http://www.goodreads.com/review/list_rss/109779 en-US Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:20:07 -0700 60 http://www.goodreads.com/ 200 41 http://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/gr_logo.gif 22477355 Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:20:07 -0700
author: Paul Hofmann
name: Melissa
average rating: 3.14
book published: 1991
rating: 3
read at: 07/08
date added: 07/23/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 22477683 Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:19:54 -0700
author: Peter D'Epiro
name: Melissa
average rating: 3.40
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at: 07/08
date added: 07/23/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 22477704 Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:19:32 -0700
author: Andrea Camilleri
name: Melissa
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2003
rating: 3
read at: 07/08
date added: 07/23/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 1606083 Sun, 18 May 2008 07:37:31 -0700
author: Azar Nafisi
name: Melissa
average rating: 3.41
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 05/18/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 22477835 Sun, 18 May 2008 07:36:48 -0700
author: Clifford A. Wright
name: Melissa
average rating: 4.67
book published: 1999
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 05/18/08
shelves:
review:
I can't say this book belongs on any one particular "shelf." It's equal parts history and cookbook, without being another schmaltzy "ah, Tuscany!" travelogue. (Which I also happen to like, but wouldn't put in the same league.) You can't really use it to whip up a quick snack, but the recipes are definitely useful. And, when you're in the mood, it's great to put on some music, read a little bit about where the dish came from, and get some food on your hands.
]]> 22477735 Sun, 18 May 2008 07:21:38 -0700
author: Luigi Pirandello
name: Melissa
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1992
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 05/18/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 22477499 Sun, 18 May 2008 07:15:26 -0700
author: Mark Mills
name: Melissa
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 05/18/08
shelves:
review:
It reminded me of what a "summer reading" book should be. Light, somewhat mysterious, and taking place somewhere you'd like to be. It's no great piece of literature, but it was relaxing and enjoyable.
]]> 22477225 Sun, 18 May 2008 07:04:01 -0700
author: Andrea Camilleri
name: Melissa
average rating: 3.66
book published: 1994
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 05/18/08
shelves:
review:
I am not a big mystery reader, but this was a fun and fast read. Having only read one in the series, I'm not quite sure why Inspector Maltalbano is such a popular character. However,I enjoyed the book enough to check out two more from library. So, we'll see...
]]> 22477066 Sun, 18 May 2008 07:01:53 -0700
author: Sara Gruen
name: Melissa
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2006
rating: 2
read at: 11/07
date added: 05/18/08
shelves:
review:
I wanted to like this book more, but..
]]> 4183556 Sun, 18 May 2008 06:58:47 -0700
author: Georges Perec
name: Melissa
average rating: 4.34
book published: 1978
rating: 4
read at: 05/08
date added: 05/18/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 5882235 Fri, 07 Sep 2007 23:25:52 -0700
author: Mario Puzo
name: Melissa
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 09/07/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4183469 Mon, 06 Aug 2007 20:30:05 -0700
author: Primo Levi
name: Melissa
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1995
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/06/07
shelves:
review:
Storytelling at its finest.
]]> 2839124 Sun, 08 Jul 2007 16:42:49 -0700 In short, it is about early Italian immigrants, literally being worked to death, trying to make a living in New York. It is just before the depression, and we follow the lives of bricklayers: the men who raise the enormous buildings in which other men succeed. The work is referred to as "Job" (with a capital "J" most of the time. What do you make of that? Hmm.) Job is never spoken of as a good and friendly presence. Instead it is a pulsing, deadly, threatening thing that rules the lives of men. Worked like horses and paid like slaves, the bricklayers bring home just enough to keep their families from starvation. The novel focuses on the life and family of one man in particular, Geremio.

And so, toiling so as he does just to keep his family alive...what should happen, should this man meet an untimely death?

On Good Friday, just as he is dreaming of the upcoming Easter celebrations in his warm home with his family, Geremio is crushed, as are many others on his crew, as the building they are working on collapses. The descriptions of the horrible intermingling of flesh and brick are brutal. (Really, they are nightmarish)

So, what about his family?

Workers compensation? Right. His widow can't even speak the language in order to follow the red tape, even if the bosses had any intention of claiming fault. The generosity of neighbors? Not for long. No one in their tenement has anything to spare. Thankfully, the church will lend charity, right? (It must be God's plan, so God will see we're taken care of.) Again, no.

And so his eldest son, a 12-year old boy, goes to work. Laying the same bricks that killed his father, receiving even less pay than the poorly-paid grown men around him, he assumes the incredible burden of sustaining his mother and 7 siblings.

It is not only the heart-wrenching descriptions of this young boy as he struggles with an insurmountable task. It is also the exploration of the idea of relationship of God to the poverty-stricken immigrants. Faith is what they came with -- and dreams of what America has to offer. Those dreams quickly crushed by harsh reality, what is left but God? And when the church refuses to help, when God seems never to show himself to ease their misery, where is left to turn?

And yet, the book isn't so heavy that it is joyless. There is still family, there is still love and, occasionally, laughter and celebration. Helping hands, though empty, are still able to offer something to sustain humanity. Life does go on in a miserable existence, but only because people are strong and hearts are stronger.

And Faith isn't dead, but it is definitely questioned...and that's not such a bad thing.

]]>
author: Pietro di Donato
name: Melissa
average rating: 3.64
book published: 1993
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 07/08/07
shelves:
review:
An amazing book.
In short, it is about early Italian immigrants, literally being worked to death, trying to make a living in New York. It is just before the depression, and we follow the lives of bricklayers: the men who raise the enormous buildings in which other men succeed. The work is referred to as "Job" (with a capital "J" most of the time. What do you make of that? Hmm.) Job is never spoken of as a good and friendly presence. Instead it is a pulsing, deadly, threatening thing that rules the lives of men. Worked like horses and paid like slaves, the bricklayers bring home just enough to keep their families from starvation. The novel focuses on the life and family of one man in particular, Geremio.

And so, toiling so as he does just to keep his family alive...what should happen, should this man meet an untimely death?

On Good Friday, just as he is dreaming of the upcoming Easter celebrations in his warm home with his family, Geremio is crushed, as are many others on his crew, as the building they are working on collapses. The descriptions of the horrible intermingling of flesh and brick are brutal. (Really, they are nightmarish)

So, what about his family?

Workers compensation? Right. His widow can't even speak the language in order to follow the red tape, even if the bosses had any intention of claiming fault. The generosity of neighbors? Not for long. No one in their tenement has anything to spare. Thankfully, the church will lend charity, right? (It must be God's plan, so God will see we're taken care of.) Again, no.

And so his eldest son, a 12-year old boy, goes to work. Laying the same bricks that killed his father, receiving even less pay than the poorly-paid grown men around him, he assumes the incredible burden of sustaining his mother and 7 siblings.

It is not only the heart-wrenching descriptions of this young boy as he struggles with an insurmountable task. It is also the exploration of the idea of relationship of God to the poverty-stricken immigrants. Faith is what they came with -- and dreams of what America has to offer. Those dreams quickly crushed by harsh reality, what is left but God? And when the church refuses to help, when God seems never to show himself to ease their misery, where is left to turn?

And yet, the book isn't so heavy that it is joyless. There is still family, there is still love and, occasionally, laughter and celebration. Helping hands, though empty, are still able to offer something to sustain humanity. Life does go on in a miserable existence, but only because people are strong and hearts are stronger.

And Faith isn't dead, but it is definitely questioned...and that's not such a bad thing.


]]> 2651361 Mon, 02 Jul 2007 19:39:18 -0700
author: Melania G. Mazzucco
name: Melissa
average rating: 3.19
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 07/02/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1663718 Mon, 02 Jul 2007 19:38:17 -0700 I love this book. I also love the Great Gatsby. And, given the chance, I'd also probably love Danny Williams again, too. And this time, I'd appreciate him!]]>
author: Italo Calvino
name: Melissa
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2001
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 07/02/07
shelves:
review:
I just learned Italian kids read this in junior high. Junior high! Damn. And the one I talked to thought it was boring. Kind of like when I read the Great Gatsby in 7th grade and thought it was a chore.
I love this book. I also love the Great Gatsby. And, given the chance, I'd also probably love Danny Williams again, too. And this time, I'd appreciate him!
]]> 2651020 Mon, 02 Jul 2007 19:28:22 -0700
author: Studs Terkel
name: Melissa
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 07/02/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 2651014 Mon, 02 Jul 2007 19:28:09 -0700
author: Studs Terkel
name: Melissa
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1995
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 07/02/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 2650988 Mon, 02 Jul 2007 19:27:23 -0700
author: Studs Terkel
name: Melissa
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 07/02/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 2650936 Mon, 02 Jul 2007 19:27:05 -0700
author: Studs Terkel
name: Melissa
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1989
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 07/02/07
shelves:
review:
Let me first admit, I didn't read this book cover-to-cover. I haven't read any of Studs Terkel's books that way. I just love leafing through them, reading here-and-there style all of the thoughts of people he's collected over the years. Oral history is just cool.
]]> 2650867 Mon, 02 Jul 2007 19:23:51 -0700
author: Vladimir Nabokov
name: Melissa
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1955
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 07/02/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 2650679 Mon, 02 Jul 2007 19:21:02 -0700
author: David C. Schomer
name: Melissa
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1996
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 07/02/07
shelves:
review:
Huge, huge geek. But does this man know coffee! Wow. Seriously, if you are at all curious to know why some coffee just sucks,(think: crap you get at your neighborhood corporate coffee chain), and some coffee is life-changingly delicious,(think: Intelligentsia from Chicago), read this book. This guy is the Leonardo Da Vinci of coffee. Part scientist, part artist, pure magic. Too bad he's not Italian. Or hot.
]]> 1662747 Mon, 02 Jul 2007 19:10:24 -0700
author: David Foster Wallace
name: Melissa
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1997
rating: 1
read at: 01/03
date added: 07/02/07
shelves:
review:
I started...and didn't finish...this book about 5 times. Finally, I realized if it was something I liked it might not have been such a chore. The only things I liked were all of the footnotes and end notes. Beyond that, it's a solid chunk of paper, so it's holding up a broken shelf in my pantry. I gave it one star for all of the flour, sugar, and chocolate chips it has supported all of these years. Thanks DFW!
]]> 2648222 Mon, 02 Jul 2007 19:00:24 -0700 Percy has a way of bringing out the very puzzles of existence, and discomforts of living in the world, in the most fragile ways. As people live "normal" lives around the main characters, those characters struggle to keep up, all the while with a foot in a world of their own at the same time. There is usually something "wrong" with one or more of these characters, something that excuses them from being wholly a part of the world around them. If it isn't an outright unnamed physical or mental illness, it's the freedom allowed a young man who hasn't quite "found his place in the world" yet. Either way, this "defect" grants these characters the special vantage point of experiencing both sides of each world from an interesting perspective.
It's as if the other characters are living life little-to-no-questions-asked and then there is the strange bird, the one we get to follow, who has nothing but questions, moving through their world as any "anybody, anywhere", but also being part of something in which he's supposed to find a place. All the while he is just trying to figure out why the hell he feels so strange all the time and when and if he'll finally fit in. And what the hell it will feel like to fit in. Does he even want to? Does the end of the malaise mean...happiness? Contentedness? Death?
Now I'm starting to mix characters, but then again, so does Percy. So there.
Not to mention it all takes place in the South, a place within a place, with its own secret rules and traditions. It's like there's mystery everywhere. The mystery of place, of man, of man on earth, of man with God.
It just rocks. ]]>
author: Walker Percy
name: Melissa
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1960
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 07/02/07
shelves:
review:
Recently, I recommended this book to a friend. It had been years since I first read it and, with my terrible memory, any hopes of discussing it with him were lost. So I read it - and a couple other of Percy's books - again and quickly remembered why I keep it - and them - on my shelves.
Percy has a way of bringing out the very puzzles of existence, and discomforts of living in the world, in the most fragile ways. As people live "normal" lives around the main characters, those characters struggle to keep up, all the while with a foot in a world of their own at the same time. There is usually something "wrong" with one or more of these characters, something that excuses them from being wholly a part of the world around them. If it isn't an outright unnamed physical or mental illness, it's the freedom allowed a young man who hasn't quite "found his place in the world" yet. Either way, this "defect" grants these characters the special vantage point of experiencing both sides of each world from an interesting perspective.
It's as if the other characters are living life little-to-no-questions-asked and then there is the strange bird, the one we get to follow, who has nothing but questions, moving through their world as any "anybody, anywhere", but also being part of something in which he's supposed to find a place. All the while he is just trying to figure out why the hell he feels so strange all the time and when and if he'll finally fit in. And what the hell it will feel like to fit in. Does he even want to? Does the end of the malaise mean...happiness? Contentedness? Death?
Now I'm starting to mix characters, but then again, so does Percy. So there.
Not to mention it all takes place in the South, a place within a place, with its own secret rules and traditions. It's like there's mystery everywhere. The mystery of place, of man, of man on earth, of man with God.
It just rocks.
]]> 1662836 Mon, 02 Jul 2007 18:28:07 -0700
author: Marisha Pessl
name: Melissa
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 07/02/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1603976 Mon, 11 Jun 2007 18:44:31 -0700
author: Walker Percy
name: Melissa
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1980
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 06/11/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1663839 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:36:22 -0700
author: Elizabeth Bishop
name: Melissa
average rating: 4.40
book published: 1979
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 06/04/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1663766 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:33:53 -0700
author: Italo Calvino
name: Melissa
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1980
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 06/04/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1663755 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:33:28 -0700
author: Italo Calvino
name: Melissa
average rating: 3.73
book published: 1990
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 06/04/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1663752 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:33:22 -0700
author: Italo Calvino
name: Melissa
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 06/04/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1663751 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:33:16 -0700
author: Italo Calvino
name: Melissa
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1996
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 06/04/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1663748 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:33:10 -0700
author: Italo Calvino
name: Melissa
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1994
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 06/04/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1663744 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:33:03 -0700
author: Italo Calvino
name: Melissa
average rating: 4.02
book published: 0
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 06/04/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1663742 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:33:01 -0700
author: Italo Calvino
name: Melissa
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1992
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 06/04/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1663731 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:32:47 -0700
author: Italo Calvino
name: Melissa
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1985
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 06/04/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1663726 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:32:39 -0700
author: Italo Calvino
name: Melissa
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 06/04/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1663708 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:32:17 -0700
author: Italo Calvino
name: Melissa
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1990
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 06/04/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1663696 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:31:50 -0700
author: Angela Carter
name: Melissa
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1987
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 06/04/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1663690 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:31:38 -0700
author: Angela Carter
name: Melissa
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1979
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 06/04/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1663685 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:31:33 -0700
author: Angela Carter
name: Melissa
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2006
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 06/04/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1663680 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:31:23 -0700
author: Angela Carter
name: Melissa
average rating: 4.38
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 06/04/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1663658 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:31:12 -0700
author: Angela Carter
name: Melissa
average rating: 4.44
book published: 1984
rating: 4
read at: 01/97
date added: 06/04/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1606055 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:24:12 -0700
author: Matthew Fort
name: Melissa
average rating: 2.86
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 06/04/07
shelves:
review:
Full of great recipes and interesting information about the origins of Italian foods. The writer has a curiosity that pays off for the reader. If you like to eat, you will find this a super easy, fun summer read.
]]> 1663059 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:16:52 -0700
author: Vitaliano Brancati
name: Melissa
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1978
rating: 4
read at: 01/99
date added: 06/04/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1662861 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:13:48 -0700
author: Carlo Emilio Gadda
name: Melissa
average rating: 3.32
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 01/96
date added: 06/04/07
shelves:
review:
It's been years since I've read this, and I'd forgotten about it until I saw it on goodreads. While my memory is rarely good with the details of something read long ago, I remember feeling like I lived in the apartment building. It was very full of life.
]]> 1662759 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:07:48 -0700
author: David Foster Wallace
name: Melissa
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 06/04/07
shelves:
review:
If you don't like Wallace, you might still like these stories. They were entertaining and smart, without being so clever you want to shoot him.
]]> 1662541 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:00:05 -0700
author: Italo Calvino
name: Melissa
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1982
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 06/04/07
shelves:
review:
One of my very favorites. Italo Calvino should have lived forever. I've read it twice and might just read it again before summer's over.
]]> 1662218 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 18:48:42 -0700
author: Dave Eggers
name: Melissa
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at: 01/05
date added: 06/04/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1662178 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 18:45:43 -0700
author: Dave Eggers
name: Melissa
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 01/07
date added: 06/04/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1662124 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 18:43:34 -0700
author: Dave Eggers
name: Melissa
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 01/07
date added: 06/04/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1662100 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 18:42:11 -0700
author: Laurie Halse Anderson
name: Melissa
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at: 01/07
date added: 06/04/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1645790 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 07:19:09 -0700
author: Ernest Hemingway
name: Melissa
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1926
rating: 3
read at: 02/07
date added: 06/04/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1603982 Sat, 02 Jun 2007 05:51:38 -0700
author: Francesco Petrarch
name: Melissa
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 06/02/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1603973 Sat, 02 Jun 2007 05:50:04 -0700
author: Walker Percy
name: Melissa
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1966
rating: 4
read at: 04/07
date added: 06/02/07
shelves:
review:

]]>