Xavier Bird and Elijah Whiskeyjack are brothers in everything but blood, and so when Elijah goes to fight in World War 1, Xavier goes with him. The twXavier Bird and Elijah Whiskeyjack are brothers in everything but blood, and so when Elijah goes to fight in World War 1, Xavier goes with him. The two men know that they are setting off on a journey that will drastically change them for the rest of their lives, but neither could have predicted just how differently they would be changed.
I picked this book up on a whim after it was recommended to me by a colleague. Normally, I don't think this is something I would ever purchase and read just based on seeing it in a store. I'm glad I picked it up, because I can easily see this being one of the best books I've read this year.
It's a book about WWI, and it spends a lot of time talking about the disturbing ways that men have devised to kill and maim each other, but that's not the main point of the story. It's a story of transformation, of struggle, and of how people deal with the things they never thought they'd ever have to face. ...more
When Jesse Burlingame finds herself in the uncomfortable situation of being handcuffed to a bed in their remote cottage with her husband lying dead onWhen Jesse Burlingame finds herself in the uncomfortable situation of being handcuffed to a bed in their remote cottage with her husband lying dead on the floor, the physical strain turns out to be less than the mental strain of figuring out how she got there - no, how she really got there.
This book evoked a more visceral feeling of disgust in me than any book has, except maybe for Misery. It started slow, and a few chapters in, I was thinking, (view spoiler)[ I really hope the whole book doesn't just consist of her internal monologue (actually, dialogues) while she's stuck on the bed. (hide spoiler)] Well, it did, and it turned out far better than I could have expected. The vivid description of (view spoiler)[ her dad assaulting her as a child (hide spoiler)] made me feel physically ill, but I couldn't stop reading.
I stopped short of rating this five stars, because I think it was missing something. Maybe it couldn't have had that something, because of the way that the book is set up. But still, I give it a very positive four stars and will recommend it to anyone I know who is sick enough to enjoy this kind of dark and twisted story....more
Raskolnikov wants to be a great man, a Napoleon - and part of him thinks he would be, if it weren't for his financial situation holding him back. So hRaskolnikov wants to be a great man, a Napoleon - and part of him thinks he would be, if it weren't for his financial situation holding him back. So he sets out one day to "step across" the boundary separating the ordinary men from the great, only to find that he is in fact bound by the same moral code as his fellow man, no matter how badly he tries to escape the guilt.
I read this book years ago in high school, struggling through it and even stopping halfway through for a few months. Still, I liked it so much that I have said ever since that it's my favourite book. I decided to re-read it, and I'm glad I did.
Aside from the obvious things that make this book so great - the vivid descriptions of Raskolnikov's descent into madness, the depth of the characters, the way that the description of a scene places the reader in the mindset of the person in it - what stuck out to me on this second reading was the dialogue. I don't speak at all like these characters, evidently because they spoke 150 years ago in a language that's notoriously difficult to translate. Nevertheless, I was hooked by the many scenes in this book where dialogue between two characters propels the reader along the plot with a level of emotion that's hard to replicate.
Re-reading this book only confirmed for me that it is the best book I have ever read. ...more
Mr. Harrigan's Phone: 3 stars I found this story a little bit lackluster, and thought as I was reading it that it was trying too hard in some places anMr. Harrigan's Phone: 3 stars I found this story a little bit lackluster, and thought as I was reading it that it was trying too hard in some places and not trying hard enough in others.
Life of Chuck: 5 stars While some considered the ending to this story disappointing, I quite enjoyed it. The plot was fun enough to keep me engaged but vague enough to keep me guessing in each part.
If It Bleeds: I didn't read this one, I'm going to hold off until I get around to reading the copy of The Outsider sitting on my shelf.
Rat: 5 stars A Stephen King twist on the classic "deal with the devil". This one felt like old King, and I always like when his main characters are flawed. ...more
I set out to read this book because I started seeing hints that Mark Carney could become a major player in Canadian politics (hints that turned out toI set out to read this book because I started seeing hints that Mark Carney could become a major player in Canadian politics (hints that turned out to be true) and I wanted a better idea of how he thought. Also, the book was recommended to me.
So what's the verdict? A book that is much more well-thought-out book than it is well-written. In Value(s), Carney carefully walks through exactly what he sees is wrong with the state of markets - and thus, societies - in the developed Western world, and how it should be fixed. It's an interesting analysis that draws from a wide range of scholars throughout history and touches on many of the crises Canada faces. My problem with it is that it's heavy on repetition, and rather light on solutions. I lost count of how many times I was told that big banks were operating in a "heads-I-win tails-you-lose" environment, or was reminded of the different valuations of Amazon the company and Amazon the rainforest.
Where ideas for growth and improvement are given, they are developed and impressively refined, traits which were unfortunately dampened by drawn-out prose, chapters that felt too long, and a writing style that I found difficult to follow at times.
But that's enough of the bad. When laying out his vision for resolving our crisis of values, Carney did an excellent job of tying every suggestion or observation he made back to his foundational ideas (perhaps a blessing and a curse, given my criticism of repetition above). This did not read like a polemic on the ails of society as some analyses do, but rather a focused discussion of a specific problem and how to stop it from overcoming all aspects of life. Voices that give tangible, actionable recommendations are often lost among the loud shouting of climate doomism, and this book is an interesting example of the pro-growth environmentalism that seems to be a lost art in current-day Canadian politics.
In sum, I enjoyed the ideas and findings of this book but did not enjoy reading it nearly as much as I had hoped.
P.s. What do Carney and his editors have against commas?? ...more
**spoiler alert** An enjoyable enough story, but one that really only became captivating towards the very end. Until then, it felt repetitive and forc**spoiler alert** An enjoyable enough story, but one that really only became captivating towards the very end. Until then, it felt repetitive and forced. Whenever the "goblins" came up (and they come up a LOT), Koontz would derail whatever plot was happening and spend at least half a page waxing about how disgusting, ugly, and evil they were. By the third or fourth time this happened, I had a pretty good construction of the goblins in my own head, and he could have spared me the constant descriptions.
Usually, I'm a fan of the tropes in this sort of book, but they all felt manufactured and insincere here. Joel Tuck being SO UGLY but SO NICE, Raya being amazing but cut off from love, it was all a bit much. Although again, it did redeem itself a bit at the end. The bit where the goblin tells Slim that humans bear the evil and responsibility as the creators of goblins was well done. ...more
Having taken a course in behavioural economics as an undergrad, I was familiar with quite a few of the findings in this book, but I bought it because Having taken a course in behavioural economics as an undergrad, I was familiar with quite a few of the findings in this book, but I bought it because I found those quite interesting and was hoping to be wowed by learning about more of them. And wowed, I was. This book deserves kudos not only for its content but how it's written. It doesn't read like a scholarly paper, making your brain hurt after ten pages. It reads like Kahneman is sitting next to you going "Dude, can you believe this??", which turned out to be an incredibly effective way to get his ideas across and keep me interested.
As for the content, this book had me asking my parents, girlfriend, and friends all sorts of trick questions to verify if our brains are actually as impulsive as Kahneman says they are (spoiler alert: he's right, of course). During the course of reading the book I started to spot these mental curiosities around me, and I can only hope that I will continue to do so. ...more
A group of unsuspecting travellers find themselves thrown into a living nightmare after being kidnapped by what seems at first to be a cop gone mad. AA group of unsuspecting travellers find themselves thrown into a living nightmare after being kidnapped by what seems at first to be a cop gone mad. As the night goes on, they learn more about the bizarre forces that are at play and do what they can to come out on top.
A pretty typical horror/thriller storyline of the unwitting victims united by the fact that they all fear for their lives. Given my usual love for Stephen King, I had much higher hopes for this book and ended up disappointed by his spin on this plot. It relied much more on gore and shock factor for its thrills than most of his books, and had a heavy supernatural element that felt half-baked at best.
Usually, Stephen King can be counted on for his characters and storytelling, but I found those both lacking. It seemed throughout the book like he couldn't pick which characters he wanted to focus on at which times, and it ended up with them all feeling pretty lacklustre to me. I just couldn't get into this book, and it took me far too long to finish. ...more
Vincent Majestyk, decorated Vietnam vet and ex-convict, is just trying to make a straight living growing melons. A jailbreak gone wrong sends him headVincent Majestyk, decorated Vietnam vet and ex-convict, is just trying to make a straight living growing melons. A jailbreak gone wrong sends him headfirst into the scuzzy underbelly of the south, where he realizes he’s more in his element than ever.
Meh. There wasn’t really anything to dislike, but not much to make this book particularly memorable either. The plot and characters read like a pretty standard action movie, and Leonard does a decent job of getting that action across and keeping it going. To me, this book’s biggest shortcoming is that any time it drew near to the characters� motivation, it either redirected the topic or shut it down outright. It’s a very short book too, which I think reflects the fact that it’s missing something....more
Sometimes there is absolutely no difference at all between salvation and damnation.
What do you do when the "right" thing to do is horribly wrong? Ho Sometimes there is absolutely no difference at all between salvation and damnation.
What do you do when the "right" thing to do is horribly wrong? How do you treat someone who has done evil things but looks to you like the one who needs protection? These are the kinds of questions that The Green Mile wrestles with, and it does an excellent job.
The characters and their ideals are murky enough to be realistic, the flashback style of storytelling is perfectly done and (view spoiler)[ comes together perfectly at the end of the book (hide spoiler)], and it has just enough of a supernatural element to make things interesting. This has easily cracked my top 5 King list, and it's not at 5. ...more
**spoiler alert** Alternating between two timelines as one catches up to the other, this book says a lot about what changes and even more about what d**spoiler alert** Alternating between two timelines as one catches up to the other, this book says a lot about what changes and even more about what doesn't.
I really enjoyed the first half of the book and thought for sure it was headed for five-star territory. Unfortunately, it kind of fell off a cliff once the murder investigation ramped up. It seemed to lose a lot of its punch there - it felt repetitive, and stopped making me think about the book after I put it down. The ending was just pitiful. Spend four hundred pages building up this character, this setting, this plotline, and then tear it all down in ten? Way too rushed - Kya's whole allure is the fact she's mysterious, so leave me with a bit of mystery! The second half of this book lost a star from me.
It loses another star for being predictable and trite. I had to take a deep breath and count to five when Scupper, after years of passing judgement, suddenly decided in the middle of packing up his shrimp gear to go and sit front row at Kya's trial.
A fun read, but ultimately a forgettable one. ...more
Colin and Roy are an unsuspecting duo, and even Colin can't quite understand why they're friends. Slowly but surely he figures it out, and when he doeColin and Roy are an unsuspecting duo, and even Colin can't quite understand why they're friends. Slowly but surely he figures it out, and when he does he's forced not only to grapple with the truth about his best and only friend, but with the truth about what he himself is capable of.
Interesting and fun to read, but not much more. A pretty one-dimensional story, if I'm being honest. The only real depth to it was Colin coming out of his shell and gaining some confidence, a standard coming-of-age type that was cheapened by Colin just saying "jeez" every time a conversation would get close to something significant.
Towards the end, the book addresses, just a tiny bit, *why* things ended up the way that they did. More of that could have pulled this up to four stars for me, but the ending just felt a little hollow and rushed. ...more
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