false 3 512 349 true 5789148 read 2 true 3252662 currently-reading 90 true 3252661 to-read 43 true 3397605 young-fav-s 22 true 3693594 storytime-best-of 6 true 3280997 cookbooks 15 false 6803941 biography 10 false 6802868 mysteries-pop-or-series 8 false 6802947 if-i-gave-awards 8 false 3396914 favorite-gentle-reads 4 false 6820212 humor 4 false 6804619 crime-fiction 4 false 3693504 never-finished 4 false 3260499 science 3 false 3281002 hated-it-wish-i-never-saw-it 3 false 6804080 imagery 2 false 3280991 guilty-pleasure 2 false 3491154 might-read 1 false 6804041 sign-language http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/31601625 Prodigal Summer: A Novel (Paperback) by Barbara Kingsolver
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75177709 to: Out Stealing Horses: A Novel (Hardcover) by Per Petterson
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75177659 to: The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America (Audio Cassette) by Erik Larson
If you ever think things were so much better in the old days then you need to read this shocking tale. In the midst of the Chicago worlds fair there was a serial killer operating out of a nearby neighborhood. The Worlds Fair topic is pretty interesting in the bravado of the participants, the huge sums of money involved, and the new inventions. I would have thought the first Ferris wheel was a tiny affair but it was massive with huge cars for hundred people rather than seats. Of course this being the 1890's they have lots of cultural references that are hilarious, such as needing bars in the windows so that hysterical women will not throw themselves off the Ferris wheel. The serial killer thread is true and horrifying and almost drove me from the book when I realized the intent of the killer. Sadly, the naive relatives of his victims never seem to make the connection and swallow stories about disappearances without question. Its an odd book, part horror, part cultural and historical but well written enough to intertwine in a readable way. I would normally never read about a serial killer although I did read the Boston Strangler book by Sebastian Junger. A Death in Belmont. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74328578 to: The Hunger Games (Hunger Games, #1) by Suzanne Collins
bookshelves: young-fav-s
A Bizarre page-turner, couldn't put it down and read in an evening but not sure what to say about it. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/31599952 to: The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story (Paperback) by Diane Ackerman
A complex, multilayered tale that follows the experience of the Warsaw zookeepers during the invasion of Warsaw by Germany. The zookeepers shielded many "guests" escaping detection from the invading German gestapo and army. Diane Ackerman writes with great fluidity and grace, this is not a nazi tale that will leave you in knots but it is unflinching. The zookeepers are an amazing couple, the story educates on many levels and the bizarre nature of the Nazis nationalism is revealed through the interactions with German counterparts from the Dresden zoo. It would be difficult to create a story with this level of detail and not find it improbable but also the true nature mires the story in a vague sort of ending, well you know what happens to the individuals but it's as if the documentation didn't exist so the story line shifts to more historical rather then personal. I didn't mind as I found the Poland information interesting. Maybe real life tends to lack crescendo, especially after such brutal and numbing experiences. - Loved the book, 4, stars, 5 stars, not sure but why be surly and stingy with the stars, and i do love the critters. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/71691348 to: Drinking Coffee Elsewhere (Paperback) by Z.Z. Packer
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/71690955 to: Election (Paperback) by Tom Perrotta
bookshelves: humor
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/71691006 to: Hornet's Nest (Andy Brazil, #1) by Patricia Cornwell
bookshelves: mysteries-pop-or-series
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/70990849 to: The Clothes on Their Backs (Paperback) by Linda Grant
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/31394124 to: The Sea Hunters (Mass Market Paperback) by Clive Cussler
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