Miriam

I raised my eyebrows at the size and length, but the size and length were part of what made it perfect.

Mostly pleasant book, which is an odd, but accurate, descriptor for what is a plague narrative with all the accompanying social collapse. The ending jumps the shark and I thought the book lost momentum about 3/4s through.

The fourth star is for the appendix. A quick easy read with lots of gist for my mill.

Fun and I read it in two big gulps on vacation, so in that way it was perfect. A bit gawkish at times but the reworking of the baba jaga story was interesting and I liked the symphonic spell casting.

Usual stuff with sewers. I like hanging out with Matthew, which is good because he remains solidly at the centre of these books, but I could use a breath or two between the next event – let the poor man take a bath and sleep for goodness sake!

Clear, useful review of current research on learning and how to apply it in the classroom. Nothing earth shattering here, but I will use material from it.

I read this in pieces over the past couple of weeks. I was never unhappy to revisit, but I liked it better in small doses. I should probably buy a copy so I give it to my kids in about 30 years.

I have no idea how to rate this book. I glared at it most of the time; couldn't toss it; and was grateful for the ending. I have nothing articulate to say beyond that, except much of my reading was spent thinking how Catholic and 21st century this book was. But just now I wonder if we can throw in Hardy and Jude the obscure too (another inordinately difficult book)?

I liked this one more than the first, and enjoyed the first quite a bit. Aaronovitch gets an extra star for how he handles Leslie's disfigurement. I listened to this rather than read and the narrator is good, and that always contributes.

3.5 really. Fun, quick read. He's so good and creating characters and writes so well that I didn't really mind that this wasn't really a novel. More a side yarn that provides back story on some particularly nasty creatures.

I listened to it, which I thought was perfect, and enjoyed it far more than I expected too. I have issues with the lack of nuance and more often than I'd like ugly=unpleasant/bad, but Cormoran and Robin were both fun to hang with.

Rather stolid and but I was intrigued by the structure. I've read her before, but only sporadically over the years, so it'll be interesting to see how her style unfolds.

This was excellent. My only real quibble is that I wanted more of Nell's voice and less of Bateson's. We have enough male voices in this world. I want more female. Still I loved reading it and dragged the last 50 or so pages out, so I could stay with it longer.

I'm going to try to write a review of this one. I'm not sure it entirely comes together, or more accurately, I'm not sure it was every a novel. It felt different, somehow. Enjoyed it regardless.

Damn epilogue. Much of the book is glorious but I need to wait a bit to give the epilogue time to sink out of view.

Useful, with some valuable exercises and lots of good links to websites and Power Points but it was trying to do too many things which resulted in a book that felt disorganized and inconsistent.

Gave it 5 stars because I loved every minute reading it. The Catholicism didn't reverberate (very lapsed anti-baptist here) but everything else was lovely.

This was fun once I made it past the over-written beginning. Dialogue was decent and I liked Griffan's take on urban magic. I'd read another in this series.

I'm ditching. I've read most of the ending, and some of the stuff in between, but I'm really tired of the Goldfinch angst and the bag of pills. Nice to see Boris back, but not enough to make it to the end. All that said, I read the first 500 pages in one big gulp, something I haven't done in years so there's that. Plus, Boris and a great portrait of Vegas suburbs (and ‘burbs in general).

I half-closed my eyes during the violent scenes because I'm a real wuss, but they were few and effective. This is the first Block I've read and it won't be my last. It was a really solid read with good characters (I liked spending time with Scudder) and a well worked-out plot. Much of the plot is traditional detective work involving interviews, geography and police file research. He wrote this at the end of the 20th century, a couple of years before 9/11 so pay phones, beepers, and “classic” telephone hackers figure prominently. No google, no easy access via computers to secure files, and almost no mention/use of guns.

Sobbed at the end. I never do that anymore. This one got into my system and is going to stick for awhile. I should probably review it but I need time to think about it first.

It's really a three star book, but I enjoyed listening to it more than I was irritated by the cliches. Plus she writes good dialogue, and who wouldn't want to be on the ground floor with the first New York police detective.

(Sometime in July) I'm doing everything I can to avoid reading this book. I sort of want to know what happens with George and with the Mira experiment but not enough to keep reading. It's an odd book.

08/11/13 – I ditched it formally added it to my discard list and carried on, but I kept thinking about it and wondering what he was going to do with it all so I picked it up again and finished it.

Mike, a reviewer I follow sum's up much of my frustration with the book when he points out that the narrative is “sometimes (maybe a few too many times) bogged down by the weight of sweeping thematic concerns which put a drag on forward motion and I'd go with “few too many times.” Enough already. But, there is much that is interesting and smart and committed to make it worth the time. And there is a “dinner” scene between Fred and Holly and Vartan near the end of the book that is really quite oddly spectacular. In fact, Holly and Vartan, with the Reiki and the magic tricks, and their crappy apartment were some of the strongest writing in the novel.

If I were going to make up an odd shelf – self, self-immolation and 9/11 – I'd put it there with James Hynes book Next, but Luminarium is a kinder book and Fred although as self-involved as Kevin Quinn has better reasons.

This was not my favorite Boyle. It is really well thought out, and his descriptions of Channel Islands is really very good, but I didn't buy it. Both Alma and David LeJoy (interesting that Alma's last name isn't as resonate) felt like straw dogs. He always has an agenda, but he usually gives his characters more space – more maybe he likes them better? Anyways, the opening scene with Alma's grandmother was spectacular, and I loved the sheep ranch bit with Rita but most of the time I was reading to finish it.

This one was a slog. I enjoyed Carey's first one but this one was all genre formula and very little of anything else.