Elizabeth Dean

If this series were a TV show, the first book would be the conventional pilot with a few hints of something intriguing. Books 2 -5 are the season's development and exploration of different characters and storylines. Book 6 then, is the explosive season finale, complete with plot twists and dramatic shifts in understanding how the universe works, including changes to the balance of power, revelations about characters, new types of beings, and expansion of the story's goals. I liked it a lot. Ready for Season 2!

The second volume in the Divergent series truly thrilled me. I loved that the other factions (and the factionless) were introduced in this story. My favorite detail was the image of the factionless riding through the city on dark trains . . . and the idea that they'd been doing it all along, Tris had just never noticed. The book was action packed, but Tris's quiet internal struggles over who ally with and her developing empathy for her adversaries really drove the narrative. The first book seemed simplistic; this one was more nuanced and better for it. I loved it!

I really like Gretchen Rubin and her quest for self perfection. I vacillate between being inspired by her detailed, mindful thoughts of how to make tiny behavior changes to make life better (an approach that suits me as well) and being totally stressed by all the things she discovers she should be doing (and apparently successfully adopts as new habits!) that I am not doing. I really identified her quest to engage with her personal space (like home decoration stuff) rather than to follow her instinct of just not bothering. But then I get stressed out thinking about how I can improve my own space/life. Self help lit is like this as a rule I think, kind of enlightening but kind of stressful. So maybe I'll just shift back to mystery and fantasy.

The library's kindle version of this book was corrupted and was ruining my kindle reading experience (super slow) so I actually gave up about 40% through the book. But I think I got enough from it.

This book was surprisingly interesting! I really expected to be annoyed by the gimmick - a healthy, happy woman goes on 52 friend dates in a year to try to make new BFFs. And that's basically what the book was. Rachel is smart, funny, financially comfortable, likable and not really challenged by life in any obvious way. Still, her acceptance of the fact that she does not have the friends she wants and her aplomb at asking women she is interested in to try out friendship with her was refreshing. While reading about her dates with her mostly charming potential friends, I thought a lot about ways I could be more receptive to 1) closer relationships with my existing friends and 2)enhancing friendships with existing acquaintances. I might work on this. According to the research Rachel summarizes, it would do me good.

I'm giving up! Despite being impressed with the first four Outlander books, I don't think I can continue. This one is boring as all get out, even though it's set in a dreamy & exciting locale - colonial North Carolina! I read about what happens in this & subsequent books in the series (lots of 18th century medicine, lots of breastfeeding, more abductions & rapes of main characters) & decided not to go on. So if anyone wants to get lunch & fill me in on everything else that happens to Claire, Jamie, Brianna, & Roger, by all means, do tell.

This one was very good. I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because with so little Algaliarept, it just doesn't quite make the 5-star level in my rating system. I liked the traditional bad-guy hunting/mystery this novel contained & I like the directions the main characters seem to be going in. Ready for 2013 & the next!

This series is ambling to a DULL conclusion. I still really love the mundane southern supernatural atmosphere Harris created, however, and I want to know what happens to them all. Looking forward to closing out the story with the next book. And I hope Charlaine Harris creates a new southern heroine sometime soon!

Beautiful novel. Not so much the prose, which was nice, but the depiction of a breathtakingly beautiful Manhattan. It reminds me of Whit Stillman movies. Loved the female characters. While this was written by a man, it struck me that the women in this book were so much more assertive participants in their destinies than the women in books by contemporary first time female writers like Curtis Sittenfeld & Marisha Pessl. (It may have something to do with the fact that Towles is older than these women were when they published their first novels.) I recommend this to everyone and would love to loan you my copy!

Yes that's five stars for dear Ms. Vaiden. I'm still processing it, so maybe my opinion will go down, but basically, I loved it. Can I describe what I love about it yet? I'll try. I love how Kate's character is completely inscrutable. I just didn't understand why she made some of the choices she made. The ending didn't resolve it for me. I love how she accepts the consequences of her behaviors just as a matter of fact. I love the close, homey feel. This book is set in eastern North Carolina, where I grew up, Norfolk, VA, where I was born, and Raleigh, near where I live today. I love how a book about questionable choices ends with one last choice that Kate offers to her son.

Dear Daddy, what am I doing wrong? Why can't I get into these P.D. James books? I tried, I tried so hard but I had to put it down after 2 very tedious chapters. You were dead on about Elizabeth George. She's the bomb. Every time a new book of hers comes out, I am so sad you are not here to read it. Kind of like I'm so sad you missed the first Matrix, Harry Potter, and His Dark Materials. But PD James just doesn't draw me in. Who cares about all those repressed therapists at the psychiatric hospital? And her Adam Dagliesh leaves me snoozing. Where's his love affair the reviewers keep mentioning? I feel like a failure for not finishing it. But I will keep trying. Someday, Daddy. Until then we'll still have Elizabeth George and Doctor Who.

Hmm. . . I'm still thinking about this one. Liked the overarching theme, and the individual stories were mostly interesting. I would like to go back and figure out how the puzzle pieces fit together, but it's not good enough to read twice. Looking forward to my book club's discussion. The story is kind of impressive, but it's also kind of dated. It was probably more amazing at the time it was published.

I have finally decided I don't need to finish this one. It's intriguing, but when I read self-indulgent memoir ramblings I prefer to read them by women. It's so dated too. If it were a contemporary blog I would totally read it. Also after picking it up, I read somewhere that it had nothing to do with Zen Buddhism. And I don't care about motorcycles or mechanics. That would put me definitively into one of Pirsig's categories of people, I think. The problematic kind. So now I'm done.

This is a quick read. And a fascinating introduction to Depression era circus life. But after the first 150 pages or so, you become accustomed to the circus train atmosphere, after which there's nothing that special about the story. In fact, here are some problems with it: 1) The ending is so predictable! 2) The best drawn characters in the book are an elephant and a dog. And that's only because I didn't expect the animals to be anything more than one-dimensional. 3) The use of violence against Rosie the elephant was gratuitous and manipulative. Somehow it just felt cheap. Although, I did really like the narration from the elderly Jacob's perspective. I thought that was well done. I'll have to think about it some more before my book club discusses it next week.