Mer Barr

There is alot of bouncing around between subjects and back and forth thru time that I, personally, find difficult but seems to fit the New Orleans feel, and possibly the author as well. I did learn alot about New Orleans, and the 2, or more, Maries, and the people around them.

Considering the amount of time gone by and the lack of documentation, the author does seem to have done her best to research all avenues, relay what the documents say, and call out where she's tried to fill in gaps with her own ideas and opinions.

Another interesting and creepy subject matter from Mr. King.

Meh. Several times I forgot what the main plot was because the story stayed overlong on this topic or that. Many things just weren't interesting to me.

Another fascinating day in the life of a submarine, read. The author is a contemporary of [a:Richard H. O'Kane 1588996 Richard H. O'Kane https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], and the USS Pampanito, docked in San Francisco, CA, USA.

Not a series I'll be continuing with. A friend said this book read like a series of short stories strung together and I agree. I can do without the island side story in particular. I did hear “Consider phlebas” towards the end but it went by so fast that I have no idea how the title relates to the story.

I scratched my head for the first 64% of the book trying to figure out what the overarching message or storyline was but around there things started to make sense. About the time of the first reference to wild-built.I'm crossing my fingers this series does not go the way her Wayfarers series did for me. I loved the first book [b:The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet 22733729 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1) Becky Chambers https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405532474l/22733729.SY75.jpg 42270825], but just couldn't get interested in any of the characters introduced in the next 2 books. Adding the next book to my tbr.

I'm not fond of knowing how the story is going to go fairly early in the book but in this case I am fond of stories that have characters that you love to get to know.

I like the fact that the author appears to be basing her book on what she's able to verify [she mentions in the intro that it's hard to determine exactly how many were on trial due to the vague descriptions of the accused].

What I wasn't interested in is the style of the presentation of the topic. I had a hard time understanding how what was being presented was organized. It seemed to be a casual wander thru various intermingled subjects, as if listening to someone reminisce almost. I'm more of a logical, linear person.

Being a buddhist of lineages tracing to Tibet, I found the main theme very interesting. Alot of time spent on technical jargon and details that I could have done with 1/3rd less of but overall the set of characters were enjoyable to get to know. I'll continue the series.

Lots of daily living of folks I just couldn't get interested in. I think this is the same thing I said about book 2 in the series.

With several different story arcs it gets a bit confusing at who is where and when but the author does a good job at the very end refreshing one's memory enough that you see the whole picture. Not sure if the Navaho traditions mentioned are real or not but they do sound intriguing.

A biography can sometimes be all from other peoples' points of view, if the subject of the book is not a part of the interviewees. This book does meet those criteria but the chosen glimpses have a gossiping quality that is rather mean-spirited and ego-based, and I'm not fond of this.

I didn't need to get too far into the book to get the over arching message of the book, that the majority of interviewees felt Princess Margaret was hard to interact with. No need to stick it out to the end.

I normally like Elmore Leonard and checked this one out as I'd heard it was the basis for the “Justified” tv-series, but I'm returning this uncompleted because I'm not a fan of drug-related stories. I quite watching the tv series for a similar reason.

I'd hoped to get more on the lead character in Justified. Maybe it's there in the story but I just an not interested anymore.

I have to say I enjoyed both mediums, the book and the movie, equally.

The visual makes it easier to follow the loops, and the 2 warriors seem to work together longer and not so much on the battle field. The word gives you a much better 1st person understanding.

The only thing I didn't like about the book is that all the storyline existed on the battle field where it was difficult to follow who was doing what.

Interesting perspective on authors I'd only heard of or may have only read 1 or 2 of their books. The magazine has been mentioned in many books I've read related to scientific topics so I'm glad I now have more detail about Astounding and it's editor.

The one aHAH moment for me was regarding Campbell's tactic to get noticed by the armed forces, by having one of his regular authors write a story about the creation of the first US nuclear bomb being designed secretly. I'd heard about this potential leak in several books related to the scientists of the Manhattan Project but I don't remember them specifically calling out the source of the story. And a bit saddened that the man appeared to be so desperate to be in the war that he'd risk national security, and one of his authors, to do it.

This series of biographies really got me thinking about alot of subjects. Seeing other people's lives thru their eyes, what a group of friends can be, not seeing the issue that someone else has a concern with, and thinking creatively and out of the box.

I'm reading this as a result of enjoying the tv series “Midnight, Texas” which I enjoyed and was hoping the book would be more complex than the shows, which most books are. The section of the tv series that was related to the story of the book was pretty faithful from what I can remember, so although it wasn't more enlightening it was thankfully not a let down.

Whoa! I'm so glad I was listening to this, rather than watching it like another title tied to the author; Pan's Labrynth! This is definitely better than the TV series by the same name.

An interesting modern version of the vampyre story, good movement, lots of suspense, a bit confusing during the storyline transitions.

I'll read the 2nd in the series.

Lots of thought-provoking ideas and beliefs. I'm glad I didn't try to keep track of the relationship between the rooms to each other, or visualizing the world. That was all just too complex, strangely, and it would have been enough frustration for me to throw down the book and walk away.

Some science, alot of pausing for personal opinions, and some too-detailed descriptions of the ways a beaver can die. A nice catchup on the situation in England and the rest of the world.

The story continues to be good but this short stuff makes me unhappy. I'll wait for someone to put all 6 ‘books' together into a more traditional length book, then I'll buy it.

President Snow reminds me of [a:Elmore Leonard 12940 Elmore Leonard https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1240015224p2/12940.jpg]'s bad guys. He gives you the kind of detail into their inner workings that although you may not like them, you do understand their reasonings. Since I'm not fond of him, it's hard to get enthusiastic about his biography. And I'm more sensitive to negativity and gruesomeness now, than I most likely was when I read the series.

A roller coaster ride between confusion on what all those terms being thrown out meant and having my mind explode over the parts I do understand. All in all a really great book worth rereading for even more understanding.

I wish there were videos that synced with the motion explanations through out the book. That would be amazing!

Another great book by the author. I'd heard of DARPA but didn't know exactly what it did/does. There's alot that is horrifying but there are alot of amazing stretching of possibilities.

I loved the continuing story line from book 1 and getting reacquainted with the characters. However, like book 1, there's an emphasis on the blow-by-blow telling of each fight that I'm not a fan of.