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There was much to like about this book, but not all -- so my rating reflects that. The premise is fascinating: The personification of Death meets and becomes enthralled with a young German girl who encounters (and "recognizes") him many times in her short life, although he is not there to take her. It is the people around her for whom Death calls. The time is Germany just prior to and during WWII and the opportunities for Death are vast. The author, Zusak, peoples the pages with distinct and believable characters who are trying to cope with the spectre of Nazi Germany, poverty, and prejudice. Even Death himself is a sympathetic character. I struggled with a few issues with respect to the writing, however: 1) I do not subscribe to the dramatic pretense of warning the reader of what will happen, only to have the "how" described at a later time in the book - if Character X is to die, I don't want to be told it will happen (not hinted, but actually told) on page 2, then read about it on page 100. To make matters worse, there were inconsistencies in the text as to when the event will happen: Death's preliminary report indicated that someone was to have only 6 months to live, then the text had them living for another seventy years; 2) I found some of Zusak's descriptions baffling: "breakfast-colored sky," "gangly eyes," and "small chips of rain" were among the descriptions that ultimately meant nothing to me and, therefore, only served to break the continuity of the story. Although there were beautiful passages ("Burning words were torn from their sentences," "the cold was climbing out of the ground," or "her black dress choked her body."), there were far more of the former than the latter. Incorrect word usage was another problem, although I blame that more on the editor than the author; and 3) sentimentality - a child does not fight his/her way through the burning wreckage of a plane to place a teddy bear on a dying pilot's shoulder for anything but purely sentimental reasons. This piece did not need such artifaces and I was disappointed when Zusak inserted them.

Still relevant and beautiful.

Brings forth information and truth on a very tough subject. I enjoy the true life reads! My heart breaks for the women and children who indured such abuse! I cannot imagine the daily horror they have went through. A must read For anyone who thinks their life could not be any worse. Reading about Carolyn's life shows just how lucky we really are.

This book although well written and immensely poignant, was difficult to get through. However I do not think that that is an issue with this book. I don't think the author set out to make this book fast paced, rather, to tell a story about a woman whose story was told over and over, but to give it another dimension. Although it took me sometime to finish, I still felt as though I had to finish it. The way this book was written was honestly just as haunting as the story itself. The author writes eloquently and even the most harrowing scenes are depicted through beautiful prose. One of the most touching scenes is when Margaret and Agnes are sitting together while Agnes tells her story. One thing that rrally elevates the atory are the cuts of poetry and documents and letters. It remind the reader that this is based on actual accurances. Furthermore the characters also add realness to the story becuase they are believable and flawed. Toti is flawed (I really was happy there was no romance between him and Agnes at the end. it would've been such an overplayed troupe) Lauga and Steina are flawed. Nathan is flawed and Agnes is flawed. Beautifully written book, the pase may have been a little off, however I can not say I enjoyed the book because this is not a book meant to be enjoyed. It is a book meant to be thought provoking.

Overall a great tasty read. A mix between the luxe and Gallagher girls. Some bits were a bit airy and could've used more detail- example the training would've been interesting to read in my opinion. But the relationship between Mary and James

Probably the most exquisite literary works in existence. Put aside the storyline and the emotional wreckage this book leaves you because of its contents and characterization that leaps off the pages and in to your heart, and focus on zuzaks style. The way that he morphs and forms words to perfectly describe the persecution and difficult times of World War Two and the Holocaust. The writing is beautiful, absolutely stunning, there's nothing that compares to this artistry of a novel. 10+ stars.

Takes a while to get into it but after a bit.... Can not. Put it. Down!!!

Loved it, loved it, loved it. Only giving it four stars because of the dialogue (or lack of) between Achilles and Patroclus. Otherwise - spot on. Miller's writing style is classic in it's eloquence and prose (fitting for a work of ancient Greek mythology) but still modern and easy to read. Hearing a story that is so well known from a new perspective was intriguing and entertaining. Miller includes lots of references to other Greek stories, myths and significant people. The story started to drag, but only briefly, while waiting for the men to get Troy. Otherwise, I couldn't put it down. She definitely did justice to one of the oldest love stories known in literature.

I've always been fascinated in the life of Cato, and I thought that this was an interesting look at the man's life. I'd recommend this for anyone interested in Cato or Roman history.

I thought this was a fascinating look at the decline of the Roman Republic. However, it is extremely dry and I'd suggest casual readers of history to look for something more user-friendly

Have you ever wondered if there was more to Genghis Khan? Was he just a brutal murderer or was there another side to the story. Jo Michaels brings new light into the life, love and mysteries that surround one of the world's most famous leaders. Yassa is the story of Temujin and his powerful loyalty to his wife, Borte, his family and his friends. It is also the story of betrayal, when his anda (sworn brother) Jamuka breaks Yassa - the unbreakable vow. While Temujin is set on revenge he is also torn by his own love for his closest friend. Yassa is an historical fiction novel full of action, mystery, adventure, violence and of course love. While the narration style can at times be overwhelming, leaving the reader in need of a breath the language is rich and the story engaging. It is not just for history buffs, but will delight romantics everywhere. Overall an intriguing read, I recommend it!

As with most Morrison novels, there are subtle shifts among characters and subtle clues about time. I don't catch them all on first reading, but look forward to rereading. (I think I catch more of them than I used to on first reading, however.) This novel is set in early slave trade years. We meet first the slave, who is one (the?) main character, but we don't know it yet. Only a detail about her shoes carries between this and the next section about the buyer. But we don't know he is the buyer till the end of his chapter. Point of view changes among four or five characters, each of their versions enriching understanding of relationships, backgrounds, and baggage each carries. It is a moving read.

I had heard of the Johnstown flood, but knew no details. The first chapters were essential in setting the stage, but hard to get through. Once the flood began, it read like an adventure book. I found it well arranged as it followed the flood's effects as it moved down river, a chapter to each area. Some of the survival stories were quite harrowing. The discussion of failure to establish responsibility was disheartening.

A history I was not familiar with...got me interested in reading more about labor movement. The beginning got me involved with families and people as well as setting the stage, though it was a bit slow. The pace picked up with the fire. The description was arranged floor by floor, and there were clues relating events on each floor to each other and reminders of the brief amount of time that passed. After poignant descriptions of the families left behind, the ending discussed legal aspects of the working conditions.

This book should have been a nonfiction book presenting the silk factories. The plot and characters seemed to exist only to illustrate an aspect of Chinese history or factory conditions or options in 1920-30s China for women. I am intrigued by the hair dressing ceremony wherein women could choose to become a member of the sisterhood of silk workers, an alternative to arranged marriages. A parallel ceremony to marriage; the choice as permanent. Like secular nuns. Even if the factories allowed women to escape family and marriage, even if it allowed them to send some support home, it is not a good excuse for running a sweatshop, and this factory did become/was always that--hence the strike. However, the strike was unconvincing; the results too easy. I have read about the labor movement's beginning in the US of A, and I must confess that I am now interested to learn to what extent there was a parallel movement in China, and if indeed it was that much easier than in the US. There seemed an abrupt shift from isolated rural to involvement with the Japanese invasion. While it was abrupt, it may have reflected the awareness of the rural people as the fighting moved closer to them. So I have mixed feelings about the ending. There were slight hints earlier of trouble up north. The entrance of difficulties still felt sudden and intrusive. Maybe war is like that.

The long period between starting and finishing seems to contradict the rating. However, it was just one of those 'have to set it aside' moments and there was much else to do and more books to read, so the bottom of the pile kept getting deeper. Yesterday I pulled it out and quickly finished it. The narrative is well told and the science adroitly woven in. One gets to know Harriet, her children--mostly Deborah--and the doctors and scientists who worked with the cells. The book is important as it returns the human Harriet to the sterile lab atmosphere. And it was a good read. Early when I had just started the book, I was also starting in with a new doctor and noticed the permission form included whether or not to give permission for scientific use of any tissues or other samples. It was made clear that there would be no remuneration. I assume the Henrietta Lacks story and other less famous ones created that permission form. I toyed with saying, No, but ended up checking the yes block. But there is no reason to be informed of any use made.

Some very interesting character development, an attention holding plot. Some historic information about World War II women prisoners (though the country was changed). Once the main character became an entrepreneur, it became unbelievable, but still a fun read.

Brief. Useful as an introduction. I find myself wondering if she really was so stuck on traditional feminine roles as Chalberg's selection of material suggests, or if stereotypical thinking directed his selections. Perhaps reading her own memoir will answer that.

"I have freed myself from my past, but I have not let go of it. I cherish the moments and experiences that formed me" (247). This attitude undergirds the whole memoir: the past left behind could have been so bitterly hated, but instead it is simply left. The person left behind is respected as the new person moves on. Some of the appeal of the book is the glimpse into the exotic, but most is the well written narrative of growing up with a mind, of thinking about things and asking questions. What is exotic is based on where one stands. In her liberated life she sees her past as exotic, whereas it was mundane when she lived it, longing for the exotic of the outside world. The details are not all exotic. I see parallels between the Hasidic culture and the Fundamentalist culture more familiar to my past. Most vividly shown are the many minute details maintained to preserve the line between insider and outsider. The book was a more compelling read than many memoirs.

Romero surveys the literature from various fields that relates to housemaids and labor issues and finds separate streams that need to be cross linked. She relates employers' requirements to status symbols and also interviews maids of various ages to counter some myths. Most striking is that though employers may consider maids "part of the family" the maids do not see themselves that way. The "part of the family" is used to avoid fair wages and time off etc.

Interesting how Follett created a cast of characters that let him explore various countries' roles in World War I

I was afraid it would merely be a rerun of Pillars in a new era, but it managed to add a new dimension.

Although it is long, it was hard to find a place to put it down. Some very interesting characters, especially the women.

An interesting exploration of how we create Others, of how a field of study created an area and its people, more often from the creators than the people being "described."

It was good to read of this capable woman and her accomplishments. It was helpful to see how her education and early experiences prepared her for the Secretary of Labor position, for having viable ideas and knowing how to implement them. Unfortunately, though she wrote bills, they had to be introduced by legislators, who then got the credit. I'd not heard of her until this book came out and I was reading reviews. The early part of the book is interesting as her background is presented; the middle as we see her in action. The end drags a bit as her influence slows down and her life changes.

I enjoy fiction based on historical people, and that is what this book is. It is also interesting when I recognize area references. It seemed culturally sensitive in its presentation of Native American characters; however, I would like a Native American's opinion on that. It was a page turner after a slightly slow start.

Timothy Egan makes several histories come alive through telling the life of Thomas Meagher: Ireland, Tasmania as a British prison, US Civil War, and early government of Montana. All are histories that I have only a superficial knowledge about, so the amplification was helpful. Egan fills in detail about issues and events without bogging the story of Meagher down. When I reread Irish authors, I will have a much richer understanding of the oppression Ireland experienced at the hands of the British. I must see the play, "Our Country's Good" again after reading the Tasmania section. I knew the Civil War was brutal, but that horror became more real as I read. And it was interesting to see those battles that I knew something about from the perspective of the Irish immigrants. There is a large cast of characters who appear then reappear after a time. Egan provides enough clues to help us remember what they contributed in the past. (And there is an index if you want more detail.) Not only informative, but a good read.

The first half of the book explores ways that presuppositions guide scientific questions, studies and answers--in particular, how racism caused scientists to "prove" white superiority. The second portion explores African American's in higher education, especially psychology, explores their difficulties, and introduces some of the early practitioners.

A novel about the difficulty of Italian immigrants getting by during the Depression. Studs Terkel likens it to Grapes of Wrath. The style created a barrier for me. I imagine the intent was to remind us that the characters were speaking Italian and also to convey the confusions of the workplace and family gatherings. It was sort of stream-of-consciousness, but hard to tell in whose consciousness. I could not get used to the personification of Job. Bad things, unfair things, happened to the family. They survived.

I was led to this book from the source list in Mrs Lincoln's Dressmaker. Sometimes historical fiction makes me want to learn the history, and this time it was easier than usual. First praise goes to the book cover design and title: the two women shown as equals, the title listing them as equals. The early chapters alternate between the childhoods of each woman. Gradually their lives and stories are more intertwined. Interpretations are interesting, like frequent references to Mary Lincoln's child source of comfort in her mammy and Elizabeth Keckly's past attitudes toward white mistresses as a slave. There are references to the Civil War and to White House activities; however, these are kept in the background and always related to events in the two women's lives. Most interesting to me was the social history that accompanied the women's stories.

Mostly photographs of quilts and influences with a little text. Coffee table book. But also a window into creativity. This seems to be about a transition from regular piecing to improvisational piecing (though there is another book I have not read called "Transitions." I had actually started to read this one closer to its publication date, but set it aside. I"d liked earlier works by Crow and was not into improv at all. As I've gotten more accustomed to improv, I thought to give the book another read. And I liked it better this time. I was surprised by a photo with the motto, "Stop Procrastinating" on the design wall. Crow seems so driven, that procrastination doesn't seem to fit. However, in the interview at the end of the book, she seems to equate repetitive work, work that isn't growing/evolving with procrastination. Busy procrastination...interesting concept. I identified with Crow's interest in shape, color, line, proportion over representation and emotion. Although occasionally she finds emotion being expressed, she said it has to happen naturally--not be sought. Meaning, likewise. Her focus is on the composition. Climbing up and down a ladder to place and replace pieces of fabric while designing is not something I'd thought of when looking at large works! I like her idea of working in a series because one cannot solve all design problems in one piece. I enjoyed seeing the connections between photographs of places and her work, rhythm and line in the Construction series; rhythm and line in nature and in buildings. It made me want to go out walking, camera in hand, then come home and quilt.

I read it because I was going to be seeing it performed. It was helpful toward understanding the performance. The short version: Richard needs to kill everyone in the way of his being crowned king. To that end, he acts kindly to them, then has them killed. Even his most loyal accomplice realized he is out of favor and tries to get away, but is caught. It is called a tragedy, and one is supposed to identify with the hero's rise and fall. I could only cheer the fall. One especially effective scene (to read and to see) is the night before battle when the spirits of all who have been murdered appear both to Richard (Despair and die, they say) and to Richmond, whom they encourage.

One of the most amazing things about this book was that in spite of knowing the ending, it was suspenseful through and through. The second amazing thing is that it explained rowing to someone who had no clue (me) and little interest in sports in such a way that it was clear but not too much. The story of the road to the Olympics is told mostly from the perspective of Joe Rantz;however, as he requested, it is told in the context of "the boat"--more than the shell that they propelled with oars, "the boat" is the spirit of the team working together in perfect harmony. The physical boat too is a character, and Pocock, its maker, stands out as one filled with wisdom about people as well as rowing and boat building. The story is told in the context of the Depression, the Dust Bowl, and the drums of encroaching World War II. Joe's surmounting of personal struggles as well as economic is admirable.

The title led me to expect the book to be more about horses than it is. However, horses move the plot. Martha ends up with a circle of ranches at which she breaks horses, so the novel is about the people at the various ranches. Reading that the novel had seeds in Marie's story in Cowgirls: Women of the American West made me want to read that oral history too. I was delighted to read a book with the main character a woman doing "man's" work as an equal. I would have preferred less of the romance. At first it seemed that the competent Woodruff sisters, who owned one ranch on her circuit, would remain her role model. I would have liked to see her strong and independent character remain. However, I was won over a bit with her demands when Henry proposed and his acceptance of them. The characters are mostly well rounded, the positive ones more than the negative. The latter seem all bad throughout. The setting is 1917-18 so there are a few cars, a few ranches with telephones, and of course WWI in the background. The novel started rather slowly, but my interest intensified, and it was hard to put down after it got moving.

This very short book is a quick read. I am not sure one would want more details of the hardship of being a terrorist's son after 9/11; what we were given was harrowing enough. Important is the subtitle, A Story of Choice, as Zak tells of learning to diverge from the hate he experiences being bullied in school and from that expressed by his family. Interestingly the next book I read (Out Stealing Horses) was also about choice. Twenty years from now, it would be interesting to read a longer memoir of a longer life.

The setting is the end of the Vietnam war; the main character tells us early on that he belongs to the North, but works under cover with the South. Presented as a spy novel, it is, but it isn't the thriller one might expect. It is more an exploration of character, of times, and of the interaction. It has philosophical moments that are entirely in character and not intrusive, thoughts on being of two minds, on representation, and on "nothing." The latter was interesting, but I am not sure how seriously to take it. The former makes me think that if I were still teaching, I might join this book with How to Be Both in a unit. For me the theme of Who-Gets-to-Represent-Us? enters with the chapters about a movie script and its shooting. However, that was a ways into the novel, so I might reread to see if I missed its actual beginning. When the movie chapters appeared, they seemed an interruption, but gradually they were woven into the whole. The plot was slow, as character explorations tend to be, slow in a good sense. There were moments where action was faster paced and it was a page turner. There was a nice rhythm between the two. We are told early on that the narration is really a "confession" to a "commandant," so we keep wondering what the narrator did to get him into that position. We also expect, and get, some torture scenes. They feel really long while reading them, but don't take a large percentage of pages. Some of the characters have names. Some don't, but rather are identified by position and sometimes affect: "the crapulent major," the congressman," the "affectless lieutenant." It would be worth a second read to look for a pattern of who gets named and who doesn't. It isn't wholly major/minor characters. It doesn't create stock characters. It may relate to the degree in intimacy with the narrator, but I'm not ready to commit to that. It is a novel worth reading once to see how it ends; it is worth rereading to ferret out deeper meaning. Second Reading I marveled more at the skill of the stream-of-consciousness; the shifts were managed such that I almost always knew where I was in the larger narrative. And I marveled at turns of phrase and metaphors more than I noticed on the first reading. And, as usual on a second reading, I was more alert to how all the small parts fit together into the larger structure. I did list the characters named and unnamed; there seem to be an almost equal number of each. I still don't see a pattern, but will keep looking. The 'representation' theme morphed into an identity theme and the narrator shifted from "I" to "we" when speaking of himself. It seemed a culmination of his mother's saying he was not half but all of each nationality, a culmination of his finding his place in his two spy roles. The ending and the play on "nothing" remain fascinating. "nothing" becoming a positive and transforming the meaning of "Nothing is more important than freedom and independence." Man, the blood brother and the commissar in charge of re-education, leads the narrator to see that what starts as revolution ends as a power grab, hence as 'nothing.' And yet hope does not die. Reading the torture aka re-education scenes I wondered if that was intended to judge the communist side that the narrator had been working for as a double agent, the ending being a point of emphasis. And yet it was the CIA manual that they used to orchestrate the torture. So it was not a single, national judgment. The narrative style changes abruptly at the end. The slow-paced narration of a life becomes a mix of first and third person reporting and told contemporaneously with events rather than as memory. It also becomes more philosophical, though still not intrusive.

What had appealed to me in listening to the author at a Powell's reading was her comment that the book treated both sides equally, and in fact was said to be more favorable to the Tamils (author Sinhalese). I thought that quite a challenge. And then characters from each side link up at the end, and of course I wanted to know how. (I'd expected a more psychological linking than happened.) I did not find the handling equal. The Sinhalese family was presented in two generations, the Tamil one. The Sinhalese family was presented as aware of the civil war and ultimately leaving the country; the Tamil family as actually participating in the war. It is the latter that made it seem more sympathetic to the Tamil cause. Those things said, it was an interesting read and I learned more about the Sri Lankan civil war than I had known.

Unlike many Goodreads commenters, I found the text fascinating. The mix of specialties of the essayists--artists, historians, quilters, and museum curators--creates a conversation from a variety of perspectives. And they don't always agree. One could wish for a panel discussion where they have a chance to comment on each others' comments. Some tell the old story and some revise it. Janneken Smucker, a historian specializing in American Material Culture, does both as she traces early quilting historians' romanticization of colonial scrap quilting to the revision by later historians who question that reading. She places herself among those later historians, then tells of her further revision prompted by the Kiracofe collection. Essayists also provide a range of opinion on the question of quilts as modern art. Elissa Author, an associate professor of contemporary art, provides an overview of rebellious fine artists who were influenced by quilts. Amelia Peck, a curator of American Art at the Museum of Modern Art, tells the criteria she uses to select art quilts and illustrates from the collection. Smucker and Ulysses Grant Dietz, another curator, tell the features of several quilts in the collection that appeal to them artistically; Dietz goes on with cultural critique, placing his taste in the era of the "Gees Bend syndrome," noting the marketing of that collection and trendiness of curation. Alison Smith, an activist artist, probes with this question: "What is at stake in considering paintings and quilts as parallel endeavors? Do we reinforce their differences when we marvel at their similarities?" (158). She proceeds to analyze the differences. "A Texas Quiltmaker's Life: An Interview with Sherry Ann Byrd" provides an organizational scheme for my thinking (not for the structure of the book) about the quilts pictured: "precision quilt, M-provisational quilt, and throw together quilt" (52). Her term, "M-provisational" points beyond "improv" to an emphasis on syncopation that she sees in some designs. And Byrd says many in the collection represent the "throw together" category, made extremely quickly for extreme need. I will confess that though all the quilts were historically interesting, I did not find them all equally appealing visually. However, artistic commentary in the essays and in a few captions led me to revaluate some of those judgments.

Most of the African literature I've read has been post-colonial; this was quite a change. The white African family, who had spent a couple years in England, returned to then Rhodesia so the father could fight to keep one African country white ruled. The memoir is told mostly from the child's perspective, observations without judgment. For example, the child observes the difference between the lushness of the colonists' area and the barrenness of the Tribal Trust Lands. Fuller mentions in an afterword that she had taken her education for granted until she realized how suppressed education was for the black children. On first reading, I didn't see the change in attitude that she describes. I saw one incident of awareness, but not an over arching attitude change. Something to look for in a second reading. Also Fuller has written a second book where it may be more apparent (I'll have to get the exact title: Cocktails and...). Although the war for independence was going on, it is in the background. Curfew is mentioned, as is fear of terrorists. Once the war was lost and land redistributed, the family moved to Malawi for three years. Then to Zambia where they stayed. The land, the animals, the insects are all described well. One can see the appeal of Africa to this third generation family (the mother had lived all but three years of her life in Africa). One can see how colonists can begin to feel a land is their land.

An interesting memoir of Japanese-American survival. The author had to negotiate her Japanese background in America and her American upbringing in Japan. She also had strong feelings about her place as a woman that were, at times, squelched by parents or others. Memorable to me was the racism of no houses available (though they were) when the ill daughter needed the shore, and of course the relocation and its horrors. The positive attitude the author expressed at the end seemed like whistling in the dark.

The history is in summary form, but there are endnotes with further sources. The book opens with a brief discussion of myth Vs. historical method. This is followed by an abbreviated history of slavery from the beginning of the slave trade to emancipation and migration. Although I am fairly familiar with the topic (having read The Great Migration, I learned some new detail (the migration to the plains). And the quotations from diaries and WPA recorded oral histories added an important dimension. Brackman links each stage of the history to a quilt block by the name of the block, a story telling method she links with the 20th century. The idea is to create a mnemonic for remembering the history. The block patterns and quilt layouts are clearly explained. She also includes suggestions for adapting the history and sewing to children and includes possible discussion questions.

Did not realize I'd not written a review--it has been about 9 months since I finished it. I remember feeling like it jumped around a lot as I started reading, and then I caught on to the stream-of-consciousness cues. One chapter moved to smallpox and Native Americans in a surprising spot, but when I looked back, there had been discussion of smallpox vaccination and suggestion that the child had had a light case of smallpox, beyond the usual reaction. The book deals with feeling an outsider because of moving from working class to middle class. I found it easy to empathize with the author.

I had heard a presentation by Peter Stark at a Powell's book event, so I knew the broad outline and some of the peak crisis moments as I started. The beginning was not so exciting, but I knew more and better was coming. Stark skillfully moves between the land group and the sea group heading to found a trading colony on the Pacific Northwest coast, a colony that would become the hub of a trading empire that touched the continent on the west, China, Europe, then the east coast, making profit at each stop. He also weaves history and botany and social comment into the narrative in bits long enough to inform but short enough not to interrupt. Stark painted a vivid picture of almost unimaginable hardships of explorer cross country travel while also reminding us that it had been explored already by the various Native American nations. Sometimes the European travelers were helped by natives, sometimes hindered, sometimes harmed. Sometimes the Europeans did the harm. He also conveyed the hazards of sea travel and how they were intensified by the mix of people needed to found the colony. The book reads like an adventure story, but also informs.

The first half of the book read much more slowly than the latter half. Perhaps it was the distance from the present. Perhaps it was the understatement. It may be that understatement and emotional distance are the only way to deal with a life lived in the occupied territory, but they make it difficult to get drawn into the narrative. That changes with the second half, starting with the chapter "Loss." From there on it is told with more compelling immediacy, and i was drawn in.(Yet one more reason why I am glad I tend to stick with a book regardless of how it begins.) It is important to hear the details of life under occupation and attack. Abuelaish manages to be a voice for reconciliation and peace, as the title suggests.

It is hard to imagine two women walking across the continent from Spokane to New York City in the 1890s. It is hard to imagine an offer of $10,000.00 to do so. The motivation for the undertaking, however, was clear: to save a home from foreclosure. The book is history--not of a rich and famous man, but of a poor and unknown woman, an ordinary citizen, Helga Estby. it is a history that was nearly lost until her eighth-grade grandson wrote a paper for a history contest about his grandmother's walk, and Linda Lawrence Hunt read it. Hunt interviewed family and researched newspaper articles about the walk as well as more generally researching the times. She pieces together the best possible record without the primary source that would have elevated the book to fascinating, the missing primary account. In a pique of anger, two daughters took it upon themselves to destroy the record Helga herself had written. Hunt concludes with observations about silenced history and the importance of family stories. Perhaps readers will be prompted to record their memories and share their stories with their children and grandchildren.

This book has highs and lows--stars are the average. There are two plots, one during World War I and the other more current. Mostly they are signaled well and the back and forth fairly well placed. AFter the second is introduced, readers quickly learn the connection, though the main conflict takes a dozen or so more pages to be revealed. From there on, it is hard to put the book down. Sophie, the WWI heroine, is presented at first as feisty and fast thinking. One thinks of The Zookeeper's Wife and her various close calls averted by on-the-spot thinking. Disappointingly, Sophie makes some decisions that don't seem congruent with that first picture, but the plot depends on them.

What I valued most about this book was the analysis of negotiating rules in Iran. What seemed to come automatically to local Iranians had to be learned by Maoveni, who had come from the US with a mythic version of Iran. She had to unlearn as she learned--and this made her explanations more cogent for a western audience. Life there was not without danger, but perhaps less danger than our imaginations would assume--at least for the savvy. And perhaps, less oppression, though the experience of escaping it was not without risk. While Moaveni's identity formation was a back drop, it was not the focus; the focus was on Iran itself, and the Iranian peoples' struggles and disillusionments. I appreciated glimpses of Iranian people, places, and customs. I enjoyed meeting her family members and friends. Bookending the narrative with the embassy hostages and the attack of 9/11 seems apt, viewing how that marks the moments Iran is part of awareness for many of us.

When I read that each vignette was to be related to a food, I thought, This isn't going to work; I'm going to be bored quickly. However, food was so important to Abu-Jaber's father, his family, and culture, that it did work. I was soon caught up in the narrative and the organizing device slipped into the background. I would be reminded with each recipe, then it would again retreat. I have read about first-generation dual-culture challenges, but this is the first second-generation memoir I have read. Not only the push-pull of old-country Vs. new-country values and expectations, but also parent expectations Vs. peer expectations added to the complexity of Diana's growing up. In spite of narrating teen-ager frustration and rebellion, Abu-Jaber presents a sympathetic portrait of her father. Her mother, though mentioned less often, is still a dominant figure, also presented sympathetically. Abu-Jaber's descriptive language pulled me into the appeal of each culture, periods of confusion, times of identifying with where she was, and times of missing where she was not. Making the transition from living in New York state to Jordan, she describes her first ride through town: "The sidewalks are not like the orderly, straight-line sidewalks of our old neighborhood. Here, they wind around and roam this way and that, as if they've decided to go where they pleased." On returning to a Jordanian city after visiting Bedouin relatives, she ponders " . . . a larger, more formless question, something about whether people have to decide exactly who they are and where their home is. Do we have to know who we are once and for all? How many lives are we allowed" The book was well paced. I didn't have any moments of "when will this end?" that sometimes occur about three quarters of the way through a memoir. it is not only a good read, but opens a necessary window on immigrant experience, on insights of identity formation, some of which are transferable to non-immigrants.

I didn't know more about the history of trees and forests in the US than that I'd heard that once a squirrel could have traveled across the continent on tree tops and never touched ground. I knew that old-growth forests had more to offer their environment than their wood, something that replanting did not restore. This book expanded my understanding considerably. Rutkow explores our varying attitudes toward trees and links them with the history of the development of the nation. Two links were particularly striking. First, one reason Virginia was colonized was to send lumber back to England. Rutkow told of Richard Hakluyt's proposal for a lumber producing colony that first failed because of dangers on the high seas, but was accepted when reintroduced twenty years later after the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Rutkow told of the depleted supply in England accompanied by the need for wood for ship building for one thing; for example, a 100 ton warship required 2000 mature oaks, or 50 acres of forest. The second link to history that surprised me was the shift from tents to house troops to barracks in World War I and how that increased the usage of lumber. Rutkow organizes by chronology, by geography, and by theme. Though that order requires some back and forth movement in time, his signals are easy to follow. He has endnotes for the scholar, but they are referenced to text by page and not note numbers, so they do not distract from the story for the more casual reader.And Rutkow is a good story teller. We learn the link between hard cider (made from unpredictable quality apple trees grown from seed) and Johnny Appleseed's doing some of the first planting of trees as well as handing out seeds; this story is accompanied by quite a character sketch of Johnny's appearance and religious motivation. Rutkow tells of various stages and developments of attitude toward forests through sketches of key figures: Names that appear throughout are Olmsted, Weyerhauser, Muir, and Pinchot along with others who seek to beautify, to use, to enjoy, and to steward resources. The evolving mission of the Forest Service is traced in detail. As Rutkow says in the epilog, the book is about how "trees shaped our society and how we shaped them in return."

Thoroughly enjoyable to read; difficult to put down. Sustained my interest through all 400+ pages. The characters were, for the most part, quite believable. One change in Mary was hard to imagine, though. The shift from being flattered by Theodore's attention to rejecting him seemed too sudden Mary's disillusionment with northern society, black and white, was convincingly presented. There is a historical note--essentially little is known. Mary, Bet, McNiven, Wilson Bowser, and David Bustill Bowser were real people.Bet and Mary really were spies for the Union. There are two memoirs. Mary is mentioned by Bet; Bet and Mary are singled out by McNiven. Both are scant mentions. This gives room for the fictive imagination to play. Much of the information getting and sharing is believable, but details that seem to give Mary control over what happens in the Union Army's activities are sometimes far fetched. Especially that she had the power to withhold information that prolonged the war because a "premature" victory would leave slavery intact seemed strained.

After a slow start, the pace picks up, and the description later is more subordinated to the action. Life with the animals must have been quite something--all the animals kept in the house made me think of tales of old times when barn and house were one. I have read other books about helping and protecting Jews during WWII, but they told of people living in secret passageways. This was interesting because while the people stayed out of sight, they remained outside. Though the zoo didn't continue as a zoo, it had various functions that allowed for hiring workers. Whenever I read books like this, I wonder if I would have been either brave enough to help or quick thinking enough to pull it off. Antonina and Jan are well portrayed, and very likeable. It was written so that I cared what happened to them. Some of the people they protected became equally real in the vignettes of their survival. Ackerman introduces history carefully and in appropriate places; she adroitly relates people's experiences that she has record of to illuminate those that she does not. The experience of war, of being in the midst of attacks, of the randomness of who lives and who gets hit, of the fear for self and family, are made vivid. With a little shifting, those details are a reminder of what civilians are doing to survive in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I read the first couple entries--and got the main point that feminisms had been brewing long before the "second wave." There would have been benefit in reading more of the specific experiences, but I got bogged down and distracted.

When I read that there was a memoir by the co-author of the groundbreaking, feminist Madwoman in the Attic, I had to read it. I am also interested in peoples' interactions with cancer diagnoses and meditations on mortality. And like Gubar, in the abstract I am resistant to some of the extreme measures that decrease the quality of life while extending it only briefly. As might be expected of an English literature professor, the style is wonderful; whether Gubar is describing a good day or a bad day, the description is vivid. I appreciated her periodic sentences and metaphors. As a professor too, her level of research is not surprising. She set out to read cancer narratives and fiction about women struggling with cancer (primarily ovarian as was hers and breast cancer) and websites about ovarian cancer. When she narrates a reaction to an event, she quotes others with similar and/or different reactions. When she is in despair she draws on great literature moments of despair; though these were often spiritual, she relates them to her physically induced state. Gubar writes in order to draw attention to the lack of research funding for women's diseases, primarily ovarian cancer, as evidenced by the lack of change in outcome for women with ovarian cancer and the horrendous nature of options. The options are set in the history of attitudes toward ovaries (at one time related to too much sex and at another to too little), attitudes that, of course, parallel attitudes toward women. It might not be a good book to read for one in the midst of pondering whether or not to endure the radical "treatments," but it would be a good book to have read.

This book provided a very interesting account of foster care experiences. It was in good contrast to the horror stories one often hears (though there were some non-ideal). The women of the book were official foster parents, relatives of them, friends, and mentors. It amazed me how one person could run into so many people so willing to go out of their way to help. But it was not a book only about luck. Effort was also involved. I was most taken by the foster mother, upon learning of Vicki's interest in dance, got a book and taught her the positions from a book. I really enjoyed the first 2/3 of the book when the narratives were well developed and I got to know the women. The last third dragged and became more of a catalogue of short vignettes. They should have had their own book with more development.

I was intrigued by the history--not having heard of Thomas Cromwell. Many other names I recognized, but don't remember their roles (Hugh Latimer is one; even Woolsey was just a name to me). Thomas More, of course I knew, but I had a more holy opinion of him that of one who tortured and pursued heretics. There were two things about the writing style that I really disliked: overuse of short choppy sentences. Wild abandon with pronoun reference. Sentence 1 of a paragraph would be about one male character. Sentence 2 and following would have the "he" refer to Thomas Cromwell. Yet it was not always so. It would take reading a whole paragraph or more to know for sure who was talking sometimes. One thing about not knowing Tudor history well: I didn't always know how some subplot would turn out.(Anne and More I did, but it was still interesting to see how events worked out.) I liked it enough to read the next two books. And may follow up with biographies.

I've been waiting for this book ever since reading the first of the Century Trilogy. I remember the first one, Fall of Giants, being better. As with the others, there were people involved in diplomacy, spying, and the various militaries so that the whole European front could be covered. And by one character joining the Navy and his family visiting, Pearl Harbor was covered as well. While it was obviously a means to an end, it was not wholly unconvincing. I find myself wondering if my decrease in interest is that the book moves into history I remember. Most of the romances fell flat, statements of longing for a person were unconvincing interjections. Even though I knew the political outcomes, he characters interested me enough to care about what happened to them, and the pace kept my interest as well. However, I never got to the point where I couldn't put the book down. Because of the complexity of the settings (USA, USSR, Germany, Britain, a little France and Spain) there were a lot of shifts in setting. Each time I had to review in my mind who the people were and what was the last thing that had happened to them. While this is always the case with shifting settings, it was more noticeable because of the gaps between their appearances. The list of characters by country in the front helped, and Follett subtly reminded readers of some of the needed information. The ending was clearly setting up Vol 3 as well as tying up Vol 2, more noticeably than I remember of the first volume. I look forward to Vol 3.

Gorokhova's memoir is, first of all, a good read. She knows how to pace her recollections so that as I reader I cared about what happened next. Her flashbacks are well handled, adroit trips into the past and back again to the current story. One of my favorites was while mushroom hunting, they came to what had been a WWII trench, now overgrown. It led to thoughts on the war, on her family's experiences in the war, then back to mushrooms. Another strength was capturing the mental processes of a child in the early portions, the childish logic set against adult logic in such a way that the reader understood far more than the child knowingly reported. The book provided an interesting peek into one person's experience of growing up in the USSR, to the system, to dealing with and around the system, to vranyo: we know, they know we know, we know they know we know. Vranyo, along with theatre imagery (made relevant because a sister becomes an actress), and thoughts on the magic of theatre provide major themes throughout the memoir.

A story of growing up during WWII as a Chinese American. son of an immigrant family. It includes a friendship between a Chinese boy and a Japanese girl, a friendship totally rejected by the father. It was interesting to show prejudice against Japanese via the Chinese family(though there were other US/Japanese; US/Chinese issues presented). As is often the case, I feel very ambivalent about the ending. The second generation father/son relationship between Henry and Marty starts as distant as that of Henry and his father, but a couple of events merge to make a believable shift. The contrast is good.

I remember when the fatwa was declared. My immediate response was to go out and buy The Satanic Verses as a protest against censorship and terrorism because of ideas. Because I was a grad student and had time to read only assigned items, the book sat on my shelf. Now that I have read Joseph Anton I intend to read it along with a couple others that sounded good in synopsis. Because I had just finished Wolf Hall with its references to beheadings and burnings of "heretics" by Christians, I extended the denouncement of the Islamic fatwa to a denouncement of all extreme religious hatred and threat. I appreciated the chapter giving a synopsis of Rushdie's life. And the early chapters read at times like a detective novel. By page 400, reports of meetings and who had attended were getting tedious. I pondered the inclusion of all of the meetings and names. First, I suppose, once honor is given to people who were supportive, one dare not leave anyone out. Second, I did enjoy recognizing some of my heroes who were supportive--the names I didn't recognize might be other peoples' heroes. Third, some of the people were mentioned so often that I "got to know them" and began to care about what happened to them--as one does with any character in a novel. I didn't have to have prior knowledge. It seemed odd to read a memoir written in third person. But it functioned. It created distance. It reminded of ways in which Joseph Anton both was and was not Salman Rushdie, he was sometimes forced to act other than he would have chosen. It was also a reminder that there is a degree of fiction in all reporting. I had not been aware that the fatwa lasted eleven years. After having praised European attitudes toward security post 9/11--more balance with rights, less extremism--against the more freaked out US reactions, I was surprised to hear that US had been more lax and Europe more tense and extreme in the fatwa years. For the most part, it was a profitable read.

A story important to be told and known. Not a history, but a record of a search for history. Sometimes the descriptions got in the way for me. Otherwise I appreciated the record of the struggle to find information, to synchronize conflicting reports, and to get people to care.

It has been a long time since I've read a "dear reader" style narrative. I found it annoying. But I did want to know who would get the credit for creating the black tulip. That plus it being a group read kept me reading. At least I'd been forewarned not to look for realism.

This amazing book caught my interest with the first paragraph, and that without the 'in medias res' beginning. Oh there was back story, but the actual plot began in Chapter 1 with two girls stealing fruit. The pace is leisurely for the first two thirds, then speeds up, the style descriptive and immediate. There were few characters, though towns and other activities were implied. The characters were well developed with flaws and virtues--all but one, who had no redeeming qualities. Much of the book was about ideas never stated (the Orchardist himself, Jane and Della, sometimes Caroline Middey, though she was the most likely to speak) or about inability to speak (Clee). Angeline was more the one who wanted to know than one not communicating. Each had their own type of isolation, though there were also relationships. The novel deals with aging, birth, the growing up of children, and the diminished abilities of the elderly, always matter of factly, sometimes understated. Never heavy handed philosophizing. This is a rare book that remains excellent through the ending. No strong woman is forced to marry. The orchard doesn't last forever.

Written as a collection of graphic essays by various authors/artists. Thus it is not a chronological history. There is repetition (not a bad thing...events reappear with variations in different contexts) and mixed quality. Some of the art work adds great meaning to the text. A good introduction.

** spoiler alert ** Generally, I like the slow pace of 19C novels, the extended description of setting and person. I like getting drawn into the fictitious world. I like the battles of wits and psychological studies. And this novel has those. I like that the novel is narrated as if it were a memoir, written (we learn at the end) ten years after most events. I dislike the hints of Beauty and the Beast mythology in Jane and Rochester. Yes, he does get tamed and become likeable; but I get tired of seeing women put into the civilizing role. I tolerated the moralizing via various characters as part of 19C until we came to St John. He was just too preachy and went on way too long. At first I shrugged it off as part of his character, and I hypothesized that Bronte was mocking him in presenting it to excess, especially when he claims that he has God's will for someone else, for Jane, who had no such internal push to become a missionary. Then I came to the ending of the novel and wondered why it ended with him, his anticipation of death told in Revelation terms. Was this meant to elevate him? To make this the lesson for all from the novel? Was it meant to say he had never changed? That it did say, but why end thus? Is even the end part of the mockery of his approach to life--mocking importance to a self important man? Another place that did not work for me was Rochester's narration of his past to Jane after the wedding has been called off. Mere telling went on way too long. I also could not believe that the feisty Jane could be almost persuaded by St John. Yes Bronte did try to make it believable by Jane's saying that she was docile and obedient until a certain level of resistance had been reached and then she would fight back. And as a child she had been excessively obedient, but then she had grown out of it. So I wasn't convinced that she remained in character. Of course, her being almost persuaded did add to the drama. It would have done so more had it been believable. In spite of features, which to me seemed faults, overall it was a good read.

I liked it! There were slow parts, and it is a rather depressing book, but McCourt does a wonderful drop at lightening the mood.

Nhung nam cuoi doi, Lev Tolstoy da roi bo cuoc song cua mot dai Ba Tuoc giau co day danh vong, chuyen ra o mot minh trong thai ap nho vung nong thon va song nhu nguoi hanh huong ngheo kho nhat. Trong buc thu dai viet cho vo khuoc tu su tro ve, ong noi "...su tro ve cua toi bay gio hoan toan khong the duoc nua...Cuoc song khong phai la tro dua, chung ta khong co quyen tu y vut bo no di va do no theo chieu dai thoi gian cung khong hop ly. Co the la nhung thang cuoi cung trong doi chung ta lai quan trong hon tat ca nhung nam da qua va phai song nhung thang cuoi cung do cho tot dep...". Tai nha ga xep mien Trung Nga, vao mot dem lanh gia thang 11 ong da thuc hien cuoc dao thoat cuoi cung trong cong cuoc tim kiem loi dap cho cac cau hoi giay vo ong suot nhung nam cuoi cua cuoc doi. Chac gi nhung cau tra loi da de chiu hon cau hoi? Dieu nay chi minh Lev Tolstoy biet. Su dan vat trong qua trinh di tim chuoi nhung cau tra loi cho cuoc doi minh duoc ong bieu dat day cay dang va chan thuc trong "Tu thu". Tan bi kich cua mot tam hon manh me va tham thuy, day sang tao va chan chuong, vua phan dau tien toi su tu hoan thien (self - perfection) vua ngap tran su nghi ngai hoang mang... Ngay phan mo dau, ta co the duoc su xung dot manh me giua Duc tin va Ly tri trong con nguoi ong. Tiep sau "Mot tranh luan ve duc tin tai Kremli" va "Nhung nguoi dam thoai" (The Interculor) - ma ong dua ra nhung thao luan ve duc tin giua nhung ke co duc tin va nhung ke vo than, toi "Tu thu" ong da tien mot buoc dai hon han. Ay la phu dinh hoan toan Duc Tin, bang nhung tu ngu danh thep, nhung mau chuyen gian di nhung chac nich da gat bo hoan toan nhung giao ly Chinh thong duoc truyen day tu thoi au tho va khang dinh cai noi chon ma ong von nghi la chua dung Duc tin ay thuc ra da trong rong tu lau va nhung cu chi hanh le hoan toan la vo nghia. Chinh su xung dot manh me giua Duc tin va Ly tri trong con su tu cua van hoc Nga da khien ong bi giao hoi Nga khai tru va coi nhu "mot ke ta dao, xac xuoc va noi loan chong lai Duc chua troi" (ngay 22 thang 2 nam 1901). Va cho den cuoi doi, hanh dong roi bo to am quy toc cua ong cung duoc coi nhu mot hanh vi noi loan, canh sat da bam sat ong, bao chi xon xao, chinh quyen luon san sang doi pho va Nga hoang da cu Toa thanh giao chu Parpheni toi gap ong yeu cau ong hoa giai voi Chinh giao nhung that bai. Cau hoi ve Duc Tin, ve moi quan he giua con nguoi voi dang vo han, y nghia cuoc song cua chinh minh khong ngung am anh Lev Tolstoy va tiep tuc the hien su giang co o doan cuoi tac pham. Rot cuoc, ngon lua thuc su cua Duc Tin nam o dau? O Thuong De vo han hay o trong chinh moi con nguoi? Lev Tolstoy khao khat di tim mot cuoc song co Duc Tin, mot Duc Tin thuan khiet, khong vu loi, mot Duc Tin tu minh tim thay, de co the tu tra loi phan nao cau hoi can thiet phai dat ra. Va ong da tim cho toi tan giay phut cuoi cung cua cuoc doi... Loi thu toi thu nhat: toi chua bao gio co niem tin vao ton giao mot cach nghiem tuc Loi thu toi thu hai: toi da song nhu mot nguoi dien suot nhung nam thang tuoi tre. "Bay gio thi toi thay ro rang khong co su khac biet nao giua chung toi va nhung nguoi (dien) dang song trong mot nha thuong dien; vao thoi ay, toi chi mo ho thoang thay dieu nay, va, giong nhu tat ca moi nguoi dien, toi nghi rang tru toi ra, tat ca nhung nguoi khac deu dien ca." Lev Tolstoy goi nhung nam thang song khat khao cong hien cho dam me quyen luc, danh vong, su giau co, tinh kieu ngao, su dam dang va tham chi la ca khoang thoi gian ben gia dinh..., la nhung nam thang dien ro va doi tra. (Du trong nhung nam nay ong da cho ra doi nhung tac pham duoc coi la kiet tac nhu Chien tranh & hoa binh, Anna Karenina...). Cho den khi ong phat hien ra ong bi "benh", va nhung cau hoi quay ve giang xe dau oc ong. Phai chang tat ca su giau sang va danh vong kia chi la nhung ao anh lua doi cua cuoc doi, va rang suot nhung nam qua ong khong thuc su co uoc vong gi? Loi thu toi thu ba... Loi thu toi thu tu... Loi thu toi thu nam... Xung dot dien ra lien tiep, nhung cau hoi nhay mua, nhung gia dinh khap khoi cuoi noi, cac bac hien nhan nhu Socrates, Solomon, Schopenhauer cung tham chien. Va ket qua la "thay vi mot cau tra loi, tat ca nhung gi ma nguoi ta co the dat toi, la chinh cac cau hoi tuong tu, duoc dat ra trong mot hinh thuc roi ram phuc tap." Giong nhu mot ke bi lac trong rung, mot lan nua, Lev Tolstoy cay dang nhan ra "Toi da khong the bi danh lua. Moi su deu la hu vo, Hanh phuc thay cho ke nao chua tung duoc sinh ra; cai chet thi tot hon cuoc song; chung ta phai loai bo su song ra khoi chinh minh."

This one might have made me cry... absolutely loved it. Live like you are dying folks!

What can I say... Modern woman in 18th century. I love this book! My husband and I loved the show and had to read the books! Highly recommend!

Oh Kitty Wright. What can I say about this character... she has a lot of sides to her... and I think I liked this book more than the first. I had to keep reading... harder to put the book down. Anyways once again closeness to detail.. at points felt like I was reading a semi different version to Gone With the Wind and Scarlett mixed. Good book... can't wait to read book 3 of the Saga.

I am a history buff and can be very critical of those who right historical romances. What I liked about Love and War was the authors careful consideration to history and facts. I have done research on some of the battles that she listed in the book... and this being a free book from Amazon was a great way to introduce me to the author. You are swept up in the constant troubles of Kitty Wright... who was the southern belle who wasn't like all the other girls... and the fact that she has love triangles, drama, and action... I enjoyed the book very much... so much so that I bought 2 and 3 to continue on with their story.

This was a free book I actually grabbed because a friend's picture was on the Cover as the hero... Brad. Anyways I liked the book. I felt that at times I had problems really connecting with what was going on... although I was able to pick up very fast what was going on when (SPOILER) she loses her virginity after being married for 7 years to the lead guy. And then the guy was trying to get her pregnant. I got that pretty fast... but I will admit at first I thought he was trying to get her pregnant to bring up some scandal to get them into society.

I liked the story line. I kept wondering how Jane Feather was going to pull it off, I mean you have a main character Clarissa who is claiming she is a whore... when really she is of noble blood. She constantly kept the lead character in the loop... gosh she was good at making up lies... but good story... can't wait to read #2... which I found out I already had prior to buying this book lol. :D

Not bad--- felt that as a History buff there were some questionable uses of medical terminology and wording. But still a good book! Very twisty!

(SPOILER) Connected to the main characters... happy it didn't end with another pregnancy as so many romance novels do now a days. But she was using darker settings.

This book is twists and turns...but in a good way. A good read. :)

The Fact of the matter with this book (SPOILER) Some one comes up with a copy of Lincoln's lost journal and is told they write the journal entries. He bounces back and forth going through Lincoln's history where he makes arguments as well as shows pictures of Lincoln and life throughout the years. The way in which he does this it makes a possible account that is surprisingly close to history. Thus why I had to double check... what would Lincoln think about this account of his life? I have to wonder lol.

I loved this book. I loved the movie... which for the most part they kept pretty close to the book. I liked the Myrna column which I want to check into some of those ideas myself. All in all interesting read. :)

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Bud, not Buddy is for my Book Report (or Home Reading Report) Review to come once I finish my HRR. :> SUMMARY!! Ten year old Bud, not Buddy, Caldwell, is on a search for his father. Four years ago, his mother passed away, and Bud was sent to the Home, an orphanage, bringing his only belongings, a suitcase of his precious things that includes rocks with numbers and their states, flyers about his suspected father, Herman E. Calloway where he plays a big fiddle with his famous band, the Dusky Devastators of Depression, and Grand Rapids! When the Home sent Bud to a foster home, taken cared by the Amoses, the couple's child Todd threw a fight against him and Bud fought back to defend himself. When the Amoses arrived, Todd lied about the situation and as punishment Bud is locked up in the shed of the house and was told that they will take him back to the Home. Bud tried to escape after seeing a shotgun, and to his horror he was attacked by hornets hiding in the shed. Fortunately, he was able to escape, and Bud decided that it would not be the best idea to go to the Home now. The next day Bud received breakfast from the Mission through the help of kind strangers. He visited the library and discovers the Mrs. Hill, the librarian, is on a matrimonial leave and is in Chicago. Bud found out that it takes fifty-five hours to travel to Chicago. The next day Bud is awoken by a fellow mate, Bugs, who is named Bugs because once a cockroach went inside his ear. Bugs told him that he is going to the West, and the two swore to be brothers forever. After receiving breakfast from the Mission, both learned that you have to go to Hooperville which is outside Flint to get into the train to Chicago. When they reached their destination they realized that it is actually Hooverville, and it is a cardboard jungle. Both were given food and both washed the dishes with other kids. Bud attracted Deza Malone, a girl waiting for her father to come home, and the two share a kiss. The next day the cops appeared and told the people that they are not allowed to go on board the train; however, a lot of people managed to ride on the train. The friendship of Bud and Bugs was broken apart when Bugs left Bud and went to the train by himself. The next day Bud decided to search for his father. He went to the library to calculate the distance of Flint and Grand Rapids, which is twenty-four hours. While walking to his destination he is spotted by a man who decided to help Bud. He is Mister Lefty Lewis, an old man. When Bud told Lewis that Herman is his father, he sent a telegram to Herman, which made Bud nervous. Bud woke up the next day in Mrs. Sleet's house, the daughter of Lewis. He was given a delicious breakfast (the best one) and Lewis and he went off to Log Cabin in Grand Rapids where Herman plays the fiddle. For the first time Bud finally saw his father however Herman gives the opposite feedback Bud expected. The members of the band warmly greeted him, and they treated him to dinner at the Sweat Pea, the finest restaurant in town. Bud met Miss Thomas, the vocal stylist of the band, and together with the band members, all of them share a bond. While listening to the music produced Bud helps the band by cleaning the Log Cabin. Herman still gave negative attitude to him. Bud decided that this attitude needed to stop and to prove Herman that he is his father Bud showed him the rocks he kept after seeing Herman's belongings which included the same types of rocks. Miss Thomas asked the name of Bud's mother and Bud told her that his mother's name is Angela Janett Caldwell. This shocked everyone, including Herman, who cried after. It has come to the conclusion that Herman is not Bud's father but grandfather. Because of Herman's parental habits Angela ran away from home more than ten years ago. Herman is in despair that Angela has died. The band invited him join the band and since everybody in the band has a codename the band came up with the idea of Sleepy LaBone. The band also gives him a saxophone. It is a happy ending for Bud.

oh my gosh what the heck happened? so in the cover of the book, The New York Times says " Brilliant and hugely ambitious.... It's the kind of book that can be LIFE CHANGING" i made a shelf just for this book labelled as "life-changing" because honestly, it was really life changing. 550 pages of words from the mouth of death written by 14 year old liesel meminger was worth it. i'm proud to read liesel's story, because honestly, she had a better adeventure than me. so what i understood from the book: hitler's time, nazi germany. liesel writes down her life called the book thief because she has stolen books, her first stealing after her mother and her buried her brother. liesel's mom abandoned her, and she now lives with a man who plays the accordion and a woman who swears a lot. she begins to have a close relationship with a boy whose hair is the color of lemons, and a jew who is hiding under the basement. liesel's story is narrated by death. it is split into ten parts and the titles come from the book titles she read/stolen. i love all of the characters. you cannot hate anyone in the book. i love the figures of speech. i love that there was a different story to tell in each chapter/part. i loved the ending, the sad, sad ending. what else can i say? the book was life-changing in different ways. i guess it's kind of embarrassing to answer why because well... anyways, this book is perfection. this needs to be a movie, i ll cry rivers.

HHhH charms with its brilliance and capivates with its whim. The atrocities committed by Heydrich and those under his command are well known but surprisingly little is known about the brave men and women whose mission it was to end his reign of terror. What is especially impressive about HHhH is how Binet tries to tell this remarkable story. All too often historical fiction and even historical work is tarnished by convenient untruths and grandiose embellishment. Against this, HHhH is refreshing with its attempt to encourage the reader to reconstruct the truth surrounding the assassination attempt on Heydrich, even though our protagonist effectively deconstructs everything that he encounters in order to allow the reader to do so. Yet there are times where our protagonist cannot help himself and indulges in the dramatic flourish that he rails against. It is at these moments where the reader can appreciate the difficulty that storytellers face in capturing a true account of events Personally I would be more inclined to dabble into historical fiction if its storytelling style continues along this new exciting path set down by Binet.

Septimus was my favorite character, followed by Thomasina and Lady Crooms. In that order. My least favorite by a land slide was Bernard. I found the scenes set in 1809 extremely interesting and the scenes set in present day extremely dull. Ugh. Now I have to have a test on this play and write an essay explaining the rice pudding quote.

I didn't come into this book expecting much, mostly because I was pretty underwhelmed by "The Constant Princess," which was the only Phillipa Gregory book I had read. I am happy to say that this book was amazing. I really loved the writing and the story was so interesting! There was non-stop political intrigue it was almost overwhelming. Luckily, I love political intrigue. I also loved the protagonist, Elizabeth Woodsville, and I had a love/hate relationship with Edward. So much happened in this book, I felt like I read a novel's worth of plot just in the first 100 pages alone. I tried to put off finishing this book because I didn't want it to end! I'm dying to read another book in this series, I can't wait.

2.5 stars....umm wait...the ending...WHERE IS IT?

I love this book. I need to go buy it now. This book is about the horrors of the Holocaust yes, but it also shows how even when it seems like no one has their humanity anymore there are,and always will be, people who have hearts and show compassion. Who are human. This book is filled with sadness yet also with hope. With loss but also with happiness. "Look to the helpers, in times of tragedies, you will always find people who are helping." It amazes me, how Ilse and the other girls have practically nothing, yet they constantly give to Gerda. Like Ilse had that one raspberry she found, and instead of eating it she gave it to Gerda. Also, Frau Kugler. Amazing how much compassion and heart she had. Seriously. It amazes and inspires me to see how much humanity people had during times of despair. I phrased my feelings horribly but I think if you read this book, then you'll understand

4.5 stars. Man, can this guy write.

3.5 stars. What I liked about this book particularly was the psychology and Kaysen's scenes with her fellow patients.

I truly enjoyed this book. Tina Fey is funny, but that's nothing new.

I swear this took me like a month to read...still, it was seriously amazing. Heathcliff is so unlikable but you just can't help empathizing with him

I loved it. I was not expecting those plot twists. This book sucked me in and it did not let me go until I finished it. Also, for this being a classic, the writing was really easy to understand.

It's 3 in the morning and I'm happy/sad crying. I love this book.

How do I even begin to describe this book? I love it so much. I love Markus Zusak's writing style. This book, if I had to describe it in one word, is charming. The writing is charming, the characters are charming, the story is charming. The book is charming. This book is the kind that you just can't rush through. I admit, sometimes I start skimming through books. I tried to do it with this book. Big mistake. First, what was I thinking trying to skim parts of this? No. This book requires you to take your time and read it at the book's pace. You can't rush it. You have to read each and every word because every single word is important. But you will enjoy it immensely. The characters truly shine in this story. No matter how unlikable they are (or seem to be). I loved every. single. one. My favorites just might be Rudy and Ilsa(a.k.a the mayor's wife). Near the end of the book I started bawling. I was crying so hard. And I loved it. I loved that this book evoked that emotion out of me. In fact, I was so overwhelmed that I just had to put the book down and cry. I had to stop reading, put my head down, and just cry. I would then compose myself and start again - only to read the next sentence or two and just burst out in tears again. Part of it because the sentence made me cry. And part of it because I was still overwhelmed and the sentence pushed me over the edge (so to speak) again. This is a book that will make me reel. I'll need days to recover from this book.

I knew I liked Amy Poehler before reading this. Now my like for her is very solid. Much more than just a celebrity autobiography. Amy is smart and funny and yes, I want to be her friend.

For me, this just didn't live up to the hype. I had read Fingersmith and really enjoyed it. And it had a big twist. With the Paying Guests I kept waiting for something to happen. I had so many scenarios in my head and was wondering if I guessed right. But nothing happened. I was expecting a bigger payoff for 500+ pages.

Not very well written. Entirely predictable plot. It wasn't bad, it just really wasn't very interesting.

What an interesting childhood! I think it explains where her unusual sense of humor originates. Fun read.

** spoiler alert ** Well, I didn't love it. I am a big fan of Kate Atkinson and was so looking forward to this book. Read so many rave reviews. And I liked a lot of it. Ursula, the main character, dies and lives again, over and over. Certain event occur again and again. She is able to change her present because of her "deja vu". Interesting premise. And it was well done. I guess for me I just got bogged down in WWII. I felt the chapters lasted as long as the war, not that I was around at that time. But too much Hitler, too much bombing. Too many bodies blown to bits. From the ending, I guess the ultimate for Ursula was that he brother Teddy live through the war? There were parts of the story I would have like to have been longer instead of WWII and Hitler. I really didn't like any of the bits in Germany with Eva and Hitler. That's just me. Of course Hitler is very volatile subject. I just didn't find those chapters very interesting. So I reluctantly give this book 3 stars. I don't like any author to be unchallenged, but yet, I would love more Jackson Brodie.

This book was a lot of fun. I had been a little reluctant to read it and I don't know why. I've been a Tina Fey fan for a long time. I guess I was afraid this book wouldn't be as funny as I wanted it to be. But it is funny, and it's smart and feminist. Tina represents herself well and I'm an even bigger fan now. I do recommend this if you are already a fan. If you aren't, I don't see this winning you over. It's right in keeping with her well known public persona.

I have to preface my review by saying that I accepted Pete Townshend as my musical savior when I was but 11 years old. So this is a biased review. His music quite literally has changed my life. With that said, I have been eagerly awaiting this book. Yet almost afraid to read it. Bottom line: I don't love it. I just wanted more. But I don't know that he could give me what I want. Which is everything. I guess that is my main issue. Even with a 500 page book, I felt he glossed over times that I really thought would get more coverage. Still, I feel I both know him much better, and yet still don't know him at all. He says he wanted the book to both entertain and convince. So in that respect I think he was successful. I do this this is essential reading for major Who fans. This is not for the casual fan. There really isn't enough rock and roll decadence to engage the music fan who is looking for dirt. I guess the best way to get to know Pete Townshend, or the way I choose to get to know Pete Townshend, is to listen the music. Because at his best, there is no one better.