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I wasn't too crazy about this book. Don't get me wrong, it was well written (from a grammatical point of view) but the life of a story was not there. Maybe it was the suburbia or maybe something else, or maybe it is just me but I found this book rather boring...
“Laundry is my life, and meals, and school meetings and games and recitals.”
I read it as if in a haze the main character Mary Beth was said to be going through (the second portion of the book). I almost gave up on this book. I cannot say I did not feel sad about what happened to the characters, but that I did not feel connected to them. I understood the underlying lesson set to be taught by this book: that life is complicated, that things happen - things that are beyond our control, that we can only love our children and teach them right and only hope the lessons took, that even good kids lose their ways due to drugs, mental issues and who knows what... I put the pieces together in order to make sense of things but there were some holes in the story. Maybe as a reader I needed to know things from other perspectives...
I started reading it with the thought it would be a book for children. Some of the humor is dark so I would not recommend it for children. This was a fast read.
Read this for a class project. Great book as a supplement to the documentary movie because it contains additional details regarding the heist.
An interesting book about ego, finding/listening to your Being, creating a purpose in life, and following the right path. In places I did find it to be a bit repetitive so don't read it in one sitting, but overall I recommend this one.
Thank you GoodReads.com and Mr. Reece Hirsch for the autographed copy of the book.
A short summary: Will Connelly is a corporate lawyer who gets entangled with Russian mafia. He is a simple man, yet he gets suspected for insider trading and has his life hanging by a thread. How will be manage to get himself out?
I do not have a lot to say about it. Characters are believable. This is a well written book with good editing. I can imagine this being adapted into a movie.
One star for her story about her Grandma. The rest of the book was just a rant collection about her life in Hollywood. Some things make sense but most of them do not. I would recommend to skip reading this book. I picked up this book to read as I had hoped that Olivia Munn was as insightful as anther geek, Felicia Day, maybe she is but this book does not help.
Thank you FirstReads for a copy of this book!
A short summary: A novel about a woman named Lucy Valentine. She is the daughter of a man who runs a matchmaking company. Her family has magical abilities that makes them good at putting everybody in great relationships – a gift bestowed onto them by Cupid himself.
However, Lucy lost her powers when she was very young giving her in process a new power (of finding lost objects). This makes her in a way powerless in the matchmaking world.
I think Lucy Valentine is quite charming, and cannot wait for the next novel.
An interesting story. Nothing much to review about it. Characters were Ok.
*(if you like reading books about Old England and “Robin Hood” you will enjoy this one as well)
This book took a lot of effort... to be read. I disliked that my digital version did not have actual page numbers and it felt like eternity reading this. I am starting to believe that the only good thing Paulo Coelho wrote is [b:The Alchemist 22715913 The Alchemist's Daughter Mary Lawrence https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1409514716s/22715913.jpg 42243160]. I tried to dismiss this notion and give his other works benefit of the doubt, but time after time I ended up disappointed. I cannot dismiss his effort in writing this book but the content just does not shine through words. I am sure there are people who liked this book but it is jut not my cup of tea. Simple Summary with possible major SPOILERS: Sherine (aka Sheerene aka Hagia Sophia) goes to search for something that she feels is missing from her daily life. She is a mother to a young boy and she gets a divorce and she goes on trips around the world. (Did I mention she was adopted?) She searches for her roots and discovers that she is a gypsy-witch. At no point of this book does the author refer to her culture as Romani. (Maybe once? He keeps calling her “gypsy” which is a derogatory term.) I think the book would have worked much better if he had focused on the cultural aspect rather than just mere dancing into the spirit world. I understand how the author wanted the audience to know that the characters came to a realization that they are all connected to the spiritual being Athena called “the Mother”. The book confused me towards the end where Athena becomes sort of multiple personality person rather than just sometimes possessed by other beings. Athena has gotten quite a cult following with her dance parties. However, she “got out” of that lifestyle once her message was spread but that message was widely misunderstood because she was bound to meet and influence a wide variety of people. For someone who kept looking for something “more” but got out once the going got though... it would have made more sense if Athena really died a death related to her message.
First of all I would like to say thank you to GoodReads' First Reads for providing me with this advanced copy.
A short summary: The story is set in the near future. Hundreds of thousands of people are plagued with a sickness called ‘Sleeplessness'. The story follows the life of a man named Park Haas. Park is married with a child. Park's wife is one of the sleepless. Park is a police officer. He lives to fight for justice among all the chaos caused by the plague.
What lines does he have to cross in order to fight for a better future? What does a ‘better future' really look like?
Apocalyptic scenario, crime, intense drama, what is this book missing? Not much. I liked it. This book is not sci-fi enough to have aliens running around, but sci fi enough to make you believe the story given could happen.
I was surprised that the ending left me a bit teary eyed (it's not the sort of a book to make you that sad). I would consider reading more works written by Charlie Huston.
This books gives an interesting insight into the past of Mr. {now the President} [a:Barack Obama 6356 Barack Obama http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1204063514p2/6356.jpg]. He reflects on who he used to be - a young boy stuck between two different worlds; his growth and realization that in order to become who he needed to be - a man who understands where he stands and where he needs to go - both of those worlds have to somehow co-exist. I think in the end his realization is that a man's fate is not necessarily bound by his race, his current status in the community or some written or unwritten rule that something must be a certain way. A man's fate can be moved, steered, can be changed drastically if and only if he is willing to dream freely and do something to achieve those dreams. In a way {President} Obama says that his father fell short of his true dream; that his father did not nurture his dream to become all that he could have been.
I learned from this book...
that goodness prevails against all odds.
Growing up in a family that loved to read I was blessed to have access to a fairly large home library. I have picked up this book as a 7 year old. “David Copperfield”, I glanced at the green hardcover dust jacket. “I wonder what this book is about,” I smiled and opened up the first page. At that earlier point in my life I was not able to fully understand the content of this novel. I am glad to have re-read it because it is a true gem. I believe this was Charles Dickens at his best.
I loved all of the characters in this book, especially David. He'd endured so much in his life. I wish I could give him a hug even though, at the end of the day, he is just a person who lives within the pages of Dickens' novel. To me, he was real.
I found an old summary/review of this book when I read it as a school assignment:
After Le Ly Hayslip's brother Bon went North she began to pay more attention to her father, and they became closer and closer. She found out about new, loving side of him, and very protective and strong person. Because of his honesty, his empathy, and his openness to people, he understood life deeply. He was the more understanding parent.
“... even as a parent, my father was more lenient than our mother, and we sometimes ran to him for help when she was angry...“
He was telling her the stories from their people's history.
“... he plunked me down under a tree and told me some stories...”
She was amazed and impressed by her father's pride about accomplishments of people from history. There were few secrets they shared.
“... we won't tell your mother about the duck, okay? I giggled and swore myself to secrecy...”
Her father felt it was time to tell her about hard times their family survived, about things she couldn't understand before. And he told her how she is important and that her job in life is to stay alive, and tell somebody else about her family and her people. She understood him in one way.
A short summary: Frances, a Chinese-American high school girl, lives under the tight grip of her conservative mother. Her mother has plans for her future. But can Frances dare to have dreams of her own?
This is a book about growing pains. Frances gets torn between two worlds: the one being loyalty to family and the other pursuing her own dreams. I wished Frances sat down for a mediated conversation with her mom rather than acting out. The story ended abruptly making me wonder is there a book #2?
Easy to read but a difficult thing to navigate when looking for a particular thing to format. I mostly used software and online guides such as Mendeley and easyBib for formatting but kept looking at actual guides as a last source for double checking my work. I like the MLA 8 formatting changes but this book is not my favorite go to tool.
A short summary:
The story follows Detective Mike Turner who works for LAPD's Internal Affairs department and is assigned to a special surveillance squad. He is a good cop who investigates crooked cops. This time his personal life gets mixed up with his professional life.
How can he set things straight? Can he catch the bad guys in time?
Overall it is a good book. Definitely worth checking out.
I would like to thank GoodReads for providing me with a copy of this book.
I remember a lot of these stories from books I've read in the past. Some are more interesting than others.
“When you bring your best to the table, no matter where you are or what you are doing, you bring out the best in others. And soon, you start to realize, that, in turn, helps them bring out the best in you. That's the upward spiral. You find each other and form an elite group of go-to people in an otherwise ordinary context. I see that happen everywhere I go: circles or networks of go-to people who help each other and go out of their way to be mutually reliable.”
A story of a girl who does not know how to fight for what she believes is right. This book has a somewhat predictable story-line, but overall I think it is a good book for its intended target audience.
I have not read the previous sets of Sookie Stackhouse novels but I have watched the TV show a bit. I do feel a little bit lost reading this out of order. (Why did Sookie break it off with Bill Compton? How come she is a faerie now? Why did Hoyt move away? When did Jason (and Sookie for the most part) get a new best friend(s)? How come he is a were-panther now?) Ok, I better get back and read the earlier sets to get my questions answered.
I can say that Charlene Harris did a good job writing the book. It is an easy read. If I had to chose between the TV show and the books I think the books would be my choice.