Dear American Airlines: I was told this book was witty and a quick read. I found it to be the kind of complaining rant that I see enough in my actual world -- I don't need to read about it in my spare time! It begins as a complaint letter from a man who got bumped from a flight - a flight to his daughter's wedding. As he camps in the airport overnight, he begins to tell American Airlines in his complaint letter about his life and all the mistakes that he made in it. He did make a lot of mistakes in his life -- I found him completely unlikeable, and am a trifle resentful that I spent an afternoon with him!
The Lightning Thief: I am reading this series with my 8 year old son. If you have kids that age, read these!! I love them. I tell people they are a cross between Harry Potter (magical stuff) and Wimpy Kid (hilarious kid relationship stuff). They are making a movie of this soon. We are finished with The Lightning Thief and The Sea of Monsters and are in the middle of The Titan's Curse. We both "sneak" reading the book ahead when the other one isn't looking.
My Latest Grievance: Oh, this book is kind of my latest grievance! Elinor Lipman is another supposedly very funny author. This book is about a couple who work for a private girls college. Their daughter, now a teen, has been raised on the college campus. They believe themselves to be a very egalitarian household, always asking their daughter her opinion and being very considerate of her. What this girl really needs is some boundaries!! Sheesh. If I want to see rotten kids, I'll go to my therapy office, thanks!
Jarrettsville: Recently, I went to a book discussion put on by our local paper. This book was one that the book discussion leader suggested; she said she had recently read it and loved it. I bought it on my Kindle for a recent airplane flight and just devoured it. It is based in the Civil War era -- and I'm not a huge fan of that genre. But this one has a twist...Jarrettsville is right on the Mason-Dixon line and so there is a split in the town - some boys fighting for the north and some for the south. The book starts with a young lady gunning down a man at the local saloon -- then you get the back story to explain the first chapter. It's really great. Not only that, this book is based on stories that Cornelia Nixon heard in her childhood -- apparently a true family story!
Cutting for Stone: I knew nothing about this book, but keep hearing awesome things about it. I read it in the beginning of December, so I had a hard time getting through it. There were times that I almost didn't pick it up again, but I'm so glad I did. I think I can chalk it up to the general busy-ness of my life right now. In the end, I thought this was an amazing book and one that I keep thinking about even though I finished it over a week ago. The one issue that I had was that Abraham Verghese is a medical doctor, and went into great detail about the surgeries and medical procedures happening in the book. I found the inside information about being a doctor really great, but honestly, I don't need to know every single gory detail of a surgery! I love that you get such a history and visual picture of Ethiopia and Eritrea in this book, along with a fantastic story. A definite must-read.
Dragonfly in Amber: I'm really annoyed that I finally gave in to the Outlander series. This book (the 2nd) was 760 pages and the next one is 880 -- and there are like 7 so far!! But now that I'm addicted, I gotta have the stuff. I must confess that I really do love time travel books -- and I have learned so much about Scottish history in this series. I could do with a bit less ravishing, but ... you can't have everything perfect!
Dear American Airlines: I was told this book was witty and a quick read. I found it to be the kind of complaining rant that I see enough in my actual world -- I don't need to read about it in my spare time! It begins as a complaint letter from a man who got bumped from a flight - a flight to his daughter's wedding. As he camps in the airport overnight, he begins to tell American Airlines in his complaint letter about his life and all the mistakes that he made in it. He did make a lot of mistakes in his life -- I found him completely unlikeable, and am a trifle resentful that I spent an afternoon with him!
The Lightning Thief: I am reading this series with my 8 year old son. If you have kids that age, read these!! I love them. I tell people they are a cross between Harry Potter (magical stuff) and Wimpy Kid (hilarious kid relationship stuff). They are making a movie of this soon. We are finished with The Lightning Thief and The Sea of Monsters and are in the middle of The Titan's Curse. We both "sneak" reading the book ahead when the other one isn't looking.
My Latest Grievance: Oh, this book is kind of my latest grievance! Elinor Lipman is another supposedly very funny author. This book is about a couple who work for a private girls college. Their daughter, now a teen, has been raised on the college campus. They believe themselves to be a very egalitarian household, always asking their daughter her opinion and being very considerate of her. What this girl really needs is some boundaries!! Sheesh. If I want to see rotten kids, I'll go to my therapy office, thanks!
Jarrettsville: Recently, I went to a book discussion put on by our local paper. This book was one that the book discussion leader suggested; she said she had recently read it and loved it. I bought it on my Kindle for a recent airplane flight and just devoured it. It is based in the Civil War era -- and I'm not a huge fan of that genre. But this one has a twist...Jarrettsville is right on the Mason-Dixon line and so there is a split in the town - some boys fighting for the north and some for the south. The book starts with a young lady gunning down a man at the local saloon -- then you get the back story to explain the first chapter. It's really great. Not only that, this book is based on stories that Cornelia Nixon heard in her childhood -- apparently a true family story!
Cutting for Stone: I knew nothing about this book, but keep hearing awesome things about it. I read it in the beginning of December, so I had a hard time getting through it. There were times that I almost didn't pick it up again, but I'm so glad I did. I think I can chalk it up to the general busy-ness of my life right now. In the end, I thought this was an amazing book and one that I keep thinking about even though I finished it over a week ago. The one issue that I had was that Abraham Verghese is a medical doctor, and went into great detail about the surgeries and medical procedures happening in the book. I found the inside information about being a doctor really great, but honestly, I don't need to know every single gory detail of a surgery! I love that you get such a history and visual picture of Ethiopia and Eritrea in this book, along with a fantastic story. A definite must-read.
Dragonfly in Amber: I'm really annoyed that I finally gave in to the Outlander series. This book (the 2nd) was 760 pages and the next one is 880 -- and there are like 7 so far!! But now that I'm addicted, I gotta have the stuff. I must confess that I really do love time travel books -- and I have learned so much about Scottish history in this series. I could do with a bit less ravishing, but ... you can't have everything perfect!
2 comments:
I am trying to avoid long series because they are so time-consuming, but it never seems to work out the way that I want it to!
Great review of this book.
Adsense Alternative
Post a Comment