Constantin

???????????????????? ?????????????????????????? ?? ?????????????????????? ????????????, ?????????? ?????????? ???? ??????????????, ???? ???????????????????? ???????? ???????????? ???????????????? ??????????. ?????????? ???????????????? ????????????????, ???????????? ?????????????????????? ??????????????????????????????, ?????????? ???????????? ?????????????? ?? ??????????????, ?? ?? ?????????? ?????? ???? ???? ?????????? ?? ???? ???????? ???????? 5* ???????? ??????????, ???????? ???????????????? ??????????????????????.

???????????? ?? ?????????? ???? ???????? ?????????? ?????? ?????????????? ???? ?????????????????? ?? ???????????????? ?????????????? ??????????.

???????????? ???????????? ???? ?????????????????? ?????????????????? ???????????? ?????????? ????????????????, ???????????????????? ??????????.

Easy digestible stories and recipes. If you're a foodie, don't read it unless you've just had an amazing Italian dish and you're sipping a cold martini.

At times, very often in fact, he took the road to Rome from Paris via Tokyo. On the other hand, those extensive incursions in the history of the Middle East or the mess of the American healthcare system were actually interesting enough to keep going. What I liked about this book in particular is the ability to make it each chapter captivating, even if sometimes you have to go through 90% of the chapter filled with elaborate descriptions of some political mechanisms.

Enjoyed all but one.

The geek in me enjoyed it very much. Same style writing as Graeme Simsion's Rosie Project. I only wish it had a philosophical side or a deeper meaning to it.

3.5*

It definitely got me curious to read some of her fiction works, however while reading this one in particular I was left wondering “who hurt you? what did they do to you?”. While I was able to resonate with her portrait of the modern world in some aspects, I was completely taken aback by others. Maybe we just live in different worlds

Having lived in Dublin for half a decade by now, I felt like I was in a dark corner of a pub on a rainy day, with a few pints of Guinness between us, hearing this auld lad with a coarse voice pouring his heart out. A story that is so common in Ireland, so tragic, yet full of life. A story of abuse, of struggle, of unexpressed love and alienation, of great success that goes unappreciated. As many other readers and his fans, I was taken aback by his quest to be authentic. Granted, it's a trait worth pursuing, but if he's lacking authenticity then I don't know what hope is left there for the rest of us.

2.5*
I liked the plot, but I struggled with the repetition and the drama. At times it felt like a soap opera. This should've have been 2/3 shorter.

I wish I could give it more, but it just simply didn't leave me with anything (maybe except for one of the last points in the book where he talks about his career that has ended or the family house they sold, that they don't owe him anything. They have offered more that he could've asked for and that chapter is now over and you just have to be grateful and accept it).
He has had some of the best first 30 years of anyone's life, followed by some of the worst 30 years, he's managed to keep his wits and sense of humour and he's been blessed by having such a loving and supportive family.
I've enjoyed his acting in The Good Wife most of all, he's simply phenomenal there, but at the same time he remains one of the main characters ever played in time traveling movies.
I wish I would have some remarkable insight after reading the book, but I realise now that maybe that's what's remarkable about his memoir and his life: he's managed to find some sort of happiness in the little things, in all the things most of us take for granted. Too bad it was a disease like this that taught him this lesson.

For some reason I could see her and Charles Bukowski enjoying quite a few drinks together, having a good laugh, end up having lousy sex and then laugh it off.
Quite a life in terms of how fucked up it was, yet the book itself is not really a memoir, more of a long explanation of why she was ‘broken'.
The Force was not strong with this one.

Feels like it's written by a completely different author. Someone who's trying to imitate Elena Ferrante, but lacks the actual talent. I can't say what's wrong with it, but I just didn't like it and struggled through the last bit.

I'm surprised by how much I already knew about him (well, maybe not the fact that he was a SharePoint administrator at one stage :) ). I would have like it to focus more on what prompted him to become a whistleblower (at a deeper, more philosophical level) and what could your average Joe do about fighting the system as well as the more important existential dilemma of trading privacy for convenience. At the same time, it's his life story, I applaud his courage and sacrifice and I hope that more people become aware of this less-known side of the internet and of the world we live in.

A well-written and equally entertaining combination of Ray Dalio's Principles and Phil Knight's Shoe dog. The book has a few essential lessons on leadership and life in general. He talks a great deal about humility, empathy, respect, innovation and luck, which explains most of his and Disney's success, however at times it's a bit difficult to believe that he's as humble and empathic as he thinks he is, a clear example of that being the way he disregarded George Lucas completely in the new Star Wars series (which are quite shit in my opinion and made me lose all interest in Star Wars, having been a fan previous to that). Also, being close friends with Steve Jobs, who is known for anything but humility or empathy, makes his character a bit questionable.
Although he mentioned he will not be running for POTUS, I can definitely see this book as being part of his pre-announcement campaign. I'm not saying that he would be a bad president, but the timing is curious and the ‘very democratic' vibe of the book would make one think he's seriously considering running.

I enjoyed her writing style a lot. I think Maggie O'Farrell has her way with words. I remember vividly a few moments from the book, the way she describes the feeling of parting for instance, when you know you won't be seeing that person again, how your life's timeline splits into two and things are never the same, while the rest of the world carries on as if nothing has happened.
Other than her writing, I can't say I enjoyed anything else.

This book was like watching The Americans all over again, however things have changed a lot since that show aired for the first time. The main takeaway is that getting rid of Putin is almost impossible, unless the whole FSB(KGB)/SVR(GRU) turn against him, which is highly unlikely.

Rather original when it comes to time travel (at least one aspect of it). I would've preferred fewer iterations of the same experience and same outcome, but that's just me.

Just didn't click.

The biography part was more than interesting, I didn't expect some of the things I read about him. His life is definitely one of the most fascinating ones I've read about. The only bit that was frustrating at times was that he would start describing certain animals and plants as if he were filming a Planet Earth episode, which is not at all what I would expect in a memoir.

I wanted to give it more than one star, but there was too much religious fanaticism in the optimism half of the book. If you're a believer, go for it, might make you a bit more hopeful and maybe feel like you belong. For all the rest of us, it's just a reminder of some common truths that we might forget like: don't dwell in the past, stop ruminating, keep that sense of wonder you had as a kid, laugh more often and have hope that everything will turn out to be ok.

This book simply isn't my cup of tea, I dislike the narration style and it just doesn't make me want to get back to it. Hats off to the author for creating such believable characters and narrative, but I would only consider this mildly interesting if it were about a famous band I would be a big fan of.

I have enjoyed the narrative quite a bit, his style of writing is quite exquisite, albeit too flawless. I would have enjoyed more if he didn't go into such already exhausted themes as young artists exploiting other well-established artists to achieve fame, liars protecting their lies at any cost, sociopaths who are quite likeable and so on. It did keep me reading and at times I have been very impressed with his style of writing. I'm giving it 4+ and I'll definitely keep on reading the other works.

Dureroas?? carte, de??i nu ar trebui s?? fie neap??rat. De fapt, e un singur aspect dureros, ??i anume divor??ul ??i tot ce urmeaz?? dup??. Descrierea anumitor st??ri, felul ??n care decurge via??a dup?? acest eveniment, visul de la sf??r??it, toate mi-au p??rut extrem de familiare, de parc?? Haruki-san ar avea o linie direct?? c??tre mintea mea ??i ar fi v??zut tot ce se face ??n ea. Cel??lalt fir narativ, chiar dac?? pare un pic ciudat (tipic Murakami), makes perfect sense.
??i totu??i, unde-s pisicile?

Nici nu ??tiu cu ce s?? ??ncep..
Mi-am adus aminte de at??tea lucruri de care uitasem, le credeam disp??rute pentru totdeauna, dar uite c?? nu e a??a. Mi-am adus aminte de vecinii ??i prietenii mei din copil??rie, ru??i, rom??ni, ucraineni ??i evrei. De sticlele reciclate de ??ampanie la 25 de bani, cele de vin la 15 bani, cele de bere, votc?? sau coniac, 10 bani. De ??nghe??atele ??n con, de apa la sifon, de hainele care odat?? ce nu mai puteau fi purtate ajungeau la sp??lat podele, de fra??ii de cruce, de biletele compostate ??n troleibuz care erau transmise din m??n?? ??n m??n??, de covoarele scuturate ??n curtea blocului, de un Polkovnik care lupta cu nem??ii ??i-n ‘90, de v??nz??toarele rusoaice care nu acceptau s??-??i v??nd?? ceva dac?? nu le vorbeai ??ntr-o limb?? ???omeneasc?????, de confuzia general?? a acelor ani ??i disperarea oamenilor care au avut ceva economii ??n ruble ??i s-au trezit c?? ele nu mai valoreaz?? nimic peste noapte.
Apoi e ??i experien??a din Rom??nia:
???C??nd ??mi spune toanta de Floricica c??t de mi??to i se pare c?? ??tiu limba rus?? ??i ce noroc am avut noi, basarabenii, c?? am ??nv????at-o de mici... M?? ??ntunec.??? Asta a fost ??i reac??ia mea de fiecare dat?? c??nd auzeam asta ??i am auzit-o de multe ori. Mai t??rziu am realizat c?? limba ??n sine nu poart?? nicio vin?? ??i cu siguran???? e un avantaj s?? o cuno??ti, dar ???norocul??? nostru de a o ??nv????a de mici, nu a fost nici pe departe noroc.
Chiar ??i experien??a de a nu mai apar??ine vreunei ????ri: ???E destul s?? treci diminea??a un prag ca ceilal??i s?? spun?? c?? e??ti plecat. Dar s?? treci o grani????? ??n Moldova sunt plecat??, ??n Rom??nia sunt venit??. Uneori ??mi pare c?? tr??iesc doar la mine ??n cap, ??i acolo cu chirie.???
Firul narativ ??i ??ntreaga experien???? mi se par veridice, chiar dac?? e fic??iune ??i personajele sunt mai mult sau mai pu??in fictive.

Definitely the quickest read of the year for me. It's very similar to Gone Girl, except it wasn't as predictable (in my case). Pleasantly surprised.
The psychological bits rely on purely Freudian school which is a bit annoying at times, but it's not meant to be a psychological book anyway so that's ok.

It's books like this that stay with you, books that you stumble upon accidentally and would have never read them otherwise, but then they turn out to be so much more than you could've expected.

I would say this book is not for everyone and many would not like it as much as I did, but I would still recommend giving it a go.

Very impressive for a debut novel.