http://www.goodreads.com/review/list_rss/112265 en-US Sun, 17 Aug 2008 07:35:15 -0700 60 http://www.goodreads.com/ 200 41 http://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/gr_logo.gif 30175449 Sun, 17 Aug 2008 07:35:15 -0700
i thought it was trite, uninteresting, and poorly written. i realized this book is for young adults, but there were times i laughed aloud at the way the narrarator continually described her teen romance with a vampire with the most cliche phrases possible.

for me, this was definately a young adult book that is for young adults and i'm not sure i understand why so many adults are reading it. i was hoping maybe it had just a touch of that harry potter magic where there's actually tons of meaning and enjoyment for adults as well. i didn't find that to be the case. i might have enjoyed this book when i was 13, but not so much now.

maybe i missed something, and i'd recommend this book to others only so they could maybe tell me what that something might be. ]]>
author: Stephenie Meyer
name: Katie
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2005
rating: 2
read at: 08/08
date added: 08/17/08
shelves: young-adult
review:
i don't really understand all the hype about this book.

i thought it was trite, uninteresting, and poorly written. i realized this book is for young adults, but there were times i laughed aloud at the way the narrarator continually described her teen romance with a vampire with the most cliche phrases possible.

for me, this was definately a young adult book that is for young adults and i'm not sure i understand why so many adults are reading it. i was hoping maybe it had just a touch of that harry potter magic where there's actually tons of meaning and enjoyment for adults as well. i didn't find that to be the case. i might have enjoyed this book when i was 13, but not so much now.

maybe i missed something, and i'd recommend this book to others only so they could maybe tell me what that something might be.
]]> 29553956 Thu, 14 Aug 2008 16:36:01 -0700
i picked it up at the library because it was on a display entitlted "books with young protagonists written for adults" along with to kill a mockingbird and a curious incident of the dog in the nighttime...

anyway, this book is a fictional autobiography written by conjoined twins, rose and ruby. the characters were quite beautiful and i loved the the different narrartive styles of each twin.

the book was kind of typical for the coming of age, finding the meaning of life genre, but i think the fact that the characters were not typical kept it interesting.

]]>
author: Lori Lansens
name: Katie
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 08/08
date added: 08/14/08
shelves:
review:
i loved this book from the first paragraph.

i picked it up at the library because it was on a display entitlted "books with young protagonists written for adults" along with to kill a mockingbird and a curious incident of the dog in the nighttime...

anyway, this book is a fictional autobiography written by conjoined twins, rose and ruby. the characters were quite beautiful and i loved the the different narrartive styles of each twin.

the book was kind of typical for the coming of age, finding the meaning of life genre, but i think the fact that the characters were not typical kept it interesting.


]]> 28917950 Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:17:19 -0700
author: Pearl S. Buck
name: Katie
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1931
rating: 4
read at: 08/08
date added: 08/07/08
shelves:
review:
I was really into this book pretty much the entire time. books about people's love for the land draw me in quickly. I loved the protagonist at the beginning. the way he talked about the land and the fulfillment he felt when he was working on it was so nice to read about. it made me really sad to see him go in this downward spiral of accumulating more wealth and land and women and less and less happiness. the whole time i was reading the book i kept waiting for that great final scene where the protagonist was finally redeemed... and well i guess i won't tell you if that happens or not, in case you might read the book.
]]> 29065028 Sat, 02 Aug 2008 12:55:30 -0700
author: Jimmy Santiago Baca
name: Katie
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2002
rating: 3
read at: 03/08
date added: 08/02/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 28355543 Sat, 02 Aug 2008 10:58:21 -0700
author: Oliver W. Sacks
name: Katie
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1997
rating: 3
read at: 08/08
date added: 08/02/08
shelves:
review:
the human brain is really fascinating. this book just told stories of various patients of the author, who is a neurologist. i was really intrigued by the behaviors a lot of his patients exhibited. i didn't feel like trying to understand some of his neurological talk, but it was interesting enough just to hear stories of his patients, even if i can't begin to understand all the medical issues.
]]> 28673066 Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:34:42 -0700
but this book is written in a perfect way to really get me into them. the author interweaves the science of bees with her personal experiences with raising bees and just her general musings on life. the way it all came together just left me in awe of how intricate and beautiful the natural world is.

the book just progressed really naturally and gave tons of information without feeling at all like a textbook. i kept finding myself asking questions in my head as i was reading like.. "but how exactly do bees behave without the support of a beekeeper?" or "what exactly is honey?" somehow these questions always seemed to be answered within two pages of my inner inquiry.

it got me really interested in bees and kind of reminded me a little of how i got excited about apples and potatoes and marijuana and tulips after i read the botany of desire.

i'd really recommend this book to anyone, whether you like bees or not. ]]>
author: Allison Wallace
name: Katie
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 07/08
date added: 07/31/08
shelves: food-and-farming
review:
bees are so fascinating! i don't know why i picked up this book, because i'd never really been all that interested in bees.

but this book is written in a perfect way to really get me into them. the author interweaves the science of bees with her personal experiences with raising bees and just her general musings on life. the way it all came together just left me in awe of how intricate and beautiful the natural world is.

the book just progressed really naturally and gave tons of information without feeling at all like a textbook. i kept finding myself asking questions in my head as i was reading like.. "but how exactly do bees behave without the support of a beekeeper?" or "what exactly is honey?" somehow these questions always seemed to be answered within two pages of my inner inquiry.

it got me really interested in bees and kind of reminded me a little of how i got excited about apples and potatoes and marijuana and tulips after i read the botany of desire.

i'd really recommend this book to anyone, whether you like bees or not.
]]> 26961222 Sat, 26 Jul 2008 10:44:47 -0700
at some points i found it a bit cheesy, and it took me a while to get into it, but in the end, i found myself quite attached to many of the characters. i reserved the next book of the series from the library, so that must say something...]]>
author: Jean M. Auel
name: Katie
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1980
rating: 3
read at: 07/08
date added: 07/26/08
shelves:
review:
i always have liked historical fiction, but i've never read a pre-historical fiction book. this book is the first of a series set during the ice age and dealt with a a neanderthal clan raising an ancestor of modern humans. I guess that I am semi interested in human evolution, and it was kind of interesting to have a story to help me understand the differences between Neanderthals and CroMagnons. it's interesting to think about what makes us human and how it is pointed out in the book. like how only ayla cries and how they talk about counting and how ayla can count beyond what she can see because her brain is able to perceive abstract things. and the concept that Neanderthals had a shared memory that modern humans have lost... anyway, it was really interesting.

at some points i found it a bit cheesy, and it took me a while to get into it, but in the end, i found myself quite attached to many of the characters. i reserved the next book of the series from the library, so that must say something...
]]> 25015495 Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:25:07 -0700
i liked how the author was just honest about what he felt while he was in vietnam. the way he was trained and treated in the army completely desensitized him to all this violence and he did things and witnessed things that were so horrible that looking back he doesn't know how he did it all. but he couldn't think of how to do differently at the time.

he says at the begininng that he wrote this book because he wanted to understand what happened to him in vietnam and he wanted to be able to explain it to his wife and children. the book read very much like that. sometimes it just went on a little to long about things, which i'm sure was just part of the cathartic experience of the author.

overall, i'm glad i read the book, even though it was quite depressing. ]]>
author: John Ketwig
name: Katie
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1985
rating: 3
read at: 07/08
date added: 07/17/08
shelves: asia
review:
this book was mostly just sad. war does horrible things to people on all sides.

i liked how the author was just honest about what he felt while he was in vietnam. the way he was trained and treated in the army completely desensitized him to all this violence and he did things and witnessed things that were so horrible that looking back he doesn't know how he did it all. but he couldn't think of how to do differently at the time.

he says at the begininng that he wrote this book because he wanted to understand what happened to him in vietnam and he wanted to be able to explain it to his wife and children. the book read very much like that. sometimes it just went on a little to long about things, which i'm sure was just part of the cathartic experience of the author.

overall, i'm glad i read the book, even though it was quite depressing.
]]> 25072136 Wed, 09 Jul 2008 10:09:05 -0700
I like books told from the perspective of children. This was told partly from the perspective of a nine year old girl whose mom was adopted from Japan and her dad was a Vietnam veteran. It was also told from the perspective of her great uncle who was living in Japan. The way these two voices combined to tell the story was quite engaging.

I was also very interested in the historical context of this book. It made me want to learn more about Japan's role in World War II outside of the Pearl Harbor/atomic bombs that seems like the only things I really know much about. And it made me want to learn more about manchuria.

Hmm.. that is about it.

except that when i write reviews for books i feel like i am in fourth grade writing a book report.

oh well.

]]>
author: Yuko Taniguchi
name: Katie
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 07/08
date added: 07/09/08
shelves: asia
review:
I randomly picked up this book at the library because it was small and lightweight and I didn't have much room in my bag at the time.

I like books told from the perspective of children. This was told partly from the perspective of a nine year old girl whose mom was adopted from Japan and her dad was a Vietnam veteran. It was also told from the perspective of her great uncle who was living in Japan. The way these two voices combined to tell the story was quite engaging.

I was also very interested in the historical context of this book. It made me want to learn more about Japan's role in World War II outside of the Pearl Harbor/atomic bombs that seems like the only things I really know much about. And it made me want to learn more about manchuria.

Hmm.. that is about it.

except that when i write reviews for books i feel like i am in fourth grade writing a book report.

oh well.


]]> 10351672 Sun, 06 Jul 2008 17:09:52 -0700
author: Isabel Allende
name: Katie
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at: 04/00
date added: 07/06/08
shelves: latin-america
review:

]]> 26311211 Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:16:13 -0700
author: Joan Lowery Nixon
name: Katie
average rating: 3.52
book published: 1996
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 07/04/08
shelves: young-adult
review:

]]> 26311203 Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:16:05 -0700
author: Joan Lowery Nixon
name: Katie
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 07/04/08
shelves: young-adult
review:

]]> 26158879 Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:24:44 -0700
author: Joan Lowery Nixon
name: Katie
average rating: 3.61
book published: 1996
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 07/02/08
shelves: young-adult
review:

]]> 26105828 Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:26:43 -0700
author: John De Graaf
name: Katie
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 07/02/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 24640983 Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:48:01 -0700
author: Madeleine L'Engle
name: Katie
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1979
rating: 4
read at: 06/08
date added: 06/20/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 23313208 Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:35:03 -0700
author: Chanrithy Him
name: Katie
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 06/08
date added: 06/16/08
shelves: asia
review:
horribly depressing...
]]> 22500373 Fri, 30 May 2008 10:37:33 -0700
author: Anne Fadiman
name: Katie
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at: 05/08
date added: 05/30/08
shelves: asia
review:

]]> 21510466 Sun, 18 May 2008 14:31:42 -0700
author: John Steinbeck
name: Katie
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1945
rating: 3
read at: 05/08
date added: 05/18/08
shelves:
review:
i just really love john steinbeck's characters. they always have these moments of brilliance and beauty. i really can't remember the ones that struck me from this book. i loved mack and the boys.
]]> 21703344 Sat, 10 May 2008 12:14:57 -0700
i really liked how the story jumped between the author's relationship with his father in the present and the father's experience during the holocaust. ]]>
author: Art Spiegelman
name: Katie
average rating: 4.49
book published: 1986
rating: 4
read at: 05/08
date added: 05/10/08
shelves:
review:
this is the first graphic novel that i have read. i was kind of against them because i've never liked comics much... but this was actually really good. it was interesting to read something where my imagination wasn't making the pictures.

i really liked how the story jumped between the author's relationship with his father in the present and the father's experience during the holocaust.
]]> 20957963 Sat, 03 May 2008 07:40:40 -0700
i just really liked the fact that she could see the good and the bad in both iran and the united states and how there was just a lot of grey area in her reactions to her experiences. especially after reading "reading lolita in tehran" i found this book to be refreshingly balanced. ]]>
author: Tara Bahrampour
name: Katie
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 05/08
date added: 05/03/08
shelves: middle-east
review:
i love memoirs that provide insight into historical events. and i particularly loved this one because it was so honest and never resorted to political rhetoric or really taking sides. the author simply described her experiences living as a child under the rule of the shah, fleeing to the united states right before the revolution, and returning to post-revolutionary iran as an adult. her insights were so honest and all of her thoughts about the good and bad that came from the revolution really captured what seems to be a really complicated political situation. i like how she described both the freedom and oppression she felt when wearing the chador. and she made interesting points about how the anti-west regulations of the revolution brought some back to appreciating certain things of traditional iranian culture.

i just really liked the fact that she could see the good and the bad in both iran and the united states and how there was just a lot of grey area in her reactions to her experiences. especially after reading "reading lolita in tehran" i found this book to be refreshingly balanced.
]]> 20602429 Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:05:53 -0700
and of course i'm totally into all of his ideas of local food and trusting and knowing the people that grow your food. and relying on neighbors. its really sad how much of what he wants to do is illegal. i mean every chapter was just another situation where he was trying to provide his customers with healthy food, and for some reason, it was illegal. he kind of convinced me of this libertarian stuff. but only in regards to food. i mean i guess a lot of his libertarian thoughts would work in a perfect world. i actually really liked his parts about child labor and letting kids work. but only becuase i've seen kids work on a farm, and i know they can do it, and i think its good for them. well now i'm just going on an on about not much at all.

this was a really good book, but i would recommend it if you are into local food systems and don't get easily annoyed by a lot of rants about the evils of bureacracy and government involvement. ]]>
author: Joel Salatin
name: Katie
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/24/08
shelves: food-and-farming
review:
i am surprised how much i liked this book. i don't know why i never got tired of his rants. maybe because i agreed with 90% of them. but usually books that are written in such a confrontational style end up making me annoyed at the author and finding ways to disagree with every point they make, no matter how much i really agree with it. i guess i was more impressed by the honesty of his style than i was annoyed by self-righteousness or one-sidedness. it didn't even annoy me too much when he went off on his rants about abortion, civil rights, labor laws, etc. even though i didn't agree with his stances on these issues, somehow i understood where he was coming from and i really appreciated his honesty, even though a lot of his audience probably disagrees with him on these issues.

and of course i'm totally into all of his ideas of local food and trusting and knowing the people that grow your food. and relying on neighbors. its really sad how much of what he wants to do is illegal. i mean every chapter was just another situation where he was trying to provide his customers with healthy food, and for some reason, it was illegal. he kind of convinced me of this libertarian stuff. but only in regards to food. i mean i guess a lot of his libertarian thoughts would work in a perfect world. i actually really liked his parts about child labor and letting kids work. but only becuase i've seen kids work on a farm, and i know they can do it, and i think its good for them. well now i'm just going on an on about not much at all.

this was a really good book, but i would recommend it if you are into local food systems and don't get easily annoyed by a lot of rants about the evils of bureacracy and government involvement.
]]> 19483790 Sat, 19 Apr 2008 18:35:12 -0700
]]>
author: Lucy Kaylin
name: Katie
average rating: 3.06
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/19/08
shelves:
review:
this book was a quick read, yet slightly unsettling. it brought up a lot of issues about motherhood, the role of women in society, class, race, etc. that are surprisingly difficult for me to process at the moment.


]]> 19026833 Sat, 19 Apr 2008 18:19:41 -0700
i maybe should have given the book four stars, i don't really know. ]]>
author: Elizabeth Gilbert
name: Katie
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/19/08
shelves:
review:
the whole time i read this book, i could never decide whether i liked it or not. half the time i felt the author was annoying and self-absorbed and the other half of the time i found her to be on a really inspiring spiritual path. i really liked the india section a lot, which was surprising, becuase i must confess i'm not too big on the idea of westerners going to india to meditate in ashrams and never experiencing the rest of the culture. but as hard as i tried to pin her down as some escapist with idealized notions of eastern spirituality, it just didn't work and i really liked what she said about her time in the ashram.

i maybe should have given the book four stars, i don't really know.
]]> 19633561 Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:52:40 -0700
author: Greg Mortenson
name: Katie
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/15/08
shelves: middle-east
review:
I should start by saying that I really think Greg Mortenson is doing really good work and I value his philosophy of fighting terrorism with education instead of violence. That being said, I didn't really like this book as much as I'd hoped. The back of the book refered to Greg Mortenson as a "real-life Indiana Jones" and the entire book followed in that vain of some sort of adventure novel with Greg Mortenson as the hero. I most enjoyed the parts of the book that focused on the political and social situations of Pakistan and Afghanistan and why there are so few schools and Mortenson had such a difficult mission. I got bored and annoyed with Mortenson's trials and tribulations as he played the hero. I'm sure this has nothing to do with Mortenson's character, it just the manner in which the story was told.
]]> 18171544 Sun, 30 Mar 2008 15:56:40 -0700
author: Thomas McFadden
name: Katie
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 03/08
date added: 03/30/08
shelves: latin-america
review:
this book was really interesting. i can't believe that a place like this actually exists. i mean i guess i can really. i'm really fascinated by prison issues and latin america, so this book was a good combination. i would be interested to hear about the prison from the perspective of a poor bolivian, rather than from an international drug trafficker with lots of connections, but its really depressing to think of people in poorer sections of san pedro prison who have absolutely no money to buy their cell, food, or anything else you need to survive there. the book was a really easy read and i would recommend it to anyone.
]]> 14382420 Fri, 15 Feb 2008 12:59:25 -0800
author: Lisa See
name: Katie
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at: 02/08
date added: 02/15/08
shelves: asia
review:
i never really got into this book. i guess it was a good story, but i didn't think it was that well written and i never really felt all that attached to the characters, which is important to me in a book like this. it was maybe a bit too much like every other novel i've read about women and their struggles and triumphs. nothing new or out of the ordinary.
]]> 14443779 Sun, 10 Feb 2008 10:29:53 -0800
author: Rod Dreher
name: Katie
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 02/08
date added: 02/10/08
shelves:
review:
from the subtitle and cover of this book, i was expecting it to be a somewhat humorous portrayal of the subject matter, some kind of light read to laugh at and not take too seriously. however, i was pleasantly surprised. i picked up the book because i love people who violate stereotypes. i really wasn't expecting to get so much out of it, since the book was written for conservatives. the book made me think about the views i have held of conservatives and republicans, (war mongering, gay bashing, imperialistic, evangelical christians who are only interested in economic gain.) i mean, i knew before i read the book that those things aren't completely true, but this book made me realize how important it is to really not let myself slip into that mindset of dismissing everything and everyone conservative. he made a good point about how what often unites conservatives is hating liberals, and what unites liberals is hating conservatives. he doesn't talk tons about politics, because what we really need isn't political change, but cultural change, with not so much value on individualism and materialism. i was really impressed because he seems so much more consistant than many political voices. his beliefs about family values don't stop at abortion and gay marriage, but extend to turning off tv and spending time with your kids and your neighbors. and promoting quality of life after birth. and having a sacramental worldview, where everything has intrinsic worth and things we do reflect our values. and i liked how he pointed out about jesus saying just as much about greed as he did about lust, and republicans have become too focused on sins of lust... and of course i loved everything he said about caring for the earth and buying locally to support local economies and enhance community and families. the book just opened me up more to different ideas and different ways of thinking and how i should really try to get over the labeling people thing.
]]> 13433618 Sat, 02 Feb 2008 13:20:48 -0800
author: Zadie Smith
name: Katie
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at: 02/08
date added: 02/02/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 13389485 Sun, 27 Jan 2008 18:25:04 -0800
anyway, it seems as though this farmer really knows what he is doing and i liked his stories about his farming neighbors and his views on sustainable agriculture and all that.]]>
author: Keith Stewart
name: Katie
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at: 01/08
date added: 01/27/08
shelves: food-and-farming
review:
i liked this book because it reminded me of the farm that i worked on. i'm sure this book would have been completely foreign to me had i read it a year ago, but now so many parts were just familiar in a way i can't really describe. i loved the part about the tractor and the cows especially, because i happen to love tractors and cows. it made me really sad to read the little parts that interns wrote, because i just wanted to be an intern on a farm again. what i really loved was when he talked about garlic. and i just have to elaborate on this garlic thing. all summer on the farm i worked on i heard about this famous garlic that a farmer sold at the greenmarket in new york. apparently this garlic arrived in the united states as one clove and has just multiplied since then. anyway, some of this garlic made its way to the farm i worked on, and i helped harvest it and heard this story so many times. it was really exciting when i got to the chapter on garlic and realized that this was the farmer that popularized this variety of garlic. i know this isn't exciting to anyone but me, but i loved it.

anyway, it seems as though this farmer really knows what he is doing and i liked his stories about his farming neighbors and his views on sustainable agriculture and all that.
]]> 13389418 Thu, 24 Jan 2008 14:41:40 -0800
author: John Steinbeck
name: Katie
average rating: 3.79
book published: 1937
rating: 4
read at: 01/08
date added: 01/24/08
shelves:
review:
i feel like i already read this book once. or maybe i saw the movie. everything just seemed vaguely familiar as i was reading it. anyway, i really like steinbeck's characters, and i don't want to give anything away, but i really liked the ending.
]]> 10388312 Thu, 24 Jan 2008 08:37:57 -0800
author: Khaled Hosseini
name: Katie
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 01/08
date added: 01/24/08
shelves: middle-east
review:
this was a good story that kept me interested. i don't really have much to say beyond that.
]]> 12169530 Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:23:58 -0800
author: Michael Pollan
name: Katie
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 01/08
date added: 01/22/08
shelves: food-and-farming
review:
i am giving this book four stars mostly because i appreciate what pollan writes about. i'm not sure that i learned much or was challenged much by the book, but it is hard for me to give it less than four stars because i value everything he writes about.
]]> 12794832 Mon, 21 Jan 2008 09:46:01 -0800
author: Patricia McCormick
name: Katie
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 01/08
date added: 01/21/08
shelves: asia
review:
I liked the poetic style in which this book was written and it was a quick read that drew me in. I can't really say that books about sex trafficking in nepal are enjoyable, it was actually pretty painful and depressing. but life can be painful and depressing, and i'm glad i read the book because the issues are very real and something that needs to be paid attention to.
]]> 12169563 Sun, 20 Jan 2008 09:16:52 -0800
author: Charles R. Cross
name: Katie
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at: 01/08
date added: 01/20/08
shelves:
review:
i decided to read this book after i saw a memorial to kurt cobain carved in a picnic table at the park. not really knowing that much about kurt cobain or nirvana, i wanted to know what all the fuss was about. i found the book to be a little slow at the beginning, but i ended up really liking it. i got really interested in kurt cobain's life. i was very disturbed by some of ths things he did and said, but when he started the downward sprial of heroin addiction it just made me really sad and i really felt for him. i was crying by the end of it. while the book kept me interested, i'm not sure i'd really recommend this book to anyone unless they were really a kurt cobain fan.
]]> 10380432 Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:42:21 -0800
author: Fauziya Kassindja
name: Katie
average rating: 4.41
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at: 01/08
date added: 01/14/08
shelves:
review:
This book made me really interested in the process of claiming asylum. I've never thought much about asylum, but reading a personal account of someone suffering through the process really made me more interested in learning more about those seeking asylum. i went through a phase of reading a lot of books written by and about people in prison, all of which have been depressing to read, but her story added a whole new dimension. she had to suffer all of horrible things that happen in prison without even having a complete understanding of united states culture. i hope that everything she suffered through really did help other women who are claiming asylum for gender based persecution.
]]> 10347748 Sat, 12 Jan 2008 09:53:50 -0800
author: Shane Claiborne
name: Katie
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 01/08
date added: 01/12/08
shelves:
review:
I really appreciate what the author is doing with his life, and the way he is choosing to live his life. the book really challenged me to think a lot about the choices i am making. i really liked what he had to say about experiencing more joy in life. at times it was a bit too jesusy for me, but as becky said, if it that is what motivates people then i am all about it. and i do appreciate the fact that he was loud and proud about his christianity because i think that sometimes liberals who are christians can downplay their belief in jesus to be more inclusive of other faiths. both options definately have their value and it's nice to read a book where someone is really proclaiming his beliefs unapologetically.
]]> 10361963 Sun, 06 Jan 2008 19:09:17 -0800
author: Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
name: Katie
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1999
rating: 2
read at: 01/08
date added: 01/06/08
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animal behavior has been fascinating to me recently, so i was very interested in the premise of this book. i was very disappointed. the book was very poorly organized. unorganized writing usually doesn't bother me too much, but this was such a random collection of stories about animals that i had a hard time understanding what he was getting at. i like what he has to say about the role of human fathers, but nothing he said about non-human fathers did anything to support his ideas about human fathering. he made a lot of statements about animals falling in love, feeling sad, making choices, etc. that i don't necissarily disagree with, but the way he presented them seemed out of place and unconvincing. i'm not sure why i gave the book two stars instead of one. there was some interesting information about animal behavior, and i guess i just appreciate the fact that the author it trying to get a better grasp on fatherhood.
]]> 11832086 Sun, 06 Jan 2008 18:49:17 -0800
author: Esther Hoskins Forbes
name: Katie
average rating: 3.58
book published: 1943
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 01/06/08
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]]> 11832073 Sun, 06 Jan 2008 18:49:11 -0800
author: Jack London
name: Katie
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2003
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 01/06/08
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]]> 11792872 Sun, 06 Jan 2008 11:29:57 -0800
author: Jack London
name: Katie
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1970
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 01/06/08
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]]> 11788894 Sun, 06 Jan 2008 10:33:46 -0800
author: Michael Moore
name: Katie
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2002
rating: 3
read at: 06/03
date added: 01/06/08
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]]> 10381812 Sat, 05 Jan 2008 16:37:12 -0800
author: Mary Stewart
name: Katie
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1970
rating: 3
read at: 01/08
date added: 01/05/08
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this book wasn't bad, but i was disappointed. i really like the king arthur legend, but for some reason i had a really hard time paying attention to what was happening, especially during all talk about war, politics, etc. i found myself skimming a lot of the book waiting to get to something interesting. it was nice to read a book about the king arthur legend from the point of view of merlin. i would like to read the next books in the series that actually take place during the lifetime of arthur. but they aren't at the top of my list.
]]> 11243473 Sat, 29 Dec 2007 17:53:11 -0800
author: E.F. Schumacher
name: Katie
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1973
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 12/29/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 11091255 Thu, 27 Dec 2007 11:01:54 -0800