Why do all my library holds come in at the same time? Ack! Not enough time....
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Why do all my library holds come in at the same time? Ack! Not enough time....
I absolutely loved this when I read it years ago, and I intend to reread it soon. #recommendsday
"When I found my husband at the bottom of the stairs, I tried to resuscitate him before I ever considered disposing of the body." Great first line!
"His first theory was that if human beings didn't keep exercising their lips, their mouths probably shriveled up. After a few months of observation he had come up with a second theory, which was this - 'If human beings don't keep exercising their lips, their brains start working.'"
Can't stop listening to this, even though it makes me feel helpless with anger. My dad is a Vietnam vet, but I've always felt the politics behind that war were too complicated for me to grasp. This author gives fantastic history and background and then reveals the political machinations behind the disastrous conflict. Completely comprehensible; reads like a novel.
One of my favorite childhood reads. I couldn't wait until my kids were old enough for me to read this aloud to them! #recommendsday
"No," said the old man, deep under. "I don't remember anyone winning anywhere any time. War's never a winning thing, Charlie. You just lose all the time, and the one who loses last asks for terms. All I remember is a lot of losing and sadness and nothing good but the end of it. The end of it, Charles, that was a winning all to itself, having nothing to do with guns. But I don't suppose that's the kind of victory you boys mean for me to talk on."
"One of the major problems encountered in time travel is not that of accidentally becoming your own father or mother. There is no problem in becoming your own father or mother that a broad-minded and well-adjusted family can't cope with....The major problem is quite simply one of grammar, and the main work to consult in this matter is Dr. Dan Streetmentioner's 'Time Traveler's Handbook of 1001 Tense Formations.'"
bailedMade it to page 60; couldn't make myself read any further. I love historical fic, but this seemed dry and without heart.
Sometimes look @ billboards of beautiful models, & the real people underneath, & think it's a bit like if we were on a planet where all the space creatures were short, green & fat. Except a very few of them were tall, thin & yellow. And all the advertising was of the tall, yellow ones, airbrushed to make them even taller & yellower. So all the little green space creatures spent their whole time feeling sad because they weren't tall, thin & yellow.
One of my favorites. I really need to make time to reread it. #recommendsday
"...American painter Robert Henri: 'You should paint like a man coming over the top of the hill singing.' Amen. That's also how you should write, sing, dance, sculpt, act, play an instrument, take a photograph, design a building, live a life."
"And, after all, isn't that what life is all about, the ability to go around back and come up inside other people's heads to look out at the damned fool miracle and say: oh, so that's how you see it!? Well, now, I must remember that."
I've only read the introduction and I'm in love.
pick4⭐️This book made me feel off-kilter, like there was always something sinister just out of sight. Devon is creepy in her single-minded drive to succeed and the parents of the Booster Club are like slimy, tentacle-bearing creatures, grasping onto her so they can go along for her ride to the top.
This is the book that always comes to mind when asked, "Which book do you wish had gotten more attention?" Fantastic fiction dealing with culture, anthropology, taboos, religion, journalism. #recommendsday
Man, does she do atmosphere well! This book makes me feel uneasy and off-kilter - I love it so far.
pickHard time rating this one. 4🌟 I guess, because I couldn't stop listening. But I really, really disliked Tully. In all the ways that matter to me, she was a terrible friend! But the ending had me in tears, so I must've been emotionally invested, right?
pick3🌟 Argh - that ending! I had no idea this was a series. You'd think it was a YA title from that big, fat, manipulative cliff-hanger. Good thing I liked the rest of it so much - enough that I just ordered a used copy of Tightrope.
pick4 🌟A must-read. Read The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien first, if you haven't already. But then read this.
pick4 🌟 I want to be Connie Willis when I grow up.
"Anyone who thinks of [books] as an escape from reality...something you should get your nose out of and go outside and play, as merely a distraction or an amusement or a waste of time is dead wrong. Books are the most important, the most powerful, the most beautiful thing humans have ever created."
"But I have learned that under certain circumstances, a fib is not only permissible, but can even be an act of perfect grace."
On audio, read by Stephen Fry. ❤️
Continuing Tobias Wolff's story after thoroughly enjoying This Boy's Life.
pick5🌟 Sigh. I am so going to miss these characters.
pick4🌟 Having grown up in Skagit Valley, Washington, I especially enjoyed this memoir set in nearby Concrete. I remember when they came to town to film the movie version. This was terrific on audio and the narrator (mostly) got the local names right.
pick5 ⭐️ I didn't think it was possible for this to top book one, but it did. If only the next book's release date wasn't so far off!
"Content management. Isn't that what we used to call 'writing'? I've been in the content-management business all my life. I look for content that interests or amuses me, and then I manage it into a narrative. It's what all writers do if they want to keep paying the bills. Dickens did it very well."
Starting two new reads tonight; this is number two.
Starting this before bed. I love the free audiobook downloads from Audiobook Sync!
so-so3 🌟 I liked but didn't love this one. Seemed like the author was trying hard - but failing - to be John Green.
Just starting this on audio, read by Dan Stephens. 😊
pick4 🌟 I really enjoyed this, but am afraid to read the sequel after reading the disappointing reviews.
Interesting take on the apocalypse. Almost like the author was imagining what the United States would become if all Christians were Westboro Baptist "Christians." Curious to see where it's going.
so-soCute concept that wore thin long before the book was over.
This is a lot of fun - gotta love 99-cent downloads from Audible!
Starting this one tonight; almost finished with my quest to re-listen to books one through three before diving in to the final book.
Just starting this. I enjoyed one of his previous books, and he's my mom's favorite author, so I'm reading this on her recommendation. Hoping it isn't too Nicholas Sparks-ish.
"All that ink, all that pigment, all that desperate action to preserve that which had been created - it is valuable because story is a fragile and ephemeral thing on its own, a thing that is easily effaced or disappeared or destroyed, and it is worth preserving."
pickThree stars for the story, but five stars for the sheer ingenuity of the premise and design.
