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March 10
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Suzanne
gave
 
to:
The Pillars of the Earth (Deluxe Edition)
by Ken Follett
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Suzanne said:
"One star might still be too-high-praise.
I'd read a positive review of this....then saw that Oprah had selected it with rave recommendations. Decided to give it a try, even though after 2 dips into his popular thillers, I'd give up on Follet years...more
One star might still be too-high-praise.
I'd read a positive review of this....then saw that Oprah had selected it with rave recommendations. Decided to give it a try, even though after 2 dips into his popular thillers, I'd give up on Follet years ago.
I did finish POTE...Follet has the ability to cast a net and draw you in to the story...he is gifted at imagining a scenario and characters that are compelling...but he's really only a mediocre story-teller. My desire to see how it ended, how he finally resolved the conflict, was only slightly stronger than my annoyance at having been tricked into wasting my time. As I was reading, wondering all the while about what it is that bugs me so much about his writing, I read a line that crystallized it for me. One character was about to brutalize another and the emotion/expression F. attributed to the brute was completely inappropriate for that moment of out of control passion/power/subjugation. Instead of a climax, it was a deflation. A good storyteller doesn't annoy his reader with sloppy execution. Follet doesn't really "work" at his craft. I don't care what Oprah says, he isn't a good writer.
The story of the building of the cathedral was interesting. But as I look back at the experience of reading POTE, I realized that the shear length of time it took to build a cathedral (or portion of a cathedral) extended the book far past the strength of it's characters and plot-line.
The only part of the book that was really worth reading was Follet's introduction--specifically his adult rejection of everything his childhood represented. It explained so much.
...less
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Suzanne
gave
to:
My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir (Hardcover)
by Clarence Thomas
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in January, 2008
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Suzanne
gave
to:
Daddy-Long-Legs and Dear Enemy (Penguin Classics)
by Jean Webster
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in January, 2008
Suzanne said:
"Somehow I completely missed this book when growing up. Just read about it recently on the yarnstorm blog. The blog's author--("blogress"?)is working on a book about the foods from famous children's literature. What a fun project and how jea...more
Somehow I completely missed this book when growing up. Just read about it recently on the yarnstorm blog. The blog's author--("blogress"?)is working on a book about the foods from famous children's literature. What a fun project and how jealous am I that I didn't think of that!! Anyway--if you missed Daddy-Long-Legs and the sequel, Dear Enemy, when growing up, it's not too late! What delightful books! Improbable? Yes--but suspend that disbelief and just enjoy!
(If you get the Penguin Edition--which contains both DLL & DE, DO NOT read the introduction before reading the story. It detracts from the story on several levels, but the most serious crime is that it is a spoiler--and you won't want Daddy-Long-Legs, the mysterious benefactor, unveiled before his time. There are a number of things I really appreciate about Penguin Editions--but their "intros" are not one of them. They really need to be put at the back of the book to be read AFTER the book itself. Then the reader can decide if they agree with the analysis of the scholar writing the "intro" instead of having their experience of the book colored by the critic's slant.)...less
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Suzanne
is currently reading:
A Russian Diary: A Journalist's Final Account of Life, Corruption, and Death in Putin's Russia (Hardcover)
by Anna Politkovskaya
bookshelves:
currently-reading
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Suzanne
gave
to:
My Early Life: 1874-1904 (Paperback)
by Winston S. Churchill
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in May, 2007
Suzanne said:
"A must read!
"
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Suzanne
is currently reading:
The Taming of the Shrew (Folger Shakespeare Library)
by William Shakespeare
bookshelves:
currently-reading
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Suzanne
is currently reading:
People of the Book: A Novel (Hardcover)
by Geraldine Brooks
bookshelves:
currently-reading
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Suzanne
marked as to-read:
Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 (Hardcover)
by Marcus Luttrell
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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October 22, 2007
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Suzanne
gave
to:
T is for Trespass (Kinsey Millhone Mystery)
by Sue Grafton
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Suzanne
marked as to-read:
The Gentle Art of Domesticity (Hardcover)
by Jane Brocket
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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