http://www.goodreads.com/review/list_rss/101193 en-US Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:57:25 -0700 60 http://www.goodreads.com/ 200 41 http://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/gr_logo.gif 21146047 Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:57:25 -0700
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Maralena
average rating: 4.40
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/28/08
shelves:
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i read through this book far too quickly. but i still want to fall into this man's hands and have him write my life. i worry, with this kind of book, that people will dismiss so much as metaphor. i don't think that people realize, with every story told, there is a new reality created. these things are stories but they're also the lives of real people, somewhere, somewhere else. this is the fatal flaw of all literary studies. it is so presumptive to study somebody else's LIFE, even if you think that life is only fictitious, because that's the form in which it has been presented to you. these limited kaleidoscopes through which we perceive all things, and text is just another one. another limited tool through which to perceive reality. and i worry about people who forget this. i worry about people who need to define the real so definitely.
]]> 21146174 Sun, 27 Apr 2008 21:57:44 -0700
author: Jeff Smith
name: Maralena
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 04/27/08
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]]> 20839839 Wed, 23 Apr 2008 19:30:27 -0700
author: Kate DiCamillo
name: Maralena
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/23/08
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]]> 20488115 Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:56:28 -0700 Also, if this is the last book he writes about these characters, it will make me sad.]]>
author: Eliot Pattison
name: Maralena
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/22/08
shelves:
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Characteristically (of EP's books, not my reading), I found it hard to pay attention to the characters and the plot of this novel. I wish so much that the author would include some diagrams or pictures. I can't quite make out all the beauty it seems he can see so clearly in his head.
Also, if this is the last book he writes about these characters, it will make me sad.
]]> 20275705 Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:04:34 -0700
That all said, I don't know how much I trust this fictional account as a true representation of what has gone down in the Tibet in recent history. Some of it is probably completely true and spot on, and other parts done for narrative effect. But THAT said, reading a story of such a spiritual land, and knowing that something that even approximates such a place exists somewhere in this world, fills me with a deepness and clarity of sight that I feel I lack too often in my daily life.]]>
author: Eliot Pattison
name: Maralena
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/16/08
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So, I remember reading Elliot Pattison's books in the past, and being totally overwhelmed by the complexity of the characters and the plot, and the foreignness of all the names. Reading this book, I found myself pleasantly surprised with my ability to follow what was going on and keep up with it all. I was about three quarters of the way through the book when I realized, oh yes, I have indeed read this book before. The fact that it took me that long to realize it definitely says something about how much I missed the first time I read it.

That all said, I don't know how much I trust this fictional account as a true representation of what has gone down in the Tibet in recent history. Some of it is probably completely true and spot on, and other parts done for narrative effect. But THAT said, reading a story of such a spiritual land, and knowing that something that even approximates such a place exists somewhere in this world, fills me with a deepness and clarity of sight that I feel I lack too often in my daily life.
]]> 17265127 Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:50:05 -0700
author: Dave Eggers
name: Maralena
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at: 03/08
date added: 04/11/08
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Besides this man's story being amazing in every sense of the word, this book is extremely educational. I recommend it to everyone who has no idea what it's about.
]]> 19976019 Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:48:00 -0700
That said, this is one of my favorite authors, so I can't resent him nearly as much as I would some others.]]>
author: Milan Kundera
name: Maralena
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/11/08
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I don't know about this book. So many times, I read myself in stories, and I think: now, now I will see the answer to my problems. What is the magic thing to be done to undo all the damage I have done to myself and to my life? And then the answer is some godawful literary trick, which in no way can be mirrored by reality. It would be superb, I think, if my life were simply a metaphor, and all the suffering were abstract. This is why I hate literature. Those of us who seek salvation in the written word are always lead to that chasm that we cannot cross, where the story takes wings and flies, and we are left behind with our feet on the ground and heartbroken.

That said, this is one of my favorite authors, so I can't resent him nearly as much as I would some others.
]]> 19642094 Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:42:17 -0700
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Maralena
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/11/08
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I felt like this book took me in its arms and held me.
]]> 18296606 Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:22:10 -0700
author: Anne Rice
name: Maralena
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1985
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 04/03/08
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review:
It's a mark of my true desire to be known that I share with y'all what I am actually reading, rather than what I want you to think I am reading. This book is not very good, but until yesterday I was without a library card. For what it is though, it's not very bad either.
]]> 18297320 Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:34:13 -0700
author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
name: Maralena
average rating: 3.75
book published: 1925
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 03/21/08
shelves:
review:
I am hard pressed to say whether this book or The Old Man and the Sea is worse.
]]> 18297231 Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:33:04 -0700
author: Ernest Hemingway
name: Maralena
average rating: 3.53
book published: 1952
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 03/21/08
shelves:
review:
This book is awful.
]]> 16879063 Sun, 02 Mar 2008 23:23:57 -0800
author: Milan Kundera
name: Maralena
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1994
rating: 4
read at: 03/08
date added: 03/02/08
shelves:
review:
This man's writing makes me feel noble about being me.
]]> 1894798 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:21:23 -0800
author: Arundhati Roy
name: Maralena
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1999
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 02/22/08
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review:
Actually, I only got halfway through. It was not as engrossing as I had hoped, but then again, it's a different sort of book than I thought it would be.
]]> 14276159 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:19:40 -0800
author: Daniel Alarcón
name: Maralena
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 02/22/08
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]]> 16091648 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:17:51 -0800
author: Kenneth Grahame
name: Maralena
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 02/08
date added: 02/22/08
shelves:
review:
It's like every other chapter in this book is good, and then every other one deals with Mr. Toad. I must say, I really don't like Mr. Toad. The first chapter is the very best.
]]> 16091461 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:13:12 -0800
author: E.L. Konigsburg
name: Maralena
average rating: 4.34
book published: 1973
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 02/22/08
shelves:
review:
I don't know if this book is still as good as it was when I read it as a child. But I remember it being frickin awesome.
]]> 16091225 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:11:53 -0800
author: Ellen Raskin
name: Maralena
average rating: 4.41
book published: 1978
rating: 5
read at: 02/08
date added: 02/22/08
shelves:
review:
This is the best murder mystery ever written. It is so awesome to have a book be as good as you remember it being when reading it as a child.
]]> 10962091 Mon, 24 Dec 2007 10:27:32 -0800
author: Philip Pullman
name: Maralena
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 10/07
date added: 12/24/07
shelves:
review:
these were sitting around my house and in a post-breakup fit of depression i reached for whatever books were in sight, including those i'd read before. and maybe it was the breakup funk, but when i got to the end of the third book, i sat in the coffeeshop sobbing and sobbing. or maybe i'm just a sucka.
]]> 10962027 Mon, 24 Dec 2007 10:25:13 -0800
author: Paul Hawken
name: Maralena
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2007
rating: 2
read at: 11/07
date added: 12/24/07
shelves:
review:
well, i the hypothesis put forth in this book i intriguing and right on. does he bring it all together? not by the time i had to turn it back in to the library...
]]> 10961987 Mon, 24 Dec 2007 10:23:27 -0800
author: Martin Cruz Smith
name: Maralena
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1982
rating: 3
read at: 02/08
date added: 12/24/07
shelves:
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]]> 10961865 Mon, 24 Dec 2007 10:22:56 -0800
so, this we listed to on the way back from san fransisco. somehow, the main character i sympathetic even though he doesn't seem to DO anything. this is the last in the series, though, and now we're listening to the first, and he does seem to be a better detective in this book. i'm curious to read/hear all the ones in between.]]>
author: Martin Cruz Smith
name: Maralena
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 11/07
date added: 12/24/07
shelves:
review:
okay, the wave of future home entertainment: the book on tape. for those cold winter nights/road trips, it's way way longer than a movie, doesn't wear out your eyes in the same way, and means you can get up and go in the next room without missing anything.

so, this we listed to on the way back from san fransisco. somehow, the main character i sympathetic even though he doesn't seem to DO anything. this is the last in the series, though, and now we're listening to the first, and he does seem to be a better detective in this book. i'm curious to read/hear all the ones in between.
]]> 10961634 Mon, 24 Dec 2007 10:16:33 -0800
author: Tom Wolfe
name: Maralena
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at: 06/03
date added: 12/24/07
shelves:
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although by the time i'd read this book, i'd already developed a strong adversity towards all things NYC, this book only enforced my perspective. and it made me feel anxious, just like the big city.
]]> 10961609 Mon, 24 Dec 2007 10:14:54 -0800
author: Tom Wolfe
name: Maralena
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 10/02
date added: 12/24/07
shelves:
review:
it's really hard to remember, reading this book, that tom wolfe wasn't actually there.
]]> 10961557 Mon, 24 Dec 2007 10:13:52 -0800
author: Chuck Palahniuk
name: Maralena
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at: 01/01
date added: 12/24/07
shelves:
review:
the cover didn't look like this when i read the book. i probably would have been less likely to read it if it had.
]]> 10961151 Mon, 24 Dec 2007 10:06:03 -0800
author: damali ayo
name: Maralena
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2005
rating: 2
read at: 11/07
date added: 12/24/07
shelves:
review:
hm....what to think/feel/opine? i haven't sorted this out for myself yet.
]]> 10960940 Mon, 24 Dec 2007 10:02:44 -0800
author: Italo Calvino
name: Maralena
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1976
rating: 3
read at: 11/07
date added: 12/24/07
shelves:
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as with most short stories, the first one in the book stands out in my head the most, although i have affection for the dinosaur story and the one about the I SAW YOU SIGN. my only question: why do all stories about the beginning of the universe have to be filled with such despair?
]]> 10960817 Mon, 24 Dec 2007 10:00:47 -0800
author: Alan Weisman
name: Maralena
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 12/07
date added: 12/24/07
shelves:
review:
mostly, the author skips around in a disorienting, unfulfilling kind of way. moving so rapidly from a review of the panama canal to mt. rushmore that i feel i've learned little about both. but the chapter on humongeous mammals is very friggin cool.
]]> 1894375 Mon, 24 Dec 2007 09:57:55 -0800
author: Michael Pollan
name: Maralena
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at: 10/07
date added: 12/24/07
shelves:
review:
i only got through half this book before it was due back to the library. much like the omnivore's dilemma, fascinating stuff that takes FOREVER to read.
]]> 2809981 Sat, 07 Jul 2007 15:58:26 -0700
author: Michael Pollan
name: Maralena
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 03/07
date added: 07/07/07
shelves:
review:
Why is everything Michael Pollen writes so interesting when talked about but so very dull to read? I struggle through his books, able to digest no more than five or so pages a day, yet suddenly find myself as the center of attention at the party when I recite what I've learned. I've never had a book be so boring and interesting at the same time.
]]> 2488376 Thu, 28 Jun 2007 09:37:21 -0700
author: Lemony Snicket
name: Maralena
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 06/28/07
shelves:
review:
I hate literature. Unabashedly and with passion. This, my friends, is not literature. You could not waste your time sitting around in a stuffy room with the windows drawn on a beautiful day analyzing this text. This is pure storytelling plain and simple and leaves no room for the ego. This is what books are about, my friends: losing awareness of the self such that when you turn the last page and come out the other end, you have no original thoughts whatsoever, only the desire to keep reading.
]]> 2488293 Thu, 28 Jun 2007 09:32:39 -0700
author: Mary Doria Russell
name: Maralena
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at: 06/07
date added: 06/28/07
shelves:
review:
I learned more about Jesuits than I've ever before known. And I guess I've never considered how much some people really spend a lot of time thinking about God.
]]> 1894607 Tue, 12 Jun 2007 13:55:22 -0700
and i don't like the poem the chapters make.]]>
author: Italo Calvino
name: Maralena
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1982
rating: 4
read at: 01/07
date added: 06/12/07
shelves:
review:
i don't know. am i drawn in, enticed and charmed by all the narrative tricks the author pulls or do i consider them an offensive manipulation of my vulnerability as a reader? instead of saying "i feel manipulated" maybe i should say "i feel confused".

and i don't like the poem the chapters make.
]]> 1894455 Tue, 12 Jun 2007 13:49:17 -0700
author: Frederick A. Bettelheim
name: Maralena
average rating: 2.00
book published: 2006
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 06/12/07
shelves:
review:
eh. this book could be written better.
]]> 1894397 Tue, 12 Jun 2007 13:47:43 -0700
author: David Halliday
name: Maralena
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 06/12/07
shelves:
review:
As a physics text goes, it's not too bad. I am routinely confounded in lecture and turn to my trusty textbook to get me through exams. The authors have a sense of humor for sure, even if it's the dorky physicist kind of humor.
]]>