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Review Date: 7/13/2010
The 12:30 from Croydon by Freeman Wills Crofts written in 1934 , a crime novel. A man kills his uncle because he wants his inheritance , now . He then kills the only witness. The author is able to make me feel that even if he is found not guilty at trial , I wouldn't mind. A masterfully written novel without the overwrought drama of modern crime novels.
Review Date: 11/20/2010
This is the story a paramedic and his first year on the job. He works the streets of Harlem. Street tough and very graphic with a truly morbid sense of humor. Excellent , I was hooked from page one and couldn't put this book down.
Review Date: 10/26/2012
Helpful Score: 1
Paul Watkins is slowly becoming my favorite author.Calm At Sunset , Calm At Dawn is the third Watkins novel I've read and it is as good a read as the previous two were. It doesn't seem to matter what the topic , Watkins' writing has that special quality that lets me feel like I'm living the life that he describes in his books. Calm At Sunset , Calm At Dawn is the story of James Pfeiffer , a young man who decides he wants to work as a fisherman on a scallop trawler despite his parents wishes that he not follow in his fathers footsteps , a boat owner and fisherman himself. The descriptions , the dialogue and the charachters we meet are so true and accurate that I feel I'm James Pfeiffer telling the story. Calm At Sunset , Calm At Dawn is a great sea story and a coming of age story. Paul Watkins' impecable storytelling and his incredible attention to detail is what makes him an outstanding novelist.
Review Date: 4/18/2015
The Descent Of Man --by-- Kevin Desinger
This is the story about how a random event can set off a chain of events that will change a person's life. It is also one of the most powerful books I have ever read. The Descent Of Man isn't a mystery/crime novel so there are some holes in the story. It is a study of the human mind or human condition. Very well written. I liked the format too. The story went reverse and forward. Each chapter centered on the event and the events after and leading up to it. I also liked that each chapter had a satisfying conclusion. Too many books nowadays have short chapters with teasers at the end that seem to be effective in leaving the reader wanting to find out the answer to that teaser. The Descent Of Man was for me a satisfying read , page to page , chapter to chapter , beginning to end. And speaking of the ending of the book, it is dead on perfect!!!
(not a spoiler btw)
This is the story about how a random event can set off a chain of events that will change a person's life. It is also one of the most powerful books I have ever read. The Descent Of Man isn't a mystery/crime novel so there are some holes in the story. It is a study of the human mind or human condition. Very well written. I liked the format too. The story went reverse and forward. Each chapter centered on the event and the events after and leading up to it. I also liked that each chapter had a satisfying conclusion. Too many books nowadays have short chapters with teasers at the end that seem to be effective in leaving the reader wanting to find out the answer to that teaser. The Descent Of Man was for me a satisfying read , page to page , chapter to chapter , beginning to end. And speaking of the ending of the book, it is dead on perfect!!!
(not a spoiler btw)
Review Date: 8/1/2010
Helpful Score: 2
I have , thankfully , never seen the movie Bucket List. I have , thankfully , read The End of the Alphabet by CS Richardson. The ads for Bucket List left me thinking "How crass , it is sure to be a hit.". The End of the Alphabet is the opposite. It is beautiful. It is a beautiful love story. It is a beautiful love story and an A to Z journey.
Ambrose Zephyr and his wife Zappora Ashkenazi , known as Zipper, are on a journey to visit all the places they have dreamed of going before Ambrose dies. They do so in an A to Z fashion. The End of the Alphabet is such a sweetly told tale not of just the journey to these places but of the journey that is their lives and the special love they have. The last sentence is so beautiful I cryed lovely tears.
As an interesting side note there is a passage that describes me better than I or anyone else ever has or could. Ambrose is a young boy and he is drawing the alphabet depicting each letter. " .....A is for Anaconda, B is for booby , C is for codfish.........When his father asked why A wasn't apple or B wasn't bird or C wasn't cat , young Ambrose explained that things didn't always have to be the way you'd expect.
Everybody does apples and birds and cats , he said , and it's boring to do what everybody else does........"
Ambrose Zephyr and his wife Zappora Ashkenazi , known as Zipper, are on a journey to visit all the places they have dreamed of going before Ambrose dies. They do so in an A to Z fashion. The End of the Alphabet is such a sweetly told tale not of just the journey to these places but of the journey that is their lives and the special love they have. The last sentence is so beautiful I cryed lovely tears.
As an interesting side note there is a passage that describes me better than I or anyone else ever has or could. Ambrose is a young boy and he is drawing the alphabet depicting each letter. " .....A is for Anaconda, B is for booby , C is for codfish.........When his father asked why A wasn't apple or B wasn't bird or C wasn't cat , young Ambrose explained that things didn't always have to be the way you'd expect.
Everybody does apples and birds and cats , he said , and it's boring to do what everybody else does........"
Review Date: 8/10/2010
It is a simpler time , a refreshing time , a more innocent time. It's early in the 1970's and a group of young vibrant dreamers are looking for a place to call their own. They find it in the small Northern California town of Ferris. They are The Tribe.
This is a wonderful tale of the men and women who are The tribe. A tale of the village that was The Tribe. Told by a tribe member as she reminisces about a time that was both beautiful and innocent but could never be so forever.
This is a wonderful tale of the men and women who are The tribe. A tale of the village that was The Tribe. Told by a tribe member as she reminisces about a time that was both beautiful and innocent but could never be so forever.
Review Date: 7/12/2010
This is what is written on the back cover of this book. "Taking his cue from the tango ,the acclaimed author of Mister Pipp has written a thrilling and sensuous novel about how we fall in love."
C'mon now , how about some truth in advertising. I found none of the three elements mentioned anywhere during my reading of this book. Lets start with thrilling. Was it the very long tedious section where four of the charachters were hiding in a cave ? I don't know who was more bored during the cave ordeal. The cave dwellers forced to stay in their cave with little to do all day , the monotony dragging on seemingly forever or me , the reader , forced to read about their ordeal while the monotony did drag on forever. Maybe the author thinks despondency is thrilling. Next up is sensuous. No , not here. Bland is how I felt about the charachters ,their developement and interactions. Perhaps it was in the dance that the author thought he was conveying sensuality. The dance descriptives barely went beyond "...and then they danced...". Lastly , falling in love.I must have missed this part. I know I read the whole book , didn't skip a page but I don't recall anybody falling in love , being in love or talking about love. All they did was dance. Is this love ? Is this sensuous love ? Is this thrilling sensuous love ? This is an example of how bland this book is. This is an example of how the author thinks we fall in love. " He notices that she is young and healthy looking. She looks good in her denim jeans. Wait a minute , other men are noticing this as well. I better marry her." Is your heart beating faster now ? Is there a bead of sweat on your upper lip ?
I kept readin this book hoping that the bouncing from generation to generation and location to location would somehow mesh and the story would have a coherent conclusion. It didn't. What a waste of time. A complete tangoed mess.
C'mon now , how about some truth in advertising. I found none of the three elements mentioned anywhere during my reading of this book. Lets start with thrilling. Was it the very long tedious section where four of the charachters were hiding in a cave ? I don't know who was more bored during the cave ordeal. The cave dwellers forced to stay in their cave with little to do all day , the monotony dragging on seemingly forever or me , the reader , forced to read about their ordeal while the monotony did drag on forever. Maybe the author thinks despondency is thrilling. Next up is sensuous. No , not here. Bland is how I felt about the charachters ,their developement and interactions. Perhaps it was in the dance that the author thought he was conveying sensuality. The dance descriptives barely went beyond "...and then they danced...". Lastly , falling in love.I must have missed this part. I know I read the whole book , didn't skip a page but I don't recall anybody falling in love , being in love or talking about love. All they did was dance. Is this love ? Is this sensuous love ? Is this thrilling sensuous love ? This is an example of how bland this book is. This is an example of how the author thinks we fall in love. " He notices that she is young and healthy looking. She looks good in her denim jeans. Wait a minute , other men are noticing this as well. I better marry her." Is your heart beating faster now ? Is there a bead of sweat on your upper lip ?
I kept readin this book hoping that the bouncing from generation to generation and location to location would somehow mesh and the story would have a coherent conclusion. It didn't. What a waste of time. A complete tangoed mess.
Review Date: 7/19/2010
Helpful Score: 1
It's 1953 in a small town in NY state and a giant sized baby girl is born. This is the story of life in a small town , the lives we are sometimes forced to live and the choices we sometimes have to make. Wonderful charachters highlight this tale of families and their legends.
Review Date: 8/28/2012
Great Metallica songbook. It has all the lyrics and guitar tabs . Only thing wrong with this book is that it is NOT And Justice For All. It is The Black Album by Metallica. Still an excellent book for learning how to play some Metallica.
Review Date: 7/26/2010
The Shiksa Syndrome by Laurie Graff , really good book for a story that is essentially a one trick pony. Aimee Albert is a Jewish woman who feels the clock is ticking away on her hopes of raising a Jewish family. She decides that pretending to be a Shiksa is the best way to achieve her goal. The story builds in anticipation of what will happen when the truth is found. This would be a good beach book.
Review Date: 7/31/2010
Helpful Score: 2
The Story of My Disappearance
A young man enlists in the East German Army but is forced by the Stasi to spy for them. But what happens when the Berlin Wall falls and he no longer has a country or the Stasi to control him. This is the story of his disappearance. The ending was a spine chiller.
A young man enlists in the East German Army but is forced by the Stasi to spy for them. But what happens when the Berlin Wall falls and he no longer has a country or the Stasi to control him. This is the story of his disappearance. The ending was a spine chiller.
The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible
Author:
Book Type: Hardcover
104
Author:
Book Type: Hardcover
104
Review Date: 6/22/2010
this is an exact copy of my own review from amazon.com
This book is disappointing on two levels. First is my disappointment. I thought the book was going to be more of a journal of Jacobs biblical year. It is more a dissecting or study of the oddities he found in the bible mixed in with some of his daily events. The second is Jacobs disappointment. I felt he found no spiritual enlightenment. It almost seemed like the whole year was over and the project was a failure but I have to write the book anyway.
I'm not sure if I liked the book. A book I enjoy reading I anticipate and look forward to my next reading. YoLB wasn't like that. Some days I'd look at it and wonder if I should continue reading or put it on hold and read a more entertaining book or just stop reading it without finishing.
The author and I are two really different people. I don't know how much this factors in but here is how we are different. Jacobs has many compulsive behavior problems. Lying is his worst. I despise liars and avoid lying in my own life. Jacobs has a problem saying "No" to his two year old son and mentions this numerous times in the book. Not me , children need limits. This is relevant because of the number of times Jacobs writes of this. Saying "No" or the inability to do so is a pet peeve of mine. This lessened the books enjoyment for me. Jacobs also loves pop culture. I have no use for pop culture. Jacobs uses pop culture references in many of his one liners and zingers. Most of them I'm sure are funny but since I am not familiar with the pop culture reference I did not get the jokes.
I am not saying this book is bad it's just not very good , certainly not a page turner. For me it goes back to one of my opening remarks. It felt like Jacobs wrote the book despite the fact that the project wasn't overly successful. To emphasize my point the conclusion of YoLB is more superficial than spiritual and that was very disappointing.
This book is disappointing on two levels. First is my disappointment. I thought the book was going to be more of a journal of Jacobs biblical year. It is more a dissecting or study of the oddities he found in the bible mixed in with some of his daily events. The second is Jacobs disappointment. I felt he found no spiritual enlightenment. It almost seemed like the whole year was over and the project was a failure but I have to write the book anyway.
I'm not sure if I liked the book. A book I enjoy reading I anticipate and look forward to my next reading. YoLB wasn't like that. Some days I'd look at it and wonder if I should continue reading or put it on hold and read a more entertaining book or just stop reading it without finishing.
The author and I are two really different people. I don't know how much this factors in but here is how we are different. Jacobs has many compulsive behavior problems. Lying is his worst. I despise liars and avoid lying in my own life. Jacobs has a problem saying "No" to his two year old son and mentions this numerous times in the book. Not me , children need limits. This is relevant because of the number of times Jacobs writes of this. Saying "No" or the inability to do so is a pet peeve of mine. This lessened the books enjoyment for me. Jacobs also loves pop culture. I have no use for pop culture. Jacobs uses pop culture references in many of his one liners and zingers. Most of them I'm sure are funny but since I am not familiar with the pop culture reference I did not get the jokes.
I am not saying this book is bad it's just not very good , certainly not a page turner. For me it goes back to one of my opening remarks. It felt like Jacobs wrote the book despite the fact that the project wasn't overly successful. To emphasize my point the conclusion of YoLB is more superficial than spiritual and that was very disappointing.
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