false 10 17 16 true 6062088 read 1 true 1952696 currently-reading 0 true 1952695 to-read http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/36555634 Miriam's Kitchen: A Memoir (Paperback) by Elizabeth Ehrlich
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/26829117 to: The Dragonbone Chair (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, #1) by Tad Williams
I love this series. I hadn't thought of it in a little while, but speaking about books today with a friend brought it to mind and I thought, "I haven't read that this year...I should." The four LARGE volumes are quite an investment, both in money and in time, (get it from the library, or let me know and you can borrow mine when I'm done) but it's worth it in the end. I know that sci-fi/fantasy are seriously formulaic, and these are not that different...young boy, thrown into circumstances beyond his control, rises to win friends and influence people and then defeats the ultimate enemy and finds true love...blah blah blah...but I so enjoy this particular telling. I still see the country and the people in this series so clearly in my mind. The friends become people you want to meet, and the evil is described in ways that make you realize that even fantasy has a basis in the reality of our crazy world. (Knowing about the evil out there by keeping up to date with the world is different than "throwing your door open and letting whatever evil passes by to come in. It is much more difficult to make that evil leave again.") Besides you know a book like this has entered your heart when you end with the thought that, "I want to name a son Simon after a hero like him!" ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17542904 to: Atlas Shrugged (Paperback) by Ayn Rand
Fantastic! I read this every couple of years to remind myself that I'm worth a lot more than I have allowed myself to believe. Strength, smarts, work, and drive...those are what are worthwhile, and the idea of entitlement is abhorrent. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17542723 to: Princess Academy (Paperback) by Shannon Hale
I enjoyed this one since I always enjoy the idea of the underdog with special talents. A fun simple read that reminds you to ask for what you are really worth and not just believe it when someone else may not value you as highly. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/16691014 to: Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Wicked Years, #1) by Gregory Maguire
It's never as good without the music, but there's a reason they made this into a Broadway smash! You've got to love it when someone sets a story on it's ear, and who would have thought that the wicked witch of the West could have been misunderstood?! Love it! ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/16690718 to: The Picture of Dorian Gray (Paperback) by Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde is an amazing writer, and his humor comes through even in this dark classic. What would someone allow themselves to do if the ravages of age and vice never appeared on their physical face? How vile would the painting be that took on all of our sins? I was intrigued by the dive into what psychology of selfishness says, and Wilde says it perfectly! ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/16690413 to: The Fairy-Tale Detectives (The Sisters Grimm, #1) by Michael Buckley
Imagine a world where all of the fairy tales are real...but have to live together in an upstate farming community to stay unnoticed. All of the heroes, villains, artifacts and rivalries come together when a pair of sisters move upstate to live with Grandma..and they all have to keep the tales from turning heads. I want to read more in the series, and that recommends itself to me. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/16690209 to: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, #1) by Ann Brashares
You know it's good when you can't put it down and you're in tears because it's drawn you so far into itself. I loved this whole series and appreciated my own sisterhood with my family as well as my Musketeers when we all read this book. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/16690015 to: Memoirs of a Geisha (Paperback) by Arthur Golden
What a beautiful story of overcoming your place in life. She rises above her home, then her job, and even her competition. It makes me grateful not to have to make the same decisions or be faced with such an existence, but it was beautifully written and compelling. ]]>