Loves books and cats
Best things in life: books, beaches, cats, chocolate, sunsets, sleep
This book started off with such a bang and continued with a strong story line. The characters were well-developed and interesting. And then near the end, where the love scene begins, the story fell apart. I was unaware that the author is a writer of erotica. That is not a genre I chose to read and so this part of the story was just not something I found at all interesting. It was so strange to have such a well-crafted, wonderful story, then sex scene and then the end. I felt left hanging, wanting to know more about the development of Daphne and Ryan's relationship, not about how they have sex. I only wish I had known about the erotica part and I would have skipped the book. I felt cheated that I didn't get a real ending (real in my view anyway) since I really enjoyed 80% of the story.
Partly like I would expect from Christopher Hitchens and partly not. He is less strident and harsh than usual. A gentle Hitchens is a surprise. But he is still unflinching in his analysis of his disease and all the hoopla surrounding his treatment. Good but so short, unfortunately because death took him too soon.
This novel has such powerful images. The horrors that occurred during the siege of Sarajevo and what people went through on a daily basis just to get around in the city are vividly depicted in this wonderful book. And ironically, the cellist is not really even a main character even though he is the subject of the title. He is basically peripheral to the actions of two of the main characters, Kenan and Dragan. Arrow is the only character whose story is directly related to the cellist. Everything in this novel happens in a few short days, but you can understand how the characters feel as if the war will never end. They have gotten to the point where they can hardly remember the way life used to be. But the cellist and his music make them, just for a few minutes, see the city as it was or as it would be if the war was not happening.
Steven Galloway has a wonderful way with words that evoke powerful emotions as you read. When Arrow is given the assignment to protect the cellist from a sniper, she goes down to the crater the cellist will sit and play in later in the day. She's thinking about how random it was that the people were killed as they were in line to buy bread. If one did not need to buy bread that day, they would not have been there and died. Galloway writes "This is how she now believes life happens. One small thing at a time. A series of inconsequential junctions, any or none of which can lead to salvation or disaster. There are no grand moments where a person does or does not perform the act that defines their humanity. There are only moments that appear, briefly, to be this way." Wow, that is amazing.
This book is so well written and worth reading. I was an adult during the years of this siege and don't remember that the news stories made that much of an impression on me. Of course I thought the killings going on were terrible, but I can honestly say it didn't touch me personally that much. After reading TCoS, I want to know more about why this war occurred in the first place. What made the men in the hills kill all those people.
Relationship novels are not typically my thing but I truly enjoyed this one. It has beautiful language, mostly well-drawn characters and just enough interest in what will happen next to make one want to keep reading even though not that much ever really happens. Of course I pretty much hated Charity at the end, but I really think we are supposed to. She has spent a lifetime running everything and always getting her way, of course she will be the one to decide how she dies even if it means leaving Sid out of it. You are left wondering if he truly will be able to go on. I wish Sally were a little more fleshed-out as a character. Before the polio, she’s primarily the fun but overshadowed friend. Afterward she is the long-suffering but still faithful-to-the-end friend. Additionally I wanted to see each of them grow just a little bit out of the roles they established early in the relationship. But none of them really ever did. Charity was the ringleader, Sally was the devoted friend and wife, Sid was the rich provider who can’t ever quite satisfy his wife’s ambitions and Larry was the faithful and supportive workaholic. They were all just about the same at the end as they were all along, and I guess that’s my main complaint. Their relationships were maintained throughout the years despite their various hardships and physical distance, but they never really evolved. You think in that last scene in Charity’s bedroom, something will change, someone will break the mold and do something different, but it doesn’t happen. So I was unsatisfied with the end even though I enjoyed the whole very much.
Mixed emotions. I really enoyed this, but at the same time it was just too long. I certainly did not anticipate the end so that's always a plus. Too much of the story focuses on John's ranting about the stupidity and arrogance of the American government. I loved the eccentricities of Owen but I didn't need to hear about what he had to say about so many subjects. The part about The Voice just got on my nerves. But very good over all.
Not bad. Some of the essays were too dated to be truly interesting, but I enjoyed much of this book. Hitchens was always thought-provoking in his arguments.
Definitely enjoyed these stories. The only complaint I really have is the numerous references to "the man" and what he wants to keep black people down. Of course the man means white people. I know the stories are about an oppressed black man, but I get tired of stereotypes of all whites as oppressors. Stereotyping is offensive whichever race is being portrayed.
This is only the second book I've read about hiking the PCT. I enjoyed much of this book although I got tired of his depictions of women as many others have already noted. However he wrote a travel narrative, not a treatise on men's attitudes toward women. I also got confused occasionally with all the people on the trail and how he would mention someone many chapters after they were first introduced. Just couldn't remember much about them. But I definitely felt the struggles he had with the cold and the weight loss. Pretty sure I would never attempt a thru hike of this trail although I would love to try the AT.
The Eagle Has Landed
I think I might like this okay to read but the audio version just can't keep my attention.
I know it is a classic and considered by some to be one of the best novels ever, but I can't continue on when I'm bored to death. I'm not interested in discussions about God so the theme of much of this is not at all interesting to me. Maybe I'll pick it back up someday.
Ugh ugh ugh!! Pretentious blather is all I can say about the Zen parts. Kind of enjoyed some of the travel sections but even they got tedious after a while. The author and his son, Chris stopped enjoying their trip so there was not much pleasant to say about it from then on. The most interesting part of the book for me was the afterward which was written a little over 10 years after the novel. I was sad to learn that Chris had been murdered a few years before the afterward was written.
Read several years but it was one of those books that really made an impression. Amazing was she was put through for the muslim faith.
Really enjoyed this book. Not sure that I can say exactly what made it so compelling, but I always looked forward to picking it back up and seeing what dangers Lev and Kolya were going to face. And the reader is just transported to this cold and hungry place. Amazing descriptions.
This is rather typical of Deborah Crombie’s previous Kincaid and James mysteries. They have just enough mystery to keep you guessing but are not so convoluted that the resolution could have never really happened that way. The best part of these mysteries has rarely been the solution of the various murders but the relationship between Duncan and Gemma. However in this novel, unlike many in the past, not much happens in their relationship. I know that characters have to grow and move on in their relationships so that their story lines don’t get stale, but I miss the tension that used to be between Duncan and Gemma, both in their professional and personal lives, because that is what made the books most interesting. Now that they are married, much of the tension between them is gone and has been replaced with the worries about their foster daughter, Charlotte. It isn’t the same and not nearly as interesting. So this novel was okay, but only okay and I probably won’t remember much at all about it a few months from now. Maybe Deborah Crombie knows that things have gotten too bland and that’s why she ended this novel the way she did. I don’t want to spoil anything, but just let me say that I look forward to the next Kincaid/James novel to see what changes are in store for them.
This is my first Jo Nesbo novel, and it won’t be my last. I read reviews prior to reading the novel that Nesbo’s books are kind of a cross between Stieg Larsson and Henning Mankell. I’ve read all of the Larsson novels and only two of Mankell’s but I would have to say that Jo Nesbo is just as talented a writer as either of them. Harry Hole is the kind of gritty, hard-nosed yet seriously flawed detective that I enjoy. The investigation of the murders kept me guessing and I certainly did not predict the end long before it came. The only real quibble I have is that there were too many red-herrings along the way. I hope it is not the usual Harry Hole story line that at least three people are seriously seen to be the murderer before he gets to the real one. I don’t mind the occasional – Yes, this is the murderer… Oh wait, no it can’t be him so we need to keep looking. But not as many as The Snowman has.
I feel that I now need to go back and start with book one so that I can get to know Harry Hole from the beginning. Of course I felt that there were key things about him that I needed to know or at least that I would understand him better if I had read the previous novels. I look forward to getting to know him, and hope that the previous Harry Hole novels are as compelling as this one was.
This is so boring. Why does it have such a high rating? I agree that it has beautiful language, and I certainly don't need to be hit over the head with action. But wading through dronings of a butler about dignity and so on. Ugh!
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