j wren pennington

i find all things neurological interesting so i was kind of predestined to like it. it's not a literary masterpiece but it tells one person's story more than adequately, and more importantly, tells the story of a brand new disease.

the writing is really pretty good, and it's a subject that i would generally enjoy and yet still, meh.i think it might have been a lot of storytelling and not quite enough story? or maybe a lot of story (and backstory) upfront leading to an inevitable anticlimax? something like that anyway... not sorry i read it, wouldn't read it again.

not bad for this type of thing....writing is actually pretty decent, though i could have done without the love triangle.

engagingly written and quite full research that has not necessarily been in the news. really enjoyed it. a definite read for anyone who has wondered if this whole paleo thing has something to it, or is a bit daft.

ok, so this is a book that everyone should read solely based on the fact that it is the first hand experience of someone who experienced the separation of the hemispheres of her brain and can tell you about from the perspective of a neuroanatomist.

if i taught linguistics I would assign this book. it's pretty fantastic.

get in started is a little rough, but keep going, it's worth it.

um...wow. why did it take me so long to find this?

fun premise. however....

there is a serious disconnect between the story, the way it's written, and the protagonist. these three things do not fit together. for this story, written in this way, it makes no sense for the protagonist to be 16. it would make total sense for the protagonist to be, like, 12. if you really want the protagonist to be 16, there needed to be more angst, less goody goody. no cursing? no shenanigans? I don't buy it.

so I'm guessing the next book will have something that compelled this kid to be 16? clumsy error.

meh.

I applaud the effort and original ideas here but I have to admit that I just wanted it to be over around the 2/3rd mark.

there was a certain amount of drag and complexity and several characters about whom I couldn't care less. I just felt no attachment to any part of it. still, interesting premise, and decent writing.

is a runner up for best cursing in a book.

this gets a special kind of consideration because it's a special kind of book. i haven't figured out yet all that i want to say yet....

this is a super fun story. while vampires are totally over done there was enough freshness with the whole Amish thing to lure me in.

more importantly, it is surprisingly well written. i don't say that to be snotty, i have just grown to resent YA writers and their editors for not holding a high enough standard, but Bickle really puts the bar where I think it should be for young readers. I am very appreciative of that.

a bit irritated that it's a series, but I suppose no one will by a well written one off story anymore. sigh

i rate this book a very conflicted meh.

author is clearly a fan of Monty python, which is great, but one liner's and unexpected narrator involvement are not nearly enough to carry a book. it's another example of how writing for youth is ruining perfectly good stories. it's like if you are writing a YA book, any old gimmick will do; it's ok that all the other stuff is lame. where are the editor's that are supposed to say things like, “this is a really good idea and your style is pretty neat but you're not quite there yet. Let's see some character development and depth to provide a rich reading experience!”

it's a shame. this book could have been along the lines of jasper ffjorde's books, but it falls disappointingly short.

i wish someone would write an adult version of this book.

that's good stuff.

review european history from the 1850's to the 1890's before you start. also have google translator handy.

middle schoolers in upper socioeconomic schools will probably like it.

good story, fairly original, good writing, nice character development. meh.

my lackluster response probably has more to do with needing to return to adults books than the quality of this book. i am not it's demographic.

pretty intense....middle school level.

interestingly, the protagonist's are staying with their “aunts.” this is relevant to my interests.

it's like the 7th grade version of geek love.

holy crap, it's dead poets society, only with real magic rather than the magic created by poetry.

that's very irritating.

also, i think this is why i have not been reading YA: the characters are stupid because they are teenagers. they do stupid things that i cannot at all relate to. they are melodramatic and simple minded and it's painful to read. that isn't necessarily the fault of the author, she knows her audience and they probably do relate quite a bit. i am not them.

the writing, though prone to teenager-y flights of over indulgence, is good. there are some masterful bits that are worth remembering.

very much like fforde's other books, and by that I mean good, solid, stories that are totally delightful. this book specifically would be a great way to introduce middle schoolers to fforde's work so they can enjoy shades of gray and the Thursday Next series when the be to high school/college.

holy crap this book is awesome....not done....brb.

i am not going to write a real review, there are a lot of good ones out there, go read one of those.

whatever i or you or your reviewer of choice think about the story, the writing is incredible. even sentences that don't describe anything are constructed in such a way that i could read them over and over aloud and dance to it. it's not what i would call pretty, or beautiful. it's smart, sardonic, punchy, funky....if i were writing a real review i would say something about the alluring cynicism of the language adds another layer subversion, and another serving of disillusionment for Oedipa as she becomes aware of the world disingenuineness.

it's a great book.

aaaahhhh this is awesome except it is too short!!

annabel scheme is a well thought out, creative, and somewhat unique story that takes all of the fun stuff of life and puts it in the same pot.

so first thing, as sloan does so well in penumbra, the real function and ability of computers. it is frustrating how dependent on technology our culture is and how little the people understand about how it works. making a server a character is a pretty ingenious way to humanize something we typically dismiss because we cannot relate to it. also with this is california tech culture. lots of people don't get that either.

thing two is urban fantasy that manages not to be fantasy that someone has written before, and manages to rise above the glut of vampire/werewolf/zombie tide.

totally enjoyable. i realllllllly hope there is more.

it's like microserfs and the davinci code had a baby, and that baby grew up playing on reddit and reading the oatmeal and smbc cartoons, and got a useless art degree.

generally speaking, the story is nice and fun with just enough “wink wink but really though” sage advice to give it substance. it does flag somewhere in the middle, not entirely sure why. i think it makes the mystery so compelling from the very start that it has difficulty sustaining it while other parts of the story develop. but it does pick up and deliver a pretty satisfying reveal.

if you meet 3 or more of the following criteria, you will enjoy this book:

-you can identify 5 or more fonts by name
-use a mac
-are interested in art and DIY
-read wired pretty regularly
-aspire to live the lives portrayed in the social network.

i wish i could undo having read this.

you can't really say that it isn't good because all of the things i didn't like about it were exactly the point. it's supposed to creep you the fuck out, and it is very successful in that endeavor. though, i feel like i would be a creep to recommend it.