http://www.goodreads.com/review/list_rss/119800 en-US Sat, 02 Aug 2008 12:28:33 -0700 60 http://www.goodreads.com/ 200 41 http://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/gr_logo.gif 29063055 Sat, 02 Aug 2008 12:28:33 -0700
author: Gina Kolata
name: Rosemary
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/02/08
shelves: learnalittlesomething
review:
I enjoyed this collection much better than last year's. I did skip Kolbert's and Broad's respective pieces - I need a long break from the global warming debates unless they're strikingly different. I also passed over Gawande's "The Score" having read "Better", in which it appears, and having just re-read this very essay (given to me by my obgyn)right before I got to it in the series. I did happily re-read the piece on Face Blindness. Fascinating. The biggest standout for me, however, was Matthew Chapman's "God or Gorilla." I laughed out loud throughout the essay. Chapman, kind of like David Sedaris, is a master observer who repaints scenes and analyzes 'characters' with stinging wit.
]]> 5305317 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 13:20:55 -0700
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Rosemary
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/29/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5305204 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 13:19:05 -0700
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Rosemary
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1990
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/29/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5305119 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 13:17:52 -0700
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Rosemary
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/29/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5303709 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:54:05 -0700
The Elephant Vanishes was my first taste of Murakami, and it left me mesmerized. Murakami has a genius way of weaving grounded reality with the unearthly. I almost feel like he's personifying psychological processes. It's not just for show. Beyond the often dark undertones I always find hope. Sure, his characters may not always realize the hope, but the glimpses are there for the readers to notice and hold on to. Plus, he's just fun or moving or eerily captivating. It makes for entertaining reading.

You'll find elements and passages from these collected short stories in his novels. Personally, I think it's just another reason why this collection makes for a great introduction to the author.


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author: Haruki Murakami
name: Rosemary
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1993
rating: 5
read at: 01/03
date added: 08/29/07
shelves:
review:
I'd love to have Murakami and David Lynch over for some pasta and pie. I firmly believe that the conversation would be so staggering that my kitchen would implode.

The Elephant Vanishes was my first taste of Murakami, and it left me mesmerized. Murakami has a genius way of weaving grounded reality with the unearthly. I almost feel like he's personifying psychological processes. It's not just for show. Beyond the often dark undertones I always find hope. Sure, his characters may not always realize the hope, but the glimpses are there for the readers to notice and hold on to. Plus, he's just fun or moving or eerily captivating. It makes for entertaining reading.

You'll find elements and passages from these collected short stories in his novels. Personally, I think it's just another reason why this collection makes for a great introduction to the author.



]]> 5303434 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:49:40 -0700
author: Thomas Pynchon
name: Rosemary
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1966
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/29/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5303411 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:49:22 -0700
author: Don DeLillo
name: Rosemary
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1984
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 08/29/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5303399 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:49:13 -0700
author: Zadie Smith
name: Rosemary
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2001
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 08/29/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5303375 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:48:53 -0700
author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
name: Rosemary
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/29/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5303367 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:48:50 -0700
author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
name: Rosemary
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1925
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/29/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5303330 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:48:24 -0700
author: Dan Brown
name: Rosemary
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2003
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 08/29/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5303256 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:47:38 -0700
author: Jonathan Franzen
name: Rosemary
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/29/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5303230 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:47:11 -0700
author: Salman Rushdie
name: Rosemary
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/29/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5303220 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:47:06 -0700
author: Ralph Ellison
name: Rosemary
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1952
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/29/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5290941 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 09:06:00 -0700
The story of Edna is beyond fascinating. This sort-of homely girl from Maine uses her mind and ability to pierce through people's facades to seduce her way through life. But there's so much more to the story. She works hard and deserves her successes. She loves to be loved, cares to be cared for. She can never escape the ingrained fear of destitution and abandonment suffered throughout her childhood. But she also never seems to let go of the wild passion that fills a certain set of intelligent young children. Through her poetry, we see how she eventually tames this sharp pastoral ardor into sometimes subtly bold plays and poems and other writings that touch upon the here and now of her time.

And then there is her mother, her sisters, her friendships, her dalliances, her addictions, sadness, her savage fiery-red beauty.

]]>
author: Nancy Milford
name: Rosemary
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at: 06/07
date added: 08/29/07
shelves:
review:
This is one long book and I wanted more. Not more pages. More poetry. And way more salaciousness. Alas, Nancy Milford is a patient professional who carefully presents well-documented facts with little innuendo.

The story of Edna is beyond fascinating. This sort-of homely girl from Maine uses her mind and ability to pierce through people's facades to seduce her way through life. But there's so much more to the story. She works hard and deserves her successes. She loves to be loved, cares to be cared for. She can never escape the ingrained fear of destitution and abandonment suffered throughout her childhood. But she also never seems to let go of the wild passion that fills a certain set of intelligent young children. Through her poetry, we see how she eventually tames this sharp pastoral ardor into sometimes subtly bold plays and poems and other writings that touch upon the here and now of her time.

And then there is her mother, her sisters, her friendships, her dalliances, her addictions, sadness, her savage fiery-red beauty.


]]> 5289839 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 08:44:24 -0700
author: John Maeda
name: Rosemary
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 08/07
date added: 08/29/07
shelves: learnalittlesomething
review:
Maeda presents his laws of simplicity. I didn't find the book particularly groundbreaking nor very entertaining. Despite this, I still think it's worth reading if you struggle for a sense of simplicity in your work or life. Alternatively, why not head over to www.lawsofsimplicity.com and save the cost of the book? Seriously, Maeda won't mind; he plugs the site every chance he gets throughout the purposefully scant 100 pages.
]]> 5289801 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 08:43:41 -0700
author: Malcolm Gladwell
name: Rosemary
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/29/07
shelves: learnalittlesomething
review:

]]> 5289760 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 08:42:54 -0700
author: Joseph Heller
name: Rosemary
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1961
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/29/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5289747 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 08:42:42 -0700
author: Malcolm Gladwell
name: Rosemary
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/29/07
shelves: learnalittlesomething
review:

]]> 5289732 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 08:42:20 -0700
author: Dave Eggers
name: Rosemary
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2000
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 08/29/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5289721 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 08:41:57 -0700
author: Douglas Coupland
name: Rosemary
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1994
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/29/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5289613 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 08:39:41 -0700
author: Jonathan Safran Foer
name: Rosemary
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/29/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5289602 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 08:39:26 -0700
author: Kurt Vonnegut
name: Rosemary
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1963
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/29/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5289574 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 08:38:53 -0700
author: Daniel Gilbert
name: Rosemary
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/29/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5289559 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 08:38:41 -0700
author: Atul Gawande
name: Rosemary
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 08/29/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5289557 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 08:38:40 -0700
author: Atul Gawande
name: Rosemary
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 08/29/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5289541 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 08:38:26 -0700
author: Michael Chabon
name: Rosemary
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 08/29/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5289527 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 08:38:14 -0700
author: Gary Shteyngart
name: Rosemary
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/29/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5289511 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 08:37:44 -0700
author: Jeanette Winterson
name: Rosemary
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1987
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 08/29/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5289394 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 08:35:34 -0700
author: Jonathan Safran Foer
name: Rosemary
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/29/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1726129 Wed, 06 Jun 2007 16:00:46 -0700
author: Richard P. Feynman
name: Rosemary
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1985
rating: 3
read at: 01/07
date added: 06/06/07
shelves:
review:
It took me a while to get into this book. The bare bones writing style felt cold and pretentious at first. Ironic I suppose. But Feynman gets naked and shines because that's just who he is. Eventually I was laughing out loud and fighting urges to find bongos. (book suggested by MdM)
]]> 1716109 Wed, 06 Jun 2007 11:24:13 -0700
All said, this was the best Ukraine guide book we could find. Plus, 'change' and 'development' are juggernauts -- beasts in themselves -- in Ukraine. I'm sure it's a challenge to write a proper guide in a place evolving so quickly.

My suggestion: head online. Visit the travel boards, Lonely Planet has one. Read up on other people's recent travels and post questions before you go. Once there, try to connect with the locals and get suggestions. When back, post then post some more about your experience. (Although, I haven't been good about this.)]]>
author: Sarah Johnstone
name: Rosemary
average rating: 3.00
book published: 2005
rating: 2
read at: 05/07
date added: 06/06/07
shelves: travelguides
review:
I'm usually a fan of Lonely Planet guide books, but this one was very disappointing. It's very smug. It only gives phrases in Ukrainian, though Russian is widely used. And it leaves out important basics: don't get your own at kiosks, to get [here], take a left outside of Metro and walk 15 minutes, go underground to cross street, etc. Spent most of the time in Kiev. I was disappointed with a lot of the suggestions.

All said, this was the best Ukraine guide book we could find. Plus, 'change' and 'development' are juggernauts -- beasts in themselves -- in Ukraine. I'm sure it's a challenge to write a proper guide in a place evolving so quickly.

My suggestion: head online. Visit the travel boards, Lonely Planet has one. Read up on other people's recent travels and post questions before you go. Once there, try to connect with the locals and get suggestions. When back, post then post some more about your experience. (Although, I haven't been good about this.)
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