It was a slow read for the first few hundred pages, but picked up in the middle. I have a feeling I will enjoy the second and third books in the trilogy more.
This graphic novel kicked my emotional ass and made me want to hug my dog forever. She seemed to realize I was needing animal interaction and came and sat by me after I finished reading. This book has animals taking a leading role in the animal rights movement. It packs an emotional punch and is visually arresting. The Bundles section alone would make the book 5 stars - but there's so much more!
The Thursday Next series can be trying for readers who are not "well read" in terms of classic literature. However, for those of us who don't mind references to Kafka, Du Maurier and Hardy - the books are a pleasure.The second installment focuses on the aftermath of the events of 'The Eyre Affair' and the Goliath Corporation's displeasure with Thursday. I enjoyed this book because of the introduction of Jurisfiction and the discovery that Thursday can "read" herself into books. However, unlike the first book, this one cannot stand alone. The entire plot has the feeling of being a bridge between novels. While I enjoy series, I do tend to favor those that can stand on their own.
Still, you have to love a book where there is a reference to prosecuting Max De Winter.....
This book was recommended to me by my husband's aunt - it would never have come up on my radar without her suggestion. I enjoy the occassional memoir, but a whole book about hiking isn't exactly my cup of tea. However, Strayed's story really worked for me. I enjoyed reading about her struggles and successes on the PCT. I felt that I could relate to her in unexpected ways. The book really picks up once she begins her hike and it's hard to put down.
I'm not sure what it is about this series that makes me read the books obsessively. They are poorly written, the characters are only semi-interesting (except Eric) and the plots have gotten more and more thin over the years. I suppose it's like the Bones series - I enjoyed the first 5-6 books, so I have to keep reading to see how it all turns out.This book finds Sookie and Eric at a crossroads. There is a small mystery about a dead girl and a vampire queen - but the main "question" in this book is what is happening to Sookie and Eric's relationship. As a conflict goes, this one is kind of swept under the rug and ignored by Sookie - even though it looms in the background and affects every decision she makes.
I don't think this book deserves 3 stars - it's clearly just a space filler until the final book is published next year. But it's hard for me to rate any book in this series lower than a 3. And it does shed some light on who Sookie will end up with at the end - and sorry but it's not a huge surprise and anyone paying any attention to the first 11 books will have seen it coming a mile away.
I bought this book a few years ago and it had made three moves with me before I decided to finally read it this month. I'm going through a sort of "spring cleaning" with all the books I own but haven't read and "The Book Thief" was first on my list. To be honest I'm not entirely sure why I bought it to begin with. I think it was a combination of "I like books about books" and "I find the Holocaust interesting" and the fact that it was on a buy 2 get 1 free table at Borders.Things I liked:
- Reading about the Holocaust from a German perspective (2 stars for that)
- Liesel
Things I didn't like:
- The narrator - Death
- The author's writing style (boring)
- The fact that despite the length of the book, the story ended before WWII did
- The "newsflash" asides
Over all this book didn't keep my attention at all. It was simply written (it is a young adult book, after all), but I labored through it. I had to force myself to finish it, I was ready to abandon it many times. It just wasn't for me - I wouldn't reccommend it to anyone - off to the Book Thing it goes!
This book was disappointing. I was looking forward to reading it because like the author, I've found it difficult to meet friends as an adult. Moving 500+ miles away from home and most of my friends has been a bit of a challenge (luckily I have my husband!). As a twenty-something it can be difficult to meet women my age who are interested in friendship. In college it was easy - you were friends with people who lived near you or were in the same club etc. Grad school was even easier - a ready made set of friends who enjoy the same topic you do! Finding friends as a real-world adult hasn't been as easy.I found the author's approach of 52 "girl-dates" to be a gimick (obviously) but also kind of defeated the purpose of finding a new BFF. By the middle of the book you could tell the author was becoming overwhelmed trying to find new people to hang out with as well as keep in touch and develop relationships with those she had already met. Plus on top of this, she was spending 2-4 nights a week cultivating these new friendships and kind of ignoring her husband. I understand that the number 52 was chosen for marketing purposes and the author probably wouldn't have gotten a book deal without it. But it might have been a bit more practical (and more successful in cultivating "real" friendships) to only do one a month. Seriously, does she expect to be able to maintain good friendships with the 20-odd women she claimed as friends at the end of the book?
After reading numerous detective books - I thought it was time to read a book with a killer for a narrator. The Sisters Brothers are hired guns (I wouldn't call them assassins - assassins seem to have more finesse) who work for a man called the Commodore. The novel follows them as they travel from Oregon City to San Francisco in search of a man who has somehow wronged the Commodore. Eli, the younger brother, is a somewhat endearing narrator. He is kind to a lackluster horse, seeks affection from women and is sympathetic despite the fact that he makes his living by killing people. His brother Charlie is quite different, but they make a good team and complement each other.deWitt does an admirable job of inflecting his Western story with moments of dark comedy. He introduces many quirky characters into the story, but is wise enough to leave them behind before they overstay their welcome. Overall it was an enjoyable book, and I would definitely read another book by deWitt.
Not bad - definitely a good read for fans of the show. I guess my main complaint is that it went too into detail on the "history" of Pawnee. Part of what makes the show so fun is that it gives viewers snapshots of the town's "history". The book just had too much.
This series was reccommended to me by a coworker who knows that I like to read book series. Outlander, Sookie Stackhouse, Patrick Kenzie, Eve Dallas. Lincoln Rhyme etc - if I like a character I want to read as many books featuring them as I can.So far I like Harry Bosch. He's a loner, rogue detective - but not in a stereotypical way. I liked Connelly's writing style, and the pacing of the book. It was a tiny bit outdated (using landliness etc) but it was written in 1992, so some leeway is granted. I'll continue with the series because I like detective novels - but I guessed at the ending of this one so hopefully I'll be more surprised in the future!
I'm just going to chalk this one up to the "don't judge a book by it's cover" cliche. The cover and the description of the book sold me on reading it - but it did not deliver. It was boring and there was really no magical "contest" at all.
Maybe if I had drifted aimlessly after college this book would resonant with me more. I was (and still am) the type of person that would take just about any job if it meant I didn't have to move back in with my parents. That's how I ended up in insurance with a MA in Politics....but that's another story. While I was reading this book, I just wanted to shake Esther (the main character) and yell in her face "What are you doing with your life?".I'm only 25 - so I'm part of the generation that should "get" this book. I know people like the characters in this book, and most of them are more interesting than these characters. Most of the situations are predictable, and by the end of the book Esther is no closer to realizing what she wants to do with her life. It would have been more satisfying if at the end she would have felt some purpose - even if that purpose was finding a job! At least her slacker friends had part time jobs - even if there were terrible.
I understand the purpose and the point of this book - however that doesn't make it any less frustrating to this reader.
A solid follow-up to "Outlander". The ending makes me want to continue the series - that's the really the best compliment I can give for a series novel!
For a novel about two sisters, this book spent a great deal of time on secondary characters. I picked up this book not because I wanted to read about the dot com era but because I was interested in the cookbook collection! By the end of the book I had a good sense of who the character Jess was, but Emily remained a mystery. Her character was not fleshed out enough and her identity was too wrapped up in Veritech and Jonathan. I wish I had only read the chapters with Jess and George, three stars for their story.
When I was 7 or 8 years old, I wanted to be a paleontologist when I grew up. There was something fascinating about the bones of creatures who had died out millions of years ago. It was hard to believe that species could simply cease to exist. I was never one of those kids who memorized every dinosaur, but I was intrigued nonetheless.When I read the description of this book I was excited - two women discovering fossils and friendship - awesome! This book was disappointing. It was dull and parts dragged quite a bit. Maybe my expectations were too high and I was expecting too much out of the characters. I should have learned my lesson on Chevalier by now - I don't find her books exciting. I plod through to finish a book, but don't take much from it and would not consider reading it again.
Let me preface this review by saying that I am not a big baseball fan. I really enjoy football - baseball tends to bore me. So when Zack told me I had to read this book because he wanted to see the movie with me, I put it off for a very, very long time. So long that I barely finished it before the movie was released.I was pleasantly surprised at my enjoyment of this book. Lewis did a great job of following Billy Beane and the Oakland A's as the organization attempted to win with a fraction of the salary base as some of baseball's powerhouses. My elementary knowledge of baseball did not hinder my enjoyment or understanding of this book - for that I have the author to thank : )