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RE: Book Reviews - 5/17/2007 4:59:14 PM
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Auben
Posts: 1601
Joined: 4/13/2005
From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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Geishas in Rivalry by
Gossipy novel about geishas, actors, and others in Shimbashi (part of Tokyo) in 1912. Older Japanese novel translated into English. The kind of novel where the author spends at least one (sometimes more) paragraph describing the clothing. Parties, love affairs, scenes from plays or kabuchi, are all described in loving detail which is very interesting for a foreigner (but similar engish styles annoy me).
Grade: 6, not bad but not my usual style
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 5/19/2007 10:48:41 PM
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friend2every1
Posts: 211
Joined: 6/18/2006
From: Texas
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A Full House of Growing Pains by Barbara Cameron
This is the biography of the famous Kirk and Candace Cameron, as well as the other Camerons, Bridgette and Melissa. It tells everything a good biography should. Great pics too! It tells about their lives, and how Barbara risked everything, at any cost, to protect them. A fascinating read about two of America's beloved stars, Kirk and Candace Cameron.
Grade A+ This is worth the read, people.
Read it when you can!
_____________________________
That's what love is for
To help us through it
That's what love is for
Nothing else can do it
Melt our defenses
Bring us back to our senses
Give us strength to try once more
That's what love is for
-John 3:16, in my own words
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RE: Book Reviews - 5/23/2007 9:51:15 PM
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Auben
Posts: 1601
Joined: 4/13/2005
From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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I am Madame X by Gioia Diliberto
A historical novel about 'professional beauty' Virginie Gautreau who sat for John Singer Sargent's famous painting. The painting caused a scandal which may or may not have caused Sargent to move from Paris to London to restart his career. The book follows Virginie from her youth on a sugar plantation in Louisiana during the Civil War to Paris as an American expatriate in her teens.
Diliberto is a biographer generally which makes this all the more interesting. There were moments when I was thinking it was too melodramatic and sometimes even oddly random but overall it was an enjoyable story about the Belle Epoque.
Grade: 8ish
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 5/24/2007 2:32:54 AM
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Booklvr
Posts: 39
Joined: 5/19/2007
From: Sunny So Cal!
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Under the Overpass by Mike Yankoski (from my Amazon review)
I heard Mr. Yankoski on a Christian Internet radio station talking about his street-living experiences and the subsequent book that followed and was fascinated from the first word. Not only is the book hard to put down (I read it in about a day and a half but without interruption, easily could have in less than a day), but having Mike's real-life experiences as the main story makes for a highly educational read. My opinion of the homeless was not exactly very "Christian" before I read the book but now I see their situation very differently. Mike offer's quite an eye-opener into the some-times hellish living conditions the homeless face and the fact that most of them are not content to be there but have no other options.
This book changed my life, I highly, highly recommend it!
A+
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RE: Book Reviews - 6/10/2007 10:51:56 AM
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Auben
Posts: 1601
Joined: 4/13/2005
From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
One of the best (and earliest) of the english crime-detection novels. A yellow diamond, known as the Moonstone, is stolen from a Hindu temple by an english rogue. Brahmin priests will do anything to recover it. After 50 years the stone passes to an 18 year old lady on her birthday. Mysteriously it disappears from her room overnight. A famous police detective is called in. Clues are followed, tricks are played, hearts are broken, suicide, marriage proposals, opium, and the chase is on.
Told narratively by the individuals involved in the matter, The Moonstone succeeds because of the complexity and humor of its characters. Often I found myself laughing aloud at Betterege's obsession with Robinson Crusoe or Miss C. and her tracts.
Highly recommended. Collins manages to bypass his slow start in The Woman in White by using a humorous narrator to begin the story. By the end of the novel you can't read fast enough as the plot careens headlong to the finish. My one complaint would be that Collins made Miss C. (the very religious character) indecipherable in terms of motivation. He had her do a few things that made no sense to her religous character. I'm fairly sure Collins was an agnostic or atheist and I think this lack of understanding shows in the character. She is humorous (planting tracts everywhere) and she is where the author needs her to be, but other decisions make little sense.
Grade: 9.5 Highly recommended for those that like classics and mysteries. Extremely clean.
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 7/2/2007 11:12:27 AM
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Auben
Posts: 1601
Joined: 4/13/2005
From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Non-fiction narrative of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair (called the Columbian exposition since it celebrated Columbus' arrival at the new world) and the serial killer who used it. Lots of interesting history and trivia. The book did pick up a lot when discussing Mudgett alias Dr. Holmes, the killer. Since there are few documents to go by this is where the novelization occurs, although I picked up Larson (the author) a lot in the details.
Interesting for history buffs (or even crime buffs) but I felt l had to force myself through some of the early chapters on the beginnings of the fair. The ending hunt for the children Holmes had in his keeping is some of the easiest (and closest to fact since the inspector left an autobiography of the case) and quickest to read.
Grade: 8
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
In 1964 a small town doctor delivers his own twins during a snow storm. One is a perfect little boy. The other a perfect baby girl with down syndrome. Remembering his own sister's heart defect and how it killed his mother he makes the choice to send his daughter to an institution without ever telling his wife. The nurse decides to keep the girl for herself and moves to another state to raise her. These decisions effect both families, inside and outside, for many years. This book charts the effect of a lie on relationships.
I was really impressed by this. Edwards makes the people and relationships real and that brings an emotional complexity to this novel that I rarely see in books. I mourned with the characters and their choices. I was impressed with the realism that even good choices do not make the chooser perfectly happy. That even the right choice can make you ask 'what if?'
Grade: 9
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 7/2/2007 12:45:16 PM
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Rikku
Posts: 227
Joined: 11/14/2005
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Here there be dragons
This book was written by a student of my grand father and when he came back to Taylor for a book signing my grandparents got a signed copy for each of their kids. becasue i am the one who loves fantisy it is now on my book shelf with the rest of my favorit books. If you like classical sci-fi Such as HG Wells or Jules verne, and fanitsy such as Tolkin MIchael Ende and CS Lewis you will like this book. or if you are a fan of althorian ledgon you will probably like this book. Just don't peek at the end.
at the begining we meet three men of different ages and walkes of life who are brought together by the death of a mutual friend. wail discussing the mystery surrounding the death in of all places 100 Baker's street home of the greatest detective of all time they are intrupted by a very strange and very old man who tells them their lives are in danger and that they are the only ones who can save this world and another where the bissar becomes common place.
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beautiful things make sad people happy and bad people better.
~Trance Gemin andromeda
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RE: Book Reviews - 7/11/2007 11:10:06 AM
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Auben
Posts: 1601
Joined: 4/13/2005
From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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Empire Falls by Richard Russo
The decline of a small town in Maine and the man who runs the Empire Grill after abandoning his college education in order to be near his mother during her own decline into cancer. Nothing much has changed for Miles Roby or the other people of the town. And yet, they have their own dreams and changes which keep the town going. Like Janine, Max's exwife who has lost 50lb and is moving on into what she thinks is as brighter existence with the manager of her health club. Like Tick, Max's daughter, who has broken up with her abusive boyfriend only to find her friends go with him. These and a dozen other characters circle around each other in the wonderful circle of small town life.
Russo does a good job keeping the balance of humor and sorrow. His details of a small blue-collar town add up. His readings of people are always compassionate, even the ones that seem outright evil get an even hand from him.
My only complaint is that some of the writing was uneven. Not that any of it was bad, but some was spectacularly good and some was regular. It made me want to speed ahead past some of the minor plotlines (like the priest or Janine).
Ends with a bang...modern storytelling for you. You can't have a novel which only details the human condition. You have to have some spectacularly large drama. That left me feeling cold and detached about the conclusion.
Grade: 8 (chould be higher but I thought the ending was rushed)
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 7/11/2007 3:29:58 PM
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eaglelady11
Posts: 375
Joined: 7/20/2005
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Charlemagne by Derek Wilson, about the Carolingian king who made Christianity the state religion. It's about his religion, his war campaigns and how he married Christinaity and Government. short book and fascinating.
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RE: Book Reviews - 7/19/2007 3:24:29 PM
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Auben
Posts: 1601
Joined: 4/13/2005
From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
Status: offline
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Lisey's Story by Stephen King
Lisa Landon's writer husband has been dead for two years, but when she begins to go through his office she digs deep into their shared past, reliving the dark and light of their marriage. She feels that her husband is sending her on a 'bool' hunt, a treasure hunt of their memories and his secrets.
This is my favorite King novel so far, even better then The Stand. Most of the time I think of King as a plot writer. His characterizations, while not totally 2-dimentional are fairly flat. His novels deal in suspense, not character study. Lisey's Story reads like a love letter to his wife Tabitha. The study of a strong marriage and the love of two people which transcends time and place.
Well done. There were moments in the last quarter where I didn't feel like I understood why the character was doing what she was doing (or that what she was doing was stupid) but I never lost that thread of interest in what was happening. I also felt like some editing could have helped keep the magic flowing, making it one of the best books I've ever read but King has to be King. His characters had to be themselves.
Grade: 9 if you like King don't miss this.
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 7/26/2007 4:31:34 PM
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Jeffo
Posts: 151
Joined: 2/6/2006
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The Release of the Spirit by Watchman Nee
Nee classifies the spirit as the Inner Man, the soul as the Outer Man and the body as the Outermost Man. The spirit is God's dwelling place. Our human nature, good or bad is in our soul. The goal is to have the spirit govern the soul. The soul must be broken, won and mastered by the spirit.
Some Scripture he cites:
Luke 21:19
In your patience ye shall win your souls.
1 Peter 1:22
Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently:
1 Peter 1:9
receiving the end of your faith, [even] the salvation of [your] souls.
Romans 7:22
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Ephesians 3:16
that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that ye may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man;
2 Corinthians 416
Wherefore we faint not; but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day.
(I always thought the outward man is the body, but he is referring to the human nature decaying as the spirit is strengthened. I would love to hear thoughts on this.)
All The American Standard Version which he uses.
Later on he takes some liberty in translating a couple verses in Hebrews.
The beginning was somewhat eye opening and I was looking forward to the book.
However the book is repetitive to an extreme. He constantly reiterates how the outward man must be broken for the spirit to be able to work in various ways.
He also believes there is a point where there is a sudden breaking and then the spirit is free as long as we abide by the Spirit. This is reminiscent of a "second anointing" and also reminds me of books like Absolute Surrender by Murray (I know that will offend a lot of people) and others. Although Nee says that it can be a sudden break followed by a gradual one or gradual followed by sudden, on pg 73 he says the problem can be solved. I would prefer to think of this as a life-long process with the spiritual battle going on constantly.
Although God uses everything for the good (Romans 8:28) I'm not sure I subscribe to the theory that God Himself directly sends every calamity our way as he says.
This is the first book by Nee that I have read. I learned some things but thought these concepts could be explained more succinctly. Despite this I'm looking forward to reading his three most popular works.
< Message edited by Jeffo -- 7/26/2007 9:48:12 PM >
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http://www.scripturezealot.com
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RE: Book Reviews - 7/30/2007 1:36:43 PM
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Auben
Posts: 1601
Joined: 4/13/2005
From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
Status: offline
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Aristocrats: Caroline, Emily, Louisa, and Sarah Lennox 1741-1843 by Stella Tillyard
This was the non-fiction story of the Lennox sisters, British aristocrats alive during the time of the Revolutionary War and French Revolution. It was based on their letters and papers. Despite the subject it was very easy to read. It flew along. Nice for people that like period histories, especially ones that concentrate on women's private lives.
grade: 8
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 8/7/2007 3:41:30 PM
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Auben
Posts: 1601
Joined: 4/13/2005
From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
Status: offline
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The River Why by David James Duncan
Really challenging and humorous book about a fishing prodijy and his stumbling into life, love, thought, and faith. The book follows Gus from the humorous fish story of his conception through his indepedent life along Tamanawis River (fictional river in western Oregon). There he learns to accept the need for balance in his life, the need to connect with his neighbors, the need for intellectual thought, and the need to explore his lack of faith and the 'Nameless One' who's calling him.
Very funny. Filled with lots of philospophy, mythology, native american tales, ecology, poetry, and laughter. Highly recommended: however, Duncan is at best loosely a christian. I might even throw him over on the unitarian side, but this book is so well-done, and tracks a seeker finding himself and admitting the need for God that I would still recommend it for people that like challenging books.
grade: 8.9
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 8/14/2007 11:38:13 AM
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Auben
Posts: 1601
Joined: 4/13/2005
From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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The Best of Cordwainer Smith
A group of Smith's best science fiction stories. Smith was the penname for Dr. Linebarger, a multi-linguist and author of Psychological Warfare for the military. He wrote 2-3 dozen stories and 1 novel all around a universe involving the Instrumentality of Man and thousands of years of future history. The stories go from frankly amazing and imaginative science fiction to feeling a bit dated. If you're interested in science fiction I highly recommend this work. Smith is one of the classic sci-fi writers.
grade: 8.5 (some stories get a 10, others seemed a bit melodramatic like an early Heinlein)
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 8/23/2007 2:29:48 PM
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Auben
Posts: 1601
Joined: 4/13/2005
From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
Status: offline
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Sister of My Heart by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
If you like Indian literature, particularly Jhumpa Lahiri, I really recommend this novel about two cousins who love each other like sisters and are seperated by a secret older than themselves. The set up between the two very different marriages and the choices the women make seemed set up at first, but the writing and the marvelous way Divakaruni moves the women from choice to choice. She has such compassion for all of the characters.
First I got Arranged Marriages, a group of short stories by Divakaruni, and I enjoyed them so much that I picked this up as well.
grade: 9
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 8/27/2007 10:18:13 AM
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Auben
Posts: 1601
Joined: 4/13/2005
From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
Status: offline
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Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
An endearing novel which celebrates the friendship of two couples over a period of 40 or 50 years, from the ecstacy of finding each other to the acceptance of personal flaws and death. Stegner takes my breath away with his ability to write about real, common, everyday things without shock, only the muted twists and turns of life the way we make it and the way it makes us.
grade: 8.9
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 8/28/2007 2:08:08 PM
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Auben
Posts: 1601
Joined: 4/13/2005
From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
Status: offline
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Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammett
A really fascinating autobiography of a young man with Asperger's syndrome (a high functioning autism). Not only does he have Asperger's but he's a mathematical savant and has synesthesia (a rare condition in which people connect words with colors, feelings, patterns, or shapes). What's fascinating here are his explanations of how he sees numbers or the relationships between words and what that means to him. When Tammett says he was born on a blue day he means he was born on a Tuesday, since Tuesdays are always blue in his mind just like 9s are always very tall and 1s seem to come in a flood of bright light. An amazingly adventurous life for someone with Asperger's (he left home at 20 barely able to shave himself and easily able to get lost even a few blocks from home...to go to Lithuania alone to teach English as a volunteer) told very simply.
A very fascinating and easy to read book.
grade: 8.5 (FYI, Tammett is gay and does speak about falling in love with his partner Neil but doesn't talk about sex; he also considers himself a christian and converted in his 20s because of the works of Chesterton.)
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 8/29/2007 8:16:07 PM
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Evinrude
Posts: 5
Joined: 8/29/2007
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You Can Run, But You Can't Hide
This is the story of Duane "Dog" Chapman, aka Dog the Bounty Hunter. I loved this book! It is the story of his life, the adversities he faced and how he overcame them. I thought it to be very inspiring
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Judge Me - The Verdict on Judgment
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RE: Book Reviews - 8/30/2007 1:30:31 AM
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uponeagleswings
Posts: 2019
Joined: 4/12/2005
From: Out here in the desert
Status: online
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Auben- Born on a Blue Day is sitting in my pile of library books right now! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
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Stacy Singing in the Shower "When women are depressed they eat or go shopping. Men invade another country. Its a whole different way of thinking." -Elayne Boosler
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RE: Book Reviews - 10/18/2007 8:00:14 PM
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SKC8199
Posts: 73
Joined: 4/22/2007
Status: offline
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I have two.
Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends by Bill Guarnere, Edward Heffron and Robyn Post.
Brothers in Battle is about two members of Easy Company from Band of Brother's fame and what they went through together during and after the war.
It was okay, but not as good as thought it was going to be.
The other one is The Day of Battle by Rick Atkinson. The Day of Battle is the second volume in the Liberation Trilogy, the first was An Army at Dawn. The Day of Battle details the allies attempt to invade and conquer Sicily and Italy.
I am still reading it but so far it is awesome. I haven't really read that much about the Italian campaign but Mr. Atkinson does a good job a detailing what went on. Very detailed and very readable.
I look forward to the third volume in the series.
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Raymond
When I am reading a book, whether wise or silly. It seems to me to be alive and talking to me. Jonathan Swift
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RE: Book Reviews - 10/18/2007 8:42:57 PM
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DianeBubb
Posts: 4
Joined: 10/18/2007
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 I am reading Joyce Meyer's book_Battlefield of the Mind_ along with the accompanying study guide. I am reading this book very slowly as I realize that my biggest battle is within my own mind. Ms. Meyer reminds us that the devil tries to trick us into unhealthy thinking and the best way to combat the devil's trickery is to stay focused on God's word. Reading and digesting this material certainly is a project for me.
Like the other books I have read by Joyce Meyer, I am refreshed by her direct writing style.
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RE: Book Reviews - 10/18/2007 10:02:32 PM
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Auben
Posts: 1601
Joined: 4/13/2005
From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
Status: offline
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Hey, its back!
Now I just have to remember all the books I've finished since this disappeared.
The Diamond Age or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer by Neal Stephenson
Nanotechnology, neo-Victorians, and a page-turner Dickens would write if he imagined a poor girl named Nell who is raised by her (stolen) interactive primer in an age when any physical object can be mass produced through nanotechnology.
Grade: 9 Recommended for science fiction fans. The ending was a bit sudden and I wished for more detail. Some sex.
Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
More science fiction. The world is blinded by beautiful flashes in the night sky. Blind and (the few) sighted alike are attacked by man-eating plants which, until that moment, were a major part of the earth's food source. Personally, I thought some the attitude's toward physical handicaps, women, and religion were dated but it was still fun.
Grade: 7.8
Milk Glass Moon by Adriana Trigiani
One of the sequels to Big Stone Gap. Not as fun as that book. A continuation of Ave Maria's life with her husband and daughter and all the changes that entails. I didn't always agree with the author's raising a teenager advice.
Grade: 7
Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card
More in the science fiction marathon. Ender's Game as seen through the eyes of Bean, Ender's right hand man. I thought it would get old but it was actually pretty fresh and I really felt for Bean. His struggle for survival and trying to find his past was quite moving.
Grade: 8
_____________________________
Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 10/18/2007 10:21:41 PM
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Auben
Posts: 1601
Joined: 4/13/2005
From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
Status: offline
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The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
Sort of a diary of one woman from her parents and the day of her birth to the day of her death. I started out liking this one. When it was moving from person to person, different viewpoints at the very beginning. I must admit that once the main character grows up I found it a bit boring. I appreciated the view of old age and death. We could use more stories about that, but I didn't really connect with the author's beliefs/worldview.
Grade: 7.5
The Glass Castle
Memoir of a really dysfunctional childhood. One thing that was interesting was that 2 parents can really love their children and be smart, interesting people and be so self-centered and awful. Ugh.
Grade: 8
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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