L V
Throughout the span of WWI to the 1960s, Ursula is unaware of dying multiple deaths and being reborn time and again. She does, however, have a “sixth sense” – a sense of déjà vu appears whenever the most stressful or horrific episodes in her life are to occur. Because of this “sixth sense,” Ursula is able to change her own history and make her future futures (?) a little bit more content and livable. The writing is just beautiful and the author's attention to detail makes for very realistic and vivid characters.
If you're looking for a laugh, you can't ever go wrong with Sedaris. Some of the essays he chose to write in a different persona were not as laugh out loud funny as his autobiographical work, but they were still a pleasant read. As always, my favorite pieces deal with Sedaris's dad or with Sedaris acclimating to a new culture/language. Both are discussed in this book. Many thanks to my friend Emily for gifting this book to me - I needed the laughs :-D
I received this ARC through a First Reads giveaway
The author holds no punches in the telling of her bitter upbringing by her alcoholic mother. As her mother ages and is left alone in the world, the author seizes the moment to move her mother in with her and her teenage daughter in the hopes of mending their rocky relationship. Unresolved issues and feelings of abandonment make for a stressful living arrangement, and regular trips to family therapy don't seem to help. A death in the family, along with the mother's decision to move out, help to put things in perspective and the women slowly begin to take steps in the right direction. This is a story of heartbreak and how sometimes letting go of anger and hate can bring in understanding and welcome friendship and contentment.
Favorite quotes from this read:
“considering that, all hatred driven hence, the soul recovers radical innocence.” –William Butler Yeats, “A Prayer for My Daughter”
”I love you more than my arms could ever stretch.” - Author to her daughter (in the acknowledgements)
The book I read also contained Glass Menagerie. All 3 plays consisted of intense, complex characters, and revealed how secrets and self-perception can destroy one's life and those around him.
My favorite quotes:
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: “Any true thing between two people is too rare to be normal.”
Glass Menagerie: “...the future becomes the present, the present the past, and the past turns into everlasting regret if you don't plan for it!”
A Streetcar Named Desire: “Physical beauty is passing. A transitory possession. But beauty of the mind and richness of the spirit and tenderness of the heart - I have all those things - aren't taken away, but grow! Increase with the years. How strange that I should be called a destitute woman! When I have all of these treasures locked in my heart.”
A book about books: can it get any better? Yes, it can. If you're into technology, using Google as your go-to seeker of information, solving puzzles, cracking codes, and city life, this one's for you. This book has truly made me appreciate the wealth of information I can gather from a few key strokes, and it has sparked in me a new found interest for the art of the old ways of printing books. Paper and technology can co-exist and this book does a fine job of combining the two.
Raise your hand if you Googled any of the following while reading this book:
The Dragon-Song Chronicles by Clark Moffat
Festina lente
Dolphin and Anchor
Grifo Gerritszoon
Aldus Manutius
The guy responsible for creating the glow-in-the-dark book cover, Rodrigo Corral
Favorite quote: “There is no immortality that is not built on friendship and work done with care. All the secrets in the world worth knowing are hiding in plain sight.”
I need to start off by saying that I had to keep turning back to glimpse at the cover throughout this read – I absolutely adore the cover art!
The Sisters Brothers are guns for hire contracted by their employer, The Commodore. The Commodore is vague in his explanations of why he wants certain people killed, and so it is with the brothers' next job: to kill Hermann Kermit Warm.
Set at the height of the Gold Rush, The Sisters brothers take off from Oregon and make their trip to San Francisco in search of Warm. They meet some colorful characters along the way, while revealing their own true nature. Charlie Sisters, the cold and calculating brother, aspires to one day be as powerful as The Commodore. Eli Sisters, has a temper of his own, but has a bit more of a conscious, and realizes that he wants more out of life than killing people at The Commodore's command. The story is not so much about Warm and why he's wanted by the Commodore, but more about the brothers' loyalty for one another and how their relationships, past experiences, and stress from the job shape their moral compasses. The author uses very descriptive images to paint a colorful picture of the time and life of those who lived through the gold rush. Though this era in American history is not one of my favorites, the Sisters Brothers' journey made me want to take a trip back in time and join them on their adventure to San Fran.
One of my favorite quotes: “I will never be a leader of men, and neither do I want to be one, and neither do I want to be led.” ...And did I mention how cool the cover art is :-D
This book taught me something history books failed to teach me in school: there was actual British soil occupied by the Nazis during WW II. Guernsey, a small island off the coast of Southern England was occupied for 5 years.
This story begins right after the war. Juliet, a London writer and journalist is looking for some new material. She finds it in the form of correspondences with people from Guernsey. Dawsey, a Guernsey resident and survivor of the war, is one of the founders of the literary group. The group formed out of sheer survival instinct. One day Dawsey, Elizabeth, and a few other residents break curfew and are caught. Elizabeth lies to the Germans on the spot, and says that she and her friends hadn't noticed time pass as they were in a book group discussing German literature. The soldier lets them go and Elizabeth convinces everyone to get their hands on any book they can find and meet up regularly at their neighbor's house just in case the soldiers decide to follow up on her story. They do just that and find solace in the books they read, and in the friendship and support they find in one another.
Where does the Potato Peel in group's name come from? Since food was very hard to come by, especially sweets, one of the group members figured out a way to make a mashed potato type of pie and sweetened it with beet juice (I think). This is what members ate during meet-ups.
Dawsey, a fan of Charles Lamb, finds a book with Juliet's name and address on it. He reaches out to her in hopes that she can send him another book by Lamb. His letter explains the hardship residents have had to deal with during the war and Juliet shares hers as well. Soon after, Juliet decides that the residents of the island are the story and she begins to correspond with them about their war experiences.
The first third of the book really dives into the residents and their personal experiences with the war. The wartime recollections capture the desperation and deprivation of the time. The author loses the thread a bit, and the second third, and the heart of the story, is how most of the members– most of which never had an interest in reading, find a connection with a text or author – a connection which makes their existence on the war-torn island bearable. Although Elizabeth's positive influence on each of the members is mentioned throughout the whole story, the last third provides us with her own back-story, and how her kindnesses have helped everyone cope and see that there is a silver lining in all of this. Most of all, she helps Juliet center herself and recognize what is most important in her own life.
I think the book started out very strong and then tapered off into a bit of fluff. I haven't been as forgiving of this trait in other books I've read - somehow it just works for this one. Maybe it's because of the subject matter. Wartime is so raw and devastating that one looks forward to sweetness and light at the end of it all. I can't quite place my finger on where or how the book lost steam. But, I think the book is worth reading if only for a lesson on how it came about that this piece of British soil happened to be occupied by Nazis.
I loved how a simple book club grew and grew. Each of the members had different tastes in books as well as different and personal reasons for reading and continuing to meet after the war. I felt like I was a silent member of the group and wanted to join in on the discussions! My greatest take away: “That's what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that tiny thing will lead you on to another book, and another bit there will lead you on to a third book It's geometrically progressive – all with no end in sight, and for no other reason than sheer enjoyment.”
I am not big on audio books but, after reading many GR reviews applauding Sedaris's style of narrating his own work, I had to give it a try. Glad I did - it was a real treat!
I wished the Q & A at the conclusion of the reading was longer. I wanted to hear more about Rooster and what he's been up to. I hope Sedaris writes more about this colorful sibling.
A beautifully told story of a boy who faces so many challenges at school because of his appearance. He's really a cool kid but people keep him at arms length - that is until someone finally breaks from the pack and shows him some decency. Not all follow suit at once, but it goes to show that sometimes it only takes one small act of kindness to turn things around. Such a simple idea, yet such a complex concept for most.
I had a hard time rating this one. It started off amusing, then the catiness b/w the moms got a little too much for me, but then all of the clues revealing what happened to Bernadette really picks up. I was let down by the way the story ended – it felt rushed. However, I'm tacking on an extra star for the simple fact that as annoying as I found some of the characters to be, I must admit they were very realistic. Unfortunately, I knew some people that behaved just like some of the characters in this book. Though this being true is not a good thing, the author deserves the extra star for describing such believable (and at times, pathetic)characters. These types of people aren't isolated to just Seattle! You don't have to be familiar with the city to enjoy this read.
It's hard to discuss this book without providing spoilers. All I am going to say about it is that it is an absolute wonderful piece of writing. The characters are so well developed and complex. And the author's great detail to the way the rich and poor lived in Victorian London transports you back in time.
The book grabbed hold of me from the very first page. When life's annoying demands interrupted my reading, it was all I could do to stop thinking about Sue, Maud, and the rest of the wonderful characters and what would happen to them next. A definite page turner. I was so engrossed in this read that it did not even feel like a 500+ page novel. I am definitely going to read more of this author's work.
I was hoping to enjoy this book a lot more than I did. The story line and characters are great but there is too much drag time in between occurrences for my taste. The author takes a lot of time in describing the scenery so that the reader can feel he/she is following along in Bilbo's journey, but I just found those parts tiresome. With that said, I can see how this story would make for a great movie.
I read Flynn's other works in no particular order and learned (by reading the acknowledgments at the end of the book)that this is her first novel. It's a great first novel, but you can definitely see her writing become progressively tighter with each book. I can't say much about this read without providing spoilers, however, if you like her work, this one will not disappoint.
This is a story about how some deal with voids in their lives. It always amazes me how some people can face anything and move on with their lives and others break down and fall apart right before our eyes.
In this story, Edie faces a divorce because her husband just can't deal with her overeating anymore. He feels powerless and refuses to watch her eat herself to death. Members of the family are appalled that he would leave his wife in her time of need. Edie eventually dies and Richard attends the funeral. Everyone shuts him out, and his own daughter blames him for Edie's death. There is so much food at the funeral reception that Richard can't stop eating. Alone, with only food for company, it dawns on Richard why Edie ate so much: “Because food was a wonderful place to hide.”
There is a silver lining at the end of this sad tale; Edie does not die in vain. She was loved by many. Her memory helps those in her life realize how blessed they are and how grateful they are for their loved ones.
I received this ARC courtesy of Doubleday through a First Reads giveaway
I loved everything about this book...including the cover! I'm not sure how much of this book is true and how much is fiction. What I do know is that the plot kept my interest throughout – so much so that I savored the last few chapters and read them extra slow because I just did not want May's adventures to come to an end. I have a new interest in finding out more about the scandalous adventures of the real life Moll Flanders, May Dugas — what a pair those two would have made!
A story about a mom who is so obsessed with keeping her family's image blemish-free that she prevents her 5 daughters (ages ranging from mid 20s to late 30s) from making contact with the outside world. The girls are basically held hostages in their own home. One of her daughters, Angustias, is allowed to be visited by a suitor, but she can only meet with him from her bedroom window which contains bars as a barrier between them. Since this is the only man that is ever found on the grounds, you can imagine that the other ladies also secretly desire Angustia's fiancee. He represents love and freedom and one of the sisters will go through great lengths for a taste of freedom.
*I won a copy through a First Reads giveaway *
I'm not sure how I feel about this book. It wasn't bad by any means, but it's not something I'd go on discussing for days on end with my friends, as I usually do when I land a great read.
Adrienne's ex best friend, Dakota, whom Adrienne hasn't spoken to in 2 years, disappears. Dakota is the dark Goth rocker chick that the usual HS kids are attracted to. She has a wild streak and is pretty much selfish in that she demands a lot of attention from Adrienne, but never gives anything back in return. Throughout the story Adrienne struggles with 2 key issues: 1) Though she is fully aware of Dakota's faults, she struggles to be more like her 2) She has a love/hate thing going for Dakota, but ultimately she misses her and wants to find out what has happened to her.
The book in not centered on Dakota's disappearance as much as it is on how Dakota's influence on Adrienne has turned Adrienne from the all-American girl teen to a Dakota-like outsider. The story is most interesting when it focuses on Dakota's disappearance and clues are gathered – there's a bit of suspense that keeps the story moving at a fast clip. However, Adrienne's ‘I wanna be like Dakota, even though I hate her' attitude makes the story a little less interesting and quite boring. Unfortunately, that's pretty much what the book is about. The truth about Dakota is unveiled at the end – but not in a suspenseful way at all.
Nilo Cruz has an exceptional way of painting a picture with his words. Though I've never worked as a cigar roller in 1929 Florida, Nilo's writing took me to that time and place. I felt the gentle evening Floridian breezes and could smell the sweet smoke of the cigars that had been rolled by hand by guayabera-wearing men. The characters are relatable and very realistic.
There are various story lines played out in this short play. The central focus is that of some of the workers love affairs. Ofelia, the factory owner's (Santiago) wife, keeps the tradition of having a lector read to the workers and hires Juan Julian for this purpose. Juan Julian chooses to read Anna Karenina's love story which later parallels his affair with Conchita, Ofelia's married daughter. The story also parallels Anna Karenina in that Chester, Santiago's step-brother is in love with Marela, Santiago's unmarried daughter – Like Kitty in Anna Karenina, Marela is not interested in Chester (Levin). She secretly pines for Juan Julian (Vronsky).
I had expected a conflict between the married couple and Juan Julian to ensue, however, the story ends in a way that I had not imagined. And it did not bring a sense of closure b/w Conchita and her husband; nor did it bring any closure to the strained relationship between Santiago, his wife, and his brother-in-law. I would have liked to see all of these dynamics drawn out a bit more. I hope to catch more than one live production in hopes to see the interpretations of this script answer some of my questions.
The start of the story was somewhat vague to me. All of the names each god was known by- coupled with the intertwining story lines- was a bit overwhelming and hard to keep track of, but all does come together in the end. Like many GR reviewers, the author's intention of comparing Shadow to Jesus went over my head.
I've only read one other work by Tropper, [b:This Is Where I Leave You 6224935 This Is Where I Leave You Jonathan Tropper http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1336344327s/6224935.jpg 6405647], and so far I've got to say that I love Tropper's style of writing – very real and effortless. His story lines are honest and relatable. And he always manages to infuse a bit of humor into every situation. I am definitely looking forward to reading more of his work.
I gave The Story of an Hour, which is public domain and can be found at http://my.hrw.com/support/hos/hostpdf/host_text_219.pdf, a full 5 stars because I read the story along with two other people, and we each had a different take on why the protagonist reacted the way she did. Only great works can make like-minded people see things in a different way. This short story is packed with great detail and has made me an instant fan of Chopin.
A Pair of Silk Stockings had me admiring the protagonist one minute and then hating her the next - while The Respectable Woman left me wondering what is to come. They're all excellent stories that leaves the reader wanting to discuss immediately upon completion of reading.