This is the story of a family in Malaysia, spanned over 4 generations. The story starts with Lakshmi, and ends with her great-granddaughter, Nisha. LaThis is the story of a family in Malaysia, spanned over 4 generations. The story starts with Lakshmi, and ends with her great-granddaughter, Nisha. Lakshmi was a child bride, married to a man from another country with promises of riches and a grand life. This story tells of the family's hardships, temptations, of happiness, sadness, and everything in between. I'm torn between giving this book 3 and 4 stars. 3.5 would be good for me. I found the book interesting, but it didn't really suck me in like I hope with most books. ...more
Louie Zamperini, Olympic track miler (Berlin 1936) and star USC runner, joins the Army Air Corps at the outbreak of WWII. After his plane plunges intoLouie Zamperini, Olympic track miler (Berlin 1936) and star USC runner, joins the Army Air Corps at the outbreak of WWII. After his plane plunges into the Pacific Ocean, he survives 47 days on a disintegrating raft, only to spend the rest of the war being starved and tortured in a series of Japanese POW camps.
Wow. What can I even say about this book? AMAZING. I'm really not a nonfiction reader, but this book was one of THE BEST books I have ever read. I have recommended this book to everyone I know!...more
Ed Kennedy is an underaged cab driver without much of a future. He's pathetic at playing cards, hopelessly in love with his best friend, and utterly dEd Kennedy is an underaged cab driver without much of a future. He's pathetic at playing cards, hopelessly in love with his best friend, and utterly devoted to his coffee-drinking dog. His life is one of peaceful routine and incompetence until he inadvertently stops a bank robbery. That's when the first ace arrives in the mail. So begins the story of the messenger. Ed makes his way through town helping and hurting people as necessary. Ed begins to care for the people he is sent to help. It changes his whole life. This is a really cute feel-good story about not settling for mediocrity, about doing something important with your life. I enjoyed reading this story....more
This book was just ok... I felt the story had the potential to be great, really interesting and exciting, but it fell short for me. Took me the betterThis book was just ok... I felt the story had the potential to be great, really interesting and exciting, but it fell short for me. Took me the better part of a month to finish. :(...more
I would give this book 3.5 stars if I could. I enjoyed the second half of the book much more than the first. I thought the first half dragged a bit, II would give this book 3.5 stars if I could. I enjoyed the second half of the book much more than the first. I thought the first half dragged a bit, I was waiting for something exciting to happen. Once it did, I got really into the story. ...more
Though he may not speak of them, the memories still dwell inside Jacob Jankowski's ninety-something-year-old mind. Memories of himself as a young man,Though he may not speak of them, the memories still dwell inside Jacob Jankowski's ninety-something-year-old mind. Memories of himself as a young man, tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Memories of a world filled with freaks and clowns, with wonder and pain and anger and passion; a world with its own narrow, irrational rules, its own way of life, and its own way of death. The world of the circus: to Jacob it was both salvation and a living hell.
Jacob was there because his luck had run out - orphaned and penniless, he had no direction until he landed on this locomotive 'ship of fools'. It was the early part of the Great Depression, and everyone in this third-rate circus was lucky to have any job at all. Marlena, the star of the equestrian act, was there because she fell in love with the wrong man, a handsome circus boss with a wide mean streak. And Rosie the elephant was there because she was the great gray hope, the new act that was going to be the salvation of the circus; the only problem was, Rosie didn't have an act - in fact, she couldn't even follow instructions. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and ultimately, it was their only hope for survival.
I LOVED this book! The story was so well written, the characters so well developed. LOVED the love story, I wanted Jacob and Marlena together SO BAD! I really liked that the story was told through an old man's flashbacks and memories. My heart just broke for the 90 year old Jacob. I loved the ending too, the fact that a perfect stranger is willing to make someone's life worthwhile, even if only for a little while....more
It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quitIt’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .
Narrated by Death, Markus Zusak's groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a young foster girl living outside of Munich in Nazi Germany. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she discovers something she can't resist- books. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever they are to be found. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, Liesel learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids, as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.
Oh gosh, I really just LOVED this book! So heartbreaking.....more
A haunting and heartbreaking story about a young Jewish girl in France who's family was taken to extermination camps. I finished several hours ago andA haunting and heartbreaking story about a young Jewish girl in France who's family was taken to extermination camps. I finished several hours ago and am still thinking about how sad the lives of those poor Jewish families must have been, even after the war was over. To lose so many people you loved in such a horrible way. Absolutely devastating. It was interesting to learn about the French involvement in the roundup....more
I bought this book in the airport on the way home from a vacation. I needed a book to read on the flight, and wanted to see the film so I chose it. I I bought this book in the airport on the way home from a vacation. I needed a book to read on the flight, and wanted to see the film so I chose it. I loved it! Very sweet love story, and I couldn't wait to find out what happened in the end. Still need to see the movie though!...more
The narrator of The Gargoyle is a very contemporary cynic, physically beautiful and sexually adept, who dwells in the moral vacuum that is modern lifeThe narrator of The Gargoyle is a very contemporary cynic, physically beautiful and sexually adept, who dwells in the moral vacuum that is modern life. As the book opens, he is driving along a dark road when he is distracted by what seems to be a flight of arrows. He crashes into a ravine and suffers horrible burns over much of his body. As he recovers in a burn ward, undergoing the tortures of the damned, he awaits the day when he can leave the hospital and commit carefully planned suicide—for he is now a monster in appearance as well as in soul.
A beautiful and compelling, but clearly unhinged, sculptress of gargoyles by the name of Marianne Engel appears at the foot of his bed and insists that they were once lovers in medieval Germany. In her telling, he was a badly injured mercenary and she was a nun and scribe in the famed monastery of Engelthal who nursed him back to health. As she spins their tale in Scheherazade fashion and relates equally mesmerizing stories of deathless love in Japan, Iceland, Italy, and England, he finds himself drawn back to life—and, finally, in love. He is released into Marianne's care and takes up residence in her huge stone house. But all is not well. For one thing, the pull of his past sins becomes ever more powerful as the morphine he is prescribed becomes ever more addictive. For another, Marianne receives word from God that she has only twenty-seven sculptures left to complete—and her time on earth will be finished.
Wow, what a beautiful and powerful love story! I absolutely loved it....more
Leningrad, 1941: The European war seems far away in this city of fallen grandeur, where splendid palaces and stately boulevards speak of a different aLeningrad, 1941: The European war seems far away in this city of fallen grandeur, where splendid palaces and stately boulevards speak of a different age, when the city was known as St. Petersburg. Now two sisters, Tatiana and Dasha Metanov, live in a cramped apartment, sharing one room with their brother and parents. Such are the harsh realities of Stalin's Russia, but when Hitler invades the country, the siege of its cities makes the previous severe conditions seem luxurious.
Against this backdrop of danger and uncertainty, Tatiana meets Alexander, an officer in the Red Army whose self-confidence sets him apart from most Russian men and helps to conceal a mysterious and troubled past.
Once the relentless winter and the German army's blockade take hold of the city, the Metanovs are forced into ever more desperate measures to survive. With bombs falling and food becoming scarce, Tatiana and Alexander are drawn to each other in an impossible love that threatens to tear her family apart and reveal his dangerous secret -- a secret as destructive as the war itself. Caught between two deadly forces, the lovers find themselves swept up in a tide of history at a turning point in the century that made the modern world.
I liked this story. I really enjoyed the historical value of the story and learned a lot about WWII from a different perspective. I found it slow at times, and sometimes certain characteristics of the main characters would irritate me. However, I did find it to be a pretty engrossing love story so I found myself forgiving Tatiana and Alexander their flaws. (I stole this from Sarah's review, my thoughts exactly! :)) ...more
It's September 1899 and the Manhattan season is starting off with a bang. Elizabeth Holland, the darling of the high society set, has returned from heIt's September 1899 and the Manhattan season is starting off with a bang. Elizabeth Holland, the darling of the high society set, has returned from her year in Paris in time for the first ball of the season, held at her best friend Penelope Hayes' newly finished and incredibly vulgar mansion. Penelope is all about showing herself to the best advantage, and has her sights set on young rake Henry Schoonmaker - but his father has other ideas. Intending to run for mayor the following year, he wants his only son to shape up and marry a good girl from a good family: Elizabeth.
The day after the ball, he proposes to Elizabeth and is accepted (even though her heart belongs to the young coachman, Will, whom her maid, Lina, also loves), because Henry's family has money and the Holland family now has none - which no one know about except them. You have to keep up appearances, after all. This is the day he also meets Elizabeth's younger sister, Diana, and there's something about her that captivates him like no other girl ever has. It's a tangled mess and it's about to get a whole lot messier as Penelope schemes to break up the engagement.
I really enjoyed this book! It was fast paced and interesting, the story line kept me wanting more! Good start to 2011!
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