Kirsten
This is the story of Ernest Hemingway's early career as told through the eyes of his first wife, Hadley Richardson. Or should I say it's the story of Hadley Richardson that focuses on her marriage to her first husband, Ernest Hemingway. I didn't really know much of anything at all about Hemingway, though I knew a few basics enough that most of the big things that happen in the story are not a surprise. It did inspire me to do a little more research on Hemingway, his work, and his wives. It even made me almost want to read [b:The Sun Also Rises 3876 The Sun Also Rises Ernest Hemingway https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1331828228s/3876.jpg 589497], but I still have some negative feelings about that one because of this book. I just feel disgusted by everything that happened in Spain.I really enjoyed Paula McLain's prose and was drawn in to the story from the very beginning. I just liked Hadley from the start. Of course everything goes awry. And there was a while there where the book sort of left me depressed because of how bad everything was. I almost wanted to change my review to only 3 stars at some point because it was such a downer to me. But I ended up feeling okay in the end, so back up to 4 stars it goes. The fact that it was able to elicit that much feeling out of me probably means its a good book, but maybe not a feel good book. Edit April 2014: This book still really stands out in my mind as a great one. So given some distance I decided this one deserves 5 stars.
This is an epistolary novel, told in letters from Ivy to multiple different people spanning from her adolescence through adulthood. While I understand that this is part of Ivy's character... man do those letters ramble. And they're boring. Even when they are exciting somehow, they manage to be boring. I want to know what happens, yet my eyes keep glazing over. I thought about giving up totally on this book, but I didn't. Probably should have.
Two children are groomed by two rival magicians with very different schools of thought to compete against each other in a mysterious magical competition. The venue for this competition is “the Night Circus”. Of course they fall in love. Overall I feel like the book was a little uneven, and I personally was not a big fan of the way the narrative switched between different times. Maybe because I could have done without a lot of Bailey's story line. I thought this book was just okay. But rounded it up to 3 stars because it was well-written and overall enjoyable to read.
I wanted to like this book. I really became interested in Julia Child after watching the movie Julie and Julia and this book has been on my TBR for a while. Unfortunately, as much as I find that Julia Child was a very interesting person with a lot of drive and ambition, her book was boring. To me, it wasn't written in an engaging way and I just finished it for the sake of finishing it really.
I really loved this book from the start. It is the first book that I've read in a long while where I really felt fully swept away in the story and didn't want to put the book down. If not for, ya know, having a child I actually need to pay attention to I probably would've read this in one sitting. I'd overall really give this 4.5 stars, I don't know if it's a full 5-star read. Either way, this was a really good book. I actually didn't cry like all of the sad face reviews on Goodreads. But although I didn't find it to be a heartwrenching book for me personally, I still enjoyed it. I have enjoyed books a lot less that left me crying at the end (see: [b:The Art of Racing in the Rain 3153910 The Art of Racing in the Rain Garth Stein http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327429384s/3153910.jpg 3175590])But this one was good enough that I'd recommend it to others to read.
I quite enjoyed this book. It started off slow like it is just a book about Nick and Amy's relationship, but once it really gets more into the investigation of her disappearance it really picks up and is a definite page-turner. If you have heard anything about this book, you probably know there is a twist, a surprise - I did. But even though I was looking for the twist, I was still surprised. Maybe I'm just not that smart ;). But overall a good read. All of the characters are pretty unsavory, so as long as you don't mind that you're good.
This is the story of Jacob, now a 93 year old man living in a nursing home, and his time working in a traveling circus in the 1930s. I enjoyed how she split the novel between Jacob today and his reminiscing about his past. The characters seemed real to me and I thought the book overall was well researched. Wish I had this in paperback vs ebook to get a better look at the pictures at the end of each chapter. I'd give this one 3.5 stars.
A coming of age story that takes place in the 1980's that focuses on 14-year-old June Elbus and her relationship with her Uncle Finn who dies of AIDS as well as her other family members.
The book is well-written and thought provoking. I know a lot of people who have read and loved this book, but it just didn't do anything special for me. It was a middle-of-the-road read - I just didn't really connect with any of the characters.
This book was engaging from the very beginning. It is told from the perspective of Aminata Diallo as an old woman who is in London helping the cause of the abolitionists. The story follows Aminata from her childhood in a small village in Africa (what is now Mali) where she is kidnapped and marched to the coast to be put on a slave ship to America, and eventually to London where she is writing her life story. I found it interesting to see not only the life of a typical slave on a plantation, but to see the life of Aminata who, although she suffered many tragedies, was also given many extraordinary opportunities. Even though, for a slave, there were times when her conditions were very good, she was still not free. It showed the real value of freedom, especially to someone like Aminata.
I learned a lot from this book that I did not know before, especially about free or escaped Blacks living in the north and their relationship and dealings with the British during and after the Revolutionary War. Always a bonus to have a book that is both entertaining and educational. The author provides a good listing at the end of the book of sources he consulted which I may delve into in the future.
If I were only rating the Mowgli stories in this book, I probably would've given this book 4 stars. I enjoyed that portion of the book, but the other stories really fell flat for me. Rikki Tikki Tavi was good, though not as good as Mowgli's stories. And the other stories bored me, sorry to say - that's what brought the rating down.
The premise of the book may have been funny/interesting for a short story. It was not a premise for a 200 page book. And I know this was the point of it, but it was so convoluted that it was just ridiculous in a way that I did not find entertaining and more just struck me as annoying. I will admit that I skimmed the last 2 Codas - they were pretty corny as it turns out.
This was a quick and easy read, but it did have its shortcomings. The premise was pretty implausible and if you go into the story with some suspension of disbelief you will be better off. Twenty-six year old children's librarian Lucy kidnaps 10-year-old Ian after he runs away from home. What initially is going to be her driving Ian home ends up as a cross country road trip. What bumps this to 3 stars is the fact that it did make me laugh out loud at one point so that calls for bonus points. And I did enjoy the little literary references strewn throughout the book.
A cute little love story, not nearly so sickening as the title might suggest. The story of Chinese-American Henry and Japanese-American Keiko who fall in love as teenagers living in Seattle during World War II. Their love is forbidden by Henry's strict Chinese father and further complicated when all of Seattle's Japanese residents are sent to internment camps. It was interesting to get a picture of this bit of history that is often glazed over and made this book feel worth reading, especially as someone who is not big into romance.
This book started off very promising. Brooks did a great job of making this totally implausible zombie apocalypse feel real. It's a fictional non-fiction account of “World War Z” told through the stories of different survivors of the war. And I think it's this format that really did it in for me. Initially I was intrigued and loved the concept. But by the end I was so bored! I skimmed through the last 50 pages. My problem is, I don't generally like non-fiction. And although this was obviously a fictional book, it was written as if it were a non-fiction gathering of stories of people from this fake war. With the stories jumping around I didn't feel invested in any one character to keep my interest. There was no story arc. No surprises, you know how the war turns out. At least if it were actual non-fiction I'd feel like I was gaining some knowledge from it, or maybe feel more sympathy for the characters knowing that what they went through was real. I guess in the end it just wasn't my style.
A Pulitzer Prize winning book, but I'm not really feeling the love for this one.
It was interesting the way the author was able to make connections between characters and create an ever-shifting narrative both with different points of view and different time periods in each chapter. But I didn't really like any of the characters or feel any connection with them. I think I prefer something that has more of an actual story line. This was a book that had a message, something to say, but unfortunately I didn't really care.
This is the story of one Saturday in the life of neurosurgeon Henry Perowne. Some exciting things happen. Lots of not-so-exciting things happen. There isn't a whole lot of plot, and really in a book that only encompasses one day how much plot can one expect?
With that said, I also wasn't bored to the point where I wanted to totally abandon the book. I enjoyed the perspective from a neurosurgeon. Probably because I am familiar with all of the terminology, it didn't seem out of place or a jarring use of over-technical terms. But I will say there were a few times I skimmed over most of a paragraph and didn't come out feeling like I'd missed anything.
Normally I'd give this book 2 stars, but this book really is well written and I feel like most things I read nowadays I find entertaining and not all that well-written. So because while I will admit it was at times boring, the prose was still enjoyable to read, I bumped it up to 3 stars
The first in a series of Danish crime novels following detective Carl Morck in the newly established “Department Q”. Carl is just returning to work after being involved in a case where he was shot, one of his partners was paralyzed, and the other killed. Basically, he's such a jerk that no one wants to work with him, so when the government hands down the order to establish a new department for old unsolved cases, the higher-ups see an opportunity to get Morck out of their hair. Working out of the basement with only himself and his assistant Assad, he re-opens a cold case about a promising young politician who disappeared 5 years ago. I enjoyed this book, and am planning to check out the rest of the series as it is released in English. Morck's character is a little tiresome at times, particularly with his womanizing, but I loved the character of Assad and their relationship. This is my third foray into Scandinavian crime literature. I didn't love it like [b:The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 2429135 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1) Stieg Larsson http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327868566s/2429135.jpg 1708725], but liked it a lot better than [b:The Snowman 9572203 The Snowman Jo Nesbø http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1355881478s/9572203.jpg 2697052].
This is a book about the Danish seafaring town of Marstal, about the people of Marstal, and about the sea.
The story begins in the mid-19th century and ends at the close of the Second World War. Through this time you see multiple generations of Marstallers, how they are led to the sea, where the sea takes them, and how it affects them. But throughout their travels, even in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, there is still that connection to Marstal. This book has it all from high seas adventure, to the adventures in the minds of young boys, politics and finance, and real human emotion.
It feels as if you are being told this story by a close friend and though the book is long at 688 pages, I never felt a desire to just “get it over with”. The characters are memorable, and though the book spans a century of time, Jensen does a great job of reminding you of characters past in just the perfect way.
Overall, definitely a worthwhile read.
Interesting story of a group of Jazz musicians in Europe during Hitler's rise to power. I thought the characters and relationships were well developed and I enjoyed the look into Sid's mind throughout the story. The ending left me a little cold, though. Overall, I gave this 3 stars because “I liked it”: solid, but overall it didn't particularly stand out to me.
This is the story of an ordinary man who goes out to send a letter to an old friend who is dying of cancer, and somehow just keeps on walking and ends up on a walk across England to deliver the letter in person.
This book is not filled with a lot of plot driven action and in that way I can see how it may turn some people off. This book is, however, filled with a lot of mental action, contemplation. Harold is newly retired, has a troubled relationship with his wife and son, and now out of his element, he begins to think about who he really is, and reminisce about his life and how he got to this point. His wife also has her own “journey” as she is left behind at home as Harold walks.
I thought the book was charming and refreshing. It makes you think, but it is also uplifting, which I don't get a lot of in most of the books I read.
I think this is one of those books that you either love or hate. And I unfortunately fell into the latter category. I managed to not completely hate this book by the end, and so I gave it 2 stars. I think once I stopped expecting the book to be good, and got over how annoying I found the narrator, I was able to let go and enjoy a little bit.
I'd give this book 2.5 stars really, but am rounding up because even though the book was for all extensive purposes not very good I somehow want to check out the sequel. I'd say the main character is one of the least likeable and most annoying I've read. I read a review of this book by someone saying they don't like “life sucks, then you die” depressing just to be depressing books. As for me I don't mind depressing books. But I see what that reviewer was saying now in that this was just melodramatic and groan inducing at times. I can see how maybe Quentin has that viewpoint as a character, but when the headmaster of Brakebills tells the students that he thinks the reason that they are magic is because they are sad, I just couldn't take it seriously. But I may read the sequel - I am somewhat interested, so it wasn't all bad once you get past some things.
Oh and yes - grown-up Harry Potter this is not. There are obvious ties to the Narnia series, but other than there being a school for magic I don't see much similarity to HP.
I'm not typically a reader of fan-fiction but this is one that is actually well written and with a good plotline. The first few chapters were a little heavy handed but this improved as the story progressed. I think this is a must-read for anyone who loved the Harry Potter series and has been missing those trips to Hogwarts now that the HP book series and the movies have come to an end. I'm definitely going to read the rest in the series. And since it's free you really can't lose.