Teija
Major Dick Winters gives a more technical, tactical description of some of the stories Easy Company fans and followers know; the qualities that put him in charge of teaching others and leading them shine through the book, and his experience is certainly worth reading about. I enjoyed reading this book quite a lot, it gave quite a lot of insight to the way Winters worked and thought. He's also full of advice that applies to life in general, not simply life in battle – and that's always valuable.
My roommate read this before me, and when she handed it to me she said, “After you read this, I want to know who your favorite character is.” Hers was the king; mine was the fool – and when we handed it to a friend, hers was the queen. Each of us chose a different character, though all three of us tend to have similar tastes. Many interesting discussions were had once we'd all read it!
The author chose to set this novel in medieval Wales, thus giving all her characters names that made discussing them afterwards even more hilarious (I'm pretty sure we each had different ways of pronouncing each name). I wasn't struck by any glaring problems with the setting or style; the book was an easy read stylistically, and for that I commend the author.
There was a point near the end of the book where the plot twists came to a head and it became clear to me: this will not end well. And boy, did Galland deliver. It was definitely a thrill to read!
I have read this book four times and I maintain that the only good thing about this book is chapter 7.
I will admit that my judgement of this book is probably colored by the teachers who forced me year after year to nitpick this text and pull all the joy right out of it; the book is technically well-written but it is intensely difficult to connect to the characters, who seem bored with their fabulous, decadent lifestyles. Am I meant to sympathize with these rich people, throwing party after party in fancy clothes with fancy cars? It's alienating just reading about it.
Rachel Maddow once again writes a thoughtful, compelling, and riveting work of exemplary scholarship. Well worth the time. It is absolutely wild just how much the oil and gas industry has to answer for, and just how little it generally seems to care about literally anything but its own profit margin.
A satisfying ending to a really great series. Loved everything about it. Especially Hypnos
This series is a great slowburn miscommunication idiots-in-love story with the most glorious cast of side characters I have ever had the pleasure to enjoy. Hypnos is my favorite.
This was EXACTLY what I love in romances. A delightful setting, good reasons for the characters to have their hangups and reservations, realistic mistakes and makeups, and an absolutely to die for leading man. So well done.
Every time we get a new October Daye book it's like getting invited to a family gathering... plus murder and mayhem. I love all these characters. I love this universe. I love how this particular installment of the series moved the plot along and also spent a ton of time with the Luidaeg, who has become my favorite character over the course of this series, and whose character has the deepest well of fascinating backstory stuff to explore. Love love love.
This was a really well done follow up to Atwood's iconic The Handmaid's Tale. It was a very interesting return to Gilead through the eyes of multiple narrators, all of whom play key roles in one of the biggest questions of the first novel - the eventual fall of Gilead. It was truly interesting to see how it all played out.
It did feel a little bit like Atwood wrote this with the tv show in mind, but not in a bad way. The bulk of its action is set roughly 15 years after the point we are currently at in the show, so it's clear she wanted to tread in territory far enough removed from Offred's story to give that narrative time to breathe. But it was really satisfying to read this, set in the somewhat near future with characters that are becoming familiar. Though there are some major differences particularly regarding Aunt Lydia that the show would not be able to adapt wholesale, should they ever get to this point in the story. It will be interesting to see how much of this they eventually choose to incorporate into the show, if they even get to this book's timeline in their planned series.
I fear Stephenie Meyer may be a bit wrapped up in herself and her popularity – and Eclipse suffers for it. The romance in this book gets heavy-handed and frustrating. The constant comparisons to Romeo and Juliet and Wuthering Heights are glaring and pretty irritating – these books are engaging and fun to read, but they are by no means literary classics. Seems a little bit egotistical.
My problem with Eclipse is that Bella, after three books, is STILL feeling unsure about Edward, constantly making self-depricating comments, and generally being a totally irritating whiner about how inferior she is to Edward's shiny wonderful perfection. I'm sorry, but after three books worth, I think it's time for either Bella to get over it or for Edward to smack her upside the head for it.
Furthermore, I miss Edward! The Edward Cullen I adored in book one is nowhere to be seen – here he is hot and cold, either overprotective and intense or distant and wary.
The competition between Edward and Jacob is by far the most interesting thing about the book – it's 600 pages long, and while the battle at the end is surely climactic, it took FAR too long to get there – the scenes in the tent are probably my favorites, with Jacob helping keep Bella warm and bantering with Edward the whole time.
I hope Stephenie Meyer slows down and really nails the next book, because if the series keeps going the way Eclipse went, she's not going to get the reception she's undoubtedly expecting.
A story of history, ancestry, and remembrance told through the lens of mermaids descended from enslaved women thrown from ships on their journey over the sea. A truly fascinating internal lore and a compelling cast of characters. It goes way too quickly. I devoured the whole audiobook during my walk this morning.
I have SUCH a book hangover. The characters, the plotting, the STAKES, all of it is phenomenal. Everything is so good. My heart can barely take what this book put it through and I am so thoroughly impressed. I need to lie down. Six stars, if I could.
This book was so much fun. I had not read the one before, but this one definitely was totally fine as a standalone as well. A fun little magical adventure by someone who very clearly went to grad school and has a lot of experience in academia.
This is book 2 in a series chock-full of phenomenal characters, creative mythology, incredible worldbuilding, and innovative plotting. I feel like I can't say anything without risking a spoiler of some kind, so I will just say that I cannot wait where RF Kuang takes this series for its conclusion.
This is a fantastic collection of short stories from across NK Jemisin's career. It was particularly fun to see some stories that are clear precursors to things like the Broken Earth trilogy. I particularly enjoyed the last story, it was really well-placed at the end of the book and felt like a great way to wrap up an experience that was fulfilling overall. Highly recommend.
I loved this book! I found myself harboring pretty strong feelings about each and every one of the main characters (though if they were kind feelings is not quite so certain), and I was definitely wrapped up in the story. Bradley does a wonderful job writing the Arthurian legend from a new angle – the woman's angle. Never before had I seen this story the way it's presented by Bradley. Women are in power, women are strong and willful and people listen to them... until Christianity comes through and patriarchal reasoning becomes the way of the land, pushing the more feminine pagan ways into the past (and further into the mist, becoming harder and harder to reach).
It's long and it's involving, but it is worth it in every regard. There are characters you come to love, and characters you come to hate – I personally came to loathe Gwenhwyfar, and love Morgaine. I will definitely be rereading this.
The only way these could get any better is if someone got Ian McKellen to read them cheerfully in front of a fireplace wearing a cozy sweater and maybe sipping a cup of tea in between page-turns and filmed it and sold it on DVD. Screw books on tape, I want books on DVD.
This little collection was adorable, well-written, and thoroughly entertaining. Rowling delivers once again!
This is the kind of writing that makes you feel like you just lucked out and got to peek at some sort of divine writing you weren't supposed to ever see. What a treasure of a book. I don't often reread, but I want to start this one over immediately. Phenomenal.
Salinger's Nine Stories were a little hit-or-miss for me; I absolutely loved “Perfect Day for Bananafish” and “For Esme” but a few of the others fell flat for me. All in all, though, the book is an incredible read. I couldn't put it down.
Well this is riveting fiction, methodically dubious “history,” and a rollicking good time... until it just ENDS SUDDENLY. Damnit, George.
Anyway, I loved it. But I'm starting to think George RR Martin is allergic to real endings.
If this author isn't a fan of Leverage, I will eat a whole ass hat.
Loved the world building, loved the characters, loved the whole thing. But also... ow.
The Terror is a well-written and suspenseful book, worth the time it takes to read it. I enjoyed it, though found certain plot points to be a bit much, and the ending a little underwhelming.
That said, it's still worth picking up! It definitely made a few days' commute pass easier.
Well, this was eons in the reading for me. I somehow managed to get through two degrees in Modern German history and the Holocaust without ever reading this, and now 10+ years after finishing my masters, I finally did it. And honestly I feel like I would never have gotten through the whole thing without the deep foundation of knowledge my degrees gave me.
This book is DENSE. I feel like this is an understatement. Arendt's writing is long, ponderous, and she is fond of tangents and footnotes. I rewound my audiobook many times just to truly grasp what some of these sentences were getting at. Arendt's mind is also very philosophical. There is a lot of intellectual analysis in this book, trying to get at why humanity works the way it does. She makes strong attempts at divining out the reasoning behind the processes that led to the actions of the Nazis (and the Soviets in Russia, though this book was clearly initially written about the Nazis specifically and then later expanded to include Stalin's Russia). It's clear why her writing was long considered required reading for people in my field.
However, now that I've read it, I can also see why I never encountered it in my own studies, half a century after she wrote it. It's outdated. Arendt's grasp on the non-European parts of the world is sketchy and sometimes relies on stereotype and misconception. And there are more than a few places where Arendt's assertions imply at least a modicum of blame on the part of the victims of the atrocities. Without a doubt she has a solid and compelling case when looking at the events of WWII through a macro lens but when it comes to the micro, her views don't really stand the test of time the way her broader arguments do. So it doesn't surprise me whatsoever that more modern studies of the era have supplanted this book in classrooms and curricula.
I will say that I'm glad I read it. It's a valuable book to have read. But it's good to have perspective about what time does to people's views and how it can age a text, because this is a clear example of effective and important writing that is still eroding a bit as time wears against it. The root of it is good. The chaff's falling away.