false352422true6076805read2true1985982currently-reading0true1985981to-read0false2070721an-uncommon-reader
<![CDATA[Patrick added 'The Emperor's Children']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17100694
to: The Emperor's Children (Hardcover)byClaire Messud
Ugh. I don't think the writer liked her characters and I certainly didn't. Because Messud is such a good writer, The Emperor's Children has got to be the worst book I've read since Love Story. Upper-middle-class 30-year-old New Yorkers are unhappy, and they like to talk about their unhappiness. What a revelation! Avoid.
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<![CDATA[new comment from Patrick]]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/37484515
Matt's review of
Legacy of Ashes: the History of the CIA byTim Weiner
This book will amaze you with its history. Did you know we were at war with Indonesia in the 1950s? Neither did I. Neither did most of the Eisenhuer administration. Did you know that the chief of covert activities was alcoholic and his most special agent ended up a hopeless schizophrenic? So, if you ever want to know "why they hate us" and why 9/11 happened, here's the answer, straight from the CIA's own records.
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<![CDATA[Patrick added 'The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/37308625
The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers (Paperback)
byJohn Champlin Gardner Jr. bookshelves: currently-reading
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<![CDATA[Patrick
is on page 37 of The Art of Fiction:...
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http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/37308625
Patrick
is on page 37 of 240 of
The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers
Oops. I somehow commented on a post in which you gave it no stars. Nevermind. patrick
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<![CDATA[Patrick added 'All the Sad Young Literary Men']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/37308282
to: All the Sad Young Literary Men (Hardcover)byKeith Gessen
Surprising in that I didn't expect much and liked about half the novel. Then I and it got bogged down in Sam's story--the ridiculous Zionist epic and the list of girls he slept with and the humor left me indifferent. The novel turned into one of those Gen X novels written by Gen X writers that were so dreary in the 1990s. But these days I'll settle for half an intelligent novel, almost witty, that does, as reviews point out, has Fitzgeraldin passages. But such intelligent boys so dreary so stupid so narricistic, they should be grateful to be sad. sadness. The dry humor's a bust. But good try, Mr. Gessen.
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<![CDATA[Patrick added 'The Given Day: A Novel']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/37308105
to: The Given Day: A Novel (Hardcover)byDennis Lehane
What a wretched novel this turned out to be. Dennis Lehayne tried to rewrite Docotow's Ragtime, but while he's a talented mystery writer, his flaws and limitations are much in evidence here. If the novel was half its length, with its two unnecessary, badly written and plotted subplots excised, it might have been a successful radical police novel and thriller, showing the evolution of the Boston police evolve into a union. But the riots after the police strike are so ineptly described and are left largely unexplained that I can't imagine why this is a bestseller! Has Dennis Lehayne become so well known after the Mystic River and Gone, Baby, Gone movies that he feels no need for an editor. Where have all the editors gone? And the politics of the novel are as sloppy as the prose.
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<![CDATA[Patrick added 'Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/33683991
to: Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia (Paperback)byElizabeth Gilbert
I'm almost embarrassed to say, I'm loving this book, in the same way I love Oprah, American gold-medal-winning swimmers, and cruellers at 3am. Sometimes I'm just a sap, but this is a fine book.
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