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Marcia C. - Reviews

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The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future
Review Date: 7/7/2020


I applaud Chris Guillebeau for his efforts to collect stories and data from around the world and organizing them well instead of simply casting off advice and anecdotes from the top of his head. This book offers a really solid chunk of information and advice, focused on ordinary people, not superhumans or stellar idols, who were often motivated by unexpected life challenges or opportunities to start a business. The book is grounded in reality and connects with readers' aspirations. Excellent!


1Q84
1Q84
Author: Haruki Murakami, Jay Rubin (Translator), Philip Gabriel (Translator)
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3.4/5 Stars.
 20
Review Date: 11/19/2014


Plain and simple, this is a masterpiece.

You can read and enjoy it just for the story line, which involves lonely characters who connect with one another in a world that has turned uncanny on them. Or you can ponder deeper metaphysical questions about reality along with the author and the characters.

I think you have to be an introvert and willing to suspend belief about abnormal events to appreciate what Murakami has to offer. But this work is rich, involving and perfectly constructed.

Don't be surprised when Murakami wins the Nobel Prize eventually.


The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life
Review Date: 12/10/2020


It's hard to express how terrible a book it is. It's an incoherent mishmash of a lot of self-important anecdotes and tips that skip around like crazy from topic to topic. It's an almost random collection of sidebars, not a coherent book. I can't believe that anyone who's not ADD could get anything at all out of The 4-Hour Chef.


The 500 (Mike Ford, Bk 1)
The 500 (Mike Ford, Bk 1)
Author: Matthew Quirk
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
  • Currently 3.7/5 Stars.
 6
Review Date: 1/12/2023


Outstanding, very suspenseful, and while it's a bit similar to John Grisham's "The Firm," as noted in a cover blurb, it has enough distinctive Washington DC background to seem different as well. Highly recommended if you like US-based political thrillers.


Abandoned in Death (In Death, Bk 54)
Abandoned in Death (In Death, Bk 54)
Author: J. D. Robb
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 4.2/5 Stars.
 25
Review Date: 4/21/2022


This book seemed like an average, enjoyable Eve/Roarke & crew story until several surprising turns about 2/3 of the way through. Then it really picked up steam and momentum. In the end: very well done. I'll continue to read this series!


The Abduction
The Abduction
Author: Mark Gimenez
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 51
Review Date: 5/29/2021


Distinctive characters who are not believable in the slightest. And a cliched plot. I will therefore not read another book by this author!


Acceptance: A Memoir
Acceptance: A Memoir
Author: Emi Nietfeld
Book Type: Paperback
  ?
Review Date: 8/4/2024


I couldn't get any farther in this book than page 18. There is so much indignation and anger at what the author went through in her childhood that the story suffers. I couldn't help wondering whether so many years for the author pretending that she had a normal life spilled over into an inability to finally tell the truth straight, letting the reader decide for herself what to make of it.


The Accident
The Accident
Author: Chris Pavone
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 13
Review Date: 7/20/2014


wow, what a thriller. very exciting! not predictable at all.


The Accident
The Accident
Author: Linwood Barclay
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4.3/5 Stars.
 11
Review Date: 5/11/2012


This is one of the few thrillers I've read where most of the characters could be people I know - or who live around me and I don't know. Very chilling, absorbing and mostly believable.


The Accidental Millionaire: How to Succeed in Life Without Really Trying
Review Date: 10/11/2015


Loved this book! Offbeat stories about growing up as a first generation American of Asian parents (one Korean, one Chinese) and the surprising lessons life taught him about money and success.


Across a Hundred Mountains
Across a Hundred Mountains
Author: Reyna Grande
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
 12
Review Date: 3/25/2020


An emotionally complex story told in simple language about a girl growing up poor in Mexico who finally comes to terms with the heartbreaking events of her childhood. Powerful and moving.


Act of War (Scot Harvath, Bk 13)
Act of War (Scot Harvath, Bk 13)
Author: Brad Thor
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
  • Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
 34
Review Date: 3/26/2017


Suspenseful, engrossing, well-plotted, unpredictable, believable. A fine international thriller.


The Algebra of Happiness: Notes on the Pursuit of Success, Love, and Meaning
Review Date: 6/24/2020


I did not like this book one bit! It reads like an endless graduation speech. Superficial but trying hard to be profound and witty. The author is too flippant or sardonic about important topics for my taste. Maybe the book was designed to appeal to 20-year-olds, which I am not.


All the Colors of Night (Fogg Lake, Bk 2)
All the Colors of Night (Fogg Lake, Bk 2)
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3.7/5 Stars.
 12
Review Date: 4/5/2021


Superb. I found it fascinating the way Krentz created a slightly alternate universe with social institutions centered around psychic powers. Here's to her imagination! The book kept my interest on almost every page.


American by Day
American by Day
Author: Derek B. Miller
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 4.3/5 Stars.
 2
Review Date: 11/30/2018


I adored "Norwegian by Night," as a charming mystery with vivid characters and lots of cultural insights. This sort-of-sequel was disappointing. There's some intercultural insight when the Norwegian characters come to the US, but the author brings in US race relations in a very heavy-handed way that spoiled the storytelling. Not a recommended read.


American Dirt
American Dirt
Author: Jeanine Cummins
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
 61
Review Date: 3/2/2020
Helpful Score: 6


Please be aware before you order or buy this book that it has been fiercely criticized by many American Latino authors and critics for harmful stereotypes of Mexicans, for having taken some scenes from other authors and for having received a huge publishers' advance when Latino authors who have more authentic stories grounded in their own experiences and observations struggle to feed themselves. Yes, it may be an exciting story but completely from the American white person's point of view. Personally, I found it inferior to the Mexican-produced telenovelas I sometimes watch.


American Spy
American Spy
Author: Lauren Wilkinson
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 2.8/5 Stars.
 5
Review Date: 9/7/2019


A lot of unexpected aspects to this book. Even if you've read a lot of spy novels, this one is different, in its premise, its hazy politics, its psychology and its plotting. Many surprises; many plot turns revealed in a single sly sentence here or there. The writing style is extremely confident and accomplished. I would read the next book by this author in a heartbeat!


The Angel's Game (Cemetery of Forgotten Books, Bk 2)
Review Date: 3/18/2020


A gothic tale - longwinded and engrossing - in which the city of Barcelona is as much a character as the people you meet within its pages. Long but never boring!


Apex Hides the Hurt
Apex Hides the Hurt
Author: Colson Whitehead
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.3/5 Stars.
 6
Review Date: 7/23/2012


This novel appears to be an allegory about racial identity. It was too subtle for me and I did not follow it, although I read it all the way to the end. Disappointing.


Apples Never Fall
Apples Never Fall
Author: Liane Moriarty
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3.7/5 Stars.
 45
Review Date: 3/13/2022


What an enjoyable read! I smiled my way through the book, even when the characters were going through something unhappy. Its narration of the dynamics in one family in suburban Australia is warm, affectionate, intimate, relatable and sometimes humorous. Even a minor character, like a hairdresser for the family who gets a page or two, comes across as real and enchanting.


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