun. I would give this book, five out of five stars. It's one of the best books I've read in a long time."
|
| All the Pretty Horses |
Cormac McCarthy |
Poignant...Keeps You Satiated |
See review |
"I'd heard the title of the book, and I was wary for a long time because I figured it would be just kind of like a corny best seller. So I was really hesitant to read it for a number of years, and then I had heard that actually, a close friend of mine said, "Ignore that. It's actually one of the best pieces of contemporary fiction."
The story is kind of like about these two young men that go into, down into Mexico. They kind of leave their hometown, I believe, in Texas for various reasons. I think they're unhappy getting older, just kind of getting restless; and they go down into Mexico to sort of have some adventures or try to make some money or something. All kinds of complications ensue.
I'd say it's a book that is less based around a really dramatic plot but more just about the style and quality of the writing. The protagonist in the story is kind of carried - he has this overriding love and sort of obsession and fascination with horses, which for me is like, I was one of those kids that was totally obsessed with horses. Like just the archives of any of my child drawings are just stacks and stacks and stacks of drawings of horses.
I did really like the writing, but at times I felt like it was a little bit too dramatic and caught up in its own poignancy. I think this book can have appeal to a variety of audiences if you need a lot of twists and turns and drama and action. Maybe I wouldn't recommend it, but there's enough to kind of keep you satiated. I would give it, well, I'm a teacher, so 3 stars makes it 70%. It's not a C book. I guess it's a B. I guess I'd give it a B, which is four stars."
|
| All Too Human |
George Stephanopoulos |
The Clintons- Candid |
See review |
"I decided to read All Too Human by George Stephanopoulos because I'm interested in the upcoming election, and so it's a very candid look at the Clintons in the White House from just a very unique prism.
The book is after Stephanolopoulos leaves the White House. The Monica Lewinski story broke while he was writing it, so there is this reflection of his time in the White House originally with sort of this happy ending; and it was just a very young, inexperienced team when Clinton came into the White House.
They are a power couple; they are clearly a team. It's a much more complex view of how you have to operate in the modern White House, the complexities, the deals you have to make, and his view and his view and his response to both Hillary Clinton and the President.
It's fascinating. It's really good. Now we are - I don't know - ten or 15 years later, and some of the same people are in this political scene, including the Clintons. So it's good; and I think it's just interesting to look at 10 or 15 years before if you're interested in political context. Plus, I mean Hillary Clinton, everyone wants to know about her, and here's another view of that. 4 stars for this book."
|
| American Pastoral |
Philip Roth |
Non-Fan Says "Roth's Best!" |
See review |
American Pastoral
Phillip Roth
"American Pastoral by Philip Roth is - I actually didn't want to read it because I don't like his books. I've read a few of his books, and I generally don't like them; but somebody told me it was different and it was better, so I picked it up.
The general theme is this guy who kind of has it all, the son of an immigrant; and it's like the American Dream and what happens when it goes wrong. Philip Roth is a very stylized writer I think, and he writes to a specific audience. And so people who like him, they expect that kind of writing.
What I liked about the story is that it's a little bit more of a departure than he's done before. His women characters tend to be really shallow, I think. This book is different I think in the sense that with his daughter, the character of Mary, he gets deeper. And maybe it's because she's not - he can't understand her - that he actually spends more time as a writer trying to illustrate her character. She personifies that age of the 60's when people were rebelling against convention. And I think everyone can - well, I can. Most people identify with this feeling of wanting live outside of society and reject these values. And why does everybody have to get married, and have children, and have these typical lives? I identified with that character. Even though the character's drawn in a kind of a negative way, for me it was kind of a positive character. Apart from the, you know, terrorism and stuff like that - I wouldn't want to identify with that - but the rejection of your parents' values and the questioning of what people should be doing with their lives, I identified with that."
I would give this book a five. I mean, it's the best Philip Roth book I've ever read, and like I said, I'm not predisposed to like Philip Roth.
|
| American Tabloid |
James Ellroy |
Period Piece With Guy Appeal |
See review |
American Tabloid
James Ellroy
"I wanted to read American Tabloid, in large part, because I've been a large James Ellroy fan for a pretty fair amount of time. It follows, sort of, three main characters, and it goes from about the late fifties, to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. And so it takes a very large picture and then uses a few main characters, to really interplay all of these various conspiracies that are going on around the death of Kennedy, around the Bay of Pigs, various personal interests, as well as, you know, group and institutional interests around those events, and really uses good characters. It uses characters that are really either super empathetic, and you love them, or you love to hate them. What I liked most was the picture it paints of that era. I was not, obviously, even alive in the late fifties, early sixties, but it paints a picture of the way I sort of want to imagine it.
The one thing I disliked about the book, and this is my own personal thing with Ellroy, is that they end up not being the full story. Like, in fact, this is part of a three-part series, and the third hasn't been written. Without being too simplistic, I'd say that, you know, boys will really like this book. I don't want to generate and say that women wouldn't enjoy it, but in general, it's like, you know, the - good fellas. It's like all the sort of movies that guys tend to like. I would give this book four out of five stars, and that's not because I don't think it's the best of the best books, but because I, personally, have a lot of trouble giving fiction five stars, cuz fiction is very subjective."
|
| America (The Book) |
Jon Stewart and the writers of The Daily Show |
Skewed View of American History |
See review |
"The reason why I wanted to read America (The Book) was pretty simple. I mean, I love The Daily Show. I think Jon Stewart is completely hilarious.
America (The Book) is a strange and completely skewed view - or guide - from America's inception, from our founding fathers, to modern politics; but the same time, basically throwing a blind eye to facts, logic, and truth. It's written in the same style of prose as it would be of a high school yearbook - or text - and I was like, "Oh, wow!" It's really well translated into the book; I was kind of wary of it at first, because that was just like a cheap kind of tie-in, but no, it's consistently funny. There's so many just silly things within history that can just be used as humor that I think they decided to take up the ball and go for it.
I wouldn't even just recommend this to liberals, 'cause the ideas I mean, it doesn't just - I mean, it skews basically everybody. I would recommend anybody just - anyone interested in politics that just kind of wants just kind of like a silly read, because at the same time it's like - it's silly, but I mean it's like a 300-book tome. It's like, there's a lot of stuff in there, it's like a lot of subtle, wry stuff in there. People that are - people that like comedy to maybe try _____________ maybe kind of like political humor. I would give America (The Book) three and a-half start out of five. Or four stars out of five."
|
| A Million Little Pieces |
James Frey |
One Man's Battle Against Himself |
See review |
"I wanted to read A Million Little Pieces because I'd heard so much about it. I heard about it from a friend who had read it and liked it a lot when it first came out.
A Million Little Pieces is about - is a true story about James Frey who is at the age of 23 such had been using drugs and been drinking alcohol for so long, he was an incredible alcoholic, that by the age of 23 he's pretty close to death if he continues with his addictions. So he checks into rehab, and this is - the book is the story of his journey through rehab. My grandfather, whose name was Noel - who I'm named after; I got my name from him - he was an alcoholic. When my dad - he's my dad's dad - when my dad was seven or eight, my grandfather was drunk in bed one night, smoking a cigarette, and fell asleep and burnt himself up in bed; and that's how he died. So having that alcoholism in my family, I wanted to read this book and see what it was all about.
I'd recommend A Million Little Pieces to anybody. You don't have to have been an alcoholic or drug user or to have had that in your family to get something from this book. I would give A Million Little Pieces three or four stars out of five. It's a great story, and it's written in a way that doesn't distract from that story being told. I think it's just an amazing story of one man's battle against himself and against his biggest problem."
|
| A Million Little Pieces |
James Frey |
"Writer's Embellishment Alright With Me!" |
See review |
"Well, the book was published as a memoir, about the author's struggle with addiction and time spent in a rehab center, and, the book is, you know, as it turns out, maybe a little more fiction than memoir.
I think the first thing that really caught my attention about the book was the writing style and how it's sort of written in a very stream-of-consciousness. After reading the book and it coming out that it was more a work of fiction that was based off of experiences the author had that he embellished, it actually didn't bother me. I know that that's like the reason the books had a lot of controversy, but kind of relate it to like your grandfather's stories and over the years how much of those have been embellished.
I think most people who write memoirs are taking something that actually happened to them and then making it more interesting for other people to want to read about it, so it didn't bother me."
|
| Anansi Boys |
Neil Gaiman |
"Gaiman's Best" |
See review |
"I love Gaiman, Neil Gaiman, and I picked up his Sandman, that was an epic. And I read American Gods because - well, I first read Neverwhere, and then American Gods, because it was like, wow, he's branching onto actual books.
So I saw Anansi Boys, like, it was a - I was working at Borders at the time, and it was on display, so I just decided to pick it up. A lot of things about like, you know, the comic writers I like is that they take these cliche characters and make like deep, rich backgrounds of them. So I love the characterization in the book.
Neil Gaiman has this whimsical style, and he'll be writing along and all of a sudden a joke will pop up. You don't realize it, so you just laugh. It just comes out of nowhere. It was just a very amusing, well-done read, and he goes into a lot of philosophy, like old gods and religion, which I kind of like, so it was a good book.
Everybody that was into Gaiman's Sandman, follows - fans of Gaiman, yeah. People that like mysteries, you know. It was a good plot twist. People that are into mythology, definitely; he mines it very richly. And fans of Douglas Adams and maybe Terry Pratchett would definitely be into Neil Gaiman's work.
I would give this five stars. It's better than American Gods. It flowed so well, I read it in like four hours in one night, you know, and it kept me engrossed the whole way."
|
| Ancient Ones |
Kirk Mitchell |
Book Mirrors Real Life Mystery |
See review |
Ancient Ones
Kirk Mitchell
"Well, I've discovered Kirk Mitchell, and I've been reading my way through a number of his mysteries. This is one that I found particularly interesting. Many of his mysteries are set on Indian reservations and deal with some - they're based in some event in recent history that is true, and he uses this situation as a springboard to write mysteries.
This one is interesting because if anybody remembers maybe 15 years ago, a skeleton was discovered in Oregon, and when the skeleton was unearthed, it was carbon dated and it was 9,300 years old. Well, so what? There are plenty of old skeletons around. Well, the mystery about this skeleton is that to the experienced anthropologist's eyes, it appeared to be Caucasian. So what on earth was a Caucasian doing in Oregon 9,300 years ago? Kirk Mitchell took this event and turned it into a mystery novel. He has a mysterious skeleton unearthed somewhere in the Northwest, and the anthropologist and the local Native Americans at odds with each other as to how it should be dealt with.
Kirk Mitchell includes extreme violence, and this novel is no exception; and he oftentimes draws on practices that Native Americans actually employed against their enemies. So his writing is not for the squeamish, nor is it fore anyone who wants to consider Native Americans as noble savages.
I think people interested in physical anthropology and the history of human migration would be very interested in this particular novel. Well, at least a four. It's one of my favorites of the ones he's written, so for me, maybe a five."
|
| Angela's Ashes |
Frank McCourt |
Sad Story Made Happy |
See review |
Angela's Ashes
Frank McCourt
"I had heard about it. Frank McCourt's - I'd heard about the movie; and it had to do with Irish history, and I knew it was a memoir - and I love history. So my mom's Irish, her whole family's Irish, so I just really wanted to read about the history of Ireland back when my grandparents would have been there.
The story is about Frank McCourt. He was born in Brooklyn in 1930 to Irish immigrant parents; and when he was about four, they moved him and his then two younger brothers back to Ireland because they couldn't afford to live in Brooklyn. They were very poor. It was about his life growing up in Limerick, Ireland.
He takes a very sad story and makes it happy. I don't think of it as a sad story at all, even though people are - when I tell them I've read the book - "Oh, it's so depressing!" No, it's not depressing at all. I mean, if you think about the story, it is; but the way he writes it in that typical Irish storyteller charm, it's very, very, very moving. His father had run off all the time 'cause he was an alcoholic, and that wasn't my situation, but you just - single mother trying to make ends meet, that's pretty much how I can relate to it.
I liked everything about it. I liked the way it was written, I liked the characters, I liked the way he described them and whether it was a good situation or a bad situation. Anybody who's a history buff, anybody who likes knowing that something is real that they're reading on paper. I would give this book five stars. It just teaches you about yourself, I think, a little bit."
|
| Angels and Demons |
Dan Brown |
Action Packed With a Dose of Reality |
See review |
Angels and Demons
Dan Brown
"The book is Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. I liked that it was so action-packed and also that it had a hint of reality in it, in that like all the different clues are things that actually exist, they're just a different way of looking at it.
It's this big adventure that's like going all around Europe, and it's really fast-paced, so it keeps you involved in the story line, and the characters are really interesting.
I think it's really appropriate for all levels of readers, maybe not young kids, but certainly like teenagers through any age of adults. It's an interesting read. I know a lot of different people who have read the Da Vinci Code and/or Angels and Demons, and liked it a lot."
|
| Angels and Demons |
Dan Brown |
"Better Than The Da Vinci Code" |
See review |
Angels and Demons
Dan Brown
"The book, Angels and Demons, is the original book written by Mr. Brown, of the same author of Da Vinci Code. A lot of my friends who were reading Da Vinci Code told me how great it was, but I'm the only person that likes to read things out of order. What I really liked about the book was taking true history and fictionalizing it. Only thing I disliked about the book was small print. I shoulda probably got a book with a little bit larger print. Compared to the Da Vinci Code, it is actually a better book for people to read. You're able to use more of your imagination. I would give Angels and Demons four stars out of five. I think it's a very well-written book. I think it keeps you caught up in the story, wondering where the next step is, even though you can kinda step your way through it. But you don't know the true answer, and you can definitely be surprised as the story unfolds."
|
| Angle of Repose |
Wallace Stegner |
"More Mature Of a Book Than I Usually Read" |
See review |
"I wanted to read Angle of Repose, actually in part because of the cover. The photo on the cover is - or the Penguins Classic copy that I had - is this view out of a little window of this steep, rocky mountainside that looks like somewhere in the Rockies. I've just always liked the Rockies; I've been out to Colorado a lot.
Angle of Repose is about a kind of an aging old man who's in a wheelchair. His name is Lyman Ward, he's a former college professor; and he has moved back to this house in Grass Valley, California, and is studying his grandmother, who is this amazing woman who came out to the west.
I read the book really slowly, and I appreciated a lot of different parts of the book. It wasn't a book that I wanted to rush through and get to the end to find out what happened. He discusses so much in his entire family history and his own history and his relationship with his son that it's amazing. There's a bunch of - it covers so much. I recommend this book to everybody. I always recommend it to my friends. It was - it's a lot more mature of a book than I normally read. I would give Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner five out of five stars. It's one of my favorite books; I think it covers so much. There's just a lot of history, a lot of relationships, how relationships between family and between married couples and work. I think there's so much to the book, and I loved it."
|
| Angle of Repose |
Wallace Stegner |
"Complicated Story" |
See review |
"I've read quite a few of Wallace Stegner's books, and I've always found him kind of a painful fiction writer. His style is awkward, and you can hear the struggling writer in there. He's a writing teacher - he was a writing teacher - and a very good one, according to what I've read. His nonfiction work is so rapid-fire and concise that I thought, well, he should be a good fiction writer; but in my opinion, he wasn't. So I decided to read some of the fiction.
Angle of Repose is a complicated story, but essentially it's a man looking back at his ancestors' lifes to kind of put his own life into perspective. So he dictates some sort of a memoir of his own life and also an examination of I think it's his grandmother's life; and he doesn't understand his own son and thinks his own son doesn't understand him and that people his age - his son's age - don't have any idea what life is really about.
There are a lot of things I liked about this book. I liked the way Stegner drew the characters because he's very sympathetic without having to say very much. This book ends up in Grass Valley, California, which is not far from where I live, and there's a big segment of the story that took place in Almaden Valley, in the San Jose area, also near where I live; and I loved seeing somebody from a way-distant time period roaming around in the areas that I know. I found it really hard to follow a lot of the time. He was experimenting with a time shift, trying to figure out how to tell a story from the 1840's in the 1970's, and some of the techniques he used left me feeling really disconnected. I'd give it a three."
|
| Animal Dreams |
Barbara Kingsolver |
Kingsolver Delivers |
See review |
Animal Dreams
Barbara Kingsolver
"Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver. It primarily focuses on one girl, I think she's about 30, and kind of her return to her childhood home, a little town called Grace -- more of a village in kind of the mountains of Arizona -- and she comes home rather reluctantly. She grew up there with just her dad as a single father, and he was not very emotionally available during her entire upbringing. He had to raise her and her twin -- no -- her younger sister pretty much by himself; and he had strict rules, and they just didn't really emotionally bond. So she returned rather reluctantly because he seemed to be either getting dementia or schizophrenia -- he was not doing well. So she came to sort of babysit for a while.
It's her journey of kind of reacquainting herself with her past, some of which she had suppressed, looking at herself kind of through the eyes of others. She's the kind of woman who -- or person, rather -- who's lived her life looking over the next horizon, never looking around or being comfortable with what she has but always willing to move and look for her happiness somewhere else. I kind of identified with that, because I feel like the last 15 years I've been doing a little bit of that. I've always been looking for something else. What am I missing? What else should I be doing? And it's only recently that I've kind of pulled back from that and I'm learning just be happy with what I'm doing and the grass is not always greener elsewhere. She had to go through the journey of learning that for herself.
I think this book is probably geared more towards women, and that's prime -- just 'cause it's written from a woman's perspective, and I think she writes it assuming some basic facts about women. She talks about her lovers, she talks about things like that that men won't necessarily grab onto, so I think it's definitely written for women. I was kind of excited just because I'd never read anything by Barbara Kingsolver and I'd always heard that other people I knew had really enjoyed her books. I would give this book 4.25 stars."
|
| Animal Farm |
George Orwell |
"Are We All Barnyard Animals Working For Greedy Pigs?" |
See review |
"Well, Animal Farm is a book that we were made to read in junior high school; but I like Orwell a lot, and I went back to it and read it again last year. Just for - the nature of the stories he tells are very powerful.
Animal Farm is an allegory for greed that's present in human society and the way it determines relationships, human relationships. It's about talking animals; so for a young person, for a kid, there is a parallel to Walt Disney I suppose, except it's obviously a lot more serious. Reading it as an adult, you don't notice the nature of the allegory so much. You're not so struck by the fact that these are talking animals because the rest of it is so recognizable. As an adult, as someone who's been out in the working world, you realize that in actuality we are all barnyard animals working for a bunch of greedy pigs. And so it's very telling.
I think all of Orwell's books are a sort of dark prediction of the future or a dark assessment of the present. I think people who are critical thinkers, people that want something that's fairly challenging - I mean, it's not the language that's challenging - but certainly thematically, this is not fluff. The cute animals are kind of misleading. It's thought-provoking. I'm tempted to give five stars to Animal Farm. It's a good one."
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| Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life |
Barbara Kingsolver, Camille Kingsolver, and Steven L. Hopp |
Eating Close To Home |
See review |
"I have long been interested as a teacher in the impact of nutrition on children, and I have been very involved in the food equity movement. Animal, Vegetable and Miracle was about how Barbara, her husband and her two daughters left their home in Arizona -- I believe it was Tucson -- and went to live on a farm that they had apparently inherited over years. And it had been quite run down; they had to go back and fix it up, and it was her family's year of literally as much as possible raising the food that the ate, meaning that they had to store it and keep it for other seasons when it was out of season, and that they made a firm commitment to eat as locally as possible.
When the author talks about why bananas are not considered a local food and the cost of getting the bananas here, I've taken that into consideration about how I eat and going to local farmers' markets. I liked how Barbara write about her -- both her enjoyment and her sadness at different aspects of living on a farm, so she took great joy in the gardening, and it was clear and evident from the richness of her writing.
I think this book is appropriate for anyone who has an interest in really going back to living a real life as opposed to a forced life of owning things because this book was about owning experiences. I would give the book five stars."
|
| An Inconvenient Truth |
Al Gore |
"Perhaps I've Been Part Of the Problem" |
See review |
An Inconvenient Truth
Al Gore
"I originally found out about An Inconvenient Truth when it was advertised as a movie, and I was familiar with Al Gore's previous book, Earth in the Balance. It's about global warming, the fact that global warming is going on right now. It's not just something that's coming up; that there is a potential for catastrophic effects.
I've sort of been neutral in terms of the industries I work with to the extent that industry is causing the problem - and perhaps I've been part of the problem. I felt that it tells the truth, and I didn't mind that it was "an inconvenient truth" to some people. It's very well laid out. I think it was targeted for the average person.
I think its main weakness, as I said before, is the fact that its author is identified with the Democratic party, which in turn is identified with liberalism, which makes it difficult for the people who regard global warming as an inconvenient truth to accept it.
I think this is probably the most powerful book that I've read, in the sense of the strength of its message, the urgency that it carries, and the number of people that it will reach. I think I would give it five stars because I think no other book that I've read on the environment has equaled this in power and impact."
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| An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It |
Al Gore |
Transcends Politics |
See review |
An Inconvenient Truth
Al Gore
"Well, I read An Inconvenient Truth some time ago, actually before I saw the movie. I saw the movie only recently. I've cared about global warming for a long time. As a science educator, I care about it very deeply.
What is An Inconvenient - well, it's about a very inconvenient truth, and it's bold and kind of very charming of Gore to use the word "truth" and not be afraid of saying that. It basically, as a book, is his attempt to take these PowerPoint presentations or versions of his PowerPoint presentation that he's been touring around with, which you get to see a lot of in the documentary, and put it into a book form.
I was interested in reading the book whether I would find out something new to me scientifically or whether it would just give me more of a perspective on what I already felt is pretty strongly - pretty clearly the case. Whoever you are listening to me here, who knows where you're coming from politically, but global warming doesn't have anything to do with politics in the end. One is a fool if one persists in pretending to oneself that it does. It's the reality we all live in.
The way I read it is much more personally his - essentially his faith, his orientation towards his family is, compared to a lot of people not very difficult but still very real and emotional and true experiences that he's been through, relating all that to how he deals with having been a politician and now moving into this sort of meta-politician. It's certainly attempting to reach more of a mass audience.
As I recall, he ends the book by, as you might expect, with a section, "here's what you can do, some online resources and specific ideas." It might be ten - a sort of ten ways you can help to save the planet kind of section. So overall, I think it's hard not to give this book five stars. This is a book that everybody has to read."
|
| An Italian Affair |
Laura Fraser |
Get Insight From the Author |
See review |
An Italian Affair
Laura Fraser
"My name's Laura Fraser. My last book is called "An Italian Affair." "An Italian Affair" is the story of what happened to me after my husband left me.
I was heartbroken and so in order to get over my feeling of devastation I went to Italy to recuperate. And there I kind of found that sorrow followed me wherever I went until I landed on this island called "Isquire." And there I met a french professor who spoke Italian. And we had three amazing days that just sort of brought me back to life.
We wrote to each other and then saw each other again, about every six months over the course of the next three years, in Morocco, London, San Francisco. One of my, one of the favorite moments for me in "An Italian Affair" was not in Italy. It was actually in San Francisco. And that had to do with falling back in love with my city. Because I had been very disillusioned because the dot.com explosion kind of made all the rents go up and all these artists had to leave town. And San Francisco really changed. And when my friend, the French professor came, I began to appreciate my city anew.
I think anyone who's gone through some sort of heartbreak just has to know that there's a good meal coming. I have read "Eat, Pray, Love," and a lot of people have compared "An Italian Affair" to "Eat, Pray, Love." In some ways, I feel like my book was the sort of spiritual big sister to that book.
I would recommend "An Italian Affair" to people who love food, people who love Italy, women's husbands just left them, and anyone who just kind of appreciates the sensual pleasures of sitting on an island with very little to do but eat, drink and swim, and make love.
I can't rate my own book. But I have to say that I love that book. I do. So, I'll give it all the stars."
|
| A Perfect Mess |
Eric Abrahamson and David H. Freedman |
Is Mess Useful? |
See review |
"I read A Perfect Mess because I just saw it at the library and I thought it looked interesting.
A Perfect Mess is about how mess, as categorized by a million different words, he has categorizes a bunch of different kinds of mess, can be sometimes useful in regular life and lead to positive outcomes. One of the examples he talks about in the book is about how penicillin was discovered because a researcher left Petri dishes out and some mold got in there, and that ended up being, you know, "Wow, that's penicillin!" As a messy person myself, I was hoping that I would get a lot more ammo from this book for, "Yeah! I'm messy because what he said!" But I didn't get quite as much as I was hoping.
I would give A Perfect Mess about three stars out of five. Ironically, what I didn't like about the book was kind of that, it approached the topic in a kind of messy way. It did a lot of anecdotes and took a long time to get around to so where are you headed with this?"
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| A Series of Unfortunate Events |
Lemony Snicket and Brett Helquist |
"Joi De Vive" |
See review |
"I guess stupidly, I got these books and have made my way almost 2/3 of the way through the series, reading them as sort of nighttime, to-bed reading, putting someone else to sleep because of the movie, A Series of Unfortunate Events.
They're about how these kids struggle a whole bunch of almost catastrophically bad luck situations, I guess, when their parents are killed in the beginning. That is pretty catastrophic. How they struggle through them and yet maintain their sort of not exactly a, well, yeah, I suppose their joie de vivre actually would be an accurate way of putting it. It's also of course about the villain, this Count Olaf, who continually tries to come after them and get their inheritance. In a growing way, and this is the little subthread that keeps you intrigued among others to go on to the next book, the author is this fictional character, Lemony Snicket, who's somehow directly involved. Then on the level of the language, these Series of Unfortunate Events book are quite reassuring because he's not afraid to use long sentences, and he's not afraid to enlarge vocabulary explicitly by using a word and then saying, "Which here means," and he doesn't give you a dictionary definition. He sort of enhances the context. The kid probably already figured it out. If the kid didn't, he makes a little commentary on the context that illustrates over and over to children who are reading these books how we go about learning words through getting them out of context, as opposed to hearing a word that sounds unfamiliar and panicking and saying, "Well, I can't understand you 'cause I don't know what that word means." This is a series of books you can recommend to anyone, from a novice reader who wants to start out and take awhile with that first book and then eventually get to reading the series as he or she gets older, to an adult.
These are clearly a five-star series of books."
|
| A Series of Unfortunate Events |
Lemony Snicket and Brett Helquist |
A Very Funny Series |
See review |
"A Series of Unfortunate Events tells the story of three orphan children whose parents died, and they get passed along and - ya know, from house to house and caretaker to caretaker - trying to figure out what to do, and bad things keep happening all the time. And I think it's about kids just overcoming those things. I found out about it and wanted to read it for the same reason. I was just stumbling around the library, down in the lower dungeon level, where the bums hang out sometimes, and I saw this book that caught my eye and just said, "Put this book down. You don't want to read this," you know, "If you're looking for a happy, cheery book, you definitely do not want to read this." The style of writing was very unique, in that, you know, the author oftentimes says stuff like, "And right now, just when you think things are cheery - Oh, heck no! That's not this book," ya know, "Walk away," ya know, "This is gonna go bad. You know it's gonna go bad, and you think they're gonna catch a break," and it's just - It's got a lot of irony and sarcasm in it.
You need breaks in between, if you're gonna read the whole series, because it kinda copies the same thing over and over, at times. Ya know, every book is gonna be about something that's gonna happen to the kids and them having to overcome it, and, of course, there's gonna be a happy ending, because it's a children's book. The grand majority of people would enjoy it. I think it's a good family book to introduce it. So if you wanna do something with your kids, this is something that you can both enjoy. The movie's good. Watch the movie. That won't spoil it. They actually did a good job just - the humor and the acting, giving you a good flavor for the book, but there's many books, so it's not like it's gonna spoil. I would give this book probably four and a half stars. It was just - It's a very fun, lighthearted book, entertaining, a quick read - so, appealing to a lot of people, I think."
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| A Series of Unfortunate Events |
Lemony Snicket and Brett Helquist |
Mom Loved Humor and Wordplay |
See review |
"I have a son. He's 11, and he's the one who wanted to read A Series of Unfortunate Events. The book is about the misadventures of a family, the Baudelaire family and these children are tragically orphaned in the first book, and end up being sent to live with an uncle who's only interested in their fortune.
I loved the humor, dark humor. Lots of wordplay. He has certain things that he does that he does repeatedly, like he'll use a phrase, like dastardly, and then he'll say, which, in parentheses, which in this case means, you know, evil to the core or something, something funnier than that. But he gives these definitions of words that acknowledges that a kid might not necessarily know what they mean, but that gives them a very funny definition in context.
It's probably geared towards a slightly younger crowd, but I can see how, you know, even a little bit older kids could get into it."
|
| Ask the Dust |
John Fante |
LA In the Early 30's |
See review |
"I chose to read Ask the Dust because I heard a lot about John Fante from college professors and also from other authors such as Charles Bukowski.
The book is about Arturo Bandini; he's an immigrant from Colorad - he's Italian, so he's from Italy - but he moved to Colorado, and it's a story just basically about his struggle with writing, addiction, moving to L.A., and just trying to live in Los Angeles around 1930, I believe.
I loved the story. I love how it just - it tells the time of an era about the early 30's in L.A. and how things were different, work was different, there was no rights for workers, and the boss had all the power. I really like that, and how everyone just seemed to struggle to get by. I'm a struggling musician, and coming to the Bay Area, trying to have my music heard and have everyone know who I am, I can relate to that definitely; and it's really hard, especially struggling as a musician, to make money off that. So I think writers and musicians have the same kind of goals and the same problems in live.
I would recommend this book to anyone. It has a really good story, it's - there's nothing, no bad language in it, everything is good. So young kids, older people like enjoy this book. It's almost like reading Hemingway. It's very simplistic to the point, but there's so much more in depth behind what he's actually saying. I would rate this book as five stars out of five."
|
| A Song of Ice and Fire |
George R.R. Martin |
Must Read Fantasy Series |
See review |
A Song of Fire and Ice
George RR Martin
"I'm not a huge fan of fantasy novels to being with and this seemed like a very fantasy, hardcore fantasy novel. Its 900 pages, four books so far, I mean it would be a lot of work. But, everyone who I talked to and who I trusted in terms of reading books said that this was a series that you had to read. It was a new kind of fantasy series that was just, it broke the mold and was really interesting. So, I picked up the first one and I couldn't down any of them.
So, the books take place in this fantasy world where magic has existed in the past, but it doesn't really exist any more. So, you've basically got a medieval kingdom in you know sort of the European mold. There's some rebels, some free-living people who live way up in the north and there's a wall, a huge wall like the Great Wall of China or something that keeps them from invading the rest of the kingdom.
But, basically 20 years before the novel starts there was a huge civil war and the king was overthrown and a new king was put in place. And at the very beginning of the first book, this king dies under suspicious conditions and basically, five different people claim to be the rightful heir to the thrown. And so there's a huge war that breaks out as a result of that and that's basically the background for the whole series.
It really is about relationships and you know intrigue and people scrambling for power in a vacuum basically. There's a little bit too much sex and violence for my liking, but I'm told that goes along with the fantasy genre. So, I would give this series, five stars out of five stars. They are well written. They're compelling. They keep you on the edge of your seat the entire time. I couldn't put them down, and I wasted four weeks of my life basically reading these books."
|
| A Song of Ice and Fire Series |
George RR Martin |
Good Introduction To Fantasy |
See review |
A Song Of Fire And Ice
George RR Martin
"I found out about the series A Song of Ice and Fire from a friend of mine who often recommended fantasy books to me, and I usually loved everything that he passed my way. So I ran out and picked it up.
This is a fantasy series that, in short, follows the lives of several different royal families and their struggles amongst themselves, amongst supernatural forces and everyone's sort of struggle for power. Every single character is relatable in some way. I would have to say that my favorite character was sort of the "bastard son" who was sent away. I thought he was kind of fascinating, and that sort of idea of being an outsider in the family was kind of appealing to me.
I haven't read a lot of books that actually gives you the perspective of the bad guy so much, that gives a human aspect to pretty much everyone. That's great; that's real life. That's how, nobody's completely one-dimensional and just bad. So it's great to see the softer side or the more vulnerable side of somebody who, from another person's perspective, seems like the devil himself.
I'd definitely recommend the series to people who may not know that they like fantasy novels, that may be put off by the whole fantasy title and wizards and dragons, and geeky stuff. Yeah, don't hold that to this series necessarily. This would actually be a good place to sort of explore and see if you like that, because it's so well written, the characters are so great - yeah, there are dragons. There are. But they're cool! I would give this series, A Song of Ice and Fire, five stars."
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| A Spot of Bother |
Mark Haddon |
"Reading the Book Made Me Uncomfortable" |
See review |
"I chose to read Spot of Bother largely on the credibility of Curious Life in the Incident of a Dog that I really enjoyed. I didn't ever read any other Mark Haddon besides Curious Incident, so I thought well, I like an author; I'll try their second book as well.
Spot of Bother is sort of a,I don't want to say "a day in the life", a period in the life of a British family that is dealing with a number of crises. The main sort of protagonist character is dealing with getting older and what he does in his transition from becoming a worker to a retiree and the pressures that are being put on him from his family.
I think the things that I enjoyed about the book are largely based on the same sorts of writing styles that I enjoyed in Curious Incidents in the Life of a Dog. Spot of Bother does a really good job of doing sort of like __________ where they tell the story from a lot of different perspectives; but instead of doing all the stories independent as chapters, the stories sort of overlap. So you almost get a sense of starting, going five paces, taking three back with a different person, going three or five more paces; and that style was very engaging.
I didn't like the fact that the book really paints pictures of people as pathetic. I mean really sort of as if they don't have any agency. They don't really have the opportunity; they sort of choose these different things in their lives. Reading the book made me very uncomfortable, and obviously the personal issues to deal with in the story is feeling like these characters are unsympathetic because maybe the cheat or because they do things that are dishonest. None of the characters stand out until about halfway to a third of the book. It was sheer perseverance that kept me reading up until that half of the book.
I would recommend the book to anyone that enjoyed Curious Life of Incident of a Dog. I'd also recommend the book to anyone that likes stories told in a multi-player format, in a way that they're being told the story from different perspectives. In this respect, stylistically, it was fantastic."
|
| A Student of Living Things |
Susan Richards Shreve |
"Real Emotional, but Plot Problems" |
See review |
"I picked up Student of Living Things on the new fiction shelf at the library, and it -- s a story about post-9/11 world, and I thought it might be kind of political. So I thought I would give it a try.
The book is about a family who loses a son in a terrorist attack in a post-9/11 world where terrorist attacks are very common in the United States. I loved how connected I felt with all the characters. I felt like it was really emotional, and at times I didn't even, you know, I didn't want to read it while I was on the bus because I wanted to be at home, like in a safe place, because it was really, you felt really connected with everyone in it.
I think someone who's looking for a political novel might not enjoy it so much. I think someone who would, would be someone who is looking for an emotional story. I give this book two and a half stars. I thought it was really good with character development and connection, but I thought that the plot could have been tightened up a little bit, and some of the threads were not really followed up on."
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| A Thousand Splendid Suns |
Khaled Hosseini |
Read It For Her Book Club |
See review |
"I am in a women's book group, and we had decided that what we would do is look at books -- not specifically one book, but we decide on a genre -- and then after we do that we specify a list of books and everybody reads one. And you can either do it in kind of a children's book report style or we will as -- if two or three of us read the same book, kind of share and banter about our opinions. So our area that we had chosen was about the Middle East, specifically because we wanted a better understanding of what was going on in Iran and Iraq surrounding the war.
The book surrounds two characters; however, it is mainly historical content, and it actually deals with issues of women's rights. The bigger focus, I would say, is it's about that defining moment in everyone's life when we make a decision and we stick by that decision, good, bad, or indifferent.
It went through a very crucial time period in the history of Afghanistan, and I think there were many historical elements that someone could get from reading that more so than from a history text to understand the time period and the relevance the western world played in shaping to some degree what happened in the Middle East.
I would recommend the book to anyone who had an interest in better understanding the politics of what's going on in the Middle East, anyone who has a sense of knowing our history, our culture. I would give A Thousand Splendid Suns four and a-half out of five stars."
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| A Thousand Splendid Suns |
Khaled Hosseini |
Is War a Character? |
See review |
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Khaled Hosseini
"After I read The Kite Runner and was aware that there was 1000 Splendid Suns, I thought, "Oh, there can't be anything as good as The Kite Runner." But someone recommended that I read it because it's more about women's issues and women's struggles in Afghanistan, and that was intriguing to me. So I went ahead and got it, and I'm really happy that I did.
It's basically about two girls that end up marrying the same man, and so the two women are not friends at all. They're enemies, and it's kind of their struggle become friends; and at some point they're almost soul mates - I mean not in the romantic sense - but they're really family with one another. All this tragedy happens, and the fact that one of them can continue to love and give herself to her family and the world, that was probably one of the best parts of that story. I don't know if it's background or foreground, but Afghanistan is at war, and it's - the author really gives all of this information about what's going on.
I would recommend this to people who, like myself, aren't always up on current events and don't follow what's going on in the Middle East. I mean it is a novel, but there's a lot of factual information about what's going on with the government and their involvement in war and how that really affects the day-to-day lives of families.
I would give this five stars. I loved the entire book. There's not one thing I can say about it that I didn't like."
|
| Atlas Shrugged |
Ayn Rand |
Free Market Politics |
See review |
"I read Atlas Shrugged because my best friend made me promise to read it and gave me a copy. It was when I was leaving for one of those kind of year abroad things, and he says, "You have to read this book; it's life changing." I said, "Wow. All right."
So at some time I started really associating with the characters. There was a couple of characters that you love or hate or you feel similar to, and I think once you started to get to know them - and she took a long time to kind of develop them - but that's when you could really - that's when you really wanted to find out. That's when I would stay up most of the night 'cause I couldn't put it down. I don't know if I dare say this, but the strong woman in it as well is pretty - you're always cheering for her. I don't want to say I related to her, but I guess I did.
______ book is really about is how markets and people that are outside of free markets things interact with each other, and what works and what doesn't work; and I also liked that - who is portrayed as causing all the problems are for me personally are the people that I don't think we need - and that would be kind of - just to put a short word would be politics.
I think I'd recommend it to anybody, because if you have the time to read it, you're gonna remember it; and later on, you're gonna hear and learn things that speak to you. I would have to give this book 4 out of 5."
|
| Atonement |
Ian McEwan |
Modern Book Reads Like Classic |
See review |
I first decided to read Atonement by Ian McEwan because I'd seen commercials or previews for the movie and not a big fan of the main actress, so I said, "Hey, that looks like a good story. I think I'll read it instead."
Atonement is set in the 40's in England, and it's about a -- it's based around a small family that's well-to-do, lives in the countryside; and the daughter witnesses sort of the first instances of lust between her older sister and somebody who's always been a friend of the family, but he's kind of a servant's son and interprets it wrongly, interprets it in terms of as him attacking her. It leads to this whole accusation and really changes everyone's lives really for the worst. What you hear from the plot really kind of tells the whole story, so you can't go into this expecting moment-by-moment changes or events; but what's interesting to me is when they show the boy's life in the future, Robby Turner, they show him in the war. He's over in France, and they're retreating, and it really shows - vividly, I think what's happening in a war, and the destruction, and the loss of human life, and how casual it becomes. For me, I guess that would be my favorite part is that part. It's just set aside from what you would think the story's about. It just seemed very vivid and real.
Reading Atonement, I would pick up other things by Ian Mcewan. I honestly don't know if I've read other things by them because I don't always pay attention to the authors unless it's a series that I really get into. I'm not sure if... I think it was written recently, kind of turn of this century, but it felt more older, kind of Jane Eyre kind of thing like that. So at first, it was a slow read; you just have to really let yourself get involved in the details. I feel for some reason that women would enjoy it more. I don't know, I think it's 'cause I know more women that read and have more patience for stories that aren't all about actions; but I'd recommend it to anyone. I would give it 3 to 4 out of 5 stars.
|
| Atonement |
Ian McEwan |
Regrets, I've Had a Few |
See review |
"I wanted to read this book because I had read a wonderful book review of it in the New York Times, and my father highly recommended the book; and he often has wonderful recommendations for me.
The book, as its title suggests, is really I think about atonement - one woman's atoning for what she perceives to be one of the greatest life mistakes she had ever made, and a real betrayal of her sister and a betrayal of love, the love between her sister and a man. I think everyone has a moment in their life that they wish they could go back and change if possible, change the path of their life, the direction. Of course, we're all sort of I think conditioned to think that regret should not be - there should be no regrets. People say, "Oh, you should live your life as if there are no regrets." And we all try that, I think; we try to live like that. But the great redeeming power of art, and of literature, I think, is a study of those mistakes that we've made, and a study of the feelings that we feel.
This book is, I think, a very contemplative book and a very powerful book; so anyone who wants to go through an emotional experience while also having a great time reading - I mean, it is; it's a wonderful read - should pick up this book, and I highly recommend it.
I would give this book five stars, absolutely. This is a masterpiece."
|
| At Risk |
Patricia Cornwell |
"Plays to the CSI Audience" |
See review |
"I wanted to read At Risk, because I've read a lot of Patricia Cornwell's novels and this one kind of involved - I've read most of her Kay Scarpetta series and this, actually, involved a new character and seemed like it was a very interesting story line so I was kind of intrigued just by the description of the book.
The book is about a detective who is kind of under the thumb of this very ambitious female DA and they get caught in a conspiracy to impede her political career. It almost plays to the CSI audience. It goes into a lot of forensic science, which is what I find interesting. There's a little bit of mystery and intrigue.
It did a really good job of developing characters in a short period of time. Like, I felt interested in what was happening to them; not just kind of to see how the plot of the story played out, but to kind of see how it impacted them or to try and figure out why people were reacting to things the way they were in the book.
I would give At Risk either three and a half or four stars. It's a real fun read. It's quick and easy and I like the characters. Totally worth it, but it just is, it's a light read, so it's not a book that's gonna, like, revolutionize your world."
|
| A Virgin's Guide to Mexico |
Eric Martin |
The Heart Of Mexico |
See review |
"I read A Virgin's Guide to Mexico because I've been spending a lot of time in Mexico lately and just kind of wanted to get a better sense of the heart of the country. I thought that Eric Martin did a wonderful job of portraying kind of young, hip Mexico. Eric is a San Franciscan. And he got a Fulbright Scholarship to Mexico for a year. And you can tell that he just really absorbed the music, the scene, the history.
In A Virgin's Guide to Mexico, it's a story of Alma who lives in Texas, and her mother is Mexican. And Alma is sort of a kind of unattractive, high school senior who doesn't really fit in under anywhere. And she's a bit rebellious. Her mother on the other hand is this, sort of perfectly great housewife who married very well, and is always wanting Alma to do you know just the right thing. Alma sort of, instead of going to Harvard takes off for Mexico in search of her mother's roots and you know essentially, what it means to be a Mexican-American.
She, in order to sort of get by cuts her hair, puts on men's clothes and is able to sort of become assimilated into the culture and able to travel freely, as a woman by dressing as a man because it's really hard in Mexico to go around by yourself as a woman. Meanwhile, her mother and her father are trying to sort of track her down. And so, it's kind of an on the road book and very much a book about Mexico."
|
| Away |
Amy Blooom |
20's Immigrant Story |
See review |
"I read Away by Amy Bloom because it was a birthday gift.
Away is the portrait of, it takes place in the 20's, 1925, and it's a portrait of a young women who emigrated from Russia. Her whole family, she's Jewish, and they'd all been slaughtered, and she was able to, she survived and feels she has nothing left there, so she emigrates to New York, kind of looks up a cousin who had sent sort of a broad letter out to anybody who needed shelter to come there, and it starts, it's her life beginning in New York City and her attempt to kind of gain independence but always having memories of her daughter that she had tried to make sure she got away from the attack, and she's not sure if she did, if she didn't, is the alive? So that question is kind of ongoing throughout. So this is her life in America.
There's not a lot of books out there, at least that I've come across, about life in the 20's, and this was life in the 20's, not the typical gangster/prohibition/flapper side of it, but rather someone struggling to work, and a woman, and generally you'd think of that long ago that women can't be independent, you know they're always gonna fall into the - they're either high-esteem society women who don't work or they're street people. So it's interesting to be able to see that and how her relationship towards men at that time, but she ends up traveling. I don't want to give away the plot, but she ends up traveling across America and all the way up to Alaska, and it's really, what's interesting about the way the author writes this is she tells about how the main character kind of gains all these friendships and everything that they go through, but when you get to the point where you start caring about the person, the character, all of a sudden the main character leaves and continues on her journey. But the author takes a page or two just sort of segue into this other person's life, the friend that she had made, and kind of tells us their fate and what happens to them. So I thought that was really interesting; you generally don't get to see this other person's character because the author usually considers them nonessential.
The romantic side of me, if that would be the right word, would always like to see the main character get what they're seeking or find exactly what they want, and that doesn't happen, so that can be potentially disheartening, but instead she finds this whole other life and she finds love in a different avenue.
I would give this book four stars out of five."
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| Away: A Novel |
Amy Bloom |
Historical Fiction Immigrant Story |
See review |
"I teach school, and so it's hard for me sometimes to read full novels during the school year as I re-read all my books that my students read. So a number of years ago, I stumbled just by chance -- this is maybe seven, eight years ago now -- upon one of her earlier collections of short stories; but there was something about her writing that was stunning. An ability to, as I guess great short story writers do, draw you in right away. Her characters in all the short stories that I had read were contemporary, urban people kind of in my age and demographics.
The other part, too, is that in her writing she brings a level of sexuality or eroticism in a way that is not -- it blends in. It's not kind of a tawdry kind of thing to be tossed in for just to sell books and stories. It's a departure from her earlier writing; it's a full novel, but this is actually a story set not in modern times but set in the kind of mid- maybe early to mid-1900's about a young Russian woman who comes to the United States. It's an immigrant story. It's coming to America, coming to New York, struggling; she had left her home in Russia where her family was killed in a pogrom. She was led to believe that her daughter had died as well.
She comes to America and is immediately thrust into sort of the kind of idyllic -- it sounds kind of funny -- idyllic kind of urban immigrant life in New York. She finds out from a neighbor of hers, or a cousin, I believe, who comes to America as well, that her daughter in fact is not dead but is alive. The rest of the plot is her attempt to get from New York to Alaska to find her daughter.
I really found it to be an outstanding book. In fact, I like to sort of predict sometimes what might be among the nominees for Pulitzers and National Book Awards and things like that. This was among the finest books I've read in the past year. I'd rate this five stars out of five. I thought it was outstanding."
|
| A Wedding In December |
Anita Shreve |
Got Secrets? |
See review |
A Wedding in December is a book that I wanted to read because I'm in a book club and it was our selection. Plus, I love Anita Shreve; I'm actually one of the ones who recommended it. So that's my reasons for wanting to read that book.
The book is about a group of people that reunite for a wedding of some high school friend. They, over a time, lost touch and found each other again and decided to get married in a friend's inn; and I think it's in New England or something; and they get snowed in. And turns out that the woman is dying, and so they're trying to get married and preserve whatever little time they have together. But while they're locked in this inn because of this snow storm, they start finding out things about each other, who has secrets. The innkeeper's been in love with someone from high school, who is happily married; and they're both there. Just a lot of secrets and lies. And they get to know each other a lot better than they thought they would.
I enjoyed it, but I thought it had a really slow start. And other Anita Shreve books that I've read start right into the story really fast, and they capture me from the beginning and I don't want to put it down. This one I had to put down a few times. I like the aspect of reunited with people that you haven't seen in a long time. I'm kind of going through something like that in my life now, and it's a really - it's just a really interesting thing to go through.
I'm not so sure who wouldn't like the book; but I would recommend it to anybody who's an Anita Shreve fan, but also for book clubs because it made a lively book discussion for us. I would probably rate this book a three, three stars; and the reason being is because it took a while for me to get into the book. And if it wasn't a book club selection, I don't know if I would have finished it.
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| A Year in Provence |
Peter Mayle |
Travelers Tale Worth Second Read |
See review |
""This book was given to me by a boyfriend at the time that I read the book, and I actually thought that it was called A Year in Provence. I was so un - not ready for this book. So then I figured out that it was A Year in Provence. He gave me the book to read probably because he had heard it had gotten rave reviews as a good traveler's book, and he knew I liked to travel.
A Year in Provence is about an Englishman's time in France. He interacts with the locals as an Englishman, and he learns then the ways of the French. It's a humor that is maybe sweet and refreshing; maybe that's how I would describe this, or - and sometimes it can be punchy, but not always. It's definitely for a reader who is interested in travel or interested in encountering other cultures and respecting those cultures while also maintaining the sense of your own, and perhaps at the time that I read it, I didn't appreciate that as much. I think now - I read it about five years ago, actually maybe ten years ago - and I re-read it recently. And it struck me very differently than it did ten years ago, and that's probably because I have come to appreciate that kind of thinking and that kind of writing.
I would also recommend this book to people who like maybe just light-hearted writing; but there's a part of it, too, that's poignant, so it's not simply light-hearted. Ten years ago, I probably would have given this book maybe a two or a three based on my own - just based on how I understood the world at that time or what I was interested in. Now, though, I think I would probably rate it at least a four. It's good writing, its smart writing, it's funny; and if you're interested in travel and the lessons that we can learn from other people as travel, it's definitely a good book."
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| Baby Bargains |
Denise Fields |
New Mother's Best Friend |
See review |
Baby Bargains
Denise Fields
"Well, I chose to read Baby Bargains when my son was nearly born. I found it to be just the best friend to have around for my shopping experience.
Baby Bargains goes through items like cribs, and car seats, and strollers, and there's sections on nursing clothes and all the different tools for feeding, and even childcare options, actually. It's a book that is released regularly so that the information stays very current. It can be difficult to get safety information about things like car seats if you don't have a source like Denise and Allen Fields to tell you that you really should never buy a car seat from a thrift store because you never know if that car seat's been in an accident and is maybe not as safe as it could be.
I would recommend this book to any pregnant mom or parents who are expecting a child, especially their first child, because you really don't know what to expect and it's difficult to make decisions about preparing for your coming baby. I would have to give this book five stars because I could not have -- I absolutely needed it in the process of preparing for my baby."
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| Back When We Were Grownups |
Anne Tyler |
"Like a Mid-Life Crisis" |
See review |
"I picked up Back When We Were Grownups off of my friend's bookshelf. I went over for dinner, and I consider her my own personal library, so I picked up that title and a few others. I read the back and it seemed interesting.
Back When We Were Grownups is about one key character; her name is Rebecca, she's middle-aged, she's 53, and she wakes up one day and kind of realizes, "I'm not living the life I should have lived. I'm not the person I should have been." So she goes through and analyzes everything she's doing now, everything she could have been, starts reminiscing about college and her boyfriend then and thinking, "What if I'd lived with him? What would my life be like now?" It's basically a woman's mid-life crisis.
The whole story is her feeling like, "This isn't the life I should have lived," and she gets to a point where she has so much conviction that she should be doing something else, and she starts picking up old hobbies, and she starts reading books that she had read in college that she was gonna write a report on, and then she even gets reacquainted with her old college/high school sweetheart, and it seems like she's totally going down this different path, and she's made this decision, and then all of a sudden, it's like she regroups and is okay with her life. As at the end of any book, it always seems to happen really fast; it was kind of unexpected that all of a sudden everything's back to normal, and she's comfortable. So it's really like this mid-life crisis. She freaks out for awhile, what if, what could have been, and then just kind of falls in love with her own life again, just being around everybody in her family who for a while she was frustrated with, and, "Why are they here? Why are they dependent on me?" and just re-falls in love with her life.
It just seemed to have an awfully quick __________. [laughs] I would recommend this book really to anyone. Being that it's from the point of view of a woman, perhaps a man would have a hard time reading it and all the differences between men and women, they'd perhaps some would stereotype her and not have any patience for her story, so I guess it'd cater more towards women.
I would give this book three and a half to four stars out of five."
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| Bangkok Haunts |
John Burdett |
Seedy Underworld of Bangkok |
See review |
Bangkok Haunts
John Burdett
"I had read the previous two installments of the Bangkok Trilogy by John Burdett and loved them and essentially was waiting 'til this one came out.
This book is a murder mystery, but like the previous books, it's got some twists to it. So the woman who has been murdered is a young prostitute who works in a brothel, and she also happens to be the former lover of the cop who is investigating the crime. She also happens to be a ghost, who turns around after her death and continues to haunt the different men that she had relationships with.
The series follows the character Sonchai Jitpleecheep - I believe is how you say it - who is a copy in Bangkok's Eighth Precinct, which is so happens to be the place where most of the red light district brothels are. Sonchai is also the son of a woman who owns a brothel, and so he has the interesting relationship with the underworld of Bangkok.
What I liked best about this book is the way John Burdett is able to just completely immerse me in Thai culture and this seedy underworld of Bangkok itself. I don't think there was anything I didn't like about this book. I read Burdett's books for pure enjoyment. It's my break from literary studies so to speak, and not that there aren't literary aspects to the that are done very well - I mean the stories are engaging and the characters are well painted - but for me, it's just fun reading. I would give this book a four stars out of five."
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| Bats at the Beach |
Brian Lies |
Bat Families Not So Different |
See review |
"Bats on the Beach is about bat families enjoying a beautiful day at the beach; and because they're bats, they're going at nighttime and enjoying the same type of day that any family might enjoy. It just happens to be at night, and they're eating bugs instead of snow cones and picnicking on all kinds of interesting things. So it's a lot of fun, and you learn a little bit about bats, and I think demystify something that might be scary to other kids.
When you have children that you read to every day, you tend to read books, in particular favorite ones, over and over again; and that's one book that I don't mind reading over and over and over again. It's got beautiful illustrations, and the written word is very beautiful and prose like. My youngest isn't quite one yet, but he enjoys eating books. My daughter is four and enjoys reading books tremendously. I think they like the part at the very end when the bats come home after a day at the beach and they're really tired, and they're snuggling up with their parents and going to sleep, which is essentially what you're doing usually when you're wrapping up the end of the book, which is sweet.
It's a really great book on many different levels. The illustrations are incredibly beautiful, and even without the fun text that tends to be rhyming and very clever, you can just look at the pages and enjoy it. So it's a great book for all ages. I'd give this book five stars out of five for sure."
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| Beach Road |
James Patterson and Peter de Jonge |
Violent, Contemporary Page Turner |
See review |
Beach Road
James Patterson and Peter de Jonge
"Beach Road is about a murder, and it's kind of an execution-style murder, and it's, I guess, a classic "Who Dunnit". What I like most about the book is the way the writers - I believe they are co - yeah, co-writers, do the point of view. The one thing I disliked about Beach Road is, it's pretty violent. Lots of people die, and the deaths are bloody. It gets - the contemporary world - It gets it right. It's as if it were written last week - the music, the tattoos and piercings, the names of current figures in politics. I mean it has Bill Clinton - the ex-president - shows up at some rally. So it rings true right now.
I would recommend Beach Road to somebody who likes a good page turner. It's - to the end. It has twists and turns. You think, you know, you think its ending. Something else happens. It's full of surprises. I would give this book - If five stars is the best, I would give it four. I think it has some stylistic problems, there - kind of howlers, you know, that need some editing, but it's real close to a great read. It's a page turner. It's entertaining. The dialogue is - it really rings true - so I'd give it four out of five."
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| Bel Canto |
Ann Patchett |
Loosely Based On Real Life Events |
See review |
"I think I read that it was a winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction, which is a prize in England awarded to female authors. I'm pretty sure that's like how it caught my eye. I'm now a big Ann Patchett fan, though.
Bel Canto is loosely based on a true crisis about ten years ago in Peru; there was a bunch of dignitaries and foreigners taken hostage at like an embassy party. For nine months, these very unlikely roommates end up becoming closer and closer as the standoff just drags on and on and on, and the government doesn't actually storm the house. It tells the story from both perspectives of hostage taker and hostage, and you end up seeing that after the first few weeks when the, whatever they are, the soldiers start not wearing their hats. Half of these soldiers are teenagers; a couple of them are girls. They're all like from such poor little villages, some of them haven't even like watched TV or used a bathtub in their life; and it really kind of opens your mind to the situations that even create these paramilitary groups, that why these things even happen.
The most beautiful part of the story is how, when the initial violence stops, once they've just been corralled in this space for months and months, people start making friends with the enemy. There even are some love stories between like soldiers and hostages, and people that you'd never expected to care about each other actually start caring about each other. When it comes to the end when maybe their situation will finally be put to a stop, the very people who were afraid of the soldiers in the beginning are actually hoping to protect them.
It's not a fast-moving book, so I'd recommend it to people who really like authors who include a lot of introspection. I think the Epilogue was unnecessary. When the compound is stormed, that should be the end of story. I would still give it five stars, just disregarding the last two pages. I still loved it."
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| Bel Canto |
Ann Patchett |
"You're Going To Love It, Or Hate It" |
See review |
"It's about a poor nation which is trying to woo a Japanese industrialist, and the only way that they've been able to - 'cause he's sort of a recluse and he has very specific tastes - the only way that they've been able to woo him and bring him to this country is to hire his favorite singer to come to a birthday dinner. So it's a birthday evening event, and all hells breaks loose. They are held hostage.
I do think you're either gonna love it or hate it because the subject matter is very, very specific, and it's about - it has a lot to do with music; the person who wrote it obviously did their research, and they know a lot about music. Music is like a language, so if you speak that language, then you can read the book. If you don't speak the language, it's not going to probably engage you in the same way.
I wouldn't say it's totally gripping, I think it loses momentum about halfway through; but it's a romance, and I have a little soft spot for romances - not on the sort of florid terms, but when there's a genuine attraction that by definite is a difficult attraction, I like that.
I appreciated that it was about music and that the focus was about music. I felt like some of the peripheral story was a little weak. The writing is good, but it's not amazing I don't think. It's unbelievable, but I'd give it a 3 star rating."
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| Beloved |
Toni Morrison |
It's About A Lot Of Things |
See review |
Beloved
Toni Morrison
"I wanted to read Beloved because I like Toni Morrison. But also because this is like one of her greatest books, and also, I think the subject matter is, it's this kind of like the wounds of slavery. So as a political person I would want to read a book like that.
The book, it's hard to say what the book is about. You can say it's a ghost story, it's about the affects of slavery on generations of people, it's about haunting and not being able to let go of the past and how it affects you. It's about a lot of things. It's not the kind of book people can relate to on a personal level, but in terms of like the big, human emotions, you know, fear, and anger, and hatred. The way that Toni Morrison writes is she evokes those emotions in you.
It's funny; the kind of people who should read this book might never do it, but I think it's a great book for people who are not afraid to feel emotions. I think anyone who really wants to get a deeper understanding of American history and slavery rather than just the typical stuff that's taught to you in school, that kind of person should read it. I would give this book five stars. I mean, Toni Morrison, this is one of her best books, if not her best book. I think it is her best book."
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| Beowulf: A New Verse Translation |
Seamus Heaney |
Classic Adventure |
See review |
"Beowulf for me has always been a favorite story of mine. It's a story I actually encountered as a really young boy, and I encountered a children's version of Beowulf. I was fascinated by the idea of a monster lurking out in the hall. What's funny for me is that actually I always thought Beowulf was the monster; and I encountered it again as an adult, and there was a lot of hoopla that came out when Seamus Haney, who is a noted Nobel laureate who was teaching at Harvard, did a new translation of Beowulf that supposedly sort of modernized it into more streamlined English prose.
There's so many touchstones in Beowulf that we see in so many other stories, including things like Tolkein's work and other modern fantasy genre work. So most people probably don't know that the names of the dwarves in The Hobbit are all taken from Beowulf.
The story of Beowulf is a classic adventure, and it's really great because it's the first story or epic written in old English, written around the year 1000; and it follows the story of a hero, Beowulf, who essentially has three great encounters, and that's really what Beowulf is about. The first is he sort of arrives as a professional monster killer. There's this creature Grendel that is terrorizing the hall of a king, King Hrothgar, and Beowulf comes and takes on Grendel. It turns out Grendel has a mother, and that's the second encounter that Beowulf has. Then having defeated these two, Beowulf is made king in his own country; and later in his life he encounters a dragon, which he manages to kill but which also kills him in turn.
The Seamus Haney translation of Beowulf I think is an accessible translation for anybody probably in high school and older. Maybe a younger advanced reader could get into it. I'd give it sort of five stars as a scholarly work, probably four stars as just a standalone, entertaining read."
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| Best Friends |
Martha Moody |
Surprising Story |
See review |
"I read Best Friends by Martha Moody 'cause it was a gift from a friend. That's how I get most of my books.
Best Friends is a story of two women, and it kind of traces their friendship from when they first meet in college, and they could not be more different, to later on in life when they both have kids, I'd say probably 'til they're in late 30's I think is when it goes to, and it's just about their friendship and their dynamic that really they're from such different backgrounds. She's from the Midwest, Claire, who's- it's kind of told from her point of view, and her friend Sally, who's from a much more affluent family in Hollywood, and it's really just kind of how they interact, and Claire's, how she idealizes this rich, glamorous family.
This book was very surprising, 'cause when you hear a title Best Friends, you just think it's oh, the normal trials and tribulations that women go through, and then they're friends, and then they're not, and men and all of that, but this brought in a lot more of this other girl's family, and again the Hollywood dynamic. It turns out later that her dad's involved in a rather risque business which she didn't know about growing up, and just the whole concept of it was kind of was two stories. It told their friendship, it told the main girl's point of view, her live back in the Midwest, she becomes a doctor, and then told her friend's family, who again Hollywood, money, brother becomes a drug addict, just a lot more drama. So you kind of had both thrown in there, but it's always nice reading about people who can maintain their friendships through all sorts of their own personal hardships and everything like that. I find that very enriching to read about.
I actually really enjoyed this book, so if there's anything I didn't like about it, I don't think there really was. Again, I mean the Hollywood part was rather unexpected, so it's all of a sudden this harsh, seedy underworld, and I could see that that would put some people off, but I thought it was rather interesting. It's a different twist to the normal stories of friendships.
I would say this book definitely is geared more towards women, but really women of any age. I would give this book three and a half to four stars out of five."
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| Biodiesel: Growing a New Energy Economy |
Greg Pahl |
"Reads Like A Well Researched Magazine Article" |
See review |
"I had heard about Biodiesel from my sister, and she had taken a bunch of diesel cars and actually converted them so you could put straight vegetable oil into them and just go to like the back of a restaurant and collect their used vegetable oil, filter it and put it in your car. So that's how I found out about it, and then probably in the last couple of years I have a bunch of friends who started using biodiesel, too.
Biodiesel, the subtitle is Growing a New Energy Economy, and in it the author covers everything -- the basics from what is biodiesel, how is it made, where is it produced. He kind of spans all the different countries and the politics around production of biodiesel versus petroleum diesel and different energy sources.
It really reads like a long, well-researched magazine article. I lend the book to my mom, who had almost no previous knowledge other than she knew that my sister and I both drove these weird cars that you could run on vegetable oil, and she got really into it. She did have a few questions along the way, but I think it's fairly accessible. Some of it gets a little bit technical, but there's a glossary in the back and there's different ways that he repeats himself or explains things so that you can understand it.
So probably anybody interested in global warming or just wanting to know what biodiesel is or know more about diesel cars would be interested in the book. It was written a few years ago, so just the way the industry is, it's already a little bit outdated because things have been advancing so fast with the development of biodiesel; but it's really meticulously footnoted and you can't really find fault with the author for any of his research. I would give it a four out of five, probably just because I would have liked a little bit more anecdotes just to make the book a little more personable; but in terms of information, there's tons of information in it."
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| Black Boy |
Richard T. Wright |
"I Don't Like It" |
See review |
The book Black Boy by Richard Wright, it was, I believe it was on the recommended list of literature. I'd always heard about the book; I definitely wanted to read it so I could get that perspective. Unfortunately, Black Boy by Richard Wright has to go on my list as one of my least favorite novels that I read.
Basically, what the book is about is a black man growing up basically as he started from a boy, through his teenage years, through being a man. But essentially, throughout the entire time, he's been treated as a boy; and no matter how much older he gets, his maturity never really comes to the level of actually being a man. His attitudes were essentially very negative towards women. Basically just straight-up misogynistic.
I would assume black men would probably enjoy it; I would think that they would have a greater sympathy for it than I did. Women might appreciate it, too; for me as a woman, I despised it personally. It was an interesting insight into how men think, but I just really resented his viewpoint. It's always brought up; it's always lauded as a great work, and I suppose it is for some people. For me myself as a black female, it just really brought out a lot of negatives that I have in just like basic interactions, and I just really could not sympathize with the character. It's basically just a one-star book for me. I could see someone reading it, and maybe someone else could really pull something out of it. For myself, I don't like it and I honestly couldn't recommend it to anyone in my circle.
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| Black Like You: Blackface, Whiteface, Insult & Imitation in American Popular Culture |
John Strausbaugh and Darius James |
Cultural Give and Take? |
See review |
"It's about blackface in America, which I just thought was one of the weirdest things ever. It was actually I think the most popular form of Western entertainment for well over 100 years; and this is white people pretending to be black people for the entertainment of other white people 'cause black people weren't allowed to watch it or participate in it.
Though the first talkie, Al Jolson in the talking scene was him in blackface singing "Mammy;" and then there's of course Shirley Temple movies. She's always in blackface tap dancing with Mr. Bojangles. So it's like this very odd cultural thing that has really fascinated me. I've actually read several other books about this. Interesting thing about this one is he sort of talks about not -- he talks about the racism of it, of course, but he also talks about how it actually was sort of a cultural give and take; and he talks about how when Irish immigrants came over here, they often were found themselves as virtual slave labor alongside blacks. They taught each other stuff. Actually he says he thinks that's where tap dance came from, this sort of Irish teaching the buck and wing to black people, and black people taking that and putting their own spin on it. So that was the interesting thing about this book.
I would have liked it better I think if he'd done a history of it, but it was mainly his breezy take, I guess you would say. He goes off on tangents; it was entertaining to read, but I would have liked to have more of a, I guess what would be a scholarly approach to it. I would give this book three stars out of five."
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| Blink |
Malcolm Gladwell |
"Good Food For Thought" |
See review |
Blink
Malcolm Gladwell
"I'd heard about Blink from the popular press. It's very widely written about. The author had written a first book called The Tipping Point, which was really well received. I haven't gotten to that one yet, and I think I was reading somewhere about a speech that he was giving and how fantastic he was anyway, so the press was overwhelming, I had to read it.
The book is - the hypothesis is that we tend to try to arrange, gather, analyze too much information to make our decisions on in business life, but probably daily life as well, and so it's really got the hypothesis that you can make information - or you can make decisions with a lesser amount of information. The key is knowing what information you need and analyzing it correctly.
It was casually told, informally told, again not too much academic research. Very easy to follow. But more important than that I think were just the examples that they used, were things that we could relate to. I would recommend Blink to somebody who likes to keep up with the popular business press; definitely people who are looking for - people who feel really frustrated by the amount of time they're taking in making their decisions. I'm not sure if it's going to change your core human nature, but its good food for thought in terms of analysis paralysis, so maybe all those engineers out there, it might be a good read.
I think I'd give Blink a five out of five. It's a really quick read, it's a fun read, but it also gives you some information and insight to work with. So definitely, it's a great one I'd recommend checking out."
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| Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking |
Malcolm Gladwell |
Helpful In Decision Making |
See review |
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
Malcolm Gladwell
"It took me a while to start it, but once I finally did, it was so interesting I finished it really fast. It's a non-fiction book about how our snap judgments can often be our best judgments, and in the blink of a moment a very quick decision or a quick judgment is often the one that makes the most sense. Does it make me more aware of how I react to things? Yes, I think it does. I think that after reading Blink, I am more likely to trust my instant judgments, and I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I'm sure there are some circumstances where you shouldn't do that, but sometimes it's probably good.
I think I would have to research more until I can fully agree with all of the arguments. Just with any non-fiction book, I think that that's a good idea; but I'm probably not gonna take the time to do that. [laughs] So the only thing I don't like about it is that I have these viewpoints now that I'm not really willing to research in order to justify, but I will incorporate them into my frame of living.
Anyone interested in psychology or sociology, those kinds of things, would be interested in the book. If anyone else had read another book by him called The Tipping Point, I think they -- if they liked that book they probably would like this book, too. I would give Blink four stars out of five."
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| Bluewater Gold Rush: The Odyssey of a California Sea Urchin Diver |
Tom Kendrick |
California Gold Rush Part 2 |
See review |
"Blue Water Gold Rush is about the author and his friends coming up from the Santa Barbara sea urchin fishery down in the Channel Islands in the late 60's into the early 70's. They were just a bunch of beach bum surfers, didn't really have a lot of goals in life, but found a gold rush per se of their own in the ocean and helped build the sea urchin industry all the way up the coast, all the way through the 80's, and made a lot of money, lost a lot of lives. The book is really written form a personal perspective from the author, which is something I like to read.
What I liked best about it, how personal he got in his own life with how he met his wife, how he met his friends, and just basically how he described the journey through his life and unexpected turns and his willingness to take a leap in life. He lost a few friends right in front of him due to shark attacks all over the coast. I think in the back of the book, there's about 20 names of people over about a 20-year span that he knew that died that were good friends of his.
Yes, I do like diving and I do do diving, but I don't know if I'd go to the extent that they did. Even as a diver, it offered insight into a realm of diving in a fishery kind of organization that I had no idea about and just vaguely heard about. It takes a certain breed of human being, and it's interesting to read about them 'cause they're quite crazy. I would give this book five stars out of five."
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| Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life |
Steve Martin |
"Digs Deep" |
See review |
"Steve Martin's Born Standing Up is about how, it's the history and how he came to be a standup comic and one of the most successful ones for a few years. The book chronicles him, his rise to the pinnacle where at Knott's Berry Farm they may have been playing his act. And I guess it was a review; it wasn't necessarily a standup act but from going from audiences of five to ten people to arenas of 20- or 30,000 people. Steve Martin really digs pretty deep into some of the motivations behind where and how he got into standup, as well as why particular things in his act would work or not work, just a really good behind the scenes thing for someone. I guess about the only thing I didn't like in it is it was too short.
I would recommend Steve Martin's Born Standing Up to anyone that is looking to get into standup comedy. I would recommend it to any Steve Martin fan, and I would just recommend it as a good quick read for anyone that's looking. I would give Steve Martin's Born Standing Up four out of five stars. I think he did a good job of explaining a comic's life, and about the only complaint I could have is that I think certain parts of it probably could have been fleshed out a little bit better."
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| Break From the Pack: How To Compete In a Copycat Economy |
Oren Harari |
For MBA Students To Executives |
See review |
"Break from the Pack, it literally is a blueprint, if you will on how to differentiate your business and to literally remain a cut above everyone else in your given industry or just in business in general.
I would say that the information presented in Break from the Pack is really very prescriptive in nature. In other words, it suggests what to do, what not to do. It gives examples. It gives anecdotes. It reinforces theory or suggests, well prescription with anecdotal evidence.
I would recommend that young professionals read the book, as well as executives and MBA students, as well as mid-level management. I think it's a book that really pertains to business-oriented folks who have a passion for being on the cutting edge on being the very best that they can be.
I rate this book at three and a half stars. I think its a very solid book. I think its a good book. I think you can learn from it and but, its not a book that will be transformative."
|
| Breaking Back |
James Blake |
Tennis & More |
See review |
"Breaking Back by James Blake, I read this book for a couple of reasons. I love playing tennis, and James Blake is one of the stronger U.S. tennis players now. He had recently helped the U.S. win the Davis Cup, so that was one reason. The second reason is the book Breaking Back wasn't about, while it uses a tennis analogy in its title, it's really not necessarily about a tennis book. It's more about a book of a relationship between a father and son, and one of the things I wish I had done in my life a little bit differently was that my relationship with my father wasn't that great. I don't know if I could have done anything more, but I actually think that maybe I could have.
So the book is largely about the relationship between James Blake's father and James Blake. It really focuses on the period after I think it was 2004 when Blake had suffered an injury in Rome, and it really recounts how Blake was able to recover, rebound, and become stronger as a result of this experience of an injury and the loss of his father.
I would give this book four stars out of five. I think it's a nice, readable book about a super star and his road to come back after the loss of his father and his own personal injury."
|
| Brick Lane: A Novel |
Monica Ali |
Londoner's Muslim Point of View |
See review |
Brick Lane
Monica Ali
"I chose to read "Brick Lane" for a completely random reason. I loved it. It was about Bangladesh, about which I know next to nothing. And it just seemed like a find.
The main character is named Nazineen and she grows up in Bangladesh. We see her as a child. And suddenly her parents marry her off in an arranged to someone twice her age, 40 years old, in London. And off she goes, having never been outside her village in Bangladesh. So, it's about her struggles and how she transcends the limitation and becomes a person.
What I liked most about "Brick Lane" is how it incorporates the facts of history. The reader sees the events of modern life through the eyes of one woman. I've watched for something from Ali and I'm hoping to find something else good by her. But I think this was, this was her story.
There's not much I didn't like about "Brick Lane." I'm just hoping she has more to share. I would recommend this to people who would like to know more about the Muslim point of view, what it's like to be Islamic. It's a wonderful insight into a culture that many of don't really know much about.
I give "Brick Lane" four stars, maybe four and a half because it's so well done."
|
| Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions |
Ben Mezrich |
Made It Difficult To Track |
See review |
"I picked up this book at the airport on the way to a trip to the Dominican Republic. I just picked it up in the airport bookstore; it looked kind of interesting.
It is about some MIT students who start going to Vegas and basically manage to win thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars before getting caught, and it is so much fun. I'm a gambler, and it was so great to kind of like hear how they cheated the system.
So they would have somebody at the table counting cards, and then they would flag or clue one of their like little floater people to come when basically the deck was hot and it was ready. Then this random person would come and sit down and make all the high bets, win the money and then walk away so that the person that was actually doing the betting, making a lot of money wasn't the same person that was counting the cards. So it kind of made it more difficult for them to track.
There's a follow up book to it that I haven't read that I'm interested in getting at some point in time. It was kind of exciting and fun, and I love the idea -- like I love gambling, and so just kind of like the thrill that goes with it is very exciting to me, especially when the numbers are in your favor. So this book definitely did a good job of recreating that excitement. I'd give it four out of five stars."
|
| Broken Music |
Sting |
Not the Typical Rock Star Story |
See review |
"I'm a fan of the Police, and I think Sting is a great musician. I also am a musician, and I thought it'd be nice to read how a musician goes from nothing to greatness.
Well, it starts when he's a young boy in New Castle, England, and it goes through him getting his first guitar, him hearing the Beatles for the first time, what makes him want to become a musician, how he eventually does become a minorly successful musician in England and supports himself as an English teacher all the way up to him finally reaching success in London with the hit single Roxanne.
It's a pretty interesting story; some parts of it are pretty slow. If you can get through the first chapter, you can get through the entire book. I can identify with Sting in a lot of ways. Like I remember my first guitar and how many hours I sat in my room playing, and he said the same thing. He sat there for five hours a day trying to figure out the Beatles songs. Well, I was listening to Sublime - that's my favorite band - so I can identify in that way.
The part I like best is that he explains in detail about all of the hardships he faced before he actually made it. I think there's a lot of filler in the book, stuff that he didn't really need to put in, lots of descriptions of things that aren't really important to the story. It's actually - it wasn't the most exciting story. It's not the typical sex, drugs, and rock and roll.
I would give this book 3 stars because it gives you all of the information you want, but it's just not that exciting."
|
| Brother, I'm Dying |
Edwidge Danticatt |
Fascinating... |
See review |
"This book was chosen particularly because it was current. It had just won the National Book Award when we read it. And it's a tremendously personal book, but written in a style that feels almost unemotional. What Danticat does in this book, which is so brilliant, is how she tells a story that is so raw and so intense, but she does it with language that's very distanced. So she leaves a lot of space for the emotions to be felt, but not for the narrator to tell the reader what to feel and what to think.
The story is a memoir and it covers three main things. It covers Edwidge Danticat's childhood in I believe it's Haiti. And it also covers the lives of her father and her uncle. The interesting thing about her childhood is that when she was very young her parents moved to America, but left her and one of her siblings behind to live with her uncle. So her uncle raised her until she was almost ten years old. The book itself - she wrote the book because both of these men, these very important men her life, died at a similar time period many years later. And her uncle's story in particular was quite tragic. He was trying to come to America and was wrongfully detained in - by the US Immigration Service and died while he was being held.
I really didn't want to stop reading this book once I started it. It - her language is so rich. And the experience of immigration is something that I'm not familiar with either and so I found it fascinating. I also found that she was able to weave in a lot of the history, the political history especially, of Haiti and how it affected her family's life in particular.
Anybody who has an interest in the immigration issue I think should read this book. Because it offers an incredible perspective that we don't necessarily hear. I would give this book five stars out of five. I think it's really tremendous."
|
| Brother, I'm Dying |
Edwidge Danticat |
Writing As Craft and Art |
See review |
"I read Brother I'm Dying because it was a part of a book club that I was a part of, and that was actually our February book, Brother I'm Dying. I would have picked it anyway, even if we hadn't selected it, because the author, Edwidge Danticat, I absolutely love.
Brother I'm Dying is the story of, actually, two brothers, and as the title might give away, they're dying. But the way in which they die is incredible, and it takes you on a journey, basically, through life. It's nonfiction, really reads like a novel. So it's actually the story of her father and the story of her uncle who actually raised her after her family came to the United States. She and her brother were left in Haiti while they sort of got situated. And it centers around her finding out that her father is dying, and on the same day, she finds out she is pregnant. So she has to maneuver around these two opposites of this full sort of life circle.
What I liked best about the book, in addition to, as I mentioned before, her incredible writing skill, she really has a true understanding of writing as a craft and an art and puts it in the highest place of honor. Still, I'm trying to figure out how did she make this book so hopeful and so inspiring and so uplifting in the midst of all that could have been horrible. Jamaica Kincaid could be a comparable author to her.
I would recommend that anyone with an interest around politics, revolution, people just lacking some information about Haiti - I would also recommend this to anyone with a family, because the theme that rang true through the entire story was the importance of family on our everyday lives. I would give this book five stars out of five stars. I found no holes in it anywhere. I thought she was just authentic and clear and open to putting some things out about herself and her family that she could have kept to herself but just really approached with courage and did that. So it's certainly a five-star rating."
|
| BSM |
BSM |
BSM |
See review |
The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre
H.P. Lovecraft
"I read H.P. Lovecraft's best of book because a friend gave me a copy as a gift.
The book is a series of short stories collected throughout his short career; H.P. Lovecraft didn't write for too long of a time before he died, so there's quite a broad range of different horror stories throughout the book.
I don't read too much horror-wise; it's just usually not a genre that I'm very interested in, but after picking up this book, I'm definitely more interested in reading more horror novels. I think why this author grabs my attention is that his history of back in the early 20's, he was considered a grotesque writer and people couldn't stand the stuff that he published; and I kind of like those people that are considered the black sheep. His expansive imagination is what really fascinates me with this author.
The only thing I could say that I didn't care for with this book or was a little difficult at times is maybe some of the older terminology that we don't use today because of how our language has kind of evolved over the years. I would recommend this to anybody who's interested in reading horror novels for the first time. You can pick it up, read a couple of short stories and then put it down. I would give this book a four out of five stars."
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| Buddha Is As Buddha Does: The Ten Original Practices for Enlightened Living |
Lama Surya Das |
Living With New Principals |
See review |
Buddha Is As Buddha Does, I read this book because I thought it would be an interesting topic that I wasn't really familiar with, Buddhism. Its and particularly from somebody who could offer an American perspective, if you will on Buddhism. And I think the title says it all, Buddha Is As Buddha Does.
The book is about how to lead essentially a better life, if you will. It's not the Bible. But it is I think at its core, its heart is Buddhist thought, and that is a path to an enlightenment. And so, a major thrust of the book is about how to become a Bodisofa, and I may be mispronouncing that. But a Bodisofa is essentially, is a warrior if you will who attempts to do live by a set of principles to become even more enlightened and even more in tune with the world and himself.
For example, one of the anecdotes that he mentions in the book is the story about how in India monkeys would be captured. How were these monkeys being captured? People would place nuts in a jar and the monkey in an effort to get the nut, would, because they really like them apparently, they would, the monkeys would put their hand in there and leave their hands clenched on the nut and would essentially be trapped because they couldn't get out of the jar. If they would simply unclasp their hand and let the nut go, they could free themselves.
I think this is probably the book that's really geared to not Buddhist to give them a different perception of life. I rate this book, four stars."
|
| Candide: Or, Optimism |
Voltaire |
Classic Social Satire |
See review |
"This book, Candide by Voltaire, was one of the first classics that I had ever read. I read this book when I was I think 15 years old and - over 20 years ago - and one of the things I loved about the book was that it was an incredible satire on the social situation. So not only was it the first classic but it was one of the first satires I ever read.
Basically, the way, it's a social commentary, and so he has travels all over the world; but at the very beginning of the book he is condemned to death. And he's - he gets flayed, and he gets all this stuff, and all of a sudden he's saved. There is this social - this stinging social commentary that comes across humorous, all right, over tragic situations, and it really gave me the idea that, "Hey, I want to make a difference in the world. I don't want to - I don't want to be satisfied with this." So that was the big message to me. It's a little bit different from the actual message probably would interpret at the end of the book, which is you can't really affect the world; the world is not perfect. The best you can do is really; as Candide says at the end, tend your own garden. So, but it actually had the opposite effect; I wanted to try to make the world better. The character that I identified most back then, and I still do now, is Candide. He was just naive, maybe stupid. He just said he believed that the world was so great and could see before his very eyes that the world was horrible.
Again, this is a classic book, highly recommend Candide by Voltaire. I would give this book a five-star rating."
|
| Captain Underpants |
Dav Pilkey |
Funny Drawings and Flip-o-Rama |
See review |
The Captain Underpants Series
Dav Pilkey
"I had nothing to read, and my mom brung in two books of Captain Underpants, and I started one, and I liked it. Once I finished that one, I just read the other one, and then I really liked that one too. So I got more. It's about these two kids named George and Harold. They got a 3D hypno-ring, and they hypnotized their principal, Mr. Krup, and they made him to be Captain Underpants. First they thought it was funny, but then it turned into a lot of trouble.
There's nothing to not really like about the book. There are funny drawings, and also in like every five chapters, they have this thing called fliporama, and it's like the animation where you flip it really quick, and it does like a picture of the person, beating up the bad guy. I'd give it four, because it's not too funny, but it is funny a little bit."
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| Carved In Sand: When Attention Fails and Memory Fades In Midlife |
Cathryn Jakobson Ramin |
Great For the Layman |
See review |
Carved In Sand: When Attention Fails and Memory Fades in Midlife
Cathryn Jakobson Ramin
"I have a close friend who is the same age I am who began showing signs of dementia or Alzheimer's in her late 50's. I also have a sister with multiple sclerosis, and she has experienced serious cognitive impairment as a result. This has brought home to me a certain fragility of our cognitive skills. The author is also very appealing. She's very witty, charming, intelligent, courageous.
She was -- she doesn't tell in the book exactly how old she is, but she said she had only barely crossed the threshold of middle age when suddenly, something was very, very wrong. She was forgetting things -- and she was a journalist who managed mul -- complex projects. Suddenly, she was forgetting things, she needed to have notes anytime she went anywhere to speak, so being the investigative journalist she is, she decided to take on this issue as a job of reporting.
There are many, many, many people engaging in research about how to keep the brain alive. Meanwhile, of course, she has to just go from clinic to clinic to clinic searching for an answer to her own problem. She aims the book towards and intelligent layman who really doesn't know very much about the brain, so she explains research and therapy and different parts of the brain and how different parts of the brain control different kinds of cognitive functioning.
She does an excellent job of explaining these concepts to a person like me who hasn't had a neurology course ever in my life. Definitely a five."
|
| Cash |
Rolling Stone Magazine |
"Great Person To Sing In Karaoke" |
See review |
"Johnny Cash is not only a great person for me to sing and karaoke, but he's also I think a genuinely likable person, although there was much in his life that one could not like.
It was writ - what it is is a series of writings by different authors who often contradict each other, but it's not that. It's the fact that they're almost always younger than him, from a more recent generation. I'm only seven years younger than Johnny Cash myself, and I grew up in the South, I had a lot of the same experiences. The transition from segregation to integration was a pivotal event in the lives of about just anybody who grew up in the South in my generation. Johnny Cash always seemed to be on the side of the underdog and on the side of civil rights, and so on, and so I would like to know more about hoe he went through this transition.
Well, I would recommend it to Johnny Cash fans, obviously, and to country music fans in general. I'd give it four and a half stars; I'd hold back half a star because I think the writers are suffering from disadvantage of perspective, not being able to - a few of them were in my generation, and they sort of wrote it from the perspective of today and how we see the past from today's perspective rather from the perspective of his lifetime."
|
| Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life |
Wayne W. Dyer |
Self Discovery, Not Self Help |
See review |
Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life
Wayne W. Dyer
"I wanted to read Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life book because -- well, one, the author, it's a very well known author about self discovery and self-help. He teaches us in the book how to change our thoughts, and therefore, see change in our life.
Before every chapter, there is a paragraph about the teachings of the Tao Ching, and then he explains the paragraph in detail in the chapter. I have never read about the Tao Ching; it was the first time for me reading that. At first I was like, "What is Tao Ching?" and he goes into detail in the beginning. So that was very helpful because in the end you have a more deeply understanding of what is the Tao Ching, how can you learn that in your life.
It's all about how much you want to change -- how much you want to live a life that you want. I grew up with this very negative thinking pattern, and so that was my desire, to try to think positive. Every time for example something that I want or a friend's trying to help me, or -- and they don't call me or they don't show up, or it's not gonna happen, I used to get into this negative spiral, and go down, and down, and nothing gonna get better. Now, when I catch myself, and I say, "No, no, no, no, no. I have to trust the universe and trust myself. What are my thoughts? My thoughts are negative right now." So if I am feeling negative emotion, nothing good's coming to me. So I have to change that immediately, and I think I have to trust the universe and have faith, with that's one of the things that they teach, too. 'Cause when you trust and have faith, your emotions go up; you feel better, right? So therefore, when you feel better, good things are coming anyway.
I would give it five stars. Definitely, it's a five-star book. I love it."
|
| Choke |
Chuck Palahniuk |
"Fight Club" Fan Questions Ending |
See review |
Choke
Chuck Palahniuk
"I decided to read that book, because I like a lot of Chuck Palahniuk's work. I first got interested in his work through the movie Fight Club and then started going back and reading his other books.
I have read a few other books by him. They're all pretty much - they're the same kind of style where it's - they're always a little sick and twisted, a little morbid, a little off kilter. It's stuff that you, maybe, gloss over in your real life. It's stuff that if you were to pay attention a little better or a little differently to things, you would see the little quirkiness of just characters and ideas; and, I think, he brings out a lot of that really well.
The book's about - the main character's a raging sexaholic that goes to sex anonymous meetings to hook up with other women. He also chokes on food at restaurants to gain the sympathy of other people. And later on in the book, he starts talking to his mother again for the first time in years. It's just kind of his - one segment of his weird little life story.
I think the thing I didn't like about the book the most is, maybe, it felt like the ending was a little weak. It wasn't a bad ending, but for the pace and the tone he had set up throughout the book, I think, it didn't - I wouldn't say it fell flat, I just, it was a little underwhelming."
|
| Cindy Crawford's Basic Face |
Cindy Crawford |
Supermodel Gives Tips For Everywoman |
See review |
Cindy Crawford's Basic Face
Cindy Crawford
"I came across Cindy Crawford's, "Basic Face" at a used-book store. I think it's interesting that Cindy Crawford who's not really of that must interest anymore, but she's really has a, I thought a great approach to makeup. Her philosophy that you, you know, you don't really want to leave the house without something on your face. But at the same time it doesn't look, have to look like you are wearing makeup.
I think she makes it really accessible to everyday women. Her description is that during the day she'll, you know just do nothing, I mean she'll put on a real basic thing. And then she also has instructions on how to you know go, you know be fancy and do something to go out. She gives like these good tips on applying mascara for instance, where you should kind of wipe off your mascara brush on a tissue or something before applying it and then it won't be clumpy, which I didn't know that that was really useful. And also, it's really important to wear blush. I didn't really know that either. When I look back on pictures of myself when I was in my teens or something, you know the makeup was just awful.
And so I would recommend it to somebody who wants to just know just basically, in really easy descriptions how to apply makeup, so that it doesn't look like you know it's overdone. And maybe you're not a big makeup wearer, but and you've always been afraid of it or that's, I think pretty much who I would recommend it to. I'd give it four out of five stars."
|
| Clan of the Cave Bear |
Jean Auel |
"Feels Like a Biography" |
See review |
Clan of the Cavebear
Jean Auel
The first time I read "Clan of the Cavebear" was I think freshman year in high school and I'm trying to remember why I picked it up. And I think it's because somebody in my drama class did a monologue from it and she was a friend of mine and she really loved books and so did I. And I'm like, hey, I'm going to go read that. And I probably read it like five times now.
"Clan of the Cavebear" is the beginning of a five book series. And the concept is, or rather, the story is it's about dawn of man, and so the main character in it is somebody named Ila, who's kind of a next step in evolution. But she's five years old and an earthquake ravages Ila and her family's dead and gone and everything. So, she goes wandering and gets attacked by a lion and left for dead. And some people called "the clan" find her and take her in and they are the previous step in evolution, I guess you'd say Cro-Magnon.
So, the book is about her growing up in a foreign environment and then becomes family and home to her. So it's what she knows, but she's having to deal with the trials and tribulations of being different from them, both physically as well as her strength is different, her capabilities are different. She's also much taller than them.
It almost seems as though it could be a biography. Obviously, it's fictional. We don't know the story of one person back in whatever AD, but it really reads as though it could be fictional.
The author, Jean Auel, I believe has journeyed to places where there's you know drawings from early man and things like that. So, she's really done her best to make this real and you know tools that they use and things like that, caves they lived in. She really brought a reality to it.
Out of five stars, I'd give this book a five.
|
| Clan of the Cave Bear |
Jean Auel |
"Disappointing On Every Count" |
See review |
"A friend of mine in college was sort of ironically obsessed with Clan of the Cave Bear and would hold like parties, themed Clan of the Cave Bear and things; and after I was laughing about that with my mother, it turned out that she'd read it because there was a copy in the cabin in the woods that my great grandparents built.
The book is set in some murky time in sort of like early homo sapiens development and is about one particular character who seems to be slightly more genetically advanced and her struggle with her sort of clan. How she comes to triumph in that and lead them towards more - I want to say more modern, but more Neolithic ways of doing things.
The characters in this book are not very well developed, I have to say. They're really flat; they don't develop in the course of the book. Everybody's either good or bad. There was no way to really latch on and find those little particularities that seem real, so no. I don't identify with anyone. It's at most getting two out of five from me just because it seemed to fail on so many of the reasons that I read books. I like beautiful language, I like well-developed characters, I like good, rollicking stories where I can't necessarily predict what's gonna come next, and it just disappointed."
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| Clarice Bean Spells Trouble |
Lauren Child |
Good for 5th Graders! |
See review |
"I read Clarice Bean Spells Trouble. This book is about a girl who isn't very good at spelling, and she has a hard time in school because she's trying to do a lot of different things, except her friends aren't the greatest choices of people. So she has two friends, and one of her friends, he's always getting himself into trouble, and he never learns, and he's always really mischievous, except her other friend is actually really nice, and they share a lot of the same interests.
Well, my favorite part and my probably my least favorite part are probably the same part, because it's the part where she turns herself in at the very end, and it's really sad because she didn't really do the crime, but she wants to stand up for her friend, so she says she does. Because, if he did get into trouble one more time, then he would have to be transferred to a different school.
I think a reader that would enjoy this book would be someone who is into like enjoyment, because it's very funny. Also, it's really good for a fifth grader like me. I would give this book about four and three-quarter stars."
|
| Clive Barker's Books of Blood |
Clive Barker |
If You Like Horror... |
See review |
Clive Barker's Books of Blood
Clive Barker
"Okay, I wanted to read the book Books of Blood because, first of all, it was by Clive Barker, who is a renowned horror writer; so I figured it'd be a good book to read. Stephen King himself said that this guy was like the new genre of horror, and that anybody out there who was interested in horror needed definitely to read his books.
The book is a collection of short stories within itself -- I think it's about six short stories -- and it's about a person in the very beginning who fakes hearing voices and being a ghost reader -- or he can sense ghosts, but it's all fake. It comes to be known that the ghosts get angry with that, and they strip him down, carve a book of blood into his flesh, and then throughout the book, it tells those stories in his skin. So it's pretty gruesome, it's gory. It's cool.
The particular thing I liked about it was his way with words. He can write in such a way that you almost can see it. He's extremely graphic with -- you -- it's like you're there; it's pretty cool. And I'm not -- I'm gonna say I'm not an avid reader, but he kept me reading throughout the whole book and I was done like that. I read right through it. It was -- he keeps you stuck on the page.
My thing about the horror genre, I want to be scared. I want to be scared; I want a story to give me nightmares, literally. It did give me some bad dreams, but they weren't nightmares. Anybody -- I'd recommend anybody who loves horror movies, or horror books, or that type of genre, read that book. Definitely. Read Books of Blood by Clive Barker; I definitely recommend that, and I would give this book 4 -- stars out of five."
|
| Cold Mountain |
Charles Frazier |
Land As A Character |
See review |
"I think I became interested in Cold Mountain when it was given to me for Christmas many years ago at this point, and I have always kind of been interested in books about both Appalachia and farther west of that, that landscape. And so that was initially what drew me to the book; and at that point, I was also really interested in books about the Civil War.
Cold Mountain is the story of two lovers, Inman and Ada. Inman is a Confederate soldier who has been injured and escaped to return to Ada. Yes, there are two people trying to find each other; but more so it's about these like two women really like learning to survive together.
I think that readers who enjoy books about the land and people's relationships with the land, not necessarily like in a varied hackneyed man-versus-nature way, but in like a really like the land as a character and the land as something that is as important as any of the people. I'd give Cold Mountain a four star rating."
|
| Collapse |
Jared Diamond |
This Librarian Bought It |
See review |
Collapse
Jared Diamond
"I wanted to read Collapse, in large part, because I had read Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond's first book, and was so impressed, and so when I saw it actually at the store, it was a hardback, and I'm a librarian, so I tend to check out my books sometimes, but I finally saw it at a used bookstore and ended up buying it, because I was very excited about the premise. The book, Collapse, is really about how society's overextended themselves and about the cautionary tales of how to avoid that.
I liked most about the book that the arguments were made in a way that was clear what his thesis was, by going over every group and using that as a way of describing how, in fact, certain groups fell by their overexploitation and/or their lack of trading. I think he makes a good argument, and because of that, it makes it enjoyable to read, and he uses it in historical context that makes it educational as well. There were some historical aspects that I found to be sort of tedious personally. I think he spent a lot of time on the Easter Island, the initial example of sort of an overexploitation of the area. And while it was interesting to me and actually one of the sells initially of learning about Easter Island, cuz I know very little except for about the infamous heads, he goes into it in such a detail at a certain point that it's kinda like I get the idea.
I would recommend the book to anybody that, again, is interested in how things work on a larger social scale. I think there are a lot of really prescient and important words in the last chapter that's about what's going on right now, where he talks about, you know, Rwanda and talks about China and population issues that are really just important, that, you know, high school students could and should be reading in their classrooms, just to get a big picture of, you know, that there is a certain degree of personal responsibility. I would give Collapse five out of five stars and again, because of the full set of the thesis, and in such a large social theory, and the fact that he also makes a very good argument for why that's the case, and is able to provide historical reasons why."
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| Committed: A Rabble-Rouser's Memoir |
Dan Mathews |
"Interesting But Not Fabulous" |
See review |
"I went to see Dan Matthews at the Commonwealth Club in California, so I wanted to read his book and find our more about PETA, which is a really interesting organization. I've always been a little bit ware of it 'cause they seem a little bit over the top, but as vegetarian, I've also been really interested. So once I saw him talk, I thought, "Oh, I really want to read this book and find out more about what he's done."
The book Committed is about Dan Matthews, the story of how he got to where he is today, and the various exploits he's enjoyed for PETA, and different campaigns he's done; and some of them are quite outrageous.
Some of the things I enjoyed about the book's where he tells some hilarious stories. He's a completely outrageous character, and it was really neat to learn more about the organization, have a better understanding of where they're coming from because they're presented in such a weird light in the press. It was a really neat way of finding out what's really behind him and make it clear about what their goals are.
It's kind of an uneven book; it's not extremely well-written. Its highlights aren't the writing; it's more the stories he has to tell. So if he'd had someone to assist him with the writing, it probably would have been a much stronger book. I would recommend this book to anybody who's curious. You don't have to like PETA, and definitely if you don't agree with what PETA's doing; but if you have any curiosity, read the book 'cause it's an interesting read. It's kind of -- it's cool to see this person has a completely different life than your average American, so it's interesting to read that. He's met some very interesting people, so I think just for to hear the story of this guy's life -- and he's not old; he's in his early 40's - mid-40's -- it's an interesting read. So it's not fabulous, but it's definitely interesting. I would rate this book three stars. It has a four star of entertainment; but because of the writing quality, I'm gonna give it three stars overall."
|
| Confederacy of Dunces |
John Kennedy Toole |
All About This Crazy World |
See review |
Confederacy of Dunces
John Kennedy Toole
"Confederacy of Dunces was recommended to me by somebody that I worked with, and editor of a magazine I worked for. He just said it was a really good book, and this guy read everything, and I think he liked the main character a lot also. He just, we were discussing books one day, and he said - I said, "What books have you read?" knowing he had read a bunch. 'Cause we have this list of 100 books, and that was on the list.
The book's about this guy's place in society, and he's not really well placed in society, and it's kind of just about his world and all the things that happen, and it's kind of crazy. I read the whole book with kind of a bemused sense of, "Wow, I don't believe all this has happened." And the guy himself was an amazing character, too.
What I liked about Confederacy of Dunces was some of its comments on society and some of the misfits in society that really are out there. Even though this was a fictional character, I thought they hit a lot of nails on the head, so to speak.
The kind of reader that would enjoy Confederacy of Dunces would probably be somebody who is interested in societal issues and in the way people interact in society, and the way they navigate through society; and it's just an intriguing kind of a trippy book. I'd recommend it to anybody.
I would say I'd give Confederacy of Dunces four stars out of five. I think it was an awesome book; it was just very interesting and stayed with me - 'cause I read it years and year ago, so it made a big impression."
|
| Conscious Eating |
Gabriel Cousens |
Take Stock Of Your Nutritional Needs |
See review |
Conscious Eating
Gabriel Cousens
"Part of my work is, as a health educator and kind of a nutritional counselor and a skin care advisor, and so "Conscious Eating" was something that would apply to what I do in the work way, but also, my own personal interests. I have recently been classified as a _________, which is an _______ constitution. And this gave a framework of dietary suggestions and also, helpful nutritional recipes and what not and lifestyle tips.
One of my favorite things about this book was that it had questionnaires. So, it was kind of a self-analysis of your own dietary habits and your own body type or constitution. You could kind of perform a self-analysis on yourself. There are recipes. The recipes help to balance out any type of imbalance that you might have, but also I found myself just looking at the entire book and all the suggestions because all the recipes are really delicious. And all of the suggestions were all very helpful.
One of the suggestions was about fasting. This kind of broke it down. Good reasons why a person should fast and why they should cleanse and how it can affect a person. There's an index in the back. And it's all very helpful. It's not geared towards one person specifically. It's kind of geared towards the individual and the various types.
I would give this book, five stars out of five."
|
| Conservatives Without Conscience |
John W. Dean |
"A Liberal On Conservatives" |
See review |
"Well, the title drew me into it. Being a liberal, I'm interested in anything that anybody has to say bad about conservatives.
The premise of The Conservatives Without Conscience is that something very bad has happened to the conservative movement; and the Republican Party has been taken been over by authoritarian personalities, both followers who are not inclined to think very much and leaders who are not inclined to take other people's thinking into account. There's also a schism between authoritarian followers and authoritarian leaders where the leaders tend to believe that they are above the law; and that's where the several figures that adorn the cover of this book come in, such as Tom DeLay and Bill Frist and so on, he identifies him as people who are willing to use any means necessary to __________ the principles of the conservative agenda and the Republican Party that has recently been constituted.
I would say in a sense that it did give me an understanding of conservatives I didn't have before and of different points of view within the conservative movement.
I think that right-wing authoritarians should read this book, but I don't know they'd really get anything out of it. Anybody to the left of Jerry Falwell would probably take some warnings from the book. I'll give it four stars. I don't know if I could give a conservative writer more than that, but I think he should try some -- "
|
| Conversations With God |
Neale Donald Walsch |
"Completely Changed My Life" |
See review |
Conversations With God
Neal Donald Walsch
"Well, I first found out about Conversations with God from a really good friend of mine who I just happened to meet in San Francisco, and we started to talk about spirituality and how spirituality really is different from religion; and he recommended that I read Conversations with God.
It's about questions that the author is asking to God Himself and the answer from God that the author is getting. At first, the story was kind of difficult to get into because it was quite different from what I had learned all throughout my life, basically growing up in a Catholic home, attending Catholic church, going to CCD classes every weekend from the time I can remember. And so getting out of that mindset was definitely difficult at first to kind of get into the story; and in order to read the book and get a lot out of it, you definitely have to have an open mind.
It sounds really, probably weird, and it might sound a little bit maybe out of context, but when I first started reading the book, this feeling came over me like God was almost with me while I was reading the book; and my friend who recommended the book to me said he had that same feeling, and that's kind of really how you're supposed to feel to know that you're getting into the book itself. And one of the things I guess that related most to me was that I do base a lot of my decisions and a lot of the ways I live my life based on fear and kind of as reactive rather than proactive and trying to base my judgments and decisions on love, and that's kind of one of the things I got out of the book.
I would give this book a rating of five stars because it has completely changed my life, and I still go back and read it at times when I'm finding myself struggling through a situation or just when I need some spiritual enlightenment."
|
| Curly Girl |
Lorraine Massey and Deborah Chiel |
"It's a Life Changing Book" |
See review |
Curly Girl
Lorraine Massey and Deborah Chiel
"Curly Girl" is in my book collection because I have really curly hair. I think it's always been expressed that having straight hair was more of the conventional norm. And having curly hair is something more of like a wild, you know untamed thing.
The author talks about different types of hair. So, she gives you tests and you can figure out what kind of curl you have. And then if there's you know there's like really kinky curls. There's Botticelli curls. There's corkscrew curls. And then there's wavy hair. And so you essentially find what kind of curl you are and then you follow the instructions based on the curl that you determine you have.
And I think that the tips and instructions on how to get your hair to look good were super helpful. I think it just comes down too that if you want a certain hairstyle it's gonna take work no matter what. It's not necessarily easier to follow instructions you just might get more of what you're looking for versus like saving time. For me saving time is you know important. So, it still takes a lot of work to have it look the way I want it to.
I would recommend this book to women that have curly hair and have you know gone through years of straightening it or doing other things. I actually have recommended it to a lot of women that I know have curly hair. And since they've looked at it and read it, they're lives have changed as well. I mean it's a live changing book. I know it sounds weird, but it is. I would give this book a five, out of five stars.
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| Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion |
Gary Webb |
Government, Drugs, Money and More |
See review |
The Dark Alliance
Gary Webb
"I chose to read Dark Alliance maybe in 1999 or 2000. Having grown up listening to a lot of hip-hop, the references in this whole period of sort of whole crack epidemic loomed very large for me, and I was very aware of it from an early age. I think this was supposed to be sort of insightful to me how this kind of came about, and it was.
It's mainly about how crack cocaine became an epidemic in the United States and who had a hand in that, who benefited and who really suffered. I learned a great deal from the book. I mean I would say the newest things were really what seemed to be the direct relationships to very international situations like that funding of the Nicaraguan Contras, with issues going on in Afghanistan in the 80's, and things that were very local like LA and San Francisco drug culture. So growing up in the 70's, I was sort of aware of a positive almost influence of cocaine in culture, and that because very negative in the 80's when crack came about.
The reason there was such an abundance, I found out, in the 70's was just because there was this huge influx of cocaine, and a lot of that was to move money that you couldn't account for in the government. So CIA wants to move money; they sell cocaine or they move it and transport it. Contras, same thing. What was the precursors to the Taliban and other sort of groups, the same thing. Sort of moving drugs was a means of having a black market for money. So that to me, the scope of that was really new to me.
It's very clear about a history of all the different players and where they sort of arise into that moment in history. I think having an interest is important because it is nonfiction; and so if you weren't otherwise curious about movement of money or cocaine in the academics of the United States, it might not be as engaging; but it's definitely if you're sort of government-minded, if you have a radical bent and you're interested in understanding how this works, it's good.
I would give it four out of five stars for being comprehensive and very descriptive."
|
| Daughter Of Fortune |
Isabel Allende |
Brings Different Cultures Together |
See review |
Daughter of Fortune
Isabel Allende
"I wanted to read Daughter of Fortune because I'm a Latin American Studies major and I had read about Isabel Allende. Isabel Allende, who's I think the niece of a political fig -- an old political figure in Chile who was overthrown by Pinochet, who was a crazy kind of dictator.
Daughter of Fortune tell the story of two characters, a young girl from Chile and a probably 20-something Chinese man from China that kind of come together because of the California Gold Rush and about how she comes to California to try to follow her first love after she becomes pregnant. The Chinese man is on the boat -- on the same boat as the Chilean girl in order to just make more money, and the book brings these two lives together -- two completely different cultural lives together to tell the story.
I think that the kind of mixture of Chinese culture and South American culture was really beautiful. Just like she's telling -- she'd go back and forth between telling the Chinese man's story and the Chilean girl's story. And the family of the Chilean girl, and it was just, it was so beautiful how they came together and how, despite complete differences, they totally loved each other. You want a sequel to this book almost. You know how it's gonna end, and you know what happens, but you want more from her. I think that's the only thing that maybe I was unsettled with is she was such a brilliant writer, but I wanted more from her. I would rate Daughter of Fortune five stars because it's beautifully written and really rich in culture."
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| Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort of History of the United States |
Dave Barry |
Humorous Take On American History |
See review |
Dave Barry Slept Here
Dave Barry
"Dave Barry Slept Here" is a humorous tour through American history with a few facts and more humor, and probably more lies than truthful information. But, it's a very humorous take on the American experience and what's happened since the birth of the country until I guess the publication of the book in the 1980's.
So, it just takes us through what happened, different presidencies, different major events that happened. And apparently, everything happened on October 8th because that's how Dave Barry says it's easy to remember dates.
I would recommend that anyone that's a Dave Barry fan, of course read this book. I think that it's certainly in line with the rest of his humor and one of his better efforts. Anyone who of course is interested in history should read "Dave Barry Slept Here." And anyone that just needs a good, funny book to read, I think would like it. I would give "Dave Barry Slept Here," four out of five stars.
|
| Deception Point |
Dan Brown |
Not Like His Other Books |
See review |
"I first picked up a book called "Deception Point" because it's written by Dan Brown. And he wrote "The Da Vinci Code," which I really, really enjoyed. And then he also had written "Angels and Demons" which I picked up after that and I thought it was awesome. I thought it was actually a lot better than "The Da Vinci Code." So, I was really into that. So, I saw this book and said you know, let's try something else of his. A little bit of a different twist, though. It wasn't about the religion.
The "Deception Point" is about a discovery made by NASA, around the time of a fictional presidential election. And supposedly, they discovered this really big meteorite up near the North Pole. They go dig it out of the glacier and the big find is that it has extraterrestrial fossils. It's like oh, we discovered life on other planets, and it's all very exciting. And it's a whole twist and turns, did it really happen? And it ends up being a whole governmental conspiracy plot.
And I didn't enjoy it as much as the others. It left me wanting more, it kind of read like a bad crime novel. And it didn't have has many twists and turns as the other books I read from him. There was really only one sort of surprise in it at all. And it didn't do it.
I really actually didn't enjoy this book. And maybe it was just the expectation of having really enjoyed another one of his books and just so excited to read something else. This could have been written by anyone. But maybe it was just a matter of it was scientific and I'm not scientific. I don't know. But, I really didn't enjoy it that much. Out of five stars, one, maybe one and a half."
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| Deep and Dark and Dangerous |
Mary Downing Hahn |
If You Like Ghost Stories |
See review |
"The book is about a girl named Ali who finds an old photograph of her mom, her aunt and one other person that's been ripped out of the photo, and her aunt and her daughter are going to the same place that the picture is taken, and she wants to find out who that person is.
My favorite part of the book was probably when one of the -- when Ali finds out that someone they meet is really a ghost. I like Ali. She's really nice. She is 13, and she kind of has a personality like me. Her personality is like very outgoing. I didn't really like not like anything about the book; it was just a book that you just wanted to keep reading and never stop, which I did. I read it in two days.
I think people who like ghost stories and things that you're just like, "I really want to keep reading this book." I would give this book five stars."
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| Diary of a Worm |
Doreen Cronin and Harry Bliss |
Worm & Spider Best Friends |
See review |
"Diary of a Worm is a really cool book, and it's a diary written by a little boy worm and talking about his day-to-day goings on. It's written with a great sense of humor, and it's got fun illustrations to go along with hilarious dialog. Both my daughter end I enjoy reading it together very much.
The worm does a lot of things that your average kid does at school. It's interesting what he can do without having arms, which are certain things that we take for granted; but he goes to school, he has art class, he does crazy things like make macaroni necklaces except for with one piece of macaroni that he wears wrapped around his head. His best friend is a spider, and it's very cute, and you also get to know about the worm and introduce children to the environment.
I think her favorite part is when the worm and the spider, who's his best friend, sort of stand in each other's shoes, and the worm realizes that he can't climb up high like a spider can, he doesn't have the legs a spider does, and ends up falling. It's a stunning realization for the worm that he can't do everything that the spider can do.
I think both boys and girls would enjoy -- could be kind of cool for little boys, too, since the worm is a little boy. I'd give it four stars."
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| Disaster Science |
Klutz |
Disasters For Discussion |
See review |
Disaster Science
Klutz Press
"I read Klutz Press's Disaster Science because I have a son who is now nine, who likes to look at and talk about pictures of disasters in all their many forms. You know, volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, man-made engineering disasters, you name it; disasters are pretty interesting.
The information in this book is presented in kind of a magazine-style format where there isn't a story that leads through it; each page is sort of a little thing unto itself. So you might have a page on mudslides or on hurricanes. The cool part about it is instead of it being a bedtime book where you read it in a really lineal sort of here's a story and we're just sort of reading it for the 100th time, is maybe one time you read it and you have more discussions about some pages and the next time you have more discussions about other pages. Pretty much it's a thing to read but also a thing to have a neat discussion over, like how did that happen, and what would that be like, and where does that happen, and what causes that, and all those sorts of things.
We love the book. I imagine that we'll still be reading the book in another year or two, which when you consider how fast kids grow, and we've been reading it for a couple or three years, that's a pretty good lifespan. I think it's mostly attributable to the compelling photos, which I know my son likes to look at again and again; and the conversation changes a bit, but it's the same book every time we read it. I'm gonna give it five stars. I think it's a pretty neat and simple idea: Compelling photos, a bit of science, a fun thing to talk about, good idea."
|
| Disgrace |
J M Coetzee |
Only Author To Win the Booker Prize Twice |
See review |
Disgrace
J M Coetzee
"I read Disgrace just because it's gotten so much press. It was the second book of Coetzee's to win the Booker Prize; he's now the only person who's ever won it twice. It is a very harsh and depressing and uncompromising book, and it takes you on an incredible emotional journey through two people's suffering; and it does it mostly through dialog, which is very difficult, and it does it - it's a journey of two people who are not very sympathetic, and they're selfish, they're mulish, they don't explain themselves clearly.
Disgrace is a story of a college professor, David, in Capetown; and he's been cashiered from his job for seducing a young student. He figures he'll go stay with his grown daughter for a while. No sooner does he get there than the farm is attacked and ransacked by three young black men, two men and a boy; and they gang rape the daughter Lucy, they douse David with alcohol and set him on fire, they steal everything of value from the house and they shoot the dog that Lucy had been boarding to make extra money. Lucy's a difficult young woman. She won't prosecute the offenders, and she won't report the rape; and that's because she fears that the accusers live nearby. The book is about how she and her father come to terms with that shame, with the disgrace of the title.
It sounds crazy that this would work as a piece of literature, but Coetzee makes it work, and that's why this book is so amazing and so miraculous. I don't really have a criticism of this book except that people should know when they start it that it will be - especially for a woman - it's an incredibly painful read. I would give Disgrace five stars."
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| Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance |
Barack Obama |
Grass Roots Candidate? |
See review |
Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
Barack Obama
"I picked up Dreams from My Father because I'm interested in the Presidential candidacy and race that's coming up, and I think it's really hard at this stage of the game to find some readings that aren't pre-packaged by the candidates.
Barack Obama's book is really his journey to find his roots, and so it really is the formative years of his life in a very candid, self-reflective way. I knew nothing about him, and so this book is a real reflection of who this guy is. In fact, when he wrote - first wrote this first book, I think it sold like 5,000 copies. He - so it had nothing - it seems like it had nothing to do with his political ambitions, so I think it's a very honest book. He was thrown into the scene. There was a moment in time politically, and he grabbed onto it, and it's created this incredible debate, both in the Republican and in the Democratic.
I would recommend reading this book, anyone who is all interested in the political scene today. He's very ambitious, but he actually is someone who I could see his ambitions could go in a lot of different places. I would give this book five stars out of five."
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| Dress Your Family In Corduroy and Denim |
David Sedaris |
Hysterically Funny |
See review |
"I read every single thing that David Sedaris writes. I will go see him speak, I will listen to him on the radio, I find him to be absolutely fascinating and absolutely hilarious.
It's very similar to his other books in that it's a series of brief stories. It's short stories basically, short essays; and he just chooses kind of the weirdest, most bizarre topics and throws them in there. A lot of it is about his family. His family provides him with a great amount of fodder for stories.
There are some times that I wish he would flesh his story out a little bit more, where a few stories are about a specific incident and run only a few pages; and I like him so much and he is so -- he's so intriguing and really pulls you into the story that if it ends kind of abruptly, I think well, I wanted to know more about that.
This author is just absolutely hysterically funny, and his descriptions are unbelievable. You just think, "Is this person real? Is he embellishing? I'd love to meet these people." I absolutely believe that you have to have an open mind to read David Sedaris. I rate each and every one of his books a five. A five star. He is someone who, when his book comes out, I run out and get it; and I am someone who does not buy hardbacks."
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| Dry |
Augusten Burroughs |
Quirky and Insightful |
See review |
"I wanted to read this book because I read another book by the same author, Augusten Burroughs, Running with Scissors; and I was interested to read a second book.
It's a memoir, and it's about when he's in his mid-20's he decides he needs to dry out because his work suggests that he needs to dry out because he's drinking too much. It's the story of his entering treatment.
It made me think about how difficult it must be to stop abusing substances when it's such a life-encompassing thing, when friends can just be so unhelpful. I was really; really impressed with Dry because I thought with Dry he was trying less hard. He was being more honest in writing sort of more of his own book rather than writing in the style of someone else. I was really impressed that Augusten Burroughs had I thought written a much better book than his first book.
I'd recommend the book to someone that liked Running with Scissors. I would recommend the book to someone that likes to read David Sedaris. I would recommend the book to someone that was interested in substance abuse. I would recommend the book to someone that wants to read sort of a quirky, odd novel. I would give this book five stars. I thought it was a really good book, a really insightful look into struggles with substance abuse."
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| Due to Circumstances Beyond Our Control |
Fred W. Friendly |
Important Times In Broadcast History |
See review |
Due to Circumstances Beyond Our Control
Fred W. Friendly
"I wanted to read Due to Circumstances Beyond Our Control because my wife and I stayed at a small bed and breakfast in Bastrop, Texas; and it had a nice library of old books, and so they leant it out to us.
It describes a unique time in the history of television and really describes the tipping point where television, in may people's opinions, went wrong. Due to Circumstances Beyond Our Control is about his -- it's a memoir about his time from the early days of working with Ed Murrow all the way to his tenure as the president of the CBS News Division in the mid-1960's. The most interesting time period was the 1950's with the CBS Reports. I think that it certainly, there was a drifting period when Ed Murrow had so much friction with the network and left CBS Reports, and then Fred Friendly continued on with it producing it.
The important points kind of get lost in part of the way through, like the McCarthy hearings, the Vietnam hearings not being televised by the networks due to revenues being lost because they have to run their reruns of I Love Lucy and stuff. I would give Fred Friendly's Due to Circumstances Beyond Our Control three stars out of five. I think it describes some very important events."
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| Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia |
Elizabeth Gilbert |
"Glorified Travel Journal" |
See review |
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia
Elizabeth Gilbert
"I chose to read Eat Pray Love because -- well, it was a gift, and it was a gift because I was a little sad at the time I received the book; and I think that the person who gave it to me -- my godmother -- thought it would cheer me up because it's essentially the story -- it's a glorified travel journal from this woman, Elizabeth Gilbert, who was already a published and respected author before the events in this book took place. She went through a divorce and was really depressed, and then she had a rebound relationship and got dumped, and then she was really depressed, and just had feelings of really awful self worth. She decided what she needed to do is she needed to travel around the world, and I related to this 'cause I travel all the time.
First, she went to Italy for four months, and that's the "Eat." She ate a ton in Italy, and you can see little noodles. Then she went to India, where she tried to get in touch with her spirituality, and so that's the "Pray." Then she went to I think Bali into Indonesia, and that's where she found love. So it was kind of what she needed to do to heal herself from her depression.
It's actually written I think as a journal where she gives the date and then says what happened that day very much like a diary. She's really -- she's kind of ____________ in how she describes the situations that happen to her, and there are definitely times when you laugh out loud, and some of them are very short. Just, "I went into the store and -- "
I think that the author really loves herself a lot, and there were times when I thought that the way she presented her snappy little anecdotes for like, "Look how cute I am," her voice can be a little bit grating. I would give this book three stars, but I'm a very hard judge."
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| Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia |
Elizabeth Gilbert |
Have Crisis? Will Travel |
See review |
"I had found myself at a large moral quandary. I was walking away from a teaching position, and I did it at the beginning of a school year, which on a moral level was really, really difficult; and somebody recommended that I read this book because it dealt with a level of moral quandaries that we all face.
The book Eat Pray Love is, for me, represented some of the things that I felt that I needed to do to start to heal myself. Elizabeth Gilbert uses this process of going through a devastating emotional crisis in her life and how she was able to unwind out of that emotional crisis. The book describes eating as not just a pleasurable event but a purposeful event. The religious sense of prayer, it was prayer in the Buddhist sense of prayer and more about meditation and finding peace and finding calm. The love part of the book was very, very interesting in that it talks about the woman's journey and how she was able to love not just people but aspects of her life that she hadn't noticed before because she didn't have the time. This is a book about one's self-awareness journey.
I would give the book a three-star rating. The writing was fantastic, but the story was a little bit over the edge."
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| Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia |
Elizabeth Gilbert |
Fairy Tale Ending |
See review |
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia
Elizabeth Gilbert
"The concept of Eat Pray Love is that this woman, Elizabeth Gilbert, her marriage was ending, kind of fell apart, and she decided to -- she's a journalist -- and she decided to travel on her own and take a year and divide that year into quarters. So four months, four months, and four months; and four months would be to eat, four months would be to pray, and four months would be to love.
It took place in three different countries. The first four months was Italy, where she was going to eat and just kind of indulge herself in that. The next four months was India, I think -- it's been a while -- and she stayed in an ashram and learned to meditate and pray; and then the last four months was Thailand -- or Bali. Yeah, Bali. That's such a freeing thing, 'cause in our culture, we're always, "Oh, no, I have to do this, I can't do this, I can't eat that." I just enjoyed that thoroughly immersing herself into each particular feeling. By the end, she really learned that she could sustain herself on her own. I think we do goes through those phases if we're open to that kind of path and that kind of introspection.
Of course, she eventually meets the guy and falls in love, and at that point I was like, "Oh, fairy tale ending!" But the way she did it, it wasn't that she just kind of gave up everything else that she had learned to fall into this relationship. She had it in perspective.
I would give this book five stars. I have recommended it to several people, and I would keep doing that. In fact, I've seen the author. She was here for a book reading, and I went to see her."
|
| Eldest |
Christopher Paolini |
This Time There Are Elves! |
See review |
Eldest
Christopher Paolini
"Well, I chose to read Eldest because it's the second book following Eragon that continues the series of Eragon's journey through Alagesia, and they add more characters in, obviously, with the elves; and you find out that there is another dragon in existence with the elves. So Eragon, as a dragon rider, gets to have some more training after he leaves the Varden, and they end up going to war with the king. At the end of it there's an interesting twist that you really don't see coming, at least I didn't.
I liked the most about Eldest with him being with the elves and learning more about the magic in Alagesia and also what the dragons can do. Somebody else sneaks in; there's an elf who is a princess that he kind of has feeling for, but she doesn't reciprocate those; and she's - what's the word to describe her - she's kind of spunky and very rebellious and so I liked her.
Well, the other fantasy books that I've read weren't necessarily for young adults; they're more geared towards the adult audience. I would say they're not quite as simple as they could be, so that's nice; it kind of takes it up a notch. I would recommend anybody who's read Eragon read Eldest - it just continues the story - or anybody who enjoys dragons. I would give this one four stars."
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| Eldest |
Christopher Paolini |
Fantasy Novel By a Young Adult Author |
See review |
Eldest
Christopher Paolini
"The book is really rich with all the lore about the different people that live in the world. I would definitely compare it to The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I think it has a lot of similarities with that, just in that it kind of creates this whole other world that you can immerse yourself in, and it's incredible to me that somebody so young could write such a rich novel. It has a lot of details, a lot of like ten-cent vocabulary words.
Well, when I'm looking for books, books that I get really involved in are usually the type of books that create a whole other world that you can step into and kind of use as an escape from your everyday life.
I think it would really appeal to like adolescent readers and - I mean, I obviously liked it, but I'm a little older than that. So definitely, you know, people - like adults who are interested in science fiction or mythology, it's a really interesting read."
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| Elephanta Suite: Three Novellas |
Paul Theroux |
Wonders Of a First India Experience |
See review |
The Elephanta Suite
Paul Theroux
"The Elephanta Suite is a series of three novellas, each one about Americans bumbling around in India for the first time and basically making fools of themselves.
Theroux, if you know his work, you trust him to know -- he has been like the bad boy travel guide for decades, and his writings about India have just been so much fun and so evocative. It's part of the reason I went there; I was so stimulated by his writing. What's amazing for somebody as jaded as he and as experienced as he is he still knows how to express the wonder of a person's first experience in a crazy place like India. You know how hard that must be, and he makes it just seem effortless, and you just see India through completely new eyes.
To me, the greatest picture I got coming out of this book was that India -- modern India today is not the India of three decades ago. You have so many planeloads of Americans arriving every day. Americans are changing India, and so you see these characters who of course we know they're going to be changed by India because everybody is when they go to India; but how often do you see a book -- a novel where the Indian characters are changed for better or for worse by the American characters. So that's sort of to me a little microcosm of the whole globalization thing, too. I mean we're all connected together changing each other for better or for worse.
I think anybody who's interested in the new India, the new prosperous, globalized India, would be really fascinated by this. Also anybody who likes to travel in general, because if you're a traveler, you know that it's all about your expectations being shattered and your perceptions being turned upside down. Anybody who finds that stimulating will find this book stimulating. I'd give The Elephanta Suite four stars."
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| Emma |
Jane Austen |
Reader Likes Happy Endings |
See review |
"I read Emma by Jane Austen because I love the Jane Austen novels, and I was - I'd wanted to read all of her books, and so I read Emma. I like Jane Austen novels for one reason is 'cause I'm always pretty sure they're gonna have a happy ending.
The book is about a young English girl who's slightly spoiled, who thinks she's a matchmaker; so she goes around trying to make matches, but she's not very good at it. I probably could be Emma. She means well; it's just that she doesn't always think about what she's doing.
I'd recommend this book to anyone that likes to read romantic stories; I would recommend this book to anyone that likes the other Jane Austen novels. I'd recommend this book to someone that likes to read books and then watch the movie, which is something I enjoy doing because I like to see how someone visualizes what I've imagined in my head while I've been reading it; and since all of Jane Austen's novels except one have been made into movies, she's a great choice for reading and then watching the movie. I'd give this book five stars; it's one of my favorite Jane Austen novels because the character is not sort of this perfect, put-upon woman. She's a little bratty, but she learns about her brattiness."
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| Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad |
David Haward Bain |
Covers Everything! |
See review |
Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad
David Haward Bain
"I read Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad. The book is about exactly what it says, building the first transcontinental railroad. So it follows the story of Central Pacific leaving - being built out of Sacramento, up and over the Sierras, don't into Nevada and across to Salt Lake City and beyond; and then the Union Pacific's effort from - going west from Omaha an across Nebraska to hook up with the Central Pacific.
What I liked most about the book is that it seems pretty exhaustively researched, so whether it's about the financing of the railroad or the promoting of it; or it even starts with people who wanted to build it way before the Civil War and just for one reason or another didn't get anywhere. Without going down too much of a rabbit hole of sidetracking, it follows each of those stories for about as long as they really deserve, all the way up to the actual building of it and beyond.
There's something about railroads where there's the physical work part, that a tunnel has to be dug through a granite mountain if that's what it is, or a bridge across a river; but then it's also such a huge undertaking that there's everything from the politics to the financing to the mechanics of what a locomotive can do to - it really covers sort of like the gamut of human experience.
I would recommend Empire Express to anybody who's interested in history, the west, there's a lot in it about dealing with the Indians, engineering, financing, politics, any of that stuff. It's an easy read, and it's got a lot of detail. I guess since I can't think of anything that I'd like differently or better about it, I'm gonna go ahead and give it the five stars."
|
| Ender's Game |
Orson Scott Card |
What Would Ender Do? |
See review |
Enders Game
Orson Scott Card
"I read Enders Game because my roommate in college told me that she loved this book so much; she kept telling me she loved this book so much, blah, blah, blah. I never picked it up, so finally for Christmas one year she read the first half of this book into a tape recorder for me so that I would listen to it while I did my laundry and went jogging and stuff. [laughs] So then, once I started listening to it, then I got interested.
The cover will probably tell you that it's about a little boy who's in charge of training a team of kids that are supposed to be commanders to fight an alien race. To me, the story has a lot more to do with this really intelligent person looking into a system and trying to figure out how to best use the system to his own advantage and his struggle for his self-identity.
The lead character was so intelligent, and I felt like I could see through his eyes. After reading the book, I kind of felt myself thinking, or trying to think, like Ender. Any science fiction book, they have to take the science to an extreme; so there are some sort of far fetched ideas, but once -- if you can just accept these far-fetched ideas, then the story becomes really interesting.
I had my freshmen read this book, and at the end of their reading it -- 30 kids in the class, 29 said that this was their favorite book ever. I would definitely give Enders Game five stars out of five."
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| Ender's Game |
Orson Scott Card |
"Not Just Swordfights and Dragons" |
See review |
Enders Game
Orson Scott Card
"I do not read a lot of sci-fi. Actually, don't really like sci-fi. I really like "Enders Game" though. So, it doesn't make a lot of sense. But Orson Scott Card actually did a really good job of diving into the psychology and interpersonal relationships of each of the characters. So, it's not just sword fights and like dragons, a traditional sci-fi on like post-apocalyptic worlds. It's more kind of how they're dealing with what's going on around them.
"Enders Game" is about a young boy, Ender Wiggin who is actually chosen to be trained to become a fleet commander because the world is being invaded by invaders. And I think they're referred to as the "buggers," so, basically his process of being trained, and his interactions with people, and his cohorts, his trainers and so forth.
There's actually, five books in the series. So, this is more along the lines of a prologue. And it starts with "Ender's Point of View" and kind of his processes and how he develops and then the other four books, two of them actually focus on "Ender's Game," the whole story, but from a different point of view from being, as well as I think it's called the "shadow of haggemon," something like that.
I thought that the writing style could get into when you're in junior high or when you are you know growing up, as well. So, I think it's related on a lot of levels for a lot of different people. If you are not interested in sci-fi, read this book. This will maybe get your feet wet and kind of warm you up a little bit, I think towards sci-fi. I would give this book, five stars out of five."
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| End of Faith |
Sam Harris |
Addresses Religion From Different Angles |
See review |
The End of Faith
Sam Harris
"The End of Faith is basically Sam Harris' attempt to question religious faith and contrast it with scientific rationalism. I was a bit cautious in reading it at first because I thought it was going to be a sort of unsupported and unjustified assault, particularly on Islam; but as it turned out, I found myself very sympathetic to a lot of ideas in the book, and it's extremely well supported and very, very well researched.
The author is both a neurologist and someone who holds a degree in philosophy, which gives him quite a unique insight in that he's able to analyze religious faith both from a sort of scientific standpoint and in the context of human philosophy.
I actually think it would be a very, very good book to read for someone who is religious. Unlike a lot of other books which try to support an atheist perspective, Sam Harris definitely offers the broadest -
I really liked the fact that Sam Harris made a really, really good effort to address religion from a number of angles; and although I think it would probably really rile some religious people, he does make an effort to understand where religious people are coming from.
I would recommend this book both to believing religious people and to atheists as well. It's definitely the most well researched book about religion that I've ever read, and I think that it would have an impact on anyone who read it regardless of what they believe. I would give this book five out of five stars. Although I didn't agree with every point in the book, I think it's a very, very timely book, extremely well researched, and very important; and I hope it has the impact that it's attempting to have."
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| Eragon |
Christopher Paolini |
Fantasy Lite |
See review |
Eragon
Christopher Paolini
"I chose to read Eragon because I first came in contact with that title out of the movie; and I enjoyed the immensely, and so I decided why not read the book. Fantasy appeals to me because I can read it and the authors are usually so descriptive I just get drawn into their world.
This story is about a farm boy named Eragon who finds a blue stone that turns out to be a dragon egg. While he has the stone it hatches, and he is finding himself with a baby dragon. He didn't realize how much trouble this dragon was eventually gonna bring him. So the story, it progresses to where he's chasing some very evil characters along with his dragon and a local from their little town, who seems to be very well versed in the dragon lore; and we don't know much about him, so he develops later on in the book. He learns to use magic through the words and the power of his own being.
Well, there is a evil king, of course, who rules the empire, and then there's those who oppose the king who are called - what are they called - the Varden. I think I liked the character of Eragon the best, and also the dragon. He two of them I think of as one character because they can speak to each other through their minds, and I find that fascinating.
One thing I'm finding that I don't like is his concept of distance. He's got the map in the front of the book as for all fantasy worlds, and it needs some more development I think. He doesn't - the map doesn't quite mesh with the distances he puts in. I would give this five stars because it's really well written for a first in a series, and it's got dragons and magic and fantasy elements."
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| Esio Trot |
Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake |
"The Girl Gives All Her Love To a Turtle" |
See review |
Esio Trot
Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake
"I wanted to read this book because Roald Dahl is my favorite author, because he mixes funny stories with a little scary stories at the same time; and there's lots of adventure in them.
Esio Trot is about a man that kind of likes a girl, but the girl gives all her love to a turtle named Alfie. Then the girl, named Mrs. Silver, asks the boy, Mr. Hops, to try to make her turtle grow because he was only 13 oz. and he was five years old. So Mr. Hops said that he had learned a # he had got a paper from a tribe that took care of turtles -- an Indian tribe. So he read it to the turtle, and it started with "Esio Trot, Esio Trot," and that's how they got the title. It said that because in turtle language, they spell everything backwards, and "Esio Trot" spelled backwards is "tortoise." So it started with, "Tortoise, tortoise."
I think it's a good book for kids of like 7 to 12. I would probably give it about 4 -- stars."
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| Evolution |
Stephen Baxter |
Pre-Human and Post-Human |
See review |
"I read Evolution: A Novel because I'm interested in evolution and science fiction, and this is clearly within the category of science fiction. It traces the evolution of mankind from about 65 million years ago, up to the time that the dinosaurs became extinct, until the present, and then projects it into the future. It was interesting to see it from both points of view and interesting to see how much he got into the point of view of our pre-human ancestors and our post-human descendants.
It is character-driven within each epoch, so it has one main character -- it comes as close as you could get, I think, to putting yourself in the point of view of a creature that's not quite human. In some cases, the farther back you go or the farther in the future, very different from human.
One thing that it does I think is to dispel the idea that evolution is a constant upward journey because if you think of intelligence alone, for example, then it's just been an upward journey through our species; but it's not necessarily going to continue going in that direction in the future. I think it sort of helps to plant the idea that intelligence is not a one-way street -- not intelligence, evolution -- is not a one-way street toward intelligence or any other one characteristic. It depends greatly on the circumstances.
I would give it four stars. I would have trouble giving any science fiction story five stars, I think, because I could always find things that are not going to hap -- they don't happen in the story the way I think they would actually happen."
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| Exit Ghost |
Philip Roth |
"Compelled To Read Philip Roth" |
See review |
"I had come to reading Phillip Roth's writing late, you might say, in his career. I first read "The Plot Against America" that came out maybe three or four years ago, and then his most recent book, Everyman. I had enjoyed those two books and thought, "Wow, here's another chance to read from a writer whom I've enjoyed very much."
It's about a character that I now know is a recurring character that Roth has been writing about for maybe 20 years or so, a character named Nathan Zuckerman. The character decides to move back to New York City to in a sense kind of deal with some issues that he had not dealt with for a while, I guess. He comes back because of health reasons -- he has prostate cancer -- and from that connects with a bunch of people kind of in a random sort of way. But there were just parts of the narrative that I found that were kind of quirky and fun, one example being in part of the plot he has a discussion with a character and because the narrator had been away out of New York and kind of out of civilization, you might say. For a long time he was unaware that George Plimpton, the writer, had died; and he kind of goes off on this tangent in some ways talking about George Plimpton and how important George Plimpton was as a writer. Having read Plimpton as a young kid, his sports books particularly, that was a fun thing for me to kind of enjoy that little piece of the story.
I guess I would recommend the book for people who are maybe in an older age category. It worked very well as a book by itself in isolation; I don't think I missed anything by not knowing the other characters, who apparently are also recurring characters as well. I would actually give it a four out of five stars, and it's a book that will definitely kind of compel me to go back and look at even more Phillip Roth."
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| Expecting Adam |
Martha Beck |
"It's a Keeper" |
See review |
Expecting Adam
Martha Beck
"It's called Expecting Adam by Martha Beck. So the book is about the author. It is sort of a memoir, is how it's classified. So Martha Beck is a Harvard graduate many times over, and her husband, and they had a child and she found out she was pregnant again. So she was thinking about terminating the pregnancy, but inexplicably couldn't, didn't want to, felt uncomfortable with that kind of decision. And partway through the pregnancy, she found out that her unborn child was going to have Down's Syndrome, and even with that information she wanted to keep the baby.
I thought her style was really easy to read. To me, it was just like somebody telling you stories or something, it flowed really easily. I didn't have a hard time following the story because she led into it well.
I would pass this on to a lot of people that I know, people with an open mind who believe in a little magic in the world. I'm actually going to go reread it when I'm done because I liked it so much, and I'm into the story again.
Five out of five, absolutely. Loved the book. It's great. It's a keeper."
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| Fairyopolis |
Cicely Mary Barker |
Young Girl Appeal-But Not a Classic |
See review |
Fairyopolis
Cicely Mary Barker
"I bought this book to give to one of my cousins, who really loves fairies, and magic, and loves doing magic tricks, and loves anything to do with unicorns and things like that. It's the story of a woman who's a caretaker for a friend's estate in England, and over the course of house sitting, she discovers that there're fairies around. I like the fact that it takes place in England - I think in the 1920s. So it's a very, sort of, nostalgic piece, and I think it's a kind of book that many grandmothers would enjoy sharing with young granddaughters. It's a little bit sugary, so I think if a person has a little bit more of an edge to them, they probably would not like this book.
I would give Fairyopolos about two and a half stars out of five. I think it's a great book for young girls. It won't be the kind of book that I think will last and endure, you know, into the next generation."
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| Falling Angels |
Tracy Chevalier |
Character With Chutzpah |
See review |
Falling Angels
Tracy Chevalier
"I think originally it was given to me, but I'm a big fan of Tracy Chevalier.
It starts in the very early 1900's, I think it's 1901, and it spans a ten-year period of time; and it's about the childhood of two girls who eventually become neighbors and friends. I think it's really about the rite of passage of these two girls for this ten-year period of time. It also has to do with women's lib a little bit - or a lot.
One of the mothers becomes a suffragette and gets thrown into jail, and during that time, if you know the early 1900's, I mean there was very rigid social structures that happened at that time; and you really - you really didn't step outside of those social structures when you were in a certain class. It's about a woman who pushes the parameters of the social structure at that time, and then one of the other mothers stays within those parameters. Both of the families, both of the respective families of the girls suffer a lot, so it has to do with mourning and how mourning was perceived at that time.
I always liked strong women, and I appreciated the fact that this woman was in a very rigid - she was in very rigid confines. Society had decided that it was going to be this way, and she really had the chutzpa and the strength of spirit to go outside of that and to experiment.
Either you have to be interested in the spirit of female growth or in that time, so I think people that would be interested in that would love this book. I would give it a four out of five stars."
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| Fancy Nancy |
Jane O'Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser |
"My Niece Loves The Book" |
See review |
Fancy Nancy
Jane O'Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser
"Fancy Nancy is a story about a little girl that wants to make the world a little bit more fabulous, so she's constantly, sort of, dressing up and encouraging members of her family to dress up also. My niece loves the book, so I read the book to her all the time, and she loves dressing up and loves, sort of, wearing little boas, so I thought it was sort of like a book that reminded me of the character, Really Rosie, by Maurice Sendak. It's just a really sweet little story, and it's really appropriate for young kids, maybe about five or six years old.
One of the things that I wished the book had done was, I wished that Nancy had a friend named Randy, or something, and so there was sort of a boy character, cuz I know that young boys also like dressing up, particularly in Halloween costumes and things like that. And one of the reasons that I wanted to give my niece a children's book, as opposed to another type of birthday gift, is, I really want kids to love reading, and I think more than anything else, this is such a sweet book, because kids like it, and therefore it makes them associate the experience of reading with something that's fun and pleasurable.
I would give it about four stars, because Fancy Nancy is a book for young kids, and young kids really, really like it."
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| Fancy Nancy: Bonjour Butterfly |
Jane O'connor and Robin Preiss Glasser |
Putting On the Glitz |
See review |
"Okay, I have a five year-old and a three year-old daughter, and we already own all the other Fancy Nancy books written. This is the third, the Fancy Nancy and the Bonjour Butterfly.
Fancy Nancy is a little girl who's very brilliant. I'm afraid these stories won't appeal to your sons as much as your daughters, but she's a little girl who wants to learn a word here and there in French, who wants to call ice cream sundaes parfaits, who wants to call something that's pretty gorgeous or exquisite, or -- she's very drawn to things that are glitzy and slightly older. You know, the glamorous life. Her parents tell her suddenly she can't attend her best friend's birthday party because she must attend her grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary, and they're gonna miss it that weekend. In the beginning, she's so mad that she like fumes and sulks and scowls, and they teach you all these synonyms for the word being sad.
What I like as a parent is that the author's always teaching new, slightly higher vocabulary all along in her typical style of telling the story. It's always like, "Ecstatic is a fancy word for happy," or "I was so mad, I was furious. That's a fancy word for mad." There's always like a good lesson to be learned in the stories by this author, and it's funny how sometimes children really think something is gonna be horrible and they end up enjoying it far more than they expected, and that's very true in the lives of little people.
My oldest daughter is my Fancy Nancy. She loves to dress fancy; she loves to decorate her room with unnecessary little things to make it colorful. Anyone with a daughter between like three and seven, I think it's already quite popular. 4 -- stars for Fancy Nancy and the Bonjour Butterfly."
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| Fat Girl: A True Story |
Judith Moore |
Never Had a Weight Problem? Read This |
See review |
Fat Girl: A True Story
Judith Moore
"Obviously, by the title, you can imagine it's a girl who's overweight, but she wasn't always. When she was little until she was four and her parents suddenly divorced and she feels completely abandoned by her father. Then, on top of that, she's abandoned by her mom and left at her grandma's house for two years. And grandma says things like "if she remarries she may not come back for you. Her new husband may not want you." I mean this horrific thing.
And so it's a very sad at times story, but how a girl's life kind of influences her. I guess her eating habits and her health. And then when she goes off to college, what happens? Oh, gee the weight just sort of drops off on it's own. It's funny.
It's important for someone to read a book like this, especially if you've never had trouble with your weight to really have some compassion for people. My goodness, there's all kinds of physical things we all struggle with. And if you have struggled with your weight, you'll find like, you can identify with the character. I think it's really heartbreaking. It's really disturbing. This isn't just a story about weight. It's a story about like neglect and kind of emotional abuse.
I would give the book "Fat Girl" four and a half stars and warn the reader that it's really sad at times. It can be really hard to handle."
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| Felicia's Journey |
William Trevor |
Chain Reaction In the Name Of Love |
See review |
Felicia's Journey
William Trevor
"Felicia's Journey by William Trevor, it's a novel about the damage that other people's love projected onto people does to them. It's about a girl -- a young girl who becomes pregnant -- she's in Ireland -- by a kind of a boyfriend that's not a real boyfriend, and he goes off back to England. So she goes there and wanders from business to business trying to find this boyfriend of hers, and nobody knows what she's talking about.
And she comes into the view of this older, 50's kind of man; and he immediately starts kind of watching the girl. He befriends her slightly, but he's so calculated in how he befriends the girl that you immediately know he's done this before, just this kind of chain reaction of what people do to other people in the name of love and how their whole worlds eventually become altered and peripheral people that it affects.
The ending's a big surprise, and when you think about it, it seems very fitting. It's really tragic. I mean nobody has a happy ending. It's not a long book; it -- you can read it pretty quickly, but it's not an uplifting read. Out of five, I'd give it 3 -- stars out of five."
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| Fish |
Stephen C. Lundin, Harry Paul, and John Christensen |
Do You Want To Reinvigorate Your Workplace? |
See review |
This is a book that was offered at work, and so one of the things at my work that we were looking at was ways to transform our business. That's a euphemism for perhaps a reorganization, if you will. And so what we decided to do was, in order to get management behind it was to offer this book; and I was - that's Fish by Stephen Lundin and others, and it's a - it was a book that was a mandatory read, if you will.
The book takes place - it's a fictional account - it takes place in Seattle, and it is about a woman who has to make drastic changes in her organization. Seattle has this really well - world famous fish market, and so her transformation, this woman's transformation, takes place when she goes to the fish market, and she says, "They're doing this really dirty job of moving the fish all around - of cleaning and getting fish out to customers, but they're so energetic. It made her think about her own workplace and what she can do to give a different perspective to her employees.
The book is short, and so for a business read it's a good book because it's relatively easy to read. You should be able to read it within a couple hours at the most. I definitely recommend this book to any business professional, particularly if you're in the human resources field. I'm not in human resources, but if you're definitely in human resources and you're going through - any person who is in a leadership position where you have some sort of management responsibility and that you want to reinvigorate your organization. I would give this book a four-star rating out of five. It's a very good book; the reason why I don't necessarily give it a five-star rating is 'cause I don't think it's a very deep book.
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| Flags of our Fathers |
James Bradley and Ron Powers |
Former Marine Met Author, Enjoys Book |
See review |
Flags of Our Fathers
James Bradley and Ron Powers
"The book, Flags of our Fathers, was actually - had a book signing in San Francisco about three years ago. The story was about the flag raising at Iwo Jima, which is about the historical picture taken on Mount Suribachi, which is embedded in the Marine Corps history, and being a former Marine, I wanted to hear about the stories. What really interested me in the book signing, when I talked to them, was finding out it was not just about the flag raising, but what brought these people into the war and how they coped with the war afterwards. Because we are a family of Marines, we do - we are faced with challenges of war and also challenges of relating with family or friends after war.
I really can say there's nothing I disliked about it. I was actually really surprised when I read the book, about some of the history that I thought I knew. It was more eye opening than what I had anticipated.
Out of five stars, I would rate the book a five star. I expected it to be a more boring, historical account, maybe about a three-star book, but I did pick it up, met the author, and was really surprised by the emotion and the detailed stories."
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| Flight: A Novel |
Sherman Alexie |
Character As A Vehicle For Change |
See review |
"Sherman Alexie is one of the few authors whose books I will go wait in line for when they first come out. I've read everything that he's written, so this was a no-brainer for me. As soon as I knew he had a book out, I had to go buy it.
The book follows the story of a half-breed Indian boy who's 15 years old, living in a variety of foster homes in Seattle who decides one day that the way to deal with his rage is to go on a shooting spree in a bank. While he's in the bank prepared to gun down a bunch of perfect strangers, he has an amazing experience happen to him in which he gets transported consecutively to various violent episodes throughout the history of time, and he actually embodies people participating in or being victims of those violent episodes.
At several points throughout the book I felt the gripping intensity of the violence that people have suffered through throughout history. I enjoyed how Alexie was able to portray this character, whose name is Zits, in both an empathetic way but also not so much as a victim but more as a vehicle for change.
Alexie is someone who isn't shy, and this book is definitely not shy. The language is angry and energized, and he's not apologetic for how this kid feels; and in that respect, it is very similar to his characters from his other books and his short story collections.
I think this would be an interesting book for teenagers to read, especially ones who feel very angry about society and feel like their only recourse is violence. I would give this book a four star out of five rating."
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| Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets |
Nassim Nicholas Taleb |
Is Success Based On Luck? |
See review |
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"Fooled by Randomness was actually suggested to me by my __________ boss.
He basic premise of the book is that success is really more of a function of luck rather than skill, oftentimes. He focuses a lot on the success and failures of Wall Street traders, and one example he gives is of a trader who was enormously successful up until 1997, had several million dollars of net worth; and then due to a series of trades which were consistent with that he - with what that trader had done previously to make himself successful that the same trading strategy that was so successful for him actually caused him to lose just about everything that he had.
What Taleb's point was is that what makes you successful on one area or at one time in your life may not necessarily be due to your wits or your intelligence. It could just be because you got lucky.
If there's one book I think in the past ten years that really helped me have a better view of this world, it's this book; and I've read lots and lots of books over the past ten years. I don't think there's a single book that really dramatically changed my view and helped me have a deeper view of the world than Taleb's book. So I would say this is clearly at the top of my list for non-fiction. I would rate this book as five stars."
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| Forever Odd |
Dean Koontz |
Supernatural Dork As Hero |
See review |
"I wanted to read the book because I had read Odd Thomas, the first part, and just fell in love with the quirky character and this nerd who could do things, and you just loved him. And I couldn't wait for the second one to come out, and I don't know how this author spits 'em out every 30 seconds, but it came out really quick!
It's a book about an average Joe who is miserable because he has a gift, and the gift is that he can communicate with dead people and can tell when bad things are gonna happen. I think at times, there have been times where I felt kind of isolated, and the geek, and wanting to be alone, and the unpopular kid. I've never had some kind of supernatural gift; you can relate to the dork that is the hero in a sense. I think most people want that to happen, or I wanted it to happen, for him to be the hero because stuff happened to him.
I believe in some supernatural things. I can't say 100 percent that I believe this man sees Elvis and dead people. And it's interesting because of my psychological background; I used to treat patients and I used to see everything, people talking about people hiding in their closet, and. And so I think people - he might think that he sees things - and at times I do think that supernatural things happen. I'm not sure if I believe 100 percent everything could happen that's in the book, but I think there's a possibility that some of that weirdness could happen.
It's just a great story of a hero who is superhuman but human and flawed in so many ways. I think I would give it a four out of five because I really liked the story. I love the character, and if I had not read the prequel, then I would probably give it a five; but having that bias, then I'd give it a four."
|
| For One More Day |
Mitch Albom |
"Not As Poetic As Tuesdays With Morrie" |
See review |
Well, I was on the starbucks.com email distribution list when one day I saw For One More Day was being announced and that it gonna be carrying at starbucks.c - uh, stores; so I quickly went to get hold of it because I had read all the other books by Mitch Albom.
This book is about Charles "Chick" Benetto, basically a man with lost dreams and failed marriage. And during his attempt for suicide, he actually saw his dead mother and got to spend one more day with her. I was in a stage in my life that I wanted to kind of find my own identity and a lot of people having mid-life crises I had much earlier, so I call I prime-life crisis. Later on, I did go into much more spiritual development, so studied a bit about healing work; and I do teach yoga on the side, so a lot of the mind-body-spirit connection. So reading these books kind of helped my profession in some way that I can help others.
Well, I had such a high expectation for this particular book; and after reading Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven, it was a little disappointing. This book to me was not as well structured. The first couple of chapters was quite fragmented a little bit more. It was a little bit more rambling for me than I know that poetic way of Tuesdays with Morrie or the interesting way he structured Five People You Meet in Heaven, which is a novel. I would give this book three and a-half stars, this for One More Day by Mitch Albom.
|
| Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete |
William C. Rhoden |
"Did Some Athlete Really Tick Him Off?" |
See review |
Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete
William C. Rhoden
"I wanted to read Forty Million Dollar Slaves because I totally got caught up in the hype of the title. William Rhoden, who's the author, had been doing lots of interviews, radio, I was reading stuff in the newspaper about him, I'd heard him actually on Tavis Smiley talk about it and thought I've gotta read this book, I've gotta read this book.
Forty Million Dollar Slaves, the subtitle is The Rise, Fall and Redemption of the Black Athlete. So it actually talks to the position of African-American, primarily males, in athletics. He really sees athletics and sports as sort of the last plantation system. He used that analogy because he talked about the ownership of your sports teams are primarily white male. Those bringing the money in are primarily African-American men and some women. So his premise is that there's an imbalance of power. He speaks to the point that while African-American sports figures get a lot of celebrity, they still control nothing.
I understood his foundation and his premise. I certainly saw parallels with plantation slavery; that was very clear. I thought that some of it was a little too generalized. I didn't think he did a very good job of pointing out those athletes who have not been disconnected. My star rating for Forty Million Dollar Slaves would probably be maybe a 3 -- to a 4, and I even wondered when I read it, it was like did some athlete really tick him off somewhere, and is this kind of his attack at that? Because some of it felt a little personal."
|
| Freakonomics |
Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner |
"Quirky" |
See review |
"Well, I read Freakonomics partly 'cause of the title, because it's annoying, and I figured I'd give them a chance to show me that even though they came up with a cutesy title, the book really does something worthwhile. But intellectually, economics is the one subject -- I'm sure I'm not alone in this -- that I've studied over the course of my lifetime that left me kind of bored.
The book doesn't really focus on money all the time. It's certainly not like an account's treatment of economics; it's much more like a cultural theorist's treatment of economics. It's a quirky economist guy and this reporter who helps him write this book and gets out to people that economics is really how we can understand the way humans do things. A range of examples come up in this book. The ones that come up -- that come to mind in the body of the book are things like why the KKK was so successful and why it finally petered out, how realtors make decisions about how they prioritize sales versus profits for the people that they're helping sell a home, how teachers make decisions about whether to be honest or whether to cheat, a whole bunch of topics that just treat sort of dilemmas that we're familiar with and that maybe we've thought about in our own way but we'd never really come up with a satisfactory explanation for them.
What I like about the book is that it's a very, very accessibly written book, even though it does treat sophisticated topics. You can tell that behind the writing is a very bright, very quantitative an analytical economist. I would certainly recommend it to people like me who aren't interested in economics terribly and who don't have a very strong background in it."
For me, this is a four-star book. I enjoyed it a lot; I feel I learned a lot about how to loosen up my somewhat tight-ass vision of what economic theory, economic treatment really has to be.
|
| Freakonomics |
Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner |
Guns Versus Pools |
See review |
"I wanted to read Freakonomics because I read reviews, and it was saying it'll make you question on many, many things that you just hold as assumptions. And I love things like that, that make you go, "Oh, that's not true."
The book is a series of examples where these - I believe they're statisticians, I can't remember economists - economists. And they looked at everyday examples by numbers and would disprove what is considered common knowledge.
I think the book grabbed me and kept me pretty much right away. Personally, I really like it when I can see news stories or advertisements and say, "That's what they want us to think, but it's not true." And a good example of that is - I don't relate to it because I'm a gun owner, but they had an example where they proved through statistics that based on how man guns are out there and how many swimming pools are out there, that having a swimming pool is actually much more dangerous than having a gun. I'd have to give the book four stars. Because I clearly enjoyed it because I read the whole thing. However, I think there was some - some unnecessary talk. Some unnecessary kind of plugs, actually. I don't hold it against them for plugging things, but I think they were unnecessary."
|
| Freakonomics: |
Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner |
An Economists Truthful Look At Social Issues |
See review |
Freakonomics
Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
"The title of the book that I'm talking about is Freakonomics. It's an interesting compilation of a bunch of different examples. In the introduction, they talk about how it is so eclectic and just picks random different things that the author, who's this brilliant economist, was interested in.
I would probably recommend it to about anybody, especially somebody who worked in social services, just because they touch on a lot of different issues, like the abortion legalization and teacher cheating and a bunch of other stuff. They talked about like names and whether that necessarily means that if you're named one thing as opposed to another, like are you destined for greatness versus failure. So it was just a -- I thought it was a really interesting way to look at things, and so really anybody I think could get a lot out of it.
I thought it was well put together, and the economist who came up with all of the ideas worked together with the writer, which made it a lot more accessible to someone who's maybe not so familiar with economy and math and things like that. So I really enjoyed it."
|
| Freakonomics: Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything |
Steven D. Levitt |
Odd Connection |
See review |
Freakonomics: Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Steven D. Levitt
"I picked up Freakonomics. I knew it had been a really popular thing a couple of years ago. It's an economist using his skills of analyzing data and looking at numbers to -- he applies it to a lot of fairly unorthodox situations. A lot of people's reason for citizens not having handguns would be that they can accidentally -- a child could find it and they could actually get shot. If you look at the statistics, while he's not endorsing having a handgun, not that many people die that way considering how many people die in a year. What he took was the number of children killed in swimming pools a year and with handguns, and he found that swimming pools kill many more kids each year than handguns. He's a fairly unorthodox character in the economics world, apparently, and he doesn't really hold any interest in what he's trying to find; he just sees it as a really interesting puzzle. So he's using very complicated math and data analysis to really come up with some fairly common sense solutions, but really backing it up I think, too.
It was interesting all the way through, but some of the things that he was analyzing, it didn't matter too much. Like he went through a situation in which he was talking about how likely it is that sumo wrestlers cheat.
I would say four out of five. It's really well written and it's very interesting, but like I said, I didn't always know why I needed to know it really. Anybody that picks it up I think will find something that really kind of open their mind."
|
| Fred Jones Tools for Teaching |
Fredric H. Jones, Patrick Jones, Jo Lynn, and Fred Jones |
Great Resource |
See review |
I read Tools for Teaching by Fred Jones because I got this job, my very first teaching job with my own classroom, and I had 35 kids coming in that were going to be freshmen repeating freshman English, and I was of course terrified.
The book is actually aimed at teachers to set things so that your students will have fun but also really respect you and obey the rules and respect each other and set up an atmosphere that really can work. I really can't believe how thankful I am that I've had it as a teacher. There's a lot of practical advice, such as how you should arrange the furniture in your room so that you can get to every kid within a certain amount of steps, down to how you should turn your head if there's a distraction in the room. They talk about the regal six point, six second turn where you know you turn your head, and then you turn your shoulders, and then you turn your body, and you slowly -- and you have to be careful about where you point your feet because your feet show where your commitment is. I've tried it. It felt ridiculous doing it, but it really works.
It goes kind of slowly, and some of the things are kind of, you know, instincts or you would think most people would kind of have an idea of those things, but actually I read those parts, too, and found that often the parts that seem like they should be just you know common knowledge, they turned out to have some interesting little side parts that were really important and changed the whole point.
I would recommend this book to not just teachers. I would recommend it to parents who want to use these strategies for you know, keeping good discipline with their kids.
I would give it about - I think I'd give it five stars out of five.
|
| Full House: The Spread of Excellence from Plato to Darwin |
Steven J. Gould |
"Flipped Evolution On Its Head" |
See review |
Full House: The Spread of Excellence from Plato to Darwin
Steven J. Gould
"Full House is a book about understanding variations. The whole idea I think that was really interesting about the book is that it really flipped evolution on its head in that I think many think many people view evolution as some sort of progression to a higher state. His view on evolution isn't a progression to a higher state but is simply a random walk, if you will, a random variation off of the main theme of life, which is bacteria.
The interesting thing about the book is that he united bacteria and baseball. It all had to do with this idea of variation. In baseball we see a lack of variation because the quality of play has gotten better, and that's why we don't see baseball hitters hitting 400. With regard to evolution or the study of evolution, what we see is that life is random, life continues to evolve, but it really all bounces off, it all starts off and maybe will return to bacteria. So there's a lot of variation to life, but it doesn't necessarily mean that's evolving to a higher state.
I think this book would be a little bit difficult for somebody to read who does not have a biology background. In fact, I found myself kind of not paying that much attention to that part of the book; but I thought that the baseball part of the book more than made up for it. I would give this book four stars."
|
| Funny In Farsi: A Memoir Of Growing Up Iranian In America |
Firoozeh Dumas |
Lighthearted...Great For Adolescents |
See review |
Funny in Farsi
Firoozeh Dumas
"I actually had to read "Funny in Farsi" because I was tutoring a high school student, whose English teacher assigned it for summer reading. But I ended up liking it, so.
It is a very lighthearted memoir about a woman who immigrated to the United States in the 1970's from Iran, not recently when Iran's been really, really religious and in the news for being the "land of fanatics," but 30 years ago. And it's mostly the culture clash and the awkwardness of being like the only kid in class who neither, celebrates Christmas nor Hanukkah.
Like, there are a lot of really funny parts. Very much in the style of like "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," where the dad is just really goofy and thinks of himself as good at certain things that he's not at all good at or, they have these very, very opposing views of how to handle situations.
I think it's perfect for adolescents. It's a perfect read for a teenager. Every teenager knows that feeling of wanting to fit in, but feeling like they don't. Every teenager knows that being embarrassed of your parents feeling, that like oh God, I hope they don't show up in that again.
So, I think it is really good for young adult or teen fiction, teen reading. I'd give it a three. I mean for what it is. I'm looking at it as an adult and maybe it was intended for a younger audience."
|
| Garlic and Sapphires |
Ruth Reichl |
Memoir, Recipes and a Whole Lot More |
See review |
Garlic and Sapphires
Ruth Reichl
"Garlic and Sapphires is the third in a trilogy by Ruth Reichl on her own life. What you've got is a passionate food critic whose got an extremely engaging writing style based on the writing that she's done over the course of time, and what she really does is spins it into her autobiography through food. So you've got recipes mixed in, you've got stories about - in Garlic and Sapphires about the various costumes that she employed to try and fool these chefs, because she found she was getting recognized rather quickly in New York, and was anxious to see, with Garlic and Sapphires, whether she would be able to deliver on the promise that she showed in Tender at the Bone in this third book in New York.
Fortunately, she smacked it out of the park."
|
| Garry Kasparov's Greatest Chess Games Vol 2 |
Igor Stohl |
Inside Chess |
See review |
Garry Kasparov's Greatest Chess Games Vol 2
Igor Stahl
"I love chess, and there is arguable no better chess player than Gary Kasparov. By reading this book, not only did I want to get a better sense of the history of the game -- or the modern history of the game -- I want to become a better chess player.
Igor Stohl presents the material by taking a look at Kasparov's games post his winning the world title from Anatoly Karpov in the middle to late 90's; they had basically five matches in the early to mid 80's with Kasparov becoming the winner.
I think the book is very readable for chess players. It's in algebraic notation -- algebraic notation is not necessarily for non-chess players to read. There is a lot of commentary given for a number of the different moves, so we can understand why, or what Kasparov was thinking. So there's a lot of psychology behind chess; and it's not just about trying to calculate and figure out the best move, but sometimes it's just trying to play against the other person, and so that was noted as well.
If you are a chess player, this is a must-have book. I think Stohl is one of the best chess writers around; it's clear that he took a lot of time to make this book and did a really solid job in terms of making, of doing the analysis of getting Kasparov's input. For a chess book, I would rate this book at 4 -- stars. I would suggest it for a chess player with a rating of over 1700."
|
| Get Your War On |
David Rees and Colson Whitehead |
Post 9/11 Comic Questions War |
See review |
Get Your War On
David Rees and Colson Whitehead
"I read Get Your War On because I was a fan of the online comic strip and was really excited for the author whenever he got the comic strip published in this book format.
Get Your War On was, as I mentioned, this online comic strip that the author started after September 11. Kind of the genius of the book, I think, is he uses clip art, which he -- so he's showing kind of this generic person -- like it could be anyone. He has this set of characters who are trying to deal with kind of the -- their emotional fallout from September 11, the reality of what's going on around them. Not all of the characters hate the war. When kind of America knew we had to have some kind of response but were left with the question of, "Is this the right response?"
I think sometimes the use of street vernacular was kind of overplayed as even the title of the book, Get Your War On, shows that it's trying to take culture as it was in that moment of time. So there's a lot of references to hip hop or just slang that's used that you wouldn't see these men in their suits and ties at their office actually saying. I think that this book would be great for anyone who actually kind of likes the political cartoons. I would give this book four out of five stars."
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| Ghettonation: A Journey Into the Land of Bling and Home of the Shameless |
Cora Daniels |
Should Author Have Delved Deeper? |
See review |
Ghettonation: A Journey Into the Land of Bling and Home of the Shameless
Cora Daniels
"I wanted to read "Ghettonation" after having lived and worked in the ghetto for many years in East Oakland. The book is sort of a insightful and at times very humorous delve into the world of what is it to be "ghetto." And it goes from hairstyles to live choices and sort of explores the phenomena of being "ghetto" in the inner-city, as well as, in the wealthier areas. It doesn't come up with a solution or an answer. It just basically, observes and shares.
Cora Daniels is the author and she sort of relays some of her journey as a person and her different interactions in the course of her life and sort of identifying what's "ghetto," what isn't ghetto. Why is such a thing, trying to think of an example where you might find something that is "ghetto" in an area that's not really considered a ghetto. So, she's just sharing her perspective and her humor.
I guess I would have liked her to delve a little bit deeper into what are some of the ramifications on our young people, particularly, young people of color and in holding onto the "ghettoization" of youth culture.
I would give this book, four stars."
|
| God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater |
Kurt Vonnegut |
Funny But Dark |
See review |
"I wanted to read God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater basically because I love Kurt Vonnegut. He's one of my favorite authors, and I've read a lot of books by him.
And basically, if I'm looking for something to read I'll go to the library and pick out one that I haven't read.
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater is about, it's principally about Elliot Rosewater, who is a man in his 30's to 40's who inherited a large sum of money when he was a child. As far as characters I identify with, there are parts of several of the characters, I guess. Eliot, just in terms of - if I had that money, I would love to think that I wouldn't keep it all to myself; I would try to give it to people.
What I liked most about the book really, I mean Kurt Vonnegut's style I love. He really has kind of a similar style throughout his books. It's funny but also dark in the way that he's kind of digging down into society's ills.
I'd recommend this book certainly to anyone who loves Kurt Vonnegut books or who's read any at all, really, as well as people who like to think of themselves as being socially conscious. I would say probably four out of five, simply just because of the ending that I mentioned; and it wasn't my favorite out of the Kurt Vonneguts that I've read but still completely worth reading."
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| God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything |
Christopher Hitchens |
Compelling But Snide |
See review |
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
Christopher Hitchens
"God is Not Great is about the worship of God being horrific, and it's probably the most cynical book that I've come across ever, even to an atheist like me, as extremely bitter, closed minded, snide, cynical.
It's about the horribly destructive and counterproductive and nasty and spiteful things that religion has apparently been associated with, motivated, justified through human history, he attacks the whole major tripartite of religions pretty equally. That's certainly his focus. It's incredibly easy for anyone with positive morals and ethics to look at the history of humankind and the things going on today and find associations with religion, so there's never any question of him backing up what he has to say. I think the question is whether it ultimately is religion that's at fault and religion that ought to be attacked in turn to try to eradicate the human species' tendency to be evil. He means well, though. Through all of that, there's this sense that this is a really good person who would love to see love be the primary thing that humans spread amongst each other.
It's hard to imagine rating God is Not Great lower than a three because it's a fine book -- for what it tries to do, it does well -- but it's hard to imagine rating it higher than a three because I don't like what the book does terribly much."
|
| Godless |
Ann Coulter |
"I Disagree With the Book" |
See review |
"I was drawn to the book Godless because I'm the target of the book - not the target audience, the target. It's concerned specifically with godless liberals. Like all of her books, it's about liberalism and why she hates it, and the tack that she takes in this book is that liberals are anti-God, whether they are personally - don't believe in God or not; and that liberalism itself is a religion.
Frankly, there were times when I wasn't sure she wasn't right. You know, like for example she was talking about Rudy Giuliani's record of cleaning up crime in New York. I wanted to look at the end notes, but I didn't have time to look at that, so I just carried my liberal biases with me. I suspect that there are some things that she's not telling us.
I liked the cover. Ann Coulter puts her picture on every book, and she's a very good-looking woman. It spoils it for me when I know that she's saying things about liberals that don't ring true. She's not dealing with the real issue of liberals, but a sort of a fantasy she's made up.
I think it's the kind of book that I would like people like me to read. I wouldn't recommend it to conservatives because they would just be hearing what they want to hear anyway. Well, I'd give it one star, and that's based primarily on the fact that I disagree with the book. I don't know whether I could give it zero stars."
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| God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It |
Jim Wallis |
"For People Like Me It's Refreshing" |
See review |
"It's about applying Christian principles in particular and broader religious principles in general to pursuit of politics, the idea being not integrating church contrary to the constitution, but taking account of one's religious views in the political environment, which in his mind is a good thing and in my mind as a person who's not religious, nor quite such a good thing.
What I liked most about God's Politics is the way he that it stands up to the religious right, which has become very intimidating in this country. It has the Republican Party totally intimidated, and it -- the Democrats have sort of responded to it by trying to ignore religion, and they have to -- the Democrats also have to cater to people like me who don't think religion is such a good thing. But I like the idea they stand up to the religious right; I think for people like me, it's refreshing just to see an alternative to the agenda of the Christian right. And I think basically anybody who's looking for an alternative to the Christian right could find this an informative book. I think it even addresses the people in the Christian right who believe that their way of looking at things is the only true way; it offers them an alternative, too.
I would give it about a three and a-half because I think it's more good than bad because it challenges the Christian right, and it invokes the principles of morality, which in his case, he considers to be embedded in religion. I think I would take off stars because he does what all of the good Christian ministers do regardless of their faith, and that is he interprets the Bible toward his own point of view."
|
| Going Down |
Jennifer Belle |
"A Little Naughty" |
See review |
Going Down
Jennifer Belle
"It wasn't erotica, but it was kind of like walked the line of being a little like off, like a little naughty. The main character is a prostitute, and it was kind of like exciting. I wouldn't do some of the things that this girl did, but I definitely wanted to like read about her life and her story and the decisions that she was making.
So this girl basically decides one day that she's gonna be a call girl, and it kind of goes through all of her experiences of having an employer, having to deal with a madam, having to deal with somebody that she's dating or that she's pursuing. She's like a young girl, and she's kind of like figuring herself out and what she wants to do with her life and who she wants to be. I related to it a lot - not because like I think I'm gonna go and do something kind of wild and crazy with my life like that, but just you know - when you're in your 20's or even your late teens like this girl, there's lots that you're unsure of and that you're just kind of like testing the waters and going, "Oh, could I be this? Does that fit? Is that who I am?"
This is like a fun summer read if you are going on vacation or you're looking for something kind of girly, something that you're not gonna have to think a lot about. When I choose to read books, sometimes I am - I read something because I want to get something out of it and I want to improve my life in some way or learn about something new; and then sometimes I read just because it's like great entertainment. It's better than TV, and this was a book for entertainment. I would give this book three out of five stars."
|
| Good Grief |
Lolly Winston |
Author's Debut Novel |
See review |
Good Grief
Lolly Winston
"It is the entire process of grief from like the weeks immediately after this woman's husband dies until about a year and a half later when she's already moved to a totally different state, tried to start her life anew.
There are some really funny parts, which sounds odd. But like the daze, people are in the first months after, she just had this really erratic behavior and like people would wonder why she's out in the dark throwing her plates against the garage and the cops would come. Or, like she would take ten pies to bring the homeless shelter and forget and just leave them in the pack of her car for a week or two, and they were like smelling in there, rolling around. Eventually, she shows up at work in her pajamas and like, she realizes, oh my God, I have to stop and like start again and try to get my life together.
But the main characters are very believably drawn and you really get into the head of this girl like even the kinds of dreams she's has in the first months, but then after things are getting better she's actually having dreams of her husband being healthy in the dreams, not always being sick.
"Good Grief" by Laurie Winton is a first novel and it's not super, unusual in it's like style or not, not very, like amazing choices of words. But the content is really gripping and I found that it an interesting book. You want to continue. You want to know how she does. So, I'd give it about a, 3.5 or 4 stars."
|
| Goodnight Nobody |
Jennifer Weiner |
"I Couldn't Stop Talking About It" |
See review |
I wanted to read Goodnight Nobody because I'm a huge Jennifer Weiner fan and have read her other books, plus this was also -- not this book but one of her other books we read in the book club -- but it made for a good discussion so I decided to read this one, too, and discuss it with my friends who have read it.
The book is about two upper class, middle-aged, I guess, housewives. And the one woman is kind of bored with her life, a mundane life with the kids and everything, but her best friend Kitty turns up murdered in her house. And so she is just -- she used to be some kind of a writer -- report -- writer; and she decides to investigate this death herself, which totally livens up her life.
There is nothing I didn't like about the book, and I can't think of anything I want to change. That was one of the ones who were -- yeah, I would read it over and over. I think a person who wouldn't like this book is people who don't -- it's kind of -- you know for those about a murder mystery, it's really lively and it has to do with women and friendships. And I know a lot of people who like to read more non-fiction and more serious-type novels that wouldn't enjoy this book. But from my group of friends, mid-30's and we have fast paced lives, great book to recommend to people like that. I rate this book a five star out of a five-star rating. It was excellent. I couldn't stop talking about it while I was reading it; I didn't want to put it down. It was great.
|
| Good To Great |
Jim Collins |
Case Studies...Engaging |
See review |
Good To Great
Jim Collins
I heard about Good to Great from the popular press. It's a business book that's been out there for some time, and a lot of folks at work were talking about it. It had been written up quite a bit.
I liked the fact that I knew the companies that they were talking about, so it wasn't some arcane business research. I liked the fact that it was told very much from a case-study basis in real terms that we could understand. While the author did a lot of the research with other professors, it was not an academic book by any stretch of the imagination, and there were lots of real-world examples that I could relate to in it.
The style in which it was told was very conversational, very engaging. Probably required reading nowadays for most MBA courses, because it's foundational in terms of the core concepts and how to make sure you have a really great company in the future.
I guess on a scale of five, I'd give this book, for a business book, four to five. Again, just truly engaging, interesting read. I could even see taking it on vacation, not just on that airplane. So it was really enjoyable and I learned a lot.
|
| Grace: An American Woman in China |
Eleanor McCallie Cooper, William Liu, and Charles Ruas |
Amazing... |
See review |
Grace: An American Woman in China
Eleanor McCallie Cooper, William Liu, and Charles Ruas
"I am really interested in almost anything to do with Chinese, mostly culture or people who are from China. And I never heard of "Grace." And I thought one day and thought, maybe this would be interesting.
It's just briefly about an American woman who marries a Chinese man in the United States in the early '30s. And then they move to China. So, it's really just about her life in China going through World War II and what it was like living there, the Japanese taking over China, and then the Communist taking over and the Cultural Revolution.
And it's a pretty amazing book. It was taken off from letters that she wrote to her family members in the United States, some journal and then some entries by her children. And so, these two people took all that stuff and figured it all out chronologically and then interspersed it with historical events and made this you know really incredible story of this woman who lived there for four years.
The one thing I would say that wasn't great about it is because it wasn't written by her you don't really get like what she personally was going through. But that seems kind of obvious since she didn't write it.
I've considered actually writing to the authors and congratulating them on an amazing amount of, you know amazing work that they did. I would give it four out of five."
|
| Greenwitch |
Susan Cooper |
The Story Continues |
See review |
Greenwitch
Susan Cooper
"Greenwitch" is the third book in the series. In the story of the "Greenwitch" Will is on a hunt for the Grail which has gone missing. It's been stolen. And it leads him to Cornwall where the three Drew children are vacationing again. I think for the summer.
And there's a tradition in the town where every year the women make a being out of sticks and leaves and cast off into the ocean and that is the greenwitch. It is interesting, but it's a little short, actually. I felt they could have gone further with the story, even though the story is continuous and new things are happening. I felt it was cut a little bit short.
As far as characters go you sort of feel an empathy with all of them, but I think the three children, Simon, Jane and Barney, their great uncle Mary is probably my favorite character. He's very mysterious. What I like about these books is the continuing mythology of the King Arthur story and how it ties into these children's sort of normal everyday lives. And they're just kids but they're on this grand adventure.
I would recommend this book to anybody who likes a little bit of fantasy and also any young readers who are of the right age to read to really appreciate it, which I would say is probably 11 to 13. I would give this, book four stars out of five."
|
| Guinness Book Of World Records 2001 |
Mark C. Young |
Adult's Not As Much As Kids |
See review |
Guiness Book of World Records 2001
Guinness World Records
"I like reading books to see what records have been broken and started in the world. I look at the Guinness Book of World Records to see all the weird and exciting records.
I would say that it's a thing of weirdness and surprising stuff. I think the weirdest record in the book is the tallest bird. I like to look at at least every book that comes out every year.
There wasn't really any records that I didn't like reading about. I don't think that anyone would actually try to be in it; I think they would just do it and happen to be in it. I don't think that adults would like it as much as kids would. They would probably still like it, but not as much. I would give this book 4 -- stars."
|
| Guns, Germs and Steel |
Jared Diamond |
Many Thousands Of Years Of Development |
See review |
Guns, Germs and Steel
Jared Diamond
"The reason that I wanted to read Guns, Germs and Steel is because I heard an interview on KQED, and the author said some things that were interesting and piqued my curiosity.
The reason for the name Guns, Germs and Steel is because those are three of the primary factors that affected how certain civilizations dominated others. It covers a over 10,000 years -- more like 30,000 years -- of human development in 400 pages. Right off the top of my head, the most interesting thing that he talked about were the large animal extinctions in Australia and how the hunter-gatherers that came into Australia and North America were already developed as hunter-gatherers; and the large animals in that area, in those regions, had not been exposed, had not developed alongside these hunter-gatherers. So they were unprepared, and it's the author's conclusion that that led to their extinction. It wasn't environment or some other cause but it was human -- exposure to humans.
I was a little annoyed by the repetition. It seemed like every chapter -- well, he did a lot of telling us what he was going to say, saying it, and then saying what he said. I would recommend this book to anyone who's interested in why we are the way we are. I would give this book 4 1/2 stars out of five."
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| Guns, Germs and Steel |
Jared Diamond |
History Made Accessible |
See review |
Guns, Germs and Steel
Jared Diamond
"The book, Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond, I found out about, actually very happenstance. I happened to be taking care of my sick grandma, and I had finished my other book, White Teeth, by Zadie Smith, and didn't have a book, and she was part of a Book of the Month Club and happened to have received it. It's really about how civilizations came to be, and I've really liked it, because it's not just about how civilizations came to be full stop, it's about the ways in which civilizations tend to grow, and why some of them may succeed, while others of them don't succeed as well.
I liked that it opened me up to new aspects of history that I wasn't really clear on. It is very accessible. At no point did I feel like I didn't know enough about history, or I didn't understand enough about science that it was unclear to me. I mean, I think that's largely a testament to why it was given the Pulitzer Prize. It's because it's entirely accessible to all populations. I would assume the type of reader that would really enjoy it is obviously someone like me that tends to be really interested in, sort of, larger themes and issues, to be curious about how things came to be. I would also say it's a good prelude to his second book, Collapse, because they sort of bookend one another.
I would give it five stars as a type of book, for me. I think it was fantastic. Like I said, it was not only accessible; it was a surprise for me. I hadn't necessarily insisted on reading it, but it was given to me as an opportunity, and I've learned so much from it."
|
| Guns, Germs and Steel |
Jared Diamond |
Core Book For World Civilizations Class |
See review |
Guns, Germs and Steel
Jared Diamond
"Guns, Germs and Steel. I found out about it, I believe it was on either - it was one show with Tim Russert, either Meet the Press or another show. It's a fabulous look at history and about the development of civilization.
The most interesting facet about Guns, Germs and Steel are the questions that the - that Jared Diamond poses. Certainly in my opinion it's one of the more readable history texts. I think it's - it's still dense but it's very readable, and was such a wide-spanning book that, you know, it can be a little bit overwhelming. But I wouldn't really change anything about the text.
Certainly this would be a core book I would believe for any world civilizations class, so certainly at the college level I would imagine that most college students who are taking a civilizations course ought to consider this text. I think it's a book worth reading. I think it's arguably one of the best history books, if not the best history book, I've read."
|
| Haley, Texas 1959 |
Donley Watt |
Life in Eastern Texas |
See review |
"So Haley, Texas 1959 is two novellas. The first one is about a boy who is asked to chop down I believe 70 trees on 14 acres to clear out some land for a farm, and then the second novella, which has the same title as the book name, is about a teenager who is caught up in a hate crime, these days is what they're called, but he's basically caught up in an ever-spinning web of lies, just based on this one night that he was out with his friends, and it ended up going horribly wrong and an East Texas town.
For those not familiar with Texas, it has a number of distinct regions, and the Eastern Texas is characterized by dense forests with extremely tall trees and an overall claustrophobic environment. You get the sense that within that, there are tight-knit feelings and opinions, and so Donley Watt's Haley, Texas 1959 evokes sense of claustrophobia, that sense of not having a way out. It was a very good book, and I can't think of anything that I didn't really like. It didn't have any faults. It had a very interesting ending; it built up to the conclusion in a logical fashion.
I would recommend Donley Watt's Haley, Texas 1959 to anyone who's interested in learning more about Texas is really about and really read to get an in-depth look at the culture of Texas versus just a history textbook or just you know like James Michener's Texas or something like that.
I would give Donley Watt's Haley, Texas 1959 five stars."
|
| Ham On Rye: A Novel |
Charles Bukowski |
You Can Get Uncomfortable Reading It |
See review |
Ham On Rye
Charles Bukowski
"I had heard about Bukowski and read some of his poetry and knew that he had a number of novels that he had written, and this was I believe the first of his novels that I picked up and read.
The books are autobiographical fiction, and Ham on Rye covers the period of his earliest memory up until about 21 years of age. It's a very dark tale, but there's a certain humor to it, so it's edgy but it's kind of a black comedy. You could describe it that way.
There's these descriptions of him living in LA, and sort of the whole neighborhood is people are just completely worn down by the economic state; so it's as though having grown up in this environment, having stood up to this father figure who beat him, he just becomes this tough guy who can't be intimidated by anything or anyone.
You can get uncomfortable reading it, but I think it's mitigated by sort of the sense of humor. It's just the way he tells it, and he tells it in this sort of hard-boiled, tough guy style which is like some of these other writers like Hemingway or Thompson. He tends to make these horrible, tragic things funny.
It's like -- almost like Theater of the Absurd. There are things that happen that are -- and the way he describes them, the absurdity level just goes so high that your only response really can be to laugh at it. It's kind of a portrait of a marginalized outsider. I'd give the book five out of five stars. It's one of the best books I've ever read."
|
| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows |
J.K. Rowling |
Wraps It Up |
See review |
"I read the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows because I've read all the other first six books and really enjoyed them, so I wanted to complete the series. It's the conclusion of all the seven books about Harry Potter, and it kind of follows his final journey to battle Lord Voldemort; and the forces of good triumph over the forces of evil, that's the hope of the book.
It's a little bit different than the other ones. It's a little bit darker because he's becoming older and getting more involved in evildoings and things like that.
I think the thing that I liked most about the final book was that it just kind of wrapped up everything. There were a lot of persisting mysteries throughout the whole series that didn't really have an answer, and there were clues here and there that seemed really connected to nothing. Then in the final book, the author just did a great job of wrapping everything up, and tying up all the loose ends, and answering all the questions.
My only criticism would be that there's a portion of the book where there's not a whole lot going on -- like probably about 100 pages -- where they're just kind of -- Harry and Hermione and Ron are just kind of traveling around, staying undercover, and not a whole lot happens; so that's really the only thing that dragged.
It's an absolute must read for kids, like probably adolescents and older because it does get into a little bit of darker things and side of people that you might not be ready to see if you will you're a really young kid. But really for any age -- I've seen people from 12 year-olds up to businesswomen and men like riding the bus, reading Harry Potter; and it really appeals to all age groups, I think. Personally, I'm gonna really miss reading those books and looking forward to it. I would give it five stars."
|
| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows |
J.K. Rowling |
"I'd Give It the Skyful of Stars" |
See review |
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
J.K. Rowling
"Have you seen it? Have you read it?" Read what? "Harry Potter. It's kind of scary." And I said at that point I hadn't. "Oh, it's kind of scary? Did you like it? Was it exciting?" "Yeah, yeah." So definitely had to read the seventh. Wanted to see what happened to Harry and his friends and see who they brought back into this all culminating book.
You'll see what Severus Snape as actually made of. The things that will eventually lead to the end of the story. I think my favorite character in all the Harry Potter books would have to be McGonagall, the all-seeing, all-knowledgeable, very well put together, very astute and reserved McGonagall. I must say my favorite book was the first one because it started it all. It started the journey that we traveled on and so many people have traveled on together.
The rating of stars on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows would have to be sky full. Ron, he's going to be there. Are you?
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| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows |
J.K. Rowling |
Does Harry Stand the Test of Time? |
See review |
"Well, I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows because I'd read the other six books, and once you kind of get past maybe the third book or so, you're hooked; and regardless of whether you think the books are spectacular or just really engaging, you have to finish.
For most of the book they're out there dealing with the sort of horcrux/deathly hallows thing, trying to sort of backdoor their way into conquering Voldemort even while the adult world is just sort of being chicken-shi**ish and -- you know, the metaphors to the current world situation are pretty easy to find in these books. Having Hermione emerge and become more complicated and more grown up to me, that was really the most interesting thing. I think she did -- well, depends how you look at it. Harry Potter matured quite a bit, too, but hers was the most interesting development.
When I think about this last book thematically, what was the theme, I think about free will and destiny, which is a sort of strange theme to deal with in a children's book this dramatically. I think it's what ultimately makes the books very adult-like and very much geared towards adults in reality, that it's not just about determination but about what it would be like to deal with your own struggles of cowardice and misgivings and bravery if you actually lived in a context where fate was taken pretty seriously.
What's great about books like these is that a whole range of people can find something to relate to in them and have something to talk about. I think that's hopefully what's gonna prove to be really timeless and valuable about the books that kids and adults of all generations, of all cohorts; as we go through the coming couple decades are gonna be relating about these books. I would give Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows a four. Hard to give it a five because it has to stand up against things like Lord of the Rings."
|
| Hawaii |
James A. Michener |
Gripping Historical Novel |
See review |
"I wanted to read Hawaii because I've read a few of Michener's other books, and I really like his style of storytelling. They're all kind of epic novels that go through hundreds of years usually, so - I just picked it up; it was a dollar, like all of Michener's books usually are, and so I picked it up for like a long summer read.
It's about Hawaii, and it starts with the formation of the islands and the first people that settled there, and it goes through the missionaries and all of the different groups that came from China, from Japan. The sugar cane farms, it just goes through the history of the state and its rise into statehood.
All of the characters are really well-developed and you start to feel like you know them, and their whole family background. You're learning something, but it doesn't read like a history textbook, like your - it's a story, and it flows really well.
It definitely read better than other books that I've read by him. I didn't get bored in the middle of it. I enjoyed all the characters, I didn't get weighed down by too much information so the story was lost, but there was also enough information that it wasn't just, you know, a kind of fluff novel.
This one I would again give five stars to because it - I think it's a hard task that he undertook, to write a novel of this size and to put so much information in it and really keep the attention of the reader, and I think he did that in a good way."
|
| Heart of Darkness |
Joseph Conrad |
Not Happy With Dark Motif |
See review |
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad was not a book that I chose to read. It was basically when I got to college, it was recommended. It was Basic English 1A. I think it was one of the first books that we were to cover in the class. I know that I had had a number of disputes with my teacher with some of the literary choices that she chose. Heart of Darkness was a major one that I did not like.
Basically, the book is about this man, this white hunter, who goes into Africa - I believe it was The Congo. And his basis is looking at the black people there who definitely have had no experience with civilization, or white civilization as it were. And his viewpoint is that everything is so negative, savage, brutal, uncivilized, etc.
For me, it was really difficult dealing with it, and I brought it up to my professor several times where I said it is just unrelenting for me. That everything is negative, everything is described as being - that's negative is black, and dark, and hidden. It did have good language; it did have really good descriptions of going into the jungle and bringing up the contrasts, so I wouldn't necessarily disparage it that it shouldn't be read. Basically, when all is said and done, I would probably give it about - somewhere between like two and three. I can't actually give it like three, because three would kind of be more of a recommendation for me, like I would think that you should cover it. As I would say, I would give it a two, basically if you like really wanted to bring up the differences of how it's interpreted.
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| Help! My Apartment Has a Kitchen Cookbook |
Kevin Mills and Nancy Mills |
Book For the Culinarily Challenged |
See review |
Help! My Apartment Has a Kitchen
Kevin Mills and Nancy Mills
"When I graduated high school and I was ready to move out of my parent's house, my mom gave me my first cookbook which was "Help, My Apartment has a Kitchen!" which I immediately found hilarious. I would say this cookbook really lays things out in a user-friendly manner. It has a lot of interesting recipes, ranging from simple things to more, complicated things. But, everything is sort of plotted out so that it's not overwhelming or difficult. And it also comes with little, what they call "mom tips" and "mom warnings."
My favorite recipe from the cookbook is for Thanksgiving turkey. And I've actually used it two or three times. My turkey always comes out perfect. I did mess up one recipe though. I was making fudge pie and I made it and it was fine and then I took it out of the stove and set it to cool on a burner and forgot to turn the oven off and it just cooked right through the pan and burnt. Tips and warnings come in handy, especially when I was making fudge pie. One of the warnings was "don't buy any chocolate that's already sweetened. Make sure you buy unsweetened baking chocolate otherwise it will come out sickeningly sweet."
I don't see why somebody who has more cooking experience couldn't get experience from it because even though it is for beginners, it's laid out so nicely and it's so helpful and there's interesting things in there, I don't see why anyone wouldn't enjoy it.
I would give this, five stars out of five stars. I would give this cookbook to anyone with a sense of humor, who likes to cook or maybe doesn't so much."
|
| High Desert Malice |
Kirk Mitchell |
Who Decides Lands Use? |
See review |
High Desert Malice
Kirk Mitchell
"Well, this particular mystery takes place in the high desert of Nevada in an area of Nevada that was settled by Basque sheepherders probably beginning 100, 200 years ago as Europeans moved west; but it has always been a land where different people with different priorities have settled. So this is a novel, a mystery novel, about land and about its use and who decides who it is to be used.
The main character is a Basque American law enforcement officer named Dee LeGuerre who understands the old timer Basque sheep farmers, but she's also a very modern woman with a career of her own. I had driven through Nevada a few years back and stopped and ate at a Basque restaurant, and I was -- I really feel that this is a group of people that we really don't hear very much about. So I was interested in it from that point of view, a glimpse into the surviving Basque culture. He describes the desert very, very beautifully, so he has quite an aesthetic -- skill at writing aesthetically as well as creating plots and characters.
All of his novels are -- show people in some cases at their worst; and there is serious violence in his novels, and that sometimes is a little hard to read through. I would give it a four for me, anywhere from a three to a five depending on who the reader is."
|
| High Fidelity |
Nick Hornby |
By and About Music Geek |
See review |
High Fidelity
Nick Hornby
"I wanted to read "High Fidelity" because I'd gone and seen the movie and I really enjoyed the movie. And I'm the sort of person who when they realize that the movie is based on a book, if I like the movie, I'm going to go read the book.
"High Fidelity" is about a man who's broken up with his girlfriend and he's sort of pondering over relationships, the meaning of life and what he's doing with his life as he deals with the breakup. I really liked the fact that this fact is about music geeks basically. The main character works in a record store. His friends are all music geeks who go out and see concerts all the time and they're just really, realistic characters. People who if you've ever spent time in an independent music store, these are the real people that you will see there.
I went, I read the book because I liked the movie so much. And what I actually found was that the book was basically an extension of the movie. It was everything I liked about the movie and it had, it basically it was like looking at deleted scenes on a DVD or something. There was just way more content to it just fleshed out and it just really made it a much more vivid world.
I've read several books by Nick Hornby at this point. I think "High Fidelity" is the book that probably hits closest to home for Nick Hornby. He's a big fan of music. He's always been involved in the music scene and even when he's not writing novels, he's reviewing CDs for local magazines and things. So, this book I think really was his heart and soul, and while the other books are all really good too, I think this one was really, for him the book he'd been planning to write for a very long time. So, it really shows and he put everything into this book. I would give "High Fidelity" five out of five stars."
|
| High Maintenance |
Jennifer Belle |
It's Just Funny |
See review |
High Maintenance
Jennifer Belle
"High Maintenance is a book that I believe was leant to me. I had asked a girlfriend, "Oh, do you have anything good that you've read lately?" And I got like a stack of books back. So finally when I got around to reading it, I didn't really think much of it, and this book was just funny. The main character was like quirky, and she says random things, and gets herself into random situations; and it was a little off, and I appreciate stuff like that.
The story is about a young woman in her mid to late 20's who gets divorced and lives in Manhattan, and she has to find a job, and she is looking for a boyfriend and is just trying to figure out her life post-divorce. She decides that she's gonna become a real estate agent in the big bad city. There's just a whole slew of events that kind of go along with that.
There is a story about the guy that she's interested in and some ear biting that is absolutely hilarious. The whole book is worth reading just for this one part. It's so funny.
A lot of like chick lit books that you read, it's all about finding Prince Charming at the end and everything being all duckies and bunnies; and this one it was just kind of like it just ended where she was at. There is no knight on a white horse; it was just kind of like a story of a situation or a period of time in her life and what happened during it. And it wasn't like everything was all sewed up neatly and tied with a little bow at the end. If you're maybe having a hard time with like the opposite sex, this is kind of a fun little read. I'd give it four out of five stars."
|
| Holes |
Louis Sachar |
For Kids A 5, For Adults A 4 |
See review |
"Holes was kind of on everybody's tongue in the library world; I'm a children's librarian. And everybody was talking about how adults loved it, librarians loved it, sort of looking for quality in literature, but kids also really, really responded to it. So it seemed like something I should read because it was well reviewed but also because it's something that I wanted to be familiar with because kids referenced it and said, "Oh, I really liked Holes; what else should I read?"
Holes is mostly about a boy and his - I forget how he phrased it, something like, "Dirty, rotten, no-good pig-stealing grandpa." And he ends up getting sent, partly because of the dirty, rotten, no-good, pig-stealing grandpa, to a juvenile detention camp out in the desert. But I think we all, either whether it's other kids or other adults, we go through a period where we think the world just doesn't get me, and they have the completely wrong idea, and they think I'm this, and I'm not. And that was definitely true for me. I mean, I was kind of a rebellious little kid around the age of 12, and the adults in my school seemed to kind of write me off, and just 'cause I had funny hair and I had homemade t-shirts with funny things written on them. That didn't say anything about what was in my heart, and I think that's also kind of what's going on in Holes. I think it deals with things like juvenile detention, and racism, and privilege in a way that's really accessible to a lot of kids and just makes it part of the story.
It's hard to say. I think for kids, this book would definitely get a five out of five. In terms of all the books in the world, maybe four. I feel like it didn't grab me all the way like some books I've loved more than this."
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| Holes |
Louis Sachar |
Intertwined Stories |
See review |
Holes
Louis Sachar
I read Holes because I'm a teacher. I teach English Comp, and this past semester I was teaching to kind of remedial level students, so that was the novel we decided to use that would be a fun novel that would get their interest.
Holes is about a sort of detention camp for boys that is held out in the Texas desert, and the story focuses on Stanley Yelnats, the hero, the protagonist of the novel, who is punished for a crime he actually didn't commit and sent for - I think he spent a year or a year and a-half at Camp Greenlake, which is this camp for boys out in the desert kind of run by a very strict warden, and the boys' job is to spend each day out in the hot sun, digging a five foot hole.
What I liked best about Holes is the level on which it operates like a puzzle. There's like three different storylines intertwined, so there's a lot going on. There's the immediate story of Stanley at Camp Greenlake, then there's a story that took place like 110 years ago in the town - where there actually used to be a lake before it dried up - and actually buried treasure that goes back 110 years and characters who are brought together from separate families that end up being reunited through the immediate storyline surrounding Camp Greenlake.
There's a lot of humor in the book, and it's clever, and it keeps you guessing. It's not - I mean it is a young adult novel, so as an adult, I didn't find the level of language or detail that compelling. The char - there's not that much character development. It's a little but for sure with Stanley, the main character, and Zero, his best friend; but the other boys in the bunk are kind of like extremely two-dimensional. Probably written for like 11 to 15, and you could probably get some younger kids who are really good readers who could get into it or enjoy having it read to them. I'd give this book certainly four stars out of five.
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| Hollow City: The Siege of San Francisco and the Crisis of American Urbanism |
Rebecca Solnit and Susan Schwartzenberg |
Snapshot of Housing Crisis |
See review |
Hollow City: The Siege of San Francisco and the Crisis of American Urbanism
Rebecca Solnit and Susan Schwartzenberg
"Hollow City" is about San Francisco. And it was written in 2000 and it's a non-fiction book about kind of the housing crisis that hit San Francisco and the whole Bay Area during and towards the end of the dot.com boom. So, it's all about how these neighbors, neighborhoods were developed so rapidly that everyone's evicted. All the buildings are sold and in all that happening, they lost their character.
Chapter by chapter, Solnet will tell maybe one specific tale of a friend, artist friends of hers who lives say in the Mission District, and kind of tell their story of how they got kicked out of their apartment because their building was sold. And then to accompany, a photographer, Schwartzenberg, does some really incredible and powerful photos the city. I guess the only thing I didn't like about "Hollow City" was, just that it was such a snapshot. It was just a look at the year 2000.
I'd recommend this book to people who live in San Francisco. It is full of really interesting information about San Francisco's neighborhoods, what they used to be like, how they're changing what they're like now. I'd give "Hollow City" three stars.
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| Holy Blood, Holy Grail |
Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln |
Will the Secret Be Revealed |
See review |
"I read Holy Blood, Holy Grail because - well, the Da Vinci Code was already out and I knew t hat it had - it based a lot of its assumptions and some other of this story and some little details on Holy Blood, Holy Grail.
The overview of the book is mainly the tradition of maybe what happened in the Crusades when the Knights Templar went to Jerusalem and maybe what they uncovered in their quest to keep it a secret. Basically the holy - Holy Blood - is the holy blood lineage of Jesus, whereas the Holy Grail was an actual cup with the relics. The grand mas - the current grand master of the Priory of Scion, he mentions in the book that yes, they do have a spiritual secret and it's going to be revealed at the right time. Hopefully in 2012, the secret will be released.
I think the book was really well researched, maybe a bit too well researched because they go through every avenue of possibility trying to give all these different scenarios; and really, they have too many clues to actually see the puzzle. They've got too many pieces of the puzzle and the puzzle's just still not complete. As the far right, Christian conservatives hold true to the beliefs, they kind of make an opposite view of that that's just as preposterous to believe.
I would recommend this book to anyone who liked The Da Vinci Code who wants to know more about maybe what was going on around The Da Vinci Code. As for a star rating, I'd give this book maybe two stars out of five."
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| Holy Enchilada! |
Henry Winkler, Lin Oliver, and Jesse Joshua Watson |
Math + Spicy Foods |
See review |
"My other book that I read was Henry Zipzer and the Holy Enchilada. They were making enchiladas for their multicultural day, which is all these people bringing stuff from their culture or some from other cultures, and he didn't know how to do math problems, so he put in lots of spices or like chili. The teacher tried one of them, and she was, her face got all hot. He practically like ruined the enchiladas.
I picked this book because I can relate, because I'm not that good at reading or math, so I think it would be, so I thought it would be really good for me, and it was. I didn't really like Hank's teacher because she was like a old grouch puss, and she would like yell at the kids and say, "You guys can't have any fun or laugh." For the people that like Mexican food, which is enchiladas, I think they would like it, and if you have ever burned your mouth really bad, then this is the book for you. I would give it probably five and five quarters."
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| Home |
Marilynne Robinson |
"Amazingly Simple Story" |
See review |
"I chose to read Marilynne Robinson's Home because I was transported from having read her novel Gilead that came out a couple of years ago. This book Home is described as kind of a companion piece or maybe the brother of the book Gilead.
Gilead is a story set in a small town in Iowa involving an older man, older minister, written first person; he married late in life to a younger woman, has a young child. In that particular book, Gilead, which won the Pulitzer Prize, is a book where he, in the series of letters, talks about his life and shares his life with his young boy. What comes up in that particular book is he is good friends with another minister who lives down the block, who has his own family circumstances, and that family becomes the center of the book Home.
Home is a story, and it's an amazingly simple story, of essentially three people. It is the father, the reverend in this older household, his daughter, who has come home after some personal disappointments in her life, and then even more dramatic, a son,his son, one of his sons, who has been away for 20 years. The black sheep of the family, kind of the bad boy, has come home as well, and the three of them are now living back in the old homestead.
It is an amazingly simple plot structure; it is just these three characters. There is drama, there is depth of character, there's an emotional level in the book that is powerful; I was moved to tears several times in the reading of this book. If you're able to slow yourself down to kind of match the speed of this book, there's a beauty to it that is remarkable.
I would recommend this book to anyone. There is a beautiful spirituality. I think that if you are someone who has a sense of spirit and God and religion, it's a really important part of your life, it's a really part of this book.
I'd give this five stars also."
|
| Home To Big Stone Gap |
Adriana Trigiani |
Not Chick Lit |
See review |
""Home to Big Stone Gap is at least the seventh in the author Adriana Trigiani's series of books. This book, Home to Big Stone Gap, is the fourth that includes this character, Ave Marie Machesney. The original book Big Stone Gap was recommended to me by a friend.
Sometimes it's nice to have a book that gets me out of kind of the work mode and I can just kind of dive into. It's fiction, and it's an easy read, to be honest. The story Home to Big Stone Gap is the story, once again, of Ave Maria in the town she lives at in rural Virginia. This time her daughter Etta has gotten married and lives in Italy, so she and her husband Jack are kind of experiencing an empty nest syndrome.
One thing that kind of spoke to me, too, is one of her best friends in the book. She and her best friend kind of have like - not a falling out, but that character kept a secret from her; and so that kind of puts a rift in their friendship, and I actually kind of went through that recently with a friend from high school. It was a surprise to me that there would be any kind of change in our relation - in our friendship, but that's life. So in a very real way, I feel like maybe what's going on in my life is not all that different than what Ave Maria may face.
I would primarily recommend Home to Big Stone Gap to women, primarily. I don't want to call it "chick lit," 'cause it's not, but anyone who just kind of wants to enjoy something on the weekend or just in bed at the end of a long day. I would have to give Home to Big Stone Gap probably three out of five stars."
|
| Hoot |
Carl Hiaasen |
Edgy Teen Book |
See review |
Hoot
Carl Hiaasen
"I wanted to read Hoot because I've read a lot of other books by the author and I was interested to see how he would write a children's book or a teen novel. The book is about a group of children in Florida that work to save basically an abandoned lot from being plowed over because there's a group of owls living there.
I think it was pretty successful in switching style and topic to a younger audience. He still had really interesting characters that you wouldn't normally see in a children's book, I think, like, they had kind of an edge to them. He writes a lot of kind of crime-drama novels, so there were definitely a couple characters that had that kind of criminal edge to them, but they were still children, so it was interesting to see.
I think it would be good for both adults and children, anyone that's looking for kind of the normal feel-good story line but with a different plot to it, with more of an edge to it, I guess you could say.
I would give this book probably three stars out of five, because again, it is a children's book, so it's not - it doesn't really appeal to my age group. But it was still a fun, quick read."
|
| Housekeeping Vs. the Dirt |
Nick Hornby |
Nick Hornby's Book Musings |
See review |
"I read Housekeeping Versus the Dirt because I had - I knew of Mick Hornby as an author, but I didn't know that he was doing these articles for Believer Magazine in San Francisco. But he was writing these articles for every issue that came out that were kind of just a loose, kind of freeform, fun book review article where he would write all the books that he bought that month, all the books that he'd read that month and then talk about whatever interested him in those books. From month to month, the amount of books that he bought would vary sometimes. You'd just see the list at the beginning of the chapter where you saw that he bought 20 books that month, or you'd see the list of books that he read that month and it was like 20 books or something or like ten books. There's a lot of books, and other times there'd only be one or two, so he would just really focus more on those books.
I really liked - I don't remember what month it was. It was in the summer when in London, where he lives, there was bombings going on in the subways and on the buses. So his books read that month I think were really few; I think he only read two books, or something like that. And so in writing about it, he is able to - he discusses the bombings that are going on; but he was able to discuss this really, really heavy topic with a very light touch. Because he does it in such a loose form, he kind has no obligation, at least to himself, or it seems like to the Believer Magazine either, to really turn in a thorough, proper book review. He does whatever he wants, so sometimes he would spend almost all the time talking about one book and not mention another one - and not necessarily it didn't seem because he didn't like it; he didn't give preference to books that he liked. Sometimes he discussed books he didn't like, so sometimes he just kind of skipped over books that I would like to actually have seen reviewed.
I would rate Housekeeping Versus the Dirt a four out of five stars."
|
| House of Leaves |
Mark Z. Danielewski |
It's a Horror Story, In a Sense... |
See review |
House of Leaves
Mark Z. Danielewski
"So, it's kind of a horror story in a sense, and it's full of this tension, what will happen, and the people that go into the interior of the house. And you know one of them becomes a murderer. One of them kills himself. One of them goes insane. But, it's scary and it's never really explained what's going on.
And there's obviously, a lot of concepts he's kind of working that, I don't know if he knew this when he wrote it, but of course there's become this cult following about it. And what does it mean? What do the codes mean? What does the layout mean? What do the fonts mean? Just all those kinds of things, which is kind of silly, you don't want to spend your life doing that. But he, it's just the idea of the labyrinth of the soul and the mind, and exploring these things can bring you to and do you really want to explore them.
I probably would give it like a, three and a half because it's really good. But it is flawed. And it does take a certain patience."
|
| How I Became A Pirate |
Melinda Long and David Shannon |
Mom Loves Book For Her Boys |
See review |
How I Became a Pirate
Melinda Long and David Shannon
"The main reason I got this book to begin with, How I Became a Pirate, is because it had to do - one of the little running themes in the book is the fact that pirates have poor nutrition, bad personal hygiene, and don't brush their teeth; which is an ongoing battle in my house with my two boys. Great story for parents of boys who think that - the boys think that they can do it all on their own. It's funny, it's cute, there's great illustrations.
My kids love it, because there's one particular pirate who has not only one pirate eye patch, but two. So he can't see anything. It's beautifully illustrated. It's a really funny book and it has a very happy ending.
I like the book, because it is a thrilling adventure. It's pretty much based in real life, because the boy, Jeremy Jacob, even though he gets to go on this pirate adventure, he is constantly aware of the fact that he needs to be back in the morning for soccer practice. So there's a lot of, like, realistic elements in the middle of all this fantasy.
I've read so many kids books that stink. It was really refreshing to have one that was so adventurous and yet short enough that you can read it for a bedtime story and not fall asleep yourself.
It's just a great book. It's a great book. There's nothing to not like about it, I mean - there's no girls in it. I'd like it if there were girls in it; because I think girls are highly unrepresented in the pirate genre of story-telling; but other than that, it's a great book.
If five's the highest, I'd give it five stars, because it is, it's a great adventure and it's exactly the right length and that's important with kid's books."
|
| How To Make an American Layer Cake |
Editors of Cook's Illustrated Magazine, John Burgoyne, and Jack Bishop |
Fancy Cakes Made Easy |
See review |
How To Make an American Layer Cake
Editors of Cook's Illustrated Magazine, John Burgoyne, and Jack Bishop
"I chose "How to Make an American Layer Cake" because it is really hard to find some good recipes for baking nice, fancy cakes, especially frosting.
So, when I saw this book, "How to Make an American Layer Cake" I thought well gosh, that's going to be pretty simple, they're gonna no. It's very basic. It's not like unusual cakes. It's not you know something that's difficult to follow the recipe. It's real basic ingredients and every time I've made them, it's come out great. They have cake recipes. And then they'll have frosting recipes and icing recipes. And then they also have handy, a few pages with illustrations on how to you know do special like decorations with your icing.
I would recommend this book to people who want to have a simple recipe for baking cakes or making frosting. I would give it a, four out of five stars."
|
| How To Read and Why |
Harold Bloom |
"Book For Literary Geeks" |
See review |
"I read How to Read and Why by Howard Bloom; I actually picked this up randomly in a bookstore when I was on vacation. Howard Bloom is a literary critic.
It's critical pieces about very seminal, seminal pieces of literature. Basically it's a book of essays. He's writing essays about great works of literature. He has Great Expectations; he has some Shakespeare. It's actually broken up into the poem, the novel, the short story, and the play. So he's trying to get to why we should read in the first place, what we get out of it, and how we should read something, how we should look at a piece of literature to get the most out of it.
This is a book for literary geeks. I am a person who a couple years out of college was really missing my dense English literature classes, and I wanted to get some of that very detailed, very dense dialog about literary theory and themes and the human condition. So that's why this appealed to me. This is very much not for everyone, but if you are a literary geek who's been out of college for a few years and you're missing your soul-affirming intellectualism, this book will work for you. I would give this book three out of five stars."
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| I Am America, and So Can You! |
Stephen Colbert |
What Does It Mean? |
See review |
"Why did I read I am America, And So Can You? I have to just interject that I think if there's like a theme to the book besides the fact that he just sort of ranges through a whole bunch of topics, it's really funny and entertaining and annoying and frustrating to think of what this represents. I guess figuring out what the hell he means by the title might be the point of reading the book.
What is I am America So Can You? It sort of -- it presents itself in tongue-in-cheek fashion of course as sort of -- not a biography but a biographically cast rampage through a whole bunch of major topics: Some that are more childhoody, some that are more adolescenty and some that are more adulthoody, and sort of as I recall how he arranges the book. It's just what you would expect a book would be of Steven Colbert and his posse of writers get together and write a book that pretends to be him.
Now, there's a lot of just sort of endless play with meaning and irony and sarcasm and indirectness and directness. If you're the sort of person who thinks that Steven Colbert is a genuine media person, then it's very important you read the book; and hopefully by the time you get to the end, you realize what an idiot you are and enjoy yourself mightily laughing at yourself. But if you were taken in, you probably don't laugh at yourself very well, so you probably should stay away from the book and stay away from me.
You know, I liked everything about it, but it's not a masterwork of American literature. It's not that kind of thing. It is essentially a comic book for adults, and it does get a little bit tiresome; it's a good thing it's not longer than it is, although I did make it through everything as I was curious about every little bit, what sorts of clever jokes they'd make.
How many stars to give I am America So Can You, well, Steven Colbert would come after me and attack my family I'm sure if I didn't give it five stars, and I think I actually do have -- "
|
| I Am America, and So Can You! |
Stephen Colbert |
Must Read For Colbert Report Fans |
See review |
"I love the Colbert Report and the Daily Show, as well, and so my wife knew that I really wanted to read something funny and just kind of escape from all the pressures of work, so I Am America (And So Can You!) is basically about Stephen Colbert and his philosophy on life. So if you look at the writing credits, it looks like basically the whole set of writers on the show ended up contributing to it. For those not familiar with the Colbert Report, it's really a parody of, in general, a lot of the blowhards that exist on the regular news channels. The book is, again, just a spoof on those types of macho, right-wing conservative talk show pundits.
I would recommend I Am America (And So Can You!) to any fan of the Colbert Report or the Daily Show. Just the flow I think probably I guess is the best way to describe how I liked the I Am America (And So Can You!). It had a nice little thing going on where as you would be reading it would be footnoted all over the place. There would be comments in the margins and stuff, so he'd make some outrageous claim and then in the margins put some type of rebuttal or just a funny little witticism. I would give I Am America (And So Can You!) four stars out of five."
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| I Am a Strange Loop |
Douglas R. Hofstadter |
Self Referential... |
See review |
"For anyone like me who almost became a cognitive scientist and studies and deals with how we learn and think and feel and sort of from other perspectives, this book is a great place to start.
So the title of I am a Strange Loop, which is appropriate given that the book is about self-referential, self-perceptual emergence of consciousness, is the idea that I -- which isn't necessarily me or you or the author of the book but every consciousness that interacts with all these other consciousnesses on earth -- is a strange loop, that the nature of having self-awareness, of having higher awareness, consciousness, self-consciousness. Part of the book's point is to look at all these different ways of looking at and describing the same thing is the strange loop thing and not just single strange loops within each of our minds but strange loops that are also inhabiting the minds of those who know us, who've heard about us, who've interacted with us more or less closely. It's a lot to describe all in one sentence or paragraph.
This is a book that I read every word, every page of, and enjoyed everything about the book, every little chunk, every little meandering, every little interesting analogy or metaphor that he uses to take you in a new direction or tie back to his earlier points.
Who would I recommend I am a Strange Loop to? Probably to anyone who reads the first chapter and finds it at all interesting. I believe the first chapter tackles in his own style the question that I think you come upon in other books that I've read. Certainly A Slim Volume by Daniel Dedit begins this way, looking at what has consciousness, what sorts of beings have consciousness. I think that his style of convincing you vehemently and very persuasively of his perspective without making you feel like you're being hoodwinked, without making you feel like you're being derided if you don't go on board, I think that really gets going in that first chapter.
I would unquestionably give I am a Strange Loop five stars 'cause of the nature of the tasks that he takes on."
|
| I Feel Bad About My Neck |
Nora Ephron |
Funny Primer for Middle Aged Women |
See review |
I Feel Bad About My Neck
Nora Ephron
"I read a review, I guess, like, in People magazine, or something, about it, I Feel Bad About My Neck, and other thoughts on being a woman. And at first when I was reading the review, it sort of seemed like it was for women much older, because Nora Ephron is talking, kind of, about aging and the aging process, but because she's so funny - I mean, she wrote when Harry Met Sally. She wrote Heartburn. She's a very famous writer, really, really funny. And so I picked it up and it is really funny; and it's, actually, a nice book to read as you're approaching middle age.
For instance I never knew about the turtleneck thing; and it says in I Feel Bad About My Neck, the whole reason she called it that book is that no matter how many face lifts and Botox injections you get, you can't do anything about your neck. And so she just wears turtlenecks all the time. It's kind of a look I'm going for now.
The book is looking back on her life and aging. It's kind of about how no matter how much money you have and no matter how hard you work at keeping it all together physically and looks-wise, it's all gonna fall apart anyway. I think that men would not like this book. This is definitely a for ladies book and I would say any woman over 30 up to 80 years old would love this book, because it really covers a lot and it's a lot that we can laugh at, but it is stuff men would not relate to.
I'd give this book four stars. It's really entertaining and it's a lot of fun. It's definitely light. There's nothing - no problems of the world are gonna be solved in this book, but it's a great, fun, entertaining, just before you go to bed, or beach read."
|
| I Have Landed: The End of a Beginning in Natural History |
Stephen Jay Gould |
Good For First Time Gould Readers? |
See review |
I Have Landed
Stephen Jay Gould
"Well, I Have Landed, I think the end of a beginning in natural history, is the final of ten sets of essays, most of them published in Natural History magazine over a 30-year period or so by Stephen J. Gould; and he continues to be interesting, some of the essays more than others.
For me, the interesting question about whether to read this book is whether you read it even if you haven't read any of his other essays, and I'm conflicted about that. I'd love to be able to say, "Oh, yeah! Great way in to start with the one to most recent." He ends with these short, reflective bits about the 9/11 incidents and the immediate aftermath of it. He's also got a section in there of some briefer pieces about the - yeah, the Kansas situation, the Kansas School Board situation on evolution and creationism. I guess if I had to say to someone where to start with Stephen J. Gould, maybe this one; and allow yourself to browse, but also get the first one, Ever Since Darwin.
I think for me in thinking back through I Have Landed and thinking about the range of topics that he deals with, the most pertinent thing to bring up is the religion and faith tension. Various things throughout the book will touch you and will make sense for you and help you to deal with the fact that life is really, really complex, that intellectual history is as complex as it seems.
To make your way through some of the sentences and paragraphs - especially when you do realize that he's being repetitive for the sake of emphasis, that he's restating, he's making sure you don't miss it - it can become rather tiresome and you can reach the ends of several paragraphs 2/3, 3/4 of the way through a given essay usually and feel that you just wish you had known to skip two pages because you weren't gonna miss anything. You already knew where he had gone.
Four stars feels about right. The book is rich and a little longer than it needs to be."
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| I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings |
Maya Angelou |
Poet Tells Life Story |
See review |
"Well, I read While the Caged Bird Sings. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings several times throughout my life. It was probably one of the first books I checked out from the library in middle school, I remember; and I was fascinated at that time by anything written by an African-American author. Child of the 70's, I grew up in that whole political environment movement here in Oakland, and actually just kind of fell in love with wanting to find out about people's stories, was fascinated that this African-American woman had written a book about her life.
The book is about well, it's a series of autobiographies; it kind of begins her series of autobiographies and it actually kind of traces her life from her earliest memories around two and three years old 'til about 16 years of age. It's sort of a coming of age story set primarily between Arkansas, California, because that's where her family's kind of bounce her back and forth through the early parts of her life. Chronicles some struggles that she went through within her family and also within herself. There were several incidences throughout the book that made me sort of uncomfortable, sort of cringe. Certainly there was a sexual molestation that was very difficult to read; and just to visualize an eight year-old child being molested, that's hard to read anytime.
I would certainly give I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings a five in terms of a star rating. I think the strength of the writing itself lends to many of those stars, and the way she describes her mother, who she just kind of thought as this goddess; and Maya Angelou being a poet, as well as a prose writer, the words that she used to describe it are just so visual. You can just actually see her mother kind of come up from the floor as you're reading."
|
| I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence |
Amy Sedaris |
"The Anti-Martha Stewart" |
See review |
"I read I Like You because Amy Sedaris' reputation is actually something that I've heard a lot about. I never actually seen her in any of her appearances or any of her film work or whatever, but I've heard a lot about her.
In her prep as she talks about how she wants to bring - entertain - the whole concept of entertaining back. I also found it interesting because I like to cook. I live in a very small apartment, so I don't actually entertain, but I do enjoy that; and I found the recipes in the book to be very interesting.
I think she's trying to be the anti-Martha Stewart. There's something about the whole Martha Stewart school of entertaining which really makes it appear that entertaining is a chore. I mean, hopefully you're doing it out of the goodness of your heart, welcoming people into your home, but it just seems to be so difficult. And Amy Sedaris in I Like You just has this breeziness about how she accomplishes what she accomplishes in entertaining.
I would recommend it to young, urban people who want to engender in their existences the concept of entertaining. I mean, it could be so much more than just getting a six-pack of beer and pretzels. I would give it five stars."
|
| In Cold Blood |
Truman Capote |
"Extraordinary Empathy For Characters" |
See review |
"I wanted to read In Cold Blood, it's something I'd been hearing about for a long time but never really got around to reading; but I saw Capote when it came out, and I've read other stories by Truman Capote. I liked Breakfast at Tiffany's and some of his short stories. I really like that style, so it was just about time to read it I thought.
This book is about a murder that happened in Kansas. I identified with the story basically because I'm from a very small town in Minnesota, 1000 people when I grew up there, and this is a very small town in Kansas. So it's a very real place to me, and then you watch what the chaos that kind of erupts out of it. Each time you're introduced a new character, you're viewing life through that person, so you have extraordinary empathy for everyone involved, including the murderers. And he takes you inside these - the psyches of these people to a kind of disturbing degree.
In Cold Blood will affect you while you're reading it, but its worth it just in terms of literary style and knowing that a book can do that to you, I think is a really important experience to have. I would say I'd give this five out of five, which is 'cause it's a very complete novel. There isn't anything that I disliked about it. It's just an incredibly powerful thing."
|
| In Cold Blood |
Truman Capote |
"Non-Fiction Novel" |
See review |
In Cold Blood
Truman Capote
"This book is a nonfiction novel, and it's -- that's a term that Capote himself sort of invented; and it is a recounting of the murders of four people, the Clutter family, in the 1950's in Kansas. The book itself follows the arch of both the family as they are leading up to the murders and then the town after the murders, but it also follows the story of the two murderers themselves in the days and weeks leading up to the murders and then following the murders.
I think this was a very original concept, and the reason I think that is because Capote himself said, "This is nothing that's ever been done before." Really, it was. It was completely factual, and yet the narrator is not present -- Capote himself is not present in the book at all. He writes it exactly like a novel, complete with fully developed scenes, interiority with characters, and precise details about the most minute things that happened on those days.
The thing I was most impressed by was Capote's obvious research and then the way in which he turned that research into narrative. I don't think there was anything I didn't like about this book. I was riveted from the moment I started to the moment I finished. A lot of attention is paid to the psychological life going on inside the head of this young man who was the one that committed the murders. I think I have to give this book five stars out of five. It's -- it was such a groundbreaking work when it came out, and it's just been amazing to read."
|
| Indian Killer |
Sherman Alexie |
"Racial Conflict Erupts" |
See review |
Indian Killer
Sherman Alexie
"John Smith is a young man who was adopted out of this tribe - he doesn't know what tribe - when he was a baby. At birth, he was taken from his mother and sent to a family in Seattle. As he grows up, it becomes more and more clear that he has a mental illness. He's mad. As Alexei follows his growing up and his descent into madness, a killer, a serial killer becomes active on the streets of Seattle. It's thought that killer is Indian because he leaves crossed owl feathers at the scenes of his crimes, and the owl is an evil bird to a lot of tribes.
We're made to wonder whether John Smith is the so-called Indian killer. Race war, a racial conflict, erupts in the streets of Seattle; and bands of Indians beat up white people. There's a sort of a Rush Limbaugh talk show host who whips up race hatred against Indiana, saying they've had special privileges too long.
I have some criticisms of the book. Even though it's a tremendously rewarding read, it's a novel of ideas; and that means it's a little bit clunky sometimes. I think that if he'd gone through a nother draft, he might have smoothed things out a little bit more.
I honestly think that everyone should read something by Sherman Alexie because he has such a strong and unique voice. Indian Killer is a very accessible book; he's also written wonderful poems. At least five stars I'd give to Indian Killer."
|
| Ines of My Soul |
Isabel Allende |
Rich Weaving of Characters |
See review |
I picked up Ines of My Soul because my sister had read another book by the same author, Isabel Allende. She had read Daughter of Fortune, and she said that was her favorite book in all the world.
Ines of My Soul is about a Spanish conquistadora who came over to South America in the 1500's and ended up being sort of the lover of Pedro de Valdivia, who was one of the original conquistadores of Spain. It's actually historical fiction, so she -- I looked it up on Wikipedia, because after I'd read it, it was really interesting. She used historical legend or things that are alleged to have happened as events in her story, so this person, this conquistadora, really existed.
The thing I liked most about the book is just Isabel Allende's way of weaving. She does such a good job of making so many characters so deep and complex with so little words and making their stories and their perspectives all fit together so carefully. I don't know how she does it. She's just a beautiful writer, and he characters are so interesting and believable, and you can really identify with them. I just think it's a beautiful book. The way -- the romance between the two of them was part of my favorite, and I don't want to tell my other favorite parts 'cause I'll give away the plot too much, but thee are some really interesting twists to this book.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in history of any kind, really, but especially the old South American history.
I would definitely give this book five out of five stars.
|
| Infidel |
Ayaan Hirsi Ali |
Can't Help But Fear For Author's Life |
See review |
Infidel
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
"I'm really interested in Muslim countries and in how Muslim women live. Infidel is a biography it's an autobiography of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who was a Dutch member of Parliament before she was forced to free her country. She fled to Europe to escape a marriage that was arranged by her father, and she decided, "Why don't I just stay in Europe?"
There was a controversy later when she became very prominent for her pro women and anti Muslim views. The Dutch Minister of Immigration decided to revoke her citizenship, saying that she had not been truthful when she entered the country and told her story to gain refugee status.
Ali's story is one of extraordinary courage; it's of an extraordinary individual. She's taken great risks to speak controversial viewpoints. People ask her, "Aren't you afraid of dying?" because she's gotten so many death threats. Reading something that's so risky for the writer to say, you feel a little afraid for the writer, you feel for her vulnerability, and it's hard not to feel concern for her when she puts herself out on a limb and says all the radical things that she does.
I'd recommend Infidel to anyone who is interested in Islam, who's interested in women's welfare in Islamic countries; it's a great group book, and it's a very stirring read. She's a very courageous woman. I'd give Infidel five stars."
|
| In Her Shoes |
Jennifer Weiner |
"Legend In Her Own Head" |
See review |
In Her Shoes
Jennifer Weiner
"I wanted to read the book In Her Shoes because - well, for two reasons. No. 1, there was a move that I saw with Shirley MacLaine, Toni Collette and Cameron Diaz that was actually quite good; and usually when there's a good movie based on a book, the reason you would go to the book would actually, usually the book's better. Also, Jennifer Wiener is a native Philadelphian.
The book revolves around - well, actually it alternates between two to three different characters. The Fuller sisters, one is a lawyer and the other is a legend in her own head. She wants to become a music video dancer, an actress, a star, but so far she's had no luck. The book goes back and forth between the story of the two sisters and their maternal grandmother, who they've never had a relationship with. Keeps it interesting because it splits off into three completely different - basically three completely different novels. It starts off as one story, splits into three stories, then comes back as one story.
One of the characters in the book, who is a suitor of Rose, the responsible lawyer sister, he seemed a little too made up. A gentleman by the name of Simon who also worked for her law firm seemed to be very one-dimensional.
I would give In Her Shoes four stars. I think this book definitely captures the dynamics of family."
|
| In Her Shoes |
Jennifer Weiner |
"I Never Read a Book Like This Before" |
See review |
In Her Shoes
Jennifer Weiner
"I read In Her Shoes -- actually it's a funny story. My boss was talking to me about all the books I'd read, and I was telling her about all these classic literature books that I really liked. She goes, "Oh, you read? I'm gonna bring some books for you!" So she brought a pile of all these books that she had read, but every single one of them was chick flick, which is a kind of genre that's supposed to appeal to women. I'd never read a book like this before.
In Her Shoes is about two sisters. One sister is supposed -- you know, the smart one who never gets a date; and the other one is the kind of wilder one who doesn't have a whole lot of self-esteem but she gets all kind of male attention. The two of them always argue, and the smarter one always feels like she's bailing the other one out; but in the end they kind of end up helping each other out.
It was fun to read this book. Honestly, I don't think I got as much out of it as I had from other books, but when you're in the mood for just something really light and sort of fun and easy -- I mean the only thing they really have to worry about is who they're dating and how that's gonna work out. It's kind of nice. I guess I probably related to the smarty-pants sister a little bit more than the other sister, but both characters were good. They were well written in that they were both flawed, very flawed, and that they both changed. I would give this book maybe three stars out of five."
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| In Persuasion Nation |
George Saunders |
Watch This Review |
See review |
"I read George Saunders' In Persuasion Nation because a friend of a friend passed it on to me.
This is a book of fiction; these are short stories. If it were real, you would be greatly disturbed because of what the characters are driven to do, particularly based on TV commercials and radio ads that they've heard or seen. This book is a collection of short stories. They are quite surreal and strange. They are very much influenced by the media, so pretty much every story has a very strong media influence, whether it's about how we're influenced by what commercials we've seen and how we end up living those or, in one case some characters live a 24-hour TV show. It's just extremely stressed on media and also the compulsion to buy based on advertisements that we've seen.
I think my favorite may be the short story that has the same title as the book, "In Persuasion Nation," because it is incredibly creative, and it's all about these people who finally try to rebel against the Twinkie running away with the boy's girlfriend, and the small group of people band together to try to fight the dominant products on the market that are forcing them to consume them. But in the end, they get pretty much pulverized by these products that are so much powerful than we are. Some of the stories do drag on past their initial interest and sort of creative, "Oh, that's funny and interesting," and where you're like, "Okay, I'm ready for it to go on." So my attention span was a little bit shorter than some of the stories.
It's really interesting reading so many stories that are all media influenced 'cause it really makes you think about what impact the media has on you but -- not just the media, but very specifically media targeted at getting you to buy something and the influence of that, and also reality TV. I think it really, by reading this book it really makes you think about what impact does that exposure to media have on the choices you make, particularly when you're buying and if you buy things just because you're exposed to that. I would give this book four out of five stars."
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| Inspiration Sandwich |
Sark |
"I Would Love To Be Gifted This Book" |
See review |
Inspiration Sandwich
Sark
"I was actually in a car shop getting my car repaired and there was a bookshelf there. And I'm always gravitating towards people's bookshelves anyway. But, there happened to be a Sark Collection on the bookshelf. And I started to read them and was really inspired.
This book is about mini vignettes, mini life experiences, and mini I guess elated senses of inspiration like the title says "Inspiration Sandwich." One of my favorite stories in this book is about inviting a person, a dangerous person over for tea. And for some reason I just thought that invitation and that, little suggestion was hilarious. And another one of my favorite stories is "Live Juicy." And she talks about eating mangos naked. And that is just, even though I have never done that, it's kind of fun to think about.
I have read other Sark titles and this is very similar to a lot of her other work. Sark books in general tell little cute stories and they're all handwritten. So, she's got this creative way of expressing these stories and the words just kind of kind of dance on the page. This is probably a good combination of like, pieces that you could pull out and hang and look at and maybe even frame or it's a wonderful just kind of flip through and see what you turn to and how it will apply to that day.
This book would make a great present. Yeah, I would love to be gifted this book. I would give this book, five stars out of five stars."
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| In The Heart of the Country |
J M Coetzee |
About the Human Condition |
See review |
In the Heart of the Country
J M Coetzee
"I was interested in John Coetzee as an author because I'm gonna be taking a trip to South Africa, and I had figured that reading one of the leading South African authors would give me insight into the country. What I find is that Coetzee is, he writes about the human condition, and his books are tend to be set in South Africa because that's where he grew up.
In the heart of the country is the story of a woman, an unmarried woman who takes care of her father on a very isolated ranch in South Africa; and she is full of hatred and fear and longing, sexual longing, intellectual longing. She wants out but is -- for one reason or another can't bring herself to flee, doesn't know where she would go. This takes place in the early 20th Century, so opportunities for women are kind of limited. She has fantasies, and we're not really sure what's true and what's not; but what happens is that her father is shot, and she describes shooting him and then has to make the black servant complicit in covering up the crime. So the book follows her as she tries -- either she just -- depending on your point of view descends further into madness or achieves clarity, and that's Coetzee's project is which is which? How mad is she really?
It's an emotionally vivid and involving story. It's not very long; it's about 180 pages. I'd recommend In the Heart of the Country to anyone who wants to feel what Isolation is really like and what sadness is really like. I would give In the Heart of the Country four stars."
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| Into the Wild |
Jon Krakauer |
Tramp Tragedy |
See review |
"I'd heard about John Krakauer's Into Thin Air before, and actually our school was thinking about adopting the book Into the Wild because what we're finding is we need more non-fiction in our high school curriculum. I was reading it to see if it would fit into our curriculum, and as soon as I opened it and connected with the character of Chris McCandless, I realized that this is gonna be a great book.
The book is about a young man named Chris McCandless, who grows up in an affluent community, graduates from high school, graduates from college, by all accounts is on his way to having a successful life; but he has this kind of wanderlust that's in him. When he graduates from college, he decides to just head out on the road, and he becomes basically what we would refer to as a tramp. He lives out of his car for a while, then when he loses his car, he just hoofs it. He goes on foot with his ultimate goal being that he's going to wind up in Alaska, the great wilderness.
It's really good for high school students because many high school students, and actually adolescents in general, find themselves in this kind of crisis sometimes, of independence, where they feel that they want to be independent from their parents but they don't quite have the skill set to be able to go out on their own. This is kind of what Chris has.
His style's a little bit hard to get used to. He uses a lot of big words, and sometimes you're not really sure why he's using these big words. Sometimes you think he's using these big words just to show what a great vocabulary he has. He also goes off on tangents and tells stories about other people who have done similar things -- kind of equally stupid things, going out in the wild unprepared -- and you kind of ask yourself, "Is it really important to hear all these other stories?"
I think in a way, young men would like this book because it's someone taking that physical challenge to see what a young man especially could do out in the wild, kind of like a bravado type of thing. I'd give it a four out of five. It's a great story. It's a one in a million story about a young man who is very likable and makes us think about the decisions that we make and how we kind of test ourselves in our own lives."
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| Into the Wild |
Jon Krakauer |
Gripping All the Way Through |
See review |
Into the Wild
Jon Krakauer
"I read the first page of -- the cover -- of Into the Wild, and it's so gripping that I don't think any reader can pass it up.
It's a non-fictional piece of work, and John Krakauer traces the last two years of this man's life. A month after graduating from Emory University, Chris McCandless gave away -- 25,000.00 of his savings, all of his savings, to a charity, burned whatever money was in his wallet, and sold all of his possessions, and took off across country. Four months later, his decomposed body was found in an abandoned bus.
One of the things that I really liked about the book was it's not just about Chris McCandless. John Krakauer inserts his own personal feelings about traveling, other young men that have decided to take off for no reason -- no apparent reason -- and travel; and so it really, it has this weaving effect that is just really cohesive.
The reader knows that Chris McCandless is dead; and we never forget that, but at the same time John Krakauer -- I guess this sounds cheesy, but he makes Chris McCandless come alive again. So we do feel sadness for him and for what he went through. John Krakauer does not talk about Chris McCandless' life in sequential time order. He tends to talk about things just that happened for a month, and then in 1990, and then go back to what happened in 1992; so it might be difficult for some readers to get a sense of the timeframe that we were thinking about.
I found Into the Wild gripping all the way through. I think that a lot of people can relate to what Chris McCandless was going through, and it's just essentially a good story. I would give this book five out of five."
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| Into Thin Air |
Jon Krakauer |
Draws A Picture With Words |
See review |
Into Thin Air
Jon Krakaurer
"I read "Into Thin Air" because it was recommended to me by a friend. It's actually a book that was a gift. It is a story of a group of people that did a trek up Mt. Everest.
And it gives a pretty good description of what it's like to prepare for the trip and get all your supplies together and do all your research. How to get from the United States to there and how long it takes just to get to the base camps, all the way from the base camps, all the way to the top and then back down? It's pretty descriptive from front to back. A bunch of people die, that's pretty out of the ordinary. They got caught in a huge blizzard.
The story was written in first person, very descriptive in what it was like being at the base camp and what base camp looked like. He was very good at drawing a picture with his words. And you really got a picture in your mind of what things looked like while he was in every single camp from top to bottom. What it was like competing against other teams that were going up at the same time.
And you get to the middle of the book when they actually start going up the mountain and you really understand how fast the story, or excuse me, how fast the blizzard came upon these guys because the story just really picks up from when you go through 200 pages before you ever really even know what's going on.
To anybody that's going to read the book, I would definitely give you a warning. When you get to the middle of the book and you get into the pictures, skip through them. Don't stop and read through the pictures because there's some stuff there that he shows you that is very, it's too early to see it. There's pictures of where people did what, and that, and he's not there in the story, yet. So, when you get to the middle do not read the pictures.
I would give this, book four out of five stars, just that it's not a perfect book. But he did a really good job of narrating a story."
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| Intuition |
Allegra Goodman |
Research Lab Politics |
See review |
"Intuition is a book about a young man who works in a biological research lab that's connected to Harvard, and he's been working there for about five years in his post-doctoral studies, trying to find a cure for cancer.
The main crux of the book is him trying to get his findings published and other people in the lab questioning whether they're accurate results. I was interested in reading Intuition because I've done a lot of stuff in a research lab, and you don't see a whole lot of books that have that setting. I'm from the Massachusetts area, so I could really relate to the different scenery that they had in the book when they were describing Cambridge and Harvard Square and all that stuff; and it was just an area that kind of struck close to home.
The thing I liked most about the book was that they did a really great job of explaining these intricate technical details in a really accessible and interesting way. I don't really have a whole lot of interest in necessarily doing research with mice, but they explained it in a way that it became really compelling; and adding in the storyline, which was a really interesting and compelling story made the technology easier to understand.
I would recommend this book definitely to anyone who works in a research field who enjoys reading because it's so relatable, and the inter-lab politics are so weird and specific to research labs; so definitely she nailed it. I would give this book four out of five stars."
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| Jitterbug Perfume |
Tom Robbins |
Immortality From Perfume |
See review |
Jitterbug Perfume
Tom Robbins
"I read JitterBug Perfume because I had read another book by Tom Robbins called Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates. I thought that Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates was just hilarious, so I read JitterBug Perfume.
I guess in a nutshell it's kind of about a couple who discovers the secret to immortality which involves a sensualness and a special kind of perfume that they work hard to develop. There's so much fun in this book. It's so crazy; this author will -- has a tendency to do this personification thing where he'll take -- totally aside from this main topic. Somebody brushes their teeth and instead of describing that the character's thinking, he'll describe what the toothbrush is thinking.
I guess if you're not in the mood for the wild, crazy writing style, then you can just put it down and come back to it when you're more in the mood for it. I could see how the writing style could get annoying after a while; but when it got annoying to me, I just put it down.
This book, JitterBug Perfume is actually my favorite by Tom Robbins. I read -- ended up reading five or six in total, but this one's my favorite because it has -- the plot matches more precisely the feeling of fun. There is no way I would ever let my teenager read this book! Seriously, it has way too many references to sexual things, and the attitude about it is really too casual I think. I give it five stars. I just loved it. It's silly -- it's totally silly, but I really love this book."
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| John Adams |
David McCullough |
"It Is A Miracle" |
See review |
"I decided to read David McCullough's John Adams book. This book is not only about John Adams but how our country started, and once you get into this book it is a miracle that we are the country we are today. The major figures that we think about, just the every day boring, weird, strange things they did and just a glimpse into what life was like then through John Adams and his family.
I knew nothing about John Adams except what -- he was the second President. I knew nothing about Abigail Adams, and he could not have done -- and most of the men could not have done -- what they did if the women hadn't stayed home and raised the kids, took care of the businesses and -- so yeah, it was all a very surprise.
The book shows again the complexity of what he brought, what Jefferson, Hamilton and Washington brought and how some of the strains, the dynamics, all the issues we deal with today, they were dealing with them. Many of the later issues like the Civil War, like the fight between industrialization and Agrarianism. I mean it was such a different time.
I would recommend read this book if you really want more than a superficial view of how this country got started and just a respect for the research that David McCullough has done. This book gets five stars."
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| Jude the Obscure |
Thomas Hardy |
A Classic With Complex Characters |
See review |
Jude the Obscure
Thomas Hardy
"The book is called Jude the Obscure. It's by Thomas Hardy. And I've known about it for years; my mom recommended it to me. She actually told me I wasn't allowed to read it until I was 21 because it was such a tragic story, and it turned out to be my favorite book of all time.
I think anybody can identify with this book. The characters are so complex, perhaps more than any other book I've read. They're so dynamic, you can really relate to them. Even though it was written 150 years ago, you can still feel their emotions and know what they're going through today.
Perhaps it might be a little difficult to read, but if you're into reading classics -- I would recommend it to anybody, really."
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| Law School Confidential |
Robert H. Miller |
Covers Whole Experience |
See review |
"I read Law School Confidential because I'm going to law school next year. I've been trying to figure out what the experience is gonna be like so I've been reading certain forums on the internet about law school and what law school is like. I was terrified so I decided to read this book to get some perspective.
The book covers the entire experience of law school. Actually, even before that it talks about how to choose where you apply, how to study for the LSAT; it recommends certain prep courses, that kind of thing; but then it also goes through year-by-year what to expect your first semester, second semester. It has plans for studying as well as plans for when you should send out applications for internships and that sort of thing, so it just covers the whole experience.
It does have a similar tone to these really terrifying law school forums. It's just as negative and just as sort of pessimistic about your chances. It also thinks that you should go to a Top 15 school and graduate at the top of your class if you want to do anything. But, what's nice and what's different is that he has a plan in case you don't. One of the things he says for your first summer internships specifically after your 1L year is that you're gonna have to send out hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of letters, and you'll probably be rejected hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times, but you only need one acceptance, and that's okay. So I think having someone prep me for that kind of rejection is probably pretty helpful.
I would actually give this book right now in my life about 4 -- stars. I would say if you haven't decided whether you want to go to law school yet, don't read this 'til you decide. This will terrify you; this will make you want to do anything else."
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| Lean Mean Thirteen |
Janet Evanovich |
Not Your Typical Murder Mystery |
See review |
Lean Mean Thirteen
Janet Evanovich
"My mother had told me about this author, Janet Evanovich, who wrote the Stephanie Plum series. Stephanie Plum is a character, she's an out of work factory worker who takes on a job as a bounty hunter. She's a very, very imperfect person. She's supposed to be a bounty hunter, but she never shoots her -- she's bad with guns, she's bad with apprehending criminals, so this is more of a comedy of errors.
The action takes place in and around Trenton, NJ. My family were originally from Philadelphia, which as some of you know is not that far from Trenton, so we were very impressed with somebody who actually wanted to write from a place that's kind of overlooked. There's murder, but there's also a lot of comedy in them. At this time, Lean Mean Thirteen is back to being just downright goofy. There's running jokes throughout the series; for example, she has a history of bad luck with cars. So in every book we're introduced, she's driving a new car; and sometime in the book that car will be torpedoed, run off a bridge, destroyed, crashed, car bombed, set on fire. It's funny because it never gets old.
There is one particular aspect of the books that , me personally, I don't like, and that's she's -- that the author, Janet Evanovich, spends a good deal of time reacquainting us with characters from previous books. On a scale of one to five stars, I would give it four stars. Mostly I would remediation them to people who aren't into your typical murder mystery. This is more for the Murder She Wrote fan."
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| Leo the Late Bloomer |
Robert Kraus and Jose Aruego |
Encouraging Story |
See review |
Leo the Late Blooomer
Robert Kraus and Jose Aruego
"I have read Leo the Late Bloomer right here many times because I am the mother of a 5 year-old and a 2 -- year-old. It's a great kid's book.
The story of Leo the Late Bloomer is about actually not a lion; even though his name's Leo, he's a tiger. He is a late bloomer; he can't do all of the things his friends can do. He can't write neatly, he eats very sloppily, he's just - he's not able to do the other things. He doesn't even talk. He like barely says anything. So the story's about how he - and his father is like, "Oh, what's wrong? Is he even ever gonna bloom?" and his mother says, "No, he's just a late bloomer." Of course, by the end of the story, which is not very long, he is able - he learns in his own time and in his own way how to write, and how to eat neatly, and how to speak; and his first thing he speaks is not just one word but a whole sentence. He says, "I made it." So it's just an encouraging story about it's okay if you're not doing everything at the same time as everybody else; you'll get it in your own time.
Well, I can definitely say that from - definitely from two to probably at least six, and maybe seven, especially if you have a late bloomer because it's a simple story, and it's simple language. It's not a lot of words, but it's a good message. It's also good for kids who aren't late bloomers so that they're more accepting of kids who are. I would like to give Leo the Late Bloomer four stars out of five."
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| Lessons In Becoming Myself |
Ellen Burstyn |
Self Reflective...Inspiring |
See review |
"Becoming Myself was actually given to me to read by a friend. Her daughter went to the military, and mine went to college so we've been supporting each other, and reading, and recommending books; and Becoming Myself was one. Ellen Burstyn is an actress that I've just always respected and admired; and my daughter is going to Pace University where The Actor's Studio is filmed, and Ellen Burstyn is one of the co-directors. So I was really motivated to read it because of that.
The book starts off in her -- with her childhood and the difficulties that she had with her mother and her family and really, really dysfunctional situation and how, once she became a teenager, she got really clear that she needed to leave and went to try to make it as an actress. Then it covers like the different phases that she went through in trying to accomplish that dream. It was amazing to me that she remembered details from years and years ago, but she was always keeping a journal, so she had I guess years of those journals to kind of look back on. She tells the story, and yet she has a lot of insight into what was going on, a lot of self-reflection, which I really appreciate.
Anyone who's trying to be an actor can get a lot out of it, and women just to see a woman kind of struggle and fall down and get back up over and over and over, and really make it and really be successful. It's very inspiring. I would give this book a five, definitely -- a ten if I could."
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| Letter To a Christian Nation |
Sam Harris |
No Holds Barred Writing |
See review |
Letter To a Christian Nation
Sam Harris
"I read this book because of the topic of atheism; so I'd heard about the book End of Faith, hadn't read it yet. I have a copy, but I picked up Letter to a Christian Nation 'cause it's considerably shorter.
The book is essentially about the absurdity not just Christianity but religions in general and how they tend to get caught up in their own kind of self-righteous ways. Sam Harris essentially responds to letters that he received from primarily Christian organizations who had read The End of Faith and wrote him some pretty nasty letters, so the book is essentially a response.
I think I read the book partially to gain some ammo for an education argument in response to why am I not Christian or Catholic or Muslim or what have you. What I really liked about the book was that Sam Harris was kind of no holds barred. He stuck to his guns, he even went so far as to use Psalms and parts of the Bible to back up his arguments of how contradictory stuff like the Bible and how Christians in general can be when they're supposed to be the most loving, caring people on the planet, but yet they do a lot of stuff to contradict that.
I would recommend it to any person interested in theology who would like to hear an argument from the other side. I think it's best to understand both sides of the equation before you come up with a final answer. I would give this book about 4 -- stars out of five."
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| Letter To a Christian Nation |
Sam Harris |
Authors Response To Criticisms |
See review |
Letter To a Christian Nation
Sam Harris
"I picked up Letter to a Christian Nation because I'd read its predecessor, The End of Faith, by Sam Harris.
Letter to a Christian Nation is really kind of a response to some of the criticisms and commentary he received about The End of Faith. Letter to a Christian Nation is a very critical and very pointed refutation of religious faith and organized religion. He contrasts religious faith with scientific rationality as he'd done in his previous book, The End of Faith.
It's hard not to like a book that you agree with almost 100%. In fact, I found that I agreed more with Letter to a Christian Nation than I did with The End of Faith, perhaps because he makes his case very clear and it's very distilled. Letter to a Christian Nation really takes the best ideas of his previous books and repackages them in a very concise and succinct manner.
I think I would recommend it to someone who is just starting to get into questioning faith or religion; and possibly, it might even work better than The End of Faith as an inroad into I guess what you might consider a secular ________ or even a kind of almost a fundamentalist atheist sort of philosophy.
I would give this book four out of five stars. I would give it five stars were it a bit longer; however, I think that charging the full price of a book for something that only comes about 100 pages makes me want to -"
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| Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them |
Al Franken |
Reviews and the Reviewing Reviewers |
See review |
"I love this book, Al Franken's Lying, Liars, And So On And So On And So On. I think it's deliberately a little long. I think he's imitating the style of the people he's criticizing, and the one that comes best quickly to mind is Anne Coulter's book. I was recently kicked off of Anne Coulter's web page for disrespecting Anne Coulter, so I have an axe to grind. But I went on Al Franken's web page and there's a whole board there about how Al Franken himself is a lying liar. To tell the truth, I admire him more because he allows himself to be disrespected.
Conservatives say that the whole media is liberal. One of the things that Al Franken does is to challenge that premise. For example, the 2000 election, you would expect if the media had a liberal bias that they would have backed the Democratic candidate, Al Gore. But in fact, there were more negative articles about Al Gore and more positive articles about George Bush.
The book goes through Anne Coulter, O'Reilly, Hannity of Hannity & Colmes, and there are several lesser mentions of people who have written various - or who have written or expressed on radio or television various conservative views.
I think that when you're the object of - when you are a member of a group that's constantly under attack, it feels good to have someone in that group speak back to the other side in the same terms that they're using. I think I would recommend it particularly to liberals who would like to see themselves affirmed and perhaps moved to action.
I would give it four stars. I would give it five, but I'd take off a star because he's a little mean spirited in the places and because I think he lets his humor get in the way of a joke - lets his humor get in the way of the truth sometimes."
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| Life of Pi |
Yann Martel |
Animals With Personality |
See review |
"I actually found out about Life of Pi while I was working at a bookstore, and it just - the cover's real bright, orange and blue, and sometimes I just pick up books to see what they are. And it's one that can be found in the young adult section and the adult section, fiction book. And so I read the back and love animals, and it says a boy's on a ship with a bunch of animals, and it's nothing like you would think from the back.
Life of Pi is about a young boy, Pi Patel, who lives in India with his family; and he loves to learn about religion. His parents own a zoo, so the zoo is going to move across the ocean to the west. And they're on a Japanese cargo ship, and the cargo ship goes down. The characters, because they're mostly animals throughout the book, I don't think people really relate to them until they get into how personal it becomes and how much personality these animals can have.
I think for Life of Pi, a young adult reader would be good, and maybe younger children. It definitely has a great base for younger readers to get into books. For Life of Pi, I would give the book four out of five stars. I think it's a great book; the beginning's a little slow, a little hard to get into, but once you've reached that point, it flows nicely."
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| Like Water for Chocolate |
Laura Esquivel |
Great Story In Spanish and English |
See review |
Like Water For Chocolate
Laura Esquivel
"The reason that I read the book is that I was visiting a friend in Mexico, and he bought the book for me in Spanish. I went ahead and bought the book in English and started reading one chapter at a time in English and in Spanish and eventually made it through both books and just really enjoyed it. It was a great story that - and a lot of surprises.
The book is about a girl named Tita, who is born to a mother who has a tradition of the last daughter is responsible for taking care of the mother until death; and so that means that she can't marry. Of course, Tita falls in love with Pedro, and they can't marry; and the wicked mother arranges it so that Pedro marries Tita's sister. They live together, so obviously, that kind of scenario would create a problem with many things. The other thing that's interesting about the book is that every chapter begins with a recipe, and the recipes are kind of enveloped into the story and the chapter. It's great, great tale.
I liked the way that the writer wove the folklore of the Mexican tradition and the cooking into the story; and it came across as very lovely and romantic, and part fantasy, part reality. It was a beautiful story. Actually, I think that the book is great for anyone. I would recommend it for anyone who wants to read a little romance and also get some cooking advice as well! I would give this book five stars out of five."
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| Lipshitz 6 or Two Angry Blondes |
T. Cooper |
"It Is About So Much" |
See review |
"I read this novel, Lipshitz 6, or Two Angry Blondes, by T Cooper, because I met the author. I was at a reading in San Francisco, and she was there. T Cooper is a woman, a lesbian, as a matter of fact, Jewish, too, I believe, as am I. Well, I'm not a lesbian, but I'm Jewish. So I met her at a read from it, sounded like fun.
It's hard to say what this novel's about, I mean only because about so much. It's long, it's rich, it's a lot to it. It's a good read, though. It's not, I was like, I got very caught up in it.
It's about a Jewish family that emigrates from Russia to America at the turn of the century, which my grandparents did as well, so I could relate to that; and it's about their experiences assimilating to America, and making their way. Sort of the big thing, the big story that happens to them is when they're at Ellis Island, I guess they have three kids, I believe, three or four, their blonde son, who doesn't look Jewish at all, their blonde son somehow gets separated from them and he's never found. They had no idea what happened to him. So sort of that tragedy that besets the family that they're coping with and dealing with.
One of their sons turns out to be gay, and what's that like; another son gets killed in World War II. So a lot of stuff happens to this family. I guess why it's sort of a post-modern novel is that the last third of the novel, the author, T Cooper enters as a character. She's part of the family; she's like the grandchild of the characters we were reading about at the beginning. And she is a Vanilla Ice impersonator hoping to aspire to bigger and better things.
What I liked best about reading Lipshitz 6 was kind of the surprising turns that the story takes and just the believability of the family, and the ___________ the kind of unusual things that happen and how they cope with them. I want to give T Cooper's novel, Lipshitz 6 or Two Angry Blondes, four stars."
|
| Little Big Man |
Thomas Berger |
Chameleon Like Character |
See review |
Little Big Man
Thomas Berger
"I've seen the movie many times, but I first saw it when I was a child and it made a really huge impact on me. I also heard that it was a very good book, and I read something about the author. Apparently he did all this research about the Old West. He read like 75 books or something about the Old West histories, and then he just sat down and just whipped this book out, just wrote it.
The book chronicles the adventures of a man named Jack Crabb whose family was settling out west in a wagon train and everything, and they were ambushed by some Indians from the Pawnee tribe. His whole family was killed except for him and his sister, and they were subsequently adopted by the Cheyenne and raised in part by the Cheyenne tribe. He goes from living with the whites back to the Native Americans, and then back to the whites, and it's back and forth the whole time. What's different from the movie that was made about it is the character of Jack Crabb as he's described in the book is much, much more ambivalent about his role. In other words, when he's with the Native Americans, the Cheyenne, he lives like them, he sees through the lens of their world view; and when he is with the whites, he adopts their world view. So he's like a chameleon. There's a lot more moral ambiguity in the book than in the film.
I would give the book five out of five stars."
|
| Little Children |
Tom Perrotta |
"How Adults Can React" |
See review |
"Little Children is by a writer who I really like his work. He wrote another book called Election, and they happen to both be movies that I think many of us have enjoyed that are pretty hilarious. So it was actually the movies that prompted me to get into reading his books.
So you've got this main character Sarah, and another character Brad; they're both the parents of young children. They happen to meet up on a playground, and story is a main plot within this book, which is complicated by the arrival in their small town of a recently released pedophile from jail who's come to live with his mother. His story is woven into what's going on within the town, and it ends up sort of touching their lives; but you, within the book, get to know these characters, Sarah and Brad and Ronnie and some other interesting characters; but the main storyline is the relationship that develops between Sarah and Brad.
It's a fantastic book. What some people may not like about the book is that the characters aren't necessarily always likable. They're very flawed, but I feel like it's a very real portrayal of how adults can react to parenting and how parenthood changes your life. I think it can be enjoyed by many people; it's an extremely well written book with great humor and a lot of depth. The book was better for sure, but the movie was pretty good. I would give this book five stars."
|
| Little Children |
Tom Perrotta |
"It Felt Real To Me" |
See review |
Little Children
Tom Perrota
"I read Little Children because I had been intrigued by it when it had come out. I remember reading a lot about and thinking it sounded good. It's funny, and it's smart; but it felt to me so much more empathetic to the characters without being sentimentalized or without being gushy or false. It just felt real to me.
The book is about a couple who have an affair. Parallel to that story and later intersecting with it is the narrative of a convicted child molester who's just been released from prison and has come home to this town. The way that that's handled clearly makes a point about society's overreaction to that kind of danger, but I felt the book did a good job of humanizing the criminal without letting him off the hook or excusing his behavior.
I really liked the way the story clicked, the way all the elements move together toward the end for a satisfying ending. It felt a little rushed; it felt a little rushed. There were some character - there were some pretty major character changes at the end that felt like whoa, where'd that come from? I also felt like the writer had to get into every character's back story, and I'm not sure we needed to know the back story on every single character as well written as it was. I liked the book a lot, and I would give it 4.75, 4.5."
|
| Losing It: America's Obession With Weight Loss |
Laura Fraser |
Fit and Fat? |
See review |
Losing It: America's Obession With Weight Loss
Laura Fraser
"Losing It" was written about ten years ago. And it was kind of ahead of it's time because it was the first book that really put forward the idea that you can be fit and fat. Essentially, it's a critique of the diet culture.
And what I did is I went back about 100 years and looked at how the diet culture developed in this country and the different sort of, methods of dieting were developed and why. And then I looked at the present day diet industry. The commercial diet centers, I went sort of undercover to a lot of them, Jennie Craig, Weight Watchers, etc, etc. It's kind of an amazing business. It's the only one where if the business doesn't succeed they blame the consumer.
So, the book is just sort of a soup-to-nuts study of our obsession with weight and the industry that feeds on it. I have thought about updating "Losing It" but haven't found a publisher who wants to do that. Mainly because it's a book that says, you really don't have to lose weight which doesn't sell very well.
If I had put in that magic chapter at the end that says here's how you lose weight and keep it off by eating you know pumpkin pie and amphetamines, then it would have sold really well, and you know a million copies would still be in print. But I took a more honest approach which is that for most people weight loss is very slow if at all. It involves long-term lifestyle changes and not everyone is going to be thin.
Since I wrote "Losing It," I think that the understanding of obesity in this country has become a little bit more sophisticated than it used to be. I would recommend "Losing It" for anyone who has been caught in a cycle of losing weight, gaining it, feeling bad about themselves and wants some perspective. I'd give "Losing It" four stars."
|
| Lost City Radio |
Daniel Alarcon |
We're All Connected |
See review |
Lost City Radio
Daniel Alarcon
"I read "Lost City Radio" partly because it's written by a Peruvian guy, Daniel Alarcon. And I was recently in Peru doing a piece on the food there for "Gourmet" magazine. And I just fell in love with Peru, but also became aware of its history of terrorism and also the just kind of vast inequities between the rich and the poor.
"Lost City Radio" is not specifically about Lima. It's sort of, about what could be any South American city, who's recovering from the turmoil of a civil war. And the plot really focuses on a woman named Norma, who is a radio talk show host, whose husband Ray disappeared about ten years before that. And she has this radio show where basically, people call in and they try to find people who were lost. Alarcon does such a great job of talking about people's sense of displacement.
There wasn't really wasn't anything I didn't like about "Lost City Radio," except you know some of the events that happened that were, you know disturbing. It's not so much that it made me feel that I'm lucky to be living in the United States in a privileged environment. It's more that it made me feel that we're all connected.
I'd recommend it to people who are interested in South America and the politics of that region. I give "Lost City Radio" five stars."
|
| Love and Other Near Death Experiences |
Mil Millington |
"5 Star Book!" |
See review |
Love and Other Near Death Experiences
Mil Millington
"Love and Other Near Death Experiences" is by a British author, Mil Millington. And he actually has a website, thingsmygirlfriendandIhavearguedabout.com. And he just lists arguments that he and his girlfriend have had. And he just, in that list he manages to have written some of the funniest stuff I've ever read in my entire life. And I found this completely by accident and I found out he had some books out. So this is actually the third of his books that I've read. And it's my favorite.
It's a story about a guy who actually has a near death experience and finds he can't make any decisions because of that. Because he gets caught up, worrying about the ramifications of just the slightest decision whether it's wearing the red jacket or the green jacket and which one will lead to his eminent demise? And he talks about how he feels guilty, well he doesn't feel guilty, but he feels like an ass because he's returning towels that were only five quid. And what kind of a cheap ass jerk returns something that's only five quid? It's really about him not only getting over this condition of his where he can't make any decisions but, learning to be, to search for his own happiness.
There's absolutely nothing I didn't like about this book. I love this author and I love this style of writing. It's really hard to find humor anymore. You find a lot of stuff that's very deep and thought provoking and I like books that can just make me laugh. And it's I think harder to find that in the modern age than even it was in the Victorian age.
If you are a fan of either Nick Hornby or Helen Fielding, I think you'd really like it because it's got an emphasis on relationships. It's got the British thing. And it's also just really, really funny. This is a five star book, five stars."
|
| Love Creeps |
Amanda Filipacchi |
Funny, Sexy Look At Love and Materialism |
See review |
Love Creeps
Amanda Filipacchi
"The book is sort of a satirical view of love and maybe even materialism. It's three people who stalk each other at separate times during their lives.
I thought the book was - had a really dry sense of humor, and it was a great sort of sarcastic way to look at love. I think that young women readers, maybe someone between 20 and 50, would probably really like this book, and it's also, it's a little bit erotic, which is nice for a women's book to have a little bit of - I don't know - sexiness.
I would give this book three stars out of five. It was very funny, but the plot wasn't as tight as it could have been. But it did have a lot of fun - it was a really fun look at love and materialism."
|
| Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds and the Making of an Antihero |
Jeff Pearlman |
Bonds Fan Or Not Can Enjoy |
See review |
"I read Love Me, Hate Me because I'm a Giants fan and a Barry Bonds fan, really. Growing up, I was -- watched the Giants, I played baseball. I was devastated when the lost the World Series in 1989; I was devastated when they lost the World Series in 2002. But every year, every spring when baseball starts, I'm excited that the season is starting.
The book spans Barry Bonds' life, really; it's a biography of him. It goes into a lot of his childhood growing up, kind of trying to show how and why Barry Bonds turned out to be Barry Bonds.
I liked reading about Barry Bonds' childhood; when his father, Bobby Bonds was always away and on the road, how he kind of really close with his mother and didn't know his dad very well, didn't like him, didn't really relate to him. There are interesting stories about his childhood. I also liked a lot of the just anecdotes about him and stuff with teammates in the off season. Yeah, I just liked the stories I hadn't heard. He's such a covered entity in sports news and the news in general that I just liked anything that was in the book that I hadn't heard of before. The author, Jeff Pearlman, did an incredible amount of research. He interviewed like 400 people or something like that. So I think he got a pretty thorough look at Barry Bonds' life.
I think that a Bonds fan or not would read this book and enjoy it, having a good time reading it. I'd rate Love Me, Hate Me with three out of five stars. It was pretty interesting, it was fun to see Barry Bonds discussed in a little bit different way than just in the headlines; but I think the author could have done more; it could have been more full of detail and more full of new information. But it's a good overview of Barry Bonds, and who he is, and why he has become who he is."
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| Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds and the Making of an Antihero |
Jeff Pearlman |
Bonds Fan, Or Not Can Enjoy |
See review |
Bringing Down the House
Ben Mezrich
"I picked up this book at the airport on the way to a trip to the Dominican Republic. I just picked it up in the airport bookstore; it looked kind of interesting.
It is about some MIT students who start going to Vegas and basically manage to win thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars before getting caught, and it is so much fun. I'm a gambler, and it was so great to kind of like hear how they cheated the system.
So they would have somebody at the table counting cards, and then they would flag or clue one of their like little floater people to come when basically the deck was hot and it was ready. Then this random person would come and sit down and make all the high bets, win the money and then walk away so that the person that was actually doing the betting, making a lot of money wasn't the same person that was counting the cards. So it kind of made it more difficult for them to track.
There's a follow up book to it that I haven't read that I'm interested in getting at some point in time. It was kind of exciting and fun, and I love the idea - like I love gambling, and so just kind of like the thrill that goes with it is very exciting to me, especially when the numbers are in your favor. So this book definitely did a good job of recreating that excitement. I'd give it four out of five stars."
|
| Lucky |
Alice Sebold |
"Couldn't Relate To the Book" |
See review |
""I'd wanted to read Lucky by Alice Sebold because I had read The Lovely Bones, and I'd loved that book. So my friend - my friend's mother had given me Lucky to read, and so I read it.
There wasn't that much actually that I liked about Lucky, to be honest. I was really disappointed with it. I was kind of hoping I think to experience kind of the poeticness of Lovely Bones, but Lucky was really more of an autobiographical account of the author's experience in college when she was raped. I fortunately haven't been through anything like that before, so I think maybe it was a matter of me not being able to relate to the book. I think she's a good writer definitely, and that comes out through Lucky; but I just didn't enjoy it. And I almost hesitate to say it, but it was exactly what I think I would have expected to hear about that kind of experience. There wasn't anything kind of fresh or different; there was a perspective that to me was very typical.
I think I'd recommend this book to maybe victims of a similar event that's she went through, maybe students of psychology. I think I'd give the book Lucky 2 -- stars. I couldn't relate to the book at all, so that's why I didn't like it."
|
| Lying Awake |
Mark Salzman |
Questions Faith |
See review |
"I am not terribly religious. I'm not religious at all, actually. And so, but for me religion is always interesting. I like to learn about it. I like to know more about it.
So, the book is about cloistered nuns. And one of the nuns is particularly like the main character. And what she's going through is sort of these, what she calls "ecstasies" where she's getting really horrible migraine type headaches. And she usually sort of ignores them during her nun duties, but they always have a time in their cell in the evening. And when she gets there, she writes. And she feels like she's having this direct connection to God through her writing. And she's published books, so she's well known for having you know this close Godly connection and for being a very good writer.
As it turns out, she goes to the doctor and finds out that there's a lump behind one of her ears. And it's connected to a type of epilepsy. And if she has surgery on it she'll be fine, but what she has to figure out is her connection with God because of her epilepsy or because of her faith?
I have to tell you, I wasn't a great big fan of the book actually. The story line was interesting, but it was one of those books that I was just sort of reading because I wanted to know what decision she made, but I wasn't really wrapped up in it. For me it was kind of a disappointing book. And I know that for her the question of faith was very important. But because for me it's not, I just wanted her to hurry up and decide.
I would give this book, two and a half to three stars out of five."
|
| Malgudi Days |
R. K. Narayan |
Life In India |
See review |
" read Malgudi Days, which has a beautiful, artistic cover. I read it because someone gave it to me and I didn't want to hurt their feelings, and boy, what a find!
It's about this town in India, and it's pretty much just a study of the characters, the people, the values, what goes on in this little town, what it's like to live in a place like that in India. Each of the stories sort of turns a different facet of that kind of life. What is it like to be a beggar there? What is it like to be an America hippie there? That's one of the stories is about a hippie. What is it like to be a young boy waiting for his mother to die of an illness? What is it like to be an old person? Each of the stories kinds of gives us a facet of life in Malgudi.
I would recommend Malgudi Days to somebody who has not read much that's set in a foreign country but would like to branch out and read stuff that's more exotic like something about India, 'cause it really is so personal and so charming. This is writer who shows you that people are people everywhere. They have the same motivations, the jealousies and ambition and urge to conceal things from their past; and it seems so much more human after reading this. I've always been a little afraid of it because you know all that we hear about the disease and poverty and all, but just clearly it's people are people everywhere.
I would rate it a four, I think, because I think that Narayan is letting himself off easily. He clearly is doing these for fun, and each one is just a little squib. They're great, but he's capable of more."
|
| Marley and Me |
John Grogan |
Iraq Vet and Dog Owner Lauds Humor & Escapism |
See review |
Marley and Me
John Grogan
"How I found out about Marley and Me was - a friend of mine sent it to me in Iraq. I was recently deployed there, and they thought it would be a nice, lighthearted book that I could read while I had some time off. The book, Marley and Me, is about a personal account of an owner, raising a very large Labrador retriever with his own mind. What I really liked about Marley and Me is, I, myself, am a dog owner, and I can relate to the bad dog stories. Some of the stories - I don't know if I can say on this videotape, because they were about poop stories, dog owners and dog poop stories, so things that a dog would ingest and then you would have to find it later on, from jewelry to plastic toys, or even things that change the color of it, like mangoes.
I would recommend Marley and Me to any dog owner or pet lover. They can definitely relate to the stories, and it would just make their sides tear in laughter. Probably the only people that may not like the book are possibly cat owners, just because cat owners and dog owners come from a different way of thinking. Out of five stars, I would rate Marley and Me a solid three and a half stars, not quite a four, for the general public, but if you were a dog owner, you'd definitely give it a four."
|
| Maus: A Survivor's Tale |
Art Spiegelman |
Got High School Students To Read |
See review |
"I chose to read Maus 1 and Maus 2 by Art Spiegelman. The first reason would be is I'm kind of an aficionado of World War II books. After I saw Saving Private Ryan, I just started picking up all the books I could about World War II. So I've read almost every Steven Ambrose book, I've read a lot of Holocaust literature. As a teacher, we'd adopted these books five years before I started teaching; and so I read them as part of preparing for our freshmen curriculum.
It's one of the books where, when you pick it up, you don't put it down. You want to find out what happens. It's a graphic novel, so basically it's a comic book. Of course, it's not funny. So it makes it much easier to read.
Maus 1: A Survivor's Tale is basically the story of a guy named Vladek Spiegelman, and it's from the point of view of his son. His son is a famous cartoonist named Art Spiegelman, who has done New Yorker covers and other types of comics in the past. Art Spiegelman has grown up his life kind of living in -- living with a Holocaust survivor as a father.
It's done through a series of flashbacks where we will have Art and Vladek. Vladek will be telling Art the story of what happened to him back in Poland, and Art will then go and draw it, and then we'll flash back while Vladek tells us his stories of the coming to power, the Nazis and the invasion of Poland.
The genius of the books is that Art Spiegelman has made the Holocaust accessible to us. He's able to show us images of the Holocaust in an accessible way. If we were to view the pictures in real life that he draws, we would put the book down in ten minutes because we emotionally can't handle that much. But because he puts it in the metaphor of a cartoon, even as strange as that may seem, it makes it more accessible and we can read the story as a whole and be able to handle it and then digest it.
It's one of the only times where I teach a book and I don't assign pages. I say, "Just take this book home, just start reading it right now in class; and then take it home tonight and we'll see what happens." Half the students go home that night, finish reading the book, they come back the next day and they ask for Maus 2. They go home and they take Maus 2 home the next night, and the read it in basically in two subsequent nights. There's no other book that I teach -- or books -- that do that.
These books, Maus 1 and Maus 2, are both five stars. I can't think of any book that I would recommend higher."
|
| McMafia |
Misha Glenny |
Illicit Global Economy |
See review |
"So Misha Glenny is a BBC reporter and is -- you could describe him as a citizen of the world, and so in this book, he travels to many different countries in order to trace the flow of elicit drugs, of prostitution rings, of email scams like the Nigerian 411 scams that you might be familiar with and get on a daily basis in your email inbox.
It traces the rise within globalization of the economies that don't necessarily have any -- they have a relation to the elicit economy, but at the same time, it's all happening really without -- with the consent of governments across the world. So it's interesting to watch that flow and how globalization not only encourages cooperation at the elicit economy level, but the elicit level, it seems like it encourages cooperation even more so, because to get a person from you know the Ukraine or Georgia all the way over to Dubai, that take a lot of links in the chain of people being paid off, people who's palms are being greased. As much as I enjoyed the fascinating portrayal of what's actually happening in the elicit economy of the world, it was very, very disjointed.
I would recommend Misha Glenn's McMafia to anyone that is interested in what's happening in the globe but not necessarily reported.
I would give McMafia three out of five stars. The way it's written, it did not have good enough flow to be an easy enough read."
|
| McTeague |
Frank Norris |
"Brilliant" |
See review |
McTeague
Frank Norris
"I was bored one summer, and someone said, "Here read this," and I read it. I couldn't put it down. It was great.
McTeague is about - well, McTeague is the protagonist, and he's a dentist in the late 1800's San Francisco gold rush time; and basically McTeague marries this girl, and he kind of steals her away from a friend who's also the girl's cousin who was hoping to marry this girl. She wins the lottery, and this whole struggle with greed and money comes up with McTeague and his wife. The ending is my favorite part. I don't think I've ever read such a great ending in a book. After I read the ending, I just sat there and read it a few more times. It's amazing.
There are a lot of great side characters, it was very Dickensonian in that way, and the theme of greed ran throughout the book with the other characters. I would recommend this book to people who love special novels like Dickens. Fran Norris is so little known; I had never heard of him, and he's a lot like he would have been a Hemingway or a Steinbeck had he not died. I think he died at age 32. Out of five stars, I would give this book 4, 4 -- because in order to has such a powerful ending. It's just brilliant, and I would love to say it but I'm not going to. You have to read it; it's a great book."
|
| Memoirs of a Geisha |
Arthur Golden |
Takes You Far Away |
See review |
Memoirs of a Geisha
Arthur Golden
"I read Memoirs of a Geisha because a friend had read it and she was it was really a good book.
Memoirs of a Geisha is about a little girl who gets sold into the life of being a Geisha in Japan. She - a Geisha is kind of like an artist, a paid artist. She's supposed to know all the traditional arts, also kind of got elements that are like prostitution; and so it's following her life. It starts before World War II, and then it goes through World War II and her life in Japan as a Geisha at that time.
I loved this book, Memoirs of a Geisha, because the way that it's told from this little girl's perspective, you can really kind of imagine what her world is like; and her world is so incredibly different that it's like visiting a foreign country. I think the only thing I didn't like about it was that it wasn't written by a former Geisha. It was written by a man, actually, who had interviewed Geishas and talked to them, but it was so realistic I could swear all the way through that it must have been written by a Geisha.
I saw the movie, and I actually thought they did a really good job in the movie. I would give this book I think five stars out of five; I really liked it. I like reading literature that will take me far away, something that will make me feel like I'm traveling."
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| Memoirs of a Geisha |
Arthur Golden |
"I Enjoyed Every Page" |
See review |
"Well, the title - as a woman the title caught my ear first thing. You know, who doesn't want to read Memoirs of a Geisha? And a friend of mine had it and said it was very, very good. A lot of books I guess I get recommended by other people, but I knew that I would like it, and I did.
Memoirs of a Geisha is the story of this young girl in Japan whose father sells her and her sister to this guy because they're poor, and it's kind of the story of her odyssey into geishahood. Fairly early on within the first chapter, she and her sister are sold to this - they're sold off as young girls, little girls. And that kind of - any woman can relate to that. That definitely, it was a great book from the beginning. I think I read it in a few days.
What I liked most about Memoirs of a Geisha - the ending, I would have to say, because it is a happy ending. I think the type of reader that would enjoy that book - well, I think, I guess you could call it a woman's book. I think most women would be able to relate to that subject matter. But I think anyone who's interested in the history of geishas would be interested in that book. Memoirs of a Geisha I would give five stars. It was just a wonderful book and a wonderful story, and I enjoyed every page."
|
| Me Talk Pretty One Day |
David Sedaris |
Funny Memoir |
See review |
Me Talk Pretty One Day
David Sedaris
"I'm going to be talking about Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris. It's little tidbits here and there, first starting with him being I think about eight or nine, and he's in elementary school, and they start sending him to a speech therapist because he has a lisp. And apparently he notices that all the little boys with lisps seem to go to this woman, and they're trying to train them to not be gay, is pretty much what they're saying.
So it jumps from there, then it jumps to him learning guitar, because the dad is really, really into music, and his guitar teacher is saying, "Oh, name it after a woman and play her," and he's like I'm not going to name it after a woman; I already know that. And it just kind of jumps around in his life, and he's just - the way he talks about it is really funny. He seems to have had a lot of funny things happen to him, which makes it entertaining.
I mainly found the way that he wrote very engaging. It wasn't at all mundane, it wasn't like, oh, this is what happened in this stage of my life, and then this happened. Part of it is that he jumps around, and then he'll fare one like, oh, here's something about my sister, where you hadn't heard about that. So he'll just reveal this close intimate relationship that he has with her, that he hasn't previously mentioned, and it just - it feels really real. He's funny. You should read him."
|
| Michael Tolliver Lives |
Armistead Maupin |
"It's Like a Bag Of Potato Chips" |
See review |
"I was a fan of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City series from back when it was a feature in the Chronicle.
It's breezy, it's conversational, it's knowing, it's got a lot of nice detail about what it's like to be alive in San Francisco. Michael Tolliver is a gay man of a certain age dealing with growing older, dealing with romance, desire and sometimes the lack thereof, dealing with stuff that's common to people of that age, no matter what their sexual persuasion; aging parents, death -- you feel like you're right in the room with him. He's telling you a story, and he's actually watching you to make sure he's not boring you, and then he moves on and feels like he is. He's got an excellent sense of timing.
Unlike the earlier Tales of the City volumes which were drawn from daily columns that he wrote for the San Francisco Chronicle, Michael Tolliver Lives is a novel. It's in longer chapters than the earlier books. I love the effortlessness that Maupin seems to have. I'm sure it takes a great deal of effort to achieve that effect, but you read it and you don't see the writer. You don't see anybody slaving away, trying to come up with the __________. It's just a guy spouting off at the top of his head, or so it seems, and that takes you along for a ride.
It's like a bag of potato chips; and I don't necessarily mean that in a bad way, but it's not a nutritious meal. It's delicious, and you keep eating it. It's a nice insider's peak at the city by the Bay. I would give Michael Tolliver Lives four stars."
|
| Middlesex: A Novel |
Jeffrey Eugenides |
Transgender Character Relatable |
See review |
Middlesex: A Novel
Jeffrey Eugenides
"I chose to read Middlesex because it was a gift, and since I've read this book, I would say that this is the book that I've actually given to most people. I love to give books as gifts.
The book begins in Greece, and a brother and sister fall in love and they go to America because nobody knows that they're brother and sister. Then they have kids, and then this book is actually about their kids' kids. So they are the grandparents in the book. Then the girl, Calliope, she grows up as a girl, and in early adolescence she starts to think that there's something wrong with her; and she realizes that she might be a girl, and she falls in love with her best friend -- I think she's like 12 when she falls in love with her best friend. Then she eventually runs away from home, and lives as a boy, and moves to San Francisco where all good people who don't fit in go.
I've given it to people who've been like, "I don't really want to read a book about a transgender person or transsexual person. That doesn't sound interested to me." Then as you read through it, you kind of forget that this is a person who has really strong issues of sexual identity crisis, and you just really relate to the person inside.
I would give this books are literature, and they are well written, or they are plot driven and they are not well written, and I do think it was a nice balance of both. So it had a really nice, engaging plot, and also it wasn't heavy handed at all in how it dealt with the issues of gender. It didn't try to tell you how to feel about these issues; it just showed you the experiences of the person -- of the protagonist."
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| Middlesex: A Novel |
Jeffrey Eugenides |
"I Felt the Emotion" |
See review |
Middlesex: A Novel
Jeffrey Eugenides
"I picked up the book Middlesex because I had read the former book by Jeffrey Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides, and I was absolutely intrigued by that book. I found that book to be very -- I enjoyed it because it was very dreamy and kind of esoteric. I had been eagerly awaiting his second book; I believe it took quite some time in between books, and you can pretty much tell that by the length of Middlesex, which is very, very long. But I was also intrigued by what I had heard about the topic.
It's about a young woman who suddenly discovers that she has male sex characteristics, and her almost determining whether she is a woman or a man, and what's more comfortable to her. It also gives a historical basis for how she became that way. I relate most to books that give you character development. I felt the emotions that the character was feeling, and that's important to me to be able to have some sort of way of relating to a character, whether I've had those experiences or not.
He writes it in such a way that not only the topic is so fascinating, but he's so excellent at conveying the story that I would have to give it four stars because not only of my past with reading him, but with my real enjoyment and appreciation for what the author actually creates. While I found the book very interesting, I also found that maybe it was a little too descriptive in general."
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| Middlesex: A Novel |
Jeffrey Eugenides |
Rich In Culture...It Was Sweet |
See review |
Middlesex: A Novel
Jeffrey Eugenides
"Middlesex is about a kind of accounts a young girl, Calliope -- her name's Calliope -- growing up in Detroit; and her grandparents come over from Greece and the story behind them, and the story of her and how she kind of discovers that she's growing up a female but she's actually a male. It's a really interesting, really interesting subject matter, very unique from anything I have ever read.
What I liked most about Middlesex was probably the subject matter and that it was written by a male, Jeffrey Eugenides, accounting a female's point of view growing up. I thought it was just completely unique in that he was so right on in so many things that he described in a female's adolescence. So it was really beautiful, the writing surrounding her adolescence, and growing up, and talking about her family, and when the book would go back into talking about her grandparents, it was really rich in like culture, and it's really sweet.
Probably the last couple chapters of the book, I think went down a little bit in as far as keeping you involved with the story. I guess maybe it was because it was after the climax of Calliope, so I think after that point the book kind of got really sad and kind of declined a little bit; and that was the only disappointing thing with Middlesex.
I'd recommend this book to anybody that's open minded and open hearted. I think it's a beautiful, unique story; but just because it's unique, I think anybody could read it. I think it's just like -- it's very poetically written and very articulate. I would give Middlesex a five, five stars without a doubt."
|
| Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil |
John Berendt |
High Society Murder Trial |
See review |
"I wanted to read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil because I'd heard about it through one of my good friends was reading at the time.
It's a journalist who came into Savannah as outsider and came in contact with high society, just the most ridiculously over-the-top characters of high society, and in the same time was involved in - not involved - but was kind of privy to murder trial with Jim Williams, the main character, who was one of the wealthiest people there.
I think as the main character, I relate more to a sense of neutrality in general and a willingness to listen and to be more accepted, I guess, to both sides. I disliked the trial, I think, the most - the way he covered the trial. I liked about it that it was short and to the point, but I disliked that it kind of dragged on; and it could have been something to do with my own personal experience. Because my family went through a trial, and it was difficult seeing again the people's reaction to it and all of the gossip and stuff that went through it. So it was kind of enraging. It was like a really great story, and it was a really great narrative, but at the same time he wasn't really reaching out and saying any kind of a strong statement with the book. Out of a star rating of five, I would rate it as a four."
|
| Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil |
John Berendt |
Art, Murder and A Whole Lot More |
See review |
The reason I wanted to read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is because it's based on a true story; and I really like books that are based on true stories, but also because of the mystery.
It's about the murder of a very well-known and wealthy individual. He admired really fine things and art, and he had a very large collection of art, and his home was a museum. Because I appreciate art, definitely somebody that's interested in the history of that particular city, and a person that's also interested in the criminal system and criminal justice would be interested in this type of book.
I'd give it a four, a four-star, because I really liked it; I really enjoyed it, but it wasn't - not the kind of book that I have wanted to read more than once.
|
| Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit |
John Douglas and Mark Olshaker |
Experienced FBI Agent & Criminal Profiling |
See review |
Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit
John Douglas and Mark Olshaker
"My opinion it was a landmark book. It was the first time that in the FBI, the Behavioral Sciences Unit was talking about real case files and real crimes that he himself investigated and solved. He basically went into the psychology of serial killers and what motivates them and what differentiates them from each other, as well as other criminal types.
I would recommend to anyone who's interested in true crime would really enjoy this book. It's a good introduction into criminal profiling, and the good thing about it is that John Douglas is a wealth of information. He spent 30 years in law enforcement, and at the FBI, and in the Behavioral Sciences Unit; and not only has he written this book, but he has written like five follow on books to this one, all of which have been New York Times best sellers. I give it four stars."
|
| Miracle in the Andes |
Nando Parrado and Vince Rause |
Reader Inspired By Other's Ordeal |
See review |
Miracle In the Andes
Nando Parrado and Vince Rause
"Well, I first saw the movie, Miracle in the Andes, and I really loved the movie. I loved the actors. I loved the story. So, because I enjoyed the movie, I decided to buy the book. The story is about a Uraguanian rugby team, who crashes in an airplane crash, and how they survive, particularly after their rescuers don't find them, so they have to save themselves. One of my friends said something funny. She said, "It's not the kind of book that you would bring on a trip and read on an airplane."
It was a wonderful book, that reminds you what's important and also inspires you to become a better person, because you see what people have gone through. I really almost wanna meet the author, because, you know, you wonder about yourself: What would I do in that situation? Would I have the same fighting resolve as these people? I would give Miracle in the Andes about four and a half stars out of five. I thought it was a fantastic, moving account of human survival and human resolve."
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| Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why |
Bart D. Ehrman |
Historical, Not Spiritual |
See review |
"Bart Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus is about the ways in which the manuscripts that made -- that eventually made up the New Testament stories about the life and teaching of Jesus changed over the course of time; and so Ehrman uses the work of other textual analysts as well as his own work to prove his central theory, which is that most of the words, most of the phrases, and just about everything in the New Testament is open to interpretation.
That being said, you'd have to have a real passion for the subject and want to know more about it, and also not have any blocks in terms of spiritual analysis of it all; because in my view, this is the spiritual realm versus the historical realm. While they meet at some points, this book is not about that. It's strictly about the historical realm.
So if you have interest in the New Testament, as well as the life of Jesus, and you can separate yourself from the spiritual analysis of those texts and look specifically at the most likely historical interpretation of those texts, then I think that it's a very good book and a good read. So I would not recommend to someone with just a passing interest. I would go four stars out of five. I don't -- like I've said before, I don't really have any criticisms of the book other than it's just not -- it's really not everyone's cup of tea."
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| Moby Dick |
Herman Melville |
Obsessed With Obsession |
See review |
Moby Dick
Herman Melville
"The reason Moby Dick is my favorite book is because it's a book that reads like it's theme, the theme of obsession. Of course, it has many other themes, but the main over-arching theme is obsession and what that does to a person. You can feel in the book that Melville was obsessed with the book, even the chapter structure going in and out of different types of writing.
The basic story of Moby Dick is a man, Ishmael, finds a ship 'cause he's looking for work; and its captain, Captain Ahab, they're whalers. As the story unfolds, it becomes apparent that Ahab is obsessed, is completely of one mind of finding and killing Moby Dick, which is a whale that scarred him from head to toe. It's a complicated story that really looks at humanity and our heights - the height of what we can become and the depths of where we can fall.
Be prepared to hate it at some point and love it every other. I would give this book five out of five stars. If I could give it more stars, I would give it more stars."
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| Modern French Classics |
Camille Le Foll and David Japy |
Creative, Rich, Tasty |
See review |
"I have a French heritage, and I can't say I've really eaten any other cuisine that's more creative and rich and tasty, and it's fun to cook. It adds a different element into your cooking. In the beginning of the book, before you even get to cooking, they tell you all the utensils you need for cooking as far as your pots, pans and all that simple stuff; but as well as French cooking terms, which one word per se could be -- could mean a mixture of ingredients that's just a set standard for it. They tell you how to prepare all this to have your kitchen set up for modern French classics.
It's pretty well explained. Everything is portioned out into usually about four servings so you can either half or double that depending on how many people you have. So it's not like 20, 30-step recipes; I think they keep them down around like five to ten steps, ten ingredients or less.
What I like best about this cookbook is just -- its willingness to explain and not hide the French traditions and stuff, and they try to bring in old country French countryside cooking into your own kitchen. Anybody who just loves cooking, loves pairing foods, this book is also good for helping you pare foods as well. I would give it five stars. It's a great cookbook."
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| Monkeys |
Susan Minot |
Dysfunctional Irish Family |
See review |
Monkeys
Susan Minot
"I read the book Monkeys, which is - excuse me - I guess called a novel, but it seems more like a collection of related short stories.
Monkeys is about a family; I can't remember the name of the family, but it's an Irish-Catholic family that lives I think in the 60's and 70's, maybe more the 70's, in the Boston area. They have a summer house on the water, maybe on the cape or close to the cape - Cape Cod. So yeah, it's about the family, it's about the dysfunctional family. They have like eight kids, and the father's an alcoholic, and the parents are sort of - there's a lot of distance in the family. The mother ends up dying in a car crash and kind of follows the family as they grow up through the probably late 60's or early 70's through the 80's.
The writing is brilliant. She's - it's very much literary fiction. So she's an excellent writer, happens to be a graduate of Columbia's MFA program. I grew up in the Boston area myself, and I'm not Irish-Catholic, but I grew up around a lot of Irish-Catholics, so it was a little bit of I guess nostalgia for me now that I live out in California.
I suppose there's like a spare style to the prose, which is part of what I liked and didn't like, but maybe part of - that might have been partly a style. I think it was written 20 years ago, if I remember correctly. I would recommend people like to read. Basically anybody who likes a good read, people who are interested in the dysfunctional family and want an interesting psychological portrait of a family that's struggling. I have to give this four stars."
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| Moon: The Life and Death of a Rock Legend |
Tony Fletcher |
Rock Bio Delivers |
See review |
Moon: The Life and Death of a Rock Legend
Tony Fletcher
"I wanted to read Moon largely because I'm a fan of Keith Moon's work. I'm a drummer myself, and I've always liked The Who.
The book spans his entire life, from birth to early death; and it gets really in depth to childhood friends and when he got his first drum set. It goes through meeting the band in kind of the heyday era and then also into the really excessive time for him.
A lot of people have the kind of concept that rock stars have these crazy, over-the-top, decadent lives, and he's one where there really isn't any exaggeration. He wasn't a great person; a lot of people he knows got hurt by him, and he lost a lot of friends because of it. At the same time, all these other groups were hanging out in the same places. They were all just local bands, so they talk about at the same bar late at night; they'd be The Who, and the Rolling Stones, and the Kinks were all just there drinking, and John Lennon would come in.
Anyone who likes a lot of that rock history type of stuff, there's a lot for them in this book, but it was very well done in terms of a biography. I would give this one five out of five stars. It's a good read despite what the result is."
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| Mothering Your Nursing Toddler |
Norma Jane Bumgarner |
Gentle, Yet Informative |
See review |
Mothering Your Nursing Toddler
Norma Jane Bumgarner
"I have "Mothering Your Nursing Toddler" because well I actually bought this book maybe about eight years ago. I have two boys and I had purchased it because our nursing experience went longer than what say maybe, the conventional norm is.
I chose this book because it's from LaLeche League which is very positive about breast-feeding. And I wanted to find out about how to wean him without being traumatic. I wish I knew about this book when I originally started nursing because I think that would have really helped, helped me through difficult parts.
I would recommend "Mothering Your Nursing Toddler" to any mother who is, who has hopes to nurse as long as they can. I also think it would be beneficial for fathers to read it as well. I think that nursing mothers don't have enough support from their husbands or the father of their children. For the same reason that you know it's not, it's not conventional. It's not the norm. I know it's become more of the norm, but I think that mothers and fathers would get a lot out of this book.
I would give it five out of five stars. It was very informative."
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| Motherless Mothers: How Losing a Mother Shapes the Parent You Become |
Hope Edelman |
Like Sharing Stories With Friends |
See review |
Motherless Mothers
Hope Edelman
"I initially picked up the book Motherless Mothers as a gift for my sister. She was expecting her first child and thought that it would be a interesting read for her, and I in turn read it, fell in love with it, kept a copy for myself and bought another copy for her.
Essentially, what this book is about is how growing up without a mother, whether she is an absent mother, or perhaps in the home but emotionally unavailable, or in the unfortunate circumstance that she has passed, how that plays into acts later down the road.
I myself grew up without a mother, and so that was initially the reason why I purchased the book. I had a feeling about how I'd feel becoming a mother, or predictions of how I'd feel becoming a mother, that no one else quite understood; and when I opened up this book, I was refreshed to learn that the author's two points is that when you have a mother figure who is absent, you either want to be the overachiever and be everything that your mother couldn't or, unfortunately, you do not learn how to be a mother, and in turn you struggle more than perhaps the average person would.
It was well written, it spoke about the author's personal experiences with her mother, and how that plays into her experiences with her two daughters; and so it almost felt as though, while reading this book, you were sitting in a room filled with girlfriends, talking about their life stories and their situations and getting advice from girlfriends. I would give this book a five-star rating."
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| Mother To Mother |
Sindiwe Magona |
Based On True Events |
See review |
"I read Mother to Mother because it tells the story of Amy Biehl, who was a American Fulbright scholar killed in 1993 in a township outside Cape Town. When I worked at the San Jose Mercury News I worked with a woman who covered the trial of the killers who were basically a mob of angry, young, black men little more than children. It drew a lot of attention because Amy Biehl was a young, white, American woman. A pretty blonde woman who was killed just on the - when South African was on the verge of democracy. And of course people got killed and still get killed in the townships every day. They're very violent places. But this killing, because it was an American, a white American, drew the attention of the world.
This book is based on a true story. I don't know how much Sindiwe Magona departed from the truth. I've read a lot about South African. I've been to South African. I think there's things that fiction tells you that journalism can't about people's emotions and people's inner truths and this is an example of that. Magona tells you how people live in the townships. She goes into tremendous detail. It's very leisurely. The story is told on African time and you get a sense of what it's like to live under these very socially engineered and oppressed conditions.
Magona's moral is that yes, it is terrible, but we do still, as people, bear responsibility for how our children are brought up. I would recommend it to, first of all, anyone who's interested in South African, who's interested in race relations and questions of reconciliation. I'd give Mother to Mother four stars."
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| Mr. Lincoln's T-Mail |
Tom Wheeler |
Lincoln's Messages To His Generals |
See review |
"Mr. Lincoln's T-mails is about President Lincoln, Abe Lincoln's use of the telegraph during the Civil War. Up until then, there had been no way for a Commanded in Chief in the United States, or really in any other country in the world, to communicate with his commanders in the field. He was able to see through those telegraphs almost instantaneously whether or not a leader was following his instructions or was just stalling for time and not necessarily doing what he wanted him to do.
Mr. Lincoln's T-mails suffered from a similar problem that I've seen with other books, like Robert Sutton's The No Asshole Rule, where it seems like towards the end, points that were already made continue to be made over and over again; and so it feels like a shorter book that's been extended out for whatever reason.
I would recommend President Lincoln's T-mails to anyone with an interest in American history and anyone that's looking at a fresh perspective on just how brilliant of a leader Abraham Lincoln was. I would give President Lincoln's T-mails four stars out of five. The only reason I do not give it five stars is again, because towards the end of the book it tends to repeats itself and seems like it's drawn out for no apparent reason other than to make a book that's long enough to sell."
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| Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet |
Karen Armstrong |
Humanistic Approach |
See review |
Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet
Karen Armstrong
"I decided to read this book because I know the author, Karen Armstrong. I saw her on the DVD, Legacy of a Prophet, and I know that she's a scholar of different religion. I've seen her other books, so I wanted to see how she felt about this topic.
The book is about Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam. It mostly cuts through -- it tries to show more of a person, give you a lot of myths maybe, and maybe some inaccuracies if you ask some people; but it tries to cut through to more of a person. It's more a historical look, a humanistic look of Muhammad.
She's an orphan, so she starts off with his new family adopting him and moves forward to -- there isn't so much information when he's a child, but he gets married and then through his prophethood and then not -- and then after his death, but just a little bit after his death; not so much.
It's showing why certain things are in the religion. Okay, why it is one God, or why is it this, or why is it that, and that's what she tries to -- she shows more of the person than the religion, but she shows how the religion grew from the person.
I think it's well researched. I like her approach. She doesn't insult anyone actually; maybe some of the critics would say she's not critical enough, but I like that part. It's a difficult topic, religion; so trying not to insult anybody's even more difficult. What I didn't like about it -- the book -- is probably -- it was short. I would recommend leaving any prejudices you might have absorbed through the last few years with the social/political climate we have and try to forget as many prejudices as you can before you start reading it. Out of five stars, I'd give it four."
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| Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain |
Oliver Sacks |
At the Intersection Of Music and Science |
See review |
"I read Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks because I'm a musician on the side of things, I'm very serious about music, and I've read some Oliver Sacks in the past. I wish that it had been the first Oliver Sacks book that I had read, whereas a lot of authors vaguely in the realm of Oliver Sacks, there's a deepening perspective on the world on some important cross-section of human experience by reading more books. This one I think was most suitable for me since I do have a passion for music.
It sort of zooms in on a category of his storytelling that's of most interest to me with neuroscientific matters and musical matters and here at their intersection, looking at stories, and speculating, and then moving onto the next story or a bunch of stories depending on which part of the book you're in. Some of them are single stories in a chapter; others are cluster of stories. Then sort of making a speculation and moving onto the next story or bunch of stories felt relatively superficial to me in terms of going somewhere new.
I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who is a neuroscientist or an amateur, avocational neuroscience, cognitive science-type person who for whatever reason isn't much into music. There may not be too many of those, but I'm sure there are some. I think what he does really beautifully is makes a realm like music clinical or presents its clinical perspective without pulling you away from the actual experience of music.
For me personally, the book is a three, but I think that for anyone who hasn't really thought much or read much about the interface -- "
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| My Brother |
Jamaica Kincaid |
Unique Narrative On Brothers Death |
See review |
"Ostensibly, it's about the narrator's brother. It's a profile of his death from AIDS, and beyond that it's about Jamaica Kincaid herself and also the powerfully frustrating family dynamics that she experiences. She really pulls apart her relationships with her mother, her brother, and beyond that her relationship with the island of Antigua itself. This is a recurring theme in her work, her processing of the confusion and anger around her relationship with home and family.
Readers would be uncomfortable with this book for two reasons: One, the narrator is so distant. She is talking about the death of her brother in vivid detail, but doing it from this place of real disconnection; and so you may get frustrated with the fact that she seems so incompassionate. The other thing is that she writes in these long, long sections that really don't have any breaks; and she moves from present time to past time, from this character to this character. Upon close reading you see how she's tying it all together, but it can take some work to figure that out.
I didn't have very much of a problem with the narrator's voice. It's so unique the way that she constructs her sentences, and currently in my life right now, I'm very fascinated with sentence construction and word choice. I also felt connected because I, too, am someone that have at times felt like I'm supposed to be feeling a certain way about a person or a situation and yet I don't. She's very honest about the contradictions that she feels. I would give this book a three and a-half stars out of five."
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| My Great Predecessors |
Garry Kasparov |
"Absolute Must For All Chess Players" |
See review |
My Great Predecessors
Garry Kasparov
"This particular book is actually the fourth volume of My Great Predecessors, and the reason why I think this is a fabulous book is that it talks about - it gives Kasparov - Kasparov gives commentary by looking and looks back at previous world champions. He never did play Fischer, and so there's always - he's, in some people's minds, he was a paper champion.
A lot of the book is about analyzing games and doing a lot of chess analysis on top of reading about the history that surrounded the player. On a personal note, one reason why I've - the major reason why I've taken up chess is that I had - I was separated from my wife and I needed something to mentally exhaust me. And so that was one way I picked up chess, and it's become something that I really enjoyed over time.
This is not a book for the common person; it's totally geared toward chess players and those who are really fascinated by the game. You have great players and analyze them and what they did and what motivated them. I think that you get a better glimpse of others and yourself, so. I would give My Great Predecessors Volume 4 by Garry Kasparov a five stars. It's five stars; it's an absolute must for all chess players."
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| My Name Is Red |
Orhan Pamuk and Erdag Goknar |
Romance and Art |
See review |
My Name is Red
Orhan Pamuk and Erdag Goknar
"My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk is a very, very complicated novel. It takes place in Istanbul in the 16th Century when Memnet the Conqueror had come in just -- I guess that 80 years before -- and wanted to bring in the best of the West and the East; and so artists were learning how to paint in the Western, Italian Renaissance style. It was very exciting for the painters of the day.
Orhan Pamuk who was trained as an artist, decided to write the story of a painter in that very interesting time, an atelier of great artists. The master of the atelier has a daughter whom one of the painters falls in love with. The catch is that she is already married to someone else, who is off to the wars. He's off in the wars and is presumed dead, but he has to be declared -- he has -- there has to be a resolution of this absent husband business before the two can get together, and that romance between the young artist and the young daughter of the master is really what drives this book.
What it really is is a love story and talks about how art is informed by love and how art makes us fall in love. This is the only book of Pamuk's that I know of that has a lot of eroticism in it; and I wish he would have done more because he's so good at it, and he's so good at describing the longing and the sexual tension.
With all Pamuk's books, you can get a little impatient because he has ideas that he wants to express as much as he wants to tell the story, and he does skip around. It is very rewarding. I'd give My Name is Red 4 -- stars."
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| My Secret History |
Paul Theroux |
Reads Like A Memoir |
See review |
My Secret History
Paul Theroux
"The book My Secret History by Paul Theroux. Why did I want to read it and how did I found out about it? A friend of mine recommended it. It's a very personal story; it's a novel, but it kind of reads like a memoir, a personal history in a way throughout the over about 500 pages in the book. The author talks a lot about women and relationships with women; that's kind of the recurring focus. I'm from Boston, and the book starts off in Boston where he grew up; so I liked that, kind of some of the familiar sites of the city I grew up in and around. I kind of wanted him to stick more with himself as a younger man and in Boston. And a lot of that section to me, he was basically talking about all the different African women he slept with, like dozens, over the course of - I don't know - maybe the two years that he was in the Peace Corps, I just found that section a little tiresome.
Being a writer myself, well, it's written in the first person; I like to write in the first person myself, so I kind of related to that. And I like sharing personal stories. Basically, most of my fiction is just a rendition of my personal life. So I could connect to that; that's basically what this author's doing, and I do it a lot myself - tend to focus a lot on romantic or sexual relationships. I'd probably give it four stars. Yeah, it's a great book; and it was that section that to me kind of lagged when he was in Africa. So because of that - like 100-odd pages, about 20 percent of the book where I personally kind of lost interest - I'd give it four stars rather than five."
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| My Sister's Keeper |
Jodi Picoult |
Characters Struggle With Current Issues |
See review |
My Sister's Keeper
Jodi Picoult
"So I heard about My Sister's Keeper from probably some media source; whether it was the radio or TV, I don't really remember. But the whole idea of the book had intrigued me, and it's about a family. It's about a family that has one child with medical problems that they need a genetic match for, so they have another child. That was all I'd heard about, so it was interesting enough hypothesis, I thought, oh, I'll check that one out. and I did.
I liked the fact that it came up with a new story, new ideas that I hadn't read about before. The characters were very empathetic, you could totally appreciate who they were and see yourself in that situation, although I'm not sure what I would have done; and it was just a really good read. It kept flowing, and it kept you engaged the whole time.
I think people who like reading fiction - it is a fiction book - people who are interested in really current events that are going on today - I mean, it's definitely a fictionalized book, but it's based on current events in terms of biomedical ethics and stem cell issues, you know, all wrapped around the family dynamics, which are always intriguing.
Yeah, I really just liked the part that kept me up all night, so, you know, you just say, okay, I'm going to read one chapter before I go to bed. And then you look over at the clock and its 3:00 a.m. and you know you have a meeting the next morning and you need to get to it, and you're going to be totally wiped out because you've been reading all night because you can't put this stupid book down. And so that was really annoying."
Oh, I'd definitely give this one a five-star. I read quite a bit of books, and this I just found to be really unique and interesting throughout. So definitely a five-star book."
|
| Naked |
David Sedaris |
Gained Life Lessons |
See review |
"I decided to read Naked after several people had suggested it to me because they know my type of humor and over - after about the third or fourth time someone said, "Well, you'd really like this if you like that," then I was sold.
The type of humor that David Sedaris - I think he is, not how he writes, I think it's how he is. He's very dry, very self-deprecating in a lot of ways, and also that of his family and the people that he grew up with.
This book was all about his dysfunctional life, childhood, family, teachers, doctors; all these influences in his life were wrong. And that's kind of my opinion. When he was a child, and I think we all do this, when we're kids we look up at many of the adults and we think that they're right or that they know everything, or may be even perfect. And he's looking back at his life seeing all the things that were wrong and he could have been better off without.
For me, it helped as an adult to try to avoid some of the same mistakes as - I'm a parent now, and I know that that's gonna be part of mine is I'm not gonna be 100 percent sure all the time. And I do go ahead and show that and not pretend that what I say is the truth. Period. I took very personal things out of it where - through the humor kept me entertained, but the points of the book were I think really important. I'd give Naked four out of five stars because it was a very enjoyable read, and I think that the lessons in it were important; but again, it was - the oomph was a little bit lacking. But other - but it's a really great book, so I think four out of five is good."
|
| Native Son |
Richard A. Wright |
"I Gasped Out Loud!" |
See review |
"I teach at a high school. I teach ethics and morality, and a required book for juniors for American Lit is Native Son. I had heard from my students a lot about the book and from their teacher and thought that the content in and of itself would overlap well with my class, which again is an ethic class; so I kind of wanted to use literature as a vehicle by which they've already used but to kind of unfold some issues that we study in terms of social justice.
Bigger is a teenager growing up in the 1930's in Chicago. He's African-American, he's very poor, and he's given an opportunity to work for this white couple that are wealthy and sympathetic to African-Americans and their plight. Bigger makes a series of choices in Native Son that is what the story's about.
The story in and of itself I actually gasped out loud. There are points in the story where I could not believe again that Bigger did what he did, that his actions - I gasped, I put it down, I looked around. I couldn't - I just couldn't believe it. So you're drawn in, you want to know what's gonna happen next because you want to see how he's gonna get out of it.
I would recommend Native Son to anyone who's interested in race relationships in American, in a sociological study or cultural study of America, anyone who's kind of wants a literary piece that speaks to kind of these elements of American culture that we know of and are difficult, and maybe sometimes even difficult to talk about. I may not have out-and-out enjoyed it for pleasure's sake; on some level I know I enjoyed it because I learned a lot. And for that and because of Richard Wright's just incredible writing, I would have to give it - I mean, I would almost say I'd be justified in giving it four and a-half out of five stars."
|
| Natural Capitalism |
Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins |
Prius Driver Likes Message |
See review |
Natural Capitalism
Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins and L. Hunter Lovins
"Natural Capitalism. Well, you know, I like to consider myself being economic-friendly. I drive a Prius, which I probably drive too much, but I do try to be environmentally conscious, and I think this was one text that is definitely a forerunner to the green economy, if you will.
One reason why I was interested in the book is that, again I mentioned in teach part-time, and there's a program in San Francisco that I was interested in teaching and this book was recommended. If I had to put it in one - simple terms, its saying that being environmentally friendly isn't a cost of business, it's actually a business opportunity.
Well, I liked the freshness of the book. I think it was a different tack. I mean, when most people think about being environmentally friendly, they think, well, that's got to be an additional cost to the business. This took a completely different approach, saying this is actually a business opportunity.
I think Natural Capitalism suffers from a couple things. One is that it doesn't necessarily set - have its finance or accounting necessarily straight. Now, I think if you can get beyond some of - you know, some - maybe some questionable statements or questionable figures, I think you can learn a lot from it. Unfortunately, it's not a book for the masses, it's really not. It's a dense book. It has a lot of - I think it's well written, but it's a book that - perhaps you don't need a graduate degree, but what you do is you need to have an intense intellectual curiosity.
I would give it four and half stars. It's a good book. I would still think there's something to be said for reading it, and when you think about the green economy, if you will, that's kind of; we're approaching that right now. I think a lot can be traced to Natural Capitalism."
|
| Nefertiti |
Michelle Moran |
Not Enough Research? |
See review |
"Well, I have to admit that I love ancient Egypt and I read Nefertiti because I read probably anything that comes out about Egypt. Nefertiti was the queen of Akhenaten, who was the heir to probably Egypt's most powerful dynasty, the 18th, in about 1350 BC. It tells the story through the eyes of Mutnodjmet, who was historically Nefertiti's sister. Their father is the Vizier Ay, the powerful second in command who really runs the country because Akhenaten is mainly interested in his god and building stuff. Mutnodjmet's mission is to keep an eye on Nefertiti and Nefertiti's mission is to keep an eye on Akhenaten and to rein in his excesses. Unfortunately, she does the opposite and, drunk with power, eggs him on in his heretic mission.
And so the tension of the book is Mutnodjmet watching this historical train wreck happen and being powerless to do anything about it and furthermore wanting her own quiet life. And it's all historical. A lot of this is in the historical record. And so the excitement in this book is how Moran tells the story. That's what you read the book kind of wondering how she's going to handle certain things.
I was a little disappointed because I felt that Moran didn't place us in Egypt. She's obviously never been to Egypt, has not really studied or read about the lives and how people lived. So there's a lot of anachronisms that crop up. She has people living in the hills, for example, as if this were kind of Los Angeles. She makes it sound a lot like people are living in the hills and there's waves. And the fact is people lived on the flats. They were afraid to live in the hills in Egypt because there were wild animals, there were flash floods, there was no water up there.
It could be - we could be in LA. Akhenaten could be somebody's crazy boss and we could be - this could be a novel about Oracle under Larry Ellison or Sacramento under the Gray Davis administration. It just feels a little generic. She has not done her research. I'd give Nefertiti two and half stars."
|
| Netherland |
Joseph O'Neill |
Gatsbyesque Character |
See review |
Well, I read it initially because I had seen it on a bookshelf, and there was some little blurb written by someone else who'd read the book who praised it, and I think I'd seen also a review perhaps in The New Yorker that praised it as well.
The backdrop of the story is post-9/11. The basic story is that there is a man, a married man, married with a child, who is from The Netherlands, who was in New York when 9/11 took place. Neither he nor his wife or child were directly injured or hurt by it but were certainly traumatized by it. So there's an immediate effect on the relationship, where his wife, feeling very uncertain and very frightened, decides to move back to England, where she is from, with her son, and he chooses to stay in America and try to live his life here. He befriends a Gatsbyesque kind of character, and older man, a wealthier man, a man who has some criminal connections, so there's sort of like a second layer of the plot, which is this friendship that springs up between the two of them. Part of the core of that friendship is that they play cricket, a game that I still don't understand very well, but it plays a central role in this story.
The writing was just glorious. It was just beautiful, beautiful writing, which is always what carries me through any kind of a story. It was also something very different. I knew nothing about cricket; I enjoyed learning about cricket. And so what you see in it is not a book the addresses some of the immediate ramifications of 9/11 but seeing maybe the more psychological or emotional effects of that tragedy and how essentially ordinary people try to move on with their lives. I think it was one of the finest books I've read in the past year. I would imagine it's going to be, you know, mentioned for many prizes. I would recommend it for anyone. I think it has a wonderful, kind of broad appeal. It's an engaging story; it's a very interested narrator.
I would give it a five. I think it's an outstanding, outstanding book.
|
| Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America |
Barbara Ehrenreich |
Perfect For Teens |
See review |
I wanted to read Nickel and Dimed. Actually what happened was I was substitute teaching in a classroom, and it was about an hour and a-half block class. Then it was class this book was sitting on the teacher's desk; and the assignment that was given was such that I could read it. So I started reading it, so I was hooked; and so I went out and I got the book so I could finish it. And I absolutely loved this book. And I was reading it in an all-girl school; and I can definitely see why it was recommended for high school reading, and I can definitely see why it was used in an all-girl school environment.
Nickel and Dimed is about the various - I would say low-end service type jobs that are out there, hotel worker, waitress, and all the nuances that go on behind the jobs that we - being people who don't work in that industry - are not aware of. And how hard they work and how difficult it is to make ends meet on basically nothing. I felt the author really tried to be objective but could feel herself being pulled into that lifestyle and the injustices of it, the social stigmas that are attached to it. I felt like the author tried really hard to make herself believable and live - really get herself assimilated to the lifestyle.
The type of reader I would recommend to read Nickel and Dimed, it would probably would be a woman who doesn't know exactly what they want to do, and they're kind of at a point in their life where they're riding the fence, and they're feeling pretty down about it. And maybe this could be a way to show them that you need to stick with your goals or what you wanted to do. I would give Nickel and Dimed a five out of five. I thought the writing was really clear, it was easy to read, and it was real. The author made it real by reliving her experience as honestly as possible.
|
| Night |
Elie Wiesel |
Teacher Says "Horrendous Event...Optimism" |
See review |
Night is by Elie Weisel. It is an autobiographical description of his experience from the time he was evacuated from his home in Czechoslovakia until he was liberated by the Allies from Buchenwald. He describes the process of evacuation, the trip by train to the concentration camp, his experiences immediately upon arriving at the camp, his experiences for the next part of about a year - a little over a year.
This is a book that has been in the back of my mind, it was a possibility - I could have read this with students in high school, but I never did. I was busy reading other things, but I also wasn't sure I was really able to read it well with sophomores in high school, which is who I would have been reading it with.
He's an excellent, excellent writer, uses language very effectively, gives strong details and generalities but also backed up by many, many specifics. His - he really does understand himself and the people around him. It is always very interesting that great artists are capable of taking the most horrendous events; and after reading them, a reader feels a certain optimism. Well, I would give it five. I mean, it's a magnificently well-written description of events in history that are very, very difficult for most of us to face.
|
| Night |
Elie Wiesel |
On Reader's 20 Must Read Books List |
See review |
Night
Elie Wiesel
"I think I read Night in junior high or early in high school. It was definitely many years ago, but it's great to see that it's sort of in the common speak of things.
Generally the book is about the survival of the self and the soul in the context of a concentration camp. It's a very dark book, but it's also somehow an extremely light book. I suppose not in a comic sense, but in terms of an emotional, spiritual sense, it reminds me of Life is Beautiful, the movie.
As I think about enjoying - or at least getting some really deep gratification out of reading Night, I remembered feeling really intimately connected with the first-person voice. It felt timeless, it felt true, it felt non-manipulative. It felt like a really - somehow a really great combination of a personal testament and a novel that would reach all sorts of people.
This is one of the rare books out there I think that one wishes everybody would read, the sort of book that, if you made a list of these 10 or 20 most important books worldwide, if everybody read them, things would be going very differently in the world today than they are, I would think. I think it's very easy to give Night five stars out of five, because it's very difficult to find fault with the book. It's vivid, it's genuine, it's about a very, very important era in history. Surprisingly not very long ago still."
|
| Nightmare Alley |
William L. Greshan |
Con Men and Carnies |
See review |
"I knew that it was about carnies, and I'm really interested in that subculture of carnies and hustlers that work in traveling carnivals.
Nightmare Alley is about a character who takes a job as a carnie, basically a hustler or what might be called a pitch getter, and he's -- I can't remember exactly what he was doing with the carnival, but it was some kind of a scam. He sort of works his way up quickly in the hierarchy of the carnival, and he starts this racket, this spiritualist racket where he's doing s -- ance, and talking to dead people, and doing all kinds of psychic/paranormal performances, and it's all fake. Instead of preying on the poor people that come to the carnie, it's sort of a high society thing, and he's going to these big ballrooms and dinner parties and preying on the rich.
This is noir fiction, and in most noir fiction you have what's called a femme fatale; and she shows up in the form of a psychiatrist, and together they start scheming to do a long con and rip off somebody really bit with a lot of money. In the process, he meets his match in her, and she ends up conning him.
The narrative tends to be very fragmented. It jumps around, and there are a lot of gaps where you sort of wonder what happened between this and that. There are a lot of twists and turns in it, and it keeps you engaged. It's sort of like a window into the past when these carnivals were more prevalent in the earlier part of the last century. I would give this book five out of five stars."
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| Not Quite What I Was Planning |
Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser |
Six Word Memoirs |
See review |
"This is a six-word memoir coined by Ernest Hemingway. In fact, he challenged some people way back when that you could write a memoir in six words, and so the writers at Smith magazine took that to heart and came up with and offered a -- I guess a challenge to a number of different of its readers and got some fascinating input in terms of people's life experiences.
There are a number of great quotes: Things about love, things about loss, and one of the interesting ideas behind this concept of six-word memoirs is that you can just write your own six-word memoir and then don't worry about it. You can just leave it there, and that could be it for a day; and then guess what. You could come up with your own six-word memoir, and that might describe another experience. So I think oftentimes people are daunted by trying to come up with something that's so all encompassing that it becomes too difficult of a task to capture their own life experiences.
The book doesn't necessarily go into detail about each person's submission. It has the person's name and the six-word quote, so I found this to be more fulfilling than getting more into the detail because it left some things to the imagination. You know, what does it mean to say, "Found true love, then got married"?"
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| Omnivore's Dilemma: The Natural History of Four Meals |
Michael Pollan |
Practical and Impractical Suggestions |
See review |
Omnivore's Dilemma
Michael Pollan
"I read "Omnivore's Dilemma" because I had heard a lot about it. I also like Michael Pollan. I've read some of his articles and another one of his books. "Omnivore's Dilemma" is about where our food comes from, basically. He investigates but he tells a story of his experience investigating, it's called a "history of four meals." One would be a factory farm, sort of typical fast food meal. One was a whole foods, big corporate organic meal. And another one was a little more locally grown organic meal. And then the other meal was one that, he hunted and gathered himself.
One good thing about the book is it's not an advocacy book. And it's not, it isn't set up to support a big conclusion. It really, he brings up the dilemmas of well, fast food is cheap and easy to get. But, it's bad for your body. And he talks about some of the dilemmas with organic food. How it can be more expensive, and until there's more of a market for locally grown food it can stay that way. The self-hunted and gathered meal was, he knew was very impractical. It was more for the sake of what can I learn from it about how we used to get our food. He puts so much love in the writing and richness that it's kind of, I think his recommendation is, put some love and richness into your choices and diet and habits.
What I liked best about "Omnivore's Dilemma" is the way he tells it. It's very fact rich. It's like, he's a very smart guy, and it's like sitting down and having a conversation that you really get a lot out, of. I'd recommend this book to anyone who is interested in being more aware about their diet and about positive things you can do for the planet. I would give this, five stars."
|
| On Chesil Beach |
Ian McEwan |
Concise, Emotional |
See review |
I've heard a lot about McEwan over the last couple of years and what a great literary just power he is right now. I didn't really rust everything I'd been hearing, though, but when this book showed up, I thought I'm gonna give it a chance.
On Chesil Beach is about a newlywed couple on their wedding night evening, and it's set in England in I think the late '50's or early '60's. It's about that night, and it's also flashes back to other periods in their relationship and in their lives.
I liked the characters. There's only the two characters that are shown to us in any depth, but they're incredibly believable, and it was one of the first books that I had read in a long time in which the characters just seem like people. What I came away from mainly with was an understanding that yes, Ian McEwan is a real talented author and that I'll probably now want to read something else that he's written. But it wasn't quite - it didn't really excite me that much.
I would rate On Chesil Beach as a four out of five stars. It's a really well told story, a really well written story, a very clean - it's nice and short. It's just not a sloppy story at all; it's very concise. Everything has a purpose, it's very spare, yet it's full of emotion and full of human feelings. So it's a pretty impressive work.
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| On Chesil Beach: A Novel |
Ian McEwan |
Sexuality In the 50's |
See review |
"I was really interested in reading Chesil Beach because I read an excerpt of it in the New York Magazine, and it stopped right at a point that was so interesting I had to know what happened next.
One of its main themes is sexuality and what it means to try and marry another human when you haven't talked to them at all; and suddenly you're thrown into this intimate situation. It takes place on the wedding night, and if you grew up in the '50's and you came of age then instead of being a little kid like I was, you had every likelihood of marrying someone with whom you've never had sex, never talked about sex, never had any kind of physical closeness except the girl trying to protect her virginity and the boy trying to get her not to.
So this stands up well even though it's a short time -- it's a short book -- but still, he has a wonderful, McEwan has a wonderful way of showing the characters honestly. It comes across to me as a brilliant study of why did those things change? Because they didn't work. In this book, it just doesn't work; and we see the pain of these two people that want to spend their lives together. They're wonderful friends, but they can't do that because they haven't the tools to make it work. Do these two people find a way or not? I'm not gonna spoil that. It's just suspenseful, it's well done, and that's what made me put down The New Yorker and run to the bookstore for the book.
I'd give it five. For me, McEwan can do very little wrong. He is just, I'd say, one of the best living writers today."
|
| One Hundred Years of Solitude |
Gabriel Garcia Marquez |
Deep and Magical |
See review |
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez I'd heard was a really, really fantastic book; I'd heard it was a modern day classic. I like reading classics, and so I wanted to read the book.
It's the history of a family and their mistakes, the things that they did great, things that didn't go well for the family at all; and so it was a combination of success and tragedy over the years.
There was certainly a magical quality about the book. It was - there was a feeling of almost disbelief as I would read this text, and that was okay. It was really great. As the book reached the end, there was a sense that hey, all of this happened for a particular reason and that it gave purpose to the lives of these people, that it wasn't just in vain, it was a sense of predestination, if you will.
I'd recommend this book to anybody who has a deep interest in literature, anybody who wants to have a very - who's into philosophy and into a deep level of understanding of the human experience. It's not an easy read, so it's not for a book - it's not a book for somebody who wants to do some light reading, per se, but it's a great book for somebody who wants to discover more about the meaning of life, if you will. I'd give this a 4 -- out of five. Only reason why I didn't give it a five - it's a really great book, really one of the greatest ever, I think - and that is it is a tough read.
|
| One Hundred Years of Solitude |
Gabriel Garcia Marquez |
One Of My Favorite Books |
See review |
"I read 100 Years of Solitude for the first time in its entirety not long ago. I had always read - I had read excerpts from it a lot; I was a Spanish major at EC Davis, to I read a lot of Spanish language literature, and we'd always looked at 100 Years of Solitude as an example.
100 Years of Solitude is about the Buendia family, this family in I believe an unnamed country in South America - South or Central America - and it follows multiple generations of this family, and you see the men in the family repeat the same mistakes over and over and all the different people who marry into the family and how the town changes, and how the family as well as everyone in the town kind of moves from this more simple, old way of life - almost tribal kind of - to the modern day.
I liked how Marquez wrote this book. It just flows really well, and he can cover - in a short amount of time, he can cover a life span or he can stop and dwell on this one very important afternoon.
I'd recommend it to anyone who's interested in A, South America or the history of revolutions there; B, just families and family histories; and anyone who likes kind of mystical - it's not really fantasy, but fictional books with a little twist of the bizarre in them.
I'd give 100 Years of Solitude five out of five stars; it's one of my favorite books of all time."
|
| On The Day You Were Born |
Debra Frasier |
Childhood Classic |
See review |
On the Day You Were Born
Debra Frasier
"On the Day You Were Born is a story by Debra Frasier about basically a welcoming of a child into the world. I enjoyed very much reading it to my son in his early years.
To this day, many of the illustrations come up in my mind. So this is the kind of book that you think of when you're picking out presents that I thought of when picking out presents for my nieces and my nephews for their birthdays. They all got a copy.
An enhancing part of this story is that the author worked with the Notes Alive series to create an animated version of her story; and along with it, in all of the Notes Alive series, there is an orchestral composition that is made specifically to go along with the story.
It's not a book that's very easy for a young child to completely understand. There are large words, so it's obviously meant for an adult to be reading to a child. I would recommend the book to any new parent who is looking for something to share with their growing child as the kind of book that continues to grow with them. I would give this book On the Day You Were Born five stars, because for our family it's really just a childhood classic."
|
| On the Road |
Jack Kerouac |
Whimsical Journey |
See review |
On the Road
Jack Kerouac
"The book is kind of an account of Jack Kerouac's adventures and travels with his friend, Neal Cassady in New York and San Francisco and throughout the Midwest.
What I love most about the book was that it was just complete fun. It was completely unique than anything I'd ever read before; just the style of writing was very unique in that it wasn't very structured. He would -- Kerouac would go on these long, long things in his sentences and not stop. He'd bring out so much in just one sentence for you, and I liked that. I really liked that a lot that it was completely different, and I just also loved the kind of whimsical notion of just going off and driving and hanging out with your friends. It's kind of I think a fantasy that we all have, is to be able to stop what we're doing and not have this routine that we're involved in every single day. That's what he's doing in the book, and that's what he's relating to us -- I think too at a very important time in the United States as well. After reading On the Road, I became so interested in that whole generation of poets and writers and artists that chose a different path, that chose to be a little different or not to conform as much to what was going on in that time period.
I would rate On the Road four of five stars. Four stars. Sometimes with Kerouac's style of writing staying present within the sentences was a little difficult. I totally would -- he'd be going on on this tangent, and you would totally go off on your own little tangent in your head on something else. So sometimes it was kind of hard to focus and stay really present with the material that you're reading."
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| On the Road |
Jack Kerouac |
"It's About Nothing..." |
See review |
"I definitely imagine that everybody has the sense of what On the Road is about even if they haven't read it, even if they haven't read about it or talked to someone who's read it. But maybe I'm projecting, 'cause I think that's the case for me. I figured it was about somebody being on the road a lot, probably being relatively profound 'cause I'd certainly gotten wind of this with his rich autobiographical compilation of his earlier life.
That's certainly to me exactly what it is, and therefore it's about nothing except about Jack Kerouac. He criss-crosses the country two or three times, 2 -- times, whatever it is exactly from I think New Jersey to San Francisco and grappling with what it means to try to find purpose to allow yourself to remain free and not get into the routine of American capitalism. It's an interesting book.
I actually, I confess, listened to this book with Matt Dillon as the narrator. A relatively mediocre narrator, but he was good I think at naturally conjuring up the sort of mouthpiece, the sort of voice and emotional voice of Jack Kerouac. I guess the main thing I didn't like or enjoy about the book as a reading experience -- or for me a listening experience in the car appropriately enough -- that's where I listened to the whole thing. The book is very long, and it feels very meanderingish not that that doesn't befit the nature of the story that he's telling; but I could see a lot of people reading this book and not necessarily finishing it.
If you have any interest at all in sort of struggling to fit in your feeling of what American cultural trajectories have been since the turn of the century, I would recommend it to you. Being asked to rate On the Road is of course -- "
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| Other Colors: Essays and a Story |
Orhan Pamuk and Maureen Freely |
Prize Winning Turkish Author's Latest |
See review |
Other Colors
Orhan Pamuk and Maureen Freely
"I'm a big fan of Orhan Pamuk; I've read several of his books. Some I liked better than others. Other colors is his latest. It just came out in September 2007. Orhan Pamuk is a Turkish writer. He's in his mid-50's.
He writes about the self, and he writes about what it is to live in a culture that is influenced both by the East and by the West, and he wants to promote Turkish culture as something that's not a mixture of East and West or a clich -- d meeting of East and West, but is its own organic entity. It includes his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, which is very gracious and very moving about his father. It's got occasional pieces and little essays about his daughter, about the big earthquake in Istanbul.
It's okay; it's a lot of odds and ends, and I think it was created to satisfy a need for product because after he won the Nobel Prize, he got big. I love Istanbul; it's my favorite city. It's a beautiful city, and all his books take place there. It's where he's lived all his life, and you can take his books as a guidebook to the city and see the places that he's writing about, and he gives them so much resonance. The best parts about it for me are when he writes about art. Pamuk was trained as an artist, and he writes about the art of the 16th and 17th Centuries in Turkey in a way that really makes it come alive. Pamuk has a gift because he's almost -- he's bilingual in that he speaks the language of art and also the written language of literature.
For someone who hasn't read Pamuk's works, Other Colors wouldn't be the place to start. It's really for the true fan. I'd give it 2.5 stars."
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| Our Bodies, Ourselves |
Boston Women's Health Book Collective |
Essential For Women |
See review |
Our Bodies, Ourselves
Boston Women's Health Book Collective
"Our Bodies, Ourselves" is a reference book. And so, I have an affinity for reference books. And I also really like women's health issues and being I guess, as educated as possible on the various health challenges that may happen in my lifetime.
This book is like I said a reference book. So, there is an index in the back, but it's a great read. It spans over the various lifestyle habits and changes in relationships and diet and internal and emotional and age wise. And so, if somebody's interested in learning a little bit more about, this, it's the Boston Women's Health Book Collective. So, it's a kind of a collaboration of research and a collaboration of medicine and a collaboration of health information. And so it's a great reference tool.
This book would apply to somebody that's 13 and it would apply to somebody who's 52. It has a wonderful range of information and I find it really helpful for me to kind of see what I'm going to be headed towards. And so, like menopause is kind of a big mystery to me, but I know a lot of people that are affected by it and some of the information found in this book can actually help me, help them.
This would be a great book to share with your teenage daughter. This would be a great book for any house with women in it. I would give this book, five out of five stars."
|
| Outlander |
Diana Gabaldon |
Time Travel + Romance |
See review |
-- I first picked up Outlander at my friend's house. I was visiting her in Las Vegas. She had a late-night work schedule, and I got up early, and she was still sleeping, and I decided to pick something off of her bookshelf and give it a go, and I ended up going home and buying it because I wanted to finish reading it.
Outlander is the first in a series, and the concept is it's set in the 40's right after World War II. Claire and her husband are visiting his ancestral area in Scotland, and she goes into an area not unlike Stonehenge. She enters a circle area like this and somehow starts feeling the magic of the area and gets transported back in time 200 years. Not very believable, I know, but it's very romantic. The concept is she's back 200 years, and she runs into none other than her husband's ancestor and kind of learns how his history had painted differently than it really was, not the nice guy that everyone thinks he was. She falls in with the Scottish clan and falls in love, and it's that whole story, and it leads to I think four more books in that series.
This book is just written well. It's enjoyable; the love story of Claire and Jamie is differently my favorite part, though. It's romantic along with like you know the rough, real life they supposedly went through, and everyday wars, and the trails and things like that; but it's romantic. They have a real love. Claire is a character that I think I would emulate to be in that she's strong, she doesn't cave; and she's in this completely foreign surrounding. She kind of steps up to the task.
I've read this whole series like three or four times. I would recommend it. There's nothing I don't like about this book. You have to suspend some reality belief, but it's fun. I definitely think this series is engineered more toward women because of the romance aspect of it, so I would recommend it to anyone 15-60, anyone in there. Even up to 80, I think women would enjoy this book. I would give this book five stars. --
|
| Over Sea, Under Stone |
Susan Cooper |
Fun Fantasy Adventure |
See review |
Over Sea, Under Stone
Susan Cooper
"Over Sea, Under Stone" is a book about three children, Simon, Jane and Barney Drew who go to vacation in Cornwall, England. And happen upon a map in the attic of the house they're staying, which is also I think, the house of their great uncle. And they are young kids with a sense of adventure and they're interested in where this map goes. And this leads into the series "The Dark is Rising."
What I like about this particular book is its sense of adventure and sort of, it's a little bit tied in with the mythology of King Arthur. The book might start off a little slowly, as far as introducing places and characters and sort of what's going on, but once the story really starts to evolve, it gets kind of exciting.
I would recommend this book to anyone who was my age when I read it, so maybe junior high or late elementary school age. But, it's also, recommend it to any of my friends or people I know who have that same sort of sense of adventure and like a little bit of fantasy fun. Oh, I would give it four out of five stars."
|
| Pan |
Knut Hamsun |
The Fickleness of Romance |
See review |
"I saw a copy of Pan in the bookstore, and I sort of liked the art on the cover, and I did really enjoy Hunger, so I was definitely willing to give Knut Hamsun another shot.
Pan is about this man who kind of goes off into the woods for a hunting season to live in this cabin and just sort of be by himself and ends up embroiled in some kind of romantic drama with this lady and the surrounding community; and it's just sort of about his struggle to be by himself and be happy and then also getting wrapped up in her.
I believe that the protagonist is supposed to be -- there's some kind of parallel between him and Pan. Pan is I believe half-man, half-beast; and so it's sort of like him and his instincts in nature and in the wild and also his very human capacity for romance. I think it deals really well with the most frustrating aspect of love and romance. It's a frustrating book and it doesn't really have a happy ending or things don't exactly work out neatly.
The book ends, and then there's this sort of bizarre epilogue that kind of comes out of nowhere. There was something about the epilogue that I found a little bit corny, but with this book, and with any a translation, I'm always hesitant to judge the writing as corny because you're also subject to the translator's opinion.
I would recommend this book to people who enjoy hearing about the fickleness of romance. I would give Pan 4 stars."
|
| Passage To Ararat |
Michael J. Arlen and Geoffrey Wolff |
Struggle to Find Identity |
See review |
"I read Michael J. Arlen's Passage to Ararat because it was actually a recommendation from my mother, who basically said that it was an interesting portrait of someone trying to find their roots.
So Michael Arlen's Passage to Ararat is about his journey to Armenia to discover his roots. It flowed very easily, and it was a pretty quick read. It was good in the sense that it gave me an understanding of a country that I had little knowledge of before, Armenia, and the suffering that the people went through at the hands of the Turks over the centuries. So learning some history that I didn't know if probably the thing that I liked the most. Michael Arlen had a sense of struggle with this identity that was so great that I think that in some ways, he could never -- he just could not get over something to actually identify with the people and probe more in-depth, so as much as I learned about the general history, I didn't feel I got a great grasp of who the people really were. It just to me really smacked of someone who took a journey, wrote about it but didn't necessarily enlighten the rest of us as to everything that went on.
Anyone that's struggled to find an identity, that has emigrated to another land and returns to their homeland, could potentially get something out of this book.
I would give Mike Arlen's Passage to Ararat three stars out of five."
|
| Pass the Butterworms |
Tim Cahill |
Adventure Travels, Short Stories |
See review |
Pass the Butterworms by Tim Cahill was a book that was recommended to me from a friend who actually left the company that I was working with, and it's a great book I think to think about adventure traveling.
It's essentially a collection of short stories that - of various locations that Tim went - for example, to Mongolia, to the Amazon, to - and South America specifically, and as well as parts of Asia. Really a whole series of different environments that he was in, describing the things that he would eat, the people that he would meet, the differences that he would notice in cultures, and discover more about himself and where he came from by looking at others. That was, I thought, was pretty fascinating.
I think the favorite story I had was with his rides with Mongolian horsemen, and so the reason why I thought this was my favorite story was that it kind of almost reminded me of Genghis Kahn and kind of imagining doing something like that in the 20th century. I love to travel; traveling is a lot of fun. My travels were so much more fun when I was doing something different rather than going on a tour, and so this really reinforces that, where there really is no tour, there's no set agenda, there's no really set anything.
I would recommend this book to anybody who's interested about doing something off the beaten path. I would give this book a four-star rating, four stars out of five. This book was a very good book; it tended - there's no structure to the book, so if you're looking for a book that has a definite conclusion or a definite end, this is not the book for you.
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| Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood |
Marjane Satrapi |
Iranian Memoir Graphic Novel Style |
See review |
"Persepolis is a graphic novel that I saw a lot of people reading, and I had just started getting excited about graphic novels and comic books. I was working with high school students, and they had to read it for school. So I just read it along with them, and it was wonderful.
It's the story of the author, Marjane Satrapi, who grows up in Iran and it's the story of her growing up from age 6 to 14 and just a lot of things happening in her family and a lot of things happening in the country. The whole time I was so excited reading it, and just the combination of the looking of the images and seeing the words and how they come together was just a really good combination.
I don't know if I'd say it's easier or harder to read a memoir when it's in a graphic novel form, but I definitely like the way she used black and white images combined with the words used. It's almost you get feeling of looking at somebody's old black and white family photos and then seeing things written on the back, and it gives you this feeling that you're seeing someone's secret family history.
There was a funny part where she was growing up, and she's not really allowed to show that she's interested or excited about western culture. There's a part where she's maybe 12 or 13, and she starts getting excited about punk rock and different music; and her parents are smuggling posters back in for her from other countries. That part was really funny. She really has a good sense of humor and a good sense of a rebel in her.
Anyone high school age and on would probably enjoy it -- maybe even younger, too, just because the images are so nice to look at that there's a lot you can get from it just on that level. It's also a coming of age story, which I think is really for people to identify with, but I really liked Persepolis a lot. I would give Persepolis five stars out of five, definitely."
|
| Peter and the Shadow Thieves |
Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson, and Greg Call |
"Adventure On Every Page" |
See review |
Peter and the Shadow Thieves
Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
"My kids so loved Peter and the Star Catchers, they were thrilled when Peter and the Shadow Thieves came out; another prequel to the Peter Pan saga and, again, by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. And so the second that they knew it was gonna be released, we had to go and buy it; so they're very excited.
It continues the story of Peter and the Star Catchers, but in this case there's a really scary villain named, Lord Ombra, that actually, like, sucks up people's shadows and takes their sole. It's pretty dark; although, they keep it moving and there's enough fun in it with Tubby Ted and some of the other Lost Boy characters that it's not too terribly twisted and scary.
I kind of get the feeling a little bit that they kind of rushed this one out, because of the success of the previous book, but there's so many great characters and the story-telling is so fabulous, that it's a real good time all the way through.
I think, very little kids might be a little scared of some of the characters; although, they're very well - the whole saga is very well told and I think - I enjoyed reading them, so I would say kids seven years old all the way up - much like Harry Potter - all the way up through adults would really enjoy this book.
I think that Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson work really well together and I know my kids would be thrilled if they wrote another in this series.
This book I'd give four stars. It is a really well told story, although, not as good as the first book. But the adventure continues. Every single chapter packs a big punch as far as entertainment and my kids loved it."
|
| Peter and the Star Catchers |
Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson, and Greg Call |
Mom and Boys Love the Prequel |
See review |
Peter and the Star Catchers
Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
"I've got two little boys who have always loved Peter Pan; from the Disney movie to that other British movie that came out a few years ago. We read the original Peter Pan book and they loved it. And when I found out that Dave Barry wrote a prequel to Peter Pan, I was really fascinated; and he wrote it with Ridley Pearson who's a novelist - an adult novelist. I couldn't imagine how this novelist and Dave Barry, who writes funny newspaper articles, would get together and write a prequel to Peter Pan. It was just - well, it's ballsy.
So I got it not thinking much. I didn't know what was gonna happen and my kids kind of were like, "Eh, there's not that many pictures. We're not gonna like it." But they loved it. It's so exciting and, I mean, there's adventure on every page and, I don't know, it's a great combination of Dave Barry's humor and Ridley Pearson's ability to write suspense and adventure; so it's great.
Well, I love the book, because it's written for kids, but it's something adults can really enjoy as well. Sort of like the Harry Potter books or the Lemony Snicket books. I mean, there's some great vocabulary in the books - in this book, and yet kids can follow it and the adventure never stops.
I would give five stars mostly because I had such low expectations. I couldn't imagine how Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson could write a prequel to such an old classic tale as Peter Pan and they did it. It was awesome and my entire family loved it."
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| Peterman Rides Again |
John Peterman |
Not the Seinfeld Imitation |
See review |
"I read Peterman Rides Again, because I needed a book for my most recent flight out to the Bay Area, and I wanted a short one that could withstand the ten hours of flight time on Southwest Airlines. So Peterman Rides Again turned out to be just that book. Peterman Rides Again is about the rise and fall of the J. Peterman Company. The J. Peterman Company is a high-end retail catalog, mostly of clothing, although they expanded at one point into other items, as well.
So it's the story about how J. Peterman came about to create the company and grow it a $70 or $80 million company at its height and then watch it all collapse around him as he made some bad business decisions. So you got a real sense of how this character really was. This wasn't the Seinfeld interpretation of J. Peterman or anything like that. It was the real person behind the scenes.
I would recommend Peterman Rides Again to anyone who's looking for a quick read for a flight or for just a lazy afternoon or something like that. I would give this book three stars out of five. Like I said, it wasn't the most challenging of books, so Peterman Rides Again is a good book but not a great book."
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| Plato and Platypus Walk Into a Bar |
Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein |
Philosophy Through Jokes |
See review |
"I saw it at the library, and it was an odd title. I picked it up and read a little further, and it's about philosophy through jokes. It has a very solemn picture of Plato in a little circle and an equally solemn picture of a platypus next to it.
It's an overview of philosophy which frankly might be a little bit too ambitious a project for such a small book, considering that half of the book is taken up with jokes in one way or the other. The idea is I think anyone reading the jokes can understand every joke and know why they're funny, and they use this knowledge that people have of jokes to lead into how that relates to various philosophies.
One example that comes to mind is a 75 year-old man walks into a priest. He says, "I'm 75 years old, and I made love to two 20 year-old women last night." The priest says, "Well, when was the last time you went to confession?" He said, "I never go to confession; I'm Jewish." He said, "Then why are you telling me this?" He said, "I'm telling everybody!"
Now, that's a frame of reference type joke. The priest was looking on it as a confession, and the elderly gentleman was looking on it as bragging. That's under the section of philosophy of language, and that raises the question in my mind, "What is the connection of this with language?" It's the fact that it seems not so much a matter or -- issue of language as an issue of looking at the same thing from two different directions.
I'll give it three and a half. I think three is neutral; it's a little bit better than neutral because of the jokes in it. Might get people interesting who otherwise wouldn't think about philosophy."
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| Pomo Indians of California and Their Neighbors |
Vinson Brown |
Northern California Coast Tribe |
See review |
Pomo Indians of California and Their Neighbors
Vinson Brown
"The Pomo Indians of California" is a book that I stumbled upon. I just, I have always had an interest in native cultures and especially around California. It's just a really honest and really informational look at one tribe of Native Americans, the Pomo Indians who lived in kind of Sonoma and Mendocino Counties, what are those counties today.
And it just thoroughly goes over their culture, their religion, their family structure. How they lived. How they hunted. How they traveled. Their sense of the world, how they related to other tribes and eventually how they're affected by coming of Europeans into their territory.
It's not something that I've studied myself enough to really be too critical of them, both of the authors I think are professors at universities, anthropology and really obviously, well learned on it.
I'd recommend this book to anybody who is kind of interested in the Sonoma-Mendocino County regions and the Native Americans who lived there. I've give "The Pomo Indians of California" five stars.
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| Psychogeography |
Will Self and Ralph Steadman |
Does Where We Are Affect How We Are? |
See review |
"One of my friends at work suggested that we go see a lecture given by Will Self, and during the lecture we were fortunate enough to get books. So I was motivated for that reason, because it seemed that this guy was a very, very interesting character. Pyschogeography, what is Psychogeography about? The best way I can describe it is it attempts to link a person's emotions with their immediate location.
So one of the stories that really struck me as I was reading the book was Will Self's travel from London to New York, and how did he get from London to New York? He literally walked from his London flat all the way to Heathrow, didn't take a cab, walked then distance from there, then got onto the airplane, sat down, and then I believe he went to JFK. After he got off at JFK, he walked from JFK to Manhattan. And what makes him effective as a good writer and why I liked this book is that he is able to really offer an intense description and really put the reader into a situation.
I will say that this book may not be for everyone. I think the book is a great read, but it's kind of in the style of Hunter S. Thompson, and it's a bit loose sometimes. I would recommend that anyone who is interested in their emotional state and their ability to adjust their emotions and understand factors that influence us emotionally read this book. I would give this book four-and-a-half out of five."
|
| Quantum Success: The Astounding Science of Wealth and Happiness |
Sandra Anne Taylor |
Life Changing! |
See review |
Quantum Success
Sandra Anne Taylor
"I read this book because I had just gotten out of a relationship and I was having a very hard time, and I needed something to kind of get me
back on track. Well, what had initially turned me on about the book is that I had learned a little bit about the Law of Attraction earlier this year, and so I was looking for something that could expand on what I had already learned about the Law of Attraction. This book took it about 10,000 times further than what I had previously read or seen. So it kind of goes into a little bit about the Law of Attraction but of all these other universal laws of the universe, and just people's relationships with themselves and kind of other people in the world. It talks a lot about like vibrations, whether they're negative or positive vibrations and how that's gonna affect your place in the world.
What I liked best about this book is that I could read some of it at night, do some positive thinking, 'cause at the end of every chapter there is like positive affirmations for you to kind of give to yourself and think about. I would wake up in the morning, and I would just feel good. I would feel better, like something had internally like changed a little bit.
I am an atheist, and there is some talk about God and like spirit guides and angels in this book, and I guess I'm open to maybe learning about new things, but there were some aspects of the book that I just felt like I couldn't relate to. But it was such a narrow window of the book that I feel like as a whole, I would still recommend it to anyone.
I want to buy everyone this book for Christmas. It's like it was so life changing for me. As soon as I read it, my intentions were to read it again because I felt like there wasn't -- there was so much information that I couldn't possibly have gotten it all in one sitting. I would give this book five stars out of five stars."
|
| Rain Of Gold |
Victor Villasenor |
Families Journey From Mexico To LA |
See review |
Rain of Gold
Victor Villasenor
"It's about, it's basically autobiographical, it's about Victor Villasenor's father, who was born in Mexico. And at a very young age, the revolution occurred in Mexico. And so that would be around 1910.
And it shares his father's journey and his father's family's journey, how they were impacted by the revolution and then his journey north, escaping the war and traveling with nothing and arriving in the United States. And how he survived in the United States up against incredible odds, discrimination, language barriers and all that you would expect in that time of the history.
It's very rich. It's a book that was very, very rich in imagery, sort of not only very descriptive in terms of what happened and what occurred, but also the descriptions are very colorful. I think I really enjoyed the part where it took place in Mexico, just because it you know is really interesting. And you could really imagine it. So, I guess that was sort of my favorite part of it so, the description of how they were surviving in the wartime.
I would give it five stars."
|
| Reading Lolita in Tehran |
Azar Nafisi |
Author Memoir: Art As a Necessity |
See review |
Reading Lolita In Tehran
Azar Nafisi
"The book is about the - it's a memoir, and the author was raised in Iran and then lived in, was schooled in the west, and then went back to Iran to teach at a university, and it was just very interesting to hear the discussions, what was going on, how impactful - like at one point during the book, you know, one of the students is going through something very stressful - they're reading The Great Gatsby - and she just can't relate to Daisy at all, and just - like makes the proclamation like, "I just wish Daisy would die," and just how strongly like the arts, the literature they were reading, how they could relate it to their lives and how impactful it was.
And I think the thing that I really loved about the book was it illustrates something that art isn't necessarily a luxury, it's a necessity."
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| Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies |
Jim Schnabel |
Starter Book For Psychic Phenomenon |
See review |
Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies
Jim Schnabel
"I wanted to read Remote Viewers because I was interested in the subject, but at the time the book came out, there were very few books about the subject of remote viewing. As a matter of fact, I think this book was the first.
Remote viewing is basically a method by which the remote viewer puts themselves into a trance state of mind, is an alternate conscious state of mind, and basically leaves their body. Anyone who's interested in psychic phenomena, someone who's interested in out-of-body experiences, and obviously people who are specifically interested in remove viewing, this would be a good book. As a matter of fact, if you are interested in the subject of remove viewing, my opinion is this is the best starter book. I think I would give it four stars."
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| Reservation Blues |
Sherman Alexie |
"Alexie Can Do No Wrong" |
See review |
Reservation Blues
Sherman Alexie
"Reservation Blues is about I guess you could say what it's like to be Native American, but the plotline shows us that in the most inventive and agile way.
What I loved about Reservation Blues is the writing. Alexei can do no wrong in my book. He is so different and so creative; he stretches the boundaries of fiction. He is not afraid to talk about things happening that are otherworldly, that are supernatural, that are fantastic, that could never happen in the space-time continuum.
I think that Reservation Blues is a good example of how Alexei's writing is accessible to everyone. He is writing about more than just Native Americans. He's writing about - the reason that it's so great, that this book pulls in blues, is he's writing about the pain and suffering that can happen to anyone, which the blues has come to symbolize.
I'd recommend it to anybody that says, "Indians? Wait, I've never met an Indian, and I don't know anything about Indians/Native Americans." Read this. It's got some insight."
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| Revolting Youth: The Further Journals of Nick Twisp |
CD Payne |
Teens and Adults Can Relate |
See review |
Revolting Youth
CD Payne
"Sometimes I pick my book by the way the cover is, the same why some people buy a bottle of wine off the shelf by the label. So I just -- I liked the cover originally; and then I didn't realize that there were more in the series until I was over at a friend's house, and she's like, "Oh, you should read this!"
So I wasn't sure if I wanted to read it just because I read it when I was 17, and I could relate to it then; but now being 30, am I gonna be able to relate to it the same way? But I totally did because they don't speak like normal 14 year-olds in that book.
The story is basically the -- it's following the life of a character called Nick Twisp, and in this book he's already -- he's basically on the run from the FBI at 14. His family life is shot, and he's still at his school up in Ukiah, but he has to become a woman. So he dresses in drag, and he leads the same life; and there's only one or two people -- his friend, I think, and his girlfriend -- who know that he is really who he is. Everybody else thinks he's this high school girl.
What I liked best about it is the way that they talk, the way that it's written, just because you can relate to it as a 30 year-old. They would speak the way I speak now; the vocabulary that they use, it just wasn't believable at first just 'cause you're sitting there going, "Would a 14 year-old really talk like this?" Like I almost don't talk like that, so it's just the use -- the words that they used, and it seemed like they had already been in and out of college and gotten their Masters degrees already. So at first, I didn't like that part of it, but then it just -- it kind of grew on me after a while.
I didn't really like the sexual like undertones. I'm not really sure if 14 year-olds should be running around like having sex. I don't think it's something that you can stop, but it's just very out in the open in this book. If I was a parent and had like a 14 year-old, I'm not sure I'd recommend this book to them. I would give this book four stars."
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| Ripley's Believe It Or Not |
Ripley's Believe It Or Not |
"People Like To See Weird Stuff" |
See review |
Ripley's Believe It Or Not
Ripley's Inc
"I read this book because to see all the weird stuff in this big world. The stuff that's in this Ripley's Believe it or Not book, it's like the longest name. I don't know how to say it; it's in Hawaiian. It's 63 letters. A guy balancing ten chairs on his head. It's a lot of unbelievable things.
There wasn't a lot of things that I didn't like in the book. I went to the Ripley's Believe it Not museum in San Francisco. The favorite thing I saw there was the cable car made out of matches. I think I was just turning seven when I wanted to start reading this. I still read it a lot.
I think I would give this book 4 -- stars. I think that people from probably 8 to 11 would like this, and people who like to see weird stuff."
|
| Runaway Jury |
John Grisham |
"I Wanted Some Light Reading" |
See review |
Runaway Jury
John Grisham
"Runaway Jury by John Grisham I picked up because I'd been reading a lot of non-fiction, and I wanted some light reading, and I'd never read him before, and so I picked up his book.
This particular story, it's a legal thriller. It's about a trial between the big tobacco company and one hand and a widow on the other whose husband has died from smoking, but it really is about a jury gone astray.
What I liked is sort of the crescendo of his writing; but at some point they take this strange twist, and you kind of know something's going on, but you don't see the twist coming.
When I'm reading a book like this, I am definitely trying to figure out, and I'm thinking, "Aw, he's not that good. I know how this is gonna go." To me, this wasn't like that, and it was a pleasant -- the twists are kind of pleasant surprises. You have to kind of suspend reality a little bit because in order to get all the things to work he has to change it, and he does that the best, I feel like. There are some others where what hangs on the story is really hard to accept, and he's not like that.
I would recommend anyone who likes fiction, thriller; it's kind of fast reading, you could read the book in a few days. I would give it 3 1/2 stars."
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| Running With Scissors |
Augusten Burroughs |
Identifies With Life Out Of Control |
See review |
"I wanted to read Running with Scissors because my roommate in - I guess my roommate in - I was living in Budapest a year ago - she was reading it; and she loved it and she recommended it to me. And so I borrowed her copy, and I read it while we were abroad.
Running with Scissors is a memoir by Augusten Borroughs, I think, and he - it's pretty much his life, his experiences through his life as a young child. His mother has mental health issues. She's pretty manic, she's an artist, she's flamboyant.
I like most about Running with Scissors was the hilarity of everything, and also it's a true story. Most of it's - I guess it's all a true story. So it's just the ridiculousness of everything that happened. I think the character that I most identified with is the lead character in Running with Scissors on the grounds that his life is a little out of his control. It's completely out of his control. In that regards, my life has been extremely like incredible; there's been a lot of things that kind of like tunneled out of control and a lot of like outside circumstances coming in and characters, a lot of like very intense characters who could be in that novel easily were part of my life; and so I see myself as having more of an incredulous life that you could write a memoir back and look and be like wow, this is crazy. I'd give Running with Scissors a three and a-half stars or a four stars out of five because of the entertainment. It was extremely entertaining."
|
| Running With Scissors |
Augesten Burroughs |
Turning Tragic Into Funny |
See review |
"I really enjoyed Running With Scissors, and one of the main reasons that I enjoyed this book is that I love the voice. I love the voice of the author, Augusten Burroughs, and I would seek out anything that he writes because the voice is so alive. He took ultimately a very tragic story about a lost, chaotic, crazy, insane childhood and made it hilarious! It is a fun, wild ride. It's just the anecdotes are absolutely unbelievable, and I think it helped significantly that he took a very humorous tone to this material because otherwise, first of all we wouldn't even believe it that it would actually be true - this is a memoir - so we wouldn't believe it; and would wouldn't be able to digest it unless it was humorously written, which it was.
I did see the movie, and I enjoyed it. I felt it - I thought the movie was very good and very well done, although it took a little bit of a different take than the book. The movie focused on the relationship between the mother and the son, and I thought that was very interesting because it made it - you could see more tragedy in there. The book, however, doesn't necessarily focus on the mother as much. He lets it all out, all the relationships that are happening to him in his life as he progresses through this insane childhood.
I would recommend that anybody read Running With Scissors. It's an enjoyable book. It's fun, it's a wild ride, and it's a good time, and it's very inspirational, too. I would give this five stars, this book five stars."
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| Running With Scissors: A Memoir |
Augusten Burroughs |
"Does He Make It?" |
See review |
"It said "funny" on the back cover; now I remember! It said "very funny although disturbing," or something. I do like books with a sense of humor; I also do read a lot of non-fiction in addition to fiction, so I was curious.
Running with Scissors is a very wacky childhood. It's the true story of a guy whose mom -- we weren't sure if she was just narcissistic or nuts in the beginning, and then you really realize she was insane. And so she lets her shrink raise her son; about the time she's 13 or 14, she just decides she hasn't got time for her son and her poetry and just sort of lets him move into her psychiatrist's house. It turns out he's not all that straight in the head, either; so this boy is living with like no rules in this totally permissive environment, which actually lets him fall into, be taken advantage of by pedophiles and all sorts of other horrible things. I can't believe the situations that go on in this book. You're like, "How could anyone survive?" So it's kind of like a suspense movie. You're sort of driven to keep reading to see if he ever survives and makes it to a more normal household.
I would recommend it to anyone who's ever felt sorry for herself. "Oh, my family was too strict, or my family was so screwed up." This is like the total scenario you would never want to have; and if you had strict parents, you should be a little bit glad that they sort of gave you a little structure in you life and sort of protected you from all the weirdoes that could be out there. And if you had like I guess mentally ill parents, there's someone to identify with finally. You weren't alone.
I guess four out of five stars. Running with Scissors is a true story, I mean; so you can't accuse him or creating exaggerated figures. It's just -- he lived in a loony bin."
|
| San Francisco Then and Now |
Bill Yenne |
"I'm Super In Love With San Francisco" |
See review |
San Francisco Then and Now
Bill Yenne
"I'm not sure where I came across "San Francisco, Then and Now," but I came across it at some point because I'm super in love with San Francisco history. So, this book is pretty much a picture book with a caption for each picture, every page is laid out with a picture of San Francisco then and a picture of San Francisco now. So, on one side is a black and white picture of how it was and on the right side is a picture of how it looks today.
One thing I'll say about the book is you know it's a pretty simple concept, then and now. And on that simple concept they kind of failed in that the "then and now" photos aren't exactly the same framing, angle, anything, at times. And it makes it unduly difficult to pick out the buildings that are still there now, that were there then. And it seems like if you're going to do a book called "San Francisco, Then and Now," you probably want to go to a lot of trouble to make sure that it's absolutely the same spot. The same you know, whatever focaling through framing, all that, so that it's super easy for the person looking at it to go, wow, that building's still there, which they really didn't do.
I'd recommend it to anybody interested in San Francisco. You know it's essentially a coffee table book, so I guess it would make a better gift. But, you know if you come across it, you might pick it up. I'm going to give it four stars. And it doesn't get the fifth just because of that one thing about making sure that its super exact to the old photo, which I think could have been done."
|
| Save Karyn: One Shopaholic's Journey to Debt and Back |
Karyn Bosnak |
"I Wouldn't Have Given Her Money" |
See review |
Save Karyn
Karyn Bosnak
"I'm not sure how I came across this book, but it was definitely a find.
The story's about this woman who's in her early 20's - which is kind of a recurring theme with me - who moves to New York and manages to live the jet setting lifestyle that she's looking for, not realizing how much it's costing her and within a six-month period, gets herself into some horrendous debt. This is a true story.
So this girl, in order to get herself out of debt, starts a website called savekaryn.com, and people to donate money to pay off her credit cards. She got all kinds of responses. Some of it was negative, like, "You went and spent all that money. Why do you think I would give you my hard-earned money to get yourself out of debt?" Other people were just so amused by like the fact that she would try and do something like that, that they were like, "Okay, I'll give you a dollar or this or that," and just appreciated what she was doing to the website to give it value, which is her stories. She was blogging, and she started selling some of her stuff. I don't think I would have given her money, but I definitely would have spent some time on her website and sent her an email that said, "Good luck."
I've recommended this book to any friend of mine that's in debt just to show that there's a way out of it and how repeatedly making decisions that maybe don't seem so bad are the decisions that get you in the hole. It wasn't like one thing that happened to her. It was a whole bunch of small decisions that made her get into all this debt' and I think that when you're kind of like on that path, it's really easy, really easy to do. I'd give it four out of five stars."
|
| Saving Fish From Drowning |
Amy Tan |
Ghost On a Road Trip |
See review |
"I read Saving Fish from Drowning because I've read a couple of other books by Amy Tan, the Joy Luck Club and a couple of other ones that deal with the same population; and I picked it up at the bookstore again, read the reviews on the back, and it looked really good, and I really enjoyed her writing style in her other books.
Saving Fish from Drowning is told from the perspective of an Asian-American woman who is in San Francisco who planned out this whole journey up the old Burma Road, which travels from modern-day Myanmar, which is formally Burma, up into China. But she was murdered about a week before the trip took place, so it's told from her perspective as a ghost or a spirit, I guess, kind of following along the trip.
The thing that I liked the most about the book was that one of the things I really look for in books is kind of a chance to explore a new world or a new place that I would necessarily get to go on my own, and this was really an incredible example of that. The author is a great visual imagery person; she can really paint a picture with words, and she told a wonderful story about the culture, and the scenery, and all of that of Burma and the political climate and things like that, which I thought was really spectacular. I really got lost in it.
I would recommend this book to pretty much any adult. I thought it was fantastically exciting, and a great storyline, and a really interesting look at a part of the world that a lot of Americans probably didn't know a lot about. I would give this book five out of five stars."
|
| Saving Fish From Drowning |
Amy Tan |
Good Characters |
See review |
Saving Fish From Drowning
Amy Tan
"I heard about Saving Fish From Drowning when I went to a - what was it? Some sort of book club forum here in the Bay Area for the kidney foundation. Anyway, Amy Tan was speaking, and she had just published the book, and she was just speaking about her life and the book and the voice of her mother that sort of permeates throughout. And I'm a huge Amy Tan fan, so I definitely was going to go get this book, and luckily I was able to pick it up at this forum and get an autographed copy, and read it immediately afterward.
I just enjoyed the interactions with the different characters throughout - the tour group; you kind of learn a little bit more about them along the way. You see how they interact with each other in stress. It seemed very plausible, the whole story. It seemed like it could really happen.
The voice of the narrator, who was this deceased Chinese shopkeeper from
an Francisco, was very similar to some of the voices you might hear in her other books. After hearing her talk, it definitely sounds like what she says about her mom all the time.
I'd give this book probably four out of five. I mean, I really did like it. I think I like some of Amy Tan's other books a little bit better. She tends to involve a lot of characters. There's usually a lot of people in her books. This one had more than usual, so in some ways it was a little bit challenging to keep up with who was who and their whole background stories and how they interrelated. But all in all, it was a really great read."
|
| Scholastic Book Of World Records |
Jenifer Morse |
Great To See What People Have Done With Their Lives |
See review |
Scholastic Book of World Records
Jenifer Morse
"I picked this because you could see different like -- what the highest mountain is, the longest homerun or the most -- the records of hits in baseball. I'm interested in finding out these records to see what people've done in their lives to break records.
I think the most interesting record was the longest homerun by Mickey Mantle, which was 634'. I think the most -- the dumbest record that was in there was the kid with the most toys. I was probably about maybe seven when I started enjoying records that have been broken and started. Probably 7 to 12 year-olds would be good for this book.
I would give this book five stars. I'd try to break the record of most hits in a season."
|
| Science Friction |
Michael Shermer |
Science For Historians? |
See review |
"Science Fiction is a book of essays, and they're not even really properly called essays, I don't feel. They're really more a collection of writings I think that he began to gather together and sort of eventually be able to gather them into a book, and they seem to be roughly unified under this general theme of sort of friction between I suppose how science ought to be done and how it actually does get done.
The beginning of the book is more about pseudoscience type stuff, and along the way, there are critical looks at actual science, especially anthropology. There's one about the -- a book about the Yenamomo -- Yamanano? I forget how it's spelled, people.
What I guess I don't like about the book is maybe the same thing that I do like. It's got this range of essays loosely grouped into four sections, I think, and in terms of it hanging together as you go, in terms of feeling that there's a pace to each section, that's sort of loosey goosey. It would be a great book for historians who have been loosely, very peripherally interested in history of science of cultural history, intellectual history, to read because it is written by a historian. It is -- I think -- although I'm not a historian, really, although I did take a Darwin -- Darwinian Revolution history class in high school -- high school -- college! I think that historians would -- that it would resonate, his approach, where he comes from at this __________ would resonate for you.
This is a four-star book. It's -- there's too much -- too many interesting and diverse things to include in the book to even giving it a three."
|
| Seabiscuit |
Laura Hillenbrand |
Good Underdog Story |
See review |
"The reason I wanted to read Seabiscuit because it was based also on a true story, and it was also a story about the underdog. Seabiscuit being this horse that everybody thought was washed up, and a trainer and a jockey saw potential in this horse.
I related to having had to overcome a lot of things in my life, and I really have liked animals a lot. So I appreciated that somebody was able to see that this animal had a lot left, a lot there to give.
The kind of reader that I think would enjoy Seabiscuit is a horse lover, a person that roots for the underdog, a person that is looking for a message of hope. I would give the book four stars out of five, primarily because of the writing style was kind of dry."
|
| Seabiscuit |
Laura Hillenbrand |
"Fate Brings Them Together" |
See review |
"I was given a short excerpt from this book in a creative writing class. And the particular reason that this excerpt was chosen was because of Laura Hillenbrand's ability to recreate historical events that she was not at. And the life that she infused into that scene, it was the scene - the race between Seabiscuit and War Admiral and it was as if we were all there. Seabiscuit is really the story of four individuals. Red Pollard, Charles Howard, Tom Smith, and the horse Seabiscuit. And they're four individuals that have been through a lot of hard times. Down on their luck so to speak and somehow fate brings them all together. And it's really one of those - I would call it a positive perfect storm type situations, where four different individual energies came together and created something absolutely memorable. This was a horse and three people associated with the horse that were not expected to succeed and somehow they did. And the country got behind them and it was just an amazing - it was amazing run that this one particular horse went on.
It feels like a historical novel to me. In a similar way to Capote, how Capote was able to, In Cold Blood, recreate scenes that he had not witnessed. Hillenbrand did an exhaustive amount of research to bring these scenes to life. I can't think of anything I didn't like about the book. It did take me a little while to get through. I had to read it in spurts because the information was somewhat dense.
I did see the movie and, in fact, I saw the movie first. The movie had actually changed a lot of things about the history or actually left out a lot of things. So it was my first experience of getting the deeper story. And that actually made me enjoy the book more because I felt like I was getting a more three dimensional view of the story than I'd gotten in the movie. I would give this book four and a half stars out of five."
|
| Searching For Candlestick Park |
Peg Kehret and S. Marchesi |
"Cool To Read About Someone Like Me" |
See review |
Searching For Candlestick Park
Peg Kehret and S. Marchesi
"I wanted to read Searching for Candlestick Park because I like the Giants a lot, and I thought it'd be a good adventure story.
The book is about a boy named Spencer Atwood. He runs away from his mom, and he goes through a bunch of adventures trying to get down to San Francisco from Seattle; and he goes to San Francisco to find his dad, who turns out to work at Candlestick Park.
I thought it was cool that I could read about a person that's kind of like me, who likes baseball and likes Giants and stuff like that. My parents and I would read it, especially my mom. She would like -- she would probably like this a lot, and every night she would want to read this book with me. I think the age range would probably be from seven to ten, and I think I would recommend this book to anybody who likes baseball. I would give this book five stars."
|
| Searching For God Knows What |
Donald Miller |
Is there Enough Love to Go Around? |
See review |
I chose to read Searching for God Knows What because actually I was at dinner with a friend of mine, and he was talking so much about this other book he had read by the same author that we finally, after dinner we ended up walking across the parking lot to a bookstore and found the book, and he read me a chapter from that book that he had really liked, and I just really liked it. So he had said he was going to lend me this other book, so in the meantime, I picked up this book.
Searching for God Knows What is kind of like a journalistic so I don't know like a journal kind of way of explaining this guy's thoughts about God and religion. He noticed people seem to be acting like there's a shortage of maybe respect or love in the world and that we all kind of fight for what little bits there are. It's almost like we're on a sinking lifeboat and are trying to vie for a position of greater importance on the lifeboat. You know, who's gonna get kicked off because there isn't enough to go around, and who gets to be respected and loved by other people? He thinks that the way to get off the lifeboat and stop thinking the lifeboat mentality is just template realize that there's enough love to go around, there's enough respect to go around, you're always valued, all that stuff, because of God.
The thing I liked most about this book is that, although it is a Christian book, you could have it could have a lot of Christianese what I call Christianese, which is all the rhetoric and stuff that just makes bleh. I don't like that stuff at all. It didn't really have a lot of that. It was just a guy's personal experience and his own story. I think that you know, Christians and non-Christians would really like it.
I would give this book four and a half stars out of five.
|
| Self Made Man: One Woman's Year Disguised as a Man |
Norah Vincent |
"Men Are People Too" |
See review |
Self Made Man: One Woman's Year Disguised as a Man
Norah Vincent
"Self-Made Man is by Norah Vincent, and it was her decision to live life about a year to year and a-half as a man. Not every day, but most days, she would go out into public dressed as a man. She would try and infiltrate different parts of male society as a man to kind of gain the insight of living as a man.
What I like best about the book is it was not just perhaps like other books where it's a man telling you about a man or a woman's theories on a man. It's actually a woman who had lived as a man, and after lengths of time forming friendships with them, she's grown to understand more about their psyche, more about their own background, more about their fears and the things that they've had to suppress, being men, that women are allowed to do. Like we're allowed to freely emote, and men aren't; they're taught to squash that pretty young. So it's really interesting to see her actually really get that, and just by reading her words I felt like I was able to understand that and sometimes I have to sit back and think, "Okay, men are different, this is why; it doesn't mean they don't have feelings." I think something that was a unique twist to this was generally people always say like When Harry Met Sally, sex is always in the way. She's a woman living as a man, but she's gay; so living as the man for a year, she never had any issues where attraction came into play or any sort of romance that would distract from her mission.
It's not so much that I learned anything profound that I never would have thought of, but I think women as a whole feel we are more emotionally in tune to ourselves and more sensitive, and the book kind of shows men are somewhat, too. They just, they've been taught to sort of ignore that, and so they have to come up with this strong defensive persona to compensate for the fact that they have all of these inferiority complexes that we have, too. It's just kind of a reminder that men are people, too.
I think that any women should read this book; I think the younger the better. As you're older, it's okay; at that point, it's a neat little story, but I think the younger the better."
|
| Shaman, Healer, Sage |
Alberto Villoldo |
Shamanism Primer |
See review |
"Well, I first came across Shaman, Healer, Sage when I joined a book club; and it was one of the feature selections, so I ordered it. And it was sitting in my box for a month until I read it, and I wish I had read that book first.
The book is about Inca Shamanism, and that was the very first time I came across such topics. I think it's just my own upbringing; I was always a very Eastern kind of tradition person, so I've always been fascinating about energy medicine, sometimes superstition; and so when this book came along, I thought he tied a lot of the things together for me. So it just -- and then it dropped into my lap by accident, actually, so I really believe in some kind of synchronicity on that particular --
Well, anyone who has actually never touched upon shamanism, I think that would be a good introduction for it -- or just energy medicine in general, or people just who wants a good read of trying to create some miracles in your life. Maybe that could happen for you, and there's nothing that can harm you by trying some of the exercises in my opinion. I actually could relate, and 'cause he used a lot of psychological terms that talks to you so you don't have to really buy into a lot of these mystics and mythic stuff. The worst is nothing happens, and you enjoy the stories, nevertheless.
I would definitely say this book is between a four- and five-star, so depending on the day -- I would say when I first started it was a five star; right now since I've read a lot of similar books, I would say this is still a good four-star to recommend."
|
| Ship of Fools |
Katherine Ann Porter |
Microcosm of Society |
See review |
Ship of Fools
Katherine Ann Porter
"I wanted to read "Ship of Fools" because it is a classic. It's considered a modern masterpiece. The book is set on a shipboard and the ship is going from Mexico back to Germany.
So, it's really about all the people, the groups that are in the world and how we get along. But the way that a novelist can deal with that, a fiction writer can deal with it instead of being political and saying, okay here's a history of this group fighting this group, you do a microcosm.
She puts them all on shipboard, one from each group. Here are some or two or three from each group. Here are some Jews. Here are some people prejudiced against Jews. Here are some gypsies. Here are some people who are afraid of gypsies. Here are some Germans. Here are some Americans. And they're all shipboard and they all have to get along because they have to make it from Mexico where they all were for whatever reason, back to Germany.
What I liked most was the complex characters that I think almost anyone could relate to something in them that's a flaw or strength. So, there were moments in it when you realized that this kind of writing would never work today. But there are so many more moments where the writing is vivid and effective that it's worth it to get through the little pieces where it's out of date.
I would give it, this book all the stars in the heavens. It's that good."
|
| Siddhartha |
Herman Hesse |
"Raises More Questions Than It Answers" |
See review |
"I am a meditation practitioner, and it came to me at a point in my life where I was very interested in learning about people's journeys.
This book is about one young man's journey to the truth. He is a Brahman, and he is living in an ancient Indian culture, and he's struggling because he realizes that with all the wealth around him he still hasn't found his own true happiness. So he goes on a quest, and his quest is to find the truth.
I related particularly to the idea that the essential human quality of wanting to be happy is something that one can only find by doing internal inquiry. I also loved the writing; the writing is just so lush, and rich, and descriptive; and you really get a true sense for the dimensionality of these characters.
It definitely, the book definitely helped me. What I think it helped me understand is that I'm not alone in this quest to figure it all out. My only criticism of the book would be that it's not longer. It was just such a joy to read that I was really somewhat disappointed when I got to the end.
Hesse, the author, is brilliant, and he's really been able to translate a lot of the teachings of especially Buddhism but some of the other spiritual paths in India at that time. It's a very understandable yet not too simplistic language. I would give this book five stars out of five stars. It definitely raises more questions than it answers, and I think that's a real strong point of the book."
|
| Siddhartha |
Herman Hesse |
Learned Life Lessons |
See review |
""I read Siddhartha a long, long time ago. I was actually in high school, and we were forced to choose from several different stacks of books; and I picked it up because it was the shortest one out of all of them. So it wasn't really out of inspiration; it was out of laziness.
The book is about - it's sort of a story that kind of parallels the path of the Buddha. It starts out with a prince in India and follows him as he gives up all of his wealth and goes through all these different extremes of different paths of enlightenment. One of the parts of the book that just kind of stands out to me is just when he's gone to sort of this extreme poverty state and how completely different - at the time for me, as a teenager, that was something that nobody would do voluntarily; and yet he's doing all this voluntarily, and he's with other people that are doing it voluntarily, and I thought that was really fascinating.
I think this was - at least for me in particular - a really good book for me to read in high school because I was a very - well, I still am - a very extreme personality. So it's you either are or you aren't something, or all this excess is important, you gotta have everything. And it was actually the first time I actually considered that you might be okay to meet in the middle.
Not a long book, not particularly hard to read. It is kind of a nice story that doesn't drag you along in any sense. It was actually very easy to want to read more, and so I think it would appeal to a wide audience. My star rating for this book would be a four out of five. I'm giving it that because I definitely got a lot out of the book."
|
| Silver On The Tree |
Susan Cooper |
Action Oriented...Satisfying Ending |
See review |
Silver on the Tree
Susan Cooper
"Silver on the Tree" is the last book in the series, "The Dark is Rising." The further adventures of Will and the Drew children and in this book all the cast of characters come together, specifically, six main characters. In this book they are after a crystal sword and what they found out in previous books, they recovered a manuscript that gave them some poems, some lyrics that they are following in their quest to fight off the dark.
And part of the poem says when the dark comes arising six shall turn it back. And it also says that by the sword the dark shall fall. I feel that the theme of good versus evil is absolutely what these books are about. But I think the way in which it's approached and tied in with mythology of King Arthur that we're all familiar with, makes it sort of more engaging or more endearing. You feel like you already know some of what the story is and then you bring in these children who are on this big quest and it's really fun.
My favorite book in this series would be a toss up between "The Dark is Rising" sort of the intro to the good versus evil and this last book, "Silver on the Tree." I felt like this was another story where sort of action oriented. There was a lot going on. You know it's the culmination and you just can't wait to see what happens. I found the ending to be satisfying and so much so, that I of course, own these books and have reread them many, many times.
I would give "Silver on the Tree" five out of five stars. "The Dark is Rising" series as a whole would get five out of five stars, no question."
|
| S Is For Silence |
Sue Grafton |
Great Series |
See review |
I read S is for Silence 'cause I'm a big fan of Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone series, and it's the S book in her series.
The book is about a woman that disappeared a number of years ago, and her daughter is looking into why she disappeared; and the detective is hired to try to locate the woman, Violet. The Sue Grafton alphabet series is about a detective called Kinsey Millhone, who investigates disappearances, a lot of murders, and she's sort of a quirky, slightly tomboyish detective who takes sort of interesting cases that are presented to her and usually finds out the answer.
I have read all the books in the series 'cause I find them fairly easy to read, so it's sort of light reading; and she develops her characters enough that I want to find out what happens to the characters. And in particular, I read S is for Silence because in R is for Ricochet, she met a man that she got involved in, and I really wanted to find out what happened. It is like having a friend that you want to find out what happens next.
I actually didn't enjoy this book as much as some of the others ones. She wrote the book in a little bit different manner; most of the other books are written in the first person and the detective just tells the story, whereas this book she told the story partially through flashbacks. And I didn't feel that the book sort of was as personal and as much of a Kinsey story. It was sort of a mystery that I didn't feel as sort of personally attached to. I'd recommend the book to people that like mysteries, people that like reading about a female character that is independent and a little bit tomboyish. I'd give this book a rating of three stars. It's not a bad book, but compared to the other books in the series, I was a little bit disappointed by it.
|
| Skinny Bitch |
Kim Barnouin and Rory Freedman |
Edgy Book Misses Mark |
See review |
Skinny Bitch
Kim Barnouin and Rory Freedman
"I was perusing the shelves at Borders Book Store, and I saw this title that said Skinny B*tch; and so I picked it up and I looked at it, and I just kept reading it. So the title caught my attention.
It's a tough love guide on how to lose weight, and stay healthy, and eat healthy, and it's written by two former models. The language is pretty crass, and I didn't like the book in that sense. It read more like a self-motivational column from Cosmo magazine rather than an actual advice book that allowed the reader to believe that they could change their eating habits.
I could see the kind of tone that they were trying to work with. It was supposed to be edgy and kind of like brutally honest, and we're supposed to kind of get this like cool vibe from them; but instead I was complete turned off. I didn't think that succeeded in being positively motivating.
I think that the authors knew what they were talking about, and they were intelligent, and they gave good advice on why you should drink -- why you shouldn't drink coffee, what you should eat, what you shouldn't eat, and why. The reader could glean some positive facts from that book, but I didn't think that it was entirely successful in being a positive motivational book. I haven't read a whole lot of other diet books, but this is definitely for I think the kind of trendy, Cosmo young woman that likes edgy reading and wants to change their lifestyle and be more healthy. It's certainly not like reading the South Beach Diet book or anything or like a cookbook at all. I would give this book one out of five stars."
|
| Skinny Dip |
Carl Hiaasen |
Funny + Land Use Issues |
See review |
Skinny Dip is by Carl Hiaasen, and I had read a previous novel by him named, I believe, Sick Puppy; and he is extremely funny, very entertaining, and yet he's addressing very serious issues of land use and greed. He is writing about a farming corporation, which not only is treating the farm workers very badly, but the farm employer - the farm owner is circumventing environmental laws, specifically the use of fertilizers, by hiring someone with a biology degree who doesn't care at all about the environment.
His characters are very funny. They're types, but they're very funny. He doesn't - they're almost - well, for example, the policeman is a man from Minnesota who wants to go back, but he keeps snakes in his apartment. And his neighbors are terrified, and the policeman's description of why he likes owning snakes is that, "In return for food and shelter they give me unconditional indifference."
It's one of a variety of novels where he takes on some of the same issues, and if you've liked - if you like this one, there are others to read also. I would give this book a four because he covers many, many, many issues and many types of people very - in a very palatable way. I - why wouldn't I give it a five? I guess because the characters are a little to close to being stereotypes. Especially the villains. That would be what would be missing for me.
|
| Sleeping With Cats:A Memoir |
Marge Piercy |
"Not Just About Cats" |
See review |
Sleeping With Cats: A Memoir
Marge Piercy
"The author is Marge Piercy, and I had read a novel by her which I liked; and I looked her up in the library card catalog and found other works by her, including one, this one named Sleeping With Cats.
It's the story of her personal voyage through life, which happens to include a lot of cats, but the cats are not the main focus of the book. She begins with her childhood. Throughout her life experience, she has -- she struggles with many issues. She wants to be a writer; she's also a very political person and is a feminist. She actually -- her -- one of her first experiences that really taught her about that the world can be a cruel place is that her -- she says her intelligent, gentle cat was poisoned by a neighbor when they realized that her family was going to allow an African-American to share the building that they owned.
It's a combination of prose and poetry, so many chapters are either introduced by her poetry or poetry is interwoven in the chapter. She also becomes a very, very proficient gardener, and so her garden is a place to create a life for herself. Her relationship to her cats and her relationship to her garden are a balance with her struggle with her career and with her intimate love relationships.
So in me, it was a four. It's an excellent autobiography describing someone's emotional voyage through life."
|
| Slow Man |
J.M. Coetzee |
Amputee Ponders Meaning of Life |
See review |
"Slow Man is the story who, within the first couple pages of the book, riding his bicycle and he gets hit by a car. He's an elderly gentleman named Paul Raymond, when he's hit by the car he loses his leg; it has to be amputated. So the rest of the book is really an existential look at what his life has meant and whether -- he really battles with whether he's satisfied with his life and whether he's lived it selfishly or in service of other people.
I didn't entirely relate to him because he is an older guy; and he wasn't very family oriented, which I sort of am. And so he was really, he had kind of lived his life as a loner and -- he described it as a quiet little life -- but it was really interesting to see it from his perspective and how much it changed him being an amputee victim.
The thing I liked the most was that it had a really interesting variety of characters -- and I don't know if I even necessarily liked all of the characters, but they really -- they played off each other really well, and it was a really interesting take on how to look at your own life. There weren't really any characters that I personally related to, and usually I'm looking for that one character in the book that really speaks to me and that I can really identify with that helps me to sort of get involved in the book and really relate to it.
I would really recommend the book to anyone who is looking for a little bit of a deeper meaning, I guess. No one in particular, but it's just kind of a really interesting look at how to live your life and evaluating what your life has meant. I would give this a four out of five stars."
|
| Smashed |
Koren Zailckas |
Does Author Back Off From Ultimate Truth? |
See review |
Smashed
Koren Zailckas
"I saw this book in Target. It was hardcopy, it had just come out, and thought it might be appropriate for a few friends with drinking problems, that it might be a good opportunity to sort of start out with passing on a book and then really be able to get to discuss some of the products that they seemed to be having at that point in time.
Koren has a very honest writing style. She's able to remember things that happened to her in vivid detail, and a lot of it is set among a backdrop that's still very familiar to me and I would imagine other readers in my generation. I had purchased this book hoping to be able to start a conversation between friends who had a drinking problem; however, Koren gets to the end of the book and decides that she is not an alcoholic; she is a victim of alcohol abuse.
For someone who had been so honest about the drinking all the way through, I felt very confident that this was going to be a story where she finally - where there was a moment of truth and she came to her senses around her drinking. That moment never came. Like I said, she's able to get great detail. She's very honest throughout. It's just that one big piece that's missing. And as a result, I'm not sure why I would recommend this to others; very specifically because for others with a problem, Koren's refusal to acknowledge her own problem gives anybody else an out."
|
| SnowCrash |
Neal Stephenson |
Cyber-Punk Fan Raves |
See review |
Snowcrash
Neal Stephenson
"Well, a friend of mine had actually recommended Neil Stephenson to me. She was a good friend of mine, and she knows that I'm into kind of like, you know, a lot of cyberpunk, kind of futuristic sci-fi stuff, and this is exactly what was wrong with it; it takes place in some - someone ends up creating this virus called Snow Crash, and basically what it does is it attacks hackers with a - because hackers are so familiar, they've worked for computers for so long, they're so good with numbers and binary code. This basically penetrates their - it goes into their nervous system through their mind.
Usually the genres that I read are more - kind of like fantasy, like a Lord of the Rings-style setting. I mean, it would be considered sci-fi, but sort of like the Middle Ages, with like magic and dragons. But I also like the techno-goth future sci-fi type stuff, like Star Trek, Star Wars. Those are mostly the genres that I'm into. Anyone who's into fast pace, like I said, computers or sci-fi kind of techno-punk future, I'd recommend it to anyone like that."
|
| Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel |
Lisa See |
Friendship + Chinese Traditions |
See review |
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel
Lisa See
"I chose to read "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan," because I am a high school teacher and one of my student's parents recommended it to me.
This book is about a girl named Lilly and she's living in China in the 19th Century. And she, when she's little her family goes to a matchmaker as all families do and they tell her that she's going to be special and that she gets to have a best friend, essentially.
So, she develops this special best friend relationship with this other girl, Snow Flower. And they have this secret fan that they send messages back and forth on. And it just goes throughout their lives and they do have a big falling out in the end. Snow Flower dies and it's somewhat unresolved and Lilly has to try to make peace with her guilt.
I liked that it presented the Chinese traditions that are confusing to me, such as foot binding. And I thought in a fairly neutral way, even though it seems very tragic when Lilly herself is getting her feet bound. And it's pretty excruciating to read about her having to walk across the floor on her feet and hear them breaking. And her sister dies from the foot binding.
I would give this book, three stars."
|
| Sometimes a Great Notion |
Ken Kesey |
Hardcore Workaholic... |
See review |
Sometimes a Great Notion
Ken Kesey
"I chose to read this book Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey. I took it on vacation with me to Mexico, and I read it there, which was good because I didn't - it took me a minute to get into it, but because I was sitting on the beach for days at a time, I had some time to commit to reading it.
It's sort of about a family in the Pacific Northwest, kind of in Oregon, and there's a couple of storylines but it's basically like - there's two half brothers, and one of the brothers was sort of more of an intellectual and he was growing up raised around all these loggers, very tough woodsmen, union men, just hardcore, workaholic, macho loggers, drawn; and he was just kind of more intellectual, bookish. He goes back east with his mother and eventually ends up in college and all this stuff, and his family kind of continues on their logging operation in the Northwest. Then they have some kind of - I don't know - they somehow write for him to come home and help them out because they - there's some union dispute or something and no one will help them, so they write for him to come home. He's sort of right on the verge of committing suicide due to some drug and college, intellectual induced depression and existentialist crisis or something. Anyway, he comes home on a whim to his logger family whom he's totally alienated from and totally has all this budding resentment.
It jumps around from who's narrating; the perspective jumps around a lot and it jumps around time periods; and I really like the way it's written; I love the character development. I would recommend this book to anyone, let's see, who felt dissolution from their family growing up. I would give Sometimes a Great Notion - I don't know - I might give it five stars, maybe 4 -- . I'm a little hesitant with the five stars. I really liked this book a lot though."
|
| Soulless: Ann Coulter and the Right-Wing Church of Hate |
Susan Estrich |
Not a Rip-Off |
See review |
"Well, I had reviewed Ann Coulter's book Godless before, and then I heard about a book called Soulless, which, if you look at the cover, you may see a slight resemblance there. I thought at first that this was a rip-off of Ann Coulter's book by some shameless liberal trying to make a few bucks on her back, but the -- well, the cover is a parody of the cover. It's not a parody of the book.
Anyway, I read the book, and it's a really -- a much better book than the one that it's patterned on. In fact, it's not a book about soul of Godless, so much about Ann Coulter and all of her writings. Susan Estrich is one of the token liberals on Fox News. She's also the author of a book about Hillary Clinton for President, and she considers Ann Coulter to be -- she does use these words -- a menace to society. She not only drags the political discourse to the right, but she also drags it down. So it's about a style of political discourse, the media which encourages this style, and how that's detrimental to our country and what could be done with it.
There's not really anything I could point to I don't like about the book, to tell the truth. It's from a slightly different area of the left spectra that I'm from, but I think it -- I believe from that perspective it addresses it a larger audience.
I would recommend it to anyone who's to the left of Ann Coulter, and perhaps it could be a cautionary tale to anyone who shares Ann Coulter's point of view. I'll give it five stars."
|
| State Of Denial |
Bob Woodward |
Do We Learn From Our Mistakes? |
See review |
"I wanted to read State of Denial because I had read one of the two previous books, not Bush at War but Plan of Attack, which Bob Woodward has written about the Bush Administration and their warlike ways.
State of Denial is actually going more in depth into some of the decisions that were made before the war; and then after the war, it follows on where Plan of Attack left off.
I find it interesting to view the parallels that Woodward is able to lay out in his book without saying as much. When I see the other things that have happened in the past and, of course, Vietnam is also a very good example of the very similar situation to what's happening currently. It uses the accounts of people that are both on and off the record that support the sense that the Bush Administration misled the American public.
I would recommend this book to just about anyone that could get their hands on it, from ages eight to 80. I would hope that they would get out of it that American can do good and hopefully will do good in the future; but we need to not pay lip service to the phrase, "we learn from our mistakes." We need to actually learn from our mistakes. I would give this book four out of five stars. It lays out a very comprehensive idea of why the Bush Administration did what it did. At the same time, it doesn't - it flows in a choppy manner and is not necessarily as well written as other historical accounts."
|
| Staying Healthy With the Seasons |
Elson M. Haas |
Traditional Chinese Medicine and Lifestyle Tips |
See review |
Staying Healthy With the Seasons
Elson M. Haas
"Well, "Staying Healthy With The Seasons" was actually in the window of the bookstore, passing by when I saw it. So, it made me come into the store.
The book lends it's kind of a traditional Chinese medicine feel to wellness, with the seasons. And I've always been interested in dietary changes throughout the seasons and eating seasonally. So I felt these lifestyle tips were all applicable and the way it's broken down into each season, each transition, and really what happens in the body, physiologically, that was part of the reason that I picked it up.
This book takes an in depth approach to what happens as the seasons change and how we can accommodate to those changes. I've never read a book that hasn't mentioned that I had to read it from the very beginning to the very end. And this book in the introduction it says, feel free to kind of browse around. Feel free to start on the season that you're at. And so I thought that was really cool because it's not like any other book I've ever read where I've had to start at the beginning and just finish at the end.
I would recommend this to anybody that's kind of in tune with the natural biorhythms of the seasons. I would give this book, five stars out of five."
|
| Stones From the River |
Ursula Hegi |
"Captivating" |
See review |
Stones From The River
Ursula Hegi
"Stones From the River. Someone had said was good and I picked it up; and once I picked it up, it was pretty amazing.
This book is about Trudy. She's actually a dwarf, and that to me was captivating as a side note because I taught Special Ed. And so I'd had quite a few dwarves in my career. So to hear the story first hand from someone and hear her whole life story, which is what the book is about. Trudy was easy to get involved with, and you could really put herself - put yourself in her shoes. Most of the time I would even forget that she was a dwarf, that she was any different, 'cause the things that she thinks and the emotions she has in the book are things that I feel as well, things that I go through every day.
So it was a really good story and really goes in depth into her feelings and her relationships. I really liked it. I would recommend this book to women, definitely, who are interested in maybe more of a historical novel. I definitely think men that are open to a story like this, but I think it would be hard to attract men to this book because when you read the back, you think like, "Oh, this is gonna be a little bit different." But I'd definitely recommend it to women. I would give this one 4 -- out of five."
|
| Street Wars: Gangs and the Future of Violence |
Tom Hayden |
Working Towards Solutions |
See review |
Street Wars: Gangs and the Future of Violence
Tom Hayden
"I wanted to read "Street Wars" because I work with young people and lived and worked in East LA, excuse me East Oakland for years and years and years, and continue to work with young people. And so, gang warfare is something that's top of the interest. So, I found the book factually very interesting and as well, as putting forward some good solutions to really address the problem of gang membership.
"Street Wars" gives some of the economic and social, political context of gangs, their inception and how they keep going, and why they keep going. It also gives some great information about efforts led by ex-gang members to find peace. It is packed full of information. It can be sort of dry at times because there's so much information, but it's very well researched. I'm already using it in my work and everybody that I know I mention that book too.
Anybody who's working with youth needs to read this book. Anybody who votes, anybody who's interested in changing and improving situations in their respective cities needs to read the book. I would give it, five stars out of five."
|
| Stuart: A Life Backwards |
Alexander Masters |
Perils of Homelessness |
See review |
"The book is about two men. It's focused on Stuart, who is a homeless chaotic man living in England, in Cambridge, England and it's really the story of his life. But it's also the story of the writer himself, Alexander Masters, who becomes friends with Stuart and gets involved in his life to the extent that he essentially gets to know him extremely well. And so we get a lot of information about Masters. Not necessarily his life history, but his perspective on - his changing perspective on the issue of homelessness in England.
Well, the narrative structure of this book is fantastic. It's so unique because - the subtitle of the book is A Life Backwards and essentially that's what Masters does. He introduces us to Stuart at the end of his life. And then he uses the book to go backwards and eventually we end up at the beginning of Stuart's life. In addition to going backwards through his life, there's actually two narratives.
There's a narrative of Masters and Stuart themselves forming a friendship and particularly through this joint effort to help get a couple of people that they know released from prison who run a homeless shelter. And so you've got that narrative moving forward and then interspersed in that are chapters that go backwards in Stuart's life. It's important to understand that this guy is a mess. I mean he has basically for 20 years been drug addicted and alcoholic and living on the streets. And the book itself becomes a mystery in that we find out how he got this way.
It is written in British style English so the language is a little bit harder to get used to. The book is really a commentary on homelessness and it's a commentary on the social system that deals with homelessness. This is a four out of five star book for me."
|
| Stuffed and Starved |
Raj Patel |
If You Liked Fast Food Nation |
See review |
I went and saw Raj Patel, the author of Stuffed and Starved, at a local bookstore and hear him talk and was completely intrigued by everything he was talking about, and so I wanted to definitely read his book.
Stuffed and Starved is about the global food system, and it is incredibly eye opening what this guy tells you about how mostly how so few companies control very important parts of our global food system. The book is completely fascinating for a number of reasons. One, it's really well researched, and he notates everything, so if you have a question about where he got any facts, it is there in the back of the book. He tells about small groups of people who have banded together and who are able to basically fight the global food system that's working against us. He talks about both individual people's stories and the effect it has on us on the whole, and he also discusses soy and how soy is in so many of our foods, predominantly processed foods, and how we just take it for granted what's in our food, and it really makes you think about looking at the label and examining what you're really eating.
I think the book is so well written, and I don't have any criticisms of the author himself. I would say sometimes it's hard not to get depressed by it, because when you read, you know you feel like -- when you read so many difficult things, you feel like putting a pillow over your head and curling up in bed, and we're all gonna die. The great thing is that at the book, he gives you real clear ideas of what difference you can make and what we need to do.
I would recommend this book to people who enjoyed Fast Food Nation would be a great group, but also anyone who eats would benefit by reading this book.
I'm gonna give this book five stars, 'cause it's very well written and very well research and has a lot of really important information in it, and it's entertaining to read, too.
|
| Suite Francaise |
Irene Nemirovsky |
Collaborators In WWII France |
See review |
""I wanted to read Suite Francaise as I've heard a lot about it. The New York Times gave a front page book review, and it's a book about World War II very early before people realized that it was going to be a world war, that it was going to change the whole world. And it was written by a woman who was very successful in her native France but who had Jewish ancestry, which is a big problem, and the whole book is about the denial of what was going to happen to people.
Nemirovsky had no reason to love the Germans, and so it's wonderful that she could write with such generosity and such compassion, wanting to know as an author how these things - these terrible acts of collaboration - could happen.
I would recommend it to anybody who is interested in World War II, who is interested in families. My own family was German from a small town in southern Germany called Karlsruhe, and my Tanta Ana sheltered a Dutch prisoner of war who'd escaped when his munitions factory exploded; and she sheltered him for 2 -- years. And we didn't talk much about that growing up, but I understood - I didn't realize how rare it was; and reading this book gives me a little insight into how extremely rare it was for people to be that brave.
Reading the book gave me a lot of insight into - and compassion and to help people of all sides suffer during that war. I'd be happy to give Suite Francaise five stars."
|
| Super Crunchers |
Ian Ayres |
"Not My Field!" |
See review |
I saw Super Crunchers at the library, and I decided to pick it up because I'm kind of on a sociology/statistics kick lately.
Super Crunchers is about how you can use data to come up with interesting conclusions, like there's a part in the book where they talk about how doctors, for example, have a difficult time knowing about every disease that could possibly happen in the world, but if they can plug the data of the symptoms a person is having into a database, then the computer could super crunch that information and say, "Well, if you've got this and this and this and this symptom, it's likely you could have one of these 20 diseases," and the doctor then makes the choice between which of these diseases is most likely.
The most interesting thing about this book was that he really had practical applications for this stuff in almost every field, and one of the things that author said that I thought was kind of interesting was that everybody would be kind of unhappy to hear about how it's going to work in their field because everybody thinks that they have their own intuition about what's best, and I thought, "Yeah, maybe, I don't know." But then when he started talking about my field, teaching, I really was just as, "Humph! No, that doesn't sound right!"
I found the information to be accessible, and I don't have a real mathy background. You know, the nonfiction genre can get kind of snoozy after awhile. It's a good thing to read if you're really awake and can pay attention; if you're tired and falling asleep at night, it might not be the book of choice.
I would recommend this book to almost anyone, anyone that has an interest in sociology or social patterns.
I would give this book four and a half stars out of five.
|
| Sweet Revenge |
Diane Mott Davidson |
Unlikely Caterer + Recipes |
See review |
"I read the book Sweet Revenge because it was so much fun to get involved in a character, and this was just another story by the same author that I had enjoyed in previous times; and so when the new one came out, I had to read it. Had to read it.
Goldy and her catering crew are people that have become friends through the books and enjoy reading what -- see what their new travails will be and what new recipes are gonna be in the book as well. Goldy Schulz is a caterer by trade, and by association and perhaps bad timing is always involved in a murder of some sort. Stumbles across the body or has one show up in a household; this one is set in a library. Goldy is definitely a character I -- she's somewhat of a contemporary of mine; she seems to be getting younger as I keep getting older, but such is life. It's a good escapist read.
I would recommend them to someone who enjoys a good storyline, enjoys some adventure of the less brutal and bloodthirsty type. I enjoyed the character, I enjoyed cooking, I really enjoyed reading her recipes. As to the number of stars, no question. Hands down, it's a five."
|
| Teacher Man |
Frank McCourt |
For, By And About Underachievers |
See review |
Teacher Man
Frank McCourt
"I found out about the book Teacher Man from my mother, who was a teacher - she's retired. And I wanted to read it because I had read Frank McCourt's first book, Angela's Ashes, and I really liked it.
The book is about his journey after he comes of age and his own struggles with himself, like trying to make it as a teacher, trying to go from being working class to kind of a learned professional. I really related personally to the whole internal struggle over kind of being a classic underachiever. I really related to like ways that he sabotaged himself and screwed up. He goes to Ireland to study and comes back without his degree. I mean, he spent all this time taking these notes for a doctorate, and then he never even finishes it because he just ends up going to pubs and hanging out and talking.
I think anyone who's been kind of a classic underachiever or has felt, "Now, I should get a Masters," or, "I should do this," and doesn't do it, would relate. Because he's a late bloomer, actually. I would give this book a five. I know it makes me sound like an easy grader, but it's really good."
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| Teacher Man |
Frank McCourt |
Catholic School and Struggle |
See review |
"I wanted to read Teacher Man because I'd read the two previous novels by - or memoirs - by Frank McCourt, 'Tis and Angela's Ashes, and I liked both of them immensely. Frank McCourt makes struggle a universal concept so that everyone can relate to it.
The book Teacher Man is Frank McCourt's journey throughout the public school, private school, and vocational school system of New York City. His book is really about his journey towards becoming comfortable with his own style of teaching and acknowledging the fact that it might not be what everyone else is doing, but it's good.
I would certainly recommend it to anyone who was raised Catholic. It's just very much book that you will recognize a lot of aspects of if you went to a Catholic school. You will know a lot of the feelings that he is able to so eloquently describe. I'd recommend it to anyone. It's just so well written, and it's just so universal in its concepts about struggle and redemption; and it's just a really beautiful piece of work. I would give Teacher Man five out of five stars because it is a memoir that like no other that I've read in terms of just brutal honesty and the ability to characterize one's -"
|
| The 4 Hour Workweek |
Timothy Ferriss |
Make Money & Have Free Time |
See review |
I chose to read this book; it has a fabulous title - The Four-Hour Workweek. Wouldn't we all like to have a four-hour workweek? That's great. I'd also heard a Podcast with the author, and I thought boy, those are intriguing ideas; I would like to check out the book.
This book is about how to make the money you need to support the life you want; and also at the same time, how do you free your time to live that life? So it's really about having money and free time, which is basically like having your cake and eating it, too. Not only does this author, Tim Ferris, give you this great idea - presents this great idea and concept - but he gives you step-by-step, detailed blueprint of how to accomplish this. So you could just follow his steps, do his exercises, and theoretically be able to have what he has, which is make money and have free time; and you can do anything with that time.
I would especially recommend this book to entrepreneurs because I think this is just the entrepreneurs' - they'd be all over it, and I would especially recommend this book to people who are at their jobs and they're really unhappy. I think this book would be really inspirational and motivational for them and help them take action to move themselves in a position that's better for them; and finally, I would recommend this book to artists. They're looking for - the money to support their lives and the time to do their art, and this book, it solves that for them. It helps them get that goal. I would give this book, The Four-Hour Workweek, five stars.
|
| The 4 Hour Workweek |
Timothy Ferriss |
"I Bought the Book In Desperation" |
See review |
The 4 Hour Workweek
Timothy Ferriss
"I am the mother of two and four year old little girls. And I am a part-time working professional. And I was actually fortunate enough to be allowed to go from my full-time, 40-hour job to 24 hours. But, the way that worked out was it felt like I was trying to squeeze a 40-hour job into 24-hours. I was constantly stressed and even though I was at home, I was thinking about work. I'd wake up in the middle of the night. And I bought this book really in desperation to try and find some balance for my work life and my home life. And it has helped me a great deal.
His basic premise is rather than working for say 40 years of your life and then not working for 20 years of your life, to work in spurts and then take what he calls "mini-retirements." Say a couple months here, couple months there. And he has you define what is most essential in your life. He's often talking about what are the 20% of the things in your life that get you 80% of your satisfaction.
There's a little bit of an attitude like why wouldn't you do this? You'd almost be dumb if you didn't do this. And I don't appreciate that attitude necessarily, because we certainly need service workers. We need actual people to build buildings and show up at physical locations. Not all jobs can be telecommuted.
If you are somebody who's computer literate and if you are looking for ways to perhaps work at home, this is a good book for you. I give it four stars."
|
| The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People |
Stephen R. Covey |
Commonsense Time Management |
See review |
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Stephen R. Covey
"The reason that I wanted to read The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey is because I needed a way of organizing my time better. And the way I found out about it is through my employer, and this was back in the '80's, actually; and this book is still on the best seller list, which is incredible. And I believe that it should be because it really gave me a ton of information that I continue to use to this day, 20 years later.
I love the fact that he used the term "habits" in his title, because it's really what it's all about, the seven ideas - not necessarily principles - on how to organize your time better so that you become a more effective person.
What I liked about the book is that it was extremely readable. It was very easy to pick it up, read it, go through, and assimilate into my daily life. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in improving their time management skills. I would give this book five stars just because of its longevity and the validity of the message that the book contains."
|
| The Alchemist |
Paulo Coelho |
"I Bought the Book for Twenty People" |
See review |
The Alchemist
Paolo Coelho
"This book was referred to me by one of my mentors; and I decided I wanted to read it, because he told me that it was really powerful and life changing.
The Alchemist is an allegory, actually, so it's about this young man named Santiago who lives this very pastoral life, but he keeps having this dream and the dream leads him on a journey into North Africa. It almost reads like a fable or a child's fairytale. It reminds me a lot of The Little Prince, actually, so it's really easy to read, but it's beautifully written.
This book is a book I've bought for probably 20 people. I recommend it. I've only had one person who read it that didn't like it and I think it just because they're not particularly interested in allegory or that kind of work; but it's amazing and it's one of my favorite books of all time.
I would give The Alchemist five stars. It's beautifully written. It's very descriptive and vivid and I think it's just really applicable to anybody that would want to read it that's pretty much capable of reading. I think a six-year-old could get a lot out of it."
|
| The Alchemist |
Paulo Coelho |
Mother Read Him Positive Story |
See review |
"As a blind person in Turkey to find exactly what you want to read is difficult because first of all, you can't find lots of Braille books to read from Braille, and also you can't find lots of audio books; and once, I came home and my mom was reading The Alchemist, and she asked me if I want to listen. She told me she can read aloud.
The book I found somewhat similar to my situation. It was a Spanish shepherd called Santiago. And Santiago was actually a knowledgeable and smart guy; but he wanted to travel around the world, and he had some dreams, and he wanted to follow his dreams. So in the book I found actually myself. He was explaining everything in detail. He was giving information about Morocco, for example; and when I was listening at first, I felt like I went to Morocco and I know lots of things about Morocco.
When you finish the book, you say okay, the real alchemy is not to convert copper to God. It is conversion of your mind. I mean, it is how to change your thoughts from negative to positive. I would give this book five out of five, and I think if you have higher, I would give higher stars."
|
| The Almost Moon |
Alice Sebold |
"Really Nothing I Liked" |
See review |
The Almost Moon
Alice Sebold
"I wanted to read The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold mainly because I thought that The Lovely Bones was one of the most beautifully written pieces of contemporary literature.
The Almost Moon is about this woman named Helen who, in the opening sequence of the book, kills here elderly mother; and the book kind of then will go back into the past and show Helen as she was growing up with her mom and kind of almost try to redeem Helen by showing what a miserable childhood she had.
I actually didn't like much about the book, but I oddly did feel -- I kept reading it because of feeling a connection with Helen. One of the -- the center of the book was her mom being agoraphobic as she was growing up, and that's sort of this affliction that seems to hit the women in my family; and I remember years when I was growing up that my mom wouldn't leave the house. So I completely could sympathize with the main character, so I kept reading, but there was really nothing I liked about the book. I just kept hoping for it to get better. Instead of giving this character some much needed redemption and maybe sympathy, you just kept seeing how this woman would just go and continue to destroy other people's lives.
I passed this book along to a friend just because I wanted to make sure that this was a horrible book, but I actually wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I especially would tell anyone who read and loved The Lovely Bones just don't read this book. I would give the book two stars, and I'm giving it two just because I did continue to read it."
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| The Almost Moon |
Alice Sebold |
"I Wasn't Interested In Why" |
See review |
The Almost Moon
Alice Sebold
"I read "The Almost Moon" by Alice Sebold, first because it was given to me to read by a friend. And also, I really liked her previous books, "Lovely Bones" and "Lucky."
"The Almost Moon" I think is about a woman. Her name is Helen. And in the first scene, I believe she kills her mother. She smothers here with bath towels and a lot of questions are raised as to why she did this and kind of what her motivation was. So, it kind of goes back in the past about Helen's relationship with her mother and her father, both who seem to have mental health issues. I didn't really like much about this book. It was kind of annoying and a little unconvincing.
A lot of questions are raised why did she kill her mother, first of all? Why did she take a snip of her hair and put it in her purse as a trophy? Why did she have sex with her best friend's son, right after she killed her mother? Is her ex-husband ever going to end up helping her in disposing of the body? Why did she want to cut her mother into a million little pieces and mail them to places unknown? If I would have finished the book, maybe I would have gotten the answers to the questions. But I really wasn't interested in why.
I would not recommend this book to anyone. I couldn't finish it. I wanted to finish it because I liked her earlier books, but I would not recommend this to anyone. I would give this book, one and a half stars."
|
| The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
Michael Chabon |
"I Am Michael Chabon's Biggest Fan" |
See review |
"I read The Adventures of Kavalier & Clay because I am Michael Chabon's biggest fan. I will read anything that this man comes out with. If he writes the back of a cereal box, I will read it. He is so incredibly talented, and the thing that I probably like best about him is that he has so many different interests and he seems to write a book about each of them.
One of the characters in this book has escaped Europe because of the persecution of the Jews, and he has come to New York to live with his cousin. Sam can come up with these kind of wild stories that you kind of need to create a comic book and a comic book hero, and Joe is a really excellent artist; and they come together, they bring their talents together to in the age of -- really the birth of the comic book -- create a very successful venture even being two entirely different people who come from very different backgrounds.
The length of the book, I think, would prohibit some people from picking it up. It's very, very long, it's very detailed, some people might not like the amount of history that is present in the book. That's something that I actually appreciated because I don't actually know that much about the history. I'd have to rate the book probably a four, and that's in comparison to his other books."
|
| The Assault On Reason |
Al Gore |
Employee Of Al Gore Discusses Bosses Issues |
See review |
The Assault on Reason
Al Gore
"I was given a copy of Assault on Reason by Al Gore because I work for his TV station, and so all of the employees were given that for our first anniversary party. A lot of people have gotten into this Al Gore should be President kind of feeling, and I wanted to actually read about what he thinks because I didn't think he was all that great a candidate the first time he ran.
Assault on Reason is essentially about how over the years since Bush was elected, reason largely has been bombarded by increased bureaucracy and more power given to the Executive Branch so that reason isn't really given a voice; so that essentially people aren't able to tell the difference between reason and what they're being told.
I agreed with everything he was saying. A lot of it I had heard about from other sources, so if you're someone who already looks into a lot of these type of issues and pays attention to the news that's not necessarily covered on TV, not a lot of it will be new; but he has a very easy style, and it's easily digestible for anybody that wants to read it.
He doesn't do a lot in terms of what someone should do better. He kind of just states the problem, and there's a little bit too much of how things were better when he and Clinton were in power. He did a lot of comparing. I personally would give it three stars. I think people who think Al Gore should run for President should read it. Ideally, I would love people who don't like Al Gore to read it and just get both sides of it."
|
| The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts On Reclaiming the American Dream |
Barack Obama |
Delivers On Message |
See review |
The Audacity of Hope
Barack Obama
"The book, "Audacity of Hope" is about Barack's perception of the possibility that remains in America. He's very hopeful and he believes that there's tremendous potential in America. At the same time, he points to problems that he sees both in the Legislative Branch, Executive Branch, and politics in general and that tend to dissuade or dismay average Americans.
I like best the message of hope. I think there were, I think his rhetoric was simply awe-inspiring. It was terrific. He has a great command of the language and certainly can write very effective prose and get into conversations that are stimulating and hopeful and but aren't just pie in the sky.
I think I definitely have a better sense of Barack as a person after reading the book. You get to see, understand his voice, understand his frustrations, understand his hope.
I would give his four stars."
|
| The Badass Girl's Guide to Poker |
Toby Leah Bochan |
Reflective of a Woman's Sensibility? |
See review |
"I can't say I chose The Badass Girl's Guide to Poker as much as it chose me. I'm part of a poker group that plays once a month, it's my aunt that hosts it, and one of the guests brought that book for all the ladies who play. So it was actually my wife's book, and I decided I'd read it when she was done with it and enjoyed it a great deal.
The book really is sort of an introduction to poker. It has everything from the very fundamental basics of hands, how they work, how betting strategies work, all the way up to things that are sort of reflective of what would be called a "woman's sensibility" those aren't my words; those are words that are in the book, the intention being of how you can use your gender to maybe have an advantage, how you can throw people off of their game. I got an insight into how I may be played when other people are playing, when women are playing, and what ways may be used to keep me off of my game in playing poker.
One of the examples of ways to get you off of your game that are suggested in the book are the dumb blonde who doesn't know how to play and really does know how to play and plays cards to win but will slow the game pace down, ask for help, and do things that basically let men fawn over them and stay off of their game and not concentrate.
I very much enjoyed the book, aside from sort of the stereotypical genders there, which were kind of a little off-putting. It dealt more with emotion, and being in control of not going on tilt, and betting on emotion, and really sort of focusing on your game, and breathing, and it was sort of a Zen poker guide.
I think this book would be good for anybody that is getting an entry into poker and wants to just sort of learn the basics. It was very straight talk, very easy to read, it's funny; I think it's a good entre book to poker.
I would give it five stars out of five for a poker book. In the canon of text, three out of five."
|
| The Battle For God |
Karen Armstrong |
Studies Origins of Religions |
See review |
The Battle For God
Karen Armstrong
"I stumbled onto "The Battle for God" actually when I went to hear the author, Karen Armstrong speak in Oakland. Got on a big habit of getting books on tape from the library, I took a break from the book on tape, listened to the radio and the author was on the radio and I thought well, this is too much of a coincidence. I got to go see the author. And so, and needed a book a book autographed and "The Battle for God" really caught my eye.
"The Battle for God" is a, it's really a historical review, a straight historical study of the origins of Christians, Jewish and Islamic fundamentalism. It really puts out the idea that even though their claims to legitimacy are about being loyal to the ancient traditions, they're very modern. Having to follow the logic of an ancient scripture word-for-word, that whole logic is a modern idea and this is kind of in response to science and the enlightenment and all of that. And that's Karen Armstrong's main idea.
She thinks that fundamentalism is like I said a modern phenomenon, something that is, that strays from the intent of these religions. She had a real deep respect for all religious traditions and that comes through. She really just tells the history. She doesn't really make, put a lot of effort into advocating a point. You know you can read theology elsewhere. You can read current events around fundamentalism elsewhere. This really fills in the gap with what a lot of people are writing about these things.
I recommend it to anyone who has an interest in some of the cultural conflicts that are going on currently. I would give it four stars."
|
| The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre |
H.P. Lovecraft and Robert Bloch |
"Authors Expansive Imagination Grabs My Attention" |
See review |
The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre
H.P. Lovecraft
"I read H.P. Lovecraft's best of book because a friend gave me a copy as a gift.
The book is a series of short stories collected throughout his short career; H.P. Lovecraft didn't write for too long of a time before he died, so there's quite a broad range of different horror stories throughout the book.
I don't read too much horror-wise; it's just usually not a genre that I'm very interested in, but after picking up this book, I'm definitely more interested in reading more horror novels. I think why this author grabs my attention is that his history of back in the early 20's, he was considered a grotesque writer and people couldn't stand the stuff that he published; and I kind of like those people that are considered the black sheep. His expansive imagination is what really fascinates me with this author.
The only thing I could say that I didn't care for with this book or was a little difficult at times is maybe some of the older terminology that we don't use today because of how our language has kind of evolved over the years. I would recommend this to anybody who's interested in reading horror novels for the first time. You can pick it up, read a couple of short stories and then put it down. I would give this book a four out of five stars."
|
| The Better Homes and Garden Step by Step Cookbook |
Better Homes and Gardens |
Bachelor Cooks Thanksgiving |
See review |
The Better Homes and Garden Step by Step Cookbook
Better Homes and Gardens
"I bought the "Better Homes and Gardens, Complete Step-by-Step Cookbook" sometimes in the 1980s. So, it's not a real new, current groovy book. I got it because I needed to figure out how to cook Thanksgiving dinner. And as a bachelor back then, although I could cook breakfast, cooking Thanksgiving dinner seemed like a real challenge. I needed some really basic, clear help.
The book is organized probably like a lot of cookbooks, except not that I've read too many cookbooks. The front part is categories of meals that you can cook. So deserts and baking, you know fish and vegetables, and on and on like that. The back is a really good index, so you can find any sort of specialty knowledge.
But the really great thing about the book is that it assumes you don't know anything about cooking. So, when it's leading you through how to cook a turkey, it's showing each step with a photo of what they're talking about.
So, I would recommend it to anybody who has little to no cooking experience and can follow some, the simplest directions. And that really if you just follow the very simple directions you can't go wrong.
I hate to be an easy grader, but I'm going to give this five stars. For what I wanted, it was perfect, simple, clear, hard to mess up."
|
| The Better World Shopping Guide |
Ellis Jones |
Making Responsible Choices |
See review |
"I got the Better World Shopping Guide from one of my best friends who, as many people are, we're both super-concerned about environmental issues; and so she found this for herself and then loved it so much she literally bought 20 copies to give to like everyone she knows.
The Better World Shopping Guide is this small, compact thing that you can fit in your purse or your back pocket even; and it goes into ranking companies and products about issues -- the two major issues being environmentally conscious and socially conscious. I just got a kitten, and so when I was shopping for the stuff that I needed to get for her, it was great to have this book, and I could look up different kinds of cat foods and different kinds of cat litter and see what companies do it best.
The information is really well presented. It's really -- it's obviously not something you sit and read cover-to-cover. It's just a great resource when you're making some shopping choices. The kind of the main point of the book is that money is power, and when you choose to money, you're making a choice; and if you choose to give your money to a company that treats their employees poorly and doesn't worry about the environment, you're throwing your money away and that you could make these socially conscious, responsible choices to try to spend your money in a way that is good for the planet. I would definitely give this book five out of five stars. I think it is a terrific resource."
|
| The Better World Shopping Guide: Every Dollar Makes a Difference |
Ellis Jones |
"The Car I Drive Is An A!" |
See review |
The Better World Shopping Guide
Ellis Jones
"I first heard about the Better World Shopping Guide from my boss, actually. His brother is a student at UC Davis; and a professor there, I believe his name is Dr. Jones, wrote the book, and somehow my boss's brother got ahold of it. My boss got ahold of it, and he ordered one for everybody at work.
The Better World Shopping Guide is a small, purse-size book that rates all sorts of manufacturers and stores. It rates them on how the affect the community, how they give back, any chemicals that are involved in their testing, how they treat their employees, how green they are, their effect on the environment, where their resources are from, if it's a country that practices child labor; so it rates them on a grading scale of A to F as to their overall goodness.
I try and be as green as possible. I think it's our responsibility to pay attention to the products we're buying, the companies that are out there, and not supporting those that continue to have bad practice, I guess you'd say. This appeals to me. The layout of this is so simple. I mean you can look for -- let's say you want to find out how your bleach scores. You just go to Cleaning Products; it's right there. If you can't find the heading it'd be under, you go to the back and there's an index.
The hardest change that so far I have not made that at some point I'm gonna have to change, it's the candy I snack on. They think they get a D- or an F; they're actually rated corporate villains, so at some point I'm gonna change that. So far I haven't done that; I've done things like actually the car I already drive is an A, very happy about that. Place I buy my gas is an A-, that was also exciting. I'm trying to change from a normal bank to a credit union, but I wish it could be developed a little bit further and you could go onto a website and kind of get the most updated thing. Hardware stores aren't in there.
But it has so much, and it tells you resource to look for other information, Better Business Bureau, things like that. I think every shopper should have this book, and I am doing my best to put it in the hands of everybody I know. If we're rating this book on a star rating to five: Ten."
|
| The Black Echo |
Michael Connelly |
Where It All Began |
See review |
"I picked up The Black Echo because I saw Michael Connelly's name on it, and I knew that he's gonna deliver; and as I started reading it, I was amazed. I read so many of these police and crime thrillers that you can tell when the authors get a little tired. This was completely vibrant, fresh; it was just like a sun shining - and how often do you feel that when you're reading a novel like this? And then I realized, I think The Black Echo is his first Harry Bosch novel! Once I learned that, I understood why there was so much care, and love, and excitement put into the creating of the book.
A Vietnam vet, heroin addict, is found dead in a concrete pipe, and at first they just think it's another washed up Vietnam vet. Then we realize that Harry Bosch actually knew this guy in Vietnam. This is the kind of book where finally, when the real dirt comes out, it's - you've got to pay attention find it there. So if - I think a lot of readers of this genre are like me: We just go blasting through these books at a zillion pages a minute, and so this one sort of requires you to sit down and pay attention a little.
It's such a great example of how to use language in a non-obtrusive way but a very effective way, and how to create a character in the context of all the activity. It's not just a book about a character; it's a man in a whole web of crimes and societies and hierarchies and everything. To me, that was a really well done thing. I'll give The Black Echo four stars out of five."
|
| The Book of the Dead |
Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child |
Complex Mystery Says PH.D |
See review |
The Book of the Dead
Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
"I wanted to read The Book of the Dead because it's about Egyptology, the study of ancient Egypt. And as it happens, I have a PhD in folklore and folk life. The Book of the Dead, New York is really New York and the different characters are recognizably types that you meet in the museum world.
The style is pretty elegant, and I do look for that. The use of words, the vocabulary, the phrasing, the sentence structure -- it's not just trash. It's pretty well written.
I think the reader that would like The Book of the Dead is somebody who likes a complex mystery, not just a quick read of a mystery, but something that's got some culture, some police work, some love interest, some Europe -- somebody that likes to spend their time over a book would love probably the whole trilogy, because it's pretty complex.
I would give The Book of the Dead three stars."
|
| The Bookseller of Kabul |
Asne Seierstad |
Just A Few Suggestions |
See review |
"I don't quite remember how I found out about the Bookseller of Kabul. It was the kind of book that you saw on all the bookshelves in all the book stores, so somehow I stumbled upon it. The book is interesting, because it is about a journalist, who goes to live with a family for about three months, in the home of this bookseller, who is an interesting guy, because he, in many ways, is non-traditional. He's not a strict Muslim, and yet he lives a pretty traditional life, in terms of how his household is run and the dominance he has in his family. I liked the fact that you learn elements of what it's like to live in Afghanistan society.
One thing I disliked about the book is that she's a journalist who went to live with them, yet the way she's written the book is actually almost in fictional style, so she doesn't put herself in the picture. I'm gonna give this four out of five stars, because it is really interesting. Maybe I'd say a little bit less than four, if I had to, or if I could, because some of the writing isn't fabulous. Part of that is the translation, so it's not all the author's fault. So translation's an important part, when you're reading a book that's not originally written in the language that you're reading it in. But it is a really interesting take - one perspective on life."
|
| The Book Thief |
Markus Zusak |
New Angle On Holocaust Story |
See review |
The Book Thief
Markus Zusak
"I think I read The Book Thief partly as a fluke. Friends had been recommending I think The Lightening Thief, which came out at the same time, which is by a totally different author, a totally different book, and I kept getting it mixed up with The Book Thief, so - I ended up reading The Book Thief kind of by accident.
The actual story is about this girl who is kind of lost, getting to know and love the people around her. The story of the holocaust and the story of the few brave non-Jewish souls who hid people who were being persecuted has been told a bunch of times, and been told really well, but I think not in the sense of what was it like to be a German and kind of get caught up in this, and maybe have no interest in Nazism but just want to eat and have a job.
I think it's great that the book was intended for young adults, because I think that they can handle it. But I also love that adults are reading it and seeing the value in something that was intended for a younger crowd."
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| The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World |
Michael Pollan |
"The Chapter on Marijuana Was Interesting" |
See review |
The Botany of Desire
Michael Pollan
"The Botany of Desire I read because a dear friend of mine whose opinion I totally trust told me I had to read it and not to question the fact that he considered it a gardening book. He told me how it was divided into the four chapters on the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato.
My two favorite parts of this book were the chapters on the apple and marijuana. The chapter on apple - on the apple - really sent me into a crazy apple-finding mission. I drove three hours up to an apple orchard. I mean I just started Goggling apples. I'm not a gardener; I have the opposite of a green thumb, but this book was just amazing.
The chapter on marijuana was really interesting because it talks about how marijuana started being used with some regularity in this country and how it came from Mexico and south of our border but that was a tropical plant and was really hard to grow up north, and the fact that the government had such a war with it actually made it more durable and easier to grow and more popular.
I would give it a 4 -- . No, I'd give it a 4 because the scientific part of it does kind of go on and on, and so anyone who can't handle that would probably have a problem with the book. I felt like I was gonna be tested on it afterwards and fail."
|
| The Braindead Megaphone |
George Saunders |
"Not Sure I Learned Anything New" |
See review |
"The Braindead Megaphone by George Saunders, I've read Saunders' essays before, and so I really was interested when he came out with this new book. I thought that it would be an interesting read, simply because I was interested in his previous work in essays.
Well, it really is a compilation of Saunders' perceptions on a number of different aspects about the world. He talks about the political discourse in the U.S. He also takes a look at Dubai, you know, Dubai a very well to do Middle Eastern city. He takes a look at other events or other people, such as a Buddhist boy and his struggles. And so it really takes a look at a lot of different social circumstances, but I think the underriding theme is -- at least the takeaway that I got when I read it was that he wants to show that the world is a bit too I would say brash.
I would say the one thing that I didn't necessarily like about the book is that I'm not sure if I learned anything new. I think it confirms a lot of things. I think it gives credence to the idea that maybe we shouldn't be so loud, if you will, right, that being loud doesn't necessarily make you smart, or it doesn't make you right. I think that's an idea that probably has been put forth in book throughout the past 10, 20, 30 years.
I recommend anybody who's interested in current events and current affairs read this book. I would give this book four stars out of five."
|
| The Bridges of Madison County |
Robert Waller |
Are You A Woman? Do You Feel Trapped? |
See review |
"The Bridges of Madison County, I don't really remember how I found out about it because I read it long before it became popular and made into a movie. But one of the reasons I was interested in reading it was because it was about a woman, a wife that stayed at home and had resettled, and sort of settled for less than maybe what she wanted or thought she wanted. She was in a situation of a real struggle between wanting to do the best for her family as opposed to fulfilling her own personal needs, and the reason I could relate to that is because I felt myself to be in a similar situation.
The type of person that I think would get the most out of this book is a woman that is in that situation. I think there are a lot of women in marriages with children where they feel trapped.
I would give this book still four stars."
|
| The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao |
Junot Diaz |
"A Different Type Of Fiction" |
See review |
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Junot Diaz
"The book is about a family, a Dominican family and it takes place in New Jersey, Trenton, New Jersey, and also, as they go through college. But it really takes a look at the lives of the family of Oscar Wilde, who's Dominican. He's this overweight geeky kid in New Jersey. And his trouble, it starts off with his troubles and his experiences growing up as an adolescent and trying to fit in.
What I loved about this book was the narrative, just a very interesting read in terms of the language and the descriptive nature of relationships if you will.
I would recommend anybody who's interested in a different type of fiction. It's not a romance. Obviously, it's not a romance novel. It's obviously not a, you know a "Pulp Fiction" type book. But it is a book that I think is a serious literary concern.
I rate this book, four stars."
|
| The Brooklyn Follies |
Paul Auster |
Book Within a Book |
See review |
"I wanted to read The Brooklyn Follies because, well, I love Paul Auster's works. He's just a marvelous writer; I've always enjoyed things that I've read of his.
It's about Nathan's journey towards renewal. Basically, this title picks up on an idea that Nathan has about writing the book of human follies; so there's a book within the book, which is often Paul Auster's way of sort or looking at stories within stories and looking at constructions that people make.
Nathan was an interesting character. I didn't know whether I really liked him or whether - I mean, he's likable in some ways, but then there are some things that he does in the book that I sort of question. However, I felt a lot of compassion for him. He's a cancer survivor and has gone through divorce and has had quite a lot to deal with.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves Paul Auster's writing. I recommended this to people who want to enjoy reading. I think it's a good summer read, actually. I will give this book three and a-half stars. I think it's very good; I just don't think it's the top of the -"
|
| The Catcher in the Rye |
J.D. Salinger |
Actor-Writer Gives Hightest Rating |
See review |
The Catcher In the Rye
J.D. Salinger
"Catcher in the Rye, as far as how I found out about the book and why I wanted to read it, I think it seemed like there was always some kid reading it. I remember growing up and being on the school bus or the camp bus, and there was somebody with the book; and something intriguing about that kind of deep red, ruby cover. I don't think I got around to it until I was like 20 years old, so that's kind of surprising.
I think the coming of age theme is one that's interesting to me, maybe because I'm still hoping to someday. No. Yeah, I guess it's like I've had my own struggles growing up with coming of age, and like probably most people do. And so it's good to read a book where you get to see a reflection maybe of what you've gone through and get some insight to it through a masterful author is kind of a good experience and it kind of helps you connect to yourself.
As far as being an actor and a writer myself, I'd say I was certainly inspired and influenced by the first person narrator and the way Salinger brings in certain catch phrases like, "that really kills me," or, "if you really want to hear about it," and old-this, old-that. And the way he just brings in the vernacular and makes use of a certain kind of telling phrase and repeats it over and over again in a way that helps bring the character to life. I'd have to give the book five stars. It think it's so fully realized and such a, just a artistic accomplishment, bring this adolescent to life and writing an entire novel in the first-person, adolescent voice."
|
| The Catcher in the Rye |
J.D. Salinger |
"Written Like People Think" |
See review |
"The book is about Holden Caulfield, who's a boy in prep school in New York who doesn't really get along with the system.
What I like most about the book, first of all, at the time that I first read it - I've read it many times - but the time I first read it, I was kind of in that same place where you're not sure where you're going in the future, and here is a character in a famous piece of literature that is basically thinking and acting like you either would love to or are. People say this person writes like people talk; I think this book is written like people think.
Anyone in high school, definitely, or in college, really. I mean, anybody that hasn't read it. It's good for - if you're in that frame of mind, it's good to identify with someone out there who feels the same way. If you're not in this frame of mind, it's a great, well-written book. I would have to give it five out of five stars just because I personally love the style of the book; and when I read it the first time, it was such a strong connection that it's really become a part of my life."
|
| The Celestine Prophecy |
James Redfield |
"Extremely Hokey" |
See review |
"I read The Celestine Prophecy because my mother read it and liked it and recommended it to me.
The book is about, it's this man's spiritual quest, basically. And it wasn't at all what I expected. Well, I guess when it comes to religion, particularly organized religion, I'm rather skeptical. And I mean the book was not - how do I put this? It wasn't mean spirited or anything like that. It was - it was like this odyssey through South America, jungles, mountains and stuff, kind of like an Indiana Jones seeking-the-truth sort of thing. It's kind of how it struck me.
Well, my mother liked it I think 'cause - she's wonderful, she's an angel. She has much more of a rosy view of people and the world than I do. I'm much more cynical than she is, which is I think why I reacted to the book the way I did versus the way she did. 'Cause I think she thought it was wonderful, and I remember thinking, "You gotta be kidding me!"
The Celestine Prophecy is probably a book for somebody who's young an idealistic and extremely gullible. And I don't mean to slam the book, it's just my personal reaction to it was kind of like, "Oh, please." I would give The Celestine Prophecy two stars out of five. The quality of the writing wasn't bad; it was just the story itself in the end to me just seemed extremely"
|
| The Celestine Prophecy |
James Redfield |
"Zero Stars...Worst Book I've Ever Read" |
See review |
The Celestine Prophecy
James Redfield
"I found out about The Celestine Prophecy from a friend of mine who was very into it. She was like, "Oh, my God, you have to read this book! It's so great, it changed my life!" So I of course ran out and got it. I hated it. I hated it. I thought it was the stupidest book I'd ever read in my life. I just thought it was horrible, and I was surprised that she actually recommended it to me.
The book is about a man who goes on this quest to find The Manuscript, which has nine principles for making humanity a better thing. There weren't any characters that I related to at all. I felt like the characters were shallow and kind of stereotypes, and the dialog between the characters was - people don't talk like that. It was ridiculous. Now, I didn't really appreciate the way the author, say, would create characters in different cultures but the names would still be completely Anglo or seemingly Irish names for people in Guatemala.
Don't believe the hype. It's a very popular book; so many people just went gaga over the book. Don't expect it to change your life. Don't expect it to be this amazing masterpiece. I would give The Celestine Prophecy zero stars, simply because I consider it the worst book I've ever read. An eight year-old could"
|
| The Cold Moon: |
Jeffery Deaver |
Rich, Complex Characters |
See review |
The Cold Moon
Jeffrey Deaver
"I wanted to read The Cold Moon because it's a mystery and I love mysteries -- any kind; they can be bloody, they can be cerebral -- if it's a mystery, I'm going to pick it up and see if I can read it and enjoy it.
The Cold Moon is about a serial killer, and he's called "the watchmaker," and he leaves behind at the sites of his murders a little sort of calling card, as they always call it, of a clock face with sort of -- it has a moon -- the way it's described, it's a moon clock face, and the murders are pretty awful. They take place in New York City, and it's about the investigation and solving of those crimes.
The central characters are not stereotypes. They're rich, they're complex. They -- in Cold Moon and I think in the other Lincoln Rhyme novels -- I've read a couple of them -- the central characters are pretty compelling. Give it a solid three."
|
| The Color of Water |
James McBride |
Mother Convinced It's An Alter-Ego Biography |
See review |
The Color Of Water
James McBride
"I read The Color of Water because my mother sent it to me. My mother basically was convinced that this was sort of an alter-ego biography of her life, and she really wanted me to read it.
The story in the book actually does kind of relate to my mother's life in a way, because she grew up in poverty in the southwest and married a black man and was shunned from her family because of it, and she had me. It's written from the son's point of view, and this is actually a biography. It's written from his point of view as his crazy Jewish mother and growing up as a black person having a white mother. And I definitely had a lot of issues with that growing up. Culturally, people saying, "You're black," but I have a white mother. How do you reconcile that? So it definitely hit home pretty close for me.
I felt like I got a really great insight into this person's family and into this character; and even though she wasn't perfect, you end up really liking her and all her bizarre quirks. I would definitely recommend this book to anybody who has been in an inter-racial relationship and had to struggle with that - single mothers who have had to struggle to support their families, because man - the main character in this - man, does she struggle!
After I read the book, I definitely had more perspective on how it was for my mom raising kids on her own and different issues that she dealt with because, again, being shunned from your family because of inter-racial relationship, I never even gave that any thought. I would give The Color of Water four stars, just because I think it was really well written. For a biography it was wonderful."
|
| The Color Purple |
Alice Walker |
Controversial, But Questions Ending |
See review |
The Color Purple
Alice Walker
"I wanted to read The Color Purple because it presents a lot of issues about feminism and sexism and gender issues that are seldom presented - or very, very rarely presented - in other literature.
The book is about African American females struggling in a society where there position is the lowest of the low. What I liked most about this book is the way that the book is presented to us, because it is a collection of letters. And I felt that is very interesting because a letter is a form of communication that we rarely use nowadays because of email and other forms of telecommunications.
I do not like how the characters are portrayed at the end off the book, because it seems to me like for such a book for audience that's really looking to explore - really to explore racism or the problems of sexuality, then you should not have such a positive ending with people changing, people becoming better, because face reality, that's pretty much not possible. I would give this book four and a-half stars because it dares to deal with issues of feminism, racism and bi-sexuality; but at the same time, I think that there is a lot more that it can do, a lot more reality that it has actually left out."
|
| The Confessions of Max Tivoli |
Andrew Sean Greer |
Complicated, But Well Written |
See review |
The Confessions of Max Tivoli
Andrew Sean Greer
"It's about San Francisco in the late 19th century. And the concept of the main character, Max Tivoli, he's born old looking, but has the mentality of a normal child. So, he evolves where he's born as an old man and he grows young. So, it's very convoluted and it sounds almost ridiculous, but it's amazingly well written.
And it's funny, and it's really sad. And there's a lot of heartbreak in it, on everybody's part but you can also see the selfish side of everyone too. But you don't hate them for it, and then just the historical aspect of San Francisco at that time.
This is one of the few books that I would definitely give out of five stars, it's hard to rate something a five because that means perfect, but it's got to be a four and a half. It's a book I would, I think I took it out of the library initially and of course, I went and bought a copy for myself. And I only buy a copy if it's a book I want to read again or share with other people."
|
| The Corrections |
Jonathan Franzen |
"Near Perfect" |
See review |
"After hearing about it from a lot of people, including an ex-girlfriend which - even though the relationship didn't go too well, I have to trust her in literature. I ended up seeing it in a -- 6.00 pile, in which it was poverty that brought me to buying this. That and potential quality.
I was actually really surprised with just how like heart-wrenchingly honest it was. I wasn't expecting it to be as dark and as cynical. It was a complete opposite of what I was expecting; I thought it was just gonna be like the problems of a family between the elderly mother and father and then the kids struggling to try to make it. And I was like, it was just kind of crushing to see just basically these three kids - these three children that are struggling to make it in their adult lives, making not only the same mistakes as their parents but even worse mistakes.
When I was reading it, it was a really strange time because one of my relatives was suffering from Alzheimer's, which it wasn't one of those things I knew of parents just going into this book. And then just seeing kind of the downward slide of the father, of just seeing the patriarch, just basically the solid rock for everybody, start going in decline; and it was like oddly just kind of mirroring my experiences at the time, too, just of my relative being incapable to remember my name or what just happened three seconds ago and things like that.
I would perhaps recommend first off to maybe people maybe suffering a similar experience or maybe like kind of rough-distance childhoods, those with - I guess those suffering from a relative with Alzheimer's because I think it presented a pretty realistic depiction of it, although it wasn't like the lynchpin of the entire story but it was a pretty crucial part of it. But I think if anything, I would try to present it to people that kind of want something challenging. I would give The Corrections five out of five stars. I found it to be a near perfect."
|
| The Corrections |
Jonathan Franzen |
Family and Dementia |
See review |
""The Corrections has been out for five years, but I only read it in 2003 after all the initial hype and hubbub had wound down about it. I needed a reason more than hype to read the book and found it when my father started coming down with dementia.
The Corrections is about a household in St. Louis - it's called St. Jude in the book - a family, nuclear family, the children; and the children rebel against what they consider the "parochial tyranny" of their parents' lives. The book is very compassionate in how it describes that wearing down of the father Alfred's mental faculties. It's almost a clinical study, and as my own father's condition got worse and worse, I could see it described and even anticipated in the book, which is very harrowing and very painful, but it's tremendously reassuring to have that insight and to have an author describing things that my father would say if he could only say them about how his life was declining.
I've read The Corrections three times now, and there's new - always new things. It's a very carefully constructed, very complex, social novel of ideas; but it's got a lot of humor and a lot of satire. I'd recommend The Corrections to - first of all - anyone who's in the helping professions, who's in the clinical professions, who has to deal with aging people, dementia and how it works on families, or anyone who works in family dynamics. Book clubs because there's so much to talk about; it brings up so many personal experiences. I mean, it's just a great novel. I'd give The Corrections five stars."
|
| The Country in the City: The Greening of the San Francisco Bay Area |
Richard Walker and William Cronon |
How the Bay Area Makes Green Spaces |
See review |
The Country in the City: The Greening of the San Francisco Bay Area
Richard Walker and William Cronon
"The Country in the City" is about the Bay Area and about all of our open space, all of our green areas in the Bay area, and how they became to be. It's kind of an inspiring tale about how all the land around here has been saved from development.
There's sad stories of land being lost and there's also success stories of land being saved for the people. I liked in this book the story of the Berkeley Marina because that's somewhere where I go a lot, Cesar Chavez Park. The history of it is that it was a landfill for Berkeley, by dumping their trash there year after year after year and it became kind of a build up land mass out in the Bay a little bit. Because it's such an incredible place to be now, you'd never guess that it was an old dump.
The main theme that Richard Walker makes or main point that he makes is that every single green space that we enjoy in the Bay Area, was fought for by a group of citizens or an organization that was formed by groups of citizens. As he chronicles each group in the history of it and goes through the whole book, it becomes almost tedious after a while.
Anyone in the Bay Area who goes to these parks it's fascinating to know the history of them and it gives you a great appreciation. I'd give "The Country in the City" four stars.
|
| The Crossing |
Cormac McCarthy |
"Get Lost in the Story" |
See review |
The Crossing
Cormac McCarthy
"I picked up "The Crossing," "The Crossing" is a second book of Cormac McCarthy's, "Border" trilogy. And I read the first book. "The Crossing" is kind of bleak coming of age story about a young man named Boyd. Who in this act of rebellion takes this wolf that was trapped on his ranch, that he and his father trapped and just somehow, he had learned that the wolf had come from Mexico. And so he saddled up his horse and kind of muzzled the wolf behind him and was leading the wolf back into Mexico. It actually involves three trips into Mexico.
All of the trips were pretty bleak, but very beautifully written. Cormac McCarthy's writing in "The Crossing" just gives wonderful attention to each scene and each event and each experience and really puts you there without you thinking so, necessarily where is the plot leading? What does this mean? Off hand, I think maybe my favorite character was the wolf that this boy tried to rescue. Maybe reminded me of my dog.
I've not read "The Road" and I've not seen "No Country for Old Men." And very interested actually I saw the review on "The Road," the Blue Rectangle website. I recommend "The Crossing" and the whole Cormac McCarthy "Border" trilogy to anyone who just really likes to get lost in the story. I'd give it four and a half stars. It was a really good book."
|
| The Dark is Rising |
Susan Cooper |
7th Son Of a 7th Son |
See review |
The Dark is Rising
Susan Cooper
"The Dark is Rising" is sort of an intro to this boy's sort of heritage. He's the seventh son of a seventh son. And it turns out that he is connected to the powers of the light, as opposed to the powers of the dark. And that his job in his lifetime is to be the sign seeker, to find these six signs and unite them and fight in a battle against the dark powers.
The signs he's seeking are in reference to just the powers of the light. But there is more King Arthur Holy Grail type mythology tied in with the series as a whole. This is a very exciting book. The story is sort of very engrossing and adventurous and it's very easy to get wrapped up in. It's one of those books you don't want to put down. You just want to keep reading. It's really entertaining.
I am a fan of mythology-based stories. I do like fantasy more when it pertains to real world than when it's just completely made up. As far as the age range for this book, that it's similar to the Harry Potter series, maybe a little more geared to a younger reader. I felt like Harry Potter was really for anyone. But, I think that people who enjoy Harry Potter would enjoy this book also. I would give "The Dark is Rising" five out of five stars."
|
| The Da Vinci Code |
Dan Brown |
Reader Liked Pace |
See review |
"I wanted to read The Da Vinci Code, because enough people had harassed me about reading it. You haven -- t read the Da Vinci Code? and I think I was the only one that hadn't read it. It had been out for a long time, and finally, it was as easy as my brother saying, Here, I finished, and he gave it to me. It's about a quest to find truth, just in the middle of everything that's established. I think it's popular, because it's not only fiction, but it mixes in some aspects of truth, that it has people scratching their heads, saying, "Hum, could this be true?" I like the pace of the book. I felt like I was sweating, and rushing, and moving, and looking for things. I watched the movie, and I was disappointed, in that they didn't capture that pace, that kind of sweating, that kind of move along, something's coming after you, and you gotta move forward.
One thing I disliked about it, and this is probably not so fair, because I read Angels and Demons first, and I kinda felt that it copied the formula. Some of the things were duplicated, in that he is chasing, looking for something, stumbling around with a woman, but other than that, in fairness just to the book by itself, I thought it was great and well written, and it makes you think. Folks like conservative Christians, like my father, would probably not like it, and you know, get surprised that his kids read it and just thinks that it's wrong, which I like. But even if you had heard about it, I think that you'd still find good pieces, and it's exciting, so I would probably give it three and a half stars, because it was an interesting, exciting adventure."
|
| The Da Vinci Code |
Dan Brown |
Fun Puzzle But Predictable Ending |
See review |
The Da Vinci Code
Dan Brown
"I wanted to read the Da Vinci Code, because a lot of my friends were readers of it or have read the book and talked about how great the book was. I think the book is really popular, because it is based off of some factual information, the Louvre, the Vatican. They thought of hidden treasures like Raiders of the Lost Ark themes, and people wanna believe that there are, you know, secret treasures somewhere. Because of the popularity of the book, I would recommend the Da Vinci Code to people that are thrill seekers, people that like to try and solve a problem and have it related to real-world information.
What I liked about the book is it was - made you think. You tried to solve the puzzle for the main characters. What I didn't like about the book is that you were able to actually solve the problem before the end of the book, or at least in my opinion, I was able to figure out where the treasure was hidden. The book and the movie are actually probably the closest portrayals together, so if you like the movie, you probably would really like the book. I would give the Da Vinci Code three stars out of five, only because of the predictability near the end of the story. It was more of an Americanized happy ending and being able to solve everything, and other than that, I think it was a very well-written book."
|
| The Death of the Heart |
Elizabeth Bowen |
Blueprint For Atonement |
See review |
"Death of the Heart is about a young girl named Portia, who's orphaned and has to go and live with half siblings in London. And they're upper crust and they don't like her very much. And of course they're too polite to say much about it, but they don't help her. They don't navigate her way for her. And so she falls in with dreadful middle class people who are likely to ruin her prospects in upper crust society. And goes to the seaside with them and they're great people and they seem to have great fun unlike the people Bowen's own social circle. But Portia keeps a diary of her goings on and her sister reads it and misunderstands and terrible things happen as a result to Portia.
It's not much of a plot, but it - Bowen really carries you along. Yes, it's kind of like - it's actually I think maybe the original version of Atonement. It's a lot like Atonement. I think it's a much better book. Bowen's perceptions are so acute. When she has her characters on a winter walk through the streets of London, you feel like you're there. You feel like you could take her book to London and walk with it as if it were a guide or a map. And when she goes to the sea, you feel you're there.
She is a master at dialogue and at kind of these pithy observations. I always feel that Bowen has my number. She says in one book that a character liked to have acquisitive travel. And I thought, "Wow, that's me." You know travel is a means of acquisition.
This is a good book club book because there's a lot to talk about and there's a lot to savor and little nuggets to bring to a discussion. And of course anyone who's ever felt a little bit out of place or a loner would find a kindred spirit in Portia. I'd give Death of the Heart five stars."
|
| The Devil in the White City |
Erik Larson |
World's Fair, Architecture and Killer |
See review |
The Devil In the White City
Erik Larson
"Various people had recommended to me Devil in the White City. It didn't seem like a book that would particularly interest me. The way it was described to me, it sounded like it was going to be something of a period piece. It's - well, it's nonfiction. It does take place during the time of the World's Fair at the turn of the century. Not something that I generally find to be particularly interesting, but so many people from so many different walks of life had recommended it that I decided I would give it a try.
Probably by about page 5, I was already sucked in. Devil in the White City tells two stories that are almost uniquely transposed together: the story of the architecture through the World's Fair, but told through the eyes of Daniel Burnham, who is the architect who was responsible for it, and the psychopathic killer that took advantage of the circumstances around the World's Fair in order to be able to take advantage of some of those victims.
What Eric Larson does that I don't think any other author that I've read has ever done successfully is that he's able to fuse the two stories together. Whether you're more interested in the architecture section or interested in the murder section, you've really got a story that tells the whole story of the World's Fair through these two pieces.
I think there's an awful wide readership that would find this book intriguing. The best way I can describe it is that when I've given it to people, I've said, "I know this may not be the sort of book that you would ever pick up for any reason, but I think there's something in it for everybody."
|
| The Devil in the White City |
Erik Larson |
Psycho + Chicago's Worlds Fair |
See review |
"I read The Devil in the White City primarily because I'd seen the review of it in the San Francisco Chronicle - it's actually a review that's quoted on the cover of the edition of the book that I have - and it just sounded like a very fascinating story.
When you can find silvers of history that are just - haven't been revealed or just normally wouldn't come up in your studying of American history, I find that really rewarding. The whole concept that there was a profound depression in the early 1980's, probably greater than The Great Depression, and in the midst of it there was this World's Fair that was held in Chicago. You hear about it from time to time - that's where the first Ferris wheel was, it's why we have the term "midway" - but in general, the whole story about how the fair was built, how some people just worked to death trying to get it together. The other intriguing aspect of this whole book is the story of H.H. Holmes, this psycho who was luring single women into this web of ultimately murder.
From the review, I thought that Eric Larson was gonna spin these tales together. I have to admit I was disappointed. He seems to be promising at the beginning this gothic, almost ghost story type thing about how the building of this fair enabled this fiend to prey on young women, when in fact, honestly, there was just a chronological correlation there.
Anyone with a fascination for history, architecture, your people who like serial killers, yeah; but anyone is gonna find it an interesting read just for the detail in it. I would give The Devil in the White City three stars. It's a good read; again, it just didn't have the payoff that I thought it was gonna have."
|
| The Devil In the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America |
Erik Larson |
Tidbits of Information |
See review |
The Devil in the White City
Erik Larson
"Devil in the White City is about -- well, two things, really, that intertwine and really capture a moment in American history. The 19 -- oh, 19. The 1873 World's Fair in Chicago and a serial killer at the time who was preying on young women.
As you read the book, the stories of the serial killer and the World's Fair really intertwine. You can tell that they -- I mean every other chapter you're switching points of view and you're going back and forth between the two main protagonists, which are the director of the World's Fair and the serial killer himself. It's a Jekyll and Hyde of Chicago at the time of the 1870's.
I really enjoyed the historical content of seeing different things. For example, Pabst Blue Ribbon is named "Pabst Blue Ribbon" because it won a first place blue ribbon at the 1873 Worlds Fair. Little things like that, little tidbits of information. As far as things that I didn't like about the book, the author was a bit repetitive. He kept coming back to the certain points about different characters and kind of harping on them, kind of focusing on that and repeating himself about it, kind of like I'm doing right now. I would give this book 3 1/2 stars."
|
| The Devil Wears Prada |
Lauren Weisberger |
Not What She Expected |
See review |
The Devil Wears Prada
Lauren Weisberger
"The Devil Wears Prada is about a young woman who wants to write, and she's trying to figure out how to break into the field after graduation from college. I found out about The Devil Wears Prada on a fashion Website, a Website where people talk a lot about fashion. I read it because I wanted something light. Like, I've been reading a lot of really heavy things, and I thought, oh, this is going to be, you know, a funny, kind of juicy gossipy sort of story.
I wasn't very happy with how it was written. I thought it was one of those books that, maybe they were so eager to put out into the market that they didn't edit very well, and that was frustrating for me.
Anybody who likes that sort of expose - you get the feeling that you're getting the inside story on something - you know, there's a little bit of pleasure in that. So I would recommend it, but I don't think I would ever recommend it wholeheartedly. I don't think I would ever say that this is a great book."
|
| The Dune Series |
Frank Herbert |
Author Often Revisits Series |
See review |
The Dune Series
Frank Herbert
"My mom is a big fan of fantasy and science fiction, and she had read them and mentioned them and I saw -- she had this kind of dog-eared collection of books; and I found the first book there, and I picked it up, and I read it. I was immediately captivated.
Those are books -- the Dune books are books that I've come back to a couple of times throughout my life. When I'm talking about the Dune series, I should stress that I'm talking about the original six books written by Frank Herbert.
They really follow a struggle for power in the universe between different major elements, and they focus predominantly around a house, or _________ House Atreides and their rivalry with House Harkonnen. Then there are other major players in the universe at this time, the Benne Gesserit, which are a group of witches -- they call themselves the Benne Gesserit Witches -- the Spacing Guild which provides all sort of interstellar and interplanetary transportation, and then later on a group called the Tleilaxu. The most precious commodity in the universe is a drug with very specific qualities called Spice, and it only is to be found on one planet called Dune.
I would recommend the Dune series to anybody who is interested in either fantasy or science fiction, or really, I mean any of the sort of academic subject matter of economics or politics or religion. I would give the series overall probably about 4 to 4 -- stars out of 5. Individual books I might give five stars, so within the series, the first book Dune is certainly a five-star book."
|
| The Dying Animal |
Philip Roth |
New Roth Fan |
See review |
"Really recently I've discovered the writing of Phillip Roth; I did not read his earlier works when I was younger but discovered him most recently with his novel called The Plot Against America, and then I've gone back and have begun to kind of fill in some of the gaps. And I'd seen the book The Dying Animal in the bookstores and finally picked up a copy and read it and was really quite drawn to it.
It's a short novel, might even be a novella, that tells a story about a character that reoccurs in two of his other novels, a professor named David Kepesh. In this particular one, it's about a Realm of Humans he has with an older student of his. He's oh, a professor who fancies himself a ladies' man, an older man in his 50's or late 50's and has relationships frequently with his students, until this one woman, an older/younger woman, shall we say, late 20's, stumbles into his classroom, and he becomes enchanted with here. And he discoveries in this relationship with her jealousy, and affection, and a connection to her different than what he had experienced before.
What then transpires is that a health problem arises. I won't go into great detail and spoil the plot, but they essentially separate and then come back together a short time afterwards and end up comforting each other in a beautiful way. I will also add that they have recently made a film version of this. They renamed it Elegy, with Ben Kingsley playing the professor and Penelope Cruz as the student.
It could be seen as being a bit sexist perhaps; he is someone who was certainly obsessed with women's bodies, particularly women's breasts, and that I would say gets a little old. I would imagine that there might be women who would be offended by this because of that. I find his writing style very engaging; I find his -- the voice of these characters to be very interesting. He's an amazingly polished writer. I've read now I would say six novels of his, and he is masterful.
I would give this book four and a half out of five stars."
|
| The Eight |
Katherine Neville |
Chess Player Likes Twin Timelines |
See review |
The Eight
Katherine Neville
"I read this book about five years ago and - again, I love playing chess, and so on Craig's List, some - a woman wanted to learn how to play chess, and so I gave her a free lesson, and in return for the lesson, she made me dinner and gave me this book called The Eight. It takes place over two time periods, and the eight, I think symbolically, they're - it has a lot of different things; there are eight columns and rows on a chessboard. It also is a symbol for infinity when you put it around, so - it takes - I don't want to give the book away, but it takes place - I think there's two time lines; one's set in modern-day America and one is set in revolutionary France, around the French Revolution.
I loved the chess motif. It didn't really go into any of the moves or anything like that, but it was interesting how chess was woven in. I mean, I think this is probably a criticism for most of the pulp fiction, is that you can kind of see the ending coming a long way away. So I think it was a little bit formulaic.
It was a fun read. If I were to rate this book, I would rate this as four stars out of five. I think it's a very good book. I liked the twin timeline, the back-and-forth between both the French Revolution and modern-day America, and I think - my only criticism is that the book tends to be a little bit formulaic at the end."
|
| The Emotion Machine |
Marvin Minsky |
What Can AI Do? |
See review |
"I think what this book is about is bringing AI to the greater attention and fomenting a bit more enlightened -- enlightenment about what AI has accomplished and what it's having a very difficult time accomplishing and why in terms of modeling how human beings behave, how they think, how they experience struggles and pleasures. Yet, in terms of encapsulating a single, clearly articulated argument, I'm not sure I'm ready to do that. I'm not necessarily sure he has one.
I think the most enjoyable thing about this book is it's enjoyable to read because of the way that he structures the text. Rather than just making up with people might say and giving that a contrived feel, he lends a little bit of a cultural/communal authenticity to it by bringing in a whole bunch of largely relevant and interesting quotes from philosophers, and artists, and writers, novelists, whatever, from many decades, including some from Aristotle, which are always kind of funny. So as you read through a section, there's this feeling that Marvin Minsky is piloting the ship but that he's including a lot of people in the dialog.
My overall intellectual criticism of the book is often I'll read to the end of a section and go, "Okay, I don't have any specific gripe with this proposed structural distillation of how things might actually work in the brain, but I also don't have any actual evidence in support of it." You're gonna have to read it on your own to make your own call about what it does and does not accomplish because any given person, myself included, for sure is gonna have their own idiosyncratic spin of what the book really says.
I think I'm ready to give The Emotion Machine five stars."
|
| The End of the Affair |
Graham Greene |
"It's Really About Faith" |
See review |
The End of the Affair
Graham Greene
"I've heard, as a writer I've heard of Graham Greene my whole life and never read anything by him, so I was always curious and felt he was one of those writers that was sort of there on the shelf that I'll get to someday. A few years ago, I saw the movie which was made of this book, and I'm always interested in books about faith that have maybe an interesting take on the spiritual experience. So that was one thing that interested me about the story, so that's why I picked it up.
The story is about a man named Morris who, two years previous to the time of the narrative, had a very passionate affair with a married woman named Sarah; and Sarah very abruptly ended the relationship for reasons she never explained to Morris. It's told most - some of it in flashback and some of it in her journals.
I think what I liked most about the book was the way it got into the mind of the narrator, this writer Morris; and I really enjoyed the writing style. It was beautifully written stylistically. It's a little hard to identify with him as the main narrator, and I found the woman that he's so in love with, I found her - I didn't see the attraction. So I would recommend it to someone who enjoys character development in their fiction more than a page turner, and someone who's also interested and patient with reading a book that is so much about faith. I mean it's about a broken love affair, and there's a lot of the passion and the sex and all of that; but it's really about faith.
I would give this book between a 3 -- and a 4. I would give it a 4."
|
| The Essential Rumi |
Jelaluddin Rumi and Coleman Barks |
For Hard Core Rumi Fans |
See review |
"Why I read The Essential Rumi is because -- well, I've heard a lot of Rumi over the years. At weddings, it's become almost like a standard thing. A lot of people quote Rumi in that kind of wedding or romantic setting.
I'm far from any kind of expert on Rumi, and I hope it'll get other people to speak about him, but Rumi wrote a long time ago; and I think it was something like the 1200's. I could be off on that, but it's around that time. He was like in the area of Turkey, so he was like a scholar who became a mystic and wrote down what he felt was -- I think stuff he was channeling almost and wrote down poetry that some of it was very mystical, spiritual, I guess religious in a way but not as organized religion.
He writes about life, being alive, being a human being, how to be a better person, how to be more alive and in the moment, and grateful for where you are, and recognizing sort of the beauty around us.
I wasn't crazy about this collection, to be honest. In fact, I'm extremely disappointed in this collection. This collection is edited by Coleman Barks, and he's like the guy who edits, I mean he translates Rumi into English. He's a poet himself, and he's famous in a way for making Rumi famous to the modern American audience. So I've read other of his translations and enjoyed it, but this particular book I -- I don't know. I keep hoping to fall in love with it. I like the cover. You know what they say, "Don't judge a book by its cover." It's hard to know really what Rumi's saying I find in this collection a lot whereas usually I know what he's saying.
I would not recommend this collection to most anyone. If someone was really in love with Rumi and just couldn't get enough, I'd say sure. Out of five, I'd have to give this book 2 stars."
|
| The Fan-Maker's Inquisition: A Novel of the Marquis de Sade |
Rikki Ducornet |
Historical Fiction-Better Than the Original? |
See review |
The Fan-Maker's Inquisition:
Rikki Ducornet
"So I looked for a book by the Marquis de Sade, and I bought this one thinking it was by the Marquis de Sade and that Rikki Ducornet was a translator; but it ended up that she was the author of this book.
It's about a fan maker who had an acquaintance with the Marquis de Sade, and it's during the French Revolution so what happens is the fan maker gets put in jail and under inquisition, mainly because One, she's friends with the Marquis de Sade, and he's in an insane asylum and they won't ever let him out again. Second of all, she's a lesbian; and third of all, she made - she's a fan maker, and she mainly paints scenery on fans, and she painted several sceneries for the Marquis de Sade which got into - were confiscated for reasons to put her under inquisition.
It's a very good historical fiction centered around the Marquis de Sade and his relationship with a fan maker. After I read it, I went on to read the Marquis de Sade, and it wasn't nearly as good as Rikki Ducornet brought him back to life. What I didn't like about this book is that it was really too short. It's like 256 pages when most of the Marquis de Sade's books, some of - a few of them are well over like 500 pages; and I think she could have kept going and going and going with it.
Who I would recommend to read this book is actually especially writers, because the reviews in the back of this book say, Rikki Ducornet is a writer's writer; and really, the writing is just spectacular. I've - I read it for the first tine in 2001, and since then I read it at least once a year. I'd give The Fanmaker's Inquisition - I'd give it four stars out of five."
|
| The Feast of Love |
Charles Baxter |
"I Liked The Movie More" |
See review |
"I actually saw the movie a couple of weeks ago; and something that I do when I come home from movies that I really like, I research them online, and I saw that it was based on a book. So I decided okay, this is something I'd like to read because I love the concept and relationships in the story. So I went out the next day and got the book.
The book is about a group of people who are interactive with each other, a small group, and it's really about their relationships and falling in love, falling out of love, having your heart broken and having love just kind of be the bottom line within and without it all.
I think the main character Bradley was very sweet, and hew as kind of like this puppy dog looking for love, and he had a very kind of naive and honest integrity about him, and he's an artist. So I think I kind of related to him. I think I would rate the book maybe a 3.5. I liked the movie more. The book has gotten a little bit tedious, and I've noticed myself kind of skimming through some pages. Some of it is going on and on a little bit too much.
I would recommend this to teenagers, adults; I think it's really a nice kind of family type story."
|
| The Feast Of Love |
Charles Baxter |
Different Points Of View |
See review |
"The Feast of Love is about five or six disparate people who end up crossing paths, and whether it's ex-spouses or neighbors or whatever, the book is told through the eyes of several different people who become this kind of community and through love and work and then different connections.
I like the message but not necessarily the execution, which is funny. I liked the author's sort of premise that you can become family with people who aren't really family, and you can be brought together through tragedy. You don't feel like you know one character terribly well, ever. There's like six or seven different points of view. It's in the form of interviews, almost. It's very like common speech, a lot of vernacular and not very introspective descriptions of what's going on. So it's kind of like an interview with this 19 year-old that works in the coffee shop, and an interview with her boyfriend who she's madly in love with; and I couldn't really identify with any of them, partly because either I'm not that age or I'm not like this guy who never reflects on his life, and I'm not like his ex-wife that used to cheat on him constantly. So it's hard for me to connect with any of those characters, perhaps for who they are or perhaps because of the way it's through so many perspectives; I'm not sure.
I also had a issue with some of the characters are, I think, seriously kind of cut out, caricatures. They're just not that believable because they're so extreme, and maybe it's 'cause the author doesn't give us a chance to see what they're thinking. About a three, I think."
|
| The Finishing School |
Muriel Spark |
Dry As A Bone |
See review |
"I wanted to read The Finishing School because it's by Muriel Spark, and she is one of my favorite authors, and here she was with a new one.
Specifically, what The Finishing School is about is a married couple, Rowland and Nina, who run this school, and one of their students, Chris. Rowland is -- the husband of the couple -- is an English and creative writing teacher; and he's working on a novel, but he's blocked. So every day he goes to class, and he tells the kids how to write well and what to do, and he in fact can't do it. So here into the plot comes Chris, who's one of the students, who is writing a novel at age 16; and he's got hundreds of pages of it done already, and this teacher's got to deal with this student who's way excelling beyond what the teacher can do. So we see the two of them together, and their conflict, and jealousies, and their eventually how it all turns out.
What I liked most about The Finishing School is Muriel Spark's sense of humor. She is dry as a bone. She is so ironic, we never -- you never in the course of human affairs expect that these twists are gonna happen that she makes happen. The person that doest the thing that -- oh, gosh, that is exactly what they would do, really, at their worst.
I think The Finishing School doesn't quite hold up to Muriel Spark's other works. She's clearly at the end of her career, phoning it in, she's done better in her time. It's as if you see all the things she's able to do, she does them almost so easily it's she just -- it's to where she just says, "Okay, this is an idea I had for a book, I'm gonna toss it off, now I'm out of here. I'd give it a four. I think she's done better; Spark has done better than The Finishing School."
|
| The Five People You Meet in Heaven |
Mitch Albom |
One Man's View On What Heaven Should Be Like |
See review |
The Five People You Meet In Heaven
Mitch Albom
"I found out about The Five People You Meet in Heaven when it was advertised as a movie, and frankly, I was interested in the theological implications of it since I don't believe in heaven. It's about a man named Eddie who dies at the age of 83 and has unresolved issues in his life, and the purpose of heaven - or at least the initial introduction to heaven - is to resolve those unresolved issues with the aid of five people in his life.
I liked the way they built on the characters, and I liked the way it started off with the end. It's the only book I've read that started off with the words "The End," the point being that the end is a new beginning. It didn't change my mind about anything. It was inform- -- I mean, entertaining rather than informative. It was sort of one man's view of what heaven should be like. It's a good read. It's an amusing, philosophical adventure, but not something that really holds my interest deeply."
|
| The Flanders Panel |
Arturo Perez-Reverte |
Intrigue...Mystery...Chess |
See review |
"When I reviewed the back of Flanders Panel, it seemed to be an intriguing mystery, so I borrowed it from a friend.
Flanders Panel is about -- the main character's Julia. She restores art; that's what she does for a living. She brings all the natural colors out and everything like that, and she gets ahold of this piece that's 500 years old. It was drawn by the artist in 1425, or painted, rather. As she's researching the piece and investigating it further, she X-rays it as part of her research, and she discoveries an inscription down in the corner, "Who killed the knight?" The subject of the painting is a chess game: -- A knight on either side, supposedly a knight or a gentleman or someone from the 1400's playing a game of chess, and then a woman in the background watching and reading or something of the sort, but the inscription of "Who killed the knight?" all of a sudden doesn't pertain to the game that's being played on the board, doesn't pertain to the players. So the story is actually about her first trying to figure out more about this, to figure the value of the piece. It's just for somebody who's gonna auction it off and make everybody a lot of money. So it's first her trying to figure out the mystery to add to the value, but when she starts researching deeper and takes the information to an art historian friend of hers, all of a sudden he winds up dead and this whole mystery envelops, and it becomes a lot more dramatic than just, "Who killed the knight because I want to know?"
I enjoy reading mysteries. This book was actually translated from Spanish. It's a Spanish author, so it's interesting -- you know, he's written it with the personal experience of where they are in Spain. The concept of chess, it was interesting to find out a little bit about it, but my atten -- my personal attention span didn't hold long enough for them to -- they actually had chessboards in there and they kind of went into the play a little bit more than would hold my attention. I felt like I needed to get a chessboard out and kind of figure it out; I couldn't just read about it.
I think anyone who read something like Da Vinci Code or Angels and Demons would enjoy parts of this because it's the history and it's the art. It's not quite that extreme, so after having read those, if they read them quite recently, they might feel like there's jus a bit of a letdown, but I think if you had a break in between and you just want a little bit of that nostalgic back, it would be enjoyable.
I would give this book three out of five stars."
|
| The Four Agreements |
Don Miguel Ruiz |
Suggestions For a Happier Life |
See review |
Well, The Four Agreements is kind of a self-help spiritual book by Manuel Ruiz, and I first heard about it when a student of mine - a high school student of mine - chose it for her own independent reading. The book is a set of suggestions about ways for people to - for a person to create a healthier, happier life, free of the entangling negativity that many people live with.
I liked the fact that he gave people a short list of fairly concrete, what he calls agreements. The person who got a great deal out of it was only a 15 year-old the first time I heard of it, and she said that she wanted to live what she called a free life. And so anyone who is trying to disengage from negative patterns might find some - this work to be a resource. I would give The Four Agreements three and a half to four stars. The only reason it's not a five is that I'd feel that more specifics examples of how to actually - situations where these ideas would contribute to a person's ability to make use of the ideas would be useful. He does give a few, but not enough.
|
| The Four Agreements |
Don Miguel Ruiz |
Spiritual Student Gave Copies To Friends |
See review |
Well, The Four Agreements is about wisdom that is passed on to - from the Toltec tradition, and the author himself is a healer. So it's basically how he interprets the Toltec tradition and the wisdom. Well, I was studying a lot of the spirituality subject and really got into shamanism, so this book came to me certainly when you Google or search for shamanism.
It's basically a book of wisdom, so you can just see as it as - more like a self-help, new age type of book, and it's all about how you practice. I would just give some quick examples. I mean, it's very basic code of conduct with four agreements: Don't make assumptions, don't take things personally, be impeccable with your words, and do your best. I mean, how hard is that? And so he actually went into very simple writing to show you how to do that effectively.
After I read the book back in 2001, I actually went ahead and ordered seven copies and gave it to friends as Christmas gifts. Now that I have done a lot of growing myself, I find that the book does not offer as much insight to myself anymore, so people who have been doing a lot of soul searching and spiritual development might not find this book as helpful. I would definitely give this book a four starts. It's excellent reading, and I think I will highly recommend this book to any people who are new to spirituality and to really try to grow yourself and to do some self-development.
|
| The Four Agreements |
Don Miguel Ruiz |
Easy But Deep |
See review |
The Four Agreements
Don Miguel Ruiz
"I wanted to initially read The Four Agreements because it was recommended to me by a good friend who he himself got a lot out of the book. What The Four Agreements are are ways in which to live your life, and it says that you will be granted happiness and internal peace if you live your life by the way of these four agreements.
Well, I guess kind of what got me thinking about being more or a spiritual person is that I'd always gone to church and everything growing up, but I didn't really feel connected with God. I kind of felt like I was going through the motions, and especially when I moved to San Francisco - I moved out to San Francisco only knowing one person, and so I kind of felt myself reevaluating a lot of things in my life. Where did I want to take my life, who did I want to be - or rather who was I as a person? What did I want to accomplish and things like that. And so I really kind of started focusing on myself and wanting to grow as a person to really make myself the best person that I thought I could be. So that's really what got me into reading The Four Agreements. It puts the explanation of the four agreements into really simple terms, and it's very - kind of an easy read in part, but then it's also kind of a deep read because it takes a while to kind of really let all the information sink in. And even though the book is very thin, I find myself going back to it quite often and using it in my daily life, trying to live my life to the four agreements. And it's really made me a better person I think because of that.
I would give this book five out of five stars, because it really has changed my life, and it's a book that I find myself thinking about every day in day-to-day life."
|
| The Four Insights |
Alberto Villoldo |
Good, But Not Best Book |
See review |
"Well, I read The Four Insights because I've read two other books by Alberto Villoldo. I can recap very quickly what those four insights are, and the first one is you shed your past so that you do not identify yourselves with the stories you've been carrying through your lifetime. And then the second one is to overcome your fear, live in grace, things like that; and that was very common sense thing. And then the third one is about your soul journey. The fourth one is about dream your world into being, meaning to manifest possibilities for your future.
The only thing I do not like about this book, again, is because I have read his books before, and I felt that it was a regurgitation of the old material, and just repackage it into a new one. I still glean insights from ________ and enjoy reading it, 'cause this is a very good writer, very fluent.
If you have never read anything by Alberto, this one is a good start because it does lay out the exact, identical things that he would have done in Shaman, Healer, Sage; certainly who have -- were not exposed to this work, I would recommend -- highly recommend the book. It's -- I believe it's a little thinner than the Shaman, Healer, Sage. If I were to compare the two, I probably would still pick Shaman, Healer, Sage for a first time reader, but this is definitely a very close second. Still probably a four-star rating on this one, or even -- I would not give it a five. So four-star would be for the beginner. For people who know his work, from a content standpoint it would probably be a two and a-half; writing standpoint is still a three and a-half."
|
| The Girl's Guide to Kicking Your Career Into Gear |
Caitlin Friedman and Kimberly Yorio |
Looking For a New Job? |
See review |
"The reason I chose this book, The Girl's Guide, was because I originally wanted to use the book to assist me with deciding whether or not I wanted to change career.
The book is a self-help book, and inside of the book, they have different web tools that you can go to, and they also have stories from different women who have also encouraged the authors, and so that's what the book is about. The decision that it helped me make was how to improve some things that I was doing wrong, and also it gave me a check and balance as to what I could do to improve.
What I liked most about the book was the web tools, because I enjoy going on the internet and finding different things. They have -- they talk about social networking like Linkedin, which a lot of people know about. They also told you to FindYourSpot, which was a reference guide that tells in different towns. So that was one of the other things I had thought about, was moving into a different town.
It was specifically geared to women because it talks about women's issues, and it also talks about how different women had approached different situations from a woman's perspective and not just, you know, pull up your bootstraps and if you do this.
I would recommend this to anybody who is interested in improving themselves at work, anyone who is starting off at work and anyone who is interested in just motivating themselves if they're at a lull in their career.
I would rate this book at four stars."
|
| The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon |
Stephen King |
Questionable Ending |
See review |
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
Stephen King
"I wanted to read The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King because he's a renowned horror author and I thought it'd be a definite good read.
The book is about this little girl; she has family problems. They go on a hiking trip. She literally goes off the trail to use the bathroom, and when she gets done she's separated from her family. She also has this thing for this guy named Tom Gordon; he's a baseball player. So she ends up seeing him in the woods that she's in, and he guides her and kind of befriends her, keeps her company, etc., etc., while she's out in these woods.
The things I liked about the book was -- is this, this element that she comes into contact with, it's unknown actually; you don't know until the end of the story. It terrorizes her by leaving her ghastly images to look upon -- she's a little girl -- haunts her throughout the night, follows and tracks her, etc., etc. That's about the majority of what I liked about book. The thing I didn't like -- I'm gonna say the thing I loathed and hated about the book was the ending. It was pathetic. It was a letdown, it was -- it's a complete letdown because they build you up, they build you all the way up to this ending, and it's like, "That's it? Aw, man, I'm disappointed." I was completely disappointed.
But all the books I read of his, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon was the worst. I did not like the ending. It was really, I was really let down; I wouldn't recommend it. Out of five stars, I'd give it -- I'd give it one, 'cause I'm not gonna read it again, and I've read different books over. I'm gonna read that again. It's not worth me reading again."
|
| The Giver |
Lois Lowry |
Author's Utopian Society = No Suffering |
See review |
"I read an interview with Lois Lowry in which she revealed that the genesis for this book was watching her father go through Alzheimer's and losing his memories. That's a central theme in the book, which is the power of memory and what happens if we have the capability to remove that which is painful and hold on to that which is pleasant.
The book is about a young boy whose name is Jonas, and he lives in a community that's been established to essentially remove all suffering. It follows Jonas through a ceremony during which he turns 12 along with his other age mates in this community, and he is given an assignment. He becomes what's called the Receiver of Memory, and we learn that the community has held back the memories of all time and had one person hold onto them; and Jonas has been selected to be the next person to hold onto these memories. When he starts to learn about what's really going on behind the scenes in this community, how he starts to develop rebelliousness.
I love how Lois Lowry has written this book. It is very, very simple. The language is simple, the chapters are short; she has created a world which many people throughout time have dreamed of, which is the world where people don't have to suffer. It's really fascinating to see how she creates this community with all its rules, with all its idiosyncratic behaviors. It is technically a kid's book, but I'm an adult and I've loved it many times, and I know many adults who have read it and have absolutely loved it as well.
I would rate this book four and a-half stars out of five, and the half star because of the ending and the questions around that."
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| The Glass Castle |
Jeannette Walls |
Page Turner Memoir Of Unusual Childhood |
See review |
The Glass Castle
Jeanette Walls
"My sister lent me The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls. I hadn't actually heard about it, and it was something that sat on my bookcase for a little while. And I was going on a trip, so I had to do something where I go and pick a couple of books, read the first few pages and see what's attractive to me, and the book grabbed me right away. The book is actually non-fiction. It's a memoir of Jeanette Wells' growing up and her incredibly non-conformist parents, who have read just a very different book on parenting.
What I liked most about the book was just the incredible variety of experiences this woman had as a child, and it was incredibly challenging for her, and it was shocking, in terms of how incredibly bad her parents were as parents, and yet, it was interesting to see how she overcame the adversities that were thrown to her. It was sometimes unpleasant to read, because she went through so much awful stuff. You just become so frustrated with her experience and wonder when it'll ever end.
I was reminded of Running with Scissors, which is a book I started to read, but didn't finish, cuz it was so disturbing, that it just felt like an invasive experience to read Running with Scissors; whereas this book didn't feel so overly intimate that I had to turn away. I'm gonna give it four out of five, probably not five, because it wasn't so perfectly written. Yet it's really intriguing, and it was a page turner, and it's something I could recommend."
|
| The Glass Castle: A Memoir |
Jeannette Walls |
Unusual Childhood, Writing Draws You In |
See review |
The Glass Castle
Jeannette Walls
"I read the book The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. I usually don't actually read memoir, but I had heard about it, and it sounded really more like fiction, and I was really intrigued by the fact that she's a very successful journalist.
It goes through her life with very strange and unconventional parents up until the present. I believe that the book starts with her seeing her parents homeless on the street and on Park Avenue. She's very matter-of-fact about her childhood. Actually, there's a piece of it at the beginning -- so I'm not spoiling it -- where she undergoes a very, very significant accident where she burns a lot of her body because she's three years old and she's cooking hot dogs on the stove. The way that she tells the story is, again, very matter-of-fact, and actually almost humorous when she talks about her time in the hospital.
I really enjoyed it tremendously. Like I said, I was reluctant to pick it up because it is non-fiction, it's a memoir, and it kind of came out at a time where memoir was, there was some controversy to it because of the James Fry book that came out. I sensed that it was very accurate, and perhaps would have liked to have heard a little bit more about the siblings. That's really the only criticism that I can possibly think of because I have recommended this book to many, many people. In terms of stars, I would rate this book -- gosh, somewhere between a four and a five."
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| The Glass Castle: A Memoir |
Jeannette Walls |
"Read It" |
See review |
"Picked up The Glass Castle because a group that I work with at school has a little reading group, and we are reading it for this month's book. We usually get together after reading a topic book and discuss it.
The book is a memoir of a girl as she grew up and some of the crazy, outlandish things that was her life. You read them, and you think, "Oh, my goodness, how could that be?" and yet you know that there's a truth that rings through them. There were times when the vignettes were very enjoyable, and very funny, and just the happiness of a child. Then there's the other reality where the vignette where these children don't have enough to eat. They don't have someone who's always there for them. In working with kids in what I do, you see it. You see it, and you appreciate what they get through in order just to get to school in the morning.
If you think your childhood was perfect, read it. If you think your childhood was the worst possible, read it. If you think your childhood was somewhere in the middle, read it. I actually would rate the book in the series of about four stars."
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| The Gluten Free Gourmet Bakes Bread |
Bette Hagman |
Suitable Replacements...Better Than Storebought |
See review |
The Gluten Free Gourmet Bakes Bread
Bette Hagman
"The Gluten Free Bakes Bread is part of my cookbook collection because I am on a gluten free diet, and so it's actually a necessity if I want to eat things that are like bread -- like regular bread that you buy at the store. My mother actually introduced this book to me, and it has a lot of great recipes that are suitable replacements, that are better than what you find in the store.
The cookbook is set up pretty much like a regular old cookbook, but there are different flour mixes that -- there are separate recipes for flour mixes, and then those flour mixes are used in specific recipes. For example, there is a flour mix that is used for a pizza dough that is also used to make pretzels and other things like that. So you can have a base flour mix that you can make a lot of and keep -- in a sealed container, obviously -- and then you can use it for the different things you want to make.
My favorite recipe is the French bread pizza dough because you can make really good pizza dough with it; which is the thing I miss the most, oddly, of not having gluten is having pizza. It's not such a bad thing; it's only bad for me because I'm busy, and I'm a mother of two. That is some of the recipes are more labor intensive than a mother of two might have time for, so you really have to -- well, I guess if you're gonna bake your own bread, you're gonna have a chunk of time for it anyway.
I would recommend The Gluten Free Gourmet Bakes Bread -- or the Gluten Free Gourmet; there's a regular cookbook, too -- to anyone who needs to be on a gluten free diet or anyone who is sweet sensitive. I would give this book four stars out of five."
|
| The God Delusion |
Richard Dawkins |
Not For the Deeply Religious |
See review |
""I wanted to read the book The God Delusion because basically I believed the title. The premise of the book basically if that the question of whether God exists is a scientific question that's science can answer, and the answer is that the probability that God exists is extremely low. It also says a little bit about how the God delusion came to exist and what we should do about it.
I had the feeling that Dawkins was a man that I would personally like. I think a lot of people dislike him just because of his beliefs; but I think personally, he's an excellent writer. He is able to write not only for a scientific audience but for the lay audience, as this book is addressed. In particular, I wished that he had said more about his personal conversion from the religion to atheism.
Someone who is really thinks that there might be something to religion that isn't sure, I think it could move them in that - move them toward his point of view. I think somebody who is already deeply religious would probably be unimpressed by his arguments. I think I would give it five stars. I think this is a pivotal book; I think that he may very well replace Madeline Murray as the icon of American atheists."
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| The God Delusion |
Richard Dawkins |
Beautifully Written, But Arrogant |
See review |
"I've read some Richard Dawkins and much more of the Stephen J. Gould, aficionado. I find his, even if his writing style tends to be a lot more obtuse than Dawkins is. I find his general tone in his writings on evolution to be more welcoming and less arrogant, which is amazing because Stephen J. Gould, he would have been the first to admit that he was a very arrogant person.
But, "The God Delusion" is part of this recent spate of books addressing religion and tensions between science and religion, especially evolution and religion. So, "The God Delusion" is about the delusionary nature of faith, at least theistic faith, right. He doesn't explicitly attack faith such as a Buddhist faith in any particular way because he doesn't really have a beef with that.
Here's the problem with Dawkins' book. He attacks faith in God, theism as delusionary, but it approaches it purely and relentlessly from the perspective of a scientist. It's a rather infuriating book if you believe that it's possible instead to have multiple ways of dealing with the world and the puzzles of human existence. At various points in "The God Delusion," Richard Dawkins actually tells little, ________ little stories of having had encounters with people of religious backgrounds and usually these encounters involve him severely offending the person.
And it's funny, you know. You've got to respect the guy. You got to hand it to him. He's unabashed. My overall criticism of "The God Delusion" is that it's arrogant and way unnecessarily so. It's beautifully written. It's comprehensive. It's interesting. So, I'm tempted to give it a four, even a five, but in terms of its arrogance, and it's non-evenhandedness I would actually tend to give this book two stars."
|
| The Golden Compass |
Philip Pullman |
Children's Book Raises Philosophical Questions |
See review |
The Golden Compass
Philip Pullman
"I wanted to read The Golden Compass because a friend had told me that she really liked the book, and I've kind of gotten interested in reading more books for kids. The book is geared towards kids, but I don't think it's really meant just for kids. It's a lot -- has a lot more interesting philosophical ideas, plus they're making a movie about it that should be out in December, so I was curious.
The book is about a little girl from a different world, a world where humans have two parts to their soul. They have their physical body, and they also have their animal spirit they call their daemon. Their animal spirit can't be more than 30' away from their body at anytime or else they feel a really hard pull on their heart. Her uncle is involved in this interesting quest to understand this mysterious substance called Dust, and what that means and what that is is a really interesting story and she runs into a lot of really interesting characters along the way.
I would recommend adults read the book even though it's supposed to be aimed towards younger audiences, and I think kids as young as many 12 years old would like it. Any younger than that and it might be a little complicated or serious for somebody. I would give The Golden Compass 4 -- to five stars out of five."
|
| The Good Earth |
Pearl S. Buck |
Thought Provoking |
See review |
The Good Earth
Pearl S. Buck
"I went away for the weekend and the house I was staying at "The Good Earth" was sitting on the table next to the bed. And so I just had a baby recently and hadn't been reading much, but we were away. So I picked up this book and actually, I didn't put it down the entire time we were there. And I just kept handing the baby over to my husband because I couldn't put the book down.
It's about a family. And the main character is Wayne Long and he is getting ready to get married to a slave girl. It's a slave girl, to a wealthy family in town. So, he goes, he gets married to this woman and very interesting how he had never met her before and didn't know anything about her. He just knew that he was going to get her and they were getting married that day. And they have four children actually, they have more, but they don't all make it. So, then it just goes into him caring for his children and the differences between men and women in China. And eventually he just starts accumulating more and more land and they make more and more money.
And as their lifestyle changes he stops caring about his own life and he finds a mistress. It did make me not angry, but just the fact that women are considered slaves, like when they talk about a woman they say oh, she's just a slave. And I mean that's obviously how it was or possibly is in some places still. But that was hard to take sometimes for sure.
I would rate this book, five stars for sure."
|
| The Grapes Of Wrath |
John Steinbeck |
Writer Appreciates Language and Characters |
See review |
"I read Grapes of Wrath for an English literature class; however, unlike a lot of the books in the class, I did actually want to read.
It's a story of one particular family set against the backdrop of the Depression, migrant farm workers in the Depression in the 1930's, and just sort of their struggle. Their struggle to live in the world around them as it's become and also their struggle with their own humanity.
I like the language, of course. I'm a writer myself, and I appreciate Steinbeck's language; and I like the depth of characterization. There's very powerful portraits of the human condition. The mother is a very strong character that stays with you. I mean, her just sort of - her perseverance for the sake of her family, her devotion to her family, her unflagging will is very powerful. I think people who are really interested in a human interest story who have a love of storytelling that deals with the human condition would appreciate it a lot. I would give it five stars. I would give Grapes of Wrath five stars. There's not a lot of books that I would say that about, even particularly classics. There are a lot of works of classic literature that are well recognized, and yet they're still flawed; and yet I really liked this book from start to finish."
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| The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth in Bush's America |
Frank Rich |
"Not Too Long After Events Unfolded" |
See review |
The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth in Bush's America
Frank Rich
"So Frank Rich presents his information on a timeline starting, as with many of the books, starting mostly with September 11. It breezes over the time before -- between 2000 and September 11, 2001 with certain -- still with descriptions of certain events that were starting to already lead up to the Iraq war; but then it focuses on the build-up to the Iraq war and how that was sold, as well as the aftermath of war and how it's continued to be sold to the America public as a successful venture by the Bush administration.
I think that he does a very good job of doing I guess what I would call early history, which is not too long after the events have unfolded. He provides a very accurate description of what went on, which I think is a difficult thing to do. My only criticism is there's not a whole lot of new information that he's dug out of everything. I'll give Frank Rich's The Greatest Story Ever Sold four out of five stars."
|
| The Great Gatsby |
F. Scott Fitzgerald |
A Classic |
See review |
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
"The first time I read The Great Gatsby in junior year in high school, and I remember I liked it. I didn't love it; I think a part of that's reading a book - I like to read, I've always liked to read - but I think when you have to read a book for school, it takes some of the pleasure away from it. But I read it again, I think in my 30's and I remember liking it a lot.
Currently I'm an actor. I've been an actor actually off and on for like 20 years. I came back to it about two years ago. I think - well, I know it - there's a lot of showiness in the novel, in the characters and the events. It's the Jazz Age; a lot of it's about image, and how you dress, and the music, and the lavish parties. And Gatsby himself is super-conscious of his image, so his appearance, what he looks like, how he's seen by others. So I think in that, yeah, that certainly connects to performing and being an actor.
In a way, it's a classic American story, kind of a rags-to-riches story and a coming of age as well; and looking at the Jazz Age, 1920's, Fitzgerald is such a master craftsman. The language is so beautiful, and his observations of human behavior so acute that that makes the book rich and a great read. I'd have to give it probably 4 -- stars. And it's a class of literature, so it's tough to give it less than that. So why not a perfect five? I think 'cause almost any book can be better."
|
| The Grey King |
Susan Cooper |
Welsh Mythology and Arthurian Legend |
See review |
The Grey King
Susan Cooper
"The Grey King" is the fourth book in a series. And it's just a continuing story of the three Drew children and Will Stanton and their adventures.
So, what happens this time is that Will gets sick and is sent to stay in Wales with some family or friends of family to recover. And while he's there, he has to sort of remember why he's really there and that is to fight this battle for the forces of the light. And while he's there, he meets a very interesting boy named Bran Davies and his dog. They are on a quest for a golden harp. And the Grey King is sort of a Welsh myth about this sort of power that lives in the mountains in the mist.
What's really interesting about this book in particular is that there are a lot of Welsh words and phrases and places. And she sort of teaches you how to say them properly. I found it really engaging and intriguing and liked the Welsh mythology mixing with the King Arthur mythology. I felt it fit very naturally into the plot.
I would recommend this book to anyone who has read the previous books. I think it's very difficult to start in the middle of the series not understanding where the characters have come from. I would give this book five stars out of five stars."
|
| The Griffin and Sabine Series |
Nick Bantock |
Fun Reading Other's Mail |
See review |
The Griffin and Sabine Series
Nick Bantock
"The Griffin and Sabine book - I think I was stumbling at the bookstore with a friend, and we came across it and never heard of it, and after reading it, I'm really surprised that it doesn't get as much buzz and gets talked about. It's an older book, and I wanted to read it, because of the format. You quickly learn that it's correspondence between a man and a woman that have never met, and its actual letters. On each page, there's an actual letter, in an envelope, that you read.
The book is about two artists, living in completely different parts of the world, that for some reason find each other, and it's because the woman has seen his work all her life. I loved the way they corresponded with each other. I just - I read it with a friend. He would read all the male parts, and I would read the female parts, and at first, you kinda feel guilty, like you're reading some of your grandma's letters or something you shouldn't be reading, but it was just well written in the sense that it was truly a conversation of two people.
I've read it a lot, because it's a different style of writing. I mean you're reading - It's like you truly believe you're reading people's letters, and it's an opportunity. You never get to read, you know, somebody's correspondence from years ago, and so there's that voyeuristic aspect of it. I think a wide audience would appreciate it, because it's very low tech, and these days, that kinda stands out. I mean, I'm a gadget geek, and I love technology, but I appreciate the correspondence. I mean, you're reading letters. There's a series of three, comes together, or actually, you can purchase separate, but after that, there's others, and it's really interesting.
I would give it six out of five stars or something, but definitely five. It's just very intriguing. It's very different. I hadn't seen anything like it."
|
| The Harry Potter Series |
JK Rowling |
A Complicated Opinion |
See review |
The Harry Potter Series
J.K. Rowling
"I found out about it and decided I had an inclination to start reading it, because it was everywhere, I couldn't avoid it. I got so sick of hearing about it that I decided I'd give it a shot and see if it was, you know, interesting and worthwhile in any of the ways I was hearing it might be. It puts the fantasy world that so many of us, even beyond childhood, continue to want to inhabit as we live in this sort of banal real world into a real frame.
What I liked most about it is the degree to which it holds your interest and attention. I'm not sure I would say that I like most a feeling of deep profound connection with the characters. I have some ambivalence about the idea of having a child of mine down the road read them, because even though they're so gripping and so sort of redeeming and, you know, plenty of good versus evil and good being many-sided that eventually kind of triumphing - and I'm sure it will eventually triumph in some way - there's nothing wrong with that. There's certainly ethnic diversity and gender diversity in the books. In the end, it seems to me rather male, white-male centric, surprisingly so, given that it's written by a woman, especially.
I think what makes the books very appealing is that the characters are relatively - fairly extremely well developed, even though it's just a book about wizardry and silliness. I would give it four stars out of five because if I had to rate the Harry Potter series, I could not deny in any way its appeal to me and to whole masses of folks."
|
| The History of Love: A Novel |
Nicole Krauss |
Book Within A Book |
See review |
The History of Love
Nicole Krauss
"It's really hard to sum up this story in a little bit of time because it really does span different countries, different time frames; there are two completely different people telling the story. There's an old man who started out in Europe during World War II and lost his family, had written - he was a story writer and basically gave up his book, came to America, tried to survive her. In the meantime, you're also seeing the story about his friend who took the book and made it his own and didn't tell anyone that. I mean he did that sort of secretly. Then there's the story of a little girl who discovers the book because it's given to her mother. It's given to her mother in Spanish, and the mother has been asked to translate this book; and the little girl starts reading it, and she's actually named after the main character. All these stories come together in the end.
I loved the dialog in the book. His language is just so amazing; his storytelling was so amazing. I really felt like I was reading Leo's story and Alma's story in their languages. I would recommend that people who are really into the idea of lost love but still having hope. I would give it 4 -- and I would take that -- point off because there is some vagueness about what - some things that happen in the book, and I've talked to some other people that have felt the same way."
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| The History of Love: A Novel |
Nicole Krauss |
"This Is Not a Simple Story" |
See review |
The History of Love: A Novel
Nicole Krauss
"Ah, see this is not a simple story. It's a complicated story with at least three different characters' lives interwoven. There is, basically the theme is lost.
There is an old man who survived the Nazis in Poland, sorry. But lost his love of his life who moved to America years before him, didn't mention to him she was pregnant and turned out she actually had his son, but married someone else and raised him as that man's son.
I liked that it's hilarious. I was proctoring an exam and reading this book, in this silent room with like 200 people and then I start laughing out loud. So, fights are really funny. I like that it's got a little mystery, a little suspense. It makes us work a little to put together the pieces.
Ah, I recommend you read it with a friend or a book group because there's so much to talk about. There's so many clues that some people miss that other people might get. I'd give it a five, but you honestly have to read the last like 20 pages to catch it when you get there."
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| The Hollywood War Machine: U.S. Militarism and Popular Culture |
Carl Boggs and Tom Pollard |
Does Hollywood Stereotype? |
See review |
The Hollywood War Machine: U.S. Militarism and Popular Culture
Carl Boggs and Tom Pollard
"The Hollywood War Machine is about the aspects of the industry, the Hollywood movie industry, and what are the market forces that have certain films made more than others, and what types of themes get put into films because they're profitable and because they tend to draw larger audiences even though they may not be in the best interest of the viewers.
There were a number of examples in the book about why these themes come up. The more recent ones were a lot about the sort of world in chaos and that common things like hypermasculinity, sort of this technophilic use of technology to wage war came up a lot more in a fear space in that post-9/11, the same sort of characters that came up in war movies - The Other, which used to be the Japanese, and sometimes it was before that it was the Indians as we were moving across the continent - now became the Arab other. They become even more dangerous because they strike anywhere, and this continual othering of another group is another one of the themes that comes up and is getting replayed a lot right now in film. I think the sense of the book was that the more it becomes normalized, the more we see these themes and don't have to think about them, that they just kind of come up, it becomes the narrative. It becomes the national narrative.
I would definitely recommend the book to anyone that's maybe a mass-communications major or someone that's interested in how the media really operates to support war and to support what is the general policy of the United States, even - or whatever country, I mean. It wasn't all American movies. I would also recommend it to people that are just interested in what are the machinations that allow movies to be made. I mean a lot of it's about the industry and how the industry plays a part, even subconsciously in producing these films that do over the same narratives of America first and unchallenged authority. I would rate the book three out of five stars."
|
| The House of Morgan: |
Ron Chernow |
First Half Twice As Good As Second Half |
See review |
The House of Morgan
Ron Chernow
I read The House of Morgan, because I'm interested in 20th century history and business. The book is about, literally, the House of Morgan, which is the investment banking firm of J. P. Morgan and Company and all the subsidiary companies that sprang from that.
I like the part of the history that really dealt with the early years of the House of Morgan, so the life of J. P. Morgan. I think I almost could have been just as satisfied only reading the first half of the book. After a while it's just like you can't almost keep track of all the different companies that have "Morgan" in the title and what they're all about. Whereas, the early part was about a man making decisions for himself in his one endeavor. There was a lot that one could look back on of notes and memorandums and letters and that kind of thing. Which is, I think, really different from today where everything's in e-mail and you might not have that kind of documentation if somebody 100 years from now writes about today.
I think I'd have to reserve five stars for, really, a book that is a huge page-turner; where just from start to finish you're just really super happy to be reading it. So this was that for parts, but it kind of came and went and at different times a 1,000-page book you're gonna have to hang in there with it. So I give it a four stars.
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| The Human Touch: Our Part in the Creation of a Universe |
Michael Frayn |
Departure From Author's Usual |
See review |
"Well, I'd seen Noises Off, which is a terrific farce, and then I'd picked up The Copenhagen Papers, which is a very odd book that Frayn wrote. He had again a very breezy, conversational writing style.
It is about the human condition. It's about philosophy, it's about recent discoveries in physics that have a philosophical bearing - man's place in the universe. How we got where we are.
For the most part, Frayn does a good job of bringing the technical stuff down to a more conversational level. At times when he's confronting specific theories or specific theorists, he has to - he seems to feel obliged to meet them on their own court, and he delves into the technical jargon a bit; and that's where he loses me. The thing I especially like about him is that he does not - he doesn't pretend to know it all. He admits when he's confused, he admits when he doesn't understand something, he's unapologetic.
I myself am a musician, and I also dabble in writing, dabble in acting; and I admire people who are being successful in not getting locked into a single pigeonhole. I think that's part of the appeal of the book itself is he himself is going, "I'm not a philosopher. I'm a playwright, and yet I'm interested in this stuff, and I want to share with you what I've been researching, what I've been reading, what I've been thinking."
I would recommend this to anyone who's interested in philosophy and intimidated by more technical approaches to it. I would recommend this to anybody who's as fascinated as I am with Frayn's checkered career. So far, I'm only a quarter of the way through. I only give it a three, but I am very hopeful that it's gonna rise seriously __________."
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| The Husband |
Dean Koontz |
Koontz Fan Says "Surprise Ending" |
See review |
The Husband
Dean Koontz
"The Husband is about a newlywed couple that's kinda fallin' into the rut of, "Hey, we don't go to bars anymore. We'd just rather sit in front of the couch and watch T.V. We're happy doin' that," but it takes a whole bunch of twists and turns, when the husband has to search for his kidnapped wife. I generally like Dean Koontz' books, and so I was done reading whatever I was reading, and I needed somethin' else, and so I was drawn to it, just because I knew the author and liked his style. Unlike most Dean Koontz' books which I like, this one didn't have too much of the supernatural stuff, so that was interesting too. I think this book can appeal to a whole, broader range of people for that reason, and at times, you think you have it figured out, but you really don't. It's good that way. You don't really know until the end.
The only thing I disliked about the book was it dragged a little bit in the middle, but then it made up for it - I could see why, you know - It was kinda building up for certain things. So it starts out kinda fast, the kidnapping takes place, and then he has some clues and things to go through. And I like that it goes through the perspective of the husband too, not just the wife - what he's thinking, what's he's feeling. The book would appeal to young couples, because it is about a couple, definitely someone who likes fiction. I think I would rate the book as 3.5 stars, not a full five, because there's other kidnapping books, but a pretty high rating, because it is a kind of surprising ending. You try to guess; You try to guess. But you pretty much won't get it."
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| The Idiot Girls Action Adventure Club |
Laurie Notaro |
"I Got Tired Of Her Immature Attitude" |
See review |
The Idiot Girl's Action Adventure Club
Laurie Notaro
"I chose The Idiot Girl's Action Adventure Club because on the cover it said, "National Bestseller"; and I thought other people must have loved it, therefore I will.
This book is sort of the adventures of a 20-something slacker as she sort of meanders endlessly through life and confrontations with ex-high school classmates or neighbors or family members.
The thing I had against this book was that it just sort of has all the same problems or plot or take on life; it's sort of this girl in her 20's who knows that she should have achieved more by now. She's sort of the slacker with the pointless job but who wants to feel superior to those people from her high school who do have jobs or are married by this point or who don't binge drink every night or who don't carry flasks of liquor in their purse. So I kind of got tired of her, I guess her angle on life, it sort of being the same - I don't know - immature attitude toward those people. I remember being that age, but it seemed like most of the characters in her book, not herself nor the others, are people who I feel I was at the time. Maybe that's the problem; they're so extreme. There's like the ex-cheerleaders, and then there's the drunk her. It's kind of, yeah, maybe that was my problem connecting with the novel; I just couldn't identify with anybody.
I definitely think someone who's 20 or 25 would find it funnier than me. You know, the binge drinking and not remembering you locked your keys in the truck of your car, high school reunions, that kind of thing. I'm 36, so it's already like too far behind me, I guess. I'd rate it like a two out of five, but it may be unfair to compare it to a novel since it is a collection of short stories."
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| The Invention of Hugo Cabret |
Brian Selznick |
"Thoughtful Story" |
See review |
"I read the Invention of Hugo Cabret. This book is about a boy that is about, kind of a teenager, and he, his father died, and his uncle went away somewhere, and he disappeared. So he's on his own right now, and so he's, he finds this invention, and so he's stealing these mechanical toys from this toy, this toymaker, and it's all about the toymaker and him and the mystery of the invention.
I personally like it because it has like a lot of really, really nice pictures in it, but also my favorite part is when he finds out the true meaning of what the machine is. I think they could have tooken (sic) out one of the characters that I didn't really care for. I didn't really care for the girl that was the toymaker's I believe goddaughter; I didn't see much of a point of having her in the story. I would give this book a five, definitely, because it was very, very thoughtful story, and it was about a real person."
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| The Invisible Man |
Ralph Ellison |
Brutally Powerful |
See review |
"I actually read Invisible Man through school. A teacher of mine recommended it, and it was in his course. It was under more of a cross-cultural class.
Invisible Man is a story of a man I guess in the 50's who starts off in the south, a black man, and it's more of his tale into both realizing himself and realizing himself as in place in society as a black man. And I guess everybody goes through that experience, so I do relate to him in that where you don't realize where you are and you cannot find your place in the world.
I think that I liked most about Invisible Man is the passion behind the writing. I think that it was so moving, and so touching, and so powerful, too, like just almost brutally powerful the way it was written. I loved the images, the - all of the illusions that it had, all of the depth; it was a completely, incredibly in-depth book.
I would recommend it to anybody who needs some inspiration. I'd recommend it to anybody who is not in the majority for any kind of reason to - just to get a perspective. It was a very progressive book, and I think it's a very bold and beautifully written and just an incredible story. I'd give Invisible Man a five out of five stars rating because it's just - I think it's a masterpiece."
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| Their Eyes Were Watching God |
Zora Neale Hurston |
Coming of Age Story |
See review |
As far as Their Eyes Were Watching God and why I read it, how I found about it in college in an African American literature course. It's kind of a coming-of-age story for this woman named Janie, and it kind of follows her romantic life and the trials and tribulations she has in trying to find herself and find the right match. I think any reader who kind of likes, is interested in coming of age stories and seeing a woman's path to greater self-discovery and self-expression would be interested in it.
I guess the only struggle with the writing was that a lot of the dialog was written in the vernacular, kind of colloquialisms of the South. So sometimes you have to adjust your ear, if you will, to kind of get into the flow of the dialog.
But it's a good read. It's got a lot of vivid passages; it's very moving in a lot of ways. It kind of touches on a spiritual aspect to life. As far as how many stars I'd give the book out of five, I'd say between four and 4 -- because it's such a great work of art.
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| Their Eyes Were Watching God |
Zora Neale Hurston |
Surprising Plot Twist |
See review |
"Their Eyes Were Watching God is mainly -- you could call it a lover story -- but it's also a story of female empowerment, and it just traces the life of one woman as she moved through different places and different husbands and has to confront different social conventions in the south.
I think that a lot of the themes in it are pretty universal. I can relate to the main character in some sense, just that she's searching for some things a lot of people search for like a partner and relationships that are gonna be fulfilling, and she wants to relate well to the world and communicate with people and just kind of find her place in the world. But in terms of things that she had to go through like being a black woman in the south, that's obviously different than what I've experienced growing up in California.
It took me a second to get used to some of the ways the language shifts from pretty abstract, poetic sentences to the dialect; and I was confused maybe a little bit by the different voices in the book. Some people might be frustrated by the dialect if they don't like reading things that are written in a dialect, but other than that I'd recommend it pretty highly.
I was totally intrigued by the end because there was a plot twist that I didn't expect at all, and there was this huge sort of -- there was a huge event. I don't want to give it away, but there's a huge event in the book that sort of parallels a huge swell of emotion in what's going on with the characters, and you're just absolutely riveted by it. I would give it five out of five stars."
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| The Joy of Cooking |
Irma S. Rombauer, Ethan Becker, and Marion Rombauer Becker |
Staple Cookbook |
See review |
The Joy of Cooking
Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker
"I most definitely consider The Joy of Cooking to be my staple cookbook. When I need to find a reference point for any recipe, I always check The Joy of Cooking.
The great thing is that in -- over the years, the cookbook has evolved. One of the great things also about The Joy of Cooking is that you can find information about almost any question that comes up in the process of cooking, like, "Hmm, I have a T-bone steak, and it is 2" thick. I wonder how long I should cook it for on each side." For a variety of different methods of cooking, and you will find that in The Joy of Cooking.
I don't know that I would have used it so much when I was in college because I was making everything pretty simple, rice and beans, but at the point where you're done with college and you're ready to start your adult life, maybe you're feeling like you're establishing your home, and you want to entertain your friends, and you've never really cooked big meals before, and you need some help. Your mom's not necessarily there to cook that first steak and potatoes meal with you. You're gonna want to have The Joy of Cooking at your kitchen counter for every step of the way. Absolutely five stars for The Joy of Cooking. It is a book that every kitchen needs to have."
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| The Joy of Cooking |
Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker |
"How To Skin A Squirrel" |
See review |
The Joy of Cooking
Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker
"Joy of Cooking" is in my cookbook selection because it is the Bible. I mean, if you cook anything, you should always have the "Joy of Cooking." I've like always referred to this book.
So, if I'm out of pancake mix or something, I actually have it dog-eared, you know the page to make it from scratch. So, it's a good book to refer to when you know you have any questions in the kitchen. It's laid out pretty well. It's, I would say it's simple. I've referred to it for everything, cookies, anything that I'd want to make. Maybe from scratch, but don't want to make you know go get a book just for that particular thing.
It even has, this is my, one of my favorite parts, which I've never used but it has a whole game section on how to like skin a squirrel and things like that which I love. I think that's great.
What I don't like about it is that there are some recipes that you have to get used to the way that they've written it because they, it's not like a regular maybe recipe book that we might be used to where you separated are the ingredients from the directions. A lot of times they're, you might skip over actually directions because it's part of the ingredient list. So, it's just something that I would get, you now one has to get used to.
I would say it would be great for any cook especially beginner cooks because it is real basic. I would give it five out of five for a real basic cookbook.
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| The Joy of Cooking |
Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker |
The Evolution Of Food |
See review |
The Joy of Cooking
Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker
"Well, this particular Joy of Cooking is really interesting. The one that I have is in the very early 60's. Food I think changed a lot during that time. People were going from making everything by scratch to some more pre-prepared food. If you want to know anything about anything, you go to the Joy of Cooking. But because this is an older version, it's got some pretty crazy stuff in there, like how to make your own peanut butter. I mean, who makes their own peanut butter? But it's interesting to see how it's changed over time.
It's very, very concise. I think the reason why I called it the bible of cooking is because there's an enormous amount of information in there. It's like a dictionary. So you can look up information a lot of different ways by how you would entertain. So luncheons, tea parties, afternoon tea, picnics, hunting dinners, formal dinners; and then you can also look it up in the back by type of food. Then they also have a nutrition center in the beginning.
The other thing that's so interesting about it is that you don't have a lot of pictures. If you want to make something from scratch, then I think this is the cookbook to look in. I don't use it for day-to-day cooking because it's completely overwhelming. Hmm, let me look at this 500-page book and find something. You know, you kind of have to just open it and go, "Poof, all right, I'll make that," and I think everyone should own a copy of it.
I would give The Joy of Cooking - the 60's version would probably get like a three."
|
| The Kite Runner |
Khaled Hosseini |
"Not A Light Read" |
See review |
"My husband, who is not at all a reader himself, bought it for me for a birthday present, and it was probably one of the best chosen presents I've gotten from him in like eight years of marriage.
It's about a 20-year span of the life of a very privileged Afghan boy who was raised with what he thought was just their butler's son, which turns out to be his half brother, and then they have to leave the country when there's civil war going on; and then in the end, he tries to go back to Afghanistan and save the son of his dead half-brother. Complicated.
It's very violent, and it's brutal; and if you're not into stories of child abuse, child sexual abuse, kidnapping, if you're not into horrible accounts of what the Taliban does under the guise under the -- I don't know, religious teachings, then it's not for you. It's got parts that are hard to stomach.
I guess people who care about current events, people who care about other cultures, anyone who's ever wanted to adopt a child from a foreign country. The privileged son, when he grows up and moves to America, he marries a woman and is unable to conceive with her; and I don't remember whose fault it is, but anyone who's like worried about adopting a child from a foreign country, this is kind of another theme woven in.
Maybe the message that it's never too late to redeem yourself or that it's worth trying to write the wrongs of your past. I would give it a five -- five, but caution you that it's not a light read."
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| The Kite Runner |
Khaled Hosseini |
Very Deep...Sometimes I Had To Pause |
See review |
The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini
"It's about two young friends from Afghanistan who have to deal with a lot of hardships because of the Taliban and the Russians invading. It takes them to different places in Afghanistan, in the Middle East, and America. Well, besides the Taliban taking over their houses and running their families out of town, there's also things like murder, rape - it's a pretty hard story. It was very deep, and it has a good central message of redemption, but it's a little hard to read. There's some parts where you have to pause and take it all in.
The book really shows all the dark sides of humanity and the light sides, too. Like one of the characters, Hassan, is perfect and is a completely faithful friend to Amir, the other character; and Amir is completely weak and is always letting Hassan down in every way. It's just a really good compare and contrast between a good person and a person who's struggling to be good.
The kite runner is the boy Hassan, who is the good boy, because one of their favorite pastimes was kite flying. They used to do this thing where they'd fight kites, and they'd try to knock each other's kites out of the sky; and when one kite gets knocked out of the sky it goes flying off, and the other boys try to catch it. Whoever catches it is the winner, so that's why it's the title.
The character Amir goes to America to get away from the problems; Hassan has to stay in Afghanistan. One of the reasons Amir goes to America is to get away from something he did to Hassan when he betrayed him really badly. After spending many years in America, he decides that the best thing to do would be to go back to Afghanistan and try to make amends.
I would give The Kite Runner four stars out of five. It was a very good book. Some parts were a little slow, and you had to kind of get through those parts to get to the action."
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| The Knitting Circle |
Ann Hood |
Healing and Friendship |
See review |
"I chose not to read it at first because I understood that it was about the tragic death of a child; and being a fairly new mom myself, I didn't want to read about the death of a child! However, Ann Hood, the author of this book, I met her at a writing festival and heard her story of how she came to write this novel; and that story was very moving. So of course I had to read the novel.
The novel is based on her true-life experiences of having lost her daughter to a sudden illness when she was five. So I learned that the book was actually not about the tragic death of a child; it was actually about healing and friendship and life.
What I liked best about this book is the way that the author interweaves all these different storylines to create this fabric of the protagonist Mary's life. It's very beautifully done, the way the stories are told; and you really get to know Mary the protagonist as a person and watch her evolve from a totally grief-stricken person to this -- to someone who is now open and open to life and living again. So it's also in a way very inspirational; I think that's what I like about it.
I have to admit that this book is more of a chick book, so I would recommend it to women friends, perhaps -- that's it, my women friends -- whether they're a mother or not. I would give this five stars out of five."
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| The Language Instinct |
Steven Pinker |
"Picks Up On Chomsky's Ideas" |
See review |
The Language Instinct
Steven Pinker
"What I liked about The Language Instinct was it sort of picked up where my previous training had left off. I studied psycho-linguistics at the University of Illinois and I met Noam Chomsky, who's now better known as a peace activist. But he was the inventor of modern linguistics. He really picks up on Chomsky's ideas. Chomsky was sort of a pencil-and-paper linguist; he would look at sentences and analyze their deep structure, and he came to the conclusion all languages have certain common features, that all human languages are of a particular type which he calls generative transformational - and I won't try to define that.
I think a lot of computer-oriented people would be interested in it. For one thing, it talks a little bit about computer attempts to assimilate speech. I would give The Language Instinct five stars, I think, because it's the only book that I've read that really picks up where my psycho-linguistic training left off."
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| The Last American Man |
Elizabeth Gilbert |
Is It Possible To Get Back To Nature? |
See review |
The Last American Man
Elizabeth Gilbert
"I've been interested recently in the exploration of masculinity, particularly how it's portrayed in American culture; and this book definitely addresses that issue.
This book is a portrait. It's a portrait of a man named Eustace Conway, and Gilbert has a relationship with him. Over the course of many years, she spends a lot of time with him. What makes Conway unique is that when he was 17 years old he moved into the woods, and he still lives in the woods. He very much professes that it's possible for humankind to get back in touch with nature, but his version of getting back in touch with nature is very extreme. He pretty much promotes a lifestyle that is about living completely off the land.
I think Elizabeth Gilbert has a great sense of detail. She really brings this character - and other characters in the book, but especially Conway - she brings him to vivid life. It's also just extremely fascinating to learn about someone who has such a different way of looking at the world than most people do. I was thinking to myself, "Oh, this guy's got a point. It may be interesting to try to live this way." But in the end, I think the way she wrote the book and the way that I just interpret his lifestyle, there's no way that I could live the way that this guy is trying to live.
I would recommend that people who are interested in quote-unquote "going back to nature" read this book. I would give this book a five stars out of five. It's extremely well written and very thought provoking."
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| The Legacy of Luna |
Julia Hill |
Reads Like A Diary, Inspirational |
See review |
I wanted to read the book Legacy of Luna because I am personally involved with groups who are protecting the ancient redwood forests in California and Oregon. And so this particular book was important - something important for me personally to read and to understand her struggle. It's a true story written by Julia Hill, and it's a book about a woman who lived for two years in an ancient redwood. It's a thousand year-old tree that was being threatened to be cut down.
What someone could get out of this book is an understanding of the bitter struggle between the groups like Earth First and the logging industry. The book reads like a diary; it doesn't necessarily read like a textbook case on how to save the forests or anything like that, but it can give a reader or any layman an idea of the struggle and the battle that - and the battle that Julia Hill endured. And also, it's just I think an inspirational story without being preachy.
I would give this book four stars because I think that it's an important piece of work that needs to be read.
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| The Life and Times of Michael K |
J M Coetzee |
"Gets To the Emotional Bedrock" |
See review |
The Life and Times of Michael K
J M Coetzee
"I read Life and Times of Michael K because I wanted some insight into South Africa. It's a fable that Coetzee means to apply to -- many times and many places, he doesn't say -- I mean he took pains to let us know that this could happen in a number of places other than Apartheid South Africa.
The Life and Times of Michael K follows a young man who has a sort of cleft pallet. He's disfigured; and this has made him very shy; and he's been institutionalized for most of his life. He was rejected by his frail mother, but when she gets sick, he promises to take her to her birthplace in a remote part of South Africa. She dies on the way, and what happens that Michael is lost. He becomes like a leaf blown in the wind. This takes place during South Africa's war on its northern border, sort of a proxy war with the Soviets against Communist interests. The country's in chaos, and it's full of draft resisters and roving armies of looters and adventurers; and Michael is sort of an every man, and he is buffeted around by these forces.
The story tells you and shows you what depression, what abject loneliness and depression really are like. Many of Coetzee's books -- in fact, probably all of them -- are very disturbing because he really gets to emotional bedrock. This book, Michael K, is kind of the beginning of Coetzee's thing with animal rights.
I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who was in a crafty mood, or I wouldn't recommend it to a distressed or depressed person. It's a tremendously sad book. I give Life and Times of Michael K five stars."
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| The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid |
Bill Bryson |
Idealistic 50's |
See review |
"This book was assigned in a graduate level narrating non-fiction class. So we were looking at Bill Bryson's style of narration in the book and how he chose to tell his story. The book is a memoir. It's a - it covers his childhood growing up in Des Moines, Iowa. And it's - in addition to being about his life, it's also about the city of Des Moines and how the city of Des Moines changed over time. It's almost an homage to the lost 1950's nuclear town or city. You know, a downtown that had everything. And so in addition to looking at his own childhood, in addition to looking at the way in which he interacted with the people and the city itself, he's also looking at the way the city used to be.
Bryson is very funny and he uses a lot of hyperbole in his writing. He tells stories in kind of an exaggerated way. And I found that writing style to be very engaging and very entertaining. He also does this interesting thing where he - as a kid he envisioned himself as a superhero. And so he uses various stories throughout the book to show the development of himself as a superhero. And it really gives you a window into his imaginative life so you've got what's going on in his external world, but then he also gives you a lot of what's happening in his internal world.
I think it would an interesting book for anybody who grew up in the Midwest in the 1950s. It would probably bring back a lot of memories and probably feel very familiar. I also would say it's a great book for someone who wants to study narrative craft. I would give this book four stars, perhaps four and a half."
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| The Life of Pi |
Yann Martel |
"Don't Be Put Off" |
See review |
Life Of Pi
Yann Martel
"I found out about The Life of Pi through a co-worker who said, "There's this really strange book; I think you should read it."
The book is about an Indian boy who is involved in a shipwreck and is stranded with a tiger on a life raft. The author just made it fascinating. The author somehow managed to make someone being trapped on a life raft in sort of a static condition fascinating. In the beginning of the book, the boy is in India, and he's living in this community where there are all different kinds of religions. He starts out as a Hindu, but he's curious about everything; so he ends up going to every one of the different churches, temples, mosques, and studying all the different religions. And I definitely related to that because I'm fascinated by all religions and I think there's something to get out of all of them.
Don't be put off by the fact that people always go, "Oh, what was a weird book." Don't be put off by it. It's not weird in the way that you won't understand it; it's not hard to understand. It just takes you to a completely different place. I think it's a lot of fun. I would give Life of Pi five stars. It was well written; it was a strangely fascinating story. The ending is great, and I think that it's just like completely different than anything else I've ever read."
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| The Little Black Book of Style |
Nina Garcia |
Goes Beyond Glamour and Elle |
See review |
The Little Black Book of Style
Nina Garcia
"I read the Book of Style by Nina Garcia because I love that show that she does, Project Runway, where she's a judge; and so I thought a book by her would be interesting.
The book is actually a little book of style, and so it goes a little bit beyond what you might find in Glamour, Elle or Cosmopolitan in terms of fashion tips; and the thing that takes it beyond is Nina's personality, which is really great. She puts a lot of her own story into it, and she reveals her mother's best kept secret, which I think every woman should have, and any part of the book that includes her experience - life experience is very interesting.
As far as some of the fashion tips that she gave, it seems to me that she's very into trends and the latest color. What I liked about the book is Nina's personality; anything that had to do with her life experience - for example that she grew up in Colombia. Nina has a lot of personality, a lot of humor, and so anything about the book where she injected her own personality was very good; and the rest of it I found to be very much like opening any magazine, any Elle or Cosmo.
I would recommend this book for anyone who's a fan of Project Runway or anyone who's looking for maybe a career in design and wants to have some reference points, because there is a good reference section in the book. Because of the overall lack of cohesiveness with the book, I would just give it three stars out of five."
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| The Little Engine That Could |
Watty Piper |
A Really Good Story |
See review |
The Little Engine That Could
Watty Piper I think I read it, when I was little, when I first started reading little books, and I just found it in my bookshelf one day. It's about a little engine that just stopped rollin', and they're right near the train station, but they needed to get over the hill, and there was trains going by, and they said they wouldn't do it, because they weren't the kind of engine that would pull it. Yeah, there were good pictures. Actually, my brother wouldn't go to sleep, so he picked out a story, and I had to read it to him, but we didn't finish it. It doesn't take just reading, to make him fall asleep. I'd give it five, because it's a really good story.
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| The Long Gray Line |
Rick Atkinson |
West Point Cadet Fights Summer Boredom |
See review |
The Long Gray Line
Rick Atkinson
"The Long Gray Line by Rick Atkinson. I wanted to read this book because I was actually bored in the summer of 1989. And I was a West Point cadet; it was my second year, and we were at the bookstore - at the cadet bookstore - and this book was being - The Long Gray Line by Rick Atkinson - was being promoted.
The point that I was hooked was that, again at this time I was 19 years old and had just finished my freshman year at West Point. The freshman year at West Point is called your "plebe year," plebe being short for plebian, and it's just the hardest year at the academy; and so when I read the book, where does it start off with? It starts off with something that I knew very well because I'd just experienced plebe year.
I think the greatest thing about the book for me at the time was that it provided context into West Point, and it also humanized the academy even more for me. I would give this four and a-half stars. I wouldn't quite give this a five-star rating; I don't think it's that great of a book. It's, for me it was great because it was a personal account, I could identify with the personal accounts, and I was very personally into it. For those who aren't, it's not going to be probably that - may not be as interesting."
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| The Looming Tower:Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 |
Lawrence Wright |
Pulitzer Prize Winning Book & Historical Survey |
See review |
The Looming Tower:Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
Lawrence Wright
"I chose to read The Looming Tower in large part because it was nominated and actually won the Pulitzer Prize, and I try and follow the nonfiction Pulitzer Prizes. I've found they tend to be very enjoyable. I also read it because of just before, I had read 102 minutes, which was the story of the people inside the towers; and so I thought I should understand the background to how the towers were attacked.
The book is really a historical survey of in large part Al-Qaeda, how Al-Qaeda came to be, and it begins much earlier on actually in Egypt and Saudi Arabia and people that had issues with the way those governments would run and the beginning of sort of a real fundamentalist form of Islam.
I think my primary reaction was really very educational. I mean it wasn't visceral in the sense that it was these people or this craziness, this fundamentalism. It really ended up being more of an understanding - I mean not that it's somehow right that there was a logic behind it and that there were circumstances that led up to people choosing to make these decisions.
I think the book was lacking a real discussion after 9/11 about what else is happening as a function of this same sort of fascism, this sort of fundamentalist form of Islam; and that was sort of hard. Because it really ends at 9/11 and has maybe a chapter epilogue, and I think you lose out on a lot of the knowledge that you had at the very outset about how this was forming and what this means. It sort of lacked a path to discussing it in the future.
I think anyone that really wants a nuanced understanding of how 9/11 came about from the not American side would really benefit from reading the book. I think it's important to not just see how the United States was attacked but to understand why it might have been seen as a target and why that was a viable target. I would give The Looming Tower five out of five stars."
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| The Lovely Bones |
Alice Sebold |
Liked Dead Narrator, Questioned Ending |
See review |
The Lovely Bones
Alice Sebold
"The Lovely Bones is a book that I saw on the bestsellers list at Barnes & Noble's one day when I was in the store, and the title and the cover caught my eye. I know that you're not supposed to judge a book that way, per se, but that's kind of what initially got me interested in the book. I thought this was gonna be more of a murder mystery, and so that's kind of why I initially read it, but that's what I found wasn't the case.
The Lovely Bones is about a teenage girl who was murdered, and she's telling her story from Heaven. What I liked most about the book was the way that the narrator was actually the murder victim, and she was telling the story from Heaven. I've never read a book with a similar narrator or theme like that. You really kind of thought the build up of her murderer - because obviously she knew who her murderer was - and her father throughout the book was really trying to solve the murder and find out who murdered his daughter. However, at the end of the story, I - and without trying to give it away - I guess there was never justice for that killer.
I would give this book a rating of three and a-half to four stars out of five, mainly because I felt like I got to know some of the characters better than other characters in the book, and then also I didn't really like the way that the book ended."
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| The Lovely Bones |
Alice Sebold |
"Beautifully Written -- Heartwrenching" |
See review |
""I had wanted to read The Lovely Bones because it was recommended to me by a friend's mother in high school. She had been giving me all these books to read, and she was giving me all these amazing books, too; so I kind of really trusted her recommendation.
The Lovely Bones is about a family, a younger girl who - I think it may take place in like the 70's - a young girl who, on her way home from school, ends up being raped and killed by this new neighbor that they have, this guy who's pretty quiet and stays out of the scene. And it's just about - and it's told from her point of view, which is totally interesting, 'cause it's her point of view even after she was raped. It's heart wrenching because you know what's happening the whole time, and you know who did it, and you're seeing the family go through like the confusion and trying to figure out who did it; and like, it's just amazing.
I think I would recommend the book to anybody. I don't know if male - it's - to me, it was a very emotional, beautifully written novel; so I think females would really love it, teenagers and definitely women of all ages. I would give The Lovely Bones five stars because it's just a beautiful story. It's told - I think it's creative, and the point of view it's coming from, I think it's heart wrenching."
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| The Memoirs of Winston Churchill |
Winston Churchill |
A Lot Of Detail-Great If You Love History |
See review |
The Memoirs of Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
"I read Winston Churchhill's War Memoirs. My wife found it for me. She knows that I like 20th century history.
The book is about Winston Churchill's memoirs that he wrote mostly in the late 40's and a little bit in the 50's recalling the events leading up to and during World War II.
I disliked a little of the self-serving casemaking. There were some slow parts, I think, somewhere around Page 700 it was kind of like, "Wow, I still have 300 pages to go." You have to be interested in history and, preferably, military history and be able to put up with, like, a 1,000-page book. Anybody who didn't already have a really great interest in that period of time, would find it to be just too inside baseball to really care.
I give it four stars. It was a pretty darn good book. I think, with that much detail, it's almost like you're gonna love it if you're already just so into that topic and time period. I don't know what portion of the reading public that is, but it starts to get pretty narrow."
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| The Memory Keeper's Daughter |
Kim Edwards |
One Major Lie |
See review |
"I read this book because it was one of those books you see on all those bookshelves in every bookstore, and there was quite a bit of buzz about it. So I was interested in it, plus the author shares the name of a childhood friend of mine.
Anyone who's picked up the book is going to know that the book is about the fact that the father has given away the newborn daughter who has Down Syndrome and he wants to save his wife the horrible burden that his own mother went through of having a disabled child who is likely to die.
The concept of the book is pretty interesting, but the way it's executed, I had some problems with. I felt this book was overly sentimental and a little sticky-sweet so that instead of just telling the story, the author got just overdone to the point where the whole book was driven by this one major lie; and she created sort of a hurricane or tornado around it so that this one lie became this incredibly devastating force to the point where you just wanted to go to the father, shake him around the shoulders, and say, "For God's sake, tell your wife Nora, and let's move this story along!"
What I liked about the book is the concept, the idea that somebody would make a terrible, terrible choice is a very interesting one that somebody would make this choice; but I'm just not crazy about where the author took it. 'Cause clearly I was intrigued by that choice in the first place, but I just wasn't thrilled by -- with what she did with it. I did finish the book, I fought to the end; but part of me just kind of wanted to give it up. I have a hard time not finishing a book when I start it 'cause I think there might be something good, there might be something good. But I just wasn't thrilled by any of the characters; they seemed selfish or overdone or the conversation sometimes seemed forced. I would rate this book three stars. The idea behind it is great, but it's so heavy-handed that I couldn't rate it any higher."
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| The Mermaid Chair |
Sue Monk Kidd |
Great For Book Clubs |
See review |
I wanted to read The Mermaid Chair again because it was a book club selection, and I've heard a lot of great things about Sue Monk Kidd and the -- I can't remember what it's called, something about the bees, which is still on my bookshelf and I haven't read. So that's what I wanted to read it.
The book's about a woman that is kind of also has this quiet kind of boring life with her husband, who's caring and loving, but it's just kind of a mundane life. One day her mother -- she gets a phone call from -- I don't know if it's from her mother, I can't remember. But her mother accidentally, I think, chopped off her finger, and so she flies home to this small island where she's from -- I think it's off the coast of South Carolina -- and decides while she's helping her mom that she's unexpectedly happy to be away from her husband. Oh, I love the mother-daughter relationship, how they're starting to find out about each other. I think that's an important relationship that a mother and daughter should have.
I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoys novels that have to do with relationships and questioning what's happened in your own life to make you kind of see the light and make decisions; and I think it would probably appeal to more of a 30's, 40 type year-old audience just because that's the age of the woman and the people in this book. I would rate this out of a five-star rating a five. And I would because it was another one of those books that I couldn't put down, had a great book discussion about it, and it makes me want to read her other books.
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| The Metaphysical Club |
Louis Menand |
American Take On Philosophy |
See review |
"It's kind of a history of pragmatic philosophy in the USA, how this came about after the Civil War; and it covers this guy whose name I can't remember, John Dewey, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and William James. So it covers those four guys and how they were in this club, basically just one of those Victorian kind of - "let's have cigars and brandy and talk about philosophy." They called themselves the Metaphysical Club, kind of ironically 'cause of them were very metaphysical.
Yeah, it was very, very interesting how the idea that this America spin on philosophy, so it moved away from ethics and into the idea that philosophy is affected by the world and can have an effect on the world. It's not just something that's isolated on campuses, and it can be used as a practical thing. That's kind of putting a simplistic spin on it, but that's basically what pragmatics believed.
Darwin sort of affected all of this. Darwinism became in the hands of capitalists and also well meaning progressives - "progressives" meant something kind of different back then - turned into social Darwinism. But the idea of survival of the fittest is that like - well, if you're gonna survive, you have to be fit, and we should probably weed out those people who aren't fit. It led to all sorts of unfortunate things, including fascism.
It gets a little dense, kind of follow the philosophy. I'd give this book four out of five stars."
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| The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane |
Kate Dicamillo and Bagram Ibatoulline |
Sympathetic Characters on Great Journey |
See review |
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
Kate DiCamillo and Bagram Ibatoulline
I wanted to read The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane because at the time that I heard of its publication, I'd read pretty much everything else that Kate Dicamillo wrote. So this particular book is about a extremely fancy porcelain rabbit who has an owner, a little girl, who loves him to pieces and takes very good care of him, and he doesn't appreciate it at all. He's totally selfish and not interested in her, and wants to preserve his good looks, and he gets lost. Really bad things happen to Edward, even after you've sort of grown to care about him as a character, and I think that that could just be really pretty devastating as a child.
This book had really wonderful characters, and I felt like the evolution, like the journey that he goes on, the sort of eponymous journey is really clear, and it makes you feel like you're sort of going somewhere with him.
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| The Mists of Avalon |
Marion Zimmer Bradley |
Epic Retelling Of Arthurian Legend |
See review |
""I read The Mists of Avalon because a girlfriend recommended it to me. And at first I was hesitant to - it's about 900 pages long - so it's a very thick book, and I knew it would be quite an undertaking to read it; but when I did, I didn't want to put it down.
The Mists of Avalon is a retelling of the Arthurian legend through a female perspective. Morgaine Le Fay, who is also known as Morgan of the Fairies and who has in other interpretations been seen as an evil sorceress or a witch, is actually given voice in a very different light. The book brings together several what could be seen as binaries. We have Christian versus ancient Celtic religions; we have male versus female, god versus goddess, priest/priestess. A lot of these issues come to a head in this book.
I was happy to read a book where a writer causes us to think about how the gods rule and what our parts are within that. I did suspend my disbelief, and I think that the reason that that was possible is because there were very real issues at stake; so even though there was something supernatural about these things going on, they still had to do with very real things going on in our hearts.
I would recommend to anybody who is familiar with Arthurian legend. I believe feminists would like this book. I believe anybody who is considering the significance of religion and how it can either be helpful or destructive might want to read this book. I would give The Mists of Avalon five stars. It's an epic book, it's an epic story, and it's told in such great detail with such care."
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| The Moon in Swampland |
M. P. Robertson |
When the Moon Doesn't Shine |
See review |
The Moon in Swampland
M. P. Robertson
"I am the mother of two little girls, two and four years old and my husband is an animation artist who specializes in creature work. He's worked on "Lord of the Rings" and "Spider Web Chronicles" and movies like that. And I think because of his work, my little girls have taken an interest in creature-type illustrations, monsters, fantasy type stories, and this is "The Moon in Swampland." And I think we were all just really attracted by the cover art.
There are these little creatures called "bogles" that really look like Gollum from the "Lord of the Rings." And the interesting thing, this is based on a folk tale from the 19th century. And it was meant to be a cautionary tale to children to not go into the swamp at night because bad things could happen to you.
The story is essentially about one night when the moon comes down to earth as a woman and decides to investigate what's going on in the swampland. And when she's there, she finds this little boy who is being attacked by the bogles. And she shines her light brightly and so he can see where he's going. He manages to escape. And in the meantime, the bogles capture her and they bring her down below the water and take her, tie her up in one of their underwater lairs.
The way the bogles are described as these, sort of evil belching, lurking, kind of characters would be frightening to my little girls, but I don't think they seem to be bothered by it. They seem to approach it as just it was kind of fun to be scared about it. So, I wasn't bothered by that.
I think this is good for both little girls and little boys. I would give it four stars."
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| The Nasty Bits |
Anthony Bourdain |
More Bits By Bourdain |
See review |
The Nasty Bits
Anthony Bourdain
"I actually started reading "The Nasty Bits" by Anthony Bourdain because I had read "Kitchen Confidential," which was his first book. He has this cranky sarcastic, angry, but hysterically funny voice. And he just manages to tell these stories in such a way where you're just dying laughing.
This one is actually a collection of several pieces that he's written for other publications. But what's really fun about it is that in the back, he goes back and for each piece, you can turn to the back and there's a place where he reflects upon it, sort of. It's like he looking back on what he's written. I like that idea, just so much especially in this current day and age when people, I don't know, when people seem to not want to say when they're wrong about things. It's really refreshing to see someone who will.
I liked a piece called "Via Mexico, Via Ecuador." It is about the Spanish-speaking cooks and busboys in back of the house people that work in restaurants. And he talks about the lives of these working class guys a lot of whom don't speak English, are maybe here illegally, who just really work really hard and are just as much the artists that you expect the chef to be.
Because it is a collection of pieces there are of course, going to be some that are better than others. And it doesn't have the cohesive narrative of something like "Kitchen Confidential." So, if you're looking for a story this isn't really a story. I would probably give this book around three and a half stars, out of five. It was, it's really, really good, but like I said there's some pieces that are better than others. So -"
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| The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Usable Trim, Scraps, and Bones |
Anthony Bourdain |
Mirrors TV Show |
See review |
The Nasty Bits
Anthony Bourdain
"I've seen Anthony Bourdain's TV shows. That's when I first saw him, and I realized that he had written books; and this is his latest book.
Nasty Bits is about his travels around the world sampling food, different cultures. If you've seen the TV show No Reservations on The Travel Channel with him, it basically - it pretty much follows that 90% of the time, so it's really neat to watch the show and to see it in writing. Because his show and the way he writes are very, very similar.
He'd go to Vegas and he'd kind of cut on all the famous celebrity chefs who opened up restaurants there, but then he can go to the outer reaches of China and sit with a family who's lived in the same spot for like 400 years and have a bowl of noodles and think it's better than what he had in Vegas.
Anybody who's interested in the culinary arts, anybody who likes reading about travel 'cause it's a perfect combination of both of them - and he just writes really, really well. Really well. I would give this four stars."
|
| The Nick Adams Stories |
Ernest Hemingway |
"Not a Big Fan...I Loved It" |
See review |
The Nick Adams Stories
Ernest Hemingway
"I've never been a real big fan of Hemingway. But I've always had kind of an interest and if I've enjoyed anything of his it's been his short stories. So, I picked it up and loved it. It was incredible and it was so solid and really good.
"The Nick Adams Stories," collection of short stories about this character that Hemingway kind of always had, Nick Adams, who apparently was the closest character Hemingway had to himself. So, it follows this one character through these series of short stories through his childhood growing up through being in the war, through marriage. It's most of his young life.
There's one really short story that was just like a page and a half. And it was about I think when the character, Nick Adams is going off to war. He's riding on a train and he had never crossed the Mississippi and he's this kid who reads and has Mark Twain in his head and everything. It's just a really dense little story talking about baseball, the World Series that's going on and crossing the Mississippi River and that's all the short story is about. And that's all there's room for, but it's incredible.
There's nothing really that I didn't like about "The Nick Adams Stories." I'd recommend "The Nick Adams Stories" for Hemingway fans for sure. It'd give "The Nick Adams Stories" five stars. I really thought it was great and it's going to make me go out and find more of Hemingway's books."
|
| The Nimrod Flipout |
Etgar Keret and Institute for Translation of Hebrew Literature |
Surreal...Weird |
See review |
"I chose to read The Nimrod Flipout by Etgar Keret because I'd heard Fatso, which is one of the stories featured in his book on This American Life, and I always thought he was very interesting. Also, I'd heard about his other book, The Bus Driver Who Wanted to be God.
If you haven't heard Keret, either in This American Life or having read any of his books, his style is pretty much surreal short stories, and they are weird. In The Bus Drive Who Wanted to be God, he writes about what the afterlife is like for people who have committed suicide. In this book, he features all sorts of really strange things like the main story, what the book is named after, The Nimrod Flipout, is about his one friend who starts having psychiatric problems, and then he finds out that he'll take on the problems next, and then his next friends, and then they all have to share the burden of this psychic pain. He just writes things that you just wonder how he comes up with these things.
This book is a bunch of stories. I think Fatso's probably my favorite story in the book because it is so bizarre and funny and quite sweet how it all turns out. Some of the stories are totally bizarre, but I would say Fatso is my favorite in this book and worth reading. Fatso is -- that specific story is about a guy whose girlfriend admits she has a terrible secret and that at night she turns into a big, fat, hairy man.
I wouldn't say there's much I don't like about the book. Once in a while it can be a little violent or icky, but I think it's just very interesting. So if you can go with surreal stories that don't necessarily make sense or you can just enjoy someone's creativity, you'd probably enjoy this book. My favorite thing to read is probably fiction, like longer stories instead of short stories, but sometimes short stories are great to pick up if you're traveling or you just want to read one story before you go to sleep at night. So I like to read a mix, but I would suggest you check this out 'cause it's sort of neat and different. I would give this book four stars."
|
| The No-A**hole Rule |
Robert I. Sutton |
Why So Difficult? |
See review |
"The No A**hole Rule essentially tells from Robert Sutton's perspective, a Stanford PhD. Professor, what the definition of an a**hole is. In his definition, it is essentially someone who, in a workplace, demeans others who are of lower status. My wife purchased a copy; we were dealing with a neighbor who was not the most polite of people and was also dealing with a co-worker who I was not too pleased with, and so I wanted to gain some insights on why he was behaving the way he was.
The No A**hole Rule gave me insights into how to deal with the situations that came up. I'd try my best not to be an a**hole, and so -- myself -- and so I don't necessarily understand where those types of people are always coming from. The nutshell answer of why people act like an a**hole, according to Robert Sutton, is just fear of -- it really stems from fear. And it can be upbringing, it can be a lot of different environmental factors, but it's really essentially a fear of losing status and having to assert your own power onto others and doing it in a way that is going to essentially retain your status or enhance your status.
I would give four out of five stars. I think that it is -- the reason why I gave it four out of five stars is that it's a great book that I think just about everyone should read, but it's not a perfect book. It does tend to repeat itself towards the end."
|
| The Octopus: A Story of California |
Frank Norris |
Still Relevant |
See review |
The Octopus: A Story of California
Frank Norris
"The Octopus is about - well, it came out in 1901, so it's turn of the century farmers in the central valley in California; so there's a lot of name recognition and local information. It's about the railroad coming through, wanting to take the farmers' land because they have an option on the land, and basically it's the struggle for the farms to keep their land and their livelihood.
Well, the Octopus I think represents the railroad, its many hands out grabbing. The theme of it, The Octopus, is still relevant. I - when I read it at the time, my mother - my grandmother's home was being taken by the government for a _______ extension, so I totally related to the fact that the government's gonna come in and take your land. The characters were so well developed in this novel that I lay awake at night thinking about them, and I couldn't sleep, and I was really tormented.
I would recommend this book to people who like local California historical type novels. When I was reading it, I was seeing it like a movie. It was brilliantly done, and they had characters, and they were showing how their lives were affected by the railroad, and simultaneously these things were happening, and you could see the different scenes switching back and forth in your head like a movie. I would give this book five stars, definitely."
|
| The Old Patagonian Express |
Paul Theroux |
Grand Adventure |
See review |
"The Old Patagonia Express is I think travel literature at its best. I hadn't really read any travel literature that was quite like this. The idea itself was very provocative, I thought. The author Paul Theroux gets on a train in Massachusetts, and he rides a train all the way to the tip of Patagonia; and he writes about it in a very personal way and also very fresh, open and honest way that I think is fabulous.
I remember the opening scene in which he gets on the commuter train, local commuter train right there in Massachusetts; and he describes the workers who are commuting to work, and described their vagrant - their vacant stares and their resigned looks and that in contrast to himself who was off on this grand adventure. Was very moving, and I immediately had to read the rest of the book.
I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the whole book. I enjoyed learning not only more about the fabulous places that he's visited in his adventure but also more about the author, which you get out of this book. You learn a lot about who he is and how he thinks and feels, and it adds depth to the travel literature.
I would recommend that anyone who is traveling, particularly to South America, read this book because it gives you depth and understanding about the people, the culture; it gives you a flavor of the various countries in South America, and it's timeless. It doesn't matter that this was written I think more than 20 years ago. It's a timeless piece of travel literature. I would give this book five stars."
|
| The Omnivore's Dillema: A Natural History of Four Meals |
Michael Pollan |
In Depth Look At Food Production |
See review |
Omnivore's Dillema
Michael Pollan
"I work in an education program, and I had volunteered to do summer reading groups because we do them every year. So there's a group of rising sophomores, which means summer after ninth grade going into tenth grade. This group of girls who go to a private school in Marin County and their summer reading was to read this book, so I thought, "Okay, here's a perfect excuser. I'll do it as a reading group." SO I read the book over the summer with a group of 14 and 15 year-old girls; we read it together.
The Omnivore Dilemma is basically about the different kinds of choices and obstacles and dilemmas that are faced by people in contemporary US society about the food that they eat and where it comes from. It goes into a lot about different kinds of political or economic motivations for certain foods becoming popular, becoming the staples of our diet, and a kind of contrast big time industrial agriculture with smaller agricultural units and what it means to be organic versus what it means to be non-organic and what is industrial organic and really just goes in depth into what sort of factors are controlling food production in America.
The book concludes with the author putting himself to a challenge of trying to gather, forage, take it back to the hunter-gatherer days, gather and forage his own fancy meal, which he does. So it's broken into a few different sections of history, research, personal experience, field work and whatever.
Truly what I liked best was the context in which I read it because it was a really amazing educational tool. Michael Pollan is very, very, very thorough, and he's very detailed, and he goes in - he's neutral, too. I think that in content, I would give this book 4 -- stars because again, I think the information is really good and really important. Readability and entertainingness, I would give it closer to maybe a 3.75. I can't stick with a whole number; it's just too much of a commitment for me."
|
| The Other Boleyn Girl |
Philippa Gregory |
Those Crazy Boleyn Girls |
See review |
"I have read other Philippa Gregory books, so I wanted to read The Other Boleyn Girl also. I'd read The Queen's Lover, and I believe before, I had also read -- yeah, The Queen's Lover and The Queen's Fool.
This book is about the lesser known Boleyn girl, Mary, and also how she comes to have a love affair with Henry VIII, and also then how her sister takes over; so it's very much about the behind-the-scenes court life of the Boleyn or Howard Boleyn Family and what life is like living in that crazy time and that crazy place in a place that's oftentimes glamorized. So it's very interesting; you really get a behind-the-scenes look at what life is like in the court.
Philippa Gregory has a really interesting way of making historical fiction completely fascinating where you want to spend several hours in your armchair with her; and she just draws things in a fabulous way, and I just love getting a sense in what people's lives were like. I think I sympathize quite a bit with Mary, and it was very easy to dislike Anne Boleyn, who's drawn to be just the nastiest creature you can imagine. She's just -- she just seems to have her fingernails out, and she's just gonna scratch her way up to the top. And it's very interesting how the family dynamics are just so ruthless where there's just no real true fondness for family members, that each is required to play their part for the benefit of the betterment of the family.
I would recommend the book to people who not just like historical fiction, because I think give it a try. If you haven't read historical fiction, try it and see if you enjoy it. I think she makes it interesting enough; her writing is interesting and energetic enough for a modern reader. Of course, it's a modern book about historical people. I think a modern reader would enjoy this book. Also, if you do enjoy historical fiction, you'll definitely enjoy it. I would rate this book four stars. I think it's a really strong, energetic and exciting read. You can sit and enjoy it for several hours at a time."
|
| The Overlook |
Michael Connelly |
The Further Adventures of Harry Bosch |
See review |
The Overlook
Michael Connelly
"I'm one of those readers who's addicted to police thrillers, and I go through these so fast half the time I can't remember what I read last week or an author. But one author really sticks with me all the time, and it's Michael Connelly. So when I see his name, I know it's a guaranteed good time.
The Overlook is Connelly's latest story - latest novel about this cop named Harry Bosch; and it's about this overlook by Mulholland Dam that overlooks Los Angeles, and somebody is found shot up there. The mystery unfolds as we experience Harry Bosch solving it, and so with every layer that's real, you see there's just more and more confusion and ugliness. The main thing I like about all of Michael Connelly's books, especially this one, is they're set in Los Angeles. I was born in Los Angeles, and I know every corner of it; and so when he describes a murder that took place on the corner of Figueroa Terrace and Temple, which I'm just pulling this off the top of my head 'cause I don't think that is a real intersection - I've been there, and I actually lived in many places he's talking about. So he's so authentic, and he just captures LA in such a great way that it's just a great ride to go along with him.
It's such a popular genre that everybody from young kids to grannies reads it, so I would just say anybody who wants a thrill can pick up any Michael Connelly book, especially The Overlook. I'd give The Overlook three stars."
|
| The Painted Veil |
W. Somerset Maugham |
"She's Let It Go Too Long" |
See review |
The Painted Veil
W. Somerset Maugham
"It's about a woman who is very young. She's a Londoner. She's part of, if not high society, fairly high society. She has her debut and suddenly she finds that she has let it go a little too long.
So, she's got to grab the first guy that comes along. And like a fool, she grabs a guy who is desperately in love with her, that she doesn't really know or like at all. He's a microbiologist and a physician. And he adores her for some reason, which he can't fathom because he knows she's very shallow. And has never accomplished anything, really done anything, really thought any thoughts. But he adores her and she marries him in desperation. And lo and behold, off they go to Hong Kong where he's been offered a post.
What I liked most about "The Painted Veil" is the character development. It is really wonderful to see how this person grows and changes. How the main character becomes someone who is thoughtful and deep, and caring because she's under pressure to be more than she ever would have been back home.
I'm giving four. I think it's close to, it has its problems, but it's close to being a classic."
|
| The Phantom Tollbooth |
Norton Juster |
Clever Wordplay For Young Readers |
See review |
The Phantom Tollbooth
Norton Juster
"I had originally read The Phantom Tollbooth when I was probably 10 or 11, and I fell in love with it; and I've been wanting to read it for several years now.
It's really cute, and really witty and funny, and there's a lot of wordplay, and that's exactly what The Phantom Tollbooth is about. The basic plotline is pretty simple. A young boy named Milo comes home from school one day. He's bored and listless, and nothing amuses him, and he's boring and bored; so but there's this mysterious package at his house that's addressed to him. He opens it up, and it's a magic tollbooth, and so he assembles it and goes on a journey.
The entire world that he encounters is pretty chaotic and completely backwards and upside down, and so his mission, his personal mission is to rescue rhyme and reason. So he winds up learning a valuable lesson in the end.
I think it's just the basic idea that a young, bored boy becomes -- he's able to make himself have fun again; and I think a lot of people can relate to that. It's very -- he created his own imagination, and that's what I really liked about it -- and the puns were just really funny and witty, and I think that it's not only an interesting story to read and talk about, but when you read it you can really see the wordplay. It was funny, it was humorous, clever, and an easy read because it's a simple storyline and it's funny; and so I think younger children can like it, and adults can like it. I would give this book 4 -- out of five stars."
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| The Pharmacist's Mate |
Amy Fusselman |
Beautiful Writing Writers Can Appreciate |
See review |
The Pharmacist's Mate
Amy Fusselman
"I chose to read this book because it was short, and it also looked like it had a very interesting structure to it; and I'm sort of drawn to books that have different structures these days.
The story is a memoir -- and I would actually call it a braided memoir, meaning that it actually follows two stories. The author is recounting her journey to try to become pregnant through a variety of fertility doctors and different modalities; and she's also doing this at the same time that her father has passed away, and so she's revisiting her father's life and her father's death. They incorporate an exploration of the actual process of her father's dying but also a retrospective look at these journals that he wrote when he was a pharmacist's mate on a US Merchant Marine ship when he was in his early 20's.
The way the book is written, it's in very short little snippets of writing, so each section is numbered, and no section goes more than a page or two. Most of them are much shorter than that. She just has a way of really capturing the essence of a scene in a few words; the language is beautiful, and the images that she creates are really striking.
I think this is a great book for people who love writing. It's a unique book, and so I would recommend it to anybody that's interested in looking at how creatively an author can tackle a subject. It'd also be an interesting book for people who have suffered through family tragedy. I would give this book four stars out of five."
|
| The Piano Tuner |
Daniel Mason |
Appeals To All Audiences |
See review |
"I wanted to read The Piano Tuner because I am a musician, it's about music, and it sounded like an interesting story from reading the back cover.
The book is about an Englishman by the name of Edgar Drake, who is assigned by the military to tune a rare piano - it's called an Erard grand piano - and he was assigned to go to Burma. There's a war going on between factions there, and the English are occupying it as part of the war, and that's pretty much it. I mean I could tell you more, but I might be giving away the story. My favorite part of the book is when he finds he piano and the condition of the piano in the city of Burma, and he has to basically evaluate the condition and also the war between the tribes and the Englishmen.
The whole book in itself was very interesting. It kept me completely interested, and I just read it all the way through with no problems. I definitely found that as a pianist, I could relate to his character; and being able to tune pianos myself definitely sparked my interest in it. Being a lover of basic working of instruments in any aspect - stringed instruments or whatever the might be - I found that I would probably like it.
I would recommend anyone who has an interest in music, adventure stories, stories about family, personal struggles, things of that nature should read this book. It pretty much appeals to all audiences, though. If you like reading, you enjoy it, then this book will be enjoyed by you. I would give this book about five out of five. The story is great, everything, the characters, the depth of description of the climate, everything is just wonderful in this book. So definitely five."
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| The Pilot's Wife |
Anita Shreve |
Reader and Wife Agree |
See review |
"I found out about The Pilot's Wife from my wife, who actually picked it up in an airport, desperate for something to read, and couldn't put it down and was actually kind of mad when the flight she had taken and read it on landed and she hadn't finished the book.
The book is about Catherine Lions, who is the wife of an airline pilot. His plane is blown up while it's flying over the middle of the ocean, and the rest of the book is essentially her journey of processing the grief, at the same time learning little by little that the life that she thought she was leading is not necessarily the life she was leading. It was very riveting and just kept my attention and was a very fast read.
I disliked the last third of the book; it felt a little rushed. The scenes getting to that point were very well thought out, very meticulously described. I would give this book a four out of five star rating. Like I said, it's very gripping and it's a novel that I think a lot of people would be interested in. It has very broad appeal."
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| The Pilot's Wife |
Anita Shreve |
"Plot Twist That Actually Surprised Me" |
See review |
"The cover sold me. There was some little blurb about The Pilot's Wife that sounded like it was gonna have a plot twist that would actually surprise me, and I do enjoy books like The Very Long Engagement - I can't remember which other books; I actually have a surprise almost mystery feel to it.
This is a book that draws you in early on; and I really did enjoy it, and I did finish it. You just, you don't know why the police are asking this woman all these pointed questions; and then at one point she refuses to give an interview. She's like, "If you're not gonna tell me where this is going, then I'm not gonna go on with this interview." And you just watch as this whole secret life unfolds, and yeah, it's engrossing.
There aren't a lot of characters in this novel. It's sort of this very isolated housewife in a very small town, and it's just her and her daughter living alone with their husband who is constantly flying airplanes and away from home half the time. I guess I identify with the wife because I am married myself, and it would be insane to discover that my husband had this whole secret life while here I'd been raising kids with him and I thought we knew him.
Overall, I mean, I liked almost all of the book except for one part: The fact that this wife never had any friends in her town. The only characters who ever appear to like console her in her moment of grief are her mom and her daughter who lives with her, and it's sort of like she hadn't cultivated any friendships in 10 or 20 years in this town. So that was a bit odd. I like most the fact that you are actually able to be surprised. I do not like predictability in a plot at all, and I think books that I criticize tend to be those that I can already see how this whole thing is going, and it just, it bores me.
I would give The Pilot's Wife four out of five stars. I really enjoyed it, and I was entertained by it."
|
| The Pocket Stylist: Behind-the-Scenes Expertise from a Fashion Pro on Creating Your Own Look |
Kendall Farr |
"It's Not About Having a Perfect Body" |
See review |
"I decided to read The Pocket stylist primarily as a recommendation from my sister.
Essentially, the book is a guide to style. This book is a little bit different in the sense that it's the classic for every body type, every size, shape. Body types are broken down into several categories based on small waist, small hips, they actually have a series of body types for thin women, as well as body types for plus size women, and what you would be an average woman on the street. I think that was the importance; it's not about being thin, it's not about having the perfect body in order to wear these clothes; it's more of what works for you and how can you look your best.
One thing I disliked about the book is that while the author did a great job of covering the different body shapes, they did not do such a great job of covering the size. In the United States, if the average is a Size 12, I would have like to see maybe something in the range of a Size 8 to 12, something that perhaps more women are within that range.
I think this book is great for anyone, regardless of their sense of style, their finances, their current wardrobe. It's not about the quality of what you're wearing or how style savvy you are; it's simply all on dressing for your body type. I would give this book four stars. It was a great book, and I recommend it for any women ages 15 to 80."
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| The Poisonwood Bible |
Barbara Kingsolver |
Sparked A Family Discussion |
See review |
"I became interested in Poisonwood Bible because I have loved what Barbara Kingsolver has written in the past, specifically Prodigal Summer.
The Poisonwood Bible talks about two - an evangelical minister, his wife, and their four daughters who go to The Congo to minister to this community. Kingsolver's choice to by the end of the book tell the story of the, like the morals of how the different daughters grew up and how all the characters lived at the end of the two years was a really, really good choice because there's something that could be really great about reading it with women in your family because it's so specifically written from the perspective of the five women in the family and the ways in which they relate to each other and see things are so different that I really enjoyed talking to the other women in my family about it and seeing how they - like, how they related to it as opposed to how I related to it.
I think I would give The Poisonwood Bible three and a-half stars. I think it is a gorgeous book, but paring down each of the narratives and making different choices in terms of how the characters are related to the Congolese fight for independence would have improved it."
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| The Power and the Glory |
Graham Greene |
"It Was a Loving Book" |
See review |
"I wanted to read The Power and the Glory because I've read a lot of Graham Greene's stories, and he's one of my favorite storytellers.
It was a loving book. It sounds funny to say that, but I could feel his love for all of the people in the whole book - everybody - the good people, the bad people, even the people we thought were of no significance in the great scheme of things. He found a place for them.
It's the story of the Catholic Church being suppressed in Mexico. It follows one priest - well, when he's running from the authorities. It's a story about a priest falling apart under extremely difficult conditions; and I think it's also a political book in that it seems to be criticizing or condemning the government of Mexico for wanting to suppress the Church; but mostly it's about the priest and his problems.
The author seemed to be willing to overlook the fact that the priest was breaking his vows left and right and just seemed to love him for who he was as a person; and even the most miserable people - there's a traitor who - it's a poor villager who's latched onto the priest and won't let him go. And it's a horrible person if you think of from the priest's perspective, and yet the priest loves him, and the author finds little ways of letting you fall in love with this awful character.
There's nobody I wouldn't recommend this book to. I think anybody could read it and come away with not only a perspective on oppression but also just a good feeling about humanity. I would give this book five stars. It's one of the best books I've ever read, and it's one of my very favorite books."
|
| The Power of Now |
Eckhart Tolle |
Concepts, Not Exercises |
See review |
"The title says it all. The Power of Now: How You Can Stay in Present Moment. At the time that I wanted to kind of get some insights on how this _________ mind; even though I know a lot of techniques on meditation, I just thought I needed something.
Well, the whole book is about concept. I didn't find many exercises that can really put you in touch with the present moment other than understanding the importance and essence of present moment. He gave a lot of examples of various aspects of life and how you can deal with different situations by just focusing on the present moment, and that free you from the mind chatterness, or the future, or the past pains.
I think this book really lacks the exercises and really how to put people in touch with the present moment. It's a concept, so you grasp that concept I think is good, and especially exposing people who cannot really free themselves from worrying about the future and then thinking about the past. I would recommend the book to people who have never exposed themselves to self-healing. I think the book is a good start for people who just started experiencing crisis or just started to awaken their consciousness that, "I need to do something." For a beginner, I would say it can be a three and a-half stars because it's too repetitive; it's a good concept. For people who have been in the self-healing journey for a long time, I would probably have to lower it to a two."
|
| The Princess Bride |
William Goldman |
True Love, Heroes, Villains & More |
See review |
The Princess Bride
William Goldman
"I read The Princess Bride by William Goldman because I loved the movie quite a bit. It was a great science fiction/fantasy film, so I decided I might as well just pick up the book and check it out.
The story is about finding true love, heroes, villains, action, romance, the whole nine yards. It's basically a guy who falls in love with a woman and has to prove his love to her in order to win her and save her life.
Probably my favorite character in this book is either the Spaniard, Inigo Montoya, or Fezzik; and I especially like how the two characters play off one another, almost like Bert and Ernie or something of that nature. Probably my favorite part of the book is either when they go through the fire swamp - Westley and Buttercup - or when Fezzik and Inigo Montoya are exploring the different levels of Count Rugen's torture chamber.
There wasn't much that I didn't like about this book. It's one of those that I've read at least seven or eight times and will probably read it countless more times. The book and the movie go pretty close hand-in-hand. I think this is an excellent book for somebody who normally doesn't read science-fiction or fantasy and has been interested in doing so, and it's something that most people can relate to as far as all the different characters and all the trials that they go through. It's a great read, and I think it really opens up your imagination. This book gets five stars out of five stars."
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| The Professor and the Madman |
Simon Winchester |
OED, History and So Much More |
See review |
"This book has been around for a while, and I'm not sure how I first discovered it. It was on -- it was one that I'd seen reviewed some time ago, it was on my reading list, and I finally got ahold of it and decided to take it on vacation with me.
The book is about how the Oxford English Dictionary first came to pass, and reading about that was pretty interesting in and of itself because I had no clue about the OED. And so many people, so many writers, and so many individuals love this book; and I really didn't even understand the different components about it. The other half of the book focuses on the two interesting two characters, two interesting individuals -- real life characters -- who were major forces in creating this book, and that was Dr. Murray and -- or rather Professor Murray -- and Dr. Minor, an American who was committed as a lunatic for a murder and who helped to shape the OED.
I liked learning about the creating of the Oxford English Dictionary, I liked reading about Minor, who was the murderer who was in an asylum for many, many years; and also, it was interesting to hear the story of James Murray and how they -- what their lives were like and how they came to be involved in the OED.
The one thing I became frustrated with in the book is the book is called The Professor and the Madman, and it seemed to take forever for the professor and the madman to ever meet. I took this book on vacation; I don't recommend this book as a beach book; while I'm not crazy about books that are classified as beach books is they tend to be a little two lightweight sometimes. This is a hard book to pick up, read a few paragraphs and get into, unlike a novel where you could follow the story more easily. So it's not so much I didn't like the book; it's just I really wouldn't recommend it for light beach reading where you're gonna pick up the book for five minutes.
I would recommend the book to anybody who's interested in linguistics, anybody who's interested in the basics of the OED or never knew anything about it. I think it's a really interesting story just how this book, in its many, many volumes over many, many years, I think it's a really interesting story how it came to be created. I had a hard time reading this book because it was a little hard to get through in the circumstances when I was reading it; but I think it's a well-written, very interesting and well-researched book, so I'm going to give it four stars."
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| The Rapture |
Tim F. LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins, and Steve Sever |
"Didn't Turn Me On" |
See review |
The Rapture
Tim Layhaye
"I wanted to read The Rapture, because I had read Tim LaHaye's Left Behind series; and I found the novels really interesting and kind of unlike much that's out on the market right now. And kind of the driving event in all of that series is The Rapture. And so I kind of wanted to check out or understand his perspective as a - he's a pastor - of what the rapture was and why he was so sure it that it was gonna happen and play out the way it did in the books.
It's kind of a Biblical discussion of what the rapture would be and kind of almost an explanation for why some sects of Christianity believe it's gonna happen and how they think it's gonna play out.
I think I was reading it more from, like, a Bible is history standpoint. I was raised Christian, but I'm not born-again Christian; so I didn't have any, like, personal, evangelical interest in the book. I was kind of more interested in the reasoning behind it. And I was kind of disappointed that I feel like lots of the things I find meaningful in terms of theological discussions weren't there.
I would give The Rapture three stars. I think it was interestingly written. I think Tim LaHaye has done a good job of earning, really, an international audience. I just think it's limited in the scope of people that it would apply to. So, I think, if you're interested in the topic and interested in the book, you might even rate it a four, but since I wasn't particularly, it didn't turn me on in very many ways."
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| The Reader |
Bernhard Schlink |
Asks Philosophical Questions |
See review |
"As a blind person from Turkey, I read The Reader in English. It was one of the books I read here when I arrived. When someone is reading to you, he or she puts his emotions, intonation and feelings; it's more personal. So I took the book, The Reader, just because of the title.
This book is about a boy and his relation with an ex-SS police officer. The sequence of the events were really designed well, and when I was reading the part about Auschwitz the adventures of the main character in the way to visit concentration camps. It was so vivid, and I also visited that placed, and it reminds me what I felt when I visited. He comes up with some philosophical questions when we have the right to help somebody, even if he or she doesn't want to be helped.
I think the people who like something different, something interesting, they will like that book. I would again five out of five to The Reader because it was really different while I was listening so far."
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| The Red Tent |
Anita Diamant |
Women's Secret Subculture |
See review |
"I actually chose The Red Tent because of the controversy it generated when it was voted down in a book group I joined six years ago. A few people weren't interested in reading it 'cause it had something to do with religion. Then I came across it like at a library book sale, and I was that much more curious what it was really about.
The book The Red Tent by Anita Diamond is really the filling in the lines in the story of what the wives and daughters of Jacob, what their lives would have been like if we could have seen it thousands of years ago. I loved how vivid it was, how realistically it just brought to life every detail of living in that Biblical age. It was a family saga.
I think if you like Latin American authors like Gabrielle Garcia-Marquez or Isabel Allende who kind of follow several generations in one family and create this whole like, I don't know,following of the talents and the flaws through generation after generation, it's very kind of dramatic like that. It's probably gonna appeal more to women then men 'cause it focuses more on the unseen lives of women. At times, there's more than necessary mention of people's menstrual cycles, but I think if you're a woman, you can tolerate that easier than a male reader. I think maybe some male readers would have a hard time swallowing that. It's really following how women had sort of their own separate culture, and even in these times that we thought were monotheistic you know that, what's his name, Jacob followed one God; yet these women were still like praying to their moon goddesses and the water goddesses and were having this whole subculture that managed to survive and thrived. The Red Tent by Anita Diamond would get five stars from me."
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| The Red Tent |
Anita Diamant |
"Female Perspective On Bible Character" |
See review |
""I read The Red Tent because my book club was going to read it; and it was my first meeting, actually with this group of women, and I happened to be nine months pregnant.
So the story The Red Tent is about Dinah in the Bible. She's a very minor character in the Bible, but the author of The Red Tent has broadened her story to be about basically women in the Bible. I thought that it was a carefully told story that brought to life a perspective that might not have otherwise been considered. I liked that the author took some liberties with the story, but I don't think that she took any liberties that were not possible.
The beauty of the story is that you have reasons for things happening that, from a male perspective, are very different. Dinah's brothers -thought he had - they claimed that she had been raped. That was the perspective in the Bible. But of her own volition, she had gone to Shalem, this man that she loved; so yeah, The Red Tent, the female perspective there, is that she made her own choice. But in the Bible, it's that she was victim to something.
I would recommend this book to different groups of people, maybe women who - I guess women. That's a large part of the audience, I'm sure. When raised, even in a church, might find this interesting to have something in the Old Testament brought to life with a different perspective. I would give The Red Tent give stars. It's probably on my top ten list of favorites."
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| The Republican War on Science |
Chris Mooney |
Science Suppressed |
See review |
"The Republican War on Science is a very one-sided book, which also agrees with my own view of the political situation. I think it's a one-sided political situation. It's the Republicans who are manipulating science toward their own ends to the detriment of Republicans and Democrats everywhere. Republicans have carried the suppression of science to a science.
We need science more now to make decisions about what to do than we have at any time in the past, but the status of science in policy making is at a lower point than it's been since the time of Eisenhower. George W. Bush sort of flew by the seat of his pants. He was an oil man, his Vice-President Dick Cheney is an oil man, all their friends are oil men; so they were good to their friends, and they found scientists that - working for the oil companies who would back up their position.
I think that George W. Bush is politically savvy, but in other areas his reputation as an intellectual lightweight is well deserved. I think that - and I believe that he seeks out people who affirm his own positions, including scientists; and then he turns around and believes what they tell them to after he's already picked them out.
I think Democrats and liberals - not necessarily the same thing - should read it, I think to see what they're up against and to maybe energize them to do something about it. I think conservatives and Republicans - again, not necessarily the same thing - should read it to adjust their view of things. I would give it five stars. I agree with the book, I agree with the premise of the title; I'm highly partisan myself, it's a partisan book, but it's also dealing with the partisan situation."
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| The Revenge of Gaia: Earth's Climate Crisis and the Fate of Humanity |
James Lovelock and Crispin Tickell |
Is Nuclear Energy the Answer? |
See review |
The Revenge of Gaia: Earth's Climate Crisis and the Fate of Humanity
James Lovelock and Crispin Tickell
"I wanted to read the Revenge of Gaia in large part 'cause I'd read about it in another magazine, Ad Listed magazine; it had a reference to it about sort of - it's about the environment largely. The only other book that I've read on global warming recently is An Inconvenient Truth, and it is much more - it's certainly much more left, not in the sense that it's politically left in telling you what you have to do, much more left in the sense that it's very realistic about the consequences. It's not couched in what we can do buying compact fluorescent light bulbs as An Inconvenient Truth is, and all these small solutions. In fact, it's the first book I've ever read that touted nuclear energy as a quick fix.
The argument the author gives certainly about nuclear energy is more persuasive than every - anything I have ever read. I mean I have been getting the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists since I was a kid, and reading it religiously and thinking it's very interesting, and really always had a very anti-nuclear stance in every sense. But this book, even though, as I said, I think it's very sort of left, is very realistic and just says, "Like it or not, this still produces less waste and effluvia than coal." Any of the other options - biofuel, which takes a lot of resources to grow the food. So even though I'm not politically sympathetic to nuclear fuel, he makes a good argument for why that might be what we have for the time being while we're figuring everything else out.
I would recommend this book for just about everybody. I feel that it definitely needs to be read more widely, much like the Inconvenient Truth. It should be part of the canon of books that up-and-coming young people are reading if for none other than the philosophy of Gaia and thinking about the planet more on a wholesale perspective and not that it's just a small space but actually a much larger space. I would rate this book four out of five stars. I did enjoy it and I - although it's not the absolute best book I've read, I liked it as much or more than An Inconvenient Truth."
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| The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich |
William J Shirer |
"The Book Reads Like a Novel" |
See review |
"I read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer because of my fascination with World War II history and primarily the German side of it and how an entire nation was swept up in a fervor by one man.
It begins pretty much foreshadowed at the end of World War I and how Hitler eventually got into power, how he became the head of the National Socialist Party in Germany, all the way up to after he commits suicide in his bunker in 1945.
There was quite a bit about this book that surprised me. One, the book reads like a novel. It's all factual, but it's so amazing and fantastical at points, you kind of think that there's no way this can be true. The Nazis in general were atheist and anti-religion, but at the same time the higher ups were heavily involved with the occult and the fascination of the Legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and how they tried to replicate that.
It is a tough read. It's a bit dry at times, but not too bad. In my opinion, I think it's very important that people understand both sides of the story. I recommend this book to anybody who is -- has a fascination with military history and specifically World War II history. I would give this book about 4 -- out of five stars."
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| The Road |
Cormac McCarthy |
What Would You Do For Your Family? |
See review |
The Road
Cormac McCarthy
"Why did I want to read The Road, a novel by Cormac McCarthy? I guess it's because -- I hate to admit it -- but while I don't watch Oprah very often, I kind of sometimes do what Oprah tells me to do; and since it was a Book of the Month with Oprah, I said, "This book's gotta be pretty good."
The Road is about a father and his son, and arguably it's one of the most depressing and hopeless books that you could ever read. The book takes place after some sort of nuclear holocaust; I'm not clear exactly what happened, but it's clear that there has been a complete breakdown in society, a complete breakdown in the rule of law. Even though it's a completely hopeless situation that the father and son find themselves in, the connection that they have, the love that they have for one another, really spoke to me. It's a book that resonated with me because I have a son, and I know I would do anything for my little boy. In the book, the father literally does everything humanly possible for his son.
I would say that the book does give meaning to life. I highly recommend this book to just about anybody. I -- please be warned that if you do read the book, it is a hopeless one. If you're looking for some satisfying ending, it doesn't do that; but it's a book that makes you think, and it makes you think about relationships. How committed are you to your family? How committed are you to your friends? What would you do for them? I would rate this book as 4 -- stars."
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| The Road |
Cormac McCarthy |
"Harrowing...Have To Be Brave" |
See review |
"So probably like a lot of people, I'm sort of caught by the cover, and here was this stark black cover with plain red lettering; and I thought, "People think this guy's terrific, I'll give him a shot."
It's a post-apocalyptic story of a father and a son in this world where everything is ash and just their attempt to survive day by day, pushing a grocery cart with whatever meager amounts of food that they have or can get, trying to deal with all that's happened around them without having a real strong sense what has happened.
I can't think of a book that has been more powerful for me to read since I read Beloved 20 years ago. The experience of reading this book, the ability he had to create this world and these characters in such a powerful way was one where -- and I've never had this experience before -- I had to stop when I was reading at various times because it became so harrowing that I had to put the book down and look around me and kind of remind myself, okay, I'm okay, and my son, who at one point was sitting next to me, is okay, and this is just a fictional world that's being described here.
I would probably say kind of high school age on up would enjoy this book, but you have to be brave. It's a book that asks you as a reader to come with him on this trip into this world that's not very pleasant. Can I give it ten out of five stars? I mean I really do; this is a book that in my lifetime of reading is probably in the top ten of all time. I just found it to be an amazing, amazing piece of writing. But I'll be honest: I have talked to people after I read this book; I will never be able to read this book again. I even have a hard time mentally going back to it. It was such a powerful experience."
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| The Road |
Cormac McCarthy |
Squeamish? |
See review |
"The title grabbed me when I was walking through the stacks of books at a bookstore. I just saw this plain black cover that said The Road, and like, well, hey, it's almost like the Beatles White Album. It's such a simple cover, I gotta check out what this book is about. And then I saw that it was by Cormack McCarthy, who also wrote All the Pretty Horses, which I really enjoyed as well. Then once I read the back and discovered that it's a story -- a post-apocalyptic story -- I'm a fan of science fiction so anything about the end of the world or any type of something beyond our world is interesting to me.
It's a post-apocalyptic journey for a father and son trying to survive. It's just a tale of survival. It doesn't place blame on -- it's a nuclear war -- it doesn't place blame on -- there's no information on how the war started, who started it, what was destroyed. We just know that everything is destroyed and 95% of the people on earth are dead.
What I like about this book is that it's very realistic, actually. We can really see this father and son walking with a shopping cart, scavenging for food, trying to survive; and the people that they encounter are both good and bad. There's a couple of images in the book that are incredibly disturbing, and I still think about them -- haunted by them in a way -- so if you're a little bit squeamish, there's a couple of scenes in this book that are pretty hardcore. Other people who would like it, if you like science fiction, I think that this is a hit.
I would give this book four out of five. I rate it so high because obviously, if you rate a book about the effect that it has on the reader, there have only been about three books in my life that have made me sob, like I can't put the book down when I'm reading in bed. In terms of story, it's a strong -- it's an incredibly strong story. It's about human survival, and the end of the world, and the lengths that we would go to to save someone whom we love."
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| The Rose Tattoo |
Tennessee Williams |
Looking For Understanding |
See review |
The Rose Tattoo
Tennessee Williams
"I read The Rose Tattoo because I saw it when I was young, and I remembered thinking that it was pretty cool. I actually ended up getting a rose tattoo myself a couple years ago, after my mom passed away, in her memory because we saw it together; and so I figured I would go back and read it to maybe try to - I know it's lame - try to get some understanding of maybe why I got a rose tattoo.
The Rose Tattoo is a play based around two characters, a lady named Serafina and a man named Alvaro, "AL - vu - roh" - something like that. They're Italian, and they live somewhere near New Orleans; and the story is about Serafina being madly in love with her husband of many years until one day he dies in a truck driving accident. It completely turns her life upside down, and she gains weight, and stops leaving the house, and becomes the laughing stock of the town basically because she can't pull herself together. She thinks she'll never find love again and continues to worship her husband's shrine until one day, another truck driver comes along because his truck's broken down on the side of the road.
There's a striking resemblance between this truck driver and her husband - her late husband - and the story is about the new truck driver falling in love with Serafina and eventually her falling in love with him, too.
I like how the author describes the scenes before each scene so you get a picture before you start reading the dialog. It's kind of a typical I would almost call it unoriginal love story. I mean nothing too special about it. I didn't get any central message from it. I would give it three stars. Well written, but not incredibly deep or fascinating."
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| The Saboteurs |
W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV |
Boomer Army Brat Likes WWII Tale |
See review |
The Saboteurs
W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV
"I wanted to read The Saboteurs because it's about World War II. I'm 55 years old, I'm the boomer generation. My parents were in World War II, so I grew up in the 1950's hearing about it firsthand. My mom was in the Navy, my dad was in the Army. My mom had to get 30-minute permission to be out of uniform to put on a wedding gown and get married. So I've heard firsthand what the war was about, why it happened; so books about World War II really interest me.
It's pretty right on. It uses the issues in a way that's not just about action and violence, but has a little bit more of a message.
I would recommend The Saboteurs to somebody who likes military stuff, and there are two reasons for that. One is just my own take on it, but two is, it's rare that I actually buy a book. I bought this one, and the guy that sold to me in Barnes & Noble said, "Oh, wow, this is great," and I was surprised, because I didn't expect to like it that much.
Out of five stars, I would give The Saboteurs probably a four - maybe half of an additional star."
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| The Satanic Verses |
Salman Rushdie |
"This Book Is Something Else!" |
See review |
"I was a high school student, and I was part of a literary book club, and a good friend of mine named Arune talked to me about this book and said, "Hey, let's go see Salmon Rushdie give a reading over at the Manhattan Theater Club." There had been this horrible fatwa that had been placed upon Rushdie's head, and we of course - the reading was canceled. I went out and I promptly - of course, I purchased this book and sat with it for a while and started - the first couple of pages, looked at it. And I just - I did not want to read it. I shut the book, I put the book away, and didn't look at it for I think it was about two and a-half years.
I was able to immerse myself in this book, and I'll tell you, this book is something else. It's just amazing. This book is about not only what good and evil means, but also the battle of good and evil within ourselves; and it's a political book in that it looks at I think East and West.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in contemporary politics and also interested in Islam. How many stars would I give this book? Five and a-half! I mean, - well, this - five. Five. This is a very important book."
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| The Second Coming of Maval Shikongo |
Peter Orner |
Poetic Narrative |
See review |
The Second Coming of Maval Shikongo
Peter Orner
"I read the "The Second Coming of Mavali Shikongo," mainly because I know the guy who wrote it, Peter Orner. We both work in San Francisco in a writers' collective called the San Francisco Writers Grotto. But, I think even if I didn't know Peter, I would have been drawn to this book.
Peter Orner's book is about a young volunteer who leaves his home in Cincinnati, Ohio and goes to teach elementary school, to teach English in Namibia. And Peter Orner, the author, actually did teach English in Namibia, so he really knows what he's talking about.
It's just a beautiful, beautiful story about the aftermath of Civil War. And about the effects of displacement on children and on people who have lost family members. It's also about love in really unlikely places. It's a very poetic book. It's full of arresting images and beautiful writing. Even though its setting was in the Namibia after, in the 1990's after civil war, there was a real quietness about it. The only thing I didn't like about "The Second Coming of Mavali Shikongo" is the title. I can't, you know it's a very difficult title to remember.
I think "The Second Coming of Mavali Shikongo" would be good for anyone who is interested in Africa, people who are interested in the lingering effects of war, and people who love just really beautiful, poetic language. Peter Orner is very, you know he's a real writer's writer. Five stars for "For the Return of Mavali Shikongo.""
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| The Secret Life of the Lonely Doll: The Search for Dare Wright |
Jean Nathan |
Author/Model's Life Mirrors Book |
See review |
"She was a model in the 40's and 50's and a photographer in the 60's and started writing - putting together these children's books - or they were marketed as children's books. I knew nothing about any of this; I just saw the book in the store and went, "This looks like an interesting subject."
The children's books that she created were all basically the same story. A little doll named Edie who is befriended by a older bear named Mr. Bear and his son, Little Bear; and the three of them get into adventures that invariably involve Little Bear getting Edie into mischief and then being punished, usually spanked, by Mr. Bear. Well, it turns out that her upbringing mirrors these stories that she was relating in her children's books and then goes even farther into more scandalous and unsavory territory.
I think part of the reason that I'm attracted to art in all its media is to experience things that I don't experience in my own life. That's one of the reasons I like John Waters' films. It's he's talking about something that most of us don't ever come in any contact with, and this story also is very similar to that.
I could have used more photographs. I'm as prurient as the next guy; and apparently, in addition to her children's work, she also did more adult work, and I would like to have seen more examples of that. But that's really my only criticism. In spite of its lack of literary ambition, I would give this book a five stars. It's not trying to be great literature; it just tells a great story, and it does it really well."
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| The Secret Life of the Lonely Doll: The Search for Dare Wright |
Jean Nathan |
Strangely Disturbing Children's Book Author |
See review |
"The Lonely Doll is a series of children's books written in the 50's by this - by a woman named Dare Wright, who had been a model and a photographer, and then she started making these books with dolls as I recall from her childhood. They're sort of strangely disturbing. There's bondage and all sorts of things, but in the 50's the didn't think of that kind of subtext.
Dare Wright died sadly in sort of a pauper's hospital basically. The author of her biography had met her there 'cause I'd - again, I'd seen Lonely Doll in a bookstore and thought, "This is weird." Then it was like, "Oh, you know, she's still alive." "Oh, she is?" Then tracked her down and decided to write this book about her life.
It covers her entire life. When she was a kid, her parents separated; her father was an alcoholic. She had a brother, and the brother went with the father, and she went with her mother. She didn't see her brother again until she was fully grown; and then when she was fully grown, she sort of got a crush on him. There's some imputation that they may actually have had sibling incest, so it's all very gothic and odd. She was a very striking woman, and she'd been in lot of - in sort of the heyday of glamour pose advertising. She was a fairly well known model in that world. So there's all that sort of Manhattan glamour, combined with this kind of seedy, troubled back story.
I would give it five stars."`
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| The September of Shiraz |
Dalia Sofer |
Fast Read + Interesting Prose |
See review |
The September of Shiraz
Dalia Sofer
"September of Shiraz was chosen by my readers' group, by my book group, by a published author who swears that it's a wonderful book, the greatest -- one of the greatest first novels that she's ever read. I wasn't so sure.
I had a great empathy for the story, which is about a Persian family living in Tehran; the father is imprisoned in 1981 in the early days of the Iranian Revolution. The son has already been sent to the United States to study, the daughter is ten, and the mother is totally shell shocked by what's happening to her family.
The father is very, very well told. His experiences in prison, you feel them. The others, the affectlessness (sic) of the prose isn't as successful. The author seems to want to give this book a happy ending; and from what she gives us of the characters, I'm not so sure that's possible. Dalia Sofer, the author, did leave when she was ten, fled with her family. How autobiographical the book is, I don't know. The book is very well written. It's very graceful prose, very spare prose; and we only see through the narrator's eyes what the character is seeing or experiencing at every given moment. It's a very disciplined style of writing. Sofer went to Sarah Lawrence, and she got an MFA in fiction, and it definitely feels like this book was workshopped a few times; but in terms of subtext, there's not much.
It's a good book club book. It's a fast read; you can read it in a couple of sittings. I'd give September of Shiraz three stars."
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| The Seven Daughters of Eve |
Bryan Sykes |
Best With a Little Knowledge |
See review |
"I've been interested in genetics since I was about ten years old. I read an article about it in a magazine, and I found it had an elegant mathematic simplicity. So we have nuclear DNA and DNA in the cells outside the nucleus, but when the sperm and egg cell come together to form a new being, the sperm is stripped down to a nucleus and a tale basically. So there's no room for mitochondria in the sperm, so all of our mitochondria comes from the mother.
It's a very useful tool for scientists who want to trace the origins and the movements of human populations. It's interesting that the mitochondrial DNA doesn't tell you anything about what the people that carry it look like, but it does sort of give you a sketch of where they came from. I think the fact that I have some knowledge of genetics makes it interesting; and in fact, it answers a lot of question s that I have. And if I had twice as much knowledge of genetics, it might answer twice as many questions.
Bryan Sykes is such an excellent writer, so good at communicating and building a picture. He has a chapter devoted to the seven daughters of Eve. He gives them names; he makes up stories about them.
I think just about anybody could read it and appreciate it if they don't really - if they're not complete technophobes - and I think the people I'd recommend it most would be people who like me know a little bit about genetics and understand the concept of why mitochondrial DNA is significant. I would give it five stars."
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| The Silver Spoon |
Phaidon Press |
"What Book Could I Want More?" |
See review |
"I have The Silver Spoon in my collection because it's been an Italian staple for I believe about 50-60 years, kind of like the Betty Crocker cookbook in the United States; but this is all Italian. They've just recently, about a year or two ago, printed it all in English, and so I - what more - what book could I want more as far as if I'm looking for Italian than the typical Italian home kitchen standard.
It covers everything. I mean it doesn't leave out the weird stuff; so if you're willing to try it, you might not know where to find it - that might be the only problem. But it has everything as far as even just making pastas, sauces, hot and cold sauces I've never heard of before, meats I've never eaten and I don't know if I will eat, but meat that I will eat and I absolutely love as well. Soups, salads, seafood, just runs the gamut; so it's a very informative book. It's one of the most in-depth tutorials as far as getting your kitchen set up for Italian cooking and racks of spices and all that.
What I like best about this cookbook is it doesn't hold anything back from Italian cuisine. It's not the sugar-coated version. If you want frog, they got frog in there. They have every kind of fish from - I'm not a big fan of cuttlefish per se; I don't know think they're the prettiest creatures - but it's in there, as well as what you'd like to see on your table as well.
It's so well explanatory that it could go in just about anybody's pantry that likes cooking traditional Italian food. I mean like me, per se, I don't like to - I'd rather go make my sauces rather than go to the store and get a jar of it. So if you're that kind of person that likes to experiment with your own flavors, this book is for you. I would give this book five stars."
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| The South Beach Diet |
Arthur Agatston |
"I Can't Live That Way!" |
See review |
The South Beach Diet
Arthur Agatson
"The South Beach Diet. I found out about it through reviews, and I wanted to read it because everybody's got that last ten pounds to lose. It's by a doctor, I believe he's in Florida, who had great success with it. It's sort of Atkins-light.
I liked that it wasn't so extreme, that you sort of started on a lower phase and sort of - well, you started on a - on a strict diet and then that led to initial weight loss. I suppose it was successful in getting people to think about their eating habits, and I didn't particularly like the diet itself. I couldn't live that way. I think it was kind of a quick fix, and I think that the merits of the diet are controversial. But it seems to work really well for some people. It didn't work really well for me."
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| The Stephanie Plum Series |
Janet Evanovich |
"Hooked on Series" |
See review |
The Stephanie Plum Series
Janet Evanovich
"I picked up the first one and I was hooked like that. I read it in less than a week, and ever since then I've been reading all of her books, one a week.
Usually you read a book and it's great and then that's the end of it. This is really cool because it just keeps going, so you get to see how her life evolves, her love interest, different things. I don't want to give anything away. But you can see, you know, relationships, like they'll bring back someone you met from book one, they'll bring it back, and then you can see, you know, how that relationship evolves and what happens to that person.
Really exciting because it ties everything together, and you just kind of grow with her. You feel like you know her because you - it's like, oh, I remember in book one when she was trying to learn that, and now she's doing better; and oh, I remember that guy, or I remember her. Oh, they're back. So it's kind of exciting. It's like watching a TV show and it's ongoing, except you're reading.
I've recommended it to two other people and how they're hooked, so they're wanting - do you have the second book? Do you have the third book? I just finished the first one. And it's really cool.
I give it five out of five stars because it's - like I said, it just hits everything, you know, you get your fear factor, you get your romance, you get your funniness."
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| The Stuff of Thought |
Steven Pinker |
"The Chapter on Swearing is Fantastic" |
See review |
"I heard about Steven Pinker's The Stuff of Thought when I went to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco and I heard him talk, and he gave a real quick, quick taste of what was involved in the book, and I really appreciated his wit. He spoke about how we use vague language in regards to situations such as bribes or in regards to sex, the whole idea of, "Would you like to come up to look at my etchings?" is a nice way of inviting someone to come to your apartment and seduce them, but that way they could say, "No, thank you," and you can pretend they just rejected looking at your etchings.
The book is about how our language reflects how we think, and he goes into great detail about this, about how our understanding of our actions reflects how our parts of speech are put together. Unfortunately, it goes a little too far into this so that several of the chapters drag out so long. I felt a little bit like I was reading a textbook rather than reading a book for pleasure, but the chapter on swearing is fantastic. It's also interesting because he puts the swear words in. When I heard him speak at the Commonwealth Club, he wasn't allowed to say those words because it was going to be broadcast, and so it's interesting to see those words in print, in block, and it's a little bit surprising.
I haven't read any books, other books by Steven Pinker, and I haven't read a great deal of linguistic books. I took a class at university of college and pretty much almost failed it, and so this was a whole lot more interesting than what I'd learned in school.
I think this book could be interested in anyone who enjoys language. If you are someone who really loves words and how we communicate, you're gonna enjoy the whole book, and otherwise, just enjoy those chapters.
I'd give this book four out of five stars because goes way too deep in parts of speech, but he's also a good writer, he gives great examples, and there are many parts that are enjoyable."
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| The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution |
David O. Stewart |
"I Was In Awe of the Process" |
See review |
"There was a picture on the cover of the book of the 18th Century gentleman at the Constitutional Convention, and I've always been fascinated by how so long ago that people could have written a document that would have persisted for so long into the present.
There were only two members of the Constitutional Convention whose names I think most people would recognize today. There were George Washington, who was sort of elected the President of the Convention, and Benjamin Franklin, who was the oldest person there; he was a great compromiser, and he stayed in the background and still had a profound effect. But the book did go into the personalities and idiosyncrasies of the other members of the Convention as well who were lesser known, and the contributions they made, and in some cases the disasters that were headed off by not following their recommendations.
I was in awe of the whole process, the fact that it seemed in many ways so petty and mundane and repetitious; and there were some glaring mistakes, at least from our point of view today, one of which was the way they dealt with the issue of slavery. It does deal with the opposition to slavery, even among the southerners there. It didn't seem that there was anybody there who thought that slavery was basically good, but just about all of the southern representatives in the Convention thought that it was something that they had to defend and something that their constituents would not ratify unless they approved it.
I would recommend this book to anybody who's interested in the Constitution, interested in the democratic process, interested in American history. I'm gonna give it four start."
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| The Sun Also Rises |
Ernest Hemingway |
Drunken Romance |
See review |
But the reason why I wanted to read The Sun Also Rises was I was stationed in Europe and I was - the summer time - going to be summer, May - and I wanted to go run with the bulls.
So this book is about essentially Hemingway's experiences in Spain, and it takes - I think it goes from Madrid to other places in Spain - Pamplona - and it's a book about being drunk; it's a book about romance - he meets some girls - it also has a backdrop of being in World War I. One of the main ideas of the book is that regardless of what happens, like the title suggests, the sun also rises.
The favorite thing I thought about the book was that it was - I was able to kind of do some of the things that Hemingway did. I went to the - it was neat to read about places in Madrid, for example, and go to some of the pubs that he frequented; and when he talked about walking along certain places in Madrid, I was there, and so that was great. It was also good to go run with the bulls, and that was a great - that was a really crazy experience. So that whole idea of being able to kind of relive some of the things that happened in the book I thought was pretty cool.
I think I would recommend the book to really anyone. I think it's a fairly easy read; it's a read that - it's a good book that's about - especially if you're going to Spain. If you want to go to Spain, so that's great, or to Europe; and it's anybody who's a fan of Hemingway, I would definitely recommend this to. I would give this book 4 -- stars.
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| The Sun Also Rises |
Ernest Hemingway |
Universal Novel...Generational Struggle |
See review |
The Sun Also Rises
Ernest Hemingway
"I wanted to read The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway because I had never read a full-length novel of Hemingway's. I had listened to the audio book of The Old Man and the Sea, which was one of his short stories, which was excellent. I think it's a real talent to be able to describe events and people in few words, and so I really wanted to get a chance to read one of his novels since I had heard such good things about him as a writer.
The Sun Also Rises is about Jake Barnes, who is living over in Europe, and his -- not necessarily his pursuit but his platonic friendship with Brett Ashley and also his friendship with a few other men including I believe his name is Robert Cohn, and just their I guess you could say adventures -- there's not a lot of stuff that they end up doing -- but they end up at the running of the bulls in Pamplona. It's a story that while Jake Barnes is the narrator, the story seems to center around their desires and feelings for Brett.
I would give Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises five stars out of five stars. I think it was an excellent novel and one that kept me interested throughout. I think it's a very universal novel about the, just the struggle of generations and to find their place, especially in the modern world. So I just really liked how the themes that he brought up seemed to still be relevant today and will probably be relevant well into the future and how it's very universal."
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| The Tale of Desperaux |
Kate Dicamillo and Timothy B. Ering |
"Will Live In Your Imagination" |
See review |
The Tale of Desperaux
Kate Dicamillo and Timothy B. Ering
"The initial title is The Tale of Desperaux, and then it goes on to something like, being a story about a mouse, some soup, a spool of thread and a princess or something. So it was just sort an intriguing fairy-tale title.
Desperaux, the main character, is a mouse, who is unlike all the other mice who live in this castle, because he loves to read and he doesn't just want to eat the books. This sort of motley cast of characters were also really great, because even the sort of villains were enchanting in their own way, and also for the ones who were kind of out to get each other, you saw how they'd gotten that way and how mistreatment had sort of hardened their hearts.
This book will -- this book will stay in your imagination, and it's a treat to find out about all of the different elements in the title, because you go along for a while and have no idea how the soup and the spool of thread get woven into the story. So it feels sort of like detective work, or that you're being given a present as you read along and get to find out how those things work."
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| The Tao of Pooh and Te of Piglet |
Benjamin Hoff and E.H. Shephard |
Pooh As P'u |
See review |
The Tao of Pooh and Te of Piglet
Benjamin Hoff and E.H. Shephard
"I chose to read The Tao of Pooh and the Te of Piglet, which I really will talk about together even though they're two separate books because I was just curious. I mean I grew up reading Winnie the Pooh and loved those stories and knew very little about Taoism and wanted to learn a little bit more, and this seemed like a good sort of access point for both.
The books are really about the characters, Winnie the Pooh, and Tigger, and Eeyore, and the Owl, and how those characters represent certain aspects of Taoism. Specifically, Winnie the Pooh is supposed to represent sort of -- I believe the term was Pu -- I think it was P-U -- which is sort of the uncarved stone, someone that's genuine by being themselves and not trying to be anything different.
Piglet is the Te, and he is supposed to be sort of a -- he's supposed to show the virtue of the small and that even though he's small, he's very earnest; and that what he does, even if the effort's very small, can have very large effects.
I would say what I gained from reading the books was really more of an understanding of Taoism. I don't feel like they were real paradigm shifts in my personality; I didn't go out and say, "I'm not gonna be an Eeyore." I really was more -- I'm learning something about Taoism and I can understand these concepts more because they related to characters that I know.
I think this book would be accessible to everyone. I would recommend it really even to kids, 'cause I think -- maybe kids teen and up -- but it gives a good understanding of an introduction to Taoism. If you're really trying to do a survey of religions maybe with kids, it would be good for them to understand that that means. I would give it four out of five stars. It's a very endearing book."
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| The Things They Carried |
Tim O'Brien |
Elegantly Described Vietnam Tale |
See review |
The Things They Carried
Tim O'Brien
"Opening up the book and just reading the first paragraph, I just -- my heart just stopped and I just had to continue. The Things They Carried is -- the chapters were originally published separately, and in 1990 I believe, he decided to actually publish them all together.
What it's essentially about is his experiences in Vietnam. He was 20 years -- 21 years old when he was drafted right after -- a month after his college graduation. One of the best chapter is called "On the Rainy River," and that's when he discusses his feelings when he first received the draft letter. To me, that was my favorite part because he just really conveys that -- what was going on in politics at that time but really made it personal, so we understood what he -- how he felt about the war and just what was going on in his personal life at that time.
So it's not light reading, but it's written very elegantly but not fluffy; and that's one of the reasons why I really liked it, 'cause it was just -- it was an easy read, but it's no light. He mentions several times throughout the book who he's still affected by this, and he says that they're not -- when he thinks about Vietnam, they're not memories because he's actually reliving it. So that's the tone of the book. We don't feel like he's reflecting on what he's writing; we feel like he's actually in there with him.
I had to pause several times just to sort of reflect on what he was saying; and I found it very moving, but at the same time he's very matter-of-fact and so it's not like -- like you don't cry over it or anything. I would give this book four stars out of five."
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| The Third Reich at War |
Angus McGeoch and Michael Veranov |
German POV On WWII |
See review |
The Third Reich at War
Angus McGeoch and Michael Veranov
"I read that "The Third Reich at War" because I've always been interested in history and World War II. And I found that I knew a lot more about the Allies' side of that conflict than the Axis side of that conflict.
It's a lot of not only what was happening on the battlefield but what was happening in back in Berlin with the politics and decision-making that led up to how the War was carried out. What I came away with after reading the book, was a real appreciation of the ability of the German military really, because essentially they had a crazy person in charge. And managed to take over all of Europe, and only at the point of wasting a lot of resources on Africa and Russia and even pounding away at Britain, you figure that aside from that decision-making they pretty much could have held on to Europe and a lot of people would be speaking German today.
I'd recommend anybody interested in World War II you know military history, strategy, tactics, politics through the acquisition of assets needed to prosecute a war. Anybody interested in that kind of stuff. I'd give "The Third Reich at War," I guess four stars.
At times, it was maybe just a little bit too much detail and coupled with the maps which were not so good, became a little bit more of a slower read. But if you're interested in that kind of thing, it's pretty interesting."
|
| The Time Traveler's Wife |
Audrey Niffenegger |
"He's Always Naked" |
See review |
The Time Traveler's Wife
Audrey Niffenegger
"I read The Time Traveler's Wife because a very good friend of mine recommended to me that it was a very good book.
It is about Henry, who he is a time traveler; and he actually meets the person who is going to be his wife when she is a child; he goes back in time. It's very confusing; it's not confusing to read, but it's confusing to explain. It was so well written and so - the story is so - it's beautiful. It's a beautiful story, and it just - you care about Henry. You totally care about Henry, and you care about Claire. Both of those characters, you want them both to get everything that they want, and you don't want Henry to get caught because he travels to different time periods.
When Henry pops into a time period, he's always naked and he has to find clothing, or take them off a clothes line, or whatever. He has to figure it out. It's one of those books that you don't want to have to put down. I forced myself to put this book down every night so that I could make it last longer.
I thought even though that this story is about this guy that time travels, which none of us do, I still felt that everything about the relationship was totally - you could still identify with it; and you still wanted it to succeed and you still wanted to make it work.
I'd definitely give The Time Traveler's Wife five out of five stars. I'm not a science fiction reader, I'm not someone who reads a lot of books about time travel, but I loved this book. It is in my top five favorite books of all time. I adore this book; I think everyone should read it."
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| The Time Traveler's Wife |
Audrey Niffenegger |
Complicated Love Story |
See review |
The Time Traveler's Wife
Audrey Niffenegger
"This book, it's about a man and a woman and it first starts out in the present tense, so to speak. But he has some sort of gift, I guess you could say, some sort of genetic anomaly that he's able to time travel and he can't control it, so it happens randomly. And he tends to always go towards, go to some time or some place that is attached to his life.
So, he's gone back to his childhood many, many times. When he was, I think in his late 20's, he first going to see a little girl at her parent's house. And the weird twist is even though he's in his late 20's and she's a little girl, somehow they fell in love at this point because he knew that she was going to be his wife in the future. And she didn't know that. It's very complicated, but you know it's a nice love story. And if you think too much about the actual time travel aspect, you're going to hurt your brain.
But, the basis of it is it's a love story and the addition to the time traveling is just sort of, like you know a fantasy thing. It's fun. It was definitely a romantic fantasy in that it's like soul mates you know they definitely are soul mates. The weird part about it is she knows her entire childhood who she's going to be with, so it takes out a little bit of the romanticism of trying to find that person, if that person does exist. So in a way she's kind of spoiled. She already gets it written down for her in history.
So, it questions the whole thing, you know free will and is there fate or not? For them there's fate apparently. She already knows who she's going to be with and it's all laid out.
I'd say you have to suspend any concept of the space-time continuum. And you know whether going back in the history, going back in the past, then change to the future, and yeah, you absolutely can't think about that. It's just all about the story.
I would give this, four stars."
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| The Time Traveler's Wife |
Audrey Niffenegger |
"Wonderful Twist" |
See review |
"The Time Traveler's Wife I wanted to read because a friend told me about it; and she couldn't describe it. It was kinda twisted in what she was saying, and that intrigued me even more. It's about, it's a love story overall but- it happens with a man who can travel; time travel.
I think right way I was hooked because it's very different. He just floats in and out of his life, and he runs into himself; and his wife when she's little. And he knows certain things. At certain times he's young meeting up with his old wife and she knows certain things; so that was odd about it.
In a sense pieces of him are in all of us. There are things we want to accomplish and there are gifts that we have. Like you could say that time traveling is a gift. But there are difficulties with it and he was king of this-not dork-but ah, he was a dork. And when he time traveled he showed up naked so it's kind of starting over and at times I think you can. I can relate to that, having to start over. You bang your head against the wall and you keep going, you just keep going. So I think that I could relate to that, not the naked part!
I've had long distance relationships before and in a way for Claire it was a long distance relationship because Henry was traveling and she didn't know when she would see him again. I mean, they could be in the middle of trying to get pregnant and he's gone for 3 months. And then she doesn't know if they're going to end up having a baby, so the whole waiting. It's a love story, they very much wanted to be together and I think they adored each other. But they didn't know when or what was going to happen.
I would recommend it to a whole bunch of people. As long as they're not complete realists, everything has to be by the book. It would annoy you; the time travel piece. As long as you have some sort of sense of adventure. The Harry Potter likers and the Lord of the Rings; and I would think male and female would get good things about it. So I would rate The Time Traveler's Wife a 5, because it was a good story but it had a wonderful twist and many things happen in there. It was a love story, it's timeless but it just has so many different things in it; because of the fact that he could time travel."
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| The Tipping Point |
Malcolm Gladwell |
A Surprising Look At How Small Things Matter |
See review |
The Tipping Point
Malcolm Gladwell
"I wanted to read The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell, because I'd read his other book, Blink, which I was completely blown away by. I thought it was really awesome. So, I was interested in it, first of all, just because I thought the author was very interesting. The book is about how something small can change something from just disappearing into oblivion, for example, into becoming a trend, like how shoes that are worn by a small group of hipsters suddenly become so popular that they're all over the street. What I liked most about the book were the surprises in it - the unpredictable elements, the things that went against what my expectation was. So, a lot of times we go around, expecting that society functions in a certain way, based on our previous ideas, and what it did was surprise me and give me some new ideas about how society functions and how trends develop.
Somebody who prefers fiction might not like it. I just thought it was a fascinating book. I would probably give this book four out of five stars. It wasn't the most sensational book, cuz it's not Blink. But it was really fascinating, and I learned quite a bit from it."
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| TheTipping Point |
Malcolm Gladwell |
"Caused Me to Think About the World In a Different Way" |
See review |
The Tipping Point
Malcolm Gladwell
"The book is really about what causes some ideas to catch on and others not to catch on; and at what point does an idea sort of tip over and become popularized. If you're interested in becoming -- investing in the stock market, you're trying to figure out what's gonna catch on, what won't, and when. So this book sort of helps you think about what are some of the factors that go into that.
At times I wondered if the book was a little bit too simplistic. Like, he was talking about in New York, I think, Giuliani cleaned up the graffiti; and so in The Tipping Point, the book makes an argument that that had something to do with the drop in crime.
I remember reading somewhere that when Roe versus Wade -- in 1973 when a lot of the kids that would have been born -- and I'm pro-choice and everything like that -- would have come of age, that may have been responsible for the drop in crime.
I think, though, in general, the book made me think about things. So, although, he may be sort of making a few over generalizations, I thought for the most part it was a well-reasoned book.
I would give The Tipping Point four and a half stars out of five, because I thought it really caused me to think about the world in a different way; particularly, how we interact with each other"
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| The Toughest Indian in the World |
Sherman Alexie |
"Different Experiences -- One Neat Package" |
See review |
""I read The Toughest Indian in the World because - well, I just kind of came across it in a bookstore, actually, and I had seen some of Sherman Alexie's movies; and this one was because it was sort of a collection of short stories kind of appealed to me as sort of a primer for his writing style.
What I liked best about this book is that I got to have a lot of different experiences all packed into one neat little package; and because it was such a wide range of - I mean, again, totally normal story, totally bizarre story, am I on drugs, I don't know. Like, it was just great to have that range of different things going on all in one sitting, and it's pretty impressive to see that coming out of one author as well. I thought that was really great.
I would recommend the book to people who are interested in experiencing different things, maybe getting outside their box a little bit. As - I would say as just a girl who grew up in Seattle, it was kind of fun to read an author who actually lives there and talks about places there, so if you're from Seattle, you might want to check it out. I would give this book three out of five stars. Three because I did really enjoy it, but I didn't feel like I had to re-read it; and it wasn't exactly life changing. It was just like a weird, trippy experience. So it was a really great read, and I really like his writing style; and I definitely maybe want to read more of his stuff."
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| The Twilight Series |
Stephenie Meyer |
Vampires, Humans and Love |
See review |
The Twilight Series
Stephenie Meyer
"Well, I wasn't sure I wanted to read The Twilight Series until my friend leant me her copy of Twilight. I had a few minutes one day and got a few pages into it, and couldn't put it down.
Well, the series is about your average teenage girl who moves in with her dad because her parents are divorced; and going to high school, and there's a really interesting group of kids who turn out to be vampires. One of the vampires in particular, name's Edward, she just has this weird attraction to and soon falls in love with him, and he falls in love with her. Over all the series, it's as their relationship develops, which is an interesting relationship 'cause she's human and he's a vampire.
How she wrote it, it was from Bella's point of view, and I just identified with Bella's character because she's clumsy and kind of awkward sometimes and is a girl who has emotions and she can go over the top occasionally. So far, my favorite has been Twilight just because it starts off simple, gets a little complicated in there; but the second and third book she adds another element, which is another character that kind of pulls into the love triangle situation. So there's a little more drama, and I don't know if it's necessarily.
There's nothing I don't like about the series. She doesn't have curse words in it, it's not gory, it's got vampires, and she eventually adds in werewolves. I read Anne Rice's Interview With the Vampire, and between the two of them, this one is much tamer. They were written for the young adults, and I'm a little bit more than a young adult, but I still found it very entertaining. I would give this series four stars because there is another book coming out, and so I want to see how she finishes it off."
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| The Twits |
Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake |
Funny and Scary At the Same Time |
See review |
"Right now, I'm nine, and I think I started Roald Dahl books when I was about seven or eight. I like him because he makes all his books really funny and sometimes scary at the same time, and I like that feeling a lot.
It's about a married couple, and they don't really like each other that much, and they play pranks on each other all the time. Every Tuesday, Mr. Twit puts glue on a tree, and it's like super-duper stick glue; and when the birds land on the glue, they stick, and on every Wednesday they have bird pie. I like it when the birds come back at the Twits, and they glue everything onto the ceiling.
There's some parts that are kinda scary, when Mrs. Twit goes up in the air and she almost gets hit by an airplane. I think this is a great book for nine year-olds. I would probably give this book about 4 -- or 5, probably five."
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| The Unbearable Lightness Of Being |
Milan Kundera |
"One Of the Best Books I've Ever Read" |
See review |
"As a blind person in Turkey, we do not have so much possibilities, opportunities to find whatever we are looking for; and all of my friends actually were good readers, and they were reading all the classics. Sometimes they offered me to read together, and whenever they offer this kind of great thing, I for sure accept and join them. And I read this book with a friend in Turkish, not in English.
If you read the book, you can learn lots of things about human nature and nature of relations; and I am sure at the end of the book, you will find lots questions are waiting to be answered in your mind. I was a character in the book, but I was not a character created by Kundera. I was just myself living in that time, in Prague, and looking at the events. I like some of the ideas, and also there are some ideas that I don't like; and so most probably, I will take what I like, and I will just give up what I don't like, and I will put them together, and I will create my own character.
It was one of the best books I have ever read, not only because of the plot, because of the subject of the book also. I read it with a friend. I would give five out of five to The Unbearable Lightness of Being because it became a classic in my "
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| The United States Of Arugula |
David Kamp |
The Gourmeting of American Cuisine |
See review |
"I read this book because I've always been interested in food, especially since moving to the Bay Area. It's very comprehensive. One of the things I like about the book is the way it's broken up into chapters. You can enjoy a chapter, and kind of set it down, and even leave it and walk away, and then pick it up later, and keep going through it. So it's not necessarily something you have to just plow through.
It really chronicles sort of the -- I think they say the gourmeting of American cuisine, mostly talking from James Beard's era on; but really I think focusing more on how California cuisine really changed everything throughout the nation and eventually ending up with this world where we live in now where you can buy baby lettuce everywhere, whereas when I was growing up in the 70's, you never even heard of anything like that
The information is presented in chapters by subject, and it is chronological mostly. It's academic feeling, although there's a lot of interesting industry gossip incorporated into the information that's presented that makes it a little bit more juicy. It runs a little bit dry because it is so informative, but I think that little bit of gossip helps. They talk a lot about Alice Waters and Chez Panisse, they talk a lot about Pete's Coffee, and they talk quite a bit about Neiman Ranch.
I think people who live in the Bay Area or California might have local/regional interest, and of course anybody interested in food. I'd give it four stars."
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| The U.S.A. Trilogy |
John Dos Passos |
Undiscovered Gem In American Literature |
See review |
The U.S.A. Trilogy
John Dos Passos
"I read John Dos Passos' trilogy USA when I was in college, and when I picked it up I was immediately captivated by it. A lot of people are not familiar with John Dos Passos or his trilogy USA, and I really think that he s one of the undiscovered gems of American literature. As a teacher, I teach history in addition to being an author. I use excerpts of Dos Passos for both my history students and when teaching about fine, fine writing.
Dos Passos' USA is a trilogy, and it encompasses three books. The first book is called The 42nd Parallel, the second is called 1919, and the third is called The Big Money. They're really inter -- you could almost pick them up and just start reading anywhere. What he's done is created sort of four different sections to his book. One is following various characters who are archetypal characters; so you might have the young Union agitator, or the young woman who is going out and seeking her economic independence, or the young industrialist after the war; and so you're kind of following some of these characters along the way. Another are headlines from various newspapers from around the world, this sort of surreal kind of pastiche of things just kind of thrown together. The third is this incredibly innovative section called The Camera Eye, where it's this stream of consciousness writing where he sort of puts you in a scene and then just kind of following somebody along literally like you were looking through a camera's eye. Then the fourth are these wonderful mini-autobiographies of major figures in American history.
They are accessible to high school students with a little bit of guidance. I would give Dos Passos' USA trilogy, I'd give it about 4 -- stars."
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| The Wasp Factory |
Iain Banks |
"I Totally Hated the Whole Book" |
See review |
""I wanted to read The Wasp Factory because it was recommended to me by somebody who I thought was very smart and well-read, and I had actually seen him reading another one of the author's books, one of his science fiction books. And the guy was like, "Oh, yeah, you gotta read this author, he's really good, he does all kinds of stuff." And I went home, and we happened to have some of Ian Banks' stuff on the shelf. I said, "Cool!" so I just grabbed the first one: Wasp Factory.
The Wasp Factory is about a teenage boy who goes around killing things and people. I don't - I don't think I liked any moments in the book at all. I think I pretty much hated every excruciating moment of reading the book. My most hated moment in the book is when he's going on a flame-throwing killing spree on a warren of rabbits. I actually had to skip a page or two of the carnage just 'cause it was making me so upset.
I definitely wondered why, why this person would recommend that I read this author. Obviously, the author's - I don't know. I mean, it seemed like the author was trying to do something and be edgy and shocking, and it just - it was boring. I would recommend this book to anybody who just wants carnage and to read about a lot of mean, bad things happening. Other than that, if you've got a soul, I wouldn't recommend reading it 'cause it's gonna damage it permanently! I would classify this book as a one star out of five; and I'm giving it as much as a one because, although I totally hated the whole book, it was written in pretty good English, and the sentences did make sense."
|
| The Watchmen |
Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons |
Rich Characters and Plot Twist from Comic Book Pioneer |
See review |
The Watchmen
Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
"People were telling me I should read The Watchmen. I didn't know who Alan Moore was, so I just picked it up, I saw a copy. And, you know, the artwork was kind of weird, but I got into the story line. It was pretty good.
Alan Moore's plot line was very nice, you know, there was a lot of plot twists. Rich characters, which I loved about it. One of the biggest things that I liked about his work and the comic especially is that he took these cliched, two-dimensional characters and, you know, gave them some life.
The thing about The Watchmen and Alan Moore, it was kind of like the Tolkien of comic books, I guess. You know, he set like a lot of things in motion, him and Frank Miller, and you know, you look at comic books now, they have like the gritty, you know, these aren't like fifties kind of square superheroes, you know. They have like their personal history, they have neuroticisims [sic], but all of that started with Alan Moore, and he's still doing it a whole lot better than a lot of people that are copying him today.
It has a bit of a satirical edge to it. The plot line is good. Just anybody that likes good writing. Big nerds probably would get into it, you know. I mean, comics - Star Wars, that sort of thing. But the cool thing about it is that, you know, it's just good writing. So if you like good writing, then you just pick it up.
I give it five stars. And the thing set the precedent for so much stuff; it took the comic business kind of out of a place that it was, you know. It started a new generation of comics and Alan Moore is one of the best writers.
I kind of want to be a comic writer, so you know, I kind of look up to him and Neil Gaiman. So, yeah, I give it a five. Best work."
|
| The Water Will Hold You |
Lindsey Crittenden |
A Skeptic Learns To Pray |
See review |
"I'm Lindsey Crittenden, and I'm the author of a book called The Water Will Hold You: A Skeptic Learns to Pray.
This book came out in March of 2007; it's a book about prayer, but it's not a religious book. I came into prayer as someone who was very skeptical and still am to some extent, skeptical of organized religion. The book is really the story of my relationship with prayer and how that changed.
I know there's a lot of people who see the word "prayer" and just sort of think, "Ugh," and I wanted the book to appeal to people who would have some skepticism. The book doesn't put forth any one way to pray at all, or any one belief, or any one god, necessarily. My hope is that it would really transcend any denomination that it would be. I mean I am a practicing Christian, but my hope is that the book would appeal to people who aren't necessarily Christians.
It doesn't say that prayer will make all these things go away, or prayer will make it all better, or if you have faith, you won't suffer. It's at times pretty gritty about the reality of things, and I think that's the strength of the book. I mean my hope is that the book would appeal to people who are maybe - who are inter - I mean I think it sort of goes without saying that it would appeal to people who are interested in the spiritual, who are interested in the meditative, who are interested in the contemplative. So those are the people I hope will pick it up. People that are maybe straddling, as I said, maybe have one foot in but are kind of, "I don't know about this, I don't know about this whole thing." My hope is that the book will appeal to them."
|
| The Way West |
A. B. Guthrie |
Pulitzer Prize Winning Novel About the West |
See review |
" read The Way West because I was lucky enough to find it -- you can see it's an old book -- I was lucky enough to find it at a book sale. It was published in 1949, which I couldn't tell you off the top of my head, but I remember that it won the Pulitzer Prize and was made into a movie.
The Way West is about traveling west on a wagon train in the mid-1800's when the west was just opening. It was full of terrors. There were no trains to get there, no stagecoaches yet; the only way to do it was to either be a mountain man and know the trails or to go on a wagon train. I myself am the descendant of someone who was born in a wagon train. My great grandmother on my mother's side was born on the Oregon Trail, and her parents were killed by Indians. She was raised by her brothers, and they made it all the way to Oregon. And A.B. Guthrie, who wrote this book, his family -- he and his family really did travel west; so he knew what he was talking about, and it really rings true. It's not romanticized, and it's not flat. It has all the depth of difficulties and conflicts that human beings in a group would encounter.
I would recommend the book to anyone who is interested in the past of this country and what it was really like -- not what it's like when it's cleaned up, or what it's simplified, or when it's stereotyped on TV, but what it was like through the eyes of someone who pretty much lived in the frontier days. I'd give it a five. It's definitely -- The Way West is a five. It should have won the Pulitzer Prize that year; it's just only right that it did. It's a standout in American writing about the west; and the brilliance of its style, the depth of the characters, the fact that the author is able even to -- he writes sometimes about little kids, sometimes about teens, sometimes men, sometimes women, and they all ring true as real people."
|
| The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth |
Tim Flannery |
New Voter Considers The Evidence |
See review |
"I chose to read The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery because I was very conscious of a change in my environment. I felt that the summers were becoming hotter, spring was foggier, the rain season was longer, and I was -- this was in 2005 and global warming had not quite yet hit the forefront.
Tim Flannery is an Australian climatologist, he's been working in the field for a few decades, and he's done lots of research all over the world; but he presents a very readable account of how man made events have increased the temperature around the world, and he breaks that down into very specific examples, and he's got the evidence to back it up.
When I read The Weather Makers, I was already moving towards a lifestyle without a car, trying to be more conscious of how I consumed things. Reading The Weather Makers was just one more nail in the coffin towards that end. It was more proof and more fact; and I'd say it gave me more confidence to talk to other people about global warming, especially people who don't necessarily want to address it or want to discuss it.
As a young adult who's registered to vote and plans to vote in 2008, global warming is certainly one of my biggest issues. I think to not have a plan about it or to ignore it as the current administration does is basically irresponsible.
I would give The Weather Makers 3.5 to four stars out of five stars just because the information will age; however, the basic principles won't. It's an incredibly readable book, especially for someone without a science background."
|
| The Whole World Over |
Julia Glass |
Balancing Family and Work |
See review |
"It's three interwoven stories, about like three different characters that of course, in the end they all end up crossing paths. One is a woman whose marriage has sort of come to this, up again this wall where either her husband is entering a depression or something's going on. And she's given this fantastic job offer, but it's really far away from Manhattan. It's New Mexico. And she goes back and forth in her mind should she take it or not, and eventually just decides I'll take it and then I'll convince my husband to follow me, which he never does. So, it gets complicated.
I loved the way the way the author, Julia Glass penetrates people's thoughts and not just the flashbacks, but what they're thinking, their doubts, their fears even as they're doing something that they shouldn't be. And it's very believable.
I really identified with that dilemma of should I work more or less? I am a part-time working mom. I always have been. And this woman, you know takes on a really lucrative job but it's very full-time. It's more than full-time. And anyone who's ever struggled with that decision, of how much should I work, is it detrimental to my kids or not? That you can identify with that for sure.
I would give "All the World Over" five stars, just as I gave her first novel."
|
| The Wisdom of Crowds |
James Surowiecki |
Decision Making: Are Crowds Better? |
See review |
The Wisdom of Crowds
James Surowiecki
"The Wisdom of the Crowd, I actually picked it up on audio 'cause I was gonna do a road trip.
It's a nonfiction book about how often, under the right circumstances given, that a crowd is allowed to make their own judgments, that often crowds will often make better decisions than any one individual in the group. She talks about a crowd guessing the weight of a prize cow at the fair; and nobody in the crowd got it exactly on, but the average of all the different weights guessed from the crowd was within a couple ounces of the cow's actual weight. Whereas any individual in the wrong idea, when the whole group could use their own thinking, then they came up with pretty close to the right percentages of likelihood for the different events happening.
The author does address how the group decision making can slow down a decision making process. The way the author frames it is that this is -- he's come up with this radical idea that's contradictory to so many ideas and the study of sociology. So I think it would probably be most interesting for somebody with a background in sociology, but I don't have a background in sociology, and I really liked the book.
I would rate The Wisdom of the Crows about 3 -- or 4 stars out of five."
|
| The Wonga Coup: Guns, Thugs, and a Ruthless Determination to Create Mayhem in an Oil-rich Corner of Africa |
Adam Roberts |
Mercenaries + Coup Attempt |
See review |
The Wonga Coup
Adam Roberts
"In 2004, there was a coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea; and it was not a normal coup led by the military or political figures, but it was actually led by mercenaries, foreign mercenaries. This was a big deal; it was a scandal, and it was a bigger scandal because Margaret Thatcher's son was actually involved in the coup.
So this book basically takes you through how they plotted this coup, the history of Equatorial Guinea, what led up to the mercenaries being able to pull off a coup like this. Very few people know a lot about what happens in West Africa. Equatorial Guinea is a really small country, but it's got more oil than almost any other place in Africa. So it's very rich, it's got crazy dictators, who've done awful things to the people, and you just never hear bout it.
The book was well researched. This guy had gone back after the story broke, and he spent about two or three years writing this book. It gives you a lot of in-depth information, not only about what happened but also what led up to that -- the history of Equatorial Guinea all the way back to colonial period and just the bizarre circumstances that made this possible.
I would recommend anyone who is interested in politics and current events or just the bizarre world that we live in to read this book. I would give this book 3 -- out of five stars. The writing was good, the research was good, and there was some really interesting information, but the fact that it sort of didn't really go anywhere. Maybe just the fact that it was a kind of boring topic once you get past the brilliance of mercenaries taking over a country, but it was sort of a letdown in the end."
|
| The World According To Garp |
John Irving |
A Taste Of the Unusual |
See review |
"So I originally read it in high school, and I actually read it because there was this very nerdy girl that I knew in my high school and she was reading it. And I think I had seen the movie and liked the movie a lot. And she was reading the book, and she said it was disturbed by it. It was very dark, and the fact that it bothered such a sort of prissy goody-two-shows as her made me want to read it.
Well, it's about the main character, Garp, who has a very unusual upbringing and origin, and just sort of the chaotic universe that he lives in that sort of spins around him. I think it's the cast of characters; it's such a diverse and odd cast of characters. I mean, there's the former football player who's a transsexual, and there's the Helen James cult. It's just such a strange universe that it encapsulates. Garp and his family, especially despite the fact that they have such a strange situation and chain of events that happens in their lives are so kind of outrageous. But you know, they're still very recognizable as people. You can - if not identify with them, you can relate to them in some way.
I think people with - I think someone with an off-beat sense of humor. I mean, there are not - I don't think these are characters that most people are gonna identify with. I mean, they're strange. They have bizarre lives and events happening to them, so I mean it's somebody that wants a taste of the unusual. World According to Garp, I would give maybe four stars."
|
| The World is Flat |
Thomas L. Friedman |
Easy Read About Changing Global Economy |
See review |
The World Is Flat
Thomas L. Friedman
"The World is Flat I think is a really important book, and particularly when we're talking about the economic position of the United States and other countries as we go forward in the 21st century.
Well, The World is Flat: What does that mean? I think the title really says it all, in that the economic position of the U.S. is really - is potentially coming down as other countries come up, particularly India and China. There are a lot of things I liked about the book. I think it was an easy read. It's not an obtuse book, it's written in a newspaper vernacular, if you will. Through a collection of anecdotes, Friedman paints this picture. And so in my mind, it's - somebody can now have a different interpretation of the act that he might have mentioned. Maybe the world isn't so - you know - is the world really flat? I don't know. I mean, I would argue that, no, I think the world is actually in some ways becoming even more - how would I say it? - more unbalanced.
I would recommend this book for anyone. It's a book that is easy to read. If you can read a newspaper, you should read this book. It's certainly a very influential book that deserves consideration. I would give this a - four and a half stars, and that's a really high rating. I would say that I don't have any really criticisms of the book, it's just that maybe he could have done a little bit more to maybe show some other counterpoints to his argument."
|
| The World is Flat |
Thomas L. Friedman |
You Might Be Replaced -- Or Not |
See review |
"I didn't know anything about The World is Flat, believe it or not. After I read it, people were saying, "You didn't know? We talked about it." But I have a virtual book club at work; and so we all read books from different cities, and we get on the phone and we talk about it. And that was the one my coworker picked. So that's how I was introduced to it.
I think the book is about blurring the lines about the things that disconnect countries. It's about helping us come together with technology, so I could relate to the innovative piece of it. I mean, some parts of the book talk to you about things that companies have done, and it inspires you to say you could do that if you were in the mindset that you'd want a business and that you'd want to mine other companies' and cultures' experience borrowing that way.
I think it scared me a little, and it speaks about a whole host of positions, whether you are a barber or whether you're a computer programmer, whatever it is. And it talks about how you might be replaced, or how you might be unique and you'll always be in demand and you'll always have a career. So it talks about educating yourself, what kinds of things you can do if you're a barber or if you're a computer programmer. So that piece, it scares you a little and it makes you go, "Hmm. Maybe I should pay attention and do something about it."
I would give The World is Flat a rating of probably three and a-half. I think if it would have been a little bit more to the point I would have given it higher rating, but it's a great book. It's different, and it's not fiction but it might read like fiction, so that part is interesting as well."
|
| The World of Jeeves |
P. G. Wodehouse |
Perfect Bedtime Reading |
See review |
The World of Jeeves
P. G. Wodehouse
"I'm someone that really enjoys period books that are set, especially like in the 18th, 19th, 20th century. I'm interested in learning about slices of life from other times, places in terms of the way people think and the way they talked, and in the kinds of, the way they coped with their life.
So, also I was interested in this book because Jeeves is just a cultural icon. And I was also looking for kind of a light, comedic type writing. This is very light comedy type writing. It's perfect for bedtime reading because it's a book of short stories and its very light. So, you don't feel like you can't go to sleep afterwards thinking about it. You can finish a story, feel satisfied with it, feel like you've got a little you know laugh out of it and go to sleep.
Roadhouse has a very formulaic way of writing these stories that essentially the stories are about the protagonist, Bernie Wooster. And he is this upper class, 1920's, English bachelor. And his perfect valet, who is Jeeves and he's always getting into ridiculous social situations whether or not it's falling in love with a completely unsuitable woman or trying to help a friend steal something from the friend's wife, and Jeeves in his very, understated elegant way, extricates from these situations. Sometimes at Bernie's expense, sometimes Bernie ends up coming out looking like the buffoon, but he manages to get him out of any kind of serious trouble.
I give it four stars. It's enjoyable. It's fun."
|
| The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl |
Timothy Egan |
"Those Who Stayed" |
See review |
My mother's side of the family are Okies. They are folks that came out to California during the Dust Bowl, survived all of the travails of being not wanted in California, and so I knew about personally from my own family. Well, it's about something that I didn't know really almost existed. I'd sort of had the misunderstanding that when the Dust Bowl hit of that era, in the early 30's, late 20's, early 30's, I thought that everyone left that area -- Texas, Oklahoma -- and came to California.
This is a book about all those who stayed, and this is a combination of personal narrative -- he focuses on maybe a half a dozen families -- it's a phenomenal book in that it is a book that can be written not but probably can't be written 20 years from now, which is to say the author has really specific information that he has gotten from people who are still alive today who went through the dust bowl, who went through the dust storms.
The story talks about how there was a series of unique weather phenomens, there was a series of 4 or 5 years of great weather, great rain in the great plains. And then of course the drought hit, the drought was more of a consistent weather pattern for that-that part of the country. And in a fascinating parallel to our current concerns about global warming the brightest minds of that time, the political leaders, the scientists at that time couldn’t tell if the phenomenon was happening in that part of the country, in the great plains, was that something that was simply a weather cycle or if it wasn’t something that humans had brought on.
It won the Pulitzer prize or the National Book Award, that type of thing, I look for those books because they tend to be of high quality. Yeah, 5 stars out of 5 stars, it was spectacular. It was probably one of the best books I read over the summer.
|
| Things Fall Apart |
Chinua Achebe |
Story of Nigerian Culture |
See review |
"I read Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe -- forgive me if I'm mispronouncing his name -- because I wanted to get a better understanding of African life in general. Things Fall Apart is widely considered as the -- one of the first and still best novels about African life, and Nigerian life in general. I liked Heart of Darkness, and I also understood that Achebe didn't like Heart of Darkness; so I wanted to understand from his perspective why this book was a response to that.
Okonkwo is a man who is of great respect in his village; and so he essentially takes on a young boy, who eventually ends up killing, and then he -- which offends the -- essentially the gods that they worship. And so he is banned and send into exile for seven years. During the seven years, the evil white settlers come in, set up a government, and clashes ensure from that; and so the rest of the book is about how Okonkwo has this fall from grace when he returns and clashes more and more with the settlers and eventually commits suicide. So it's really about the universal struggle of human nature, and it's Achebe's response to the -- what he felt were the racist undertones of Heart of Darkness.
It was accessible, it really taught me a lot about the culture in general of African culture, and specifically of Nigerian culture. I would recommend Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart to just about anyone that wants to understand how cultures can be unique and universal at the same time. It's a dichotomy that is very -- excuse me -- perplexing, but it's at the same time, at the heart of it all, we're all the same in the sense that we all just want to have a life that's free of stress, of -- that's free of seeing people that we love and know die, and that's free of violence.
I would give Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart five stars out of five stars. I think it's one of the best novels I've read, and I can't say enough good things about it."
|
| This Is Your Brain On Music: The Science of a Human Obsession |
Daniel J. Levitin |
Things Musicians Think About All the Time |
See review |
This Is Your Brain On Music
Daniel J. Levitin
"This Is Your Brain on Music by Daniel - I think it's pronounced "Lev-i-ton." I'll say "Lev-i-ton." Well, I'm on the side of things a musician, have been almost all my life. I almost went into cognitive psychology or more specifically molecular neuroscience, so these questions that he tries to tackle in his research and tries to sum up and embrace sort of all of it in this book are ones that, one way or another, people like me think about idly all the time.
It covers the connection between brain function, brain structure and function, and the human experience of music and the evolution - towards the end an evolutionary perspective which one has to take on why music has developed in the ways and to the degree that it has in the human species.
The style of the book is also a salient feature. It's extremely conversational and extremely erratic. He hops kind of seamlessly between - among personal reminiscences and biographical stuff of himself - autobiographical - and presentations of data and his own takes on various specific examples of music, covering everything from classical through rock and reggae and jazz.
I would love to give this book four or five stars because I think that it's a really important topic and a really interesting one, but for me, considering my experience of the book, the quality of the writing, the consistency of the writing, the compellingness of the structure of the argument being a little bit hard to follow too much of the time, I have to go with about three stars on this one."
|
| Three Junes |
Julia Glass |
Time Shifts |
See review |
"Someone whose book I really like, Mike Cunningham who wrote The Hours, spoke very highly of Juliet Glass. It was like her first novel, and he was saying how perceptive she was, and that was exactly what I loved in the book The Hours. So, sure enough, when I read it, I did like it as much as I liked the other one.
It's set in three major time periods, so it does shift; but it's mainly about a family of grown children coming together at the time of their father's funeral and then having to face not just what to do with Dad's ashes but also like all these kind of grudges they've had against each other and images they've always held against each other that may not have been correct all these years, and then deal with the house, and who gets the this and the that; and then there's a bunch of flashbacks. So it's really a lot of time periods covered.
Flashbacks is also very realistic, also very kind of heartbreaking. It's -- when the oldest son keeps flashing back to when his best friend was dying of AIDS when he's at his dad's funeral flashing back to when his mom was dying and when his dad was dying, the theme of death keeps creating a lot of very vivid, realistic flashbacks. And it seems terribly real, and it seems also very, very heartbreaking.
I think anybody who's ever lost a close friend or parent or is preparing to get there 'cause you know it's around the corner, it's very beautifully written. I would give Three Junes by Julia Glass a five -- or a six out of five stars. I loved it."
|
| Three Junes |
Julia Glass |
Modern Topics, Stunning Writing |
See review |
Three Junes
Julia Glass
"I read Three Junes because it was a National Book Award winner in 2002, and it's really deserving of that award. It has two stories; one is set in 1989, and then one is set in 1999, and it follows the path of a nucleic family, a father and a mother, and I believe that they're British. Then it goes a little bit later and follows the lives of the sons.
It's really a book about relationships - family relationships, close relationships, very deep friendships, lovers. I read this book a long time ago, and it still has stuck with me; and I think that's when writing becomes really powerful, when you remember characters.
I loved this book. I thought it was amazing, and I - it was beautifully written, and it's a modern book, and it's set in modern times, and it's just - a lot of the times when you get modern books with modern topics, they're not as well written; and this one is just absolutely stunning. I think it really can appeal to a wide variety of people because I think we all have relationships and all have difficulty and joys in those relationships. I'd give it a five-star rating, absolutely."
|
| To Kill a Mockingbird |
Harper Lee |
English Teacher's Daughter Says Worth A Second Read" |
See review |
"I wanted to read To Kill a Mockingbird from a very early age. My father's an English teacher, and so I kind of - I got the high school reading list and the middle school reading list when I was much younger.
To Kill A Mockingbird tells the story of Scout and Jem, two brother and sister who, during the course of a couple summers, I think - actually a couple of years - kind of - they, it's a process of discovering the like real face of their town. When I first read it, I was maybe nine or ten, and the process of them losing their innocence was clear to me, like less explicitly clear. One of the amazing things about Harper Lee is that she writes from the six year-old perspective, and it works. It's believable. And so even at that point like reading it at ten, like I was like, "Oh, yes, this is a six year-old talking, like I know how to relate to that." And then reading it later, I'm not only reading the book but also reading my response to it at that age. So like kind of revisiting myself at that age and then reading it now, like revisiting myself at 14, and at ten, and at 16 when I've read it, which is - I mean when a book can do that, that's amazing.
I would give To Kill A Mockingbird five stars, both as a work unto itself and what it has been to the importance it has in like the"
|
| Tracks |
Louise Erdich |
"Sad, Powerful, Moving" |
See review |
"Actually, I started reading Tracks in college. It was assigned for my English course, and I loved it so much I went on to read that author's other books; and they all kind of intermingle with characters. And it's definitely a powerful book that really hits you right away.
It's about Native Americans right at the turn when there was some conflict and they were starting to lose their land more rapidly. It's about consumption and how many were dying at the time.
I liked the reality of the characters. You could feel yourself in their actual setting, and you could feel the emotions they went through. The writing was just so exquisite that you could put yourself in there. I think the main female character, Fleur, is a very strong-willed person, and I find myself relating to her in that aspect of she's not gonna give up who she is.
I would recommend this book to anyone who really wants to sit down and have like this sad, powerful, moving experience while you're reading a book. I would give this book five out of five. It was an excellent read. It was smooth; I think any level of reader can read and enjoy it."
|
| Travels With Charley |
John Steinbeck |
Steinbeck's Travel Memoir Causes Reader To Think |
See review |
Travels With Charley In Search Of America
John Steinbeck
"I wanted to read Travels With Charley because I've read a few other books by Steinbeck and really enjoyed them, and I wanted to see how he would write a nonfiction novel, if he had the same elements of storytelling in it.
Travels With Charley is about Steinbeck's journey -- when he was 60 years old, he drove around the country with his dog Charley, to kind of get a sense of -- it's called Travels With Charley In Search of America, so just to get a sense of the country.
I liked that it was still written as a story. It's nonfiction again, but it kind of carries through like a story, and he really gets you involved in his travels, and the characters that he meets along the way become actual characters; they're just people that he meets at truck stops and things like that, but they're almost like characters in his other stories. He has a really interesting way of including his thoughts and his mental conversations with the dog, so the dog becomes a character too, and you kind of gauge his responses as well.
I think it can really relate to what's going on today. It would be a good read for history students in high school. I think it should be included in a lot of things. A lot of people should read it.
I would definitely give this five stars. I think it's -- it's a short read, it's only about 260 pages. It doesn't -- he kind of gets right to the point, if there is even a point to it, and it just -- it really makes you think about your life and your satisfaction with it."
|
| Treasure Island |
Robert Louis Stevenson and Patrick Scott |
Sailing and Piracy |
See review |
"I read Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. Treasure Island was about a young boy who lived at his father's like pub. His father gets sick, and then his father dies, and then the boy finds this treasure chest, and it has a map in it. So he and this guy named Dr. Livingston, they go to a different port somewhere else, and they ride a ship to Treasure Island.
Well, the thing that's special about this book, one of the reasons why I like it a lot is 'cause I like sailing. Sailing is like fun, really fun. It sort of has a bit of piracy in it, so with the sailing and the piracy mixed together, it makes a really good book. Also, after I read the book, I saw the movie for it, so it was like, "That's not what Long John Silver looked like in my imagination." That's what's cool, when you read a book and then you see the movie for the book.
Anybody would like this book. This is a classic book. I would rate it a five."
|
| Trick or Treatment |
Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst |
Alternative Medicine? |
See review |
I chose to read Trick or Treatment by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst because I had read a book review about it.
It applies the scientific method to four different alternative treatments. The treatments that it examines are chiropractory, herbal medicine, homeopathy and acupuncture, and then it also adds a real quick review of really well known other really well known alternative therapies like reiki, massage, hypnosis and all sorts of different things so you have a real quick index of those as well.
I definitely have had acupuncture, I tried homeopathy once, it was a disaster and didn't do anything for me, and of course, I've tried various herbal treatments, and I've had chiropractory, so or a chiropractic treatment. So, I was very interested to find out, "Okay, is this worth my money?" And what's great about the book is they have they look at numerous scientific studies so that you can really know what's based on the placebo effect and what's actually where the treatment is working. Now, what's amazing is that for most of these treatments; not for all of them, but for a lot of them, the placebo effect is, seems to be the only thing happening with these treatments that so many people invest so much money in.
This book really influenced me because it made it really clear what the limits are of acupuncture; I would not even go near homeopathy based on this book. It's also a really interesting read, because they talk about historical medicinal practices like leeches and bloodletting. I think it's gonna be tough for someone who believes in certain alternative therapies to read this book. I think the book is great because it doesn't get too scientific; it doesn't, it's not inaccessible at all; it's just a relatively easy but well explained read.
I'm gonna give the book five out of five 'cause it's so well researched, really clearly written and interesting also.
|
| Tuesdays with Morrie |
Mitch Albom |
"I Strongly Endorse This Book!" |
See review |
Tuesdays with Morrie came recommended by a friend, a very close friend of mine, so it's - that's how I read about a book and ordered it from the Web. It is a book about a dying professor, old professor, Morrie Schwartz, after being diagnosed with ALS; and on his deathbed, he met up with his - one of his old favorite student Mitch Albom. By then he was already a very famous sports columnist, and together they did a last final project together, which is about lessons in life, and that's their last course.
This book has touched me in many, many ways; and I find the book was very simply written and that Mitch Albom has a way of writing everything in simple terms. And it's again a very easy read; you can finish it within a day. The first two chapters was just very poetic. After you - after I started reading, I couldn't put it down; and I think of many people have found the same way when they read this book.
This is one book that I read over and over again, and every time it's - I gain new insights from it. And so the main difference between this book and a lot of the other self-help books is it's touched me every single time I read it. This book can be very helpful to people that are in the transition stage. You know, people maybe going from high school to college, you're in a state of confusion. Where are you gonna be starting? But it'd be nice to set your life priorities straight from the beginning, and this book can certainly help you with that if you keep an open mind reading it. I would definitely give Tuesdays with Morrie a five. A full five, and I strongly endorse this book.
|
| Tuned In |
Craig Stull, Phil Myers, and David Meerman Scott |
Marketing Resource |
See review |
"I read Tuned In because it was a recommendation from the CEO of my company. He told us that this is a good book to read for a sense of how a company can truly succeed and market an idea.
So Tuned In is about the process by which a company can go about and market its solutions. As with most marketing books, you know, it has like a number of steps -- in this case, seven steps -- to take a path to become more tuned into your market, find out what it needs, and then deliver those needs with a particular product.
I felt like it was maybe 100 pages too long, and it was only 200 pages. I felt that the nuggets of wisdom were stretched out over chapters, and while I liked most of the examples which helped illustrate it, it did seem that there was extra -- there were extra things that weren't necessarily relevant to the business that I'm in or that really added to the core point that the book had.
I would recommend Tuned In to any business professional that's trying to start a business, to any professional that is in a marketing organization that's struggling to find a way to market their company's products to the world.
I would give Tuned In four out of five stars. I certainly did gain an insight from Tuned In that I otherwise would not have."
|
| Two Little Girls in Blue |
Mary Higgins Clark |
Higgins Clark Fan Says "No Mystery" |
See review |
Two Little Girls In Blue
Mary Higgins Clark
"I wanted to read Two Little Girls in Blue, because it's written by Mary Higgins Clark. She's an excellent author. I have read all of her books, but this book basically is about two little girls - they're twins - and it's their birthday, and the parents go out after a birthday party, and they come home, to find out that their girls have been kidnapped. I most liked the book, because, again, it was written by Mary Higgins Clark, and I think she's a great author. It wasn't up to par, as her other books are usually. I really love her writing, and I was looking forward to it, and like I said, I spent the extra money on the hardcover and didn't wait. And why I didn't like this is because unlike her other stories, right away, you knew who the kidnappers were. If you're looking for a book, where you're looking for a mystery, and you're trying to figure out who it is, and it gets exciting, and it's page turning, this didn't do that for me.
I would give this book four stars out of five, which is still - I think is high, because it's still a well-written book. It just wouldn't get a five from me, because it's not what I was expecting."
|
| Unbowed |
Wangari Maathai |
Essential, Not Romanticized |
See review |
We're talking about Unbowed by Wangari Maathai, who is the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner. She is from Kenya, and she started the Green Belt Movement, which is an environmental movement in Kenya which gets women to plant trees. I just came back from Kenya in December. I'd never been there, and I'd fallen in love with the beauty of the country and its people and the complexity. People there were talking about Wangari Maathai, and there are all kinds of ads, billboards and stuff. "Plant trees! Plant trees!" And so I saw her memoir in the airport and bought it as soon as I got home.
Unbowed is her memoir; it's her story. She's about 60. She grew up in a small town, or farm, really, in central Kenya near the town of Nieri. Loving nature, and loving a being farmer and loving cultivation of the earth, and she writes about it so lyrically. The rest of the book is about her desire to unite Kenyan women who were struggling and get them to plant trees and to refurbish Kenya's environment.
The book expresses wonderful love for Africa and wonderful love for home. It describes nature so beautifully, and she is so at one with her environment that it's just wonderful; and it's a very inspiring story of how one woman can make a difference.
Unbowed is a wonderful book for anyone who's interested in the environment, who's interested in politics and social justice. If you've been to Africa, I think it's essential to read this book because it talks about how Africa is now, not a romanticized version. I would give Unbowed four stars.
|
| Under the Banner of Heaven |
Jon Krakauer |
Golden Tablets and Angels |
See review |
Under the Banner of Heaven
Jon Krakauer
"I read Under the Banner of Heaven for two reasons: One, I read Jon Krakauer's other books and really enjoyed them; and I like to try to read books and educate myself on subjects I don't have much knowledge of, and this book is about the Mormon Church.
Using the premise of why did these two men go out and kill their sister-in-law and her infant, the author explores the history of fundamentalism Mormons, which is different than the Mormon Church. The fundamentalists are the Mormons who practice bigamy, and so it kind of goes into the founding of the actual Mormon religion and then how all these splinters happened.
I really liked when the author went into Joseph Smith and the founding of the Mormon religion. I really had no idea that this religion, which is in fact the fastest growing religion in the world, could be based upon something like an angel coming to a man and presenting golden tablets from Heaven. Like his other books, Jon Krakauer goes on these tangents, and he injects himself almost as a character into the book as he talks about the extensive research he did; but the book doesn't really follow any chronological timeframe and it really doesn't explain or go into the actual murder -- the murder of this woman, which is sort of the premise of the book. I would give this book three out of five stars."
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| Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search For God |
Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan |
"Sheer Pleasure To Read" |
See review |
Varieties of Scientific Experience
Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan
"Well, I read the Varieties of Scientific Experience due to its title, due to its author, due to its - from what I read about it, its evident connection with this recent spate of books about the tensions between religion and science.
So it's a - Varieties of Scientific Experience is a set of I guess ten lectures given at this Institute for - I think they're still calling it Natural Theology; I'd need to look that up. The lectures are a very compelling set of perspectives on finding meaning and intelligence in the universe and looking at where we appear to have come from and in dealing with the apparent reality that we're not necessarily unique - but we might be, but we're probably not, and there's no naturally drivable evidence for God.
It's really the overall tone of the thing that drives me the most, more than any one particular element in the book or one particular episode. It's the fact that slides improved color reproductions of slides that he actually used in these lectures are presented along the way, especially in the early lectures. They're just a sheer pleasure to read. The quality of the writing is both fine and appropriate and embracing, but he just sort of presents his perspective and makes his arguments and steps aside.
At the end of the Varieties of Scientific Experience, you have for each chapter - shorter or longer, depending on what they were able to come up with - excerpts of questions from the audience and how he responded to them. Thinking back through the Sagan book, it's really hard to come up with anything I didn't like about it. He's very accessible; his audience that he was giving the lectures to was people that didn't have a strong grounding in science necessarily; and it seems as though a key objective that he had was to reach them and enable them to feel situated. For me the Varieties of Scientific Experience has to get a five stars."
|
| Vietnam Zippos |
Sherry Buchanan |
Stories Retold |
See review |
"I chose to read American Zippos because it seemed like something that would be sort of good. I like to read books sort of in clusters, and I was reading Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, and that was sort of the literary version of -- the visual version of American Zippos.
The book of a coffee table format. It's mostly pictures of Zippos and then put in the context of their different uses or different time periods, and some of them, it's interesting to see the actual Zippos because they're sort of archaeological finds in a sense. They really have a sense of where they've been and so there are also ways in which they're creatively photographed. In ways it's kind of like an art book.
The concept of the book generally is a survey of the different time periods wherein which people are carrying Zippo lighters and the role the Zippo lighter played in the daily life of a soldier. The best parts of the book were really that you get a sense of the different change, the periods in which these lighters were used, and that some of the lighters have almost histories on them where they start very __________ and warmongering and then get into this sort of -- you'll have these conflictory ideas like the peace symbol and these terms like "death from above," and that you see that there was a transition in the person as well as the transition in the lighter.
I tend to be someone who likes to delve into books, and I think that some of the parts I didn't like were the fact that because it was sort of a picture book per se, it didn't give an opportunity to really get into what some of those things meant outside of just their cultural reference. This book allowed me the opportunity to really want to go search out other Zippos and maybe think about a Zippo in my life in that kind of context and that how it can be sort of an icon of what's going on in your life. I think the equivalent nowadays would be something like people's iPods. The iPod's not quite like that, but people personalize that and try and make it their own in the same way."
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| Vinegar Hill |
A. Manette Ansay |
Book Tastes Like the Title |
See review |
"I decided to read "Vinegar Hill" while doing some shopping and on a rampant book reading splurge, decided to pick it up. It had Oprah's Book Club symbol on it. And I'm a sucker for Oprah's Book Club. But I don't admit that to a lot of people, so if we could keep that between you and I. "Vinegar Hill" is about a family of four who move back to Wisconsin after the husband becomes unemployed.
Well, the wife the husband, her name is Ellen, grew up in this area, this town and they move back in with her in-laws. The book is both character driven and plot driven. Her writing style, I really liked and I think this was actually her first book, her first novel. It delves into kind of this, the in-laws are very abusive, very hurtful and kind of why they are the way that they are and how Ellen deals with it accordingly with her husband becoming distant and kind of not really being present because he is back in this abusive relationship with his family.
This book made me slightly uncomfortable. It was very depressing. It was very dark. This is not a book you want to read in the middle of winter when it's dark outside. If you want, it's not upbeat in the very least. It's very sour. It's very acidic. It does have a little bit of sweetness towards the end, but overall it was just, it was very morbid. It flows very well and gets you into the character's world. You don't want to be there though. I would read other books of hers, just because I like the way that she writes. But this one is probably not top of the list.
I would give this, book two and a half stars. It's readable, but it's not a great read."
|
| Waiting: A Novel |
Ha Jin |
Extraordinary Read, But... |
See review |
Waiting
Ha Jin
"I read Waiting because it won a National Book Award. I mean it's one of the most beautifully written books that I've read in a long time.
The subject matter hovers a little bit much more laborious. It is appropriately named Waiting, and it is about waiting. The story is about an officer in the people's - Chinese People's Republic Army, and he falls in love with a nurse. But he had an arranged marriage, and he can't get out of his arranged marriage; so it's about waiting, and it's about indecision, and it's about not stepping up and really getting what you want out of life.
It was interesting because it's about a culture that I don't know a lot about. I don't know a lot about China, or I don't know a lot about Communism, so the writing is gorgeous, the story is a little bit slow, and I found it frustrating. I would give it a - I guess a three-star rating, just 'cause I can't - I really do want to acknowledge the fact that it was an extraordinary read; but the content was kind of like eh."
|
| Watchmen |
Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons |
New Generation Of Superheroes |
See review |
Watchmen
Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
"I am a huge fan of comic books, and Watchmen is known as the comic book that saved the comic book industry back in the mid-80's when it was kind of in shambles and many people were reading comics at all.
The story is of old retired superheroes so to speak, and the newer generation of superheroes and how they kind of clash on different issues. It's set in 1985, an alternate history of America, where the Doomsday Clock is set at about five minutes to midnight; nuclear war is inevitable, relations with Russia are probably at the worst that it's ever been. Watchmen was one of his first limited series that he came out with that eventually was released as a graphic novel. He also wrote books like V for Vendetta and From Hell.
Graphic novels appeal to me I think because usually the narrative is illustrated' and the type of learner that I am, I prefer to see something visually. What I liked best about Watchmen was that it was plausible storyline. Additionally, what I liked is that the characters are real people who aren't necessarily endowed with superhero powers, but they have to deal with the same issues that everybody else does. It wasn't the Utopian happy ending that I was kind of hoping for, but it was still a great ending.
I would recommend this book to anybody who hasn't yet delved into graphic novels in general and has been interested in probably picking up a graphic novel. I would give this book five stars out of five stars."
|
| Water Boy |
David McPhail |
"Speaks To Young Children" |
See review |
|
| Water For Elephants: A Novel |
Sara Gruen |
"Anyone Could Love This Story" |
See review |
Water For Elephants: A Novel
Sara Gruen
"I read Water for Elephants. The only reason I picked this book is because I really like elephants. I've always been a big fan of elephants, and I liked the cover a lot.
Jacob is telling the story from a convalescent home, and he's I think 93. So it goes back and forth between him in the convalescent home, and then he's reminiscing about his life in the circus. Then it goes back to him now, and then it goes back to his story, and I really liked that because you never really read books about a man in a convalescent home, and what's through his head, and how's he dealing with being in a convalescent home away from his family. It really made me think of my grandfather and him being in a convalescent home and remembering his whole life, and so that was kind of touching about the book; I liked that. There's a lot of photos of like Ringling Brothers, and all the animals, and the people that used to be in the circuses, black and white photos that were great.
So if you're interested in that -- not so much I guess if you're interested in elephants, which is why I bought the book -- but a love story, definitely women would want a love story or men who would want a love story. I don't know. I think anyone could enjoy this book. I really loved the story, and again, another book I couldn't put down. I'd give it four out of five."
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| What I Know For Sure: My Story of Growing Up in America |
Tavis Smiley |
Much To Learn From Radio Commentator |
See review |
"I wanted to read What I Know For Sure because I've read several of Tavis Smiley's previous books - How to Make Black America Better, The Covenant - and I wanted to read it because I was very interested in finding out more about him. I sort of knew the work that he does in terms of journalism, some of the interviews he's done. When I found out that What I Know For Sure was a memoir, I was very interested in just finding out a little bit more about this person that I hold in pretty high esteem.
Tavis Smiley is an African-American journalist, has a radio and a television show in public radio and on PBS. He certainly is controversial, and I love to hear all the controversy around him.
There were lots of favorite moments in the reading of this book. One of my favorites, hearing him tell about going to the University of Indiana with absolutely no money, with no admittance, he had a letter saying, "Yes, you can come," because he did very, very well in school. So he got an acceptance letter, but his parents refused to fill out financial aid forms. Hearing him tell the story of actually getting admitted was one of my favorite parts.
I would have wanted a little bit more. There were certain levels that I think that maybe he didn't go to; but then as I look at someone only 42 years old writing a memoir, maybe that's all the levels there are right now. What I Know For Sure certainly transcends race. There are - I think anyone breathing could gain inspiration, motivation, maybe even some clarity about how to approach things from this book; and that was another thing that Tavis did during the book is that while it's his story and his experience is certainly that of a black male in America, it wasn't a story that's just unique to him. Another five-star rating for this book. I'm very, very glad that he did decide to write this book."
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| What is the What |
Dave Eggers |
Fictionalized Account |
See review |
What is the What
Dave Eggers
"I read, "What is the What" because it's about Africa. I was in Africa last year, so I was hungry to read about Africa. And I was also curious to see what David Eggers had written lately. His previous books, which I had thought were a bit self-conscious. This book is told in a convincing, authentic, clear, simple voice.
"What is the What" is about a real life hero. His name's Valentino Achak Deng, who was a refugee from the Sudanese Civil War. He was one of the Lost Boys of the Sudan. And Dave Eggers spent countless hours interviewing him about his story. Basically trying to reach the refugee camps in Ethiopia while being you know pursued by just you know, starvation, man eating lions, marauding militia men, just the worst horrors you can possibly imagine.
You know you read this story of this guy going through these atrocious circumstances in the Sudan and your heart goes out for him. But, then when you read about his experiences here in the United States it just, that just turns to outrage.
"What is the What" is fiction, but it's based on extensive interviews with a real life hero. And I think what makes it fiction is that Dave Eggers took the experiences, the real experiences of Valentino and you know shaped them into a narrative. One great thing is that if you read the book you can make donation to a foundation that will help support the Lost Boys of the Sudan.
Five stars for "What is the What."
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| What is the What |
Dave Eggers |
"Almost Too Much To Fit Into a Novel" |
See review |
"I wanted to read What is the What because I had read another book by Dave Eggers called "You Shall Know Our Velocity" that I liked a lot.
What is the What is about a lost boy from Sudan by the name of Valentino Achak Deng; and it's his story of losing his family, having them murdered as a really young boy, eight or nine or ten, and having to flee with hundreds and thousands of other lost boys and move around Sudan and go to Ethiopia and just see horrific things. And Dave Eggers actually met Valentino and spoke to him over the course of a few years about his life and tried to tell his life story in this book.
It's a tremendous story. It's amazing how many obstacles he faced, so just to know that this book is based on the real person and that he survived massacres, survived attacks by lions, survived famine, survived friends turning on him - you're so engrossed in it that you forget that it's only maybe six months that's passed in the book. He's still nine years old or ten years old, and this little kid. So really having to face things like that at that young of an age is unimaginable for me. I think it was a huge task for him to take on, and that's really brave of him; but I just don't think he did as good of a job as he could of or as someone else could have of capturing Valentino's life. I would give What is the What two out of five stars. I think it's an amazing story that the author Dave Eggers tries to tell, but it's almost too much to fit into one novel."
|
| What the CEO Wants You To Know |
Ram Charan |
"What's Important In Business" |
See review |
What the CEO Wants You To Know
Ram Charan
"One of the books that was - that I just came upon about five years ago was a book - it's a short book - called What The CEO Wants You to Know by Ram Charan. One of the things that I do on a part-time basis is that I teach a business class for the University of San Francisco, and I've developed the curriculum for this.
Students absolutely love this book; I've had at least five students come up to me and say, "Hey, Dan, I've ordered this for my department." Because it talks about marketing concepts; it talks about finance; it talks about accounting; it talks about operations; it talks about human resource management. So really a broad breadth, so it could be an integral book to anything. So literally any top - any business topic would fit well. This would be a great pre-read.
I think one of the great things about the book is that it gets your attention very quickly in the first chapter. What should you know as an employee? How can you add value to your company? And it really carries through throughout the text.
There's only really one problem from the book from a pedagogical - again, from a teaching perspective - and that is the book is again a 30,000-foot view of the world and it doesn't get into details. Right, so if you really want to put - if you want to talk more in terms about how things really are and what analyses need to be done, you have to get into the weeds a little bit. This book stays out of the weeds. I would give What the CEO Wants You to Know by Ram Charan a five-star rating. It's perfect for what it's designed to do, provide a broad overview, a quick glimpse into what some"
|
| What to Expect When You're Expecting |
Heidi Murkoff |
Peace Of Mind For First Time Moms |
See review |
"I wanted to read What to Expect When You're Expecting because I had a son, or I was having a baby, and this is one of the books that was definitely recommended for somebody who was pregnant. And being a first-time mother, it was one of the books I definitely wanted to get; and in comparison to some of the other once, I really liked it. I liked the layout; I didn't feel - I felt like the questions were real questions, things that I was even wondering about. So it made really easy to reference and look up things. And it wasn't too technical or clinical, it didn't make me feel stupid, and it was just an easy one to read; and I recommended it to other mothers, too. Or mothers to be.
What to Expect When You're Expecting is about all the problems and issues and concerns that a woman has when they are pregnant, along with it covers issues that fathers might be feeling and how husbands and wives might be interacting at certain timers throughout the pregnancy. It also covers during certain times of the pregnancy what the woman might be feeling like. It also covers what the fetus and what the - is looking like, and that's really - that was really pretty cool. And what the fetus I'm able to see and feel and how it's developing, and just kind of made you - it was like I made me feel like I was normal, everything was okay, and I kept it right by my bedside, constantly looking at. Even if I read the same sections over and over again. It was just kind of a nice peace of mind. It didn't talk down to me. Especially being a first-time mommy, I needed more comfort and guidance than I needed to be taught anything; so it didn't talk down to me. It made me feel like I was - like other people had the same questions that I had, and they were answered really quite nicely. It felt like I was talking so somebody, or like somebody was giving me nice, friendly advice.
I would give it four out of five stars, and I would do that because it was very thorough -- "
|
| When You Are Engulfed in Flames |
David Sedaris |
How Does It Compare? |
See review |
I read When You are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris because I love him! I think he's really awesome. I've heard him speak and love it when he does something on This American Life or other radio programs.
This one is another collection of random stories and thoughts by the author. It also focuses on living in both Japan when he's trying to quite smoking, in New York and in France, so it's your usual mix of life stories by Mr. Sedaris. One of the best stories in the book is when he goes into the medical examiner's office, and they're looking at corpses, and it's just lovely, the comments he makes where the examiner just won't laugh and just looks at him strangely, and we get to enjoy his peculiar comments.
I've read all of David Sedaris' books, and they seem to get better as he goes along. I didn't find I laughed out loud as often; in some ways the stories were interesting but not hilarious so that it -- in some ways it was a little lackluster compared to some of the stories in Naked, I think. I think people enjoy David Sedaris so much that they don't want to criticize him, and the funny thing is some of his writing is so discombobulated, where the beginning of a chapter has nothing to do with what's at the end of the story, so in some ways, I think he gets away with kind of sloppy writing because he is entertaining.
It's a definite read for anyone who likes David Sedaris, who enjoys the witty look he has of the world, and anyone who enjoys humorous writing.
I'm gonna give it four out of five stars because I don't think it's the funniest book that David Sedaris has written, but it's definitely entertaining.
|
| Where the Heart Is |
Billie Letts |
Superstitious Women Wanted |
See review |
Where the Heart Is
Billie Letts
"Where The Heart Is is about a 17 year-old who's found stranded and pregnant in a Wal-Mart store by her boyfriend at the time, and she ends up living in the Wal-Mart until the time that she has this child.
It was just the type of book that really made you like all of the characters or really feel like you knew most of the characters, and it just kind of made you think about your life - or at least my life - and where I was an how fortunate I am to have the things that I have in my life. I really found myself most like the main character, Novalee Nation, I guess, because she's really superstitious; and I'm not really superstitious, but I - some of the things that she does in the book I can - I could feel myself doing similar things. For example, she is superstitious about the number seven; and just different things that she thinks when she has a certain amount of sevens that bad things are gonna happen; or when she was pregnant - or she thought she was pregnant at another time in the book - she started to do like little things to avoid that or maybe thinking she could change the way of it by sneezing a lot or - you know different, just different funny things.
The type of reader that I would recommend this book to would be a woman of any age, really, from teen to 20's, to a mother or whoever. I really think women would get the most enjoyment out of this book. I would give this book four to four and a-half stars out of five because I think it's a really just light-hearted, fun all around good story about how a young girl overcomes obstacles and the people that she meets."
|
| Where the Wild Things Are |
Maurice Sendak |
Illustrator Enjoys Illustrations |
See review |
Where the Wild Things Are
Maurice Sendak
"I think I first read Where the Wild Things Are when I was about maybe three or four years old as a picture book with my family, and my parents read it to me. So that's probably now about 30 years ago, which is kind of scary.
It centers around a little boy named Max, and Max is at home, and Max is a mischievous boy, and he is misbehaving; and I think the phrase that Sendak the author uses is, "creating mischief of one kind or another." He is sent to his room without supper, and he is angry, and he feels a little bit wronged; and while he's in his room, he imagines a whole other world. He imagines himself journeying on a ship out to this world there the wild things are. Max at first - it's kind of an interesting thing for a little kid to do. He's not at all sort of cowed by these monsters. In fact, Max is the fiercest of all.
I love the book both for its writing and for its illustrations. So for the writing standpoint, I think that Sen - Maurice Sendak tells a wonderful story. As an illustrator, Sendak is really great. The drawings as a standalone basis are wonderful, but they also really - they really help tell the story, and they show things that are not depicted in the text itself. As an illustrator myself, I think that's really great; so he is showing you what he's not telling you, and the combination is very, very powerful.
It also has a pace to it that I think is really ideal for a child as a bedtime story. They can get kind of fired up and sort of brought home, and kind of soothed and put to bed. I would give Where the Wild Things Are a five-star rating. It's a classic of American children's literature. There's probably in our daily lives a lot of times when we wish we could imagine a forest growing in our room or in our cubicle or whatever it is, and sailing off to another country or another land or another universe."
|
| Which Witch? |
Eva Ibbotson |
For Fans of Fairy Tales |
See review |
"I read Which Witch by Eva Ibbotson. While this book is about like a wizard, like yeah. And the wizard, like he's getting old and he needs a new wizard to take over him, so he decides to like look for him. And then like after a while, he starts a competition since he can't find any wizards or witches who might marry him and stuff, and so he starts this competition, and all the witches have to like do dark pieces of magic and like, yeah. And then he judges them.
There was no part of this book that I didn't like, and it was really good. Well, I think a reader that would enjoy this book is like a fan of fairytale and magic and wizards and witches. Well, because I really liked it, and it was really funny and, yeah but then there were some parts that I didn't really get, I would give it a four and a half."
|
| White Fang |
Jack London |
Filled with Action |
See review |
White Fang
Jack London
"I found out about the great-illustrated classics and it looked like White Fang was a good book.
It's about a dog. His name is Buck and he gets stolen by his gardener and put into a train where tons and tons of other dogs were; and gets taken to Alaska when they found out about that there was a gold rush. It's really - it's filled with action. It's pretty long, but it took me about a week. I liked it and then I kept on reading it and sometimes I liked it so much that I wanted to stop, but I wanted to get through that part, because it was interesting."
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| Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design |
Michael Shermer |
Evolution Versus Intelligent Design |
See review |
Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design
Michael Shermer
"Why Darwin Matters by Michael Shermer. He's actually a very renowned skeptic that I hadn't encountered yet until I came across this book. Looking at and reading summaries and excerpts of his books from a few years ago, it seemed clear that I might as well jump to this book as my introduction to a full book by Michael Shermer because of my particular interest in the intelligent design/evolution tensions which of course are unique to the United States.
Why Darwin Matters is about defending both the obvious strengths and powerful scientific grounding of evolutionary theory and the beauty and reference that's to be found in approaching the biological world in particular from that vantage point. I think he comes out on the side of, for him, that spirituality is to be found -- very similar to Stephen J. Gould is my basic take of where he comes from personally -- that spirituality is to be found in appreciating the world through science. Now, I suppose you could look at the long chapter in the middle on the various arguments for intelligent design as being somewhat disingenuous 'cause he presents himself as sort of giving voice to these intelligent design folks; and really, to get that more directly, you'd have to read one of their books.
I think it's obvious that Why Darwin Matters is a five-star book. I would not want to assume that Why Darwin Matters would be a horrifically unpleasant read for an intelligent design person, for a religious person who doesn't know much yet about evolution, whose maybe high school and such education was fairly weak. I would want to assume that all such folks could read something like this, and approach in it in their own way, and get something out of it, and have it be part of their ongoing development."
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| Wicked |
Gregory Maguire |
Fantasy Fan Identifies With Witch |
See review |
Wicked
Gregory Maguire
"I wanted to read Wicked because of the appeal to the fantasy realm. I really, I love children's stories, and young adult stories, and anything really to do with like fantasy and fairytales and things like that.
Wicked is about a - it's about a sympathetic story from the Wicked Witch of the West's perspective. I think the thing that I liked the most about it was the, just the character of the main - of the wicked witch I think the most, because she was such a intricate character. She was hated when she was born, and so it's interesting to see how somebody could grow out of being hated and being thought of as like a fiend, and a demon, and a devil worshiper, whatever, just to see how somebody grows out of that. I think I relate to the main character, Elphaba, the most in Wicked because of her political mindedness and of her inclination to fight for a better - to fight for people's rights.
It was just a very like touching and poignant story because you really felt close to the main character and you realized how really mean and cruel people can be. I'd give Wicked four stars because it was very well written, it was - had very well-developed characters."
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| Wicked |
Gregory Maguire |
Oz Fan Says "Great!" |
See review |
Wicked
Gregory Maguire
"I wanted to read Wicked because I knew there had been a musical about it and I'd seen some of the pictures, and I hadn't had a chance to see the production. The story gives the history of Elpheba, who is the - that's the real name of the witch, the wicked witch in the story. And it talks about her growing up. It kind of gives a background of the history of the Land of Oz, Munchkin Land, and it gives a map kind of like the hobbits, with different places in their land.
I'm a huge fan of The Wizard of Oz. I have - I probably have seen it 100 times, and I'm not exaggerating; I've seen it a huge amount since I was little, and to get the idea that you're going to get a different perspective on it from the wicked witch's point of view was just a great idea."
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| Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West |
Gregory Maguire |
The Other Side of Oz |
See review |
Wicked
Gregory Maguire
"Wicked became a musical several years ago and it gained a lot of popularity, so that's how I first heard of the book. I read it because the whole concept is it's another side of The Wizard of Oz, and I can't even tell you how many times I've seen The Wizard of Oz. I've seen it so many times.
Wicked is a fantasy book, and I do enjoy reading fantasy. It is about the other side of Wizard of Oz, so to speak, the history of Oz; it's mainly about the person we know as the Wicked Witch of the West and how she is born in Munchkinland, she's born green, she's got teeth, she's a scary little being. Kind of skips ahead to her life in like a high school boarding school and the friends she makes and her life there; and it kind of gets into the politics of Oz and who the Wizard is, and he really just kind of took over Oz and became like a dictator. It's really about what life would be day-to-day in Oz, and how it's a real civilization. It's obviously a fantasy, but Gregory McGuire has really written it to be like a real civilization.
I like most fantasy books. I like that this book gave us -- or at least gave me -- sympathy for her. It didn't just paint her as the witch as the Wizard of Oz did. It told her side of the story, how most of what is portrayed in Wizard of Oz is her being like this bad, evil being is really just the things that happenstance in her life. I have not gotten a chance to see Wicked. I don't know if it's coming back to the area; I would like to see it, but so far I've just read the book twice. Really enjoyed it. I think Wicked may be catered maybe more towards a younger audience -- maybe not, actually. The Wizard of Oz has been around for years and years and years, so I think anybody who can suspend disbelief and enjoys anything that's fantasy and has taken any interest in The Wizard of Oz could really pick this book and get a kick out of it. Out of five stars, I'd say it's five."
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| Wild Swans |
Jung Chang |
Hardships Of 20th Century Chinese Women |
See review |
Wild Swans
Jung Chang
"I chose Wild Swans I guess because I know so little of the history of modern China. Most Americans know very little. And I really hate reading history textbooks, so I always find historical novels a little more exciting way of learning about a time period and a place. I teach English to college students, but they happen to be foreign college students, and I'm married to a foreigner, so that might be why I sometimes choose history novels about foreign countries.
It traces three women through their really strange, hard lives, and I think I just imagine myself in that situation and go, "Oh, my God, I would have given up." I guess I liked it; it was a very moving story told in a really unsentimental way. It's just sort of the facts, and these people just deal with each insane situation as it comes and like never kill themselves or never give up the will to live.
It's a really long book, so I don't think I would ever use it with my foreign students, but I might use a few pages, an excerpt of it. The strange thing is right now, I'm teaching students from mainland China who are much younger than the Cultural Revolution; and I don't think they know some of these stories. I would give this book probably a four out of five just because it's longer than it needed to be. The same enlightenment could have been accomplished through a slightly longer than 500-page book, but it's done in an incredibly in-depth way, and you really feel like you've lived through like 80 years."
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| Wild Swans: Three Daughters Of China |
Jung Chang |
Chinese History Sheds Light On Family History |
See review |
"Wild Swans is about 20th Century Chinese history, but it's told through the perspective of three different generations of Chinese women. So you see a grandmother who's from the era when women were still having their feet bound all the way -- and then her daughter, which is the mother of the author; and the author is primarily growing up during the Communist regime.
Why I wanted to read the book was because my aunt had told me a story about how my grandfather and my mother's father had fled from China himself; it's this whole crazy story about a boy -- involving a boy with ducks and the father having to -- coming up to him and telling him that was scheduled to be executed but that he could provide him safe passage to Hong Kong. So I'd heard this story and didn't know if it was true; and I asked my mom and she had never of the story before. So then finally, I think -- or I got a chance to ask my grandmother if the story was true; and she said it was true, and she had more details about it. So then after that, I was really energized just to know more about Chinese history and other people's stories that were similar.
I was surprised by the details in the book because I think I had maybe an outline of Chinese history in my head, but to see the author filling it in with these really extreme details of hardship and women having to work up until the day they have to give birth and just the extremes that food wasn't available or how people were tortured, that was actually really surprising to me. I knew a little bit about foot binding or concubines and things like that, but I didn't know as much about the cultural revolution and how much that affected people. I'm glad I made it through all almost 700 pages, but the book provided me with a lot of questions I could ask my mom or my grandmother, so it was actually really personally relevant to me. I would give it probably four out of five stars."
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| Woken Furies |
Richard K. Morgan |
"What It Means To Live Forever" |
See review |
Woken Furies
Richard Morgan
"I wanted to read Woken Furies because it's the third book in a series of science fiction books revolving around this one character, Takeshi Kovacs. He's an ex-special ops kind of mercenary who has in the past taken over and gone to planets and quelled rebellions and things like that. So this is the third book in a really interesting series that takes you all across a very interesting galaxy.
The big catch about this universe that it takes place in is that in the future, humans have a little disk, a data stack that they have in the back of their head; so their personalities, their memories, their -- you could call it their soul is all stored in that data set. So when they die, or when the body dies, you can take that out and transfer it to another body. So it's a really interesting world, and it deals with a lot of interesting issues of what it means to be alive and what it means to live forever and things like that.
This is one of my favorite series, and this was a really strong book in the series. It may not necessarily be for the faint of heart. It's pretty gruesome and violent, but it's action packed, it has a lot of philosophical meanderings through lots of tricky places. I would give this book five out of five stars. It was very good, well written, action packed; it kept me very interested the entire way through."
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| Women: A Novel |
Charles Bukowski |
Vulgar, But Funny |
See review |
"I chose to read Women by Charles Bukowski because I am particularly interested in him as an author. I've read tons of his books, I find him to be entertaining, funny, and -- he is vulgar, but at the same time it's very entertaining for me. I chose this book in particular because it was pretty much next on the list of books he read or wrote in chronological order, so that was the man reason.
The book is about his alter-ego by the name of Henry Chaniski, and just basically it's about his life in L.A. as a struggling writer trying to function in the society. He's partly an alcoholic also, so the book's about his escapades as an alcoholic, his crazy stories with women, girlfriends, both caused by him and by the women that he's dated.
I definitely like the language that he chooses to use, the simplicity of the writing in the book, and the simplicity of the story was excellent. There was a couple of favorite moments. There's a part in the book where he's fighting with a girlfriend and she just breaks all of his windows and breaks everything in his house; and the way he wrote it was very funny because he's very submissive about it, like it's not a big deal and it wasn't a big deal at the time, yet he has no windows left in his house. He's just like, "Oh, well, I'll just go and grab another beer." Like to me, that was very entertaining to read.
I wouldn't recommend it necessarily to someone who's more prude about stuff like that who doesn't want to hear vulgarity or sexual language or anything like that. I didn't like the ending; the ending was seemed very sudden. Like I expected to turn the page and have more of the story there kind of to finalize what happen, but it was just very brief. I would give this probably three and a half stars."
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| Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do |
Studs Terkel |
At A Career Crossroads? |
See review |
"Working is a compilation of interviews that Studs Terkel had with people in the mid- to late-60's -- many of them based around Chicago where Studs Terkel is from -- but people from all walks of life talking about what they do and how they feel about what they do. So their jobs, basically.
That means talking to a janitor about how they feel about their job; that means talking to a sports newscaster about how they feel about their job; that means talking to nurses and policemen. Some of the most inspiring of all was firemen. So many people are represented, there are so many portraits of different careers, you couldn't help but walk away with getting a good idea of what work entailed. However, you also have to approach the book and remember that these people are talking about their jobs, but they're also talking about life in a big way.
If I had a favorite segment of working, it would be the final interview with the fireman and just hearing one man talk about why he does his job. There's a spiritual aspect, there's a religious aspect, there's a just humanitarian aspect; but to see one person glowing so much, not only from what their job gives them but what they want to put into their job is incredibly inspiring. Whether you want to be a fireman or not, it's just wonderful to see someone so contributory to the world.
I would recommend Working to anyone -- especially anyone at a career choice, whether that's getting out of high school or getting out of college or being middle-age and deciding to switch careers. If I were to rate Working on a five-star basis, I would give it 4.5 or maybe five out of five stars because it's so wonderful, like a documentary film to be inspired by real life."
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| World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War |
Max Brooks |
"I Can't Stop Talking About Zombies!" |
See review |
World War Z
Max Brooks
"I wanted to read World War Z in large part because I had read Max Brooks, the author's first book, which was The Zombie Survival Guide.
The book is really, it's a fictional narrative that's written as though sort of an oral history - sort of like Studs Terkelish, kind of working - that is the stories of all the people during the course of this zombie war, which was a World War Z, the zombie war. It goes through all the different geographies and histories through people telling their own individual stories. There's lots of different personalities and lots of storylines.
It's both tongue-in-cheek, it is sort of - it plays at being funny; it's true that it's not realistic, and yet it's written as though it's realistic. It's true fiction narrative. It's really trying to write something into reality, and I liked that a lot about it. I liked that it's sort of - it's farcical and yet it's told as though if you've read Studs Terkel or someone that's doing Working, or they're doing oral histories, they really are oral histories, and it comes across. It comes across as though it's very true and happened, but at the same time maybe it did happen or didn't happen. It's unclear.
If there's anything I didn't like about the book, it was only that it was too short; but it could have gone on and been even more detailed and I really enjoyed the book.
I would certainly recommend the book to anyone that enjoys zombies or thinks they're interesting - by all means, anyone that wants to read something that's sort of fun. If you're into post-Apocalyptic books, it's interesting. I think it's very accessible. I think it would be a good thing to have high school students read just to make sure that they're reading something and that they're getting into the habits of reading and like reading. I know this might be controversial, but I personally would give the book five stars as one of the better books that I've read and that I really enjoyed; and really, it changed my mind about I never thought zombies were interesting, and now all I do is talk about zombies with my friends and really think they're compelling and fun to talk about."
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| Yeh-Shen |
Ai-Ling Louie |
Beautiful Chinese Fairy Tale |
See review |
Yeh-Shen
Ai-Ling Louie
This is "Yeh-Shen," a Cinderella story from China. I am the mother of two little girls, two and four years old. And I'm also half-Chinese so I was intrigued to buy a princess, fairy tale story that was based in Chinese culture. Although the essential plot is the same as the European "Cinderella" story, it's over a thousand years older than the European "Cinderella."
It's about Yeh-Shen who is the daughter of an ancient cave chief and his first wife. And when the cave chief and the wife pass away, she becomes, she comes under the care of the second wife. And who is very jealous of her because she's much more beautiful and virtuous than her own daughter.
She has only one friend who is a fish, a pet fish that no matter how little she gets, she makes sure that she feeds him. And he grows to enormous size and when her stepmother finds out about this, she kills the fish and serves him up for dinner, which of course is devastating to her. But, the spirit of the fish comes back to her as a wise old man and befriends her. And when it comes time for the spring festival where she's hoping to go and meet a young man that she could marry like all the other young women, her stepmother keeps her at home and she kneels before the bones of the fish and says, you know is there some way that I could have a dress nice enough to go?
It's beautifully illustrated in four panel Chinese style, like the four seasons. And there is kind of a legend, poetic quality to the writing of it. And I actually found it a couple of times when I've been reading it I get kind of choked up almost.
I would give this, five stars. I liked everything about it. I would recommend it to any little girls and their mothers who are interested in the princess fairy tale kinds of stories, especially one that is based in another culture besides the Disney culture.
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| You Can Do It! The Merit Badge Handbook for Grown-Up Girls |
Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas, Vaughn Catuzzi Lohec, and Dara Catuzzi Near |
"I've Earned 3 Of the Badges" |
See review |
You Can Do It! The Merit Badge Handbook for Grown-Up Girls
Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas, Vaughn Catuzzi Lohec, and Dara Catuzzi Near
"Essentially, this book is most like Boy Scout Merit Badges, but for women; and it ranges in everything from sewing to philanthropy, gardening, handiwork, and gives you a step-by-step of how to do these things with some insight. One of the nice parts I liked about this book is using typical items that a woman may find in her toiletry cabinet to do home repair.
Well, I've taken up sewing; that is one of the things that I've done. Currently, I'm staying simple. I am sewing a baby blanket for my niece at this moment. I've earned three of the badges, and actually in the back of the book, there are punch-out badges that you can make into buttons or pins of some sort and put those own very much like you would see on a Boy Scout vest. Getting girls together, reading over the chapters, seeing what sounds interesting and then taking these ideas, whether it be gardening or philanthropy, and working together to accomplish it is a great way to not only fulfill your own need for an extracurricular hobby but also get some bonding time in with the girlfriends.
I think I may pass this along to my girlfriend Heather. She is a stay-at-home wife and has often been searching for some hobbies to keep herself busy, just new things to kind of experiment with during this time. I would give it a good 3 -- stars. What I did like about it, as I said, is it really gets you together and gives you ideas of what can be done, how easy these things can be if you set your mind to it, and it's this empowering thing almost for women."
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| You, The Owners Manual |
Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet Oz |
"I Like the Part About Sex" |
See review |
You: The Owner's Manual
Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet Oz
"Well, I got interested in the book, cuz I was watching Oprah, and then Dr. Oz came up, talking about his book and saying how it's a easy-to-read health book. It's about actually you're the owner of your body, so it's a basic manual. Like, the book talked about how we have a manual for everything in life, but ourself, our health, and it was really nice to have something for us, like a manual of our health and what we do bad and what we could do better in our daily life. It had a lot of scientific words, which I know, but for regular people like my parents, they read it, and they understood it, which is really good, is that you had that easy, basic English words that everybody could read.
I liked the part about sex. That was my favorite part. I liked that it explained it, and it wasn't complicated, and it answered many of my questions and doubts that I had on the male and female sex organs. I think this book should be good for any reader that really wants to know more about their body, their health, what kind of vitamins we should be eating. I will give this book five stars. It's a great, easy-to-read book, and it has a lot of information that I -- well, I use- and I didn't know. And I learned a lot about it. I really did."
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| Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values |
Robert M. Pirsig |
"The Details In The Book Are Beautiful" |
See review |
"I read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance because I was in the mood for a road trip of a book.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is more or less the concept of a father and son reconnecting through a road trip, not only of the son, who is I think maybe 11 or 12 years old or something, but also of the father. As the book proceeds, you realize there's a whole level of that relationship that you wouldn't even have suspected from the first 50, 100 pages just because you're really caught up in the romance of the father and son and also some friends of theirs taking a road trip. And just the prose itself is so Zen like, in my mind, at least; it's just very relaxing.
The thing I liked most about Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was just reading it. It was just so relaxing. Every time I sat down with it, unlike so many other books, I felt like I was easing into a warm bathtub or something. Just this really beautiful language and everything was so detailed and kind of comforting. It almost had a fetal position quality to it.
I'd recommend Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance to anywhere from teenagers to maybe young fathers, to -- I don't know, maybe anyone who feels like they've been disconnected from someone in their family or even a close friend. Because there's a lot of spirituality in the book, obviously through the title, but just taking yourself back from these moments and allowing the book to just kind of envelop you.
If I had five stars to give out, I would give Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance four stars. I felt like it's very timeless. You could pick it up at many moments in history, and whether or not the motorcycle is still in use, the relationships are still strong and the lessons learned thereof; just the details in the book are so beautiful."
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| Zodiac Unmasked: The Identity of America's Most Elusive Serial Killer Revealed |
Robert Graysmith |
For Seasoned True Crime Fans |
See review |
Zodiac Unmasked: The Identity of America's Most Elusive Serial Killer Revealed
Robert Graysmith
"Zodiac Unmasked basically was a book that picked up where the author Robert Graysmith left off with his first book, just called Zodiac. It's about the Zodiac killings that happened in the Bay Area back in the late 60's and early 70's. In the first book, he did come to a conclusion. He said that he felt that the police and other investigators looking at the case had pretty much narrowed it down to a particular person; but he gave this person a pseudonym so when Zodiac Unmasked came out, he actually named this person, and the primary suspect is Arthur Lee Allen, who has since passed away. He expounded upon this person, gave his life history --
I would recommend that if you are a true crime fan, this is a good book for you, but if you are unfamiliar with the Zodiac case, I wouldn't start with this book. I would start with Robert Graysmith's first book, just called Zodiac, and in there, he gives most of the details of the crimes and the crime scenes themselves and gives a real good introduction. I think it's a five-star book."
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