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May 21
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Melanie
gave
 
to:
Happy Trails to You: Stories (Hardcover)
by Julie Hecht
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Melanie said:
"i LOVED do the windows open but this book left me feeling like julie hecht was doing a julie hecht imitation. many said they found the character irritating in her previous book, but i actually found her funny & "relatable" (whatever tha...more
i LOVED do the windows open but this book left me feeling like julie hecht was doing a julie hecht imitation. many said they found the character irritating in her previous book, but i actually found her funny & "relatable" (whatever that says about me.) but in this book, i found her grating and offensive. maybe it's me who's changed. but there was a big difference to me in someone talking about their anxiety about the LIE - oh, boy, can i relate - and someone talking about their annoyance that their cleaning person won't wear a uniform - can't relate. it makes sense after reading these here why none of them ran in the new yorker....less
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May 01
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Melanie
gave
to:
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Hardcover)
by Junot Díaz
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in January, 2008
Melanie said:
"I just started this book but my initial impression is, wow.
having finished the book, and notwithstanding the opinions of the pulitzer judges, i have to agree with patrick that the ending it sucked. it was just so unrealistic and pat. it really de...more
I just started this book but my initial impression is, wow.
having finished the book, and notwithstanding the opinions of the pulitzer judges, i have to agree with patrick that the ending it sucked. it was just so unrealistic and pat. it really detracted from what was otherwise an outrageously great book....less
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Melanie
gave
to:
Tree of Smoke: A Novel (Hardcover)
by Denis Johnson
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Melanie said:
"i tried, but i couldnt do it. i made it 200 pages in, yet the rest felt insurmountable. it's not that i don't love denis - i do. i love his dystopian settings, portentous speeches and omens from a dark and vengeful god. and while i enjoyed every sent...more
i tried, but i couldnt do it. i made it 200 pages in, yet the rest felt insurmountable. it's not that i don't love denis - i do. i love his dystopian settings, portentous speeches and omens from a dark and vengeful god. and while i enjoyed every sentence as i read it, it wasn't adding up to a compelling enough whole for me to keep at it. i'll probably try again someday....less
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Melanie
gave
to:
Angle of Repose (Contemporary American Fiction)
by Wallace Stegner
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Melanie said:
"not quite sure what to think of this book, which i found to be sweeping and engrossing in its depiction of 19th century american west. the characters are complex, well-drawn and fully believable. maybe i've been ruined by writerly gimmicks and pyrote...more
not quite sure what to think of this book, which i found to be sweeping and engrossing in its depiction of 19th century american west. the characters are complex, well-drawn and fully believable. maybe i've been ruined by writerly gimmicks and pyrotechnics and can no longer appreciate something that is just solidly well written. but for some reason it left me a little cold....less
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Melanie
gave
to:
Run (Hardcover)
by Ann Patchett
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Melanie said:
"this was a compelling book and i think patchett is a good writer. it didn't have the same hold on me as bel canto, which for some reason i regarded as a guilty pleasure, and the seemingly boundless goodness of all its characters didn't work as well f...more
this was a compelling book and i think patchett is a good writer. it didn't have the same hold on me as bel canto, which for some reason i regarded as a guilty pleasure, and the seemingly boundless goodness of all its characters didn't work as well for me here. and despite its intense focus - most of it takes place over 24 hours - the characters felt a little vague and undefined to me by the end....less
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Melanie
gave
to:
St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves: Stories (Hardcover)
by Karen Russell
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Melanie said:
"honestly i didn't want to like this book because i'm a small person and the author is only 25. but i found its stories lovely and hypnotic and original, and i didn't feel they sacrificed emotion and plot for innovation and quirkiness. however, read a...more
honestly i didn't want to like this book because i'm a small person and the author is only 25. but i found its stories lovely and hypnotic and original, and i didn't feel they sacrificed emotion and plot for innovation and quirkiness. however, read all at once they started to feel a bit formulaic. though the stories on some level are wildly different, they have fundamentally the same elements - child's-eye-view realism tweaked by supernatural/magical/mythological elements....less
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January 25
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New comment on Melanie's review of
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
(see all 2 comments)
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January 08
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New comment on Anasuya's review of
My Life in France
(see all 2 comments)
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January 04
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Melanie
gave
to:
Foreskin's Lament: A Memoir
by Shalom Auslander
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in December, 2007
Melanie said:
"As I often find to be the case, I liked these essays more individually in the New Yorker than collected in this book. On their own they're fascinating and affecting; together they start to seem one-note and a little whiny. But he's a great writer, an...more
As I often find to be the case, I liked these essays more individually in the New Yorker than collected in this book. On their own they're fascinating and affecting; together they start to seem one-note and a little whiny. But he's a great writer, and funny too....less
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Melanie
gave
to:
One Good Turn (Hardcover)
by Kate Atkinson
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in December, 2007
Melanie said:
"I couldnt put this book down while I was reading it and really enjoyed its hardboiled detective story cum psychological novel-ness. But then when I was done I realized it hadnt made a lick of sense.
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