Mer Barr

Like sitting between two people gossiping. You learn some interesting things but you also learn some stuff you really don't want to know, and really don't want to know to the level of detail being told; Too Much Information.

The author has a different subject for each chapter and, I believe, he jumps back in time to get to a good starting place for the subject, which is a good way to approach his overall subject. But he uses the Popes' name as the reference point. I was raised Catholic and understand some of the subject but I had moved on before the overall time period presented, which made it difficult for me to understand if Benedict came before John-Paul II, 1 after, 2 after, etc.

Interesting premises, but there was so much stopping for people to get on their soapboxes that I got fed up.

I don't mind some cursing but for me, putting one in every sentence tended to dilute the message the author was trying to present.

The title and book cover are misleading but the story told is well-done and very good entertainment. I put aside several other books and kept coming back to it.

I did skip a lot of pages without losing the story line.

I just loved Chrisjen Avasarala for her no holds barred speaking and the fact that the author had her telling you exactly what political intrigue was about to happen. I HATE when the author has folks sneaking around in the background generating trouble. I think, they think they're creating anticipation but all they do is make me want to stop reading their work.

Pacing was even better than [book:Leviathan Wakes|8855321] and I was at first disheartened to see my favorite character from it was gone but I took a keen interest in Bobbie Draper.

I'll be reading the next in the series.

I just loved Chrisjen Avasarala for her no holds barred speaking and the fact that the author had her telling you exactly what political intrigue was about to happen. I HATE when the author has folks sneaking around in the background generating trouble. I think, they think they're creating anticipation but all they do is make me want to stop reading their work.Pacing was even better than [b:Leviathan Wakes 8855321 Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse, #1) James S.A. Corey https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1411013134l/8855321.SY75.jpg 13730452] and I was at first disheartened to see my favorite character from it was gone but I took a keen interest in Bobbie Draper.I'll be reading the next in the series.

A fun, fairly quick read with a unique presentation of history that's refreshing for someone that's read alot of storylines.

60% food and wine, 40% sights; not the mix I enjoy. It's still Frances Mayes at her best for pacing and choice of words.

Nice pace, good action, nothing gruesome or political. Too short.

A quick, easy, fun read. I cried at the end.

I was all excited to read this book; to finally get some details about the mysterious Templars. I acknowledge that the mandate of the Templars was to make war upon Muslims and to protect Christians but I wish the book didn't spend so much time on the war aspect. I wasn't here to learn the play-by-play of the battle tactics and what the opposing historians thought of the other side, I was wanting to know about the structure and workings within the Templars.

The book does tell you that they knew the right people with the right connections, at the right time but then veers off to the battle. It does describe the buildings they acquire/build in the east but doesn't really go into details about the running of them. There are mentions of people but only those that are in the battles.

Another good thing, for a movie geek like myself; before the loan expired I did find out that several of the characters in the movie Kingdom of Heaven were based on real people.

I haven't torn through a book in quite a while. The pace kept moving, no trips down side plots that don't move the story forward, etc. However, I did see several commonly used themes that brought down the enjoyment rating; a person that hates herself ALOT, and the big one, she really hates that good looking guy. And how about the ending? I'm trying to pretend it didn't end that way cuz I hate unanswered questions.

I had to throw some penalty flags on the geographic references considering the stretch of land between St Louis and Topeka isn't flat in our world. It was nice to finally get to see the faces of Charlie and the ‘happy' kids.

After reading the question to the Goodreads community about how someone's library classifies this book, I found it interesting that mine put it in the Junior section.

Was good to revisit the people from the first book and I didn't get the entire mystery solved or solved too soon so the reveal was just right for me.

I was constantly getting confused by the similarity of names and folks having more than one name; Mother and M, M is Emily, etc. And sometimes in the audio there wasn't a pause between the scene changes so I was confused as to who was thinking or speaking at the moment.

Some science and history about Pluto but half the book seemed to be quotes about the controversy.

Sad how alot is revealed only at the end, instead of a bit of reveal around two-thirds so you could see the exploration of a particular reveal. Plus so many things were going on I had to backtrack at times to see where the point of view changed. I feel a bit of a traitor for saying such about Ms Le Guin's work.

I do feel that the overall presentation was much the same as the previous three books so it seems to be a good match for the series.

So thick with text it might as well be a book, which could be either a good or a bad thing, depending on your perspective.

There are chunks of political [or maybe it's philosophical?] musings which might have been interesting if it was a form of English [and I'm not talking about American versus British here] I could understand. I'm talking about words that don't come up in everyday conversation which when you hear them you still say “Hunh?”

I'd already seen the movie so it was interesting to catch some differences, especially in Eve's personality.

I've seen the anime film which, after listening to the audio edition of the book, should be said to be ‘loosely based on'. Not so far away as [b:Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 36402034 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Philip K. Dick https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1507838927l/36402034.SY75.jpg 830939] is to the movie BladeRunner but not a true rendition either. I like both. I do have a question about the narrator's interpretation of a Welsh accent. She made it sound more Jamaican to me but I've not heard a native from Wales speak.

Only 30ish pages and only about 1 orphan's experience. On the plus side it's told from roughly 3 peoples' perspectives and did have some sidebars with facts about the whole program.

I was hoping for something more detailed but I do know more than I started with.

If you like storytelling then you'll probably enjoy this book. Layer 1 the protagenist today, layer 2 protagenist is recounting his life story, layer 3 stories told to him by others when he was younger.The author spent a good chunk of time in layer 3, which didn't move the plot along and didn't appear to add any value to the other 2 layers. Reminded me of the 4-page paragraphs from [b:Heart of Darkness 4900 Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1392799983l/4900.SX50.jpg 2877220].

Lots of gruesomeness but the creation and evolution of the forensic science in New York City during Prohibition, and beyond, is incredible. I think my lucky stars I was born in a time when the health and safety of the citizens becomes important and checks-n-balanaces were put in place.

All my grand and great grands are gone, mostly due to old age although now that I think about it, nicotine was a major factor in 1 death. The section on nicotine has me contemplating how ordinary his death seemed at the time. I would have loved to hear their take on some of these stories and that time period.

I love the idea behind the Halo story [what I've gleaned so far] but just hate the mediums it's made available in. I didn't realize this was a graphic novel until I picked it up from the library and I don't like graphic novels.

A very fast read and definitely glad I was able to get the audio edition; Carrie Fisher is hilarious reading her own words. What she wrote in her diary was not as wide spread on topics as I'd hoped but does give a good sense of what she worried about and interestingly, how creative she is at expressing her thoughts.

I've read many biographies where the author practically falls over themselves with praise of the person they're writing about. This author doesn't sugar coat things because I knew there was alot of unhappiness within Fleetwood Mac, I didn't realize how much and for how long. He also doesn't sugar coat Miss Nicks' personality.

Don't get me wrong, I love Miss Nicks and her ability to excel in a male dominant world; I appreciate my impression getting a bit of a balancing.

I've heard several folks poo poo the book, around the valid science. I however don't have alot of science backgrounds so that didn't bother me. I did find it took longer than I liked to find out what the mystery was. The reveal worked well for me; I found the further into the book I got the faster I wanted to read.