http://www.goodreads.com/review/list_rss/893941 en-US Sun, 30 Mar 2008 22:17:08 -0700 60 http://www.goodreads.com/ 200 41 http://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/gr_logo.gif 19065935 Sun, 30 Mar 2008 22:17:08 -0700
author: Paul Fleischman
name: LisaRose
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 03/30/08
shelves: young-adult
review:

]]> 15066699 Sat, 29 Mar 2008 18:05:37 -0700
Canon created characters of depth, who withstood cruelty with dignity, and who learned to control their destinies with grace and beauty. A lovely, triumphant novel. It gives me hope.]]>
author: James Cañón
name: LisaRose
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 08/07
date added: 03/29/08
shelves: dystopian-fiction, latin-american-authors
review:
This is a story about finding one's identity and humanity. Just what can we endure when all that we know, all that has been culturally engrained, has been brutally ripped from us? That's one of the questions that Tales seems to answer. James Canon's style is elegant and lyrical, yet he never allows his reader to forget there is a war going on. And while the war is the backdrop for the overall plot development, it's the small battles, told in the tales of the widows and the chronicles of the men, the victories and defeats, about which we truly care.

Canon created characters of depth, who withstood cruelty with dignity, and who learned to control their destinies with grace and beauty. A lovely, triumphant novel. It gives me hope.
]]> 18901396 Fri, 28 Mar 2008 23:29:22 -0700
This is one I will read again. ]]>
author: V. Grant
name: LisaRose
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at: 01/06
date added: 03/28/08
shelves: satire, young-adult
review:
There's so much to discuss about a psychotic, abusive, potty~mouthed, puppet with an inferiority complex and mechanism issues, where does one begin? Bitsie the puppet is alive, insane, and makes Telly's life as hellacious as her older sister Bess did before Telly was shipped away for the summer. In one madcap adventure after another, Telly finds out who she really is, and how she fits in a world of misfits.

This is one I will read again.
]]> 15067342 Mon, 24 Mar 2008 19:18:09 -0700
Additionally, the legalese, real estate jargon, medical and gangsta vernacular could serve to put off some readers. The nearly~formulaic conclusion was a predictably happily ever after that serves as a bit of a let down.

Is it worth the read? Sure. It shouldn't take too long to meander through and the assortment of characters is certainly worth it.]]>
author: Colin Harrison
name: LisaRose
average rating: 3.00
book published: 2003
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 03/24/08
shelves:
review:
At times brutal, at times quixotic, this novel by Colin Harrison is always a quirky little read. The sometimes~tough~to~follow plot weaves in and out of many places in New York City and Long Island making both an integral part of the story. Had I not had the benefit of growing up in NYC, I don't think I could have followed the story as well as I did.

Additionally, the legalese, real estate jargon, medical and gangsta vernacular could serve to put off some readers. The nearly~formulaic conclusion was a predictably happily ever after that serves as a bit of a let down.

Is it worth the read? Sure. It shouldn't take too long to meander through and the assortment of characters is certainly worth it.
]]> 15067018 Mon, 24 Mar 2008 19:07:56 -0700
author: Isabel Allende
name: LisaRose
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2002
rating: 2
read at: 01/07
date added: 03/24/08
shelves: latin-american-authors
review:
As an Isabel Allende fan, I found Portrait in Sepia disappointing. Yes, it was lyrical, but not quite; yes, the characters were developed, but not quite; yes, it had moments of sexual tension (when is Allende just gonna take the leap into erotica for crying out loud!), but not quite...everything in this novel was not quite. I've come to expect so much more from Allende and Portrait in Sepia did not deliver.
]]> 16368158 Sun, 23 Mar 2008 12:23:13 -0700
I'm reading it for my book club and ugh! It's plod, plod, plod, trudge, trudge, trudge...one voice for all the main characters, and a simplistic writing style. My fourth graders wrote this way. There's no depth to or challenge in the ideas. While I understand it's a family history/history of the Mexican Revolution & migration of Mexicans into the United States, I believe the writing could have been much more dynamic. Phrases such as "Lupe found her truelove," make me want to gag.

Update:

I've just completed my reading of this tome (and it was a TOME). The author displayed a truly crisp writing style in his 6 1/2 pages of notes. I suspect he didn't need 552 pages to tell his story...perhaps 252..?]]>
author: Víctor E. Villaseñor
name: LisaRose
average rating: 4.46
book published: 1992
rating: 1
read at: 03/08
date added: 03/23/08
shelves: latin-american-authors
review:
Just not getting all the great reviews for this book.

I'm reading it for my book club and ugh! It's plod, plod, plod, trudge, trudge, trudge...one voice for all the main characters, and a simplistic writing style. My fourth graders wrote this way. There's no depth to or challenge in the ideas. While I understand it's a family history/history of the Mexican Revolution & migration of Mexicans into the United States, I believe the writing could have been much more dynamic. Phrases such as "Lupe found her truelove," make me want to gag.

Update:

I've just completed my reading of this tome (and it was a TOME). The author displayed a truly crisp writing style in his 6 1/2 pages of notes. I suspect he didn't need 552 pages to tell his story...perhaps 252..?
]]> 18349453 Fri, 21 Mar 2008 20:19:25 -0700
author: Sharon Creech
name: LisaRose
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 01/04
date added: 03/21/08
shelves: young-adult
review:
This book will touch your heart for so many reasons. I enjoy Creech's writing because it is quick, poignant, honest, and profound. I had tears streaming down my face as I read through the novel. I want to read it again, but I can't. I cry every time I try.
]]> 18349380 Fri, 21 Mar 2008 20:13:27 -0700
author: Barbara Kingsolver
name: LisaRose
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1992
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 03/21/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 15465104 Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:34:46 -0800
author: Gary Paulsen
name: LisaRose
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 01/07
date added: 02/20/08
shelves: young-adult
review:

]]> 15066791 Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:30:32 -0800
author: Alfredo Vea
name: LisaRose
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1994
rating: 1
read at: 11/07
date added: 02/20/08
shelves: latin-american-authors
review:
Somebody, please, explain to me the hypnotic effect this book seems to have on so many. I just don't see it. It is beyond slow, it is plodding. There are too many one~dimensional characters. I got two~thirds through and had enough! Hardly a marvel.
]]> 15466127 Thu, 14 Feb 2008 21:34:22 -0800
author: Sandra Cisneros
name: LisaRose
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1995
rating: 4
read at: 02/08
date added: 02/14/08
shelves: latin-american-authors, poetry
review:
I love contemporary poetry and Sandra Cisneros has some of the best out there. It is complex, raw, sexy, biting, in~your~face, unashamed, and oh so many more superlatives. "Loose Woman" affects me on many levels ~ exactly what good art should do.
]]> 15372324 Wed, 13 Feb 2008 18:59:25 -0800
author: Kathleen O'Reilly
name: LisaRose
average rating: 2.88
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 02/08
date added: 02/13/08
shelves: satire
review:

]]> 15066846 Wed, 13 Feb 2008 18:55:26 -0800
author: Junot Díaz
name: LisaRose
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 12/07
date added: 02/13/08
shelves: latin-american-authors
review:
This was a stunning novel albeit challenging with so many allusions to so many other realms about which I am unfamiliar. Of the Trujillo days, I am vaguely aware. I know nothing of comic book heros and heroines, and slightly more about computer gaming. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao was a crash course in all of these entertwined with ghetto life and a family saga. Delicious.
]]> 15067062 Sun, 10 Feb 2008 12:19:31 -0800
author: Sandra Cisneros
name: LisaRose
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1991
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 02/10/08
shelves: latin-american-authors, young-adult
review:

]]> 15066982 Sun, 10 Feb 2008 12:18:59 -0800
author: Christopher Moore
name: LisaRose
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 02/10/08
shelves: satire
review:

]]> 15066614 Sun, 10 Feb 2008 12:16:03 -0800
author: Harper Lee
name: LisaRose
average rating: 4.37
book published: 1960
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 02/10/08
shelves: young-adult
review:

]]> 15066607 Sun, 10 Feb 2008 12:16:00 -0800
author: J.D. Salinger
name: LisaRose
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1945
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 02/10/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 15066601 Sun, 10 Feb 2008 12:15:57 -0800
author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
name: LisaRose
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1925
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 02/10/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 15066577 Sun, 10 Feb 2008 12:15:49 -0800
author: George Orwell
name: LisaRose
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 02/10/08
shelves: dystopian-fiction
review:

]]> 15066560 Sun, 10 Feb 2008 12:15:41 -0800
author: William Golding
name: LisaRose
average rating: 3.63
book published: 1954
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 02/10/08
shelves: dystopian-fiction, young-adult
review:

]]> 15066547 Sun, 10 Feb 2008 12:15:38 -0800
author: John Steinbeck
name: LisaRose
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1937
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 02/10/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 15066477 Sun, 10 Feb 2008 12:15:09 -0800
author: Margaret Atwood
name: LisaRose
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1986
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 02/10/08
shelves: dystopian-fiction
review:

]]> 15066453 Sun, 10 Feb 2008 12:14:55 -0800
author: Lois Lowry
name: LisaRose
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 02/10/08
shelves: dystopian-fiction, young-adult
review:

]]>