http://www.goodreads.com/review/list_rss/291189 en-US Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:11:39 -0700 60 http://www.goodreads.com/ 200 41 http://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/gr_logo.gif 23724912 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:11:39 -0700
author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
name: Mark
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1961
rating: 5
read at: 07/08
date added: 07/14/08
shelves:
review:
Brilliant writing about incredible ideas!
]]> 18452635 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:10:53 -0700
author: Stephen King
name: Mark
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 06/08
date added: 07/14/08
shelves:
review:
A real pot-boiler, this book is paradoxically perfect for non-Stephen King fans (as it is unlike many of his books) yet could easily be classified as "for fans only." It got really long in the middle and was only tangentially related to the Dark Tower series by the slimmest of pretense. Still - good enough.
]]> 21841368 Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:04:39 -0700
author: John Ruszkiewicz
name: Mark
average rating: 3.00
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at: 07/08
date added: 07/01/08
shelves:
review:
Not bad! (for a textbook)
]]> 21841339 Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:01:12 -0700
author: Chuck Klosterman
name: Mark
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2001
rating: 2
read at: 07/08
date added: 07/01/08
shelves:
review:
Sure, this book really made me laugh at various points. However, although it is supposed to be about "heavy metal" (and I DO like heavy metal) all the bands that he lionizes are shit. I mean really, truly shitty bands that nobody in their right mind should spend an entire book defending, despite some hilarious side remarks about them and other pop culture/music. Klosterman seems aware of this and even reviles in it, but to me it got old fast when I realized he wasn't being ironic. Sorry, Chuck: KISS was never cool.
]]> 23724087 Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:56:01 -0700
author: Frank Norris
name: Mark
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1899
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 06/04/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 19958139 Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:55:37 -0700
author: Oscar Wilde
name: Mark
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1891
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 04/11/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 12560877 Sun, 23 Mar 2008 14:05:38 -0700
author: H. G. Wells
name: Mark
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1895
rating: 4
read at: 03/08
date added: 03/23/08
shelves:
review:
I guess now I am an H.G Wells fan!
]]> 16969960 Tue, 04 Mar 2008 06:53:56 -0800
author: Lewis Carroll
name: Mark
average rating: 4.71
book published: 1982
rating: 5
read at: 01/07
date added: 03/04/08
shelves:
review:
A wonderful edition of some wonderful writing. This version is one of my most prized books as it contains Carroll's original sketchings and several other versions of not just Alice but also his poetry, math problems, and his two novels about the fairy children, Bruno and Sylvie.
]]> 16719526 Tue, 04 Mar 2008 06:49:08 -0800
author: Hitomi Kanehara
name: Mark
average rating: 2.98
book published: 2005
rating: 1
read at: 03/08
date added: 03/04/08
shelves:
review:
This book is fairly raunchy, which I don't have a problem with. Unfortunately, it's also poorly written, which I do have a problem with. Perhaps the New York Times finds this story of BDSM and body modification to be "powerful," but I was unimpressed, having seen it all before. The supreme irony is that this is a book with adult content written by and for young people. The author is an incredibly hot 20-year old from Japan ("the youngest author ever to win Japan's prestigious Akutagawa Prize"), and the cynic in me wonders if this hotness has anything to do with her book's status as an "international bestseller." It gets even worse at the very end of this so-called novel when she introduces an element of mystery so obvious as to be offensively obvious. At just over 100 small pages, the only justification is that one could read this in a single sitting. But why would you in a world with William Faulkner and Dorothy Allison?
]]> 4819138 Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:24:05 -0800
author: Stephen King
name: Mark
average rating: 3.33
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 02/08
date added: 02/29/08
shelves:
review:
Enjoyable enough. King's take on the zombie genre, with a modern twist (the cell phone's did it). The end was a bit infilling, but I'm willing to overlook that considering the fantastic opening scene in which (nearly) everyone in Boston dies violently.
]]> 4818839 Tue, 12 Feb 2008 10:12:15 -0800
author: Cynthia Ozick
name: Mark
average rating: 2.50
book published: 2004
rating: 1
read at: 02/08
date added: 02/12/08
shelves:
review:
What I learned from this book is that I shouldn't try to read thick, Jamesian, gnarled prose as I try to fall asleep at night after reading students' papers all day. I've tried to read this book on-and-off for over a year, but it's just not what I'm looking for; I refuse to slog through another 300 pages when there is a giant list of books I actually want to read and might even enjoy. If I ever get sent to prison, I promise this book will go to the top of my list; then I will read and maybe even enjoy it all day long. Until then, then I've got better things to use my brain for other than glossing 10 archaic words every other page.
]]> 11812573 Tue, 15 Jan 2008 06:11:45 -0800
Of course the book is better than the movies. It was surprising to see how much the movies got so WRONG. In the classic film the martians hover around in those spaceships, but in the book their in walking tripods (a la the Tom Cruise version). Other interesting things about the book were the exploration of the martians' INTENTIONS (unclear, though more than just destroying all humanity) and the exclusive focus on England. Wells is prophetic not just in his mapping of the future realms of science fiction, but also in his depictions of the effects of total war and the ensuing humanitarian disasters.

Highly unrecommended - though I wish I could give half stars, because this is really a 4.5 star book, not 5.

(I forgot my regular book when I went on vacation. Luckily this book was hidden away in one of my bags as a short, small, emergency read. Now back to slogging though the end of that shitty space trilogy by C.S. Lewis...)]]>
author: H. G. Wells
name: Mark
average rating: 3.58
book published: 1898
rating: 5
read at: 02/08
date added: 01/15/08
shelves:
review:
This book was excellent! And we must give "props" to Wells because this is allegedly the first novel ever written about an alien invasion. I was skeptical when I read that claim on the back cover, but Issac Asimov reiterated it in his interesting afterward. He also provides a post-colonial reading in which the Brits seek atonement for their own invasions of the 19th Century.

Of course the book is better than the movies. It was surprising to see how much the movies got so WRONG. In the classic film the martians hover around in those spaceships, but in the book their in walking tripods (a la the Tom Cruise version). Other interesting things about the book were the exploration of the martians' INTENTIONS (unclear, though more than just destroying all humanity) and the exclusive focus on England. Wells is prophetic not just in his mapping of the future realms of science fiction, but also in his depictions of the effects of total war and the ensuing humanitarian disasters.

Highly unrecommended - though I wish I could give half stars, because this is really a 4.5 star book, not 5.

(I forgot my regular book when I went on vacation. Luckily this book was hidden away in one of my bags as a short, small, emergency read. Now back to slogging though the end of that shitty space trilogy by C.S. Lewis...)
]]> 8610463 Sun, 06 Jan 2008 15:53:21 -0800
author: C.S. Lewis
name: Mark
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1990
rating: 1
read at: 02/08
date added: 01/06/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 4819203 Sat, 03 Nov 2007 09:49:44 -0700
author: C.S. Lewis
name: Mark
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1986
rating: 2
read at: 11/07
date added: 11/03/07
shelves:
review:
I gotta say - not very good. The religious yammerin' was bad enough, but then it got predictable. I'm not looking forward to reading the next in the series. On the other hand, it can't be worse. Too bad it's twice as long.
]]> 6938800 Fri, 28 Sep 2007 07:21:37 -0700
author: David McCullough
name: Mark
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 09/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5780400 Thu, 06 Sep 2007 10:50:04 -0700
author: Michael Azerrad
name: Mark
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 09/06/07
shelves:
review:
awesome stuff! econo!!!
]]> 4928066 Wed, 22 Aug 2007 06:31:33 -0700
author: Joseph Conrad
name: Mark
average rating: 3.47
book published: 1896
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/22/07
shelves:
review:
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book that was actually randomly picked from a big shelf of non-American writing. I mean I knew Conrad was good, but know I have a better idea why.
]]> 4927878 Wed, 22 Aug 2007 06:27:12 -0700
author: Chinua Achebe
name: Mark
average rating: 3.69
book published: 1975
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/22/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4846497 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:47:11 -0700
author: William S. Burroughs
name: Mark
average rating: 3.52
book published: 1959
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4846443 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:46:25 -0700
author: William S. Burroughs
name: Mark
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1993
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4846365 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:45:25 -0700
author: Mark Twain
name: Mark
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1884
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4846347 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:45:08 -0700
author: William Golding
name: Mark
average rating: 3.62
book published: 1954
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4846344 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:45:05 -0700
author: Shel Silverstein
name: Mark
average rating: 4.37
book published: 1974
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4846328 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:44:54 -0700
author: J.D. Salinger
name: Mark
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1951
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4846326 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:44:51 -0700
author: Harper Lee
name: Mark
average rating: 4.37
book published: 1960
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4846263 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:44:04 -0700
author: Stephen Crane
name: Mark
average rating: 2.88
book published: 1982
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4846174 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:43:06 -0700
author: Aldous Huxley
name: Mark
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1932
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4845955 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:40:10 -0700
author: Anne Rice
name: Mark
average rating: 3.57
book published: 1992
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4845932 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:39:57 -0700
author: Anne Rice
name: Mark
average rating: 3.58
book published: 1994
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4845923 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:39:53 -0700
author: Anne Rice
name: Mark
average rating: 3.45
book published: 1998
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4845911 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:39:48 -0700
author: Anne Rice
name: Mark
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4845905 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:39:47 -0700
author: Anne Rice
name: Mark
average rating: 3.51
book published: 1995
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4845899 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:39:45 -0700
author: Anne Rice
name: Mark
average rating: 3.37
book published: 1993
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4845894 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:39:44 -0700
author: Anne Rice
name: Mark
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1990
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4845885 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:39:39 -0700
author: Anne Rice
name: Mark
average rating: 3.59
book published: 1988
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4845879 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:39:35 -0700
author: Anne Rice
name: Mark
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1985
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4845876 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:39:33 -0700
author: Anne Rice
name: Mark
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1976
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4845759 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:38:09 -0700
author: Tracy Chevalier
name: Mark
average rating: 3.71
book published: 1999
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:
I have to say, the Deluxe Edition was nice as it had many reproductions of the paintings referred to in the book. Not great writing though.
]]> 4845628 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:36:39 -0700
author: George Orwell
name: Mark
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1934
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4845584 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:36:24 -0700
author: George Orwell
name: Mark
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1949
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:
Fiction that came true. Only a few years late.
]]> 4845516 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:35:12 -0700
author: George Orwell
name: Mark
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1945
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:
As true today as the day it was written...
]]> 4845377 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:34:09 -0700
author: Samuel Beckett
name: Mark
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1994
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:
I know I'm supposed to be a smarty pants English guy, but I literally threw this book across the room. Wasted moments of my life I'll never get back. Insulting to the reader and all humanity.
]]> 4845125 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:29:52 -0700
author: David Eddings
name: Mark
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1989
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4845119 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:29:46 -0700
author: David Eddings
name: Mark
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1989
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4845108 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:29:36 -0700
author: David Eddings
name: Mark
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1988
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4845103 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:29:32 -0700
author: David Eddings
name: Mark
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1991
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4845088 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:29:24 -0700
author: David Eddings
name: Mark
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1987
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4845085 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:29:22 -0700
author: David Eddings
name: Mark
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1995
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4845083 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:29:21 -0700
author: David Eddings
name: Mark
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1997
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4845072 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:29:15 -0700
author: David Eddings
name: Mark
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1983
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4845062 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:29:09 -0700
author: David Eddings
name: Mark
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1984
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4845058 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:29:08 -0700
author: David Eddings
name: Mark
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1982
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4845050 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:29:04 -0700
author: David Eddings
name: Mark
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1982
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4845043 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:28:59 -0700
author: David Eddings
name: Mark
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1984
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4844927 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:27:42 -0700
author: Douglas Adams
name: Mark
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1985
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4844925 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:27:40 -0700
author: Douglas Adams
name: Mark
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4844887 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:26:50 -0700
author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
name: Mark
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1925
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4844786 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:25:38 -0700
author: Douglas Adams
name: Mark
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1979
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4844696 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:24:37 -0700
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Mark
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4844670 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:24:08 -0700
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Mark
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/20/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4844657 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:23:53 -0700