false 6 253 191 true 5726356 read 2 true 3658079 currently-reading 60 true 3658078 to-read http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76183309 Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest (Millennium, #3) by Stieg Larsson
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73233358 to: The Demon of Dakar: A Mystery (Ann Lindell Mysteries) by Kjell Eriksson
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75220929 The Accidental Masterpiece: On the Art of Life and Vice Versa (Paperback) by Michael Kimmelman
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74998988 Bicycle Diaries (Hardcover) by David Byrne
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73553159 to: Monologue of a Dog (Hardcover) by Wisława Szymborska
Fabulous poems that strike a chord and open up new vistas of perception. They beg to be reread. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73533242 to: Do Not Deny Me: Stories (Paperback) by Jean Thompson
I just couldn't get involved in this book. I found a few stories I could get through, grudgingly, but most were beyond me. It was not that the writing was bad, it wasn't, but that the stories seemed pointless and the characters meant nothing: conventional, predictable, self-absorbed, flat or without purpose. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73533199 to: South of Broad (Paperback) by Pat Conroy
Actual rating about 3.75 so I'll round it up to 4. I have read every one of Pat Conroy's novels and think he is a master storyteller and his prose is beautiful as usual. That said, this is not one of his best novels. Although the writing is gorgeous, the story is a bit more heavy handed than usual even for Conroy and has some major flaws, but it remains a compelling and enjoyable book to read. I highly recommend it; flawed Conroy remains superior to so much fiction available on the market. As usual, the characters will stay with me for a quite a while. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/72583581 to: Let the Great World Spin: A Novel (Hardcover) by Colum McCann
Four and a half stars, actual. This is the first book I have read by this author. It is beautifully written; the characters are well drawn; it was a joy to read. The author has described a time and a place not directly, but indirectly through a series of vignettes. You see New York in 1974 through events in the lives of a series of New Yorkers, not related, but all connected, even indirectly, by the event of the day: Phillipe Petit's hire wire walk between the Twin Towers. The novel is masterful and evocative, and is bound to stay with me for some time. Some of the individual stories are weaker than others and there are a few missteps, but overall the novel was a joy to read. Some might be put off by the fact that there is no central plot, no direct story, but rather the story is told by anecdote, a good bit of hyperbole and the intersection of seemingly disparate lives. I rather liked the ending, although it may be seen as a weak point in the book, tying things up almost too neatly. I see it as just bringing home the point; fiction is not often best served by subtlety.
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73553031 From Eve to Dawn A History of Women in the World: Origins: From Prehistory to the First Millennium (A History of Women) by Marilyn French
bookshelves: to-read
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