bookshelves: fiction
This book felt intimate and true in the important ways. It reminded me what I like and what I don't like about life--the uncertainty and feeling of insecurity side by side with a sense of possibility and pure kismet. If only we knew what was around the corner--what was going to happen--would we be happier or less so? In this case, someone helped with the steering in the beginning, making some unimagined goals possible. It is so thrilling when this happens, before life comes back to assail one with constraints and doubts. I really liked this book--I think I originally gave it 3 stars because I didn't like losing the sense of opportunity that the start promised. I wanted all fiction and less truth, perhaps. ]]>
Yes, you can highlight and mark passages and make notes. You can read any epub format, download pdf files, lend to a friend for 2 weeks. You can see the cover (!) in color--that is very big with me. I love covers. You can delete it from your nook to make space, but it stays in your virtual library with your notes. Pretty cool. Or you can move it to a chip if you want it off your main machine. The 2 gb drive holds 1500 books, though. I don't think I'm going to have a problem unless I use it for work. ]]>
bookshelves: to-read
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bookshelves: to-read
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by Lauren Ulm
I haven't read all the comments above yet but will when I have time. I will check out the book, however. ]]>
Trish
read and liked
Lee's
review of Vegan Yum Yum: Decadent (But Doable) Animal-Free Recipes for Entertaining and Everyday:
"The recipes are delicious and simple. I have tried several and not been disapointed. The Hurry Up Alfredo Sauce on p. 195 is absolutely scrumptious! Thankfully there is a photo accompanying each recipe. "
"The recipes are delicious and simple. I have tried several and not been disapointed. The Hurry Up Alfredo Sauce on p. 195 is absolutely scrumptious! Thankfully there is a photo accompanying each recipe. "
by Jake Adelstein
Nice to hear from you again, Merry. Hope your Thanksgiving is merry. ]]>
bookshelves: asia, biography, nonfiction
Jake Adelstein is some kind of guy. This story is as much about him as it is about the sex industry in Tokyo. I mean, really, what kind of guy would have the hutzpah to study Japanese and then apply to be a newspaper journalist at the most prestigious newspaper in Japan? He downplays but admits to crushing difficulties, at least difficulties that would crush most of us. But perhaps you've met his kind--bold, bright, talkative, confident, curious, unimpressed. I have. I just never thought we'd get to see inside the head of one as much as we do in this revealing memoir about his work for the newspaper, working closely with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department to uncover crimes in "vice." Not only do we learn how newspapers work in Japan, we learn a bit about how the police works, how the sex industry works, and finally, how the gangsters, or yakuza work. This is an Iron and Silk for grownups. Total immersion into an Asian culture and well-written enough to serve as an introduction to outsiders.
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Trish
read and liked
Steve's
review of Facing the Congo:
"Tayler decides to travel by pirogue down the Congo River from Kisangani to Kinshasa, but realizes that much like Henry Morton Stanley before him (the last person to complete such a journey) he has made the trip for all the wrong reasons. The book se...more "
"Tayler decides to travel by pirogue down the Congo River from Kisangani to Kinshasa, but realizes that much like Henry Morton Stanley before him (the last person to complete such a journey) he has made the trip for all the wrong reasons. The book se...more "
"At least Tayler had the good sense to be a little embarrassed to be making such a journey in the face of the soul-destroying poverty & ruin."
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