Ash’s Comments (group member since Jun 22, 2008)

Ash’s comments from the Challenge: 50 Books group.

9. Xenocide (The Ender Quintet, #3) by Orson Scott Card.

8. Creative Thinking: Problem Solving & Decision Making by Thomas L. Saaty.

(This was a graduate school book, and I'm willing to lend my copy out.)

7. Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres.

GOAL 3#: Autobiography/Memoir.

5. Managerial Epidemiology: Concepts and Cases, Second Edition by Steven T. Fleming.

6. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
*HP Book Club

4. Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris.

2.5 stars (3 on GR), mainly for the nonstop conflation of stereotypes. It's got old, when it became obvious it was his main (only?) attempt at humor.

Tima wrote: "I keep going back and forth on whether I want to read NW or not, I've seen a lot of reviews that say the same as you. Just not sure how they feel about it."

My book club chose to read it for our February meeting, and I'm not sure everyone really made it through the book. I was caught up on the writing style (didn't enjoy the first third of the book), but was engrossed in the second two-thirds because of the straightforward then snippet-style she used for the last two chunks. It's a fairly quick read.

3. NW by Zadie Smith.

Still not sure how I feel about this book.

2. Hard Twisted by C. Joseph Greaves.

I've participated in this group for many years - this year will be my fifth! Looking forward to reading some great books this year.

Goals:
- Read two 500-page novels
- Tackle at least 5 books from my to-read list
- Read at least two auto/biographies
- Read 2 books on travel writing

Plus: Graduate school books count, health-related reading is a bonus

1. The Future of Management by Gary Hamel with Bill Breen.

50. Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science by Atul Gawande. {Would recommend any and all Gawande to readers interested in health or medicine.}

I did it! I'm finished. Not that I truly completed 50 books in one year (maybe 2014), but I did read 50 within 17 months.

Goals Met:
- Focus more on books written about Public Health/Health Management (#'s 12, 34, & 50)
- Include fun reading (#'s 2, 3, 30, & 39)
- Read at least two auto/biographies (#'s 12, 13, & 29)
- No cookbooks (NONE!)
- Read 2 books on travel writing (#13, so only one)
- Graduate school books count (#'s 6, 10, 19, 20, 22, 23, 35, 36, 44, & 46)

Favorites:
#7 (Beloved by Toni Morrison), #8 (Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys), #17 (The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz), #25 (The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver), #33 (Serena by Ron Rash), #37 (Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala) and #47 (TransAtlantic by Colum McCann).

Any recommendations for next year?

48. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman.
49. MaddAddam (MaddAddam Trilogy #3) by Margaret Atwood.

47. TransAtlantic by Colum McCann.
{BEST book I've read since August. McCann has been added to my favorite author list.}

Jim wrote: "I actually knew the twist of the book before it came (someone had told me years ago), I just wasn't sure when it was going to happen. I almost felt like there was a lot of plot development put int..."

While I did intend to finish the book with the group and before the movie release, I read the last page yesterday afternoon. I agree, it was heartbreaking to learn that Ender was used as a weapon, unknowingly fighting the war for humans that couldn't seem to empathize with other intelligent beings. The image of the white, feathery cocoon was also heartbreaking. Honestly, it was tough to just get through, after emotionally investing so much into Ender - and it's a kids book!

Those last few pages, Chapter 15, Speaker for the Dead, really turned my opinion from a 3.5-star rating to a 4-star rating. I've never learned to 'be ok' with a seemingly unfinished ending, and Card nicely sums things up with heart and healing, truths we lacked for the preceding 300 pages during Ender's training and resulting battle.

I understand that Card's other novels do not measure up to Ender's Game, but I'll likely give the next one a shot just to see how the story continues.

Anyone else late to the review party?

45. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.
{Didn't quite finish before the movie release, but made decent time with school commitments looming. Great book, though slow at times. I enjoyed Ender and his group of 'friends,' though was torn at the decisions to use them as puppets by those in power. Interesting finish with the empathetic tie back to the buggers. Considering picking up one of the other four books in this series.}
46. Basic Statistics for the Health Sciences by Jan W. Kuzma.

44. Health Care Market Strategy by Steven G. Hillestad and Eric N. Berkowitz.
*Graduate School Book
{A solid 'textbook' on marketing a service line or product within the healthcare wheelhouse. Could have been more detailed, featured case studies, samples, etc.}

43. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain.
*HP Book Club

42. Everything Is Illuminated by by Jonathan Safran Foer.

41. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer.
*HP Book Club

40. Too Bright to Hear Too Loud to See by Juliann Garey.
*HP Book Club

39. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.