false 15 280 256 true 5744703 read 1 true 2028698 currently-reading 23 true 2028697 to-read 120 false 2478602 read-in-pc-2000-02 41 false 2040693 read-in-2007 32 false 4152508 read-in-2009 29 false 2040555 read-in-2008 22 false 2041139 own http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/64705708 Water for Elephants (Paperback) by Sara Gruen
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/22927388 to: The Average American: The Extraordinary Search for the Nation's Most Ordinary Citizen (Hardcover) by Kevin O'Keefe
bookshelves: read-in-2009
gave up on this book about halfway through the first time when i let myself get way too bogged down in all the statistics it contains. this time around, i allowed myself to "gloss" a bit more and focus on his message, rather than the hard numbers. generally, what I took away is that the vast majority of the stats we're fed about what Americans are like are often simply not true. not a surprise considering you can manipulate numbers to show most anything you want. apparently on average, we're *not* fat, dumb and conservative, which was a relief. in the end, his analysis included about 140 criteria that defined the "average" american and he found one person that met all those criteria. he also gave me a different perspective on what it means to be average/ordinary, namely that it's not such a bad thing. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/51995597 to: Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life: Create Your Life, Your Relationships, and Your World in Harmony with Your Values (Paperback) by Marshall B. Rosenberg
bookshelves: read-in-2009
observe. connect with the resultant feelings. determine what needs you want met. ask for what you need. all sounds very simple, but how very foreign and difficult. truly hearing what is behind people's words and actions completely changes the dynamic of the interaction and your response. i love this book/method for pointing out with ease all the ways that we undermine ourselves and our relationships while pointing out the simple solutions. his chapters on judging others and ourselves particularly resonated with me. as soon as you look deeper at the feelings and needs behind those judgments, you're no longer a horrible, mean person that can never change, but a caring human like anyone else with an unmet need. this is definitely a keeper that should be pulled off the shelf often. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/68088339 to: One Good Turn (Hardcover) by Kate Atkinson
bookshelves: read-in-2009
It was slow going in the beginning with this book, but that is likely due to the my level of distraction at the time. this author likes to introduce a slew of characters and then tangle them all up, so you need to be prepared mentally for that. in addition to conjuring a good story, this author is obsessed with language. i find her (characters) going off on tangents about the sound, meaning and connections between words and I love it. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74515180 Seaside (A Lily Pascale Mystery) by Scarlett Thomas
bookshelves: read-in-2009
a cute little mystery, but i wasn't as impressed with this book as I expected to be. i remember being very impressed with my previous (first) experience with this author. this may be one of her earliest works, though, written in the early 1990's. At one point the characters are trying to do internet research and (seriously) lamenting the fact that you can't type in a piece of a lyric and easily get back the song and artist/group. oh, google, what did we do before you? others might consider this book very well written and the problem may be with me and mysteries. like reality tv, they always seem a little too overblown and drawn out for me, with the characters, especially the lead, continually re-asking the same questions and dramatically stewing on things. overall, an entertaining distraction.

**after going back and rereading my previous reviews of this author (and that this is the *4th* book I've read by her), maybe i feel more meh about her than I thought! only once was I really impressed and it might have been more to do with the topic than the writing. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75062069 to: Picture Perfect (Paperback) by Jodi Picoult
bookshelves: read-in-2009
a wonderful companion for a lazy saturday. domestic abuse is her topic this time and she manages to present clearly the wife's perspective and show why the question "why doesn't she just leave" is never easy to answer. same final act escape devise in this one (which is one her of older books, actually), but I feel like it worked better here than in more recent ones I've read. trying to run from an abusive spouse makes sense. i'm certainly willing to grant her her devices if it allows her to continue to be so prolific. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75062014 to: Imago (Book Three of the Xenogenesis Series) by Octavia E. Butler
bookshelves: read-in-2009
love this series. so now we have the first (and second) human born life-creator. it/they are apparently irresistible to us humans. smell their scent for a few minutes and we're like putty in their hands. so despite the fact that a human-only Mars colony has been created, the last group of fertile humans decides to stay and go alien. how could this possibly be the end of the series?!? ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75062121 Second Glance (Paperback) by Jodi Picoult
bookshelves: to-read
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