false 10 131 115 true 5753409 read 3 true 86168 currently-reading 13 true 86167 to-read 1 false 8031498 not-going-to-read <![CDATA[Jeff voted on a poll]]> http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/26076-december-fantasy-theme-pick-which-theme-would-you-like-to-read-in-dece Jeff voted on the poll: December Fantasy theme pick - Which theme would you like to read in December? ]]> <![CDATA[Jeff added 'Blood of the Fold']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77624618 Blood of the Fold (Sword of Truth, #3) by Terry Goodkind
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> <![CDATA[Jeff is on page 188 of Blood of the Fold ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77624618 Jeff is on page 188 of 640 of Blood of the Fold ]]> <![CDATA[Jeff added 'Ravens']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76954650 to: Ravens (Hardcover) by George Dawes Green
Wow! I've never heard of this author before, but I picked this up from the library off the new book shelf, just sort of randomly. It hits the ground running and never really slows down.

A family in a nowhere town wins a 300+million dollar lottery. Some drifters just happen to be passing through, find out about it, and launch this plan to con them out of half of their winnings. Wackiness ensues. I loved it. Quick read, and very entertaining. ]]> <![CDATA[Jeff added 'Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75296339 to: Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters (Paperback) by Ben H. Winters
bookshelves: not-going-to-read
I give up. Even Ben Winters's sea monsters can't make this book interesting. I don't mean to offend, but I don't see how anyone can actually read Jane Austen. This is dreadfully boring. ]]> <![CDATA[Jeff added 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75295509 to: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Mass Market Paperback) by Robert Louis Stevenson
Another classic that I have never read. I was surprised at how short this book is. Not really a "novel," more like a long short story. The beauty of this story is that we get the events from the perspective of a lawyer (Mr. Utterson), even though it's in third person. Then, at the end, we get the whole story from the perspective of Dr. Jekyll, himself. Oddly, all of the representations that I have ever seen of this story (even the Bugs Bunny parody) really don't quite do it justice. Hyde wasn't necessarily an ugly monster, as most people have depicted him. He was, rather, the embodiment of the evil that lives within each of us. I think, in some ways, this is a moral tale. Good vs. evil, and how, if we give it a foot in the door, evil will take over.

Incidentally, I did not like the afteward by Jerome Charyn in the Bantam Classic edition. I find it very pretentious when people presume to tell me what the author really meant. Reminds me of school lit classes, which I also hated. Someday, I would like to write a novel that becomes famous and sit in on a lit class, so I can tell the teacher how wrong he/she is about what I was writing about. Pft. ]]> <![CDATA[Jeff added 'The Time Machine']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74490791 to: The Time Machine (Paperback) by H.G. Wells
It was a struggle to make it through this book, as much as I love the story itself. The main reason for this is that if Wells simply told the story, I think it would take less than 50 pages. Over half of this book is tiresome philosophical meanderings. It finally gets more exciting in the last quarter of the book. I realize, though, that this was his first novel, and, judging from The War of the Worlds, he did get better at novel writing. ]]> <![CDATA[Jeff added 'Bellwether']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74490467 to: Bellwether (Paperback) by Connie Willis
Connie Willis is rapidly becoming my favorite author. This is the third of her books that I have read, and the first one that didn't deal with time travel. I wondered, even, how it truly fit into the "Science Fiction" genre. I guess because it's fiction and it deals with scientists.

Bellwether is a charming story about a woman who is a scientist, tracking fads (she spends the entire book trying to figure out what started the practice of hair bobbing in the 20s). Each chapter begins with a paragraph about a popular fad that occurred somewhere, somewhen in the world. From hula hoops to pet rocks to virtual pets. And a few I never heard of. There's chaos theory galore in this book, as well, and quite a few laughs. Wonderful, wonderful book. Thank you, Connie Willis! ]]> <![CDATA[Jeff added 'Strange Brew']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74490234 to: Strange Brew (Paperback) by P.N. Elrod
Another fabulous book of short stories edited by P.N. Elrod. Includes stories from some of my favorite authors, and all stories are, in some way, about magic, especially the kind dealing with potions. ]]> <![CDATA[new comment from Jeff]]> http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/220228-the-martians-as-metaphor-spoilers Jeff made a comment in the SciFi and Fantasy Book Club group:

I had no problem placing myself in the mindset and culture. That's one of the things I always try to do in a book, helps me escape, which is, of course, why I read fiction. I hadn't really thought of the Martians as metaphor for foreign invasion, because the were foreign invaders. But it would be hard for me to consider them as, say, German or Japanese, because I can't fathom that any other country on earth would have technology that was THAT far advanced from ours. ]]>