The mystery was predictable, but the characters were likable. The book was full of too much perversion, over the top perversion.
I wrote more about it here.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
So, I just finished The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. I liked it, and I didn't like it. I know that is silly, and it doesn't make much sense.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Simon Says
I just finished reading Simon Says by Chuck Goetschel. I needed to read it for work.
I liked it, it was helpful.
I will review it on my other site.
I liked it, it was helpful.
I will review it on my other site.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Irresistible Forces
Irresistible Forces by Brenda Jackson was a free download for Kindle on Amazon, there are many available so I downloaded a few when I downloaded Alice Adams for my next Pulitzer read. Its a good thing it was free because if I spent money on it I would have felt entirely ripped off.
Its not that I don't like romance novels, I do, well written romance novels at least. I love Eloisa James (she has written a version of Cinderella that I am dieing to read, maybe that can be my next "fun" read) But this book was so horrible that I felt I was wasting my time and had to stop reading.
Taylor Steele is a 25 year old woman who owns her own asset management firm who has decided that she wants to have a baby. But the father has to be good looking and rich. Seriously, that is part of the plot, he has to be rich. She's not going to ask for any financial support from him mind you, but he still has to be rich. So she decides to ask a client to father her child. No, I am not making this up, a client.
He of course says yes, because he too is a moron.
They then go to an island resort created specifically to help couples conceive. And proceed to have unrealistic sex for an entire week. They never converse but somehow they fall in love.
Jackson seems to have made no effort to learn about the world of finance or even business in order to give her story some depth or sense of reality. She tries to add a plot of some sort by introducing a conflict with the hero and his grandfather, that of course the heroine resolves. Its weak, the entire book is weak. Didn't enjoy it, wouldn't recommend it.
Its not that I don't like romance novels, I do, well written romance novels at least. I love Eloisa James (she has written a version of Cinderella that I am dieing to read, maybe that can be my next "fun" read) But this book was so horrible that I felt I was wasting my time and had to stop reading.
Taylor Steele is a 25 year old woman who owns her own asset management firm who has decided that she wants to have a baby. But the father has to be good looking and rich. Seriously, that is part of the plot, he has to be rich. She's not going to ask for any financial support from him mind you, but he still has to be rich. So she decides to ask a client to father her child. No, I am not making this up, a client.
He of course says yes, because he too is a moron.
They then go to an island resort created specifically to help couples conceive. And proceed to have unrealistic sex for an entire week. They never converse but somehow they fall in love.
Jackson seems to have made no effort to learn about the world of finance or even business in order to give her story some depth or sense of reality. She tries to add a plot of some sort by introducing a conflict with the hero and his grandfather, that of course the heroine resolves. Its weak, the entire book is weak. Didn't enjoy it, wouldn't recommend it.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Kindle For PC
I recently downloaded the Kindle for PC application so that I had an easier way to read the books I've found on the Gutenberg Project. I found that in addition to the great selection of books available to me on the Gutenberg Project website Amazon has a wonderful selection of the same kind of books available for free download. I went ahead and downloaded Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington and am currently reading and enjoying it.
First, I will say that I am surprised by how much I enjoy reading from that application. I am looking forward to purchasing books to read using the Kindle on my PC, and it makes me much more inclined to buy a Kindle when my budget permits. I like how quickly I can begin reading something new. And I like being able to bookmark where I'm at in the book, something I was unable to do when downloading the HTML file from the Gutenberg site.
There were some other books available for free that I downloaded, that are not classics, just books they've chosen to make available at no cost to interest people in new writers and genres.
I will be reviewing those as well. The first one I read was a romance novel by Brenda Jackson titled Irresistible Forces. It was a quick read.
First, I will say that I am surprised by how much I enjoy reading from that application. I am looking forward to purchasing books to read using the Kindle on my PC, and it makes me much more inclined to buy a Kindle when my budget permits. I like how quickly I can begin reading something new. And I like being able to bookmark where I'm at in the book, something I was unable to do when downloading the HTML file from the Gutenberg site.
There were some other books available for free that I downloaded, that are not classics, just books they've chosen to make available at no cost to interest people in new writers and genres.
I will be reviewing those as well. The first one I read was a romance novel by Brenda Jackson titled Irresistible Forces. It was a quick read.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Next Up
I've decided to read Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington next. I know absolutely nothing about this book or story. It won the Pulitzer in 1922. He won the Pulitzer twice, first in 1919 for The Magnificent Ambersons (which I've not read yet) and then again in '22 for this book.
I also found this book on the Gutenberg website.
I also found this book on the Gutenberg website.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
His Family
Long overdue review of His Family by Ernest Poole
First, apologies for not reviewing the book sooner. I could come up with a list of excuses, but in truth I feel excuses are lame and that you can find time for the things that you really want to do if you make a conscious effort.
This book is a story about Roger and his family, primarily his three daughters Ethel, Deborah and Laura. Roger's wife has been dead for some time and he keeps remembering her words that they would always live on in their family, in their posterity.
I could not help but read and experience this book through the lens of what is happening in my own life, namely the addition of a son in law and daughter in law, the birth of my first grandchild and the death of my last living grandparent. This book seemed very much about the passage of time to me, and the evidence of that in my own life colored my reading of this book. Not that I feel there was anything negative in that coloring, all books are experienced through the lens of the reader. I just wonder if it would have been a different book if I had read it 10 years ago...
The backdrop for this book is the rapidly changing world of Roger, living in New York right before World War One. The influx of immigrants, the changing of social mores, these things are both troublesome and intriguing to Roger. As the story progresses these things, along with the First World War, impact his family and he needs to make emotional and intellectual adjustments to deal with their impact.
Roger's daughters personify the different types of women that the day offered- the traditional wife and mother, the career woman and the party girl.
Ethel is the traditional wife and mother, pregnant with her fifth child. Ethel is concerned with the outside world only so far as it might effect her children. She truly believes her chosen way of life is far superior to that of her sisters and that they will only be happy once they are married with children of their own. I'll leave my own feelings (highly charged and biased) out of this post and just talk about how this attitude of Ethel's both holds her back and holds her together. She seems to miss out on much of the richness of life because of her myopic view. She dreams for her children, but those dreams are limited by her own prejudices and lack of vision. However, when she is widowed soon after her fifth child is born this fervent belief in the rightness of her choices and her love for her children is what gives her the necessary strength to push forward.
Deborah is a public school principal concerned with furthering the opportunities of all of the children in her schools. She is particularly concerned with the plight of the poor immigrant children and their families and is committed to trying to change their lot in life through programs provided by the schools. Roger seems to not really understand Deborah's career at the beginning of the book, he thinks she is a teacher of one class not the principal overseeing three schools. He decides to learn more about her work and it is through her that he begins to really see that the changes to the city bring positive things with them as well as the shifts in the familiar that disturb him.
Laura is the party girl, the social butterfly only interested in dancing and fun and nightlife. It is difficult to like Laura, and were it not for Roger's love of her it would be hard to see anything redeeming in her. She very much reminded me F. Scott Fitzgerald's Gloria, from The Beautiful and the Damned. Selfish and driven only by pleasure. This comes back to haunt Laura, and therefore Roger.
As time passes and the family deals with all of the turmoil life presents, Roger seems to gain a deeper understanding of both his personal mortality and the immortality of his posterity. This could have been the story of many families living in New York at the time. It was deeply personal and global at the same time.
I read this book online at the Gutenberg Project website, a wonderful resource for older books and for anyone without a budget to buy books.
This book was the first to win the Pulitzer. I am glad that I chose to read it at the time I did, as it truly enriched my life.
First, apologies for not reviewing the book sooner. I could come up with a list of excuses, but in truth I feel excuses are lame and that you can find time for the things that you really want to do if you make a conscious effort.
This book is a story about Roger and his family, primarily his three daughters Ethel, Deborah and Laura. Roger's wife has been dead for some time and he keeps remembering her words that they would always live on in their family, in their posterity.
I could not help but read and experience this book through the lens of what is happening in my own life, namely the addition of a son in law and daughter in law, the birth of my first grandchild and the death of my last living grandparent. This book seemed very much about the passage of time to me, and the evidence of that in my own life colored my reading of this book. Not that I feel there was anything negative in that coloring, all books are experienced through the lens of the reader. I just wonder if it would have been a different book if I had read it 10 years ago...
The backdrop for this book is the rapidly changing world of Roger, living in New York right before World War One. The influx of immigrants, the changing of social mores, these things are both troublesome and intriguing to Roger. As the story progresses these things, along with the First World War, impact his family and he needs to make emotional and intellectual adjustments to deal with their impact.
Roger's daughters personify the different types of women that the day offered- the traditional wife and mother, the career woman and the party girl.
Ethel is the traditional wife and mother, pregnant with her fifth child. Ethel is concerned with the outside world only so far as it might effect her children. She truly believes her chosen way of life is far superior to that of her sisters and that they will only be happy once they are married with children of their own. I'll leave my own feelings (highly charged and biased) out of this post and just talk about how this attitude of Ethel's both holds her back and holds her together. She seems to miss out on much of the richness of life because of her myopic view. She dreams for her children, but those dreams are limited by her own prejudices and lack of vision. However, when she is widowed soon after her fifth child is born this fervent belief in the rightness of her choices and her love for her children is what gives her the necessary strength to push forward.
Deborah is a public school principal concerned with furthering the opportunities of all of the children in her schools. She is particularly concerned with the plight of the poor immigrant children and their families and is committed to trying to change their lot in life through programs provided by the schools. Roger seems to not really understand Deborah's career at the beginning of the book, he thinks she is a teacher of one class not the principal overseeing three schools. He decides to learn more about her work and it is through her that he begins to really see that the changes to the city bring positive things with them as well as the shifts in the familiar that disturb him.
Laura is the party girl, the social butterfly only interested in dancing and fun and nightlife. It is difficult to like Laura, and were it not for Roger's love of her it would be hard to see anything redeeming in her. She very much reminded me F. Scott Fitzgerald's Gloria, from The Beautiful and the Damned. Selfish and driven only by pleasure. This comes back to haunt Laura, and therefore Roger.
As time passes and the family deals with all of the turmoil life presents, Roger seems to gain a deeper understanding of both his personal mortality and the immortality of his posterity. This could have been the story of many families living in New York at the time. It was deeply personal and global at the same time.
I read this book online at the Gutenberg Project website, a wonderful resource for older books and for anyone without a budget to buy books.
This book was the first to win the Pulitzer. I am glad that I chose to read it at the time I did, as it truly enriched my life.
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