false 27 139 83 true 5872969 read 4 true 34642 currently-reading 52 true 34641 to-read 4 false 1685783 i-ll-finish-these-someday- 2 false 161892 sobadijustcouldntfinish http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/71824408 beth's review of Autobiography of a Fat Bride: True Tales of a Pretend Adulthood
by Laurie Notaro

This was seriously a funny read! I have all of her books- although I leant a few out. Let me know if you want to borrow others! ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/71453120 New Moon (Twilight Saga, #2) by Stephenie Meyer
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/71453007 to: Twilight (Twilight Saga #1) by Stephenie Meyer
Dear lord, what have I become? I really couldn't put it down. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/71452617 to: The World Without Us (Hardcover) by Alan Weisman
Interesting, but not particularly well researched or well written. I file this in the same genre of pop/natural science a la Jared Diamond. As an archaeologist, it just hard to read solipsizing dumbed down treatises on how the collapse of the Mayan civilization fortells the collaps of our own. Now, Teo... that's a different story.

I did, however, enjoy the chapters on nuclear waste and plastic. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/71452377 to: Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories (Paperback) by Chuck Palahniuk
I think Palahniuk is not really my cup of tea. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/851013 to: Housekeeping: A Novel (Paperback) by Marilynne Robinson
Modern classic. This is the book that I would write, if I could write. I absolutely loved it- the imagery, the simplicity, the longing of its characters. This is Robinson's first novel, and she waited over twenty years to write Gilead, her second. If it's anything like Housekeeping, I'm sure it will have been worth the wait. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/65067192 Why We Buy: The Science Of Shopping (Paperback) by Paco Underhill
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/60078574 to: Vanity Fair (Paperback) by William Makepeace Thackeray
Wow. Sometimes classics are classics for the best of reasons. Thackeray's characters are truly timeless- Becky Sharpe alone ranks among the top 10 notorious women of late twentieth century literature. Thackeray originally published Vanity Fair as a serial, not unlike many of Dickens' works. The benefit to the modern audience? Each chapter is its own well-developed and intriguing read, complete with cliff-hanger. Hard to put down, but easy to pick right back up after a few days hiatus. I really loved this book! ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/57960460 beth's review of Twilight (Twilight Saga #1)
by Stephenie Meyer

okay, I'm intrigued. Do you own this- I just can't bring myself to buy it. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/10833241 to: A Year Without "Made in China": One Family's True Life Adventure in the Global Economy (Hardcover) by Sara Bongiorni
This book was truly disappointing. The premise of the book: Sara Bongiorni chronicles her family's experiences eschewing goods made in China for an entire year. In order for this concept to work, Ms. Bongiorni should have interspersed her own experiences and observations on the difficulty of avoiding Chinese-manufactured projects with some solid analysis of China's role in the global economy. Had she done so, there might have been some value or substance to her book. However, what she has produced is a rather whiney and uninteresting account of a year in the typical suburban family's life. This book is like reading the diary of a very nice, but very uninteresting friend. Why bother?

As an aside, the Bongiorni family's solution to evading the pitfalls of "Made in China" is to create rules for their family in which it becomes okay to simply ask other family members for "gifts" of Chinese-made products, or to simply buy products from other third world countries with appallingly lax labor laws. She virtually ignores the fact that the internet now provides consumers with LOADS of truly made-in-the-usa items- not to mention farmers markets and other local businesses. While heaping platitudes upon herself for martyring herself for this project, Ms. Bongiorni never once addresses the true problem of American consumerism- the lure of cheap merchandise from big box stores. As such, her vapid attempts to find plastic halloween decorations at Target that are NOT made in China just miss the mark... as does the book itself. ]]>