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Review Date: 1/10/2010
Excellent read. Story moves slowly with a nice payoff at the end. Read this one carefully so you do not miss anything.
Review Date: 4/11/2010
Helpful Score: 1
Maddox's website is pretty funny. I have read some of his posts several times. This book, however, is boring. I couldn't even read the whole thing.
Review Date: 8/15/2010
This book is extremely well-written, wildly imaginative and full of wonderful imagery. The imagery in this whole series makes me think "wow!" as well as long to see the action with my own eyes.
I've read people saying these books are "god-hating" and with that I disagree. These books are fantasy and a spin on familiar ideas. Pullman doesn't seem to hate God; if anything, he hates oppression from the church, which, in his books, is wrong because it doesn't coincide with what God really is and what really happens when you die, etc.
I've read people saying these books are "god-hating" and with that I disagree. These books are fantasy and a spin on familiar ideas. Pullman doesn't seem to hate God; if anything, he hates oppression from the church, which, in his books, is wrong because it doesn't coincide with what God really is and what really happens when you die, etc.
Review Date: 9/27/2009
Helpful Score: 1
I read this book so I could enter an essay contest. It was part philosophy and part suspenseful story. It's a good read if you have the discipline and desire to finish Ayn Rand's greatest work. Though a good book, it could have been a lot shorter, for Rand repeats her philosophy many times through different characters. But still, even if you do not agree with the philosophy the story alone is worth the read.
Review Date: 7/20/2009
Helpful Score: 1
Every woman should be required to read this book. Judge Judy is brilliant and offers perfect advice. I just kept nodding and silently saying "Exactly!" to myself as I read this page-turner. This is self-help for the woman who thinks its okay to yield to what a man wants and give up her own wants and needs for him. Sadly, its likely only JJ fans and women who are already smart and independant will read this book. My favorite advice of JJ is the "Divorce Insurance" for marriage, because it is also sound for any relationship.
Review Date: 11/26/2011
Quick read. McCarthy has a writing style all his own, which I enjoy to an extent. I could do without the lengthy, elaborate descriptions and the run-on sentences without commas. My eyes tend to glaze over these sections.
As for the story itself, I almost got the feeling that I'm supposed to feel sorry for this sick, deranged lunatic. Never. I also highly disliked that the book ("a child of god much like yourself perhaps") seems to imply there's a sick, deranged pervert in all of us at the core, which is disgusting and false.
3.5 stars since it held my attention, was short and somewhat shocking.
As for the story itself, I almost got the feeling that I'm supposed to feel sorry for this sick, deranged lunatic. Never. I also highly disliked that the book ("a child of god much like yourself perhaps") seems to imply there's a sick, deranged pervert in all of us at the core, which is disgusting and false.
3.5 stars since it held my attention, was short and somewhat shocking.
Review Date: 7/17/2010
Heard about this book from another book titled "500 Must Read Books". Absolutely loved it. Calvino takes facts about the universe in its earlier days and creates highly imaginative, unique and fun short stories.
Review Date: 9/26/2009
I loved this book. It's become my new favorite. It's an amazing story, written with wonderful description and twists and turns you never imagined coming. I was sad when I finished it, for reading it is fun and a thrill. A wonderful story. Five stars.
Review Date: 2/24/2010
Oates' writing style here is unique yet refreshing. Enjoyable book. Too bad the movie was horrible.
Review Date: 4/10/2010
After seeing this listed in a book called "501 Must Read Books" I decided it just had to be awesome. I was disappointed. I didn't even find it scary.
This book is huge, because it is ridden with details that no one cares about (what the prize in the Wheaties box is, what the cigarette sign on a door of a store says, the full title of the magazine someone no one knows is reading in a waiting room) as well as similes all over the place. This one should have been half the size of what it is.
There is a whole lot of buildup and I was anticipating a killer ending. I was expecting something shocking, twisted, something you never saw coming, but it was a total letdown.
The characters are interesting and there is definitely some good character development. You really feel like a part of their club, you're rooting for them and you're into it but then the story totally falls apart. The encounters with IT are too far and few in between.
Also, there is a scene near the end which had absolutely no place in this story, which I thought to be repulsive.
If anyone reading this could tell me who is speaking in the opening line, I've been wondering. I guess it must be the omniscient narrator, but if it is, the whole line does not really make sense.
This book is huge, because it is ridden with details that no one cares about (what the prize in the Wheaties box is, what the cigarette sign on a door of a store says, the full title of the magazine someone no one knows is reading in a waiting room) as well as similes all over the place. This one should have been half the size of what it is.
There is a whole lot of buildup and I was anticipating a killer ending. I was expecting something shocking, twisted, something you never saw coming, but it was a total letdown.
The characters are interesting and there is definitely some good character development. You really feel like a part of their club, you're rooting for them and you're into it but then the story totally falls apart. The encounters with IT are too far and few in between.
Also, there is a scene near the end which had absolutely no place in this story, which I thought to be repulsive.
If anyone reading this could tell me who is speaking in the opening line, I've been wondering. I guess it must be the omniscient narrator, but if it is, the whole line does not really make sense.
Review Date: 1/24/2010
Horribly written. Cheesy, boring, predictable with characters so fake and so stupid the reader could never care what happens to them. I could only get half-way through. I love lesbian fiction but this is just garbage.
Review Date: 11/6/2011
Held my attention. Since this is a work of nonfiction, pictures of the houses and whatnot would have been preferred over endless descriptions. There is some obvious filler that I suppose is there to draw out suspense, but it just annoyed me and I skimmed a lot of pages as I moved toward the end.
Review Date: 4/4/2010
Interesting to flip through on a lazy afternoon. I found a couple useful ways in this book to stop junk mail coming to me. You might find more useful information.
Review Date: 9/21/2009
Something different, but very enjoyable. I plowed through this book. Give it a try.
Review Date: 11/26/2011
Huge book but never boring. There are interesting things happening every few pages. A lot of people dislike this because they say it isn't 100% historically accurate...maybe they missed the word "Fiction" printed on the book. It's not meant to be your history textbook. I suspect that if you do not know much about Henry VIII, this book will be more enjoyable.
Review Date: 2/24/2010
Gripping, thought-provoking, mysterious and powerful.
Review Date: 2/27/2010
Helpful Score: 3
This book is what I like to call "extreme fiction", meaning it's highly unrealistic in its story and characters. I usually stop reading this type of fiction once I realize what it is but this novel was amusing and entertaining. I actually laughed out loud a few times. However, I have a few criticisms. The dialogue between characters is not the way anyone anywhere talks to each other, regardless of age or time period. The narrator contradicts her own statements by her actions and seems to lack emotion in situations that would be crushing. The ease with which the narrator meets all these lesbians seems to be way too far-fetched for the time period (50s/60s). Lastly, I didn't really have a that great a sense of Molly's personality, she seemed sweet at times and downright mean at others. She was supposedly a genius but didn't make genius choices. But overall, enjoyable book.
She Wanted it All: a True Story of Sex, Murder, and a Texas Millionaire
Author:
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
59
Author:
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
59
Review Date: 8/8/2009
Helpful Score: 2
Gripping true story about a truly evil woman. This book is worth the read for the story, but the author is not the greatest writer. I noticed some poorly structured sentences as well as confusing use of pronouns.
Review Date: 8/9/2009
I read this in high school and I really loved it. I felt I could relate to Jessica in a lot of different ways. Good read.
Review Date: 7/31/2010
The prologue to this book is what hooked me in. "The Jesuit scientists went so that they might come to know and love God's other childrenthey meant no harm." An intriguing premise, members of the Society of Jesus travel to an alien planet and ultimately cause something horrific to happen.
Sadly, this book never got to the place I wanted it to go. The writing is great when it came to descriptions of people and their hopes, desires, struggles, thoughts, personalities. Russell could really paint a scene when it came to describing places or a mood; she has a vast vocabulary. Yet the dialogue was close to unbearable for me. The characters are extremely different personalities yet they all speak in the same sarcastic, cheesy way, with stupid jokes constantly. It was to the point that any character, including the aliens, could be saying any piece of dialogue. There were pointless scenes that went on for pages. The ending was rushed and inconsistent for sure.
The Society of Jesus priests didn't matter. They didn't matter because what happened on the alien planet, to the natives and to the earthlings, had nothing to do with religion. Beliefs and faith and religion of God or Jesus didn't cause the harmful things that happened (which I had been planning on) on the alien planet so they might have all been atheists. The book was more of less about one man's relationship with God.
Sadly, this book never got to the place I wanted it to go. The writing is great when it came to descriptions of people and their hopes, desires, struggles, thoughts, personalities. Russell could really paint a scene when it came to describing places or a mood; she has a vast vocabulary. Yet the dialogue was close to unbearable for me. The characters are extremely different personalities yet they all speak in the same sarcastic, cheesy way, with stupid jokes constantly. It was to the point that any character, including the aliens, could be saying any piece of dialogue. There were pointless scenes that went on for pages. The ending was rushed and inconsistent for sure.
The Society of Jesus priests didn't matter. They didn't matter because what happened on the alien planet, to the natives and to the earthlings, had nothing to do with religion. Beliefs and faith and religion of God or Jesus didn't cause the harmful things that happened (which I had been planning on) on the alien planet so they might have all been atheists. The book was more of less about one man's relationship with God.
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