false 40 626 459 true 5627209 read 4 true 3423374 currently-reading 163 true 3423373 to-read 213 false 3656532 africa 53 false 3784304 british-classics 53 false 4948531 kenya 47 false 4358875 children-s-picture-books-africa 42 false 4125623 travel 31 false 3931964 fun-mysteries 24 false 4280598 family-read-alouds 23 false 5009212 19th-century-british 22 false 3784215 india 21 false 3899920 popular-science 19 false 4189084 memoir 18 false 3913701 literary-criticism 16 false 4117395 american-classics 14 false 3784142 african-diaspora 14 false 4117409 religion 14 false 4117406 anthropology 13 false 4117419 american-history 13 false 4453718 midwest-rural 13 false 4117553 world-history 9 false 5435499 nigeria 8 false 5379798 east-africa 7 false 3904938 biracial-issues 5 false 4312898 geography 5 false 4846152 asia 4 false 3784279 music 4 false 3904937 african-american 4 false 4217719 really-funny 4 false 4208516 china 3 false 4501915 dnf 3 false 4280553 funny 3 false 5566441 20th-century-british 2 false 5874954 environment 2 false 4564655 poetry 2 false 4608539 world-fiction 1 false 7283722 u-s--immigrants 1 false 5527261 american-politics--general http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78726296 to: Falling Apart in One Piece: One Optimist's Journey Through the Hell of Divorce (Hardcover) by Stacy Morrison
There are about 20-30 pages of really good material in this book, but I'm just not able to feel exceptionally sympathetic for a narrator who moans about the difficulties of being a single mother but who has a full time nanny, whose ex takes her child not only on a regular basis but overnight. Do I care if her ski vacation is ruined by her ex's text messages? Nah. Do I care that she's worried about how she's going to pay back the FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS her parents loan her to do home repairs? Nah. Do I care that she has to take a taxi to Manhattan in order to get prompt emergency room treatment when her toddler does a face plant and needs stitches? Maybe a little. Too many problems I just can't relate to. The good bits are when she explores her fears of lose of identity. Heck, if I had this kind of money, I kinda think it would be easy to be optimistic. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/62178004 to: Confessions (World's Classics) by Augustine of Hippo
bookshelves: religion
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78726208 Taste of Ethnographic Things: The Senses in Anthropology (Contemporary Ethnography Series) by Paul Stoller
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78726156 Jaguar: A Story of Africans in America (Paperback) by Paul Stoller
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/217711-general-chit-chat-and-information-part-2 Andrea made a comment in the Victorians! group:

I was in Kenya with my husband and kids in 1998, when the U.S. embassy in Nairobi was bombed and we were bumped off our flight back to U.S. The village we were staying in (we got out of Nairobi mighty fast) didn't have any working phones and no email in those days. I ended up finding a business card of an acquaintance in my wallet that included his fax number. Somebody knew of a Swedish aid agency that had a fax machine and I sent this guy a fax asking him to call my parents and tell them I was okay. It was one of the big adventures of my life, frankly, but I think my parents could have done with a little less excitement. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/242298-week-9-through-jean-valjean-book-3 Andrea made a comment in the Classics and the Western Canon group:

Sandybanks wrote: "Peregrine wrote: "Laurele wrote: "Sandybanks wrote: Here JVJ takes the role of Bishop Myriel, a saintly man who is willing to lay down his life for his friends, and through his act of mercy on Jave..."
It seems that different translations might end the books at different points? That doesn't seem right, but my book seemed to end at the same point as Sandybanks.
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/90445-please-introduce-yourself Andrea made a comment in the The History Book Club group:

Hi Mark, welcome to the group. What did your club read for the break up of the Ottoman Empire? ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/241497-5-no-ordinary-time-chapter-6-7-137-189-11-16-09-11-22-09 Andrea made a comment in the The History Book Club group:

It just makes me so sad to read about the racism in America. IMO, so much seems to be gaining confidence again today that I never thought I would see. Eleanor was so committed to her belief that the rights of minorities mattered even in times of other crises. One of her admirable qualities was to see how important it was to preserve American values of tolerance, even in the face of other problems. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/126901-introducing-ourselves Andrea made a comment in the Victorians! group:

Hey Shannon, I've got South Africa V1 Collection Of British Authors Tauchnitz Edition by Trollope on my TBR pile. Can't say the bit of read is too exciting, but I keep thinking I'll come back to it. It's always interesting to see how people of another time viewed the world and what they predicted for the future, so often wrongly.

Welcome, also, to Mimi. I'm hoping to read more Gaskell, as I like the little I have read so far. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/event/show/61280-the-history-book-club-new-presidential-series-book-discussion-begins Andrea said "maybe" to attending the event: THE HISTORY BOOK CLUB - NEW PRESIDENTIAL SERIES BOOK DISCUSSION BEGINS.
date: February 01, 2010 08:00AM
location: The United States
description: The History Book Club is currently reading A. Lincoln by Ronald C. White as part of its Presidential Series discussion and our spotlighted book is currently No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front to World War II by Doris Kearns Goodwin. This event notification is, however, for the February/March/April selection in the Presidential Series titled American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson by Joseph J. Ellis which was the WINNER of the 1997 - National Book Awards...more The History Book Club is currently reading A. Lincoln by Ronald C. White as part of its Presidential Series discussion and our spotlighted book is currently No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front to World War II by Doris Kearns Goodwin. This event notification is, however, for the February/March/April selection in the Presidential Series titled American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson by Joseph J. Ellis which was the WINNER of the 1997 - National Book Awards. Bruce Staples in his review wrote: The biographies of Jefferson already are legion. But Joseph J. Ellis's ''American Sphinx'' is a brief and elegant return to Monticello. Mr. Ellis, a professor of history at Mount Holyoke College, is a remarkably clear writer, mercifully free of both the groveling and the spirit of attack that have dominated the subject in the past.

As a biographer of John Adams, he is well suited to this mission. Adams was Jefferson's predecessor in the White House, his bitter rival in his middle years and his confidant toward the end, when both became aware of what the union and their friendship would mean for posterity.

''American Sphinx'' is fresh and uncluttered but rich in historical context.

Mr. Ellis reminds us that Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence while still a foppish young man with limited political skill. He was congenitally shy about speaking in public, even while the Continental Congress debated and edited his prized declaration. John Adams said, ''During the whole time I sat with him in Congress, I never heard him utter three sentences together.''

We hope you can join us for this book discussion beginning February 1, 2010.(less)
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