false 29 35 30 true 5710151 read 2 true 4453114 currently-reading 3 true 4453113 to-read http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/70657082 to: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Paperback) by Mary Ann Shaffer
Read this by the pool on a weekend getaway to Palm Springs and it was perfect. Great writing, wonderful characters, completely engrossing. Light but not fluff. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/70657047 A Gate at the Stairs (Hardcover) by Lorrie Moore
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/63685684 The Time Traveler's Wife (Paperback) by Audrey Niffenegger
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/59194552 to: The Elegance of the Hedgehog (Paperback) by Muriel Barbery
To a work of literature that first has the audacity to claim, “Language is a bountiful gift and its usage, an elaboration of community and society, is a sacred work,” and then assert that “the misuse of punctuation constitutes an instance of blasphemy,” and finally conclude that the perpetrator of a single misplaced comma “deserves to die,” well (COMMA), I have only one reply: the inclusion of an improper article on page 153 is a far more egregious affront to “the sacred rhythm of life” and the grammatical sensibilities of this humble reader.

Let me quote from the book: “…but in fact we are filled with a unfamiliar blissfulness…”

A UNFAMILIAR BLISSFULNESS!!!

For the sake of the translator and the editor, I can only hope that this was the unforgivable oversight of a lowly freelance typesetter, lest the auteur commit every (no doubt privileged) employee of the Europa Editions publishing house in New York City to the guillotine.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog jackknifes from a pretentious pseudo-philosophical screed to a sentimental and formulaic dénouement. In a word, awful.


]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/53597329 Diana's review of The Elegance of the Hedgehog
by Muriel Barbery

Good to know. I'm having horrid flashbacks to grad school with all this Kant and Husserl nonsense. "Pretentious" was just the right descriptor for the first half of the book. But I'll power through... ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/58379370 to: Running in the Family (Paperback) by Michael Ondaatje
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/58379010 to: Divisadero (Hardcover) by Michael Ondaatje
I absolutely love Michael Ondaatje and Running in the Family is one of my favorite books of all time. So Divisadero was just a big disappointment. Also, I lived at 267 Divisadero for two years, so I had some expectations that the book would give my old street its due. No such luck. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/57618258 to: The California Surf Project (Hardcover) by Eric Soderquist
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/57618233 to: This Is for You (Hardcover) by Rob Ryan
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