Betsy's comments
(member since Apr 22, 2009)
Betsy's comments from the Bookmarks Subscribers group.
(showing 1-20 of 109)
I finished this last night. Unlike Lynn, I'm not a big fan of hers. For some reason, her writing just doesn't grab me. I read Year of Wonders first and then heard such rave reviews about this one that even though I wasn't thrilled with Wonders, I wanted to give this a try. It was better than the other book, but still didn't love it.I give her high marks for the amount of research she does and I loved the history in this book. I also loved the order of this book, with Hanna finding something in the book and then going back in time to have it explained. I think that where she loses me is putting in some minor love story and sex into the book. I'm not a prude at all, but in both the books of hers I've read, it seemed like a completely unnecessary and distracting element when the book could have easily stood on its own without it, and in my opinion would have been better without it.
All that said, I'd probably give this a 3.5 or 4 stars because I did so much enjoy the history of this book and I knew nothing about it when I started the book.
Joycenclyde wrote: "Just finished "Olive" this evening and thought I'd see what others' thoughts were. I didn't want to be "finished" with her yet. I don't think it's necessary to like Olive but to begin to see/recogn..."I just finished tonight for my F2F book group and LOVED it! I love your point about the lonely damaged places in other people's hearts. One of my group members said Olive was like the private part of ourselves speaking and that you hope no one hears. I think that is so true. And every story was so beautifully written, and gut wrenching. There were single paragraphs I had to re-read several times because they were just so perfectly written. I am almost always a huge fan of a writer that makes me feel deeply and Elizabeth Strout and Olive certainly did that.
I was disappointed in the interview at the end of the paperback. It almost made Olive seem cartoonish and like a caricature of herself (which I realize is an odd thing to be upset about in a fictional character!).
I really enjoyed this too. I am fascinated by culture and the role food plays in culture as well as history, so this book was just perfect. I loved the historical perspective on how "Chinese food" got started here.
I'd second People of The Book. I started it a while back and put it down to get up to date with my face2face group. I'm not loving it, but if we have a discussion here it might give me the impetus to finish it!I have some of the others here on my TBR list, so I won't nominate any other ones.
King Con A Novel by Stephen J. Cannellrhyming words on/con
I was going to push my luck and try needle and evil, but I wasn't sure you'd let me get away with it!
Just finished this one for my book group and it was outstanding. Her characters are beautifully drawn, and she captures the intellectual superficiality of academia to a tee. It was a great pick for the group - lots of themes to discuss deeply, but still a quick and easy read.
Lisa wrote: "
Funny in Farsi A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America by [author:فیروزه جزایری دوما / Firoozeh Jazayeri ..."This one is very impressive!
Mary Kay Andrews falls into what I would consider a guilty pleasure category. I haven't read Fixer Upper yet, but have read Hissy Fit and Savannah Blues. I thought the former better than the latter, but both were entertaining; the writing is clever and quick-witted making for a fun, quick read.
This is too fun! Love it.
rhyming words: Dome/Frome
I have only won one, but I also keep forgetting to go in and sign up for more. I wondered if they had any rules about not being able to win more than one in a time period, but from the rate some of you have been winning, that must not be the case.
