Oh dear....where to start? Firstly: the title... Should have been called 4 Dudes with Swords, since none of them ever used a musket. I really wish thiOh dear....where to start? Firstly: the title... Should have been called 4 Dudes with Swords, since none of them ever used a musket. I really wish this book was less popular than The Count of Monte Cristo, because it just is not in the same league, IMHO. Where the Count is cool smart and calculating, the Musketeers are liars, foppish, stupid and not even living their own credo "All for one and one for all!". They are only like that when it is convenient for them.
I give props to Dumas for Milady. She is the best written character in the book. I would have rather have just read a book about her. Yeah... she is the consummate bitch, but that is what makes her so unforgettable.
All in all...such a crushing disappointment after reading TCOMC, as that has really become my favorite book I have ever read. ...more
As much as I wanted to love this book, I read it whist in Paris last fall, and even though I am just 30 pages from the end, I did not finish it. PerhaAs much as I wanted to love this book, I read it whist in Paris last fall, and even though I am just 30 pages from the end, I did not finish it. Perhaps when I return to Paris I will pick it up again... but at the moment, I am content to just "be done". It is a rather silly book about a young girl who's affaris with everyone she knows are so convoluted that it is just crazy....more
**spoiler alert** An American classic, no doubt...My experience with this book is that when I was 10 or 11 the miniseries was on TV and my mother deem**spoiler alert** An American classic, no doubt...My experience with this book is that when I was 10 or 11 the miniseries was on TV and my mother deemed it acceptable for us to watch. I guess that was slightly progressive of her because, really she is a racist and I have had to fight my whole life to overcome all the other remarks she made, but because Roots was on TV and everyone was revering it like it was some sort of Gospel (which, if you are a 10-year-old and you have never seen black people before but they are going to win Emmys, I revered it too).
However... this is NOT a review of the miniseries. For the first time, I read the book. I think my edition was close to 2,000 pages but the most moving part for me was the "new" afterward by Alex Haley before he died.
My recommendation is this: Whatever your experience is with Roots, if it's just that you have heard about it or you were like me and you were a kid when this masterpiece came out or if you have read it 10 times...but never read the new afterwards by Mr. Haley... just read that. Or, if you have never read the book and have only seen the miniseries... time to read... because yeah, it's rough. It's rewarding in ways you can't even imagine and I am constantly reminded when reading a book like this what the human being as a species will do or endure to live and go on having babies and keep the species going, because, sometimes, people, we are effed up.
The afterwards is maybe 30 or so pages. Yes, the rest of the book is amazing and a true story of how America was built (because let's face it all, people... without slaves, we just wouldn't be where we are today) and about the true hands who built the fences, paved the roads built railroads (after they were freed...and oh what a double edge sword that was...since we didn't have any ground work paved to help them) did all the dirty work, occasionally one person would get lifted up into the spotlight or whatever...
The new afterwards is simply one of the most amazing things I have ever read. It begs the question: Is Roots true? And I had to wonder that myself. But once I read the afterwards (and I kinda wished I would have read it as soon as Kizzy is sold away because that is ALL explained and I wish someone would have told me because then I wouldn't have to wonder) it is truly a masterpiece of storytelling from the most ancient ways the human race has ever kept a memory alive without cave paintings, written words or anything except memories.
I know right now mining the human mind for memories is a big deal, finding lineage is a big deal, getting to know who your ancestors were is big...but nothing is bigger when someone can PROVE it the way Mr Haley does in this book. And this has been proven to me without a shadow of a doubt, without hesitation...he faithfully recreated every word spoken because of the memories that his own parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and who ever else stepped into the circle to say their piece, I believe that this is the most well-crafted biography (is it one, though, truly?) I will ever or have ever read. It hard to classify this book because I'm sure someone would want to challenge it's historical accuracy. But what is history without a little imagination thrown in?
No matter which way you slice this book, it's a 5 star read of the highest caliber. ...more
why can't you give a book ZERO or even NEGATIVE stars?
I don't care if I don't garner a lot of "helpful" reviews here... I just need to vent. JSF is nowhy can't you give a book ZERO or even NEGATIVE stars?
I don't care if I don't garner a lot of "helpful" reviews here... I just need to vent. JSF is nobody. I HATE his writing style and he doesn't get extra points for only being 25 when we published this. The story of Bume is lifted STRAIGHT out of the story of Remedious the Beauty from 100 Years of Solitude, and he even uses the same literary trick by naming everyone the same name (fortunately, they all have stupid nicknames). Man, what an awful book and I also hated the other one about 911, so it this brat makes you swoon, go for it... but I don't think he writes well, I don't think he is some sort of prodigy, i just think that he has a big thesaurus next to him and uses it too much! What a GAWD-awful book! Oh! And the rip off the the "Wild and Crazy Guys" that Steve Martin and Dan Ackroyd did 30 years ago ... they called... they want their characters back! Horrible, horrible horrible dreck, drivel, pabulum and horse-sh*t. I just cannot remember when a book made me SO angry and unhappy. And if you are a student and get assigned this book in school, I did find a groovy site called something like..."Everything is Illuminated for the student who has to write a paper on it" Don't waste your time reading this god awful piece of ripped off trash....more
So..... I decide to go to go off the Paris for 7 weeks, and which books would serve me best? I ended up taking this one (on Audible... too bad Julia CSo..... I decide to go to go off the Paris for 7 weeks, and which books would serve me best? I ended up taking this one (on Audible... too bad Julia Child didn't narrate the book her self... but you can't have everything). It's equally enchanting as she gets rapturous about cheese or a fish market, and equally funny as she tussles with her co-authors. I am a Parisian trained chef, so Julia Child has ALWAYS been my hero and I loved her TV show when I was growing up for the unconscious flirtations she had with disaster (if part of it falls on the floor, just pick it up and continue on... no one will know!) and her gawkiness and her charm and wit. If you like food, or how to get a book published, or France (I happen to like all three) read it! It's very good and the movie DID NOT do it justice. As the French would say... Oh La La. (And I was just there...and not one single French person who I asked knew who she was!) It would be good to know a little French, but not as important to know as much (Spanish) if you were reading Comac McCarthy... so don't let the minuscule amount of French throw you off. It's just a great book....more
This skinny volume takes place in one evening in Oscar's life, where he is just about to tear away from his old job and city into the fresh air and moThis skinny volume takes place in one evening in Oscar's life, where he is just about to tear away from his old job and city into the fresh air and mountains of Colorado to be part of one of the world's most prestigious think tanks. His recent divorce and bachelorhood that leads him to a filthy apartment, no food in the fridge (or if there is it went rancid weeks ago). He has a 10-year-old daughter who wants to come and see him, sensing that he is leaving and is not going to say good bye to her. The first full chapter in the book is about a dreadful and very unusual climb up the stairs to his door. This climb is monumental throughout the rest of the story, but only in Oscar's head because the daughter is too young to even hint at what is really going on inside of him.
The turn of phrase employed by Douglas Ord is very good, and one can tell that he is a writer verging upon greatness, but the book is very claustrophobic. To say much more about it would be to give the whole story away, but I absolutely hate it when a book is tied up in a beautiful ribbon with all of the problems solved and people discover that after 30 years of hating each other they are suddenly the best of friends. I think a lot of people like that sort of closure, but I prefer my endings to be a bit more ambiguous so that I can draw my own conclusions. And, in finishing Oscar and Jeanie, I have found myself wondering what happened after the last page was finished?
As I stated before, it is a short book, one that could easily be finished in an afternoon and I do recommend it to people who can live with sparse action and who appreciate fine writing just for the art of it and don't need espionage, car wrecks or bombs happening every third page (maybe read some Dan Brown for that) and I am looking forward to reading Tommy's Farm, Mr. Ord's other book (which I believe was written before Oscar and Jeannie). You will have to hunt for it, but it is possible to find copies of both books with a little looking (neither will be in you local Barnes and Nobels). I found copies of both books on Amazon's MarketPlace (which isn't my favorite place to buy books, but sometimes, they have what you need!) ...more
In the beginning, it's pretty slow going. Good thing I bought it on audible, too...because I don't think I could get thru the print version without itIn the beginning, it's pretty slow going. Good thing I bought it on audible, too...because I don't think I could get thru the print version without it. Too much Spanish! However, once past the 90 or 100 page mark I found the book to be very satisfying and interesting. The main character is a drunk, and sometimes drunks are just so closed in on themselves that it can give the reader a sense of claustrophobia. I loved the Mexican setting the the 1930's and I think there could be some argument as to whether or not this book really takes place all in one day (with the liberal use of flashbacks) or whether it takes place over the course of two or three days. I read it twice, one in print and once on Audible.com and it is very hard to tell. It's one of those books that you either like or don't, and out of everyone in my book club I was the only one who read it twice, and pretty much the only one who read it once. A lot of people just gave up on it, but I liked it very much and I do recommend it to people who don't mind reading about alcoholics (and I know a lot of people have been brutalized by alcoholics and just don't want to read books like this... and to those of you I would say skip it) and if you can't stick with a book through the first 100 pages, then you are pretty much not going to like this book because the first 100 pages are brutal.
I think Malcolm Lowry can write and I wold definitely pick up another of his books if he has them. ...more
So after all the controversy about Beatrice and Virgil and Life of Pi by Yann Martel and did he or did he not plagiarize Mr. Moacyr Scliar I decided tSo after all the controversy about Beatrice and Virgil and Life of Pi by Yann Martel and did he or did he not plagiarize Mr. Moacyr Scliar I decided to read Max and the Cats.
It is very short, but covers most of one man's lifetime. It's really a novella. And a very sweet one at that.
Yes, images, ideas and even words were taken from Max and the Cats to create both of Yann Martel's popular books, but I don't know anything about plagiarism laws.
What I do know is that Max and The Cats is a well written, concise little story of a man who flees Germany to avoid having to live under Nazi rule. It can easily be read in an afternoon. I liked it a lot and found Max to be a very sympathetic protagonist. I recommend it. 4/5 stars....more
This is an interesting, if somewhat disorganized book about butterflies: their habits, their lifestyles, their eminent extinction by poachers and collThis is an interesting, if somewhat disorganized book about butterflies: their habits, their lifestyles, their eminent extinction by poachers and collectors, their resilience and the people who are fascinated by them and devote their lives to either studying them, catching them, raising them or killing them to use in their art. The book would have been MUCH better if it would have had a few key pictures in it, but I guess that's what the internet is for. It made for an average book club discussion...and there are probably better books on the subject, but I don't feel like pursuing one right now. I do remember seeing Monarch butterflies all over the place when I first moved to Seattle in 1982...but now... I can't remember seeing one in the last few years. The chapter on the Monarch was probably the most interesting chapter. If you love butterflies, then read it...if they aren't your thing, then I would say you can safely skip it and your life will still be complete. 3 of 5 stars....more
Ohhhhhhh...what I wouldn't have given for a better edited version of this book! Truly an example of what could have been.........Ohhhhhhh...what I wouldn't have given for a better edited version of this book! Truly an example of what could have been............more
I really enjoyed the first 100 pages of this highly rated book. Bt I got way bogged down afterwards. I contacted a gentleman here on GoodReads who saiI really enjoyed the first 100 pages of this highly rated book. Bt I got way bogged down afterwards. I contacted a gentleman here on GoodReads who said it was his favorite novel of '09 and asked him if I should push though (I was closing in on the 300 page mark) and he said "reading is for pleasure. If the book isn't giving you pleasure, then stop reading it" I thought that was profound and I am really grateful to him for saying that to me. I'm giving it 4 stars for the first 100 pages and 1 star for the next 200 pages...so that equals 2 stars? I don't know. But I have a lovely (practically) new copy of it that I am going to put on book swap....more
this is a fast paced fictionalized story about real people. It is amazing to me that these boys made it to manhood and even fathered 21 children. It'sthis is a fast paced fictionalized story about real people. It is amazing to me that these boys made it to manhood and even fathered 21 children. It's not that wonderfully written, but it is greatly entertaining. 4/5 stars....more
I read this right after Ya Ya's and I didn't really care for it. I don't remember why... but I have some sort of revulsion to it. I read this right after Ya Ya's and I didn't really care for it. I don't remember why... but I have some sort of revulsion to it. ...more
After loving Beloved so much I ran out the day this book was released and was one of the first people to read it. I was confused by this meandering stAfter loving Beloved so much I ran out the day this book was released and was one of the first people to read it. I was confused by this meandering story that didn't really hold together and there were not the strong, memorable women characters that I have come to love and expect from Ms. Morrison.
So when I was able to let go of the fact that this is NOT a Beloved prequel (even though the publisher billed it that way.... it can't be! It takes place nearly 300 years before Beloved does) I could enjoy it for what is was... a disjointed story about haunted souls in the beginning of the American Colonies. I got into the etherial, poetic, dreamy quality of the writing, but it is so completely devoid of plot that it just ended up confusing me. Like the characters, I too, was lost in the pathless mist.
So if you are good with great writing but no discernible plot, then go for it. But I feel that this is the weakest of Ms. Morrison's work, and she is one of my favorite living American authors. ...more
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