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Born on a Mountaintop: On the Road with Davy Crockett and the Ghosts of the Wild Frontier
Author:
Book Type: Hardcover
1
Author:
Book Type: Hardcover
1
Review Date: 2/17/2015
I really enjoyed this book. It's readable, it's fun, and the author doesn't take sides in the various Crockett controversies, but rather, treats all of them with respect and leaves the reader to decide for him/herself where the historical truth lies. Highly recommended for anyone who grew up during the Disney craze, or who has visited the Alamo, or who just wants to delve into this facet of Americana.
Review Date: 9/22/2010
Helpful Score: 2
I really enjoyed this book. It's good historical fiction; its hero is an Irish monk who ends up a slave of the Vikings and then in the Holy Roman Emperor's court in Constantinople. There's enough action and misadventure and plot twists to keep the reader entertained, and it really reads quite quickly. I did wish that the book included an introduction to help put the story into historical context -- I had to do a little research to remind myself why Constantinople was the "new Rome" in pre-Crusades Middle Ages -- but that's why we have google, I guess.
Review Date: 6/28/2014
Definitely a "must" for anyone who enjoys The New York Times and/or New York City. It may be sacrilege to suggest, but I did think Arthur Gelb could have used a good editor -- the book could have been 100 pages shorter and just that much tighter. Having said that, it was great to hear Gelb's anecdotes about well-known "bylines" at the times, as well as his insider's account of all the stories the Times broke during his four decades on the paper.
Review Date: 2/23/2010
Helpful Score: 1
I'm a Janeite who likes my Austen un-retouched. I don't need modern authors to create new adventures for Austen heroines, thank you very much. I selected Darcy's Story precisely because several of the reviewers complained that they didn't learn anything new from the book. That's precisely the point.
Darcy's Story does NOT change the story, and only creates a few new scenes. What it does is offer a new point-of-view from which to consider the actions of the Austen characters. I must admit that I, who thought I knew P&P backwards and forwards, learned new details from reading this book.
Darcy's Story suffers in that the conversations added by Aylmer use entirely different language -- much simpler words, much less thoughtful speech -- than those conversations taken from the original. But perhaps Aylmer did this on purpose -- it is, after all, very obvious which words are Austen's and which are hers, even to readers who do not know P&P almost verbatim.
Darcy's Story does NOT change the story, and only creates a few new scenes. What it does is offer a new point-of-view from which to consider the actions of the Austen characters. I must admit that I, who thought I knew P&P backwards and forwards, learned new details from reading this book.
Darcy's Story suffers in that the conversations added by Aylmer use entirely different language -- much simpler words, much less thoughtful speech -- than those conversations taken from the original. But perhaps Aylmer did this on purpose -- it is, after all, very obvious which words are Austen's and which are hers, even to readers who do not know P&P almost verbatim.
George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring that Saved the American Revolution
Author:
Book Type: Hardcover
15
Author:
Book Type: Hardcover
15
Review Date: 8/27/2018
Footnotes would be useful in a book that claims to explore "new" history, and it should be noted that the bibliography at the end is mostly secondary source material. Which makes me wonder how much of the story is the authors' imaginations run wild?
Review Date: 2/23/2010
A fabulous popular history. I had studied the Sistine ceiling in art history class -- who hasn't? but I had never had a chance to learn of the political struggles engulfing Italy or the personal problems besetting Michelangelo during its creation. All in all, a great read.
Review Date: 10/28/2020
Helpful Score: 1
I rarely write reviews, but this book is something special. It's the story of how a son comes to understand his father, as together they study the "Odyssey" and then share a trip to Greece. Incidents in the father-son relationship reimagine the epic poem; I suspect that's because the poem speaks to universal truths rather than anything unique in this particular father-son relationship. The book also offers incredibly insightful critique of the Homeric poem - I wish Mendelsohn had taught the course I took on Homer in college.
Review Date: 5/10/2021
Don't waste your time.
The protagonist's name - Darcy Fitzwilliam - is the only clever thing in the book. She's an unlikeable woman who constantly misbehaves at her parents' parties by drinking too much, but then, none of the characters have any resemblance to Jane Austin's. As far as I can tell, it's a breezily written romance novel with names of characters "borrowed" from the master.
Maybe I missed something amazing toward the end - I will admit I gave up around half-way through the book.
The protagonist's name - Darcy Fitzwilliam - is the only clever thing in the book. She's an unlikeable woman who constantly misbehaves at her parents' parties by drinking too much, but then, none of the characters have any resemblance to Jane Austin's. As far as I can tell, it's a breezily written romance novel with names of characters "borrowed" from the master.
Maybe I missed something amazing toward the end - I will admit I gave up around half-way through the book.
She Caused a Riot: 100 Unknown Women Who Built Cities, Sparked Revolutions, and Massively Crushed It
Author:
Book Type: Paperback
1
Author:
Book Type: Paperback
1
Review Date: 5/16/2020
Great idea for a book, but remarkably bad scholarship - the bibliography includes the Encyclopedia Brittanica as the only source for a number of chapters. Plus, the author constantly uses modern references to describe past cultures. The result is a mish-mash of commentary that may be funny - I guess that's a personal reflection - but certainly isn't informative. I quit at page 49.
Review Date: 3/15/2010
This book compares Shakespeare's plays with what was happening to him personally and in the world politically at the time he was writing. It gets a bit fanciful -- but them I find all literary criticism a bit fanciful. It is an easy historical read, and added to my enjoyment of his work.
Review Date: 9/13/2010
Helpful Score: 1
Can a novel set in the time of the plague be uplifting? I loved this book, and I loved the protagonist, a young woman trying to make sense of something beyond comprehension. The ending is a bit fantastic, but the entire book is a wonderful tour-de-force.
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