false12405359true5803465read1true1500917currently-reading45true1500916to-read70false2070447fiction35false3504711for-school27false2070450non-fiction17false1521465plays14false1515600poetry6false2027353drug-books6false2070481memoir2false4074748criticism-and-theory
<![CDATA[Elise added 'Her Fearful Symmetry']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74096051
Her Fearful Symmetry (Hardcover)
byAudrey Niffenegger bookshelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Elise added 'Escape']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74005754
Escape (Hardcover)
byCarolyn Jessop bookshelves: memoir,
non-fiction
Yes, another book to feed my obsession with ever-creepy FLDS.
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<![CDATA[Elise added 'Little, Big']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/64608781
to: Little, Big (Trade Paperback)byJohn Crowley bookshelves: fiction
I started this book the first time more than 10 years ago. Tried it again about 6 years ago, and again about 3 years ago. For a variety of reasons, I was just never able to finish it. But I was also never able to give up on it. In those 10+ years I have moved more than 10 times, and many, many books have been sold because I simply refused to pack them again, but I was never able to let go of this one. I think it was the language that snared me. If you love language at a pure aesthetic pleasure level, I don't think you could help but love this book.
But this book is a serious investment of time and focus. It's not a light read, which seems strange for a book for which the alternate title is The Fairies' Parliament, but I think that is largely the reason I never finished it before. I kept starting it at times when I was looking for something I could be satisfied only half paying attention to. That wouldn't do. Not for this one. You don't read this book; you inhabit it.
So anyway, finally finished. A project more than a decade in the doing. I feel like something big is over.
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<![CDATA[Elise added 'How to Be Good']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/11606617
to: How to Be Good (Paperback)byNick Hornby
I had a plane flight...someone handed me this...
It's a personal thing of mine that I don't really think unnecessary endurance is noble. When characters are in situations where they are unhappy, unfulfilled and empty and they decide to stay in that situation...just because...
I can't help feeling like they're just pathetic cowards. For me to like a book, I have to CARE about the characters, and I generally find pathetic cowards to be loathsome and impossible to care about. I just ended the book feeling disgusted.
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<![CDATA[Elise added 'The Convalescent']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/61851092
to: The Convalescent (Hardcover)byJessica Anthony bookshelves: fiction
I think some people might tend to be biased in favor of books written by people they know. I, however, tend to be the opposite, and be extra hard on books where I know the author. That said, I went into this story with cynic mode in full gear, and was very pleasantly surprised. Intense, intellectual and weird as all get-out, I loved every page of it. It's certainly fair to say that it's not for everyone, but if you have a taste for slightly surreal and bitingly funny, it is certainly worth your time.
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<![CDATA[Elise
is on page 40 of Little, Big
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http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/64608781
Elise
is on page 40 of 576 of
Little, Big
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<![CDATA[Elise added 'The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/64478880
The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child (Paperback)
byDonalyn Miller bookshelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Elise added 'Genius Denied: How to Stop Wasting Our Brightest Young Minds']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/64478017
to: Genius Denied: How to Stop Wasting Our Brightest Young Minds (Paperback)byJan Davidson bookshelves: non-fiction
An extraordinarily useful book for any parent, student or teacher who wants to make sure that gifted children are receiving the very best education possible. Real equality means that every student should be learning to the very utmost of his or her potential, not that every student should be learning the same thing at the same time.
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<![CDATA[Elise added 'Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/61999548
to: Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56 (Hardcover)byRafe Esquith bookshelves: non-fiction
At first I was incredibly ambivalent about this book. I was inspired by the brilliant ideas this man has about teaching and moved by his demonstration that it's possible dramatically change lives for the better. However, I was turned off by what seemed an excessively self-congratulatory tone to the writing. All the ideas seemed wrapped up in a "look-how-awesome-I-am" voice that I found hard to stomach.
However, a cursory web search on Mr. Esquith turned up videos of him in lectures and interviews and, on seeing him in motion, I found him to have none of the abrasive pomp that irritated me so much in the book. He's clearly proud of what he does, but not in a way that's offensive. Indeed, given the proven results of his work, he has every right to be proud.
I mention the irritation at the tone of the book, because if anyone else feels the same way as they read it, I would encourage them to look for some of the videos and see if that doesn't make them feel better.
As a college student currently on track to become a teacher, my hat's off to Mr. Esquith. Way to fight the good fight.
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<![CDATA[Elise added 'Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/49835301
Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs (Hardcover)
byElissa Wall bookshelves: memoir
This book was a sort of guilty pleasure. It feels wrong to say I enjoyed a book about girls being brainwashed into voluntary abuse, but I will say I couldn't put it down. Read it in about 2 days.
I have kind of a fascination with cults, I guess. I know, I know, it's sick.
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