Your thoughts about the last book you read?

[Sally]

I finished Deeper Water by Jessie Cole a few days ago and was very impressed - 4★s. Dare I say it - this book really did have hidden depths! Highly recommended to lovers of general fiction.

Here is my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[amber]

I read Euphoria. I love the way King puts words together. But I'm just middle of the road on the story itself.

[Pat]

My last read was

I didn't really like any of the characters. Maybe that's why I'm now reading
Gone Bitch: A Parody of Gone Girl

[Telepathic Teddy Bear]

I read Hyperspace and it completely blew me away. Michio Kaku is amazing at explanation extremely difficult concepts like the possibility of a fourth dimension. I felt like I learned a lot and it had a lot of interesting parts that could only be illustrated with science fiction type ideas and stories and, well, I love science fiction.

If you like science, give this a try.

[Toyah]

I just finished Mansfield Park. I wasn't keen at first, started to like it more, but it's never going to be a favourite. I actually felt like the ending was a bit rushed compared to the rest of the book which was quite ambling. It was also predictable.

[Sally]

Here is my long overdue 4★ review of that warm and whimsical little book, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Sally]

I recently finished the Australian classic, Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay, and found it to be an elegant, intriguing, quite chilling if also rather frustrating book - 4★s.

Here is my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[R.J.]

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning if you want a taste of how life was (not that different, yet totally different) back in 1950-something England this nails it. The fear of the next war, TV just starting, dating, cheating, fighting, binge drinking, loathing the job, the govt, surviving. A time-capsule that captures how we were and helps explain how we've become what we are. No mobiles, no FB, no PC. Raw life. Real n vital. Basic n brutal.

[Sally]

I recently read a book of the most terrible beauty. It is called The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan. It deserves more than 5★s.

Here is my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

(This review and others can also be seen on my blog, The Power of Story, at feelthepowerofstory.wordpress.com.)

[Ash]

Although I am currently, & usually always, reading about five different books @once; the last book I actually finished was Neil Gaiman's "The Ocean at the End of the Lane". Incredible, beautiful story. It was actually one of those books that I may think was good, but not quite spectacular,upon finishing the story, but over the next few days I can think of nothing but that particular book, & I realize just how wonderful it was.

[Barbm1020]

Ash, I hav had that experience with Neil Gaiman's stories before. He puts you so deeply into an alternate world that it lingers. I really like his work.

[Ed]

I just finished The Hollow Places. Amazing. It never went where I thought it was going to go. It also had great pace - pulling me forward. Really scary though! I don't know how to link to it. Oh hang on... ok...The Hollow Places Cool. Goodreads does make it easy!!

[Karen]

Just finished Mitosis - a really nice little novella that helps refresh the braincell for the release of the new Reckoners novel Firefight that I've got on pre-order for my kindle.

Still maintain that Brandon Sanderson should have a warning on his books that they are addictive and will prevent you putting the kindle down!

[Ed]

Thanks for both of those. Yes, I love Gaiman's work... and I like the sound of Mitosis... I love science stuff too.

[Ed]

Miz wrote: "Just finished
The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson. A very different book written about madness (including scientology!) from a journalist point of view.

Also finished The Murderer's Daughters which ..."

All his books are amazing... but that one changed the way I look at everyone - including my sister!! I loved the way he brought it home to how journalists like himself must take responsibility for a culture of sensationalism.

[Ash]

Barbm, that is a wonderful way to describe what his stories do, it's almost as if you once lived in these worlds he creates. And yes, it absolutely lingers. I find him an amazing writer.

[Christina]

I just finished Black Butler 12 and thoroughly enjoyed it. The works are completely worth my reading. I couldn't help myself I read it twice.

[Ruth]

Just finished Seven Letters from Paris by Samantha Verant...A wonderful memoir that reads like fiction...such a moving story...Loved it!!

[Ash]

Christina, I finally started reading Black Butler a few weeks ago, it has been on my TBR list forever. It already seems like this is going to be one of those series I can't read fast enough.

[Geoffreyjen]

Just finished up reading Thomas Mann's Death in Venice. I was thinking about the film some time ago, and I saw it again. I remembered the final scene with interest. But then I read a bad review of the film, and decided to read the book properly - in the past I had read excerpts but never worked my way through the story. Mann's writing interests me, and, indeed, I found his writing to be quite luminescent. I really like the way the protagonist begins by barely acknowledging his interest and slowly reveals his obsession with the young boy. And the book is interesting in that it deals with a homoerotic attraction before such things became popular. But in many ways the feelings portrayed are universal, they could apply to any "adoration" of an older person for a younger one. So, anyway, I enjoyed the book, and plan on reading more Thomas Mann soon.

[Christina]

Ash wrote: "Christina, I finally started reading Black Butler a few weeks ago, it has been on my TBR list forever. It already seems like this is going to be one of those series I can't read fast enough."

Me either I found a sight that you can read all of it free.

[Ash]

Christina,
It is definitely one of those series where I can not put it down, I just want to keep reading the next chapter every time I finish one. I have found a few sites on my laptop & tablet where I can read it for free, but can not find any for my phone, which is weird, considering it's a brand new phone. Anyway, if I always want to know a out sites like that, so if you feel like sharing, please do. I have a few as well uf

[Ash]

Oops, hit submit too soon. I have a few sites I know as well, so if you would like the names, just let me know.

[Sally]

I recently read The Slow Regard of Silent Things, the new novella by one of my favourite authors, Patrick Rothfuss. I expected to love it, but I never expected to be quite so deeply moved by it as I was. This is a book for all the broken people - 5★s.

Here is my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

This review can also be seen on my blog at http://feelthepowerofstory.wordpress.com.

[Geoffreyjen]

Sally wrote: "I recently read The Slow Regard of Silent Things, the new novella by one of my favourite authors, Patrick Rothfuss. I expected to love it, but I never expected to be..."

Thanks for the heads up ... it does look interesting!

[Galaxy Press]

Theholotrope wrote: "I read Hyperspace and it completely blew me away. Michio Kaku is amazing at explan..."

Absolutely, I read this book in high school and it's beautiful. I spent the entirety of a dinner at Red Lobster teaching my sister and the waiter some of the theories.

♥,
Cat at Galaxy Press

[Galaxy Press]

But to answer the question, just finished and I loved how he wrote Rick Deckard's view of everything, and though dark, gave it such a good ending that wasn't too overdone.

[Robin]

I just finished reading The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry . I saved my best book of the year for last. A book for true book lovers. (I felt a little guilty reading it on my ereader when AJ rails against the evil little device...) A terrific quick read that certainly puts the reader through a range of emotional hoops to be sure.

[Yan]

I just finished The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales today. I thoroughly enjoyed reading all the strange cases in neurosciences, and my previous interests in this subject grew. I will look into doing further readings and study in the new year!

[Ed]

Yan wrote: "I just finished The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales today. I thoroughly enjoyed reading all the strange cases in neurosciences, and my previous interests in..."

In that case try Sex, Drugs and Rock n Roll by Zoe Cormier.Zoe Cormier

[Ash]

Ed,
The Sex, Drugs & Rock n Roll book you recommended sounds awesome. I love books in that genre. Is it really a good read?

[Ashleigh]

I just finished The Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice.
A really good boo as the third in the vampire chronicles and it brought up a lot more philosophical subjects and ideas that I had originally thought to be in such books.

[Sally]

I recently read and enjoyed City of Masks: by new Aussie author, Ashley Capes - 3.5★s.

Here is my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Sally]

After wanting for so many years to read Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, I was very disappointed with my experience of it when I read it recently. I don't know that I've ever come across a book before whose characters were ALL either repugnant or ridiculous in my eyes. I could in all honesty only give the book 3★s.

If you're game to read it, here is my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Geoffreyjen]

Hmmm, interesting, Sally. Wuthering Heights is and remains one of my favorite books, and I have reread it several times. I do agree it is not a book for everyone. It is a book about extremes. You find the characters repugnant, I find them human, despite their negative qualities, partly because of them. I also enjoy the tremendous sense of place in the book, something you allude to only in passing. Characters are important to me, but although I do not identify fully with any of them, I certainly feel moved by them. Ultimately, however, it is the way these people are intimately related to the landscape that surrounds them that continues to fascinate me. There are few books in the English language, past or present, that develop these themes so strongly. The bleakness of the characters is, in part, a comment on the landscape and the setting (epoch), and vice versa.

[Sally]

I recently read and loved The Vanishing Witch by Karen Maitland. It is unusual and fascinating in every way, from narration to subject matter. Highly recommended for lovers of historical fiction and the feminist literary theorem of "the pit or the pedestal" (the stereotyping of women in literature as either evil or pure). 4★s.

Here is my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Iain]

recently finished the Bone Clocks by David Mitchell, typical but well written Mitchell, great characterisation in what could be standalone short stories but linked together by an odd central theme

[Sally]

I recently read one of the most enjoyable and interesting biographies it has ever been my privilege to encounter: Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff - 4★s.

Here is my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Barbm1020]

I recently finished Ash Wednesday by Ethan Hawke. I knew Hawke as a movie actor and host of a chapter of PBS' excellent series, Shakespeare Uncovered. Now it seems he's a fine writer too. The young people in his book are so well-realized they seem drawn from life, and their story is universal but still fresh. I liked it.

[Sally]

Incantation of Frida K. by the brilliant Kate Braverman affected me so deeply that it has taken me a while to process my thoughts and feelings about it enough to write a proper review, but here it is:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Of the forty-odd reviews I've written, this one may be the one that means the most to me. This extraordinarily beautiful book still has the power to bring tears to my eyes just from thinking about it - not sad tears, grateful tears for a story so beautiful and so profoundly resonant with my own. 5★s are woefully inadequate here.

[Neal]

I got a hold of the galley of this book and it was the best thriller I have read in years. There is an amazing secret world for the black market for organs that I knew nothing about and the protagonist in this novel explains it all, while racing around the globe trying to prevent a murder and trying to make up for his own sins. Incredible book. Mark it "to read" right now. The Organ Broker

[Raymond]

Book Review of Backward Compatible: A Geek Love Story by Sara Daltry and Pete Clark
Reviewed by Raymond Mathiesen
4 out of 5 stars

Is there someone for everyone? Even me?

Time is passing and the Y Generation have now become young adults. During this social period computers and the Internet have become household items, at least in the Upper and Middle classes. Online gaming has now become a subculture complete with language, social activities and dress. The word 'geek' has become more a description of an alternate subculture than a derogatory term. Daltry and Clarke take us on a wacky trip into the world of computer geeks, as they follow the hectic lives of Katie Garretty and George Lindell. Will this young woman and man come together in a sweet romance, or will they be doomed to remain single forever? Does being a computer geek mean you can never have self-respect, or can these young people grow in self-confidence? Will the pair ever battle their way to the end of Fatal Destiny, the game which dominates their young lives? Backward Compatible is a romantic comedy that will entertain those who enjoy reading New Adult or Young Adult fiction.


http://goo.gl/tTgTVO\ Backward Compatible (Kindle ed.)


For the full review please click:
http://raymondmathiesenbookreviews.bl...

[Alyssa Blair]

I loved this book it was amazing and brought me to tears. I read the book Mummy Tole Me Not to tell

[Sally]

I finally finished my review of Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a very important postcolonial novel - 4★s.

Here is my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Maggie the Muskoka Library Mouse]

I have just recently finished "Effigy" by Alissa York, and it was an alright read. It kept me interested, but not enough that I couldn't put it down.

[Barbm1020]

After many people recommended it, I have finally read Nine Princes in Amber. Nine Princes in Amber The cover with the shirtless man in fighting stance prepared me for a male heroic fantasy, but even knowing it's a 1971 book I was shocked by the constant smoking and drinking. Every character seemed to cloak his or her real thoughts and numb their feelings with tobacco and alcohol, all the time. Were we really that uptight? Or was it the suggestion from the media of the day that doing that was a desirable mark of sophistication? That said, the writing is good and the story is well-constructed except for some of the "special effects" which have a sort of last-minute-idea look. There is a lot of 60's and 70's contemporary slang in the dialog, which is jarring since the story does not include any other references to the real world. Will I finish the series? Probably not, but I know some guys who loved it.

[Barbm1020]

Alyssa Blair wrote: "I loved this book it was amazing and brought me to tears. I read the book Mummy Tole Me Not to tell"

I just read the summary and it sounds like a heartbreaking story. So glad the poor kid finally got help.

[Shelby]

I just recently went on a trip so of course I had to have some reading material for the car. I just finished reading Dead Wolf Walking again. It's a great book, but third in the series. The whole series is really good and I highly recommend it!

[Anna]

I read Collective Mind book last month. Truly I like the author's philosophic point of view that everyone's mind can be collected on one PC device to overcome global problems

[[deleted user]]

I read "As Old As Time" and I loved it. I loved how the author took a classic Disney movie and did a twisted retelling and had my mouth drop open