false 12 1195 1183 true 5866165 read 1 true 1498553 currently-reading 11 true 1498552 to-read http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79127308 to: Juliet, Naked: A Novel (Hardcover) by Nick Hornby
Affecting story of Tucker Crowe, a rocker who walked away from it all suddenly in mid-career, and some of those who obsess over him. The book is nicely observed, with lots of nice small details. As in High Fidelity, Hornby is both satiric and sentimental about a class of fans who go a bit off the deep end (I have my own guilts here). ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78190426 to: Rhino Ranch: A Novel (Hardcover) by Larry McMurtry
Since the jacket tells us this is the final book in the saga of Duane Moore, I expected a dour ending, and McMurtry has always been good at killing off his characters (think, Terms of Endearment). The Duane Moore books have been up and down in quality, and all over the map in tone. Duane is still in Thalia, and various of his friends and wives are dying around him, when a very wealthy woman decides to create a ranch to preserve some rhinos near by. Lots of the book is about how the town reacts to it, but mostly the story is about how Duane is attractive to a wide variety of mostly younger women. It might get a bit tiresome -- it has in the past -- but this time it worked for me. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77761599 to: Three Men in a Boat (Penguin Popular Classics) by Jerome K. Jerome
Slight but very funny story of three friends who take a boat trip up the Thames together. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73422781 Steve's review of Cook Food: A Manualfesto for Easy, Healthy, Local Eating
by Lisa Jervis

I think I'll give it to one of the kids. The beans and greens recipes are very good and show you how to extend them. I'm a big big fan of beans! ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76804232 to: The Humbling (Hardcover) by Philip Roth
Famous stage actor Simon Axler comes to the point where he can't act any more. After embarrassments as Macbeth at Lincoln center, he gives up on it, and retreats to his country home. He also can't act in real life. The characters are of course well-drawn and memorable, and the writing is vivid and direct. Not among the best of Roth's recent books, though. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76804761 Just Food: How Locavores Are Endangering the Future of Food and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly (Hardcover) by James E. McWilliams
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76524056 Susan's review of Watership Down
by Richard Adams

I read this book back when it first came out, when I was living in Eugene. Loved it. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76503834 to: Gang Leader for a Day (Hardcover) by Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh
As a graduate student in Sociology in Chicago, the author ventures into the projects, and starts interviewing those who cope there. He becomes close to several people in power (a gang leader, a woman who 'gets things done' in the project), and recounts his experiences with them over a period of several years. It's an interesting portrayal of the society that emerged in this possibly unique situation, and he follows it till its death when the projects are torn down. Though the personalities he presents are really fascinating, I would have liked to seen a bit more of the hard facts and figures of the situation. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75373226 to: Breakfast of Champions (Paperback) by Kurt Vonnegut
For some reason I disliked this book intensely. I remember feeling the same when it was first published in 73, but I reacted quite strongly to it now. There is something smug about the style and the satire that just rubbed me the wrong way, while at the same time appreciating the points the book was making. It felt to me that it was Vonnegut trying to hard to be the Vonnegut that made him famous, and that he took the bad parts of, say, Slaughterhouse 5, and made a whole book out of them. The main part I liked was the little summaries of stories that Kilgore Trout had written; most of these would have made better books than Breakfast of Champions. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75123111 to: Beat the Reaper: A Novel (Audio CD) by Josh Bazell
This is a wild ride, a story of a Jewish hit man for the mafia, and how he becomes a doctor. It was a little slow at the start, but for the last 150 pages or so, you can't put it down. It's fast-paced, outlandish, and bloody. The book is also funny, sometimes very funny. ]]>