Judy

Extremely readable social/cultural history of Russia beginning at the time of tsarist rule in late 19th century and ending with perestroika and the Russian-mafia rule of today. After reading this book, I have a much deeper awareness of the events and ideas that shaped the Russian people.

The author brought the people of the village of Koltsovo to life with vivid written portraits of his ancestors, as well as the peasant villagers and their families. Clearly, the author spent an enormous amount of time and effort in entering these people's lives and hearing their stories not only with a journalist's sense of objectivity, but also a human sense of empathy and compassion.

Hmmm.... thought-provoking book that starts with David Foster Wallace's [b:Infinite Jest 75786 Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1298433997s/75786.jpg 3271542] as an example of postmodern nihilism and banality , then leaping backward to Greek polytheism with Homer and continuing on from there through Dante and Melville to examine how our culture got to where it is today. An odd book to read if you're looking for a prescriptive map to a more meaningful life, because not until the last part of the book is there any meaningful push to take the insights from the reading of the Western canon to cultivate skills of transcendence, wisdom and community. [b:Infinite Jest 75786 Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1298433997s/75786.jpg 3271542] is now on my nightstand, though, so I have to say the book succeeded in making this and the other books discussed more real to me. I think I have a stronger motivation to attempt these books after reading(listening) to this book. I also kept thinking that if I were studying any of this literature in a class, I would definitely want to review what this book brought out for some great discussion and research topics.

I thought the book was going to be a crime solving type novel, but that was really just a secondary plot. Most of the story revolved around the lives of the Jewish community in Warsaw as the ghetto was being established during WWII. While that was a positive track for my interest in the book, I felt somewhat disappointed when the mystery/crime was solved almost as an afterthought near the end. The build-up to the resolution just went too smooth and didn't really “fit” the general mood of the book.

The complete title of this novel is “The Great Leader: A Faux Mystery” and I probably should have realized the FAUX really does mean false in this book's case. I kept wanting the mystery plot to take off, but the story kept unraveling as the retired detective narrator went off on tangents and rants and macho-man ruminations about his life. While I did find myself interested in some of the observations Det. Sunderson made about life, I was stunned by his absolutely crude and raunchy descriptions of his sexual thoughts and adventures. Since one of his major turn-ons was a 16 y.o. girl (reminiscent of Lisbeth Salander in the Dragon Tatoo series), the pedophilic nature of these musings were just a little too much to me.
The resolution of the mystery was pretty anti-climatic and I finished the novel wishing the author had stuck with the mystery.

Satisfying and reflective novel putting the inner thoughts of a father and husband dealing with his wife's comatose state and impending death, while trying to help his two daughters accept and battle with grief and loss. Secrets revealed about the less-than-perfect relationships bring more guilt and shame to the situation, but most of the issues are transformed into growth and acceptance.

I liked the way the author used dialogue to create authentic characters and situations. The father, Matt King, became very real to me simply through reading the thoughts he had about his wife, being a parent, dealing with his extended family, etc. I found myself smiling when Scottie, the youngest daughter, would make her awkward remarks and show herself to have so much more going on inside than what she shows to the outside world. All this done simply through Matt's thoughts and conversations with her.

I'd recommend this book to people interested in a beach read, but without lame romance plots or predictable thriller plots. I can see why the book was made into a movie because the setting and pacing of the book seems made for that format. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I want to now because I enjoyed the book.

Uncommon commonsense exploration of how our interpretations of events shapes our beliefs, and ultimately our view of reality, or of THE truth of our lives. Many self-esteem problems, addictions, and mood disorders stem from these beliefs that become fears. Mr. Lefkoe describes the Decision Maker process: a systematic identification of the fears and core beliefs we have about the world, their origin, and how we mistakenly see these beliefs as THE truth about reality, not A truth with multiple explanations. He maps out how we can begin re-create our lives by becoming the creator of our reality, not just a creation of our beliefs about reality.

I read this book after listening to Morty Lefkoe's podcasts on iTunes. His Decision Maker process is a self-help program he is selling and his regular marketing spiels can get monotonous, but his information has encouraged me to take a second look at my beliefs and question the truth factor of this reality I'm living.

Try out some of his iTunes podcasts (search on Lefkoe) to see if you'd like to read a more in-depth treatment of his program.

Enjoyed this set of slightly connected stories of people living in a small Israeli village, yet didn't quite know what to make of the odd twists and dream-like narrative that popped into the stories. But, the effortless ebb and flow of the writing amazes me and I didn't really care the I didn't “get it”. He writes a character's thoughts in such a way that you feel you are inside that person's head.

I will be looking for and reading more from this author and would suggest this book to people interested in deep character-driven writing and Israeli/Jewish topics.

At first, I was pleased to see all the examples of other people's stories for answering application and interview questions, but by the middle of the book, the emphasis on examples was just too repetitive. I was looking for more frameworks and prompts to help compose my own, and while there are some guides, there just wasn't enough for me. This book is more helpful when all you are looking for are storytelling models for sample questions, especially as a new college graduate.

Interesting treatment of London society during the turn of the century, just after the death of Queen Victoria and the Victorian age was passing. Three children from different social classes are the main characters, with their parents, siblings and community members also forming the story. The story is told from shifting points of view as each person becomes the narrator for a time. The story follows the changing social and cultural attitudes as the children grow into young adults, leaving or clinging to Victorian sentimentalism in different ways.

I enjoyed the book, but it wasn't on the same level as some of her other books, especially Girl With a Pearl Earring. Possibly too many characters to shift between or the unconvincing maturity in the dialogue of the young children combined to make the book a little disappointing.

Very short, well-written little book about creating your lifetime reading list, not simply a list of books someone else has deemed worthy of your time. I especially enjoyed the encouragement to write in your books as a way to interact with the author, and a helpful way to review books you've enjoyed in the years to come. Read it if you'd just like a little comforting reassurance that there are other bibliophiles out there just like yourself, who think about books and how they enrich your life on a daily basis.

This book was loaned to me by my mother, who got it from her older sister. Her older sister had married a young man who immigrated here from Greece in the 1950s, and this man, my uncle, has always been a source of fascination for me. Now I have a frame of reference for some of the family stories or brief anecdotes I've grown up hearing and the Greek culture my aunt adopted.

The recollections in this book were sparked when some family members found an old sack of letters in an abandoned family farmhouse in a rural Greek city during the 1980s. The family members who had left their Greek homes as teenagers and emigrated to the U.S. had faithfully written home during all those years, and the letters had been saved as a testament of the family's sacrifice and the children's eventual prosperity in the U.S.

The author collected her mother's memories and those of her older siblings into this oral history of one Greek-American family living in Chicago, opening a restaurant/saloon during the Depression years, describing not only the hard work, but also the deep bonds of family necessary for survival.

There's a lot of incidental history to learn from this book–not only about Chicago in the 1920s, but also about blatant prejudice and discrimination against immigrants in the U.S., a regressive “dowry” policy in Greece that made parents send their girls away rather than bankrupt the family, and the pain and disruption caused by WWII for those at home in the U.S. and at home in Greece.

If you're at all interested in immigration or oral history in general, this would be a book to look for.

Very concise biography touching on the highlights of Wilson's life. I was expecting a little more insight or something more moving from the author based on his other books, but I was disappointed. I realize this “Penguin Lives” series is meant to give the reader simply a taste of the subject, possibly encouraging more reading and interest, but the book seemed like a stale rehash of the basic highlights of Pres. Wilson's life.

Don't let the weighty title of this book scare you away from reading this fascinating, detailed and illuminating discussion of the roots of human emotions. Not only will you be amazed at the insightful writing, but also the compassionate advocacy Dr. Panksepp shares for non-human animals as well. If the thought of tickling rats and making them laugh sounds like your idea of a great research project, then this book will delight you.

The book describes the seven ancient emotional circuits formed below our neocortex (the thinking part of our brain): seeking, rage, fear, lust, care, panic/grief, and play. These emotions form the core of our emotional experience, and are furthered refined and regulated as they rise through the neural circuits of the higher brain. The book is filled with explorations of a range of human emotions and how they might come to be, and with this self-understanding, we may be able improve our own emotional lives and have more empathy and understanding of those around us.

Timothy Pychyl of the awesome productivity podcast, “iProcrastinate,” often cites William Knaus' research and conclusions, so I was motivated to check this book out and see if Dr. Knaus had anything new to offer. He structures his prescription for overcoming procrastination into a three-pronged program, using cognitive, emotive, and behavioral approaches. There are lots of charts and journaling exercises to complete as you work your way through the process, so a physical book is probably the most effective form for getting the most out of this program. He stresses evidence-based methods with lots of examples and annotations that make the program very self-help friendly and doable.

The second book in this series has proven to be just as layered as the first book, [bc:The Raj Quartet (1): The Jewel in the Crown 711772 The Raj Quartet (1) The Jewel in the Crown, The Day of the Scorpion Paul Scott https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320423071s/711772.jpg 698034] The Jewel in the Crown. The characters are so well developed and involving and I found myself “living” the novel in my head throughout reading it, a sure sign (to me) of a great book. About a quarter of this book is told through the interrogation of Hari Kumar, a character from the first book, and I thought it was a masterful example of using the perspectives of at least 3 different characters to play out the unknowns we were left with at the end of the first book. Much of the book feels like you're following a mystery, but you get to follow the lines of logic and conclusions from various characters' understandings, not from just one point of view. I'm so glad I was introduced to this series through the History Book Club on Goodreads. The author has created a portrait of India as it struggles to become independent; a fictional picture but so authentic and personal that I feel engaged in knowing and caring about India as a culture and a country today.

I can't imagine trying to understand the Japanese earthquake/tsunami disaster of 3/11/11 without reading this book. The short, episodic chapters recount the author's visit to the area after the disaster and her encounters with survivors and their stories. She narrates her growing understanding of how the larger picture of radiation contamination and the ecological disaster continues to affect the people, the land and the future. It was a very sobering, personal look at an event I can't even begin to imagine facing.

The theme of fear, and facing fear, is a strong line of thought throughout the book. I was struck by her emphasis on talking to the fishermen who survived the tsunami wave by running to their boats as soon as the earthquake happened, getting into their boats and rushing into the oncoming wave. By facing that wave, that fearsome wall of deadly water, their boats were carried over the crest and behind the wall of water that slammed into the coast, destroying everything familiar about their lives on land. I found it an apt metaphor on facing fear in life and how meeting fear head on is almost always the way through it.

I was easily fascinated by many of the Japanese art, history and cultural references that the author included. Buddhist tradition and Shinto religious practice were incorporated into the narrative of disaster recovery and radiation exposure, and 17th-century haiku and other Japanese poetry became relevant to the present day survivors and historians. It is a rich source of further reading and research about Japan.

Stumbled on this at a thrift store and was mainly drawn to the illustrations and map inside the endpapers, but was pleasantly surprised with the travel information/history story of Iceland, even if it was written before the 1950s. Nice overview of cultural topics, i.e., food, native animals, family, mythology, etc.

Interesting look at the information (and misinformation) surrounding reproduction and birth control during the early 1800s. The appendix and notes also point to other lines of history to explore. One example: In the last paragraph or so of the book, a vague reference is made to “The Fall River affair” as an example of how information about contraception might have made for a a less tragic outcome. After following the rabbit trail this opened for me, I learned that this refers to a case of a young woman (Sarah Maria Cornell) working in the mills (therefore–a “loose” woman) who had found herself pregnant by a married, upstanding man in the community. So, she hung herself (or maybe was forced/murdered/?). The note in the pamphlet isn't condemning or condoning, just pointing out that better information might have made a difference for one young woman's life. [bc:An Infidel Body-Snatcher and the Fruits of His Philosophy 17618612 An Infidel Body-Snatcher and the Fruits of His Philosophy Dan Allosso https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1363413599l/17618612.SY75.jpg 24585026] [b:An Infidel Body-Snatcher and the Fruits of His Philosophy 17618612 An Infidel Body-Snatcher and the Fruits of His Philosophy Dan Allosso https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1363413599l/17618612.SY75.jpg 24585026] by [a:Dan Allosso 867754 Dan Allosso https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1602539141p2/867754.jpg] was the instigator for my curiosity in reading about Charles Knowlton's life. Lots of fascinating history to explore–history of birth control and medicine, religion, New England settlement, family history, book publishing, etc.

I got this book after listening to the author chat about it in an online book club for a completely different book/topic. I found the author's YouTube site where he was posting his own audio readings of the chapters and I was hooked.

I'm amazed that Dr. Charles Knowlton's biography hasn't been written sooner! I thoroughly enjoyed reading the narrative of his life and the picture of rural America communities in the early 1800s that came to life in this book. I even found mention of a distant relative of mine (Hiram Hotchkiss) included in the story–another way I found the whole book such an engaging read.

The print version has some great notes on resources and Mr. Allosso's own thoughts and informed interpretations as well. I can see myself using this book as a source for other lines of research and reading–the freethinkers movement, the history of medicine, rural American economy (peppermint oil!) and of course, the birth-control and population control controversies of the time.

If you're into reading history/biography written in an accessible and entertaining manner, this book should go on your TBR list.

Reading through this series and still enjoying the authenticity of the immigration experience as lived by this Swedish family. My only complaint in this book is the long digression into Karl Oskar's younger brother's “gold fever” and its consequences. The storytelling of this part just didn't match the rest of the book and took me out of the story in a negative way.

This last book in the series was my least favorite, simply because the narrative felt somewhat bloated just to make the fourth book. But I'm still glad to have read the series and wrapped up the story of Karl Oskar and Kristina immigration to Minnesota. The author did phenomenal work getting the story as authentic as possible and it worked for me.

Anyone interested in immigration during the 1850s from Europe to America would benefit from reading this book. Trying to track down the movie made from the first two books now to expand my appreciation of this series.

This book had me poking my Civil War-buff husband constantly, asking him if the details, settings and attitudes really happened. Although I am just as much of a history nut as he is, his grasp of this era is beyond me. So he was surprised at how this “fiction” novel could set up these real events without making them seem just convenient plot devices–a criticism that generally steers him away from historical fiction in general, and makes me wish I'd just read a good nonfiction treatment of the period. I did not feel that way about this book.

My mother and I read this book at about the same time, discussing how much we admired the women and wondering aloud if we could be as resolute at banding together to make a community support network like the one in the book–the aid society that supported soldiers and their families during and after the war.

When a book can create this type of dialogue between people, I consider it a 5-star read that I want to recommend to others. I don't think you have to be familiar with the Elm Creek Quilt series to enjoy this novel, so it can be simply the starting point for anyone interested in American Civil War history, women's history, and/or quilting–take your pick, or pick them all.