Maura's profile

35 ratings | 9 reviews
avg rating: 3.26

Maura's bookshelves

read (34)
currently-reading (2)

to-read (0)
keepitonhand (10)

notkeepingitaround (5)
re-reading (1)

abysmal (0)

cloud shelves | see all bookshelves »

Maura is currently reading

	09/02 Maura gave to: Hong Kong: A Jake Grafton Novel (Hardcover) by Stephen Coonts bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating:
	read in August, 2007 add a comment
	08/07 Maura is currently reading: Out of Africa and Shadows on the Grass (Paperback) by Isak Dinesen bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating:
	add a comment

Maura's recent updates (rss)

July 23

Maura gave

to:
Water for Elephants (Paperback)
by Sara Gruen

my rating:

Maura said: "Beautiful prose, interesting story, good use of interrupted chronology. "

add a comment

Maura gave

to:
The Widow (Mass Market Paperback)
by Carla Neggers

my rating:

Maura said: "Predictable. "

add a comment

Maura gave

to:
A Cold Day In Hell (Mass Market Paperback)
by Stella Cameron

my rating:

Maura said: "Trashy romance novel VERY thinly veiled as a mystery story. "

add a comment

New comment on Maura's review of The Da Vinci Code

Maura wrote: "I agree that there's a reason that type of novel attains "success, acclaim, and sales." I...more "

(see all 4 comments)

June 09

Maura gave

to:
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5)
by J.K. Rowling
bookshelves: keepitonhand

my rating:

recommended for: children, adults interested in fantasy
read in July, 2007

Maura said: "My favorite of the Potter series. Though I was very often annoyed with Harry during the story, it was for a very realistic reason. Harry spends much of the story feeling misunderstood, and venting his ire on those closest to him. Now, while it is ...more "

add a comment

September 02

Maura gave

to:
Hong Kong: A Jake Grafton Novel (Hardcover)
by Stephen Coonts
bookshelves: currently-reading

my rating:

read in August, 2007

add a comment

August 13

Maura gave

to:
House of Sand and Fog (Paperback)
by Andre Dubus III
bookshelves: notkeepingitaround

my rating:

read in June, 2003

add a comment

August 07

Maura is currently reading:
Out of Africa and Shadows on the Grass (Paperback)
by Isak Dinesen
bookshelves: currently-reading

my rating:

add a comment

July 30

Maura gave

to:
The Da Vinci Code (Paperback)
by Dan Brown

my rating:

recommended for: someone interested in a completely mindless beach read
read in July, 2006

Maura said: "I've finally started reading that ever so controversial best-seller by Dan Brown. Actually, not reading it, listening to it while driving around Lansing, MI. This book seems to have changed the minds of many Catholics (my grandfather included) and ...more I've finally started reading that ever so controversial best-seller by Dan Brown. Actually, not reading it, listening to it while driving around Lansing, MI. This book seems to have changed the minds of many Catholics (my grandfather included) and Protestants alike. Granted, there have long been rumors of secret societies and organizations within the Roman Catholic Church, and historical cover-ups are rampant throughout civilization.

HOWEVER,

The book is crap. It's not at all well written. Brown seems to feel that in order to impress the mystery of the supposed Holy Grail conspiracy upon his readers, he must be repetitive and condescending. It almost seems that the whole purpose of the book is to tell the world how much Brown knows about obscure art history and symbology, and that he is willing to explain it to the teeming masses of uniformed Christendom. His constant use of cliff-hanger chapter endings (almost every chapter) makes the novel read like it was originally intended as a serial publication. Much of Brown's story hinges upon the loss of the Sacred Feminine, and yet his main female character (a cryptologist for the French police) is constantly having to be led clue by clue to obvious conclusions by her quicker, more worldly, male counterparts.

I might have put some stock into Brown's "history," he writes with conviction, if not much style. I may even have looked into some of his sources on my own. Today, though, Brown completely lost any stock I would have put into his actual knowledge. He referred, multiple times, to Jesus Christ as the Immaculate Conception. As every half-informed Catholic knows, Mary was the Immaculate Conception (conceived without sin), Jesus was the Miraculous Conception (conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit).

How this novel came to be as popular as it is, I can understand. Everyone today is dying to get to the big TRUTH, something which can never be done in religion. Faith is by definition something that is unsubstantiated, we must just believe. What I can't understand is how people can believe this absolute drivel.
...less "

see all 4 comments

July 27

Maura gave

to:
Textbook of Veterinary Anatomy 3rd edition (Hardcover)
by K.M. Dyce

my rating:

see all 1 comments

see all 34 of Maura's books »

Maura's friend comments

(add a comment | view all)

No friend comments yet...

block this member ?

Maura's friends (8)

	Molly 54 books 4 friends
	Brian 37 books 11 friends
	Tonia 11 books 4 friends
	Colleen 0 books 1 friend
	Emilia 3 books 1 friend
	Kathleen 0 books 2 friends
	Teresa 0 books 1 friend
	Erin 0 books 1 friend