en-US Mon, 24 May 2021 05:54:40 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 48564004 267 Diana Wynne Jones Maryse 3 4.43 1986
author: Diana Wynne Jones
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.43
book published: 1986
rating: 3
read at: 2009/04/07
date added: 2021/05/24
shelves: ebook, to-buy-my-own-copy, books-to-film, currently-reading
review:

]]> 7194 362 Arturo PĂ©rez-Reverte 015603283X Maryse 4
Like I said, I read this primarily because I enjoyed Roman Polanski's "The Ninth Gate". But the movie only touches on a few plot points found in the book, and removes a bulk of the story -- I.e. : the entire Dumas plot line -- reducing it to a more devil-worshiping detective mystery than a historical-romp-through-the-classics-do-you-believe-in-the-devil story it really is.

I'll polish this review when I have more time but reading "The Club Dumas" surprisingly paralleled reading Dan Brown's "The DaVinci code". Both books delved a lot into history and into our notions of God or Devil; both left me wanting to know more about other historical readings of Jesus and the devil. And both ends up with the protagonist finding some sort of connection with Jesus or the devil. But while Dan Brown reads like a paperback mystery, "The Club Dumas" feels richer, more thought out, and it reeled me in with its intriguing world of rare books. In an age where nearly everything can be found in the internet, and nothing is hidden anymore, mysteries are welcome reprieve. So, where else can one find the best mysteries other than in books? Paper books, that is. Old books that hold more than what their musty old spines tell.

Even at this early in the millennium the thought of real books, bound and written in paper, has started to sound old fashioned -- and, gasp -- archaic that paper books are beginning to elevate into an art status. Less for practically, more for art. Like paintings where once cameras came, or Polaroid films when digital cameras arrived. And that thought reverberates, especially to a book lover like myself. There is no mystery in an Ebook. We don't touch a machine and wonder who bound it, who cut the pages, who has touched this pages before us, and perhaps did they poison it, a la Arabian Nights, and so on. All we get are a bunch of letters in a faux sepia screen.

The Club Dumas is a nostalgic ode to reading, to getting lost in the pages of a good book, to opening new chapters and living different lives other than ourselves.
To discovering more than what is just written on pages
To biting the apple and knowing]]> 3.83 1993
author: Arturo PĂ©rez-Reverte
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at: 2013/12/21
date added: 2013/12/30
shelves: books-to-film, ebook, to-buy-my-own-copy
review:
A love letter to reading the classics

Like I said, I read this primarily because I enjoyed Roman Polanski's "The Ninth Gate". But the movie only touches on a few plot points found in the book, and removes a bulk of the story -- I.e. : the entire Dumas plot line -- reducing it to a more devil-worshiping detective mystery than a historical-romp-through-the-classics-do-you-believe-in-the-devil story it really is.

I'll polish this review when I have more time but reading "The Club Dumas" surprisingly paralleled reading Dan Brown's "The DaVinci code". Both books delved a lot into history and into our notions of God or Devil; both left me wanting to know more about other historical readings of Jesus and the devil. And both ends up with the protagonist finding some sort of connection with Jesus or the devil. But while Dan Brown reads like a paperback mystery, "The Club Dumas" feels richer, more thought out, and it reeled me in with its intriguing world of rare books. In an age where nearly everything can be found in the internet, and nothing is hidden anymore, mysteries are welcome reprieve. So, where else can one find the best mysteries other than in books? Paper books, that is. Old books that hold more than what their musty old spines tell.

Even at this early in the millennium the thought of real books, bound and written in paper, has started to sound old fashioned -- and, gasp -- archaic that paper books are beginning to elevate into an art status. Less for practically, more for art. Like paintings where once cameras came, or Polaroid films when digital cameras arrived. And that thought reverberates, especially to a book lover like myself. There is no mystery in an Ebook. We don't touch a machine and wonder who bound it, who cut the pages, who has touched this pages before us, and perhaps did they poison it, a la Arabian Nights, and so on. All we get are a bunch of letters in a faux sepia screen.

The Club Dumas is a nostalgic ode to reading, to getting lost in the pages of a good book, to opening new chapters and living different lives other than ourselves.
To discovering more than what is just written on pages
To biting the apple and knowing
]]> 11994305 208 Richard Matheson 1429998482 Maryse 0 ebook, to-buy-my-own-copy The Monkey's Paw with a dark twist in the end. I have seen both the Twilight Zone version and the Cameron Diaz movie, both of which weren't faithful to Matheson's original concept (although the Twilight Zone version seemed closer even though it differed in the ending). Personally, I think I prefer the Monkey's Paw, but Button, Button is still a nice, good read, especially since it's short enough to read while sitting in the waiting room. ]]> 3.67 1970
author: Richard Matheson
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1970
rating: 0
read at: 2011/08/26
date added: 2011/08/25
shelves: ebook, to-buy-my-own-copy
review:
Actually, I've only read the ebook version of Matheson's short story "Button, Button". It was reminiscent of WW Jacob's
The Monkey's Paw with a dark twist in the end. I have seen both the Twilight Zone version and the Cameron Diaz movie, both of which weren't faithful to Matheson's original concept (although the Twilight Zone version seemed closer even though it differed in the ending). Personally, I think I prefer the Monkey's Paw, but Button, Button is still a nice, good read, especially since it's short enough to read while sitting in the waiting room.
]]> 1432516 288 Louis Pergaud 2070367584 Maryse 0 to-read, to-buy-my-own-copy 3.91 1912
author: Louis Pergaud
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1912
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2010/03/16
shelves: to-read, to-buy-my-own-copy
review:

]]> 6366271
This version was a chapbook compiled by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab and sold at Comic Con 2008 and on the BPAL website with all proceeds going to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.]]> 25 Neil Gaiman Maryse 5 4.15 1995
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1995
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2010/02/24
shelves: ebook, to-buy-my-own-copy, short-stories, spin-offs
review:
Brilliant story. I've never read anything by Neil Gaiman until I stumbled upon this wonderfully written story, and now I'm a fan. The creepy, medieval vibe; the supernatural undertones; the twist at the end. It's the best Snow White story, in my opinion
]]> 587615 259 Andrew Mark 0399144471 Maryse 0 to-read, to-buy-my-own-copy 3.17 1999
author: Andrew Mark
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.17
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2009/12/12
shelves: to-read, to-buy-my-own-copy
review:

]]> 22628 offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see
what it looks like from the dance floor.

This haunting novel about the dilemma of passivity vs. passion marks the stunning debut of a provocative new voice in contemporary fiction: The Perks of Being A WALLFLOWER

This is the story of what it's like to grow up in high school. More intimate than a diary, Charlie's letters are singular and unique, hilarious and devastating. We may not know where he lives. We may not know to whom he is writing. All we know is the world he shares. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. The world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that the perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite.

Through Charlie, Stephen Chbosky has created a deeply affecting coming-of-age story, a powerful novel that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller coaster days known as growing up.

(back cover)]]> 213 Stephen Chbosky Maryse 0 to-read, to-buy-my-own-copy 4.24 1999
author: Stephen Chbosky
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2009/12/12
shelves: to-read, to-buy-my-own-copy
review:

]]> 12096 224 Eugène Ionesco 0141184299 Maryse 0 to-read, to-buy-my-own-copy 4.02 1962
author: Eugène Ionesco
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1962
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2009/12/10
shelves: to-read, to-buy-my-own-copy
review:
Frankly, I haven't read the book but I saw the play and I loved it. A bit on the weird side (ok, on the very weird side) but I love the absurdity of it. One of my friends who came to see it with me said it was stupid, and I suddenly realized that I was one of the few people laughing at the theater. It was funny how society was slowly turning into Rhinoceroses, leaving the protagonist the only "normal" person left, only to realize that if everyone was a rhinoceros, doesn't that make him the abnormal? Tragic and funny, but I guess not for everyone.
]]> 32435
They found the first body hideously swollen and still warm. Then they found two severed hands. Then two staring heads in wall ovens. 150 were grotesquely dead and it had hardly begun in the tiny mountain town of Snowfield, California.

and closer...

At first they thought it was a maniac. Then they thought it was an obscene new disease. Then they thought it was the Russians.

and closer...

Then they found out the truth. And they saw it in the flesh. And it was worse than anything any of them had ever imagined...]]> 434 Dean Koontz 0425181103 Maryse 3 to-buy-my-own-copy 3.94 1983
author: Dean Koontz
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1983
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2009/12/06
shelves: to-buy-my-own-copy
review:

]]> 1202
These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much heralded scholar who studies the stuff and riddles of everyday life -- from cheating and crime to sports and child rearing -- and whose conclusions regularly turn the conventional wisdom on its head. He usually begins with a mountain of data and a simple, unasked question. Some of these questions concern life-and-death issues; others have an admittedly freakish quality. Thus the new field of study contained in this book: freakonomics.

Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, Levitt and co-author Stephen J. Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives -- how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. In Freakonomics, they set out to explore the hidden side of ... well, everything. The inner workings of a crack gang. The truth about real-estate agents. The myths of campaign finance. The telltale marks of a cheating schoolteacher. The secrets of the Ku Klux Klan.

What unites all these stories is a belief that the modern world, despite a surfeit of obfuscation, complication, and downright deceit, is not impenetrable, is not unknowable, and -- if the right questions are asked -- is even more intriguing than we think. All it takes is a new way of looking. Steven Levitt, through devilishly clever and clear-eyed thinking, shows how to see through all the clutter.

Freakonomics establishes this unconventional premise: If morality represents how we would like the world to work, then economics represents how it actually does work. It is true that readers of this book will be armed with enough riddles and stories to last a thousand cocktail parties. But Freakonomics can provide more than that. It will literally redefine the way we view the modern world.
(front flap)]]> 268 Steven D. Levitt 0061234001 Maryse 0 to-read, to-buy-my-own-copy 4.01 2005
author: Steven D. Levitt
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2008/05/04
shelves: to-read, to-buy-my-own-copy
review:

]]> 104160
Set in a modern-day Moscow, the epic saga chronicles the eternal war of the "Others," an ancient race of humans with supernatural powers who must swear allegiance to either the Dark or the Light. The agents of Dark - The Day Watch - keep an eye during the day, while the agents of Light keep watch over the night. For a thousand years a treaty between the two sides has maintained an uneasy balance, but when a very potent artifact is stolen from the inquisition - an impartial group of Others who keep watch over all - the consequences are dire for both sides.

Day Watch introduces the perspective of the Dark Ones, as it is told in part by a beautiful but troubled young witch. When she falls in love with a handsome young Light One, the balance is threatened and a death must be avenged. Replete with the thrilling action and intricate plotting of the first tale, Day Watch is fuelled by cunning, cruelty, violence, and magic. It is a fast-paced, darkly humorous, haunting world that will take root in the shadows of your mind and live there forever.




(Description from the back cover of trade paperback edition)]]> 453 Sergei Lukyanenko 1401360203 Maryse 0 4.08 2000
author: Sergei Lukyanenko
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2007/11/27
shelves: to-read, to-buy-my-own-copy, books-to-film
review:

]]>