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any book that takes me 3 months and 20 different tries to read is not worth 3 stars

question: How is book?, context: I am giving "Gone Girl" 3 stars, but only begrudgingly. In my mind, any book that takes me 3 months and 20 different tries to read is not worth 3 stars, especially a book written by an author I already respect. And I am not kidding, for me the first half of "Gone Girl" was a PURE TORTURE to read.Amy Dunn disappears on the day of her 5th wedding anniversary. All gradually uncovered evidence suggests that her husband, Nick, is somehow involved. Did he kill her? Was she kidnapped? What happened to Amy? One thing is clear, Nick and Amy's marriage wasn't as perfect as everybody thought.The first part of the novel is all about the investigation into Amy's disappearance, slow unraveling of Nick's dirty secrets, reminiscing about the troubled history of Nick and Amy's marriage as told in Amy's hidden diary. I strained and strained my brain trying to understand why this chunk of Gone Girl had no appeal to me whatsoever. The only answer I have is this: I am really not into reading about rich white people's problems. You want to whine to me about your dwindling trust fund? Losing your cushy New York job? Moving south and "only" renting a mansion there? Being unhappy because you have too much free time on your hands and you are used to only work as a hobby? You want to make fun of your lowly, un-posh neighbors and their casseroles? Well, I am not interested. I'd rather read about someone not necessarily likable, but at least worthy of my empathy, not waste my time on self-centered, spoiled, pathetic people who don't know what real problems are. Granted, characters in Flynn's previous novels ("Sharp Objects" and "Dark Places") are pretty pathetic and and at times revolting too, but I always felt some strange empathy towards them, not annoyance and boredom, like I felt reading about Amy and Nick's marriage voes.But then second part, with its wicked twist, changed everything. The story became much more exciting, dangerous and deranged. The main characters revealed sides to them that were quite shocking and VERY entertaining. I thought the Gillian Flynn I knew before finally unleashed her talent for writing utterly unlikable and crafty women. THEN I got invested in the story, THEN I cared.Was it too little too late though? I think it was. Something needed to be done to make "Gone Girl" a better read. Make it shorter? Cut out first part completely? I don't know. But because of my uneven experience with this novel I won't be able to recommend "Gone Girl" as readily as I did Flynn's earlier novels, even though I think this horror marriage story (it's not a true mystery, IMO) has some brilliantly written psycho goodness in it and an absolutely messed up ending that many loathed but I LOVED. I wish it didn't take so much time and patience to get to all of that...

How is book?

In my mind, any book that takes me 3 months and 20 different tries to read is not worth 3 stars , especially a book written by an author I already respect.

I am giving "Gone Girl" 3 stars, but only begrudgingly. In my mind, any book that takes me 3 months and 20 different tries to read is not worth 3 stars, especially a book written by an author I already respect. And I am not kidding, for me the first half of "Gone Girl" was a PURE TORTURE to read.Amy Dunn disappears on the day of her 5th wedding anniversary. All gradually uncovered evidence suggests that her husband, Nick, is somehow involved. Did he kill her? Was she kidnapped? What happened to Amy? One thing is clear, Nick and Amy's marriage wasn't as perfect as everybody thought.The first part of the novel is all about the investigation into Amy's disappearance, slow unraveling of Nick's dirty secrets, reminiscing about the troubled history of Nick and Amy's marriage as told in Amy's hidden diary. I strained and strained my brain trying to understand why this chunk of Gone Girl had no appeal to me whatsoever. The only answer I have is this: I am really not into reading about rich white people's problems. You want to whine to me about your dwindling trust fund? Losing your cushy New York job? Moving south and "only" renting a mansion there? Being unhappy because you have too much free time on your hands and you are used to only work as a hobby? You want to make fun of your lowly, un-posh neighbors and their casseroles? Well, I am not interested. I'd rather read about someone not necessarily likable, but at least worthy of my empathy, not waste my time on self-centered, spoiled, pathetic people who don't know what real problems are. Granted, characters in Flynn's previous novels ("Sharp Objects" and "Dark Places") are pretty pathetic and and at times revolting too, but I always felt some strange empathy towards them, not annoyance and boredom, like I felt reading about Amy and Nick's marriage voes.But then second part, with its wicked twist, changed everything. The story became much more exciting, dangerous and deranged. The main characters revealed sides to them that were quite shocking and VERY entertaining. I thought the Gillian Flynn I knew before finally unleashed her talent for writing utterly unlikable and crafty women. THEN I got invested in the story, THEN I cared.Was it too little too late though? I think it was. Something needed to be done to make "Gone Girl" a better read. Make it shorter? Cut out first part completely? I don't know. But because of my uneven experience with this novel I won't be able to recommend "Gone Girl" as readily as I did Flynn's earlier novels, even though I think this horror marriage story (it's not a true mystery, IMO) has some brilliantly written psycho goodness in it and an absolutely messed up ending that many loathed but I LOVED. I wish it didn't take so much time and patience to get to all of that...

In my mind, <hl> any book that takes me 3 months and 20 different tries to read is not worth 3 stars <hl> , especially a book written by an author I already respect.

I am giving "Gone Girl" 3 stars, but only begrudgingly. In my mind, <hl> any book that takes me 3 months and 20 different tries to read is not worth 3 stars <hl>, especially a book written by an author I already respect. And I am not kidding, for me the first half of "Gone Girl" was a PURE TORTURE to read.Amy Dunn disappears on the day of her 5th wedding anniversary. All gradually uncovered evidence suggests that her husband, Nick, is somehow involved. Did he kill her? Was she kidnapped? What happened to Amy? One thing is clear, Nick and Amy's marriage wasn't as perfect as everybody thought.The first part of the novel is all about the investigation into Amy's disappearance, slow unraveling of Nick's dirty secrets, reminiscing about the troubled history of Nick and Amy's marriage as told in Amy's hidden diary. I strained and strained my brain trying to understand why this chunk of Gone Girl had no appeal to me whatsoever. The only answer I have is this: I am really not into reading about rich white people's problems. You want to whine to me about your dwindling trust fund? Losing your cushy New York job? Moving south and "only" renting a mansion there? Being unhappy because you have too much free time on your hands and you are used to only work as a hobby? You want to make fun of your lowly, un-posh neighbors and their casseroles? Well, I am not interested. I'd rather read about someone not necessarily likable, but at least worthy of my empathy, not waste my time on self-centered, spoiled, pathetic people who don't know what real problems are. Granted, characters in Flynn's previous novels ("Sharp Objects" and "Dark Places") are pretty pathetic and and at times revolting too, but I always felt some strange empathy towards them, not annoyance and boredom, like I felt reading about Amy and Nick's marriage voes.But then second part, with its wicked twist, changed everything. The story became much more exciting, dangerous and deranged. The main characters revealed sides to them that were quite shocking and VERY entertaining. I thought the Gillian Flynn I knew before finally unleashed her talent for writing utterly unlikable and crafty women. THEN I got invested in the story, THEN I cared.Was it too little too late though? I think it was. Something needed to be done to make "Gone Girl" a better read. Make it shorter? Cut out first part completely? I don't know. But because of my uneven experience with this novel I won't be able to recommend "Gone Girl" as readily as I did Flynn's earlier novels, even though I think this horror marriage story (it's not a true mystery, IMO) has some brilliantly written psycho goodness in it and an absolutely messed up ending that many loathed but I LOVED. I wish it didn't take so much time and patience to get to all of that...

I am giving "Gone Girl" 3 stars, but only begrudgingly. <hl> In my mind, any book that takes me 3 months and 20 different tries to read is not worth 3 stars , especially a book written by an author I already respect. <hl> And I am not kidding, for me the first half of "Gone Girl" was a PURE TORTURE to read. Amy Dunn disappears on the day of her 5th wedding anniversary. All gradually uncovered evidence suggests that her husband, Nick, is somehow involved. Did he kill her? Was she kidnapped? What happened to Amy? One thing is clear, Nick and Amy's marriage wasn't as perfect as everybody thought. The first part of the novel is all about the investigation into Amy's disappearance, slow unraveling of Nick's dirty secrets, reminiscing about the troubled history of Nick and Amy's marriage as told in Amy's hidden diary. I strained and strained my brain trying to understand why this chunk of Gone Girl had no appeal to me whatsoever. The only answer I have is this: I am really not into reading about rich white people's problems. You want to whine to me about your dwindling trust fund? Losing your cushy New York job? Moving south and "only" renting a mansion there? Being unhappy because you have too much free time on your hands and you are used to only work as a hobby? You want to make fun of your lowly, un-posh neighbors and their casseroles? Well, I am not interested. I'd rather read about someone not necessarily likable, but at least worthy of my empathy, not waste my time on self-centered, spoiled, pathetic people who don't know what real problems are. Granted, characters in Flynn's previous novels ("Sharp Objects" and "Dark Places") are pretty pathetic and and at times revolting too, but I always felt some strange empathy towards them, not annoyance and boredom, like I felt reading about Amy and Nick's marriage voes. But then second part, with its wicked twist, changed everything. The story became much more exciting, dangerous and deranged. The main characters revealed sides to them that were quite shocking and VERY entertaining. I thought the Gillian Flynn I knew before finally unleashed her talent for writing utterly unlikable and crafty women. THEN I got invested in the story, THEN I cared. Was it too little too late though? I think it was. Something needed to be done to make "Gone Girl" a better read. Make it shorter? Cut out first part completely? I don't know. But because of my uneven experience with this novel I won't be able to recommend "Gone Girl" as readily as I did Flynn's earlier novels, even though I think this horror marriage story (it's not a true mystery, IMO) has some brilliantly written psycho goodness in it and an absolutely messed up ending that many loathed but I LOVED. I wish it didn't take so much time and patience to get to all of that...

1b7cc3db9ec681edd253a41a2785b5a9

books

is clearly NOT the great love

question: What is hero?, context: (Warning-Possible (very small) spoilers)The writing is, overall, quite disjointed. The first thing that struck me was that I was 85% certain that I knew the identity of the villain as soon as the character was even SPOKEN about, much less introduced. Needless to say, I was 100% certain when the villain does something dumb that shows him to be the bad guy... and no one catches on. Not surprisingly, I had also been able to warrant a very good guess as to what happened with Harriet.I found the character of Blomkvist kind of a drag. It's hard to pull for someone who is so BLAH. He ruined his marriage by continuing to sleep with Erica, but I'm never sure WHY. She's married, it is clearly NOT the great love of his life, and they have little to no real chemistry. The 'relationship' seems forced, and to be honest it skeeved me out that she would tell her husband when she was going to sleep with Blumkvist. Eww.Blumkvist is totally dense and doesn't pick up HUGE clues about what happened with Harriet, even though it's pretty obvious who the bad guy was, and the answer to what happened to her (without the details of how) is there the entire time. The answer is so ridiculously in your face, you almost feel let down when it turns out to be what you always knew it was. I figured with the reviews here, the solving of the crime must pack quite a punch! I was wrong.To top it all off, the writer makes sure to let us know that, on top of being a bad husband & an idiot, Blumkvist is also a crap parent. Woo woo, what a hero. He's an idiot who will (LITERALLY) sleep with anyone and has no emotional depth. WHY were we supposed to be rooting for him??Salander was (obviously) the more interesting character here. But I feel like the author took a certain joy in having her treated like terribly. Seriously, what else ABSOLUTELY AWFUL could happen to this poor girl? The ending angered me to no end. She finally makes an enormous emotional leap, only to have her hopes smashed by the idiot with NO EMOTIONAL DEPTH!And of course he remains oblivious to the carnage he has wrought with this ridiculous 'relationship' with Erica.Seriously, I hated the character of Blumkvist & really feel he ruined the whole book. Lisabeth should have been the main character and the entirety of the book should have been told from her perspective. Of course, had that happened, the book would have been about 200 pages long... because Lisabeth would have figured it out PRONTO.The writer used the dumber character to try and slow down the 'climax' of the (paper thin) story.

What is hero?

She's married, it is clearly NOT the great love of his life, and they have little to no real chemistry.

(Warning-Possible (very small) spoilers)The writing is, overall, quite disjointed. The first thing that struck me was that I was 85% certain that I knew the identity of the villain as soon as the character was even SPOKEN about, much less introduced. Needless to say, I was 100% certain when the villain does something dumb that shows him to be the bad guy... and no one catches on. Not surprisingly, I had also been able to warrant a very good guess as to what happened with Harriet.I found the character of Blomkvist kind of a drag. It's hard to pull for someone who is so BLAH. He ruined his marriage by continuing to sleep with Erica, but I'm never sure WHY. She's married, it is clearly NOT the great love of his life, and they have little to no real chemistry. The 'relationship' seems forced, and to be honest it skeeved me out that she would tell her husband when she was going to sleep with Blumkvist. Eww.Blumkvist is totally dense and doesn't pick up HUGE clues about what happened with Harriet, even though it's pretty obvious who the bad guy was, and the answer to what happened to her (without the details of how) is there the entire time. The answer is so ridiculously in your face, you almost feel let down when it turns out to be what you always knew it was. I figured with the reviews here, the solving of the crime must pack quite a punch! I was wrong.To top it all off, the writer makes sure to let us know that, on top of being a bad husband & an idiot, Blumkvist is also a crap parent. Woo woo, what a hero. He's an idiot who will (LITERALLY) sleep with anyone and has no emotional depth. WHY were we supposed to be rooting for him??Salander was (obviously) the more interesting character here. But I feel like the author took a certain joy in having her treated like terribly. Seriously, what else ABSOLUTELY AWFUL could happen to this poor girl? The ending angered me to no end. She finally makes an enormous emotional leap, only to have her hopes smashed by the idiot with NO EMOTIONAL DEPTH!And of course he remains oblivious to the carnage he has wrought with this ridiculous 'relationship' with Erica.Seriously, I hated the character of Blumkvist & really feel he ruined the whole book. Lisabeth should have been the main character and the entirety of the book should have been told from her perspective. Of course, had that happened, the book would have been about 200 pages long... because Lisabeth would have figured it out PRONTO.The writer used the dumber character to try and slow down the 'climax' of the (paper thin) story.

She's married, it <hl> is clearly NOT the great love <hl> of his life, and they have little to no real chemistry.

(Warning-Possible (very small) spoilers)The writing is, overall, quite disjointed. The first thing that struck me was that I was 85% certain that I knew the identity of the villain as soon as the character was even SPOKEN about, much less introduced. Needless to say, I was 100% certain when the villain does something dumb that shows him to be the bad guy... and no one catches on. Not surprisingly, I had also been able to warrant a very good guess as to what happened with Harriet.I found the character of Blomkvist kind of a drag. It's hard to pull for someone who is so BLAH. He ruined his marriage by continuing to sleep with Erica, but I'm never sure WHY. She's married, it <hl> is clearly NOT the great love <hl> of his life, and they have little to no real chemistry. The 'relationship' seems forced, and to be honest it skeeved me out that she would tell her husband when she was going to sleep with Blumkvist. Eww.Blumkvist is totally dense and doesn't pick up HUGE clues about what happened with Harriet, even though it's pretty obvious who the bad guy was, and the answer to what happened to her (without the details of how) is there the entire time. The answer is so ridiculously in your face, you almost feel let down when it turns out to be what you always knew it was. I figured with the reviews here, the solving of the crime must pack quite a punch! I was wrong.To top it all off, the writer makes sure to let us know that, on top of being a bad husband & an idiot, Blumkvist is also a crap parent. Woo woo, what a hero. He's an idiot who will (LITERALLY) sleep with anyone and has no emotional depth. WHY were we supposed to be rooting for him??Salander was (obviously) the more interesting character here. But I feel like the author took a certain joy in having her treated like terribly. Seriously, what else ABSOLUTELY AWFUL could happen to this poor girl? The ending angered me to no end. She finally makes an enormous emotional leap, only to have her hopes smashed by the idiot with NO EMOTIONAL DEPTH!And of course he remains oblivious to the carnage he has wrought with this ridiculous 'relationship' with Erica.Seriously, I hated the character of Blumkvist & really feel he ruined the whole book. Lisabeth should have been the main character and the entirety of the book should have been told from her perspective. Of course, had that happened, the book would have been about 200 pages long... because Lisabeth would have figured it out PRONTO.The writer used the dumber character to try and slow down the 'climax' of the (paper thin) story.

(Warning-Possible (very small) spoilers)The writing is, overall, quite disjointed. The first thing that struck me was that I was 85% certain that I knew the identity of the villain as soon as the character was even SPOKEN about, much less introduced. Needless to say, I was 100% certain when the villain does something dumb that shows him to be the bad guy... and no one catches on. Not surprisingly, I had also been able to warrant a very good guess as to what happened with Harriet. I found the character of Blomkvist kind of a drag. It's hard to pull for someone who is so BLAH. He ruined his marriage by continuing to sleep with Erica, but I'm never sure WHY. <hl> She's married, it is clearly NOT the great love of his life, and they have little to no real chemistry. <hl> The 'relationship' seems forced, and to be honest it skeeved me out that she would tell her husband when she was going to sleep with Blumkvist. Eww. Blumkvist is totally dense and doesn't pick up HUGE clues about what happened with Harriet, even though it's pretty obvious who the bad guy was, and the answer to what happened to her (without the details of how) is there the entire time. The answer is so ridiculously in your face, you almost feel let down when it turns out to be what you always knew it was. I figured with the reviews here, the solving of the crime must pack quite a punch! I was wrong. To top it all off, the writer makes sure to let us know that, on top of being a bad husband & an idiot, Blumkvist is also a crap parent. Woo woo, what a hero. He's an idiot who will (LITERALLY) sleep with anyone and has no emotional depth. WHY were we supposed to be rooting for him??Salander was (obviously) the more interesting character here. But I feel like the author took a certain joy in having her treated like terribly. Seriously, what else ABSOLUTELY AWFUL could happen to this poor girl? The ending angered me to no end. She finally makes an enormous emotional leap, only to have her hopes smashed by the idiot with NO EMOTIONAL DEPTH!And of course he remains oblivious to the carnage he has wrought with this ridiculous 'relationship' with Erica. Seriously, I hated the character of Blumkvist & really feel he ruined the whole book. Lisabeth should have been the main character and the entirety of the book should have been told from her perspective. Of course, had that happened, the book would have been about 200 pages long... because Lisabeth would have figured it out PRONTO.The writer used the dumber character to try and slow down the 'climax' of the (paper thin) story.

af920ccad3b7b2fd180c39ec3ba4e832

books

I LOVE the Divergent series

question: How's the end?, context: I LOVE the Divergent series.It's action-packed and suspenseful with an engaging storyline. A true page-turner. The ending of Insurgent is shocking, leaving my jaw dropped and ready for the next book. If you haven't read this series, it's a must read. A cross between The Hunger Games and The Giver. Amazing writing!

How's the end?

I LOVE the Divergent series .It's action-packed and suspenseful with an engaging storyline.

I LOVE the Divergent series.It's action-packed and suspenseful with an engaging storyline. A true page-turner. The ending of Insurgent is shocking, leaving my jaw dropped and ready for the next book. If you haven't read this series, it's a must read. A cross between The Hunger Games and The Giver. Amazing writing!

<hl> I LOVE the Divergent series <hl> .It's action-packed and suspenseful with an engaging storyline.

<hl> I LOVE the Divergent series <hl>.It's action-packed and suspenseful with an engaging storyline. A true page-turner. The ending of Insurgent is shocking, leaving my jaw dropped and ready for the next book. If you haven't read this series, it's a must read. A cross between The Hunger Games and The Giver. Amazing writing!

<hl> I LOVE the Divergent series .It's action-packed and suspenseful with an engaging storyline. <hl> A true page-turner. The ending of Insurgent is shocking, leaving my jaw dropped and ready for the next book. If you haven't read this series, it's a must read. A cross between The Hunger Games and The Giver. Amazing writing!

a00bd047fe68d8d019da38b285ab0761

books

This is a wonderfully written book

question: What are the parts like?, context: While I would not recommend this book to a young reader due to a couple pretty explicate scenes I would recommend it to any adult who just loves a good book. Once I started reading it I could not put it down. I hesitated reading it because I didn't think that the subject matter would be interesting, but I was so wrong. This is a wonderfully written book.

What are the parts like?

This is a wonderfully written book .

While I would not recommend this book to a young reader due to a couple pretty explicate scenes I would recommend it to any adult who just loves a good book. Once I started reading it I could not put it down. I hesitated reading it because I didn't think that the subject matter would be interesting, but I was so wrong. This is a wonderfully written book.

<hl> This is a wonderfully written book <hl> .

While I would not recommend this book to a young reader due to a couple pretty explicate scenes I would recommend it to any adult who just loves a good book. Once I started reading it I could not put it down. I hesitated reading it because I didn't think that the subject matter would be interesting, but I was so wrong. <hl> This is a wonderfully written book <hl>.

While I would not recommend this book to a young reader due to a couple pretty explicate scenes I would recommend it to any adult who just loves a good book. Once I started reading it I could not put it down. I hesitated reading it because I didn't think that the subject matter would be interesting, but I was so wrong. <hl> This is a wonderfully written book . <hl>

a7f1a2503eac2580a0ebbc1d24fffca1

books

The story is fantastic and well written

question: Does this have a good balance of enjoyment?, context: I had never heard anything about orphan trains prior to this book. The story is fantastic and well written, if a little rosey at the end, but don't we all need a feel good book some times?

Does this have a good balance of enjoyment?

The story is fantastic and well written , if a little rosey at the end, but don't we all need a feel good book some times?

I had never heard anything about orphan trains prior to this book. The story is fantastic and well written, if a little rosey at the end, but don't we all need a feel good book some times?

<hl> The story is fantastic and well written <hl> , if a little rosey at the end, but don't we all need a feel good book some times?

I had never heard anything about orphan trains prior to this book. <hl> The story is fantastic and well written <hl>, if a little rosey at the end, but don't we all need a feel good book some times?

I had never heard anything about orphan trains prior to this book. <hl> The story is fantastic and well written , if a little rosey at the end, but don't we all need a feel good book some times? <hl>

763dc303e0162fcd74c5bf0064ea7a85

books

the book was so good

question: How is it the book this one?, context: It's almost like Gillian Flynn either couldn't figure out how to end it after all the twists and turns or she just gave up! You could take that as a sign that the rest of the book was so good that I am this upset about the ending. But you could also say it was a frustrating read BECAUSE the rest was so good.

How is it the book this one?

You could take that as a sign that the rest of the book was so good that I am this upset about the ending.

It's almost like Gillian Flynn either couldn't figure out how to end it after all the twists and turns or she just gave up! You could take that as a sign that the rest of the book was so good that I am this upset about the ending. But you could also say it was a frustrating read BECAUSE the rest was so good.

You could take that as a sign that the rest of <hl> the book was so good <hl> that I am this upset about the ending.

It's almost like Gillian Flynn either couldn't figure out how to end it after all the twists and turns or she just gave up! You could take that as a sign that the rest of <hl> the book was so good <hl> that I am this upset about the ending. But you could also say it was a frustrating read BECAUSE the rest was so good.

It's almost like Gillian Flynn either couldn't figure out how to end it after all the twists and turns or she just gave up! <hl> You could take that as a sign that the rest of the book was so good that I am this upset about the ending. <hl> But you could also say it was a frustrating read BECAUSE the rest was so good.

098e1f9ed95a2a7c46698efd73d9c98c

books

I have slogged through 560 pages of this ridiculously overwrought novel

question: How is the writing style?, context: I have slogged through 560 pages of this ridiculously overwrought novel and two things stick out in my mind.First, why didn't the publisher edit the book? There are so many inconsistencies and screw-ups in the narrative, I can't believe it. Like the time the lady had her brains bashed in by her killer husband, only to have fully recovered in the next chapter. Who the hell does King think he's kidding?Has he made so much money on his blood and gore thrillers, that he thinks he can get away with this trash, or has his publisher relinquished all editing responsibilities because King's mere name on his novels generates millions. Readers aren't stupid. I don't know, but getting away with these blatant errors leaves the reader baffled and confused. Not only is this the height of sloppiness and narcissism on King's part, but it proves that he or his publisher no longer care about putting out a quality product. Life's too short to read such garbage. I liked the 'Stand' but that's about it. He never advanced much as a writer, and when has money ever been the standard of excellence?

How is the writing style?

I have slogged through 560 pages of this ridiculously overwrought novel and two things stick out in my mind.

I have slogged through 560 pages of this ridiculously overwrought novel and two things stick out in my mind.First, why didn't the publisher edit the book? There are so many inconsistencies and screw-ups in the narrative, I can't believe it. Like the time the lady had her brains bashed in by her killer husband, only to have fully recovered in the next chapter. Who the hell does King think he's kidding?Has he made so much money on his blood and gore thrillers, that he thinks he can get away with this trash, or has his publisher relinquished all editing responsibilities because King's mere name on his novels generates millions. Readers aren't stupid. I don't know, but getting away with these blatant errors leaves the reader baffled and confused. Not only is this the height of sloppiness and narcissism on King's part, but it proves that he or his publisher no longer care about putting out a quality product. Life's too short to read such garbage. I liked the 'Stand' but that's about it. He never advanced much as a writer, and when has money ever been the standard of excellence?

<hl> I have slogged through 560 pages of this ridiculously overwrought novel <hl> and two things stick out in my mind.

<hl> I have slogged through 560 pages of this ridiculously overwrought novel <hl> and two things stick out in my mind.First, why didn't the publisher edit the book? There are so many inconsistencies and screw-ups in the narrative, I can't believe it. Like the time the lady had her brains bashed in by her killer husband, only to have fully recovered in the next chapter. Who the hell does King think he's kidding?Has he made so much money on his blood and gore thrillers, that he thinks he can get away with this trash, or has his publisher relinquished all editing responsibilities because King's mere name on his novels generates millions. Readers aren't stupid. I don't know, but getting away with these blatant errors leaves the reader baffled and confused. Not only is this the height of sloppiness and narcissism on King's part, but it proves that he or his publisher no longer care about putting out a quality product. Life's too short to read such garbage. I liked the 'Stand' but that's about it. He never advanced much as a writer, and when has money ever been the standard of excellence?

<hl> I have slogged through 560 pages of this ridiculously overwrought novel and two things stick out in my mind. <hl> First, why didn't the publisher edit the book? There are so many inconsistencies and screw-ups in the narrative, I can't believe it. Like the time the lady had her brains bashed in by her killer husband, only to have fully recovered in the next chapter. Who the hell does King think he's kidding?Has he made so much money on his blood and gore thrillers, that he thinks he can get away with this trash, or has his publisher relinquished all editing responsibilities because King's mere name on his novels generates millions. Readers aren't stupid. I don't know, but getting away with these blatant errors leaves the reader baffled and confused. Not only is this the height of sloppiness and narcissism on King's part, but it proves that he or his publisher no longer care about putting out a quality product. Life's too short to read such garbage. I liked the 'Stand' but that's about it. He never advanced much as a writer, and when has money ever been the standard of excellence?

08417a99bddd3ae50a87e0efadedae41

books

Harry Potter series until

question: How is the choice?, context: I didn't start reading the Harry Potter series until "Goblet of Fire" was published - just in time to endure the monster wait for "Order of the Phoenix". I tore through the first four books with utter delight. After hearing the ridiculous amount of controversy surrounding these works, I was prepared for shoddy writing and nefarious, subversive pseud-literature. Obviously, I found neither."Order of the Phoenix" is indeed darker than its predecessors. This book isn't intended for five year olds, and I see no reason why good children's literature full of suspense, magic and a bit of thrill shouldn't be available. Thank goodness J.K. Rowling seems to agree. The regular cast of lovable characters are back, in the midst of pubescent angst, and dealing with an evil sorceror to boot. Harry's life is never dull.At 800 plus pages, this is one of the more involved children's books around, though the reading isn't difficult for young adults. I definitely would not recommend this book, or any in the series, to very young children as there are more advanced themes that many parents may not feel to be suitable. Obviously, informed parents would want to read the book first anyway.Harry, Ron, Hermione, Cho...all of them are growing up. The fact that their characters develop a broader emotional range is indicative of this fact. I certainly remember myself at 15. Everything that was good at all was absolutely wonderful, and anything not completely in my favor spelled the end of the world. In Harry's case, these extremes could very well be accurate, which is one of the reasons these books hold so much more magic than any wand from Olivander's could summon.J.K. Rowling's imagination runs wild, as it always does. Her warm sense of humor intertwines with sometimes scary subject matter and creates a truly unique story line. Hopefully, the wait for the next installment will be shorter. Hopefully, the attentive reader will realize that "Order of the Phoenix" is not a stand alone work, and that it needs to be measured, finally, by not only what came before it, but by what will come after it.

How is the choice?

I didn't start reading the Harry Potter series until "Goblet of Fire" was published - just in time to endure the monster wait for "Order of the Phoenix".

I didn't start reading the Harry Potter series until "Goblet of Fire" was published - just in time to endure the monster wait for "Order of the Phoenix". I tore through the first four books with utter delight. After hearing the ridiculous amount of controversy surrounding these works, I was prepared for shoddy writing and nefarious, subversive pseud-literature. Obviously, I found neither."Order of the Phoenix" is indeed darker than its predecessors. This book isn't intended for five year olds, and I see no reason why good children's literature full of suspense, magic and a bit of thrill shouldn't be available. Thank goodness J.K. Rowling seems to agree. The regular cast of lovable characters are back, in the midst of pubescent angst, and dealing with an evil sorceror to boot. Harry's life is never dull.At 800 plus pages, this is one of the more involved children's books around, though the reading isn't difficult for young adults. I definitely would not recommend this book, or any in the series, to very young children as there are more advanced themes that many parents may not feel to be suitable. Obviously, informed parents would want to read the book first anyway.Harry, Ron, Hermione, Cho...all of them are growing up. The fact that their characters develop a broader emotional range is indicative of this fact. I certainly remember myself at 15. Everything that was good at all was absolutely wonderful, and anything not completely in my favor spelled the end of the world. In Harry's case, these extremes could very well be accurate, which is one of the reasons these books hold so much more magic than any wand from Olivander's could summon.J.K. Rowling's imagination runs wild, as it always does. Her warm sense of humor intertwines with sometimes scary subject matter and creates a truly unique story line. Hopefully, the wait for the next installment will be shorter. Hopefully, the attentive reader will realize that "Order of the Phoenix" is not a stand alone work, and that it needs to be measured, finally, by not only what came before it, but by what will come after it.

I didn't start reading the <hl> Harry Potter series until <hl> "Goblet of Fire" was published - just in time to endure the monster wait for "Order of the Phoenix".

I didn't start reading the <hl> Harry Potter series until <hl> "Goblet of Fire" was published - just in time to endure the monster wait for "Order of the Phoenix". I tore through the first four books with utter delight. After hearing the ridiculous amount of controversy surrounding these works, I was prepared for shoddy writing and nefarious, subversive pseud-literature. Obviously, I found neither."Order of the Phoenix" is indeed darker than its predecessors. This book isn't intended for five year olds, and I see no reason why good children's literature full of suspense, magic and a bit of thrill shouldn't be available. Thank goodness J.K. Rowling seems to agree. The regular cast of lovable characters are back, in the midst of pubescent angst, and dealing with an evil sorceror to boot. Harry's life is never dull.At 800 plus pages, this is one of the more involved children's books around, though the reading isn't difficult for young adults. I definitely would not recommend this book, or any in the series, to very young children as there are more advanced themes that many parents may not feel to be suitable. Obviously, informed parents would want to read the book first anyway.Harry, Ron, Hermione, Cho...all of them are growing up. The fact that their characters develop a broader emotional range is indicative of this fact. I certainly remember myself at 15. Everything that was good at all was absolutely wonderful, and anything not completely in my favor spelled the end of the world. In Harry's case, these extremes could very well be accurate, which is one of the reasons these books hold so much more magic than any wand from Olivander's could summon.J.K. Rowling's imagination runs wild, as it always does. Her warm sense of humor intertwines with sometimes scary subject matter and creates a truly unique story line. Hopefully, the wait for the next installment will be shorter. Hopefully, the attentive reader will realize that "Order of the Phoenix" is not a stand alone work, and that it needs to be measured, finally, by not only what came before it, but by what will come after it.

<hl> I didn't start reading the Harry Potter series until "Goblet of Fire" was published - just in time to endure the monster wait for "Order of the Phoenix". <hl> I tore through the first four books with utter delight. After hearing the ridiculous amount of controversy surrounding these works, I was prepared for shoddy writing and nefarious, subversive pseud-literature. Obviously, I found neither. "Order of the Phoenix" is indeed darker than its predecessors. This book isn't intended for five year olds, and I see no reason why good children's literature full of suspense, magic and a bit of thrill shouldn't be available. Thank goodness J.K. Rowling seems to agree. The regular cast of lovable characters are back, in the midst of pubescent angst, and dealing with an evil sorceror to boot. Harry's life is never dull. At 800 plus pages, this is one of the more involved children's books around, though the reading isn't difficult for young adults. I definitely would not recommend this book, or any in the series, to very young children as there are more advanced themes that many parents may not feel to be suitable. Obviously, informed parents would want to read the book first anyway. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Cho...all of them are growing up. The fact that their characters develop a broader emotional range is indicative of this fact. I certainly remember myself at 15. Everything that was good at all was absolutely wonderful, and anything not completely in my favor spelled the end of the world. In Harry's case, these extremes could very well be accurate, which is one of the reasons these books hold so much more magic than any wand from Olivander's could summon. J.K. Rowling's imagination runs wild, as it always does. Her warm sense of humor intertwines with sometimes scary subject matter and creates a truly unique story line. Hopefully, the wait for the next installment will be shorter. Hopefully, the attentive reader will realize that "Order of the Phoenix" is not a stand alone work, and that it needs to be measured, finally, by not only what came before it, but by what will come after it.

f847d7613b013e655b70c72a639eb9eb

books

felt like author ran out of steam, which is too bad since the rest of the book was great

question: How is the author like?, context: The twists and turns in this book are so worth the read - I won't give away any details, but it is a smart book for mystery readers. I was disappointed at the end though - it felt like author ran out of steam, which is too bad since the rest of the book was great. I know if they make this into a movie, the ending will be different, otherwise everyone will leave the theatre quiet with a "huh?"

How is the author like?

I was disappointed at the end though - it felt like author ran out of steam, which is too bad since the rest of the book was great .

The twists and turns in this book are so worth the read - I won't give away any details, but it is a smart book for mystery readers. I was disappointed at the end though - it felt like author ran out of steam, which is too bad since the rest of the book was great. I know if they make this into a movie, the ending will be different, otherwise everyone will leave the theatre quiet with a "huh?"

I was disappointed at the end though - it <hl> felt like author ran out of steam, which is too bad since the rest of the book was great <hl> .

The twists and turns in this book are so worth the read - I won't give away any details, but it is a smart book for mystery readers. I was disappointed at the end though - it <hl> felt like author ran out of steam, which is too bad since the rest of the book was great <hl>. I know if they make this into a movie, the ending will be different, otherwise everyone will leave the theatre quiet with a "huh?"

The twists and turns in this book are so worth the read - I won't give away any details, but it is a smart book for mystery readers. <hl> I was disappointed at the end though - it felt like author ran out of steam, which is too bad since the rest of the book was great . <hl> I know if they make this into a movie, the ending will be different, otherwise everyone will leave the theatre quiet with a "huh?"

52e1ad3aa4cfd59810ba1f02c74c1874

books

A good book

question: How is the book?, context: Let me add my two cents to the masses. I finally broke down and began reading the Hunger Games and I'm glad I did. I loved the characters and the story. Collins creates a fantastic world inside the arena.The pacing is non-stop. She packs an incredible amount of action in one paragraph. I didn't want to miss one word.A good book is hard to find. You won't go wrong here.As a trilogy, that's another story, but the first book is EXCELLENT!

How is the book?

A good book is hard to find.

Let me add my two cents to the masses. I finally broke down and began reading the Hunger Games and I'm glad I did. I loved the characters and the story. Collins creates a fantastic world inside the arena.The pacing is non-stop. She packs an incredible amount of action in one paragraph. I didn't want to miss one word.A good book is hard to find. You won't go wrong here.As a trilogy, that's another story, but the first book is EXCELLENT!

<hl> A good book <hl> is hard to find.

Let me add my two cents to the masses. I finally broke down and began reading the Hunger Games and I'm glad I did. I loved the characters and the story. Collins creates a fantastic world inside the arena.The pacing is non-stop. She packs an incredible amount of action in one paragraph. I didn't want to miss one word.<hl> A good book <hl> is hard to find. You won't go wrong here.As a trilogy, that's another story, but the first book is EXCELLENT!

Let me add my two cents to the masses. I finally broke down and began reading the Hunger Games and I'm glad I did. I loved the characters and the story. Collins creates a fantastic world inside the arena. The pacing is non-stop. She packs an incredible amount of action in one paragraph. I didn't want to miss one word. <hl> A good book is hard to find. <hl> You won't go wrong here. As a trilogy, that's another story, but the first book is EXCELLENT!

6255cca071fa6c444a724e858b11dc54

books

Bryson does inspire an appreciation for what we take pretty much for granted

question: How is the knowledge?, context: This is a decent general natural history science book, covering a fairly wide range of topics. Bryson offers the fresh, intelligent perspective of a curious lay person, although the writing is dry at times. At other times, I found myself wishing that Bryson had elaborated more, like when he made the remarkable observation that our world is still in an Ice Age. Bryson does inspire an appreciation for what we take pretty much for granted - what he calls our cosmic luck on Earth.

How is the knowledge?

Bryson does inspire an appreciation for what we take pretty much for granted - what he calls our cosmic luck on Earth.

This is a decent general natural history science book, covering a fairly wide range of topics. Bryson offers the fresh, intelligent perspective of a curious lay person, although the writing is dry at times. At other times, I found myself wishing that Bryson had elaborated more, like when he made the remarkable observation that our world is still in an Ice Age. Bryson does inspire an appreciation for what we take pretty much for granted - what he calls our cosmic luck on Earth.

<hl> Bryson does inspire an appreciation for what we take pretty much for granted <hl> - what he calls our cosmic luck on Earth.

This is a decent general natural history science book, covering a fairly wide range of topics. Bryson offers the fresh, intelligent perspective of a curious lay person, although the writing is dry at times. At other times, I found myself wishing that Bryson had elaborated more, like when he made the remarkable observation that our world is still in an Ice Age. <hl> Bryson does inspire an appreciation for what we take pretty much for granted <hl> - what he calls our cosmic luck on Earth.

This is a decent general natural history science book, covering a fairly wide range of topics. Bryson offers the fresh, intelligent perspective of a curious lay person, although the writing is dry at times. At other times, I found myself wishing that Bryson had elaborated more, like when he made the remarkable observation that our world is still in an Ice Age. <hl> Bryson does inspire an appreciation for what we take pretty much for granted - what he calls our cosmic luck on Earth. <hl>

3de26b99e6f4616c3f0892d0d01338c1

books

THE HELP has so many amazing qualities

question: Is none of the book was peprfect?, context: THE HELP has so many amazing qualities it is hard to know where to start. Aside from the book's important social relevance and message, the writing is excellent in characterizing and describing both sides, never with a heavy hand, which makes Stockett's story all the more powerful and proves her place as one the most skilled contemporary writers today. This book is perfect for the reader looking for strong female leads fighting the odds. I'd put it right up there with my ultimate female underdog heroine novel SILLY LITTLE RICH GIRL.

Is none of the book was peprfect?

THE HELP has so many amazing qualities it is hard to know where to start.

THE HELP has so many amazing qualities it is hard to know where to start. Aside from the book's important social relevance and message, the writing is excellent in characterizing and describing both sides, never with a heavy hand, which makes Stockett's story all the more powerful and proves her place as one the most skilled contemporary writers today. This book is perfect for the reader looking for strong female leads fighting the odds. I'd put it right up there with my ultimate female underdog heroine novel SILLY LITTLE RICH GIRL.

<hl> THE HELP has so many amazing qualities <hl> it is hard to know where to start.

<hl> THE HELP has so many amazing qualities <hl> it is hard to know where to start. Aside from the book's important social relevance and message, the writing is excellent in characterizing and describing both sides, never with a heavy hand, which makes Stockett's story all the more powerful and proves her place as one the most skilled contemporary writers today. This book is perfect for the reader looking for strong female leads fighting the odds. I'd put it right up there with my ultimate female underdog heroine novel SILLY LITTLE RICH GIRL.

<hl> THE HELP has so many amazing qualities it is hard to know where to start. <hl> Aside from the book's important social relevance and message, the writing is excellent in characterizing and describing both sides, never with a heavy hand, which makes Stockett's story all the more powerful and proves her place as one the most skilled contemporary writers today. This book is perfect for the reader looking for strong female leads fighting the odds. I'd put it right up there with my ultimate female underdog heroine novel SILLY LITTLE RICH GIRL.

6875720be86c39c6f199bf4d93d21028

books

I really tried to read this book

question: What story do I tell you?, context: I really tried to read this book, but I could not bear how awful each of the characters were and how awful they were to each other - they deserved every awful thing that happened to them. I stopped reading it. Life is too short to read awful books like this

What story do I tell you?

I really tried to read this book , but I could not bear how awful each of the characters were and how awful they were to each other - they deserved every awful thing that happened to them.

I really tried to read this book, but I could not bear how awful each of the characters were and how awful they were to each other - they deserved every awful thing that happened to them. I stopped reading it. Life is too short to read awful books like this

<hl> I really tried to read this book <hl> , but I could not bear how awful each of the characters were and how awful they were to each other - they deserved every awful thing that happened to them.

<hl> I really tried to read this book <hl>, but I could not bear how awful each of the characters were and how awful they were to each other - they deserved every awful thing that happened to them. I stopped reading it. Life is too short to read awful books like this

<hl> I really tried to read this book , but I could not bear how awful each of the characters were and how awful they were to each other - they deserved every awful thing that happened to them. <hl> I stopped reading it. Life is too short to read awful books like this

85f7fefecce701a52bf02aa247e4bbdd

books

For people such as myself who are not religious, his passion for helping humanity move beyond superstitious dogma so as to allow in a more complex, complete, and exhilarating understanding of the world and universe in which we exist does not appear offensive. However, I can appreciate why people who are of a religious persuasion would feel inclined to steer clear of Dawkins and his writing. Yet, I would encourage those people to cast aside their initial disgust and discomfort with the author and title, because, if one has an open mind this book will provide illuminating intellectual reading, and if one does not yet have an open mind, this is just the sort of reading that may begin to break down the barriers of closed-mindedness.I believe if you are going to get anything out of this book you'll have to read it in order, as skipping around could easily leave you either not understanding things, or upset you to the point of not picking the book back up. If you do choose to read it, and you do read it in order and in full, I don't think you'll be disappointed, and I can almost assure that only the most closed-minded individuals will find themselves upset at what they've taken in.Dawkins will challenge you to think about things in a new way. He'll challenge you to wonder why religious beliefs are not held to the same standards of scrutiny and given more than customary respect. That's the first key. In order to appreciate any of his points you have to be willing to give up the "religious beliefs are not to be questioned, scrutinized, or challenged on grounds that such is disrespectful" attitude. From there you will be challenged to consider the black and white nature with which we have drawn religious arguments. Instead of "believer," "agnostic" and "atheist" he challenges you to rightly think of all people as agnostics, in the sense none of us can know if God is real or not. He'll also try and make you understand that there is a false equivalency pertaining to religious and non-religious beliefs. Religious beliefs are spectacular claims with no supporting evidence, and although they could be true, it's not non-believers job to disprove the non evidentiary based claims of religion, but rather believers job to demonstrate why exactly they say we should believe in these things for which there is no evidence.From there, you will go on a journey of pseudo-evidence. You'll look at all sorts of unscientific claims that religious people hold up as "proof of God." Everything from "the world is beautiful" to "I feel God in my life" to "something so perfect has to be real," to "here's a really smart person who believes," to "our existence is unlikely," etc, etc. Dawkins forces you to think with scientific rationality instead of hopeful dogma. The fact things are perceived as beautiful, improbable, complex, or whatever else doesn't somehow mean that it's more likely for some all powerful deity to exist. We are so conditioned to view anything that is unusually good, bad, confusing, or unknown in both our individual lives and our world, as proof of an arbitrarily presupposed supernatural creator that we never stop to think, "hey maybe things can be really pretty, or really complicated, or whatever else without their being some magical creator."This will transition nicely to when he subsequently talks about how the unknown, which we use as "proof of God," allowed the notion of God to exist in the first place. As a scientist, Dawkins understands that his trade is aimed at finding gaps in our knowledge, and using the scientific method to discover answers to what we previously did not know. Religion is what serves as a placeholder for yet unanswered questions or not fully understood phenomenon. With this understanding in mind, Dawkins proposes that science is viewed as the enemy of religion precisely because it is indeed the thing that kills religion. When you understand how things work, when the question is answered, then the answer can no longer be, "God." He fully acknowledges how some people view science as merely "revealing" the ways of God, but he heavily implies that this is illogical, as the ways of God that religions talk about are very different indeed from the actual answers science ends up providing.Yet, aside from the "filler of holes" concept, Dawkins challenges you to consider where religion comes from. In my opinion he does a poor job of answering this question, which might be explained by the fact he is an evolutionary biologist. He works with how life has evolved, rather than how it started (that will ultimately be the job of chemists as opposed to biologists as he points out). Thus, he makes some very good insights into how religion has spread and why it persists (sort of the evolution of the perpetuation of religion), but he fails to come up with, or really even attempt to come up with, a theory as to where the human desire to create the religions it did originates from. As for how it is perpetuated he talks about the role of parents and other social institutions enforcing religious beliefs as truths in impressionable young minds, such that it becomes cyclical and immune to analytical, scientific reasoning.After considering all this (that religion should be challenged like anything, that agnosticism is false equivalency, that the "proofs" for God are not actually evidence in any kind of scientific, logical, or intellectual sense, and a consideration of where religion came from, with its basic function) the rest of the book focuses on a refutation of religious apologies. Basically, Dawkins points out the obvious (that there is no evidence for God and that it's beyond unlikely one actually exists), but he acknowledges that whether or not God is actually real or not is the improper question to ask of most people. For most people it is not "is God real?" but rather, "ought we believe in God, real or not?" He'll talk about morality and how so many people assume it takes religion to instill and enforce a sense of right and wrong in people. Yet, he understands that scientifically this is not so, due to his background in evolutionary psychology. He understands that what we know as right and wrong is a byproduct of the sort of personality traits that were chosen during the course of sexual selection to help our intelligent, social species better survive. In other words, people who are alive today had the ancestors whose personalities saw right and wrong in the way most all people today do, and they survived because their social moral codes worked out best for humans. Ironically, this concept of "natural law" (i.e. we all have this fairly uniform sense of morality) is often used by religious people as proof of God. (basically, hey if we all have this sense of right and wrong there must have been a deity that put this sense in all of us....you can see why creationists and people who understand and accept the science of evolution have such problems with each other) The implications of our morality coming from our DNA rather than from an adherence to religious texts is, to Dawkins, (and to many such as myself) the sort of proof that, yes, everyone will be just as good without religion.Expanding off of this concept, Dawkins will go on to describe how social memes (basically the zeitgeist) evolve in an inevitably progressive direction over time (overall, as there can be temporary setbacks along the overall progressive trend). It is for this precise reason, he asserts, that more and more of things like the Torah, the Bible, and the Koran are no longer adhered to today. Our morality exists because of evolution, which also means it's always evolving (it's why we have the evolution of the zeitgeist). Of course, this, despite making very good sense, is a problem for religious people, as social memes become more progressive as humanity grows and matures with evolution, despite religious writings remaining fixed in the less mature, less progressive times they were written. A conflict erupts between those people that want to continue to adhere to larger amounts of various religious writings based on a whimsical assumption they are a sort of absolute truth with a capital T, and the rest of people who will allow our moral evolution to continue to improve with time and experience as a species. As impolite as it might sound (since we are accustomed to giving religion such high levels of respect and insulation from scrutiny) belief in the perfection of scripture creates an obstacle for the evolution of humanity's moral progress.To really drive home the point that our morality comes from ourselves rather than some scriptures attributed to some deity, Dawkins talks about how things we today see as the "good parts" of something such as the Bible, like "love thy neighbor" or "thou shall not kill," are actually just as misleading as something like "we the people" in our Constitution. Things like thou shall not kill were meant to say "thou shall not kill Jews" much in the way "people" used to mean only white male property owners. Yet, today religious people interpret these Biblical rules to be more inclusive and tolerant. They do this not because the meanings of the Bible suddenly changed, but because the people reading them did. We evolve, our morality evolves, and it improves. Which is precisely why it is ridiculous that we hold up a book like the Bible that talks about ritual human sacrifices, stoning of women, killing people who work on Sunday, giving your daughter's virginity to as retribution to save a man from being anally raped, etc, etc, as some sort of "code of our morality." The fact we can pick and choose the "good" and "bad" parts is demonstrative that it's been us, humans, not some divine intervention all along.From there, Dawkins will talk about what he perceives as the damage religion creates. He basically subscribes to the idea that good people will be good and bad people bad with or without religion, but only with religion will good people do bad. I and others aren't so sure of that, although there is a strong circumstantial case to be made. However, I do regret that Dawkins goes on such a lengthy, albeit incredibly well articulated bashing of his perceived horrors of religion, as I feel it will turn too many otherwise open intellectual, scientifically minded people away from the larger message of the book, which is that freedom of thought should always trump dogma. Obviously he jumps into the homosexuality thing, as it really is one of those things no one would be against if not for religion. Yet, I find this part of the book, at least given what the book's larger objective is, to be rather unnecessary. The discussion of the religious objection to abortion is more interesting; although still not something I would have gone after if I were attempting to do what Dawkins was. The notion of consequentialism (what are the consequences of permitting or not permitting this action) vs. the notion of absolutism (this action shall be permitted or not permitted based on an absolute, predetermined labeling of the thing as "good" or "bad" based on my religion) is a riveting one, but I think it is only such if you are already intellectually enlightened prior to the picking up of Dawkins' writing. I further believe he makes a mistake in demonizing "moderate" religion, and nearly suggesting that it is as much not a real thing as "50/50 agnocisticsm" is. Moderate religious belief may not be any less scientifically implausible and ridiculous than extremist religious belief, but if we are truly asking ourselves if we ought to be militant atheists or atheists with a religiously libertarian attitude to the unenlightened world, I think a consideration of the lesser damages of moderate religion should be better considered (he seems to view people like Ted Haggard as "moderate" by American standards, perhaps a disillusioned view of the extremeness of American religiosity coming from a Brit that thinks we are worse than we really are)After taking this detour to talk about the bad of religion, Dawkins comes back to a far more convincing "ought we to" argument. The question is whether we ought to raise children religiously (which is basically a form of indoctrination, no matter how mild the upbringing may be). He points out the absurdity of labeling kids by their parents religion (you would never do that with their parent's political or economic opinions). He also points out that while physical abuse is horrible, abuse of the mind leaves far longer lasting scars. I think the way in which he makes the point is very sloppy and perhaps even unknowingly offensive, as he compares the Catholic priest scandal to indoctrinating of minds and calls the latter worse (as well as discussing the story of a woman who said she had been more traumatized as child by thinking her dead friend was burning in hell for being the wrong religion than she was by being sexually abused by a priest). Overall, I'm not sure I can come to think of any form of religious indoctrination as worse than sexual exploitation of minors, but I can appreciate that even when a household is open minded and intellectual and the parents fully accepting of whatever their children end up believing later on (as was the case with mine) being raised religious still leaves you with a nasty feeling that you've done something wrong, that you failed your parents, that they'd be happier if they you had turned out as they intended, or even that somehow you are indicating to them you don't think of them as good people since you ended up believing in different things than they did.On a tamer note, Dawkins goes on to make the distinction between teaching about religion and teaching religion. Much as we learn of Greek and Roman mythology so that we may understand the literary gems of the day, Dawkins asserts that we do need to explore contemporary western religious for literary purposes. Yet, he couples this with a harsh discussion of how trying to teach religious dogma in place of or in refutation of sound science is perhaps the worst form of intellectual child abuse.The book concludes with an examination of the most powerful "ought we" question. Even if it's beyond unlikely there is a God for which there is no sound evidence, ought we to believe in it, or at least socially protect the belief in such, not because it will save our morality, or because it fails to harm, or because parents should be left to teach their kids as they choose (religion does not make our morality, it's not without harm, and parental indoctrination is, in fact, one such harm), but rather because it provides an ability to comfort, console, and inspire humanity? In trying to answer this question Dawkins first concedes that the notion of God does comfort, console, and inspire people. By doing this, he appears to unknowingly answer the question he earlier failed to answer (from where does religion come?). Religion, it would seem comes from adults who couldn't give up the security of an unconditional, loving, helpful friend that always has time to be there for you. In other words, as impolite as it sounds, religion allows adults to have that imaginary friend when times call for it. Dawkins speaks of a story of a woman who says she had an imaginary friend as a child who she later had a dream about as an adult where the friend (a sort of Barney-like purple creature) was giving her advice as to how to navigate a crisis in her life. He quite profoundly postulates that this adult extension of childhood friends is at the essence of belief in deities.So, then the question becomes whether or not we can be consoled and inspired while acknowledging that our adult imaginary friend known as God is just as unlikely to exist as any childhood imaginary friend. He suggests we most certainly can and invokes quantum mechanics and an unnamed reference to biocentric perception as the reason why. Basically, we evolved to perceive the world as we do because that's what we needed to perceive in order to successfully navigate it. Yet, there is much in this universe, and other proposed universes that is far too small, too large, too fast, too slow, and whatever else for us to perceive let alone understand. The world we see is such a tiny bit of reality and such a limited understanding of all there is to understand. With science, we can discover realities in which we do not exist and come to understand all the things within our reality that we do not perceive. He uses the amazing analogy of a woman in a burka with only the slit where her eyes are being exposed. He instructs us to imagine that the woman and the burka covering her are miles upon miles tall/long. Because modern science has begun to discover both how long the burka of reality really is and also figuring out ways to understand the rest of the burka, the tiny slit humanity has previously been confined to perceive things from is rapidly opening up. Thus, it becomes apparent to us readers that we can very much be inspired by all these new components of vast, vast reality that there is to be investigated, and we can very much be comforted by increasing our understanding of this vast reality. We can obtain this inspiration and comfort by using science, which yes, does destroy old superstitious dogmas we found comforting in the face of uncertainty from the slit of the burka, but what there is to find, in exchange for giving up the comparatively smaller comfort and inspiration that was the religious placeholder, is so, so much greater than what we got from our delusions.

question: How is it people?, context: Much like Richard Dawkins is an inflammatory character, so is the title of his most well known book. For people such as myself who are not religious, his passion for helping humanity move beyond superstitious dogma so as to allow in a more complex, complete, and exhilarating understanding of the world and universe in which we exist does not appear offensive. However, I can appreciate why people who are of a religious persuasion would feel inclined to steer clear of Dawkins and his writing. Yet, I would encourage those people to cast aside their initial disgust and discomfort with the author and title, because, if one has an open mind this book will provide illuminating intellectual reading, and if one does not yet have an open mind, this is just the sort of reading that may begin to break down the barriers of closed-mindedness.I believe if you are going to get anything out of this book you'll have to read it in order, as skipping around could easily leave you either not understanding things, or upset you to the point of not picking the book back up. If you do choose to read it, and you do read it in order and in full, I don't think you'll be disappointed, and I can almost assure that only the most closed-minded individuals will find themselves upset at what they've taken in.Dawkins will challenge you to think about things in a new way. He'll challenge you to wonder why religious beliefs are not held to the same standards of scrutiny and given more than customary respect. That's the first key. In order to appreciate any of his points you have to be willing to give up the "religious beliefs are not to be questioned, scrutinized, or challenged on grounds that such is disrespectful" attitude. From there you will be challenged to consider the black and white nature with which we have drawn religious arguments. Instead of "believer," "agnostic" and "atheist" he challenges you to rightly think of all people as agnostics, in the sense none of us can know if God is real or not. He'll also try and make you understand that there is a false equivalency pertaining to religious and non-religious beliefs. Religious beliefs are spectacular claims with no supporting evidence, and although they could be true, it's not non-believers job to disprove the non evidentiary based claims of religion, but rather believers job to demonstrate why exactly they say we should believe in these things for which there is no evidence.From there, you will go on a journey of pseudo-evidence. You'll look at all sorts of unscientific claims that religious people hold up as "proof of God." Everything from "the world is beautiful" to "I feel God in my life" to "something so perfect has to be real," to "here's a really smart person who believes," to "our existence is unlikely," etc, etc. Dawkins forces you to think with scientific rationality instead of hopeful dogma. The fact things are perceived as beautiful, improbable, complex, or whatever else doesn't somehow mean that it's more likely for some all powerful deity to exist. We are so conditioned to view anything that is unusually good, bad, confusing, or unknown in both our individual lives and our world, as proof of an arbitrarily presupposed supernatural creator that we never stop to think, "hey maybe things can be really pretty, or really complicated, or whatever else without their being some magical creator."This will transition nicely to when he subsequently talks about how the unknown, which we use as "proof of God," allowed the notion of God to exist in the first place. As a scientist, Dawkins understands that his trade is aimed at finding gaps in our knowledge, and using the scientific method to discover answers to what we previously did not know. Religion is what serves as a placeholder for yet unanswered questions or not fully understood phenomenon. With this understanding in mind, Dawkins proposes that science is viewed as the enemy of religion precisely because it is indeed the thing that kills religion. When you understand how things work, when the question is answered, then the answer can no longer be, "God." He fully acknowledges how some people view science as merely "revealing" the ways of God, but he heavily implies that this is illogical, as the ways of God that religions talk about are very different indeed from the actual answers science ends up providing.Yet, aside from the "filler of holes" concept, Dawkins challenges you to consider where religion comes from. In my opinion he does a poor job of answering this question, which might be explained by the fact he is an evolutionary biologist. He works with how life has evolved, rather than how it started (that will ultimately be the job of chemists as opposed to biologists as he points out). Thus, he makes some very good insights into how religion has spread and why it persists (sort of the evolution of the perpetuation of religion), but he fails to come up with, or really even attempt to come up with, a theory as to where the human desire to create the religions it did originates from. As for how it is perpetuated he talks about the role of parents and other social institutions enforcing religious beliefs as truths in impressionable young minds, such that it becomes cyclical and immune to analytical, scientific reasoning.After considering all this (that religion should be challenged like anything, that agnosticism is false equivalency, that the "proofs" for God are not actually evidence in any kind of scientific, logical, or intellectual sense, and a consideration of where religion came from, with its basic function) the rest of the book focuses on a refutation of religious apologies. Basically, Dawkins points out the obvious (that there is no evidence for God and that it's beyond unlikely one actually exists), but he acknowledges that whether or not God is actually real or not is the improper question to ask of most people. For most people it is not "is God real?" but rather, "ought we believe in God, real or not?" He'll talk about morality and how so many people assume it takes religion to instill and enforce a sense of right and wrong in people. Yet, he understands that scientifically this is not so, due to his background in evolutionary psychology. He understands that what we know as right and wrong is a byproduct of the sort of personality traits that were chosen during the course of sexual selection to help our intelligent, social species better survive. In other words, people who are alive today had the ancestors whose personalities saw right and wrong in the way most all people today do, and they survived because their social moral codes worked out best for humans. Ironically, this concept of "natural law" (i.e. we all have this fairly uniform sense of morality) is often used by religious people as proof of God. (basically, hey if we all have this sense of right and wrong there must have been a deity that put this sense in all of us....you can see why creationists and people who understand and accept the science of evolution have such problems with each other) The implications of our morality coming from our DNA rather than from an adherence to religious texts is, to Dawkins, (and to many such as myself) the sort of proof that, yes, everyone will be just as good without religion.Expanding off of this concept, Dawkins will go on to describe how social memes (basically the zeitgeist) evolve in an inevitably progressive direction over time (overall, as there can be temporary setbacks along the overall progressive trend). It is for this precise reason, he asserts, that more and more of things like the Torah, the Bible, and the Koran are no longer adhered to today. Our morality exists because of evolution, which also means it's always evolving (it's why we have the evolution of the zeitgeist). Of course, this, despite making very good sense, is a problem for religious people, as social memes become more progressive as humanity grows and matures with evolution, despite religious writings remaining fixed in the less mature, less progressive times they were written. A conflict erupts between those people that want to continue to adhere to larger amounts of various religious writings based on a whimsical assumption they are a sort of absolute truth with a capital T, and the rest of people who will allow our moral evolution to continue to improve with time and experience as a species. As impolite as it might sound (since we are accustomed to giving religion such high levels of respect and insulation from scrutiny) belief in the perfection of scripture creates an obstacle for the evolution of humanity's moral progress.To really drive home the point that our morality comes from ourselves rather than some scriptures attributed to some deity, Dawkins talks about how things we today see as the "good parts" of something such as the Bible, like "love thy neighbor" or "thou shall not kill," are actually just as misleading as something like "we the people" in our Constitution. Things like thou shall not kill were meant to say "thou shall not kill Jews" much in the way "people" used to mean only white male property owners. Yet, today religious people interpret these Biblical rules to be more inclusive and tolerant. They do this not because the meanings of the Bible suddenly changed, but because the people reading them did. We evolve, our morality evolves, and it improves. Which is precisely why it is ridiculous that we hold up a book like the Bible that talks about ritual human sacrifices, stoning of women, killing people who work on Sunday, giving your daughter's virginity to as retribution to save a man from being anally raped, etc, etc, as some sort of "code of our morality." The fact we can pick and choose the "good" and "bad" parts is demonstrative that it's been us, humans, not some divine intervention all along.From there, Dawkins will talk about what he perceives as the damage religion creates. He basically subscribes to the idea that good people will be good and bad people bad with or without religion, but only with religion will good people do bad. I and others aren't so sure of that, although there is a strong circumstantial case to be made. However, I do regret that Dawkins goes on such a lengthy, albeit incredibly well articulated bashing of his perceived horrors of religion, as I feel it will turn too many otherwise open intellectual, scientifically minded people away from the larger message of the book, which is that freedom of thought should always trump dogma. Obviously he jumps into the homosexuality thing, as it really is one of those things no one would be against if not for religion. Yet, I find this part of the book, at least given what the book's larger objective is, to be rather unnecessary. The discussion of the religious objection to abortion is more interesting; although still not something I would have gone after if I were attempting to do what Dawkins was. The notion of consequentialism (what are the consequences of permitting or not permitting this action) vs. the notion of absolutism (this action shall be permitted or not permitted based on an absolute, predetermined labeling of the thing as "good" or "bad" based on my religion) is a riveting one, but I think it is only such if you are already intellectually enlightened prior to the picking up of Dawkins' writing. I further believe he makes a mistake in demonizing "moderate" religion, and nearly suggesting that it is as much not a real thing as "50/50 agnocisticsm" is. Moderate religious belief may not be any less scientifically implausible and ridiculous than extremist religious belief, but if we are truly asking ourselves if we ought to be militant atheists or atheists with a religiously libertarian attitude to the unenlightened world, I think a consideration of the lesser damages of moderate religion should be better considered (he seems to view people like Ted Haggard as "moderate" by American standards, perhaps a disillusioned view of the extremeness of American religiosity coming from a Brit that thinks we are worse than we really are)After taking this detour to talk about the bad of religion, Dawkins comes back to a far more convincing "ought we to" argument. The question is whether we ought to raise children religiously (which is basically a form of indoctrination, no matter how mild the upbringing may be). He points out the absurdity of labeling kids by their parents religion (you would never do that with their parent's political or economic opinions). He also points out that while physical abuse is horrible, abuse of the mind leaves far longer lasting scars. I think the way in which he makes the point is very sloppy and perhaps even unknowingly offensive, as he compares the Catholic priest scandal to indoctrinating of minds and calls the latter worse (as well as discussing the story of a woman who said she had been more traumatized as child by thinking her dead friend was burning in hell for being the wrong religion than she was by being sexually abused by a priest). Overall, I'm not sure I can come to think of any form of religious indoctrination as worse than sexual exploitation of minors, but I can appreciate that even when a household is open minded and intellectual and the parents fully accepting of whatever their children end up believing later on (as was the case with mine) being raised religious still leaves you with a nasty feeling that you've done something wrong, that you failed your parents, that they'd be happier if they you had turned out as they intended, or even that somehow you are indicating to them you don't think of them as good people since you ended up believing in different things than they did.On a tamer note, Dawkins goes on to make the distinction between teaching about religion and teaching religion. Much as we learn of Greek and Roman mythology so that we may understand the literary gems of the day, Dawkins asserts that we do need to explore contemporary western religious for literary purposes. Yet, he couples this with a harsh discussion of how trying to teach religious dogma in place of or in refutation of sound science is perhaps the worst form of intellectual child abuse.The book concludes with an examination of the most powerful "ought we" question. Even if it's beyond unlikely there is a God for which there is no sound evidence, ought we to believe in it, or at least socially protect the belief in such, not because it will save our morality, or because it fails to harm, or because parents should be left to teach their kids as they choose (religion does not make our morality, it's not without harm, and parental indoctrination is, in fact, one such harm), but rather because it provides an ability to comfort, console, and inspire humanity? In trying to answer this question Dawkins first concedes that the notion of God does comfort, console, and inspire people. By doing this, he appears to unknowingly answer the question he earlier failed to answer (from where does religion come?). Religion, it would seem comes from adults who couldn't give up the security of an unconditional, loving, helpful friend that always has time to be there for you. In other words, as impolite as it sounds, religion allows adults to have that imaginary friend when times call for it. Dawkins speaks of a story of a woman who says she had an imaginary friend as a child who she later had a dream about as an adult where the friend (a sort of Barney-like purple creature) was giving her advice as to how to navigate a crisis in her life. He quite profoundly postulates that this adult extension of childhood friends is at the essence of belief in deities.So, then the question becomes whether or not we can be consoled and inspired while acknowledging that our adult imaginary friend known as God is just as unlikely to exist as any childhood imaginary friend. He suggests we most certainly can and invokes quantum mechanics and an unnamed reference to biocentric perception as the reason why. Basically, we evolved to perceive the world as we do because that's what we needed to perceive in order to successfully navigate it. Yet, there is much in this universe, and other proposed universes that is far too small, too large, too fast, too slow, and whatever else for us to perceive let alone understand. The world we see is such a tiny bit of reality and such a limited understanding of all there is to understand. With science, we can discover realities in which we do not exist and come to understand all the things within our reality that we do not perceive. He uses the amazing analogy of a woman in a burka with only the slit where her eyes are being exposed. He instructs us to imagine that the woman and the burka covering her are miles upon miles tall/long. Because modern science has begun to discover both how long the burka of reality really is and also figuring out ways to understand the rest of the burka, the tiny slit humanity has previously been confined to perceive things from is rapidly opening up. Thus, it becomes apparent to us readers that we can very much be inspired by all these new components of vast, vast reality that there is to be investigated, and we can very much be comforted by increasing our understanding of this vast reality. We can obtain this inspiration and comfort by using science, which yes, does destroy old superstitious dogmas we found comforting in the face of uncertainty from the slit of the burka, but what there is to find, in exchange for giving up the comparatively smaller comfort and inspiration that was the religious placeholder, is so, so much greater than what we got from our delusions.

How is it people?

For people such as myself who are not religious, his passion for helping humanity move beyond superstitious dogma so as to allow in a more complex, complete, and exhilarating understanding of the world and universe in which we exist does not appear offensive. However, I can appreciate why people who are of a religious persuasion would feel inclined to steer clear of Dawkins and his writing. Yet, I would encourage those people to cast aside their initial disgust and discomfort with the author and title, because, if one has an open mind this book will provide illuminating intellectual reading, and if one does not yet have an open mind, this is just the sort of reading that may begin to break down the barriers of closed-mindedness.I believe if you are going to get anything out of this book you'll have to read it in order, as skipping around could easily leave you either not understanding things, or upset you to the point of not picking the book back up. If you do choose to read it, and you do read it in order and in full, I don't think you'll be disappointed, and I can almost assure that only the most closed-minded individuals will find themselves upset at what they've taken in.Dawkins will challenge you to think about things in a new way. He'll challenge you to wonder why religious beliefs are not held to the same standards of scrutiny and given more than customary respect. That's the first key. In order to appreciate any of his points you have to be willing to give up the "religious beliefs are not to be questioned, scrutinized, or challenged on grounds that such is disrespectful" attitude. From there you will be challenged to consider the black and white nature with which we have drawn religious arguments. Instead of "believer," "agnostic" and "atheist" he challenges you to rightly think of all people as agnostics, in the sense none of us can know if God is real or not. He'll also try and make you understand that there is a false equivalency pertaining to religious and non-religious beliefs. Religious beliefs are spectacular claims with no supporting evidence, and although they could be true, it's not non-believers job to disprove the non evidentiary based claims of religion, but rather believers job to demonstrate why exactly they say we should believe in these things for which there is no evidence.From there, you will go on a journey of pseudo-evidence. You'll look at all sorts of unscientific claims that religious people hold up as "proof of God." Everything from "the world is beautiful" to "I feel God in my life" to "something so perfect has to be real," to "here's a really smart person who believes," to "our existence is unlikely," etc, etc. Dawkins forces you to think with scientific rationality instead of hopeful dogma. The fact things are perceived as beautiful, improbable, complex, or whatever else doesn't somehow mean that it's more likely for some all powerful deity to exist. We are so conditioned to view anything that is unusually good, bad, confusing, or unknown in both our individual lives and our world, as proof of an arbitrarily presupposed supernatural creator that we never stop to think, "hey maybe things can be really pretty, or really complicated, or whatever else without their being some magical creator."This will transition nicely to when he subsequently talks about how the unknown, which we use as "proof of God," allowed the notion of God to exist in the first place. As a scientist, Dawkins understands that his trade is aimed at finding gaps in our knowledge, and using the scientific method to discover answers to what we previously did not know. Religion is what serves as a placeholder for yet unanswered questions or not fully understood phenomenon. With this understanding in mind, Dawkins proposes that science is viewed as the enemy of religion precisely because it is indeed the thing that kills religion. When you understand how things work, when the question is answered, then the answer can no longer be, "God." He fully acknowledges how some people view science as merely "revealing" the ways of God, but he heavily implies that this is illogical, as the ways of God that religions talk about are very different indeed from the actual answers science ends up providing.Yet, aside from the "filler of holes" concept, Dawkins challenges you to consider where religion comes from. In my opinion he does a poor job of answering this question, which might be explained by the fact he is an evolutionary biologist. He works with how life has evolved, rather than how it started (that will ultimately be the job of chemists as opposed to biologists as he points out). Thus, he makes some very good insights into how religion has spread and why it persists (sort of the evolution of the perpetuation of religion), but he fails to come up with, or really even attempt to come up with, a theory as to where the human desire to create the religions it did originates from. As for how it is perpetuated he talks about the role of parents and other social institutions enforcing religious beliefs as truths in impressionable young minds, such that it becomes cyclical and immune to analytical, scientific reasoning.After considering all this (that religion should be challenged like anything, that agnosticism is false equivalency, that the "proofs" for God are not actually evidence in any kind of scientific, logical, or intellectual sense, and a consideration of where religion came from, with its basic function) the rest of the book focuses on a refutation of religious apologies. Basically, Dawkins points out the obvious (that there is no evidence for God and that it's beyond unlikely one actually exists), but he acknowledges that whether or not God is actually real or not is the improper question to ask of most people. For most people it is not "is God real?" but rather, "ought we believe in God, real or not?" He'll talk about morality and how so many people assume it takes religion to instill and enforce a sense of right and wrong in people. Yet, he understands that scientifically this is not so, due to his background in evolutionary psychology. He understands that what we know as right and wrong is a byproduct of the sort of personality traits that were chosen during the course of sexual selection to help our intelligent, social species better survive. In other words, people who are alive today had the ancestors whose personalities saw right and wrong in the way most all people today do, and they survived because their social moral codes worked out best for humans. Ironically, this concept of "natural law" (i.e. we all have this fairly uniform sense of morality) is often used by religious people as proof of God. (basically, hey if we all have this sense of right and wrong there must have been a deity that put this sense in all of us....you can see why creationists and people who understand and accept the science of evolution have such problems with each other) The implications of our morality coming from our DNA rather than from an adherence to religious texts is, to Dawkins, (and to many such as myself) the sort of proof that, yes, everyone will be just as good without religion.Expanding off of this concept, Dawkins will go on to describe how social memes (basically the zeitgeist) evolve in an inevitably progressive direction over time (overall, as there can be temporary setbacks along the overall progressive trend). It is for this precise reason, he asserts, that more and more of things like the Torah, the Bible, and the Koran are no longer adhered to today. Our morality exists because of evolution, which also means it's always evolving (it's why we have the evolution of the zeitgeist). Of course, this, despite making very good sense, is a problem for religious people, as social memes become more progressive as humanity grows and matures with evolution, despite religious writings remaining fixed in the less mature, less progressive times they were written. A conflict erupts between those people that want to continue to adhere to larger amounts of various religious writings based on a whimsical assumption they are a sort of absolute truth with a capital T, and the rest of people who will allow our moral evolution to continue to improve with time and experience as a species. As impolite as it might sound (since we are accustomed to giving religion such high levels of respect and insulation from scrutiny) belief in the perfection of scripture creates an obstacle for the evolution of humanity's moral progress.To really drive home the point that our morality comes from ourselves rather than some scriptures attributed to some deity, Dawkins talks about how things we today see as the "good parts" of something such as the Bible, like "love thy neighbor" or "thou shall not kill," are actually just as misleading as something like "we the people" in our Constitution. Things like thou shall not kill were meant to say "thou shall not kill Jews" much in the way "people" used to mean only white male property owners. Yet, today religious people interpret these Biblical rules to be more inclusive and tolerant. They do this not because the meanings of the Bible suddenly changed, but because the people reading them did. We evolve, our morality evolves, and it improves. Which is precisely why it is ridiculous that we hold up a book like the Bible that talks about ritual human sacrifices, stoning of women, killing people who work on Sunday, giving your daughter's virginity to as retribution to save a man from being anally raped, etc, etc, as some sort of "code of our morality." The fact we can pick and choose the "good" and "bad" parts is demonstrative that it's been us, humans, not some divine intervention all along.From there, Dawkins will talk about what he perceives as the damage religion creates. He basically subscribes to the idea that good people will be good and bad people bad with or without religion, but only with religion will good people do bad. I and others aren't so sure of that, although there is a strong circumstantial case to be made. However, I do regret that Dawkins goes on such a lengthy, albeit incredibly well articulated bashing of his perceived horrors of religion, as I feel it will turn too many otherwise open intellectual, scientifically minded people away from the larger message of the book, which is that freedom of thought should always trump dogma. Obviously he jumps into the homosexuality thing, as it really is one of those things no one would be against if not for religion. Yet, I find this part of the book, at least given what the book's larger objective is, to be rather unnecessary. The discussion of the religious objection to abortion is more interesting; although still not something I would have gone after if I were attempting to do what Dawkins was. The notion of consequentialism (what are the consequences of permitting or not permitting this action) vs. the notion of absolutism (this action shall be permitted or not permitted based on an absolute, predetermined labeling of the thing as "good" or "bad" based on my religion) is a riveting one, but I think it is only such if you are already intellectually enlightened prior to the picking up of Dawkins' writing. I further believe he makes a mistake in demonizing "moderate" religion, and nearly suggesting that it is as much not a real thing as "50/50 agnocisticsm" is. Moderate religious belief may not be any less scientifically implausible and ridiculous than extremist religious belief, but if we are truly asking ourselves if we ought to be militant atheists or atheists with a religiously libertarian attitude to the unenlightened world, I think a consideration of the lesser damages of moderate religion should be better considered (he seems to view people like Ted Haggard as "moderate" by American standards, perhaps a disillusioned view of the extremeness of American religiosity coming from a Brit that thinks we are worse than we really are)After taking this detour to talk about the bad of religion, Dawkins comes back to a far more convincing "ought we to" argument. The question is whether we ought to raise children religiously (which is basically a form of indoctrination, no matter how mild the upbringing may be). He points out the absurdity of labeling kids by their parents religion (you would never do that with their parent's political or economic opinions). He also points out that while physical abuse is horrible, abuse of the mind leaves far longer lasting scars. I think the way in which he makes the point is very sloppy and perhaps even unknowingly offensive, as he compares the Catholic priest scandal to indoctrinating of minds and calls the latter worse (as well as discussing the story of a woman who said she had been more traumatized as child by thinking her dead friend was burning in hell for being the wrong religion than she was by being sexually abused by a priest). Overall, I'm not sure I can come to think of any form of religious indoctrination as worse than sexual exploitation of minors, but I can appreciate that even when a household is open minded and intellectual and the parents fully accepting of whatever their children end up believing later on (as was the case with mine) being raised religious still leaves you with a nasty feeling that you've done something wrong, that you failed your parents, that they'd be happier if they you had turned out as they intended, or even that somehow you are indicating to them you don't think of them as good people since you ended up believing in different things than they did.On a tamer note, Dawkins goes on to make the distinction between teaching about religion and teaching religion. Much as we learn of Greek and Roman mythology so that we may understand the literary gems of the day, Dawkins asserts that we do need to explore contemporary western religious for literary purposes. Yet, he couples this with a harsh discussion of how trying to teach religious dogma in place of or in refutation of sound science is perhaps the worst form of intellectual child abuse.The book concludes with an examination of the most powerful "ought we" question. Even if it's beyond unlikely there is a God for which there is no sound evidence, ought we to believe in it, or at least socially protect the belief in such, not because it will save our morality, or because it fails to harm, or because parents should be left to teach their kids as they choose (religion does not make our morality, it's not without harm, and parental indoctrination is, in fact, one such harm), but rather because it provides an ability to comfort, console, and inspire humanity? In trying to answer this question Dawkins first concedes that the notion of God does comfort, console, and inspire people. By doing this, he appears to unknowingly answer the question he earlier failed to answer (from where does religion come?). Religion, it would seem comes from adults who couldn't give up the security of an unconditional, loving, helpful friend that always has time to be there for you. In other words, as impolite as it sounds, religion allows adults to have that imaginary friend when times call for it. Dawkins speaks of a story of a woman who says she had an imaginary friend as a child who she later had a dream about as an adult where the friend (a sort of Barney-like purple creature) was giving her advice as to how to navigate a crisis in her life. He quite profoundly postulates that this adult extension of childhood friends is at the essence of belief in deities.So, then the question becomes whether or not we can be consoled and inspired while acknowledging that our adult imaginary friend known as God is just as unlikely to exist as any childhood imaginary friend. He suggests we most certainly can and invokes quantum mechanics and an unnamed reference to biocentric perception as the reason why. Basically, we evolved to perceive the world as we do because that's what we needed to perceive in order to successfully navigate it. Yet, there is much in this universe, and other proposed universes that is far too small, too large, too fast, too slow, and whatever else for us to perceive let alone understand. The world we see is such a tiny bit of reality and such a limited understanding of all there is to understand. With science, we can discover realities in which we do not exist and come to understand all the things within our reality that we do not perceive. He uses the amazing analogy of a woman in a burka with only the slit where her eyes are being exposed. He instructs us to imagine that the woman and the burka covering her are miles upon miles tall/long. Because modern science has begun to discover both how long the burka of reality really is and also figuring out ways to understand the rest of the burka, the tiny slit humanity has previously been confined to perceive things from is rapidly opening up. Thus, it becomes apparent to us readers that we can very much be inspired by all these new components of vast, vast reality that there is to be investigated, and we can very much be comforted by increasing our understanding of this vast reality. We can obtain this inspiration and comfort by using science, which yes, does destroy old superstitious dogmas we found comforting in the face of uncertainty from the slit of the burka, but what there is to find, in exchange for giving up the comparatively smaller comfort and inspiration that was the religious placeholder, is so, so much greater than what we got from our delusions.

Much like Richard Dawkins is an inflammatory character, so is the title of his most well known book. For people such as myself who are not religious, his passion for helping humanity move beyond superstitious dogma so as to allow in a more complex, complete, and exhilarating understanding of the world and universe in which we exist does not appear offensive. However, I can appreciate why people who are of a religious persuasion would feel inclined to steer clear of Dawkins and his writing. Yet, I would encourage those people to cast aside their initial disgust and discomfort with the author and title, because, if one has an open mind this book will provide illuminating intellectual reading, and if one does not yet have an open mind, this is just the sort of reading that may begin to break down the barriers of closed-mindedness.I believe if you are going to get anything out of this book you'll have to read it in order, as skipping around could easily leave you either not understanding things, or upset you to the point of not picking the book back up. If you do choose to read it, and you do read it in order and in full, I don't think you'll be disappointed, and I can almost assure that only the most closed-minded individuals will find themselves upset at what they've taken in.Dawkins will challenge you to think about things in a new way. He'll challenge you to wonder why religious beliefs are not held to the same standards of scrutiny and given more than customary respect. That's the first key. In order to appreciate any of his points you have to be willing to give up the "religious beliefs are not to be questioned, scrutinized, or challenged on grounds that such is disrespectful" attitude. From there you will be challenged to consider the black and white nature with which we have drawn religious arguments. Instead of "believer," "agnostic" and "atheist" he challenges you to rightly think of all people as agnostics, in the sense none of us can know if God is real or not. He'll also try and make you understand that there is a false equivalency pertaining to religious and non-religious beliefs. Religious beliefs are spectacular claims with no supporting evidence, and although they could be true, it's not non-believers job to disprove the non evidentiary based claims of religion, but rather believers job to demonstrate why exactly they say we should believe in these things for which there is no evidence.From there, you will go on a journey of pseudo-evidence. You'll look at all sorts of unscientific claims that religious people hold up as "proof of God." Everything from "the world is beautiful" to "I feel God in my life" to "something so perfect has to be real," to "here's a really smart person who believes," to "our existence is unlikely," etc, etc. Dawkins forces you to think with scientific rationality instead of hopeful dogma. The fact things are perceived as beautiful, improbable, complex, or whatever else doesn't somehow mean that it's more likely for some all powerful deity to exist. We are so conditioned to view anything that is unusually good, bad, confusing, or unknown in both our individual lives and our world, as proof of an arbitrarily presupposed supernatural creator that we never stop to think, "hey maybe things can be really pretty, or really complicated, or whatever else without their being some magical creator."This will transition nicely to when he subsequently talks about how the unknown, which we use as "proof of God," allowed the notion of God to exist in the first place. As a scientist, Dawkins understands that his trade is aimed at finding gaps in our knowledge, and using the scientific method to discover answers to what we previously did not know. Religion is what serves as a placeholder for yet unanswered questions or not fully understood phenomenon. With this understanding in mind, Dawkins proposes that science is viewed as the enemy of religion precisely because it is indeed the thing that kills religion. When you understand how things work, when the question is answered, then the answer can no longer be, "God." He fully acknowledges how some people view science as merely "revealing" the ways of God, but he heavily implies that this is illogical, as the ways of God that religions talk about are very different indeed from the actual answers science ends up providing.Yet, aside from the "filler of holes" concept, Dawkins challenges you to consider where religion comes from. In my opinion he does a poor job of answering this question, which might be explained by the fact he is an evolutionary biologist. He works with how life has evolved, rather than how it started (that will ultimately be the job of chemists as opposed to biologists as he points out). Thus, he makes some very good insights into how religion has spread and why it persists (sort of the evolution of the perpetuation of religion), but he fails to come up with, or really even attempt to come up with, a theory as to where the human desire to create the religions it did originates from. As for how it is perpetuated he talks about the role of parents and other social institutions enforcing religious beliefs as truths in impressionable young minds, such that it becomes cyclical and immune to analytical, scientific reasoning.After considering all this (that religion should be challenged like anything, that agnosticism is false equivalency, that the "proofs" for God are not actually evidence in any kind of scientific, logical, or intellectual sense, and a consideration of where religion came from, with its basic function) the rest of the book focuses on a refutation of religious apologies. Basically, Dawkins points out the obvious (that there is no evidence for God and that it's beyond unlikely one actually exists), but he acknowledges that whether or not God is actually real or not is the improper question to ask of most people. For most people it is not "is God real?" but rather, "ought we believe in God, real or not?" He'll talk about morality and how so many people assume it takes religion to instill and enforce a sense of right and wrong in people. Yet, he understands that scientifically this is not so, due to his background in evolutionary psychology. He understands that what we know as right and wrong is a byproduct of the sort of personality traits that were chosen during the course of sexual selection to help our intelligent, social species better survive. In other words, people who are alive today had the ancestors whose personalities saw right and wrong in the way most all people today do, and they survived because their social moral codes worked out best for humans. Ironically, this concept of "natural law" (i.e. we all have this fairly uniform sense of morality) is often used by religious people as proof of God. (basically, hey if we all have this sense of right and wrong there must have been a deity that put this sense in all of us....you can see why creationists and people who understand and accept the science of evolution have such problems with each other) The implications of our morality coming from our DNA rather than from an adherence to religious texts is, to Dawkins, (and to many such as myself) the sort of proof that, yes, everyone will be just as good without religion.Expanding off of this concept, Dawkins will go on to describe how social memes (basically the zeitgeist) evolve in an inevitably progressive direction over time (overall, as there can be temporary setbacks along the overall progressive trend). It is for this precise reason, he asserts, that more and more of things like the Torah, the Bible, and the Koran are no longer adhered to today. Our morality exists because of evolution, which also means it's always evolving (it's why we have the evolution of the zeitgeist). Of course, this, despite making very good sense, is a problem for religious people, as social memes become more progressive as humanity grows and matures with evolution, despite religious writings remaining fixed in the less mature, less progressive times they were written. A conflict erupts between those people that want to continue to adhere to larger amounts of various religious writings based on a whimsical assumption they are a sort of absolute truth with a capital T, and the rest of people who will allow our moral evolution to continue to improve with time and experience as a species. As impolite as it might sound (since we are accustomed to giving religion such high levels of respect and insulation from scrutiny) belief in the perfection of scripture creates an obstacle for the evolution of humanity's moral progress.To really drive home the point that our morality comes from ourselves rather than some scriptures attributed to some deity, Dawkins talks about how things we today see as the "good parts" of something such as the Bible, like "love thy neighbor" or "thou shall not kill," are actually just as misleading as something like "we the people" in our Constitution. Things like thou shall not kill were meant to say "thou shall not kill Jews" much in the way "people" used to mean only white male property owners. Yet, today religious people interpret these Biblical rules to be more inclusive and tolerant. They do this not because the meanings of the Bible suddenly changed, but because the people reading them did. We evolve, our morality evolves, and it improves. Which is precisely why it is ridiculous that we hold up a book like the Bible that talks about ritual human sacrifices, stoning of women, killing people who work on Sunday, giving your daughter's virginity to as retribution to save a man from being anally raped, etc, etc, as some sort of "code of our morality." The fact we can pick and choose the "good" and "bad" parts is demonstrative that it's been us, humans, not some divine intervention all along.From there, Dawkins will talk about what he perceives as the damage religion creates. He basically subscribes to the idea that good people will be good and bad people bad with or without religion, but only with religion will good people do bad. I and others aren't so sure of that, although there is a strong circumstantial case to be made. However, I do regret that Dawkins goes on such a lengthy, albeit incredibly well articulated bashing of his perceived horrors of religion, as I feel it will turn too many otherwise open intellectual, scientifically minded people away from the larger message of the book, which is that freedom of thought should always trump dogma. Obviously he jumps into the homosexuality thing, as it really is one of those things no one would be against if not for religion. Yet, I find this part of the book, at least given what the book's larger objective is, to be rather unnecessary. The discussion of the religious objection to abortion is more interesting; although still not something I would have gone after if I were attempting to do what Dawkins was. The notion of consequentialism (what are the consequences of permitting or not permitting this action) vs. the notion of absolutism (this action shall be permitted or not permitted based on an absolute, predetermined labeling of the thing as "good" or "bad" based on my religion) is a riveting one, but I think it is only such if you are already intellectually enlightened prior to the picking up of Dawkins' writing. I further believe he makes a mistake in demonizing "moderate" religion, and nearly suggesting that it is as much not a real thing as "50/50 agnocisticsm" is. Moderate religious belief may not be any less scientifically implausible and ridiculous than extremist religious belief, but if we are truly asking ourselves if we ought to be militant atheists or atheists with a religiously libertarian attitude to the unenlightened world, I think a consideration of the lesser damages of moderate religion should be better considered (he seems to view people like Ted Haggard as "moderate" by American standards, perhaps a disillusioned view of the extremeness of American religiosity coming from a Brit that thinks we are worse than we really are)After taking this detour to talk about the bad of religion, Dawkins comes back to a far more convincing "ought we to" argument. The question is whether we ought to raise children religiously (which is basically a form of indoctrination, no matter how mild the upbringing may be). He points out the absurdity of labeling kids by their parents religion (you would never do that with their parent's political or economic opinions). He also points out that while physical abuse is horrible, abuse of the mind leaves far longer lasting scars. I think the way in which he makes the point is very sloppy and perhaps even unknowingly offensive, as he compares the Catholic priest scandal to indoctrinating of minds and calls the latter worse (as well as discussing the story of a woman who said she had been more traumatized as child by thinking her dead friend was burning in hell for being the wrong religion than she was by being sexually abused by a priest). Overall, I'm not sure I can come to think of any form of religious indoctrination as worse than sexual exploitation of minors, but I can appreciate that even when a household is open minded and intellectual and the parents fully accepting of whatever their children end up believing later on (as was the case with mine) being raised religious still leaves you with a nasty feeling that you've done something wrong, that you failed your parents, that they'd be happier if they you had turned out as they intended, or even that somehow you are indicating to them you don't think of them as good people since you ended up believing in different things than they did.On a tamer note, Dawkins goes on to make the distinction between teaching about religion and teaching religion. Much as we learn of Greek and Roman mythology so that we may understand the literary gems of the day, Dawkins asserts that we do need to explore contemporary western religious for literary purposes. Yet, he couples this with a harsh discussion of how trying to teach religious dogma in place of or in refutation of sound science is perhaps the worst form of intellectual child abuse.The book concludes with an examination of the most powerful "ought we" question. Even if it's beyond unlikely there is a God for which there is no sound evidence, ought we to believe in it, or at least socially protect the belief in such, not because it will save our morality, or because it fails to harm, or because parents should be left to teach their kids as they choose (religion does not make our morality, it's not without harm, and parental indoctrination is, in fact, one such harm), but rather because it provides an ability to comfort, console, and inspire humanity? In trying to answer this question Dawkins first concedes that the notion of God does comfort, console, and inspire people. By doing this, he appears to unknowingly answer the question he earlier failed to answer (from where does religion come?). Religion, it would seem comes from adults who couldn't give up the security of an unconditional, loving, helpful friend that always has time to be there for you. In other words, as impolite as it sounds, religion allows adults to have that imaginary friend when times call for it. Dawkins speaks of a story of a woman who says she had an imaginary friend as a child who she later had a dream about as an adult where the friend (a sort of Barney-like purple creature) was giving her advice as to how to navigate a crisis in her life. He quite profoundly postulates that this adult extension of childhood friends is at the essence of belief in deities.So, then the question becomes whether or not we can be consoled and inspired while acknowledging that our adult imaginary friend known as God is just as unlikely to exist as any childhood imaginary friend. He suggests we most certainly can and invokes quantum mechanics and an unnamed reference to biocentric perception as the reason why. Basically, we evolved to perceive the world as we do because that's what we needed to perceive in order to successfully navigate it. Yet, there is much in this universe, and other proposed universes that is far too small, too large, too fast, too slow, and whatever else for us to perceive let alone understand. The world we see is such a tiny bit of reality and such a limited understanding of all there is to understand. With science, we can discover realities in which we do not exist and come to understand all the things within our reality that we do not perceive. He uses the amazing analogy of a woman in a burka with only the slit where her eyes are being exposed. He instructs us to imagine that the woman and the burka covering her are miles upon miles tall/long. Because modern science has begun to discover both how long the burka of reality really is and also figuring out ways to understand the rest of the burka, the tiny slit humanity has previously been confined to perceive things from is rapidly opening up. Thus, it becomes apparent to us readers that we can very much be inspired by all these new components of vast, vast reality that there is to be investigated, and we can very much be comforted by increasing our understanding of this vast reality. We can obtain this inspiration and comfort by using science, which yes, does destroy old superstitious dogmas we found comforting in the face of uncertainty from the slit of the burka, but what there is to find, in exchange for giving up the comparatively smaller comfort and inspiration that was the religious placeholder, is so, so much greater than what we got from our delusions.

<hl> For people such as myself who are not religious, his passion for helping humanity move beyond superstitious dogma so as to allow in a more complex, complete, and exhilarating understanding of the world and universe in which we exist does not appear offensive. However, I can appreciate why people who are of a religious persuasion would feel inclined to steer clear of Dawkins and his writing. Yet, I would encourage those people to cast aside their initial disgust and discomfort with the author and title, because, if one has an open mind this book will provide illuminating intellectual reading, and if one does not yet have an open mind, this is just the sort of reading that may begin to break down the barriers of closed-mindedness.I believe if you are going to get anything out of this book you'll have to read it in order, as skipping around could easily leave you either not understanding things, or upset you to the point of not picking the book back up. If you do choose to read it, and you do read it in order and in full, I don't think you'll be disappointed, and I can almost assure that only the most closed-minded individuals will find themselves upset at what they've taken in.Dawkins will challenge you to think about things in a new way. He'll challenge you to wonder why religious beliefs are not held to the same standards of scrutiny and given more than customary respect. That's the first key. In order to appreciate any of his points you have to be willing to give up the "religious beliefs are not to be questioned, scrutinized, or challenged on grounds that such is disrespectful" attitude. From there you will be challenged to consider the black and white nature with which we have drawn religious arguments. Instead of "believer," "agnostic" and "atheist" he challenges you to rightly think of all people as agnostics, in the sense none of us can know if God is real or not. He'll also try and make you understand that there is a false equivalency pertaining to religious and non-religious beliefs. Religious beliefs are spectacular claims with no supporting evidence, and although they could be true, it's not non-believers job to disprove the non evidentiary based claims of religion, but rather believers job to demonstrate why exactly they say we should believe in these things for which there is no evidence.From there, you will go on a journey of pseudo-evidence. You'll look at all sorts of unscientific claims that religious people hold up as "proof of God." Everything from "the world is beautiful" to "I feel God in my life" to "something so perfect has to be real," to "here's a really smart person who believes," to "our existence is unlikely," etc, etc. Dawkins forces you to think with scientific rationality instead of hopeful dogma. The fact things are perceived as beautiful, improbable, complex, or whatever else doesn't somehow mean that it's more likely for some all powerful deity to exist. We are so conditioned to view anything that is unusually good, bad, confusing, or unknown in both our individual lives and our world, as proof of an arbitrarily presupposed supernatural creator that we never stop to think, "hey maybe things can be really pretty, or really complicated, or whatever else without their being some magical creator."This will transition nicely to when he subsequently talks about how the unknown, which we use as "proof of God," allowed the notion of God to exist in the first place. As a scientist, Dawkins understands that his trade is aimed at finding gaps in our knowledge, and using the scientific method to discover answers to what we previously did not know. Religion is what serves as a placeholder for yet unanswered questions or not fully understood phenomenon. With this understanding in mind, Dawkins proposes that science is viewed as the enemy of religion precisely because it is indeed the thing that kills religion. When you understand how things work, when the question is answered, then the answer can no longer be, "God." He fully acknowledges how some people view science as merely "revealing" the ways of God, but he heavily implies that this is illogical, as the ways of God that religions talk about are very different indeed from the actual answers science ends up providing.Yet, aside from the "filler of holes" concept, Dawkins challenges you to consider where religion comes from. In my opinion he does a poor job of answering this question, which might be explained by the fact he is an evolutionary biologist. He works with how life has evolved, rather than how it started (that will ultimately be the job of chemists as opposed to biologists as he points out). Thus, he makes some very good insights into how religion has spread and why it persists (sort of the evolution of the perpetuation of religion), but he fails to come up with, or really even attempt to come up with, a theory as to where the human desire to create the religions it did originates from. As for how it is perpetuated he talks about the role of parents and other social institutions enforcing religious beliefs as truths in impressionable young minds, such that it becomes cyclical and immune to analytical, scientific reasoning.After considering all this (that religion should be challenged like anything, that agnosticism is false equivalency, that the "proofs" for God are not actually evidence in any kind of scientific, logical, or intellectual sense, and a consideration of where religion came from, with its basic function) the rest of the book focuses on a refutation of religious apologies. Basically, Dawkins points out the obvious (that there is no evidence for God and that it's beyond unlikely one actually exists), but he acknowledges that whether or not God is actually real or not is the improper question to ask of most people. For most people it is not "is God real?" but rather, "ought we believe in God, real or not?" He'll talk about morality and how so many people assume it takes religion to instill and enforce a sense of right and wrong in people. Yet, he understands that scientifically this is not so, due to his background in evolutionary psychology. He understands that what we know as right and wrong is a byproduct of the sort of personality traits that were chosen during the course of sexual selection to help our intelligent, social species better survive. In other words, people who are alive today had the ancestors whose personalities saw right and wrong in the way most all people today do, and they survived because their social moral codes worked out best for humans. Ironically, this concept of "natural law" (i.e. we all have this fairly uniform sense of morality) is often used by religious people as proof of God. (basically, hey if we all have this sense of right and wrong there must have been a deity that put this sense in all of us....you can see why creationists and people who understand and accept the science of evolution have such problems with each other) The implications of our morality coming from our DNA rather than from an adherence to religious texts is, to Dawkins, (and to many such as myself) the sort of proof that, yes, everyone will be just as good without religion.Expanding off of this concept, Dawkins will go on to describe how social memes (basically the zeitgeist) evolve in an inevitably progressive direction over time (overall, as there can be temporary setbacks along the overall progressive trend). It is for this precise reason, he asserts, that more and more of things like the Torah, the Bible, and the Koran are no longer adhered to today. Our morality exists because of evolution, which also means it's always evolving (it's why we have the evolution of the zeitgeist). Of course, this, despite making very good sense, is a problem for religious people, as social memes become more progressive as humanity grows and matures with evolution, despite religious writings remaining fixed in the less mature, less progressive times they were written. A conflict erupts between those people that want to continue to adhere to larger amounts of various religious writings based on a whimsical assumption they are a sort of absolute truth with a capital T, and the rest of people who will allow our moral evolution to continue to improve with time and experience as a species. As impolite as it might sound (since we are accustomed to giving religion such high levels of respect and insulation from scrutiny) belief in the perfection of scripture creates an obstacle for the evolution of humanity's moral progress.To really drive home the point that our morality comes from ourselves rather than some scriptures attributed to some deity, Dawkins talks about how things we today see as the "good parts" of something such as the Bible, like "love thy neighbor" or "thou shall not kill," are actually just as misleading as something like "we the people" in our Constitution. Things like thou shall not kill were meant to say "thou shall not kill Jews" much in the way "people" used to mean only white male property owners. Yet, today religious people interpret these Biblical rules to be more inclusive and tolerant. They do this not because the meanings of the Bible suddenly changed, but because the people reading them did. We evolve, our morality evolves, and it improves. Which is precisely why it is ridiculous that we hold up a book like the Bible that talks about ritual human sacrifices, stoning of women, killing people who work on Sunday, giving your daughter's virginity to as retribution to save a man from being anally raped, etc, etc, as some sort of "code of our morality." The fact we can pick and choose the "good" and "bad" parts is demonstrative that it's been us, humans, not some divine intervention all along.From there, Dawkins will talk about what he perceives as the damage religion creates. He basically subscribes to the idea that good people will be good and bad people bad with or without religion, but only with religion will good people do bad. I and others aren't so sure of that, although there is a strong circumstantial case to be made. However, I do regret that Dawkins goes on such a lengthy, albeit incredibly well articulated bashing of his perceived horrors of religion, as I feel it will turn too many otherwise open intellectual, scientifically minded people away from the larger message of the book, which is that freedom of thought should always trump dogma. Obviously he jumps into the homosexuality thing, as it really is one of those things no one would be against if not for religion. Yet, I find this part of the book, at least given what the book's larger objective is, to be rather unnecessary. The discussion of the religious objection to abortion is more interesting; although still not something I would have gone after if I were attempting to do what Dawkins was. The notion of consequentialism (what are the consequences of permitting or not permitting this action) vs. the notion of absolutism (this action shall be permitted or not permitted based on an absolute, predetermined labeling of the thing as "good" or "bad" based on my religion) is a riveting one, but I think it is only such if you are already intellectually enlightened prior to the picking up of Dawkins' writing. I further believe he makes a mistake in demonizing "moderate" religion, and nearly suggesting that it is as much not a real thing as "50/50 agnocisticsm" is. Moderate religious belief may not be any less scientifically implausible and ridiculous than extremist religious belief, but if we are truly asking ourselves if we ought to be militant atheists or atheists with a religiously libertarian attitude to the unenlightened world, I think a consideration of the lesser damages of moderate religion should be better considered (he seems to view people like Ted Haggard as "moderate" by American standards, perhaps a disillusioned view of the extremeness of American religiosity coming from a Brit that thinks we are worse than we really are)After taking this detour to talk about the bad of religion, Dawkins comes back to a far more convincing "ought we to" argument. The question is whether we ought to raise children religiously (which is basically a form of indoctrination, no matter how mild the upbringing may be). He points out the absurdity of labeling kids by their parents religion (you would never do that with their parent's political or economic opinions). He also points out that while physical abuse is horrible, abuse of the mind leaves far longer lasting scars. I think the way in which he makes the point is very sloppy and perhaps even unknowingly offensive, as he compares the Catholic priest scandal to indoctrinating of minds and calls the latter worse (as well as discussing the story of a woman who said she had been more traumatized as child by thinking her dead friend was burning in hell for being the wrong religion than she was by being sexually abused by a priest). Overall, I'm not sure I can come to think of any form of religious indoctrination as worse than sexual exploitation of minors, but I can appreciate that even when a household is open minded and intellectual and the parents fully accepting of whatever their children end up believing later on (as was the case with mine) being raised religious still leaves you with a nasty feeling that you've done something wrong, that you failed your parents, that they'd be happier if they you had turned out as they intended, or even that somehow you are indicating to them you don't think of them as good people since you ended up believing in different things than they did.On a tamer note, Dawkins goes on to make the distinction between teaching about religion and teaching religion. Much as we learn of Greek and Roman mythology so that we may understand the literary gems of the day, Dawkins asserts that we do need to explore contemporary western religious for literary purposes. Yet, he couples this with a harsh discussion of how trying to teach religious dogma in place of or in refutation of sound science is perhaps the worst form of intellectual child abuse.The book concludes with an examination of the most powerful "ought we" question. Even if it's beyond unlikely there is a God for which there is no sound evidence, ought we to believe in it, or at least socially protect the belief in such, not because it will save our morality, or because it fails to harm, or because parents should be left to teach their kids as they choose (religion does not make our morality, it's not without harm, and parental indoctrination is, in fact, one such harm), but rather because it provides an ability to comfort, console, and inspire humanity? In trying to answer this question Dawkins first concedes that the notion of God does comfort, console, and inspire people. By doing this, he appears to unknowingly answer the question he earlier failed to answer (from where does religion come?). Religion, it would seem comes from adults who couldn't give up the security of an unconditional, loving, helpful friend that always has time to be there for you. In other words, as impolite as it sounds, religion allows adults to have that imaginary friend when times call for it. Dawkins speaks of a story of a woman who says she had an imaginary friend as a child who she later had a dream about as an adult where the friend (a sort of Barney-like purple creature) was giving her advice as to how to navigate a crisis in her life. He quite profoundly postulates that this adult extension of childhood friends is at the essence of belief in deities.So, then the question becomes whether or not we can be consoled and inspired while acknowledging that our adult imaginary friend known as God is just as unlikely to exist as any childhood imaginary friend. He suggests we most certainly can and invokes quantum mechanics and an unnamed reference to biocentric perception as the reason why. Basically, we evolved to perceive the world as we do because that's what we needed to perceive in order to successfully navigate it. Yet, there is much in this universe, and other proposed universes that is far too small, too large, too fast, too slow, and whatever else for us to perceive let alone understand. The world we see is such a tiny bit of reality and such a limited understanding of all there is to understand. With science, we can discover realities in which we do not exist and come to understand all the things within our reality that we do not perceive. He uses the amazing analogy of a woman in a burka with only the slit where her eyes are being exposed. He instructs us to imagine that the woman and the burka covering her are miles upon miles tall/long. Because modern science has begun to discover both how long the burka of reality really is and also figuring out ways to understand the rest of the burka, the tiny slit humanity has previously been confined to perceive things from is rapidly opening up. Thus, it becomes apparent to us readers that we can very much be inspired by all these new components of vast, vast reality that there is to be investigated, and we can very much be comforted by increasing our understanding of this vast reality. We can obtain this inspiration and comfort by using science, which yes, does destroy old superstitious dogmas we found comforting in the face of uncertainty from the slit of the burka, but what there is to find, in exchange for giving up the comparatively smaller comfort and inspiration that was the religious placeholder, is so, so much greater than what we got from our delusions. <hl>

Much like Richard Dawkins is an inflammatory character, so is the title of his most well known book. <hl> For people such as myself who are not religious, his passion for helping humanity move beyond superstitious dogma so as to allow in a more complex, complete, and exhilarating understanding of the world and universe in which we exist does not appear offensive. However, I can appreciate why people who are of a religious persuasion would feel inclined to steer clear of Dawkins and his writing. Yet, I would encourage those people to cast aside their initial disgust and discomfort with the author and title, because, if one has an open mind this book will provide illuminating intellectual reading, and if one does not yet have an open mind, this is just the sort of reading that may begin to break down the barriers of closed-mindedness.I believe if you are going to get anything out of this book you'll have to read it in order, as skipping around could easily leave you either not understanding things, or upset you to the point of not picking the book back up. If you do choose to read it, and you do read it in order and in full, I don't think you'll be disappointed, and I can almost assure that only the most closed-minded individuals will find themselves upset at what they've taken in.Dawkins will challenge you to think about things in a new way. He'll challenge you to wonder why religious beliefs are not held to the same standards of scrutiny and given more than customary respect. That's the first key. In order to appreciate any of his points you have to be willing to give up the "religious beliefs are not to be questioned, scrutinized, or challenged on grounds that such is disrespectful" attitude. From there you will be challenged to consider the black and white nature with which we have drawn religious arguments. Instead of "believer," "agnostic" and "atheist" he challenges you to rightly think of all people as agnostics, in the sense none of us can know if God is real or not. He'll also try and make you understand that there is a false equivalency pertaining to religious and non-religious beliefs. Religious beliefs are spectacular claims with no supporting evidence, and although they could be true, it's not non-believers job to disprove the non evidentiary based claims of religion, but rather believers job to demonstrate why exactly they say we should believe in these things for which there is no evidence.From there, you will go on a journey of pseudo-evidence. You'll look at all sorts of unscientific claims that religious people hold up as "proof of God." Everything from "the world is beautiful" to "I feel God in my life" to "something so perfect has to be real," to "here's a really smart person who believes," to "our existence is unlikely," etc, etc. Dawkins forces you to think with scientific rationality instead of hopeful dogma. The fact things are perceived as beautiful, improbable, complex, or whatever else doesn't somehow mean that it's more likely for some all powerful deity to exist. We are so conditioned to view anything that is unusually good, bad, confusing, or unknown in both our individual lives and our world, as proof of an arbitrarily presupposed supernatural creator that we never stop to think, "hey maybe things can be really pretty, or really complicated, or whatever else without their being some magical creator."This will transition nicely to when he subsequently talks about how the unknown, which we use as "proof of God," allowed the notion of God to exist in the first place. As a scientist, Dawkins understands that his trade is aimed at finding gaps in our knowledge, and using the scientific method to discover answers to what we previously did not know. Religion is what serves as a placeholder for yet unanswered questions or not fully understood phenomenon. With this understanding in mind, Dawkins proposes that science is viewed as the enemy of religion precisely because it is indeed the thing that kills religion. When you understand how things work, when the question is answered, then the answer can no longer be, "God." He fully acknowledges how some people view science as merely "revealing" the ways of God, but he heavily implies that this is illogical, as the ways of God that religions talk about are very different indeed from the actual answers science ends up providing.Yet, aside from the "filler of holes" concept, Dawkins challenges you to consider where religion comes from. In my opinion he does a poor job of answering this question, which might be explained by the fact he is an evolutionary biologist. He works with how life has evolved, rather than how it started (that will ultimately be the job of chemists as opposed to biologists as he points out). Thus, he makes some very good insights into how religion has spread and why it persists (sort of the evolution of the perpetuation of religion), but he fails to come up with, or really even attempt to come up with, a theory as to where the human desire to create the religions it did originates from. As for how it is perpetuated he talks about the role of parents and other social institutions enforcing religious beliefs as truths in impressionable young minds, such that it becomes cyclical and immune to analytical, scientific reasoning.After considering all this (that religion should be challenged like anything, that agnosticism is false equivalency, that the "proofs" for God are not actually evidence in any kind of scientific, logical, or intellectual sense, and a consideration of where religion came from, with its basic function) the rest of the book focuses on a refutation of religious apologies. Basically, Dawkins points out the obvious (that there is no evidence for God and that it's beyond unlikely one actually exists), but he acknowledges that whether or not God is actually real or not is the improper question to ask of most people. For most people it is not "is God real?" but rather, "ought we believe in God, real or not?" He'll talk about morality and how so many people assume it takes religion to instill and enforce a sense of right and wrong in people. Yet, he understands that scientifically this is not so, due to his background in evolutionary psychology. He understands that what we know as right and wrong is a byproduct of the sort of personality traits that were chosen during the course of sexual selection to help our intelligent, social species better survive. In other words, people who are alive today had the ancestors whose personalities saw right and wrong in the way most all people today do, and they survived because their social moral codes worked out best for humans. Ironically, this concept of "natural law" (i.e. we all have this fairly uniform sense of morality) is often used by religious people as proof of God. (basically, hey if we all have this sense of right and wrong there must have been a deity that put this sense in all of us....you can see why creationists and people who understand and accept the science of evolution have such problems with each other) The implications of our morality coming from our DNA rather than from an adherence to religious texts is, to Dawkins, (and to many such as myself) the sort of proof that, yes, everyone will be just as good without religion.Expanding off of this concept, Dawkins will go on to describe how social memes (basically the zeitgeist) evolve in an inevitably progressive direction over time (overall, as there can be temporary setbacks along the overall progressive trend). It is for this precise reason, he asserts, that more and more of things like the Torah, the Bible, and the Koran are no longer adhered to today. Our morality exists because of evolution, which also means it's always evolving (it's why we have the evolution of the zeitgeist). Of course, this, despite making very good sense, is a problem for religious people, as social memes become more progressive as humanity grows and matures with evolution, despite religious writings remaining fixed in the less mature, less progressive times they were written. A conflict erupts between those people that want to continue to adhere to larger amounts of various religious writings based on a whimsical assumption they are a sort of absolute truth with a capital T, and the rest of people who will allow our moral evolution to continue to improve with time and experience as a species. As impolite as it might sound (since we are accustomed to giving religion such high levels of respect and insulation from scrutiny) belief in the perfection of scripture creates an obstacle for the evolution of humanity's moral progress.To really drive home the point that our morality comes from ourselves rather than some scriptures attributed to some deity, Dawkins talks about how things we today see as the "good parts" of something such as the Bible, like "love thy neighbor" or "thou shall not kill," are actually just as misleading as something like "we the people" in our Constitution. Things like thou shall not kill were meant to say "thou shall not kill Jews" much in the way "people" used to mean only white male property owners. Yet, today religious people interpret these Biblical rules to be more inclusive and tolerant. They do this not because the meanings of the Bible suddenly changed, but because the people reading them did. We evolve, our morality evolves, and it improves. Which is precisely why it is ridiculous that we hold up a book like the Bible that talks about ritual human sacrifices, stoning of women, killing people who work on Sunday, giving your daughter's virginity to as retribution to save a man from being anally raped, etc, etc, as some sort of "code of our morality." The fact we can pick and choose the "good" and "bad" parts is demonstrative that it's been us, humans, not some divine intervention all along.From there, Dawkins will talk about what he perceives as the damage religion creates. He basically subscribes to the idea that good people will be good and bad people bad with or without religion, but only with religion will good people do bad. I and others aren't so sure of that, although there is a strong circumstantial case to be made. However, I do regret that Dawkins goes on such a lengthy, albeit incredibly well articulated bashing of his perceived horrors of religion, as I feel it will turn too many otherwise open intellectual, scientifically minded people away from the larger message of the book, which is that freedom of thought should always trump dogma. Obviously he jumps into the homosexuality thing, as it really is one of those things no one would be against if not for religion. Yet, I find this part of the book, at least given what the book's larger objective is, to be rather unnecessary. The discussion of the religious objection to abortion is more interesting; although still not something I would have gone after if I were attempting to do what Dawkins was. The notion of consequentialism (what are the consequences of permitting or not permitting this action) vs. the notion of absolutism (this action shall be permitted or not permitted based on an absolute, predetermined labeling of the thing as "good" or "bad" based on my religion) is a riveting one, but I think it is only such if you are already intellectually enlightened prior to the picking up of Dawkins' writing. I further believe he makes a mistake in demonizing "moderate" religion, and nearly suggesting that it is as much not a real thing as "50/50 agnocisticsm" is. Moderate religious belief may not be any less scientifically implausible and ridiculous than extremist religious belief, but if we are truly asking ourselves if we ought to be militant atheists or atheists with a religiously libertarian attitude to the unenlightened world, I think a consideration of the lesser damages of moderate religion should be better considered (he seems to view people like Ted Haggard as "moderate" by American standards, perhaps a disillusioned view of the extremeness of American religiosity coming from a Brit that thinks we are worse than we really are)After taking this detour to talk about the bad of religion, Dawkins comes back to a far more convincing "ought we to" argument. The question is whether we ought to raise children religiously (which is basically a form of indoctrination, no matter how mild the upbringing may be). He points out the absurdity of labeling kids by their parents religion (you would never do that with their parent's political or economic opinions). He also points out that while physical abuse is horrible, abuse of the mind leaves far longer lasting scars. I think the way in which he makes the point is very sloppy and perhaps even unknowingly offensive, as he compares the Catholic priest scandal to indoctrinating of minds and calls the latter worse (as well as discussing the story of a woman who said she had been more traumatized as child by thinking her dead friend was burning in hell for being the wrong religion than she was by being sexually abused by a priest). Overall, I'm not sure I can come to think of any form of religious indoctrination as worse than sexual exploitation of minors, but I can appreciate that even when a household is open minded and intellectual and the parents fully accepting of whatever their children end up believing later on (as was the case with mine) being raised religious still leaves you with a nasty feeling that you've done something wrong, that you failed your parents, that they'd be happier if they you had turned out as they intended, or even that somehow you are indicating to them you don't think of them as good people since you ended up believing in different things than they did.On a tamer note, Dawkins goes on to make the distinction between teaching about religion and teaching religion. Much as we learn of Greek and Roman mythology so that we may understand the literary gems of the day, Dawkins asserts that we do need to explore contemporary western religious for literary purposes. Yet, he couples this with a harsh discussion of how trying to teach religious dogma in place of or in refutation of sound science is perhaps the worst form of intellectual child abuse.The book concludes with an examination of the most powerful "ought we" question. Even if it's beyond unlikely there is a God for which there is no sound evidence, ought we to believe in it, or at least socially protect the belief in such, not because it will save our morality, or because it fails to harm, or because parents should be left to teach their kids as they choose (religion does not make our morality, it's not without harm, and parental indoctrination is, in fact, one such harm), but rather because it provides an ability to comfort, console, and inspire humanity? In trying to answer this question Dawkins first concedes that the notion of God does comfort, console, and inspire people. By doing this, he appears to unknowingly answer the question he earlier failed to answer (from where does religion come?). Religion, it would seem comes from adults who couldn't give up the security of an unconditional, loving, helpful friend that always has time to be there for you. In other words, as impolite as it sounds, religion allows adults to have that imaginary friend when times call for it. Dawkins speaks of a story of a woman who says she had an imaginary friend as a child who she later had a dream about as an adult where the friend (a sort of Barney-like purple creature) was giving her advice as to how to navigate a crisis in her life. He quite profoundly postulates that this adult extension of childhood friends is at the essence of belief in deities.So, then the question becomes whether or not we can be consoled and inspired while acknowledging that our adult imaginary friend known as God is just as unlikely to exist as any childhood imaginary friend. He suggests we most certainly can and invokes quantum mechanics and an unnamed reference to biocentric perception as the reason why. Basically, we evolved to perceive the world as we do because that's what we needed to perceive in order to successfully navigate it. Yet, there is much in this universe, and other proposed universes that is far too small, too large, too fast, too slow, and whatever else for us to perceive let alone understand. The world we see is such a tiny bit of reality and such a limited understanding of all there is to understand. With science, we can discover realities in which we do not exist and come to understand all the things within our reality that we do not perceive. He uses the amazing analogy of a woman in a burka with only the slit where her eyes are being exposed. He instructs us to imagine that the woman and the burka covering her are miles upon miles tall/long. Because modern science has begun to discover both how long the burka of reality really is and also figuring out ways to understand the rest of the burka, the tiny slit humanity has previously been confined to perceive things from is rapidly opening up. Thus, it becomes apparent to us readers that we can very much be inspired by all these new components of vast, vast reality that there is to be investigated, and we can very much be comforted by increasing our understanding of this vast reality. We can obtain this inspiration and comfort by using science, which yes, does destroy old superstitious dogmas we found comforting in the face of uncertainty from the slit of the burka, but what there is to find, in exchange for giving up the comparatively smaller comfort and inspiration that was the religious placeholder, is so, so much greater than what we got from our delusions. <hl>

Much like Richard Dawkins is an inflammatory character, so is the title of his most well known book. <hl> For people such as myself who are not religious, his passion for helping humanity move beyond superstitious dogma so as to allow in a more complex, complete, and exhilarating understanding of the world and universe in which we exist does not appear offensive. However, I can appreciate why people who are of a religious persuasion would feel inclined to steer clear of Dawkins and his writing. Yet, I would encourage those people to cast aside their initial disgust and discomfort with the author and title, because, if one has an open mind this book will provide illuminating intellectual reading, and if one does not yet have an open mind, this is just the sort of reading that may begin to break down the barriers of closed-mindedness.I believe if you are going to get anything out of this book you'll have to read it in order, as skipping around could easily leave you either not understanding things, or upset you to the point of not picking the book back up. If you do choose to read it, and you do read it in order and in full, I don't think you'll be disappointed, and I can almost assure that only the most closed-minded individuals will find themselves upset at what they've taken in.Dawkins will challenge you to think about things in a new way. He'll challenge you to wonder why religious beliefs are not held to the same standards of scrutiny and given more than customary respect. That's the first key. In order to appreciate any of his points you have to be willing to give up the "religious beliefs are not to be questioned, scrutinized, or challenged on grounds that such is disrespectful" attitude. From there you will be challenged to consider the black and white nature with which we have drawn religious arguments. Instead of "believer," "agnostic" and "atheist" he challenges you to rightly think of all people as agnostics, in the sense none of us can know if God is real or not. He'll also try and make you understand that there is a false equivalency pertaining to religious and non-religious beliefs. Religious beliefs are spectacular claims with no supporting evidence, and although they could be true, it's not non-believers job to disprove the non evidentiary based claims of religion, but rather believers job to demonstrate why exactly they say we should believe in these things for which there is no evidence.From there, you will go on a journey of pseudo-evidence. You'll look at all sorts of unscientific claims that religious people hold up as "proof of God." Everything from "the world is beautiful" to "I feel God in my life" to "something so perfect has to be real," to "here's a really smart person who believes," to "our existence is unlikely," etc, etc. Dawkins forces you to think with scientific rationality instead of hopeful dogma. The fact things are perceived as beautiful, improbable, complex, or whatever else doesn't somehow mean that it's more likely for some all powerful deity to exist. We are so conditioned to view anything that is unusually good, bad, confusing, or unknown in both our individual lives and our world, as proof of an arbitrarily presupposed supernatural creator that we never stop to think, "hey maybe things can be really pretty, or really complicated, or whatever else without their being some magical creator."This will transition nicely to when he subsequently talks about how the unknown, which we use as "proof of God," allowed the notion of God to exist in the first place. As a scientist, Dawkins understands that his trade is aimed at finding gaps in our knowledge, and using the scientific method to discover answers to what we previously did not know. Religion is what serves as a placeholder for yet unanswered questions or not fully understood phenomenon. With this understanding in mind, Dawkins proposes that science is viewed as the enemy of religion precisely because it is indeed the thing that kills religion. When you understand how things work, when the question is answered, then the answer can no longer be, "God." He fully acknowledges how some people view science as merely "revealing" the ways of God, but he heavily implies that this is illogical, as the ways of God that religions talk about are very different indeed from the actual answers science ends up providing.Yet, aside from the "filler of holes" concept, Dawkins challenges you to consider where religion comes from. In my opinion he does a poor job of answering this question, which might be explained by the fact he is an evolutionary biologist. He works with how life has evolved, rather than how it started (that will ultimately be the job of chemists as opposed to biologists as he points out). Thus, he makes some very good insights into how religion has spread and why it persists (sort of the evolution of the perpetuation of religion), but he fails to come up with, or really even attempt to come up with, a theory as to where the human desire to create the religions it did originates from. As for how it is perpetuated he talks about the role of parents and other social institutions enforcing religious beliefs as truths in impressionable young minds, such that it becomes cyclical and immune to analytical, scientific reasoning.After considering all this (that religion should be challenged like anything, that agnosticism is false equivalency, that the "proofs" for God are not actually evidence in any kind of scientific, logical, or intellectual sense, and a consideration of where religion came from, with its basic function) the rest of the book focuses on a refutation of religious apologies. Basically, Dawkins points out the obvious (that there is no evidence for God and that it's beyond unlikely one actually exists), but he acknowledges that whether or not God is actually real or not is the improper question to ask of most people. For most people it is not "is God real?" but rather, "ought we believe in God, real or not?" He'll talk about morality and how so many people assume it takes religion to instill and enforce a sense of right and wrong in people. Yet, he understands that scientifically this is not so, due to his background in evolutionary psychology. He understands that what we know as right and wrong is a byproduct of the sort of personality traits that were chosen during the course of sexual selection to help our intelligent, social species better survive. In other words, people who are alive today had the ancestors whose personalities saw right and wrong in the way most all people today do, and they survived because their social moral codes worked out best for humans. Ironically, this concept of "natural law" (i.e. we all have this fairly uniform sense of morality) is often used by religious people as proof of God. (basically, hey if we all have this sense of right and wrong there must have been a deity that put this sense in all of us....you can see why creationists and people who understand and accept the science of evolution have such problems with each other) The implications of our morality coming from our DNA rather than from an adherence to religious texts is, to Dawkins, (and to many such as myself) the sort of proof that, yes, everyone will be just as good without religion.Expanding off of this concept, Dawkins will go on to describe how social memes (basically the zeitgeist) evolve in an inevitably progressive direction over time (overall, as there can be temporary setbacks along the overall progressive trend). It is for this precise reason, he asserts, that more and more of things like the Torah, the Bible, and the Koran are no longer adhered to today. Our morality exists because of evolution, which also means it's always evolving (it's why we have the evolution of the zeitgeist). Of course, this, despite making very good sense, is a problem for religious people, as social memes become more progressive as humanity grows and matures with evolution, despite religious writings remaining fixed in the less mature, less progressive times they were written. A conflict erupts between those people that want to continue to adhere to larger amounts of various religious writings based on a whimsical assumption they are a sort of absolute truth with a capital T, and the rest of people who will allow our moral evolution to continue to improve with time and experience as a species. As impolite as it might sound (since we are accustomed to giving religion such high levels of respect and insulation from scrutiny) belief in the perfection of scripture creates an obstacle for the evolution of humanity's moral progress.To really drive home the point that our morality comes from ourselves rather than some scriptures attributed to some deity, Dawkins talks about how things we today see as the "good parts" of something such as the Bible, like "love thy neighbor" or "thou shall not kill," are actually just as misleading as something like "we the people" in our Constitution. Things like thou shall not kill were meant to say "thou shall not kill Jews" much in the way "people" used to mean only white male property owners. Yet, today religious people interpret these Biblical rules to be more inclusive and tolerant. They do this not because the meanings of the Bible suddenly changed, but because the people reading them did. We evolve, our morality evolves, and it improves. Which is precisely why it is ridiculous that we hold up a book like the Bible that talks about ritual human sacrifices, stoning of women, killing people who work on Sunday, giving your daughter's virginity to as retribution to save a man from being anally raped, etc, etc, as some sort of "code of our morality." The fact we can pick and choose the "good" and "bad" parts is demonstrative that it's been us, humans, not some divine intervention all along.From there, Dawkins will talk about what he perceives as the damage religion creates. He basically subscribes to the idea that good people will be good and bad people bad with or without religion, but only with religion will good people do bad. I and others aren't so sure of that, although there is a strong circumstantial case to be made. However, I do regret that Dawkins goes on such a lengthy, albeit incredibly well articulated bashing of his perceived horrors of religion, as I feel it will turn too many otherwise open intellectual, scientifically minded people away from the larger message of the book, which is that freedom of thought should always trump dogma. Obviously he jumps into the homosexuality thing, as it really is one of those things no one would be against if not for religion. Yet, I find this part of the book, at least given what the book's larger objective is, to be rather unnecessary. The discussion of the religious objection to abortion is more interesting; although still not something I would have gone after if I were attempting to do what Dawkins was. The notion of consequentialism (what are the consequences of permitting or not permitting this action) vs. the notion of absolutism (this action shall be permitted or not permitted based on an absolute, predetermined labeling of the thing as "good" or "bad" based on my religion) is a riveting one, but I think it is only such if you are already intellectually enlightened prior to the picking up of Dawkins' writing. I further believe he makes a mistake in demonizing "moderate" religion, and nearly suggesting that it is as much not a real thing as "50/50 agnocisticsm" is. Moderate religious belief may not be any less scientifically implausible and ridiculous than extremist religious belief, but if we are truly asking ourselves if we ought to be militant atheists or atheists with a religiously libertarian attitude to the unenlightened world, I think a consideration of the lesser damages of moderate religion should be better considered (he seems to view people like Ted Haggard as "moderate" by American standards, perhaps a disillusioned view of the extremeness of American religiosity coming from a Brit that thinks we are worse than we really are)After taking this detour to talk about the bad of religion, Dawkins comes back to a far more convincing "ought we to" argument. The question is whether we ought to raise children religiously (which is basically a form of indoctrination, no matter how mild the upbringing may be). He points out the absurdity of labeling kids by their parents religion (you would never do that with their parent's political or economic opinions). He also points out that while physical abuse is horrible, abuse of the mind leaves far longer lasting scars. I think the way in which he makes the point is very sloppy and perhaps even unknowingly offensive, as he compares the Catholic priest scandal to indoctrinating of minds and calls the latter worse (as well as discussing the story of a woman who said she had been more traumatized as child by thinking her dead friend was burning in hell for being the wrong religion than she was by being sexually abused by a priest). Overall, I'm not sure I can come to think of any form of religious indoctrination as worse than sexual exploitation of minors, but I can appreciate that even when a household is open minded and intellectual and the parents fully accepting of whatever their children end up believing later on (as was the case with mine) being raised religious still leaves you with a nasty feeling that you've done something wrong, that you failed your parents, that they'd be happier if they you had turned out as they intended, or even that somehow you are indicating to them you don't think of them as good people since you ended up believing in different things than they did.On a tamer note, Dawkins goes on to make the distinction between teaching about religion and teaching religion. Much as we learn of Greek and Roman mythology so that we may understand the literary gems of the day, Dawkins asserts that we do need to explore contemporary western religious for literary purposes. Yet, he couples this with a harsh discussion of how trying to teach religious dogma in place of or in refutation of sound science is perhaps the worst form of intellectual child abuse.The book concludes with an examination of the most powerful "ought we" question. Even if it's beyond unlikely there is a God for which there is no sound evidence, ought we to believe in it, or at least socially protect the belief in such, not because it will save our morality, or because it fails to harm, or because parents should be left to teach their kids as they choose (religion does not make our morality, it's not without harm, and parental indoctrination is, in fact, one such harm), but rather because it provides an ability to comfort, console, and inspire humanity? In trying to answer this question Dawkins first concedes that the notion of God does comfort, console, and inspire people. By doing this, he appears to unknowingly answer the question he earlier failed to answer (from where does religion come?). Religion, it would seem comes from adults who couldn't give up the security of an unconditional, loving, helpful friend that always has time to be there for you. In other words, as impolite as it sounds, religion allows adults to have that imaginary friend when times call for it. Dawkins speaks of a story of a woman who says she had an imaginary friend as a child who she later had a dream about as an adult where the friend (a sort of Barney-like purple creature) was giving her advice as to how to navigate a crisis in her life. He quite profoundly postulates that this adult extension of childhood friends is at the essence of belief in deities.So, then the question becomes whether or not we can be consoled and inspired while acknowledging that our adult imaginary friend known as God is just as unlikely to exist as any childhood imaginary friend. He suggests we most certainly can and invokes quantum mechanics and an unnamed reference to biocentric perception as the reason why. Basically, we evolved to perceive the world as we do because that's what we needed to perceive in order to successfully navigate it. Yet, there is much in this universe, and other proposed universes that is far too small, too large, too fast, too slow, and whatever else for us to perceive let alone understand. The world we see is such a tiny bit of reality and such a limited understanding of all there is to understand. With science, we can discover realities in which we do not exist and come to understand all the things within our reality that we do not perceive. He uses the amazing analogy of a woman in a burka with only the slit where her eyes are being exposed. He instructs us to imagine that the woman and the burka covering her are miles upon miles tall/long. Because modern science has begun to discover both how long the burka of reality really is and also figuring out ways to understand the rest of the burka, the tiny slit humanity has previously been confined to perceive things from is rapidly opening up. Thus, it becomes apparent to us readers that we can very much be inspired by all these new components of vast, vast reality that there is to be investigated, and we can very much be comforted by increasing our understanding of this vast reality. We can obtain this inspiration and comfort by using science, which yes, does destroy old superstitious dogmas we found comforting in the face of uncertainty from the slit of the burka, but what there is to find, in exchange for giving up the comparatively smaller comfort and inspiration that was the religious placeholder, is so, so much greater than what we got from our delusions. <hl>

adce34cb08e89253cad1f815ab9e976d

books

the action is super-fast paced and action packed

question: Does its contains a lot of action?, context: Like all Dan Brown's Robert Langdon books, the action is super-fast paced and action packed. His works remind me a lot of Alistair McLean or Desmond Bagley books in their formula.As mentioned, I thoroughly enjoyed this book right up until about the point, where I couldn't put it down for fear of losing the thread of all the different plot lines. It just got too busy.Great book, but it could have done with 1 or 2 less twists.This is another great book from Brown, but some advice? When to go to read it, I'd really suggest you clear a day and just go at it. It deserves your undivided attention.Basic premise - Langdon wakes up in a small Italian Hospital with no knowledge of how he got there and just get's swept along in his struggle to make sense of it all. SPOILER alert:What he finds is that some madman or group is planning to poison the world population in some misguided save the planet type environmental mission.

Does its contains a lot of action?

Like all Dan Brown's Robert Langdon books, the action is super-fast paced and action packed .

Like all Dan Brown's Robert Langdon books, the action is super-fast paced and action packed. His works remind me a lot of Alistair McLean or Desmond Bagley books in their formula.As mentioned, I thoroughly enjoyed this book right up until about the point, where I couldn't put it down for fear of losing the thread of all the different plot lines. It just got too busy.Great book, but it could have done with 1 or 2 less twists.This is another great book from Brown, but some advice? When to go to read it, I'd really suggest you clear a day and just go at it. It deserves your undivided attention.Basic premise - Langdon wakes up in a small Italian Hospital with no knowledge of how he got there and just get's swept along in his struggle to make sense of it all. SPOILER alert:What he finds is that some madman or group is planning to poison the world population in some misguided save the planet type environmental mission.

Like all Dan Brown's Robert Langdon books, <hl> the action is super-fast paced and action packed <hl> .

Like all Dan Brown's Robert Langdon books, <hl> the action is super-fast paced and action packed <hl>. His works remind me a lot of Alistair McLean or Desmond Bagley books in their formula.As mentioned, I thoroughly enjoyed this book right up until about the point, where I couldn't put it down for fear of losing the thread of all the different plot lines. It just got too busy.Great book, but it could have done with 1 or 2 less twists.This is another great book from Brown, but some advice? When to go to read it, I'd really suggest you clear a day and just go at it. It deserves your undivided attention.Basic premise - Langdon wakes up in a small Italian Hospital with no knowledge of how he got there and just get's swept along in his struggle to make sense of it all. SPOILER alert:What he finds is that some madman or group is planning to poison the world population in some misguided save the planet type environmental mission.

<hl> Like all Dan Brown's Robert Langdon books, the action is super-fast paced and action packed . <hl> His works remind me a lot of Alistair McLean or Desmond Bagley books in their formula. As mentioned, I thoroughly enjoyed this book right up until about the point, where I couldn't put it down for fear of losing the thread of all the different plot lines. It just got too busy. Great book, but it could have done with 1 or 2 less twists. This is another great book from Brown, but some advice? When to go to read it, I'd really suggest you clear a day and just go at it. It deserves your undivided attention. Basic premise - Langdon wakes up in a small Italian Hospital with no knowledge of how he got there and just get's swept along in his struggle to make sense of it all. SPOILER alert:What he finds is that some madman or group is planning to poison the world population in some misguided save the planet type environmental mission.

353cab235dd73dad932e7fa45da273a0

books

I know because it took all of my self

question: Do you know the book?, context: Wow! Talk about a thrill ride! If you're looking for a book that you cannot put down, The Maze Runner is what you need. You will start reading The Maze Runner and forget to eat, bath, or feed your cats. You will not be able to put the book down until the very last page. I cannot stress this enough. I know because it took all of my self-control to take breaks from reading. The Maze Runner had everything that I love in a good science fiction novel, thought provoking scenarios, engaging characters, and a suspenseful plot.The voice of Thomas sucked me into the story from the very beginning. I wanted to find out what was going to happen to him. Why are all these boys trapped in a maze? What does it all mean? Who put them there? I felt like I was standing right beside Thomas while he was trying to figure all of these things out. I also thought that the secondary characters were vivid and believable. Chuck in particular was one of my other favorite secondary characters. I hate to use the word secondary to describe Chuck, because he was such a huge part of the story. I just loved him though.The fast pace of The Maze Runner kept me rapidly turning to pages. The half animal half technology Grievers scared the bejesus out of me! As I read along each new discovery left me feeling shocked, disturbed, and very often both.The ending just about killed me. I'm dying to get my hands on the sequel now to find out what happens. Some big questions are unanswered, but most are not. I might have to camp outside James Dashner's home until he throw a manuscript out to me.I would recommend The Maze Runner to anyone who loves thrilling science fiction novels.

Do you know the book?

I know because it took all of my self -control to take breaks from reading.

Wow! Talk about a thrill ride! If you're looking for a book that you cannot put down, The Maze Runner is what you need. You will start reading The Maze Runner and forget to eat, bath, or feed your cats. You will not be able to put the book down until the very last page. I cannot stress this enough. I know because it took all of my self-control to take breaks from reading. The Maze Runner had everything that I love in a good science fiction novel, thought provoking scenarios, engaging characters, and a suspenseful plot.The voice of Thomas sucked me into the story from the very beginning. I wanted to find out what was going to happen to him. Why are all these boys trapped in a maze? What does it all mean? Who put them there? I felt like I was standing right beside Thomas while he was trying to figure all of these things out. I also thought that the secondary characters were vivid and believable. Chuck in particular was one of my other favorite secondary characters. I hate to use the word secondary to describe Chuck, because he was such a huge part of the story. I just loved him though.The fast pace of The Maze Runner kept me rapidly turning to pages. The half animal half technology Grievers scared the bejesus out of me! As I read along each new discovery left me feeling shocked, disturbed, and very often both.The ending just about killed me. I'm dying to get my hands on the sequel now to find out what happens. Some big questions are unanswered, but most are not. I might have to camp outside James Dashner's home until he throw a manuscript out to me.I would recommend The Maze Runner to anyone who loves thrilling science fiction novels.

<hl> I know because it took all of my self <hl> -control to take breaks from reading.

Wow! Talk about a thrill ride! If you're looking for a book that you cannot put down, The Maze Runner is what you need. You will start reading The Maze Runner and forget to eat, bath, or feed your cats. You will not be able to put the book down until the very last page. I cannot stress this enough. <hl> I know because it took all of my self <hl>-control to take breaks from reading. The Maze Runner had everything that I love in a good science fiction novel, thought provoking scenarios, engaging characters, and a suspenseful plot.The voice of Thomas sucked me into the story from the very beginning. I wanted to find out what was going to happen to him. Why are all these boys trapped in a maze? What does it all mean? Who put them there? I felt like I was standing right beside Thomas while he was trying to figure all of these things out. I also thought that the secondary characters were vivid and believable. Chuck in particular was one of my other favorite secondary characters. I hate to use the word secondary to describe Chuck, because he was such a huge part of the story. I just loved him though.The fast pace of The Maze Runner kept me rapidly turning to pages. The half animal half technology Grievers scared the bejesus out of me! As I read along each new discovery left me feeling shocked, disturbed, and very often both.The ending just about killed me. I'm dying to get my hands on the sequel now to find out what happens. Some big questions are unanswered, but most are not. I might have to camp outside James Dashner's home until he throw a manuscript out to me.I would recommend The Maze Runner to anyone who loves thrilling science fiction novels.

Wow! Talk about a thrill ride! If you're looking for a book that you cannot put down, The Maze Runner is what you need. You will start reading The Maze Runner and forget to eat, bath, or feed your cats. You will not be able to put the book down until the very last page. I cannot stress this enough. <hl> I know because it took all of my self -control to take breaks from reading. <hl> The Maze Runner had everything that I love in a good science fiction novel, thought provoking scenarios, engaging characters, and a suspenseful plot. The voice of Thomas sucked me into the story from the very beginning. I wanted to find out what was going to happen to him. Why are all these boys trapped in a maze? What does it all mean? Who put them there? I felt like I was standing right beside Thomas while he was trying to figure all of these things out. I also thought that the secondary characters were vivid and believable. Chuck in particular was one of my other favorite secondary characters. I hate to use the word secondary to describe Chuck, because he was such a huge part of the story. I just loved him though. The fast pace of The Maze Runner kept me rapidly turning to pages. The half animal half technology Grievers scared the bejesus out of me! As I read along each new discovery left me feeling shocked, disturbed, and very often both. The ending just about killed me. I'm dying to get my hands on the sequel now to find out what happens. Some big questions are unanswered, but most are not. I might have to camp outside James Dashner's home until he throw a manuscript out to me. I would recommend The Maze Runner to anyone who loves thrilling science fiction novels.

bdea057842baaec4cf59881628aee0cd

books

This book is so much and i love it

question: What is your feeling about this book?, context: This book is so much and i love it!! The book punched me right in the feels! I am 10 years old and love this book!!

What is your feeling about this book?

This book is so much and i love it !!

This book is so much and i love it!! The book punched me right in the feels! I am 10 years old and love this book!!

<hl> This book is so much and i love it <hl> !!

<hl> This book is so much and i love it <hl>!! The book punched me right in the feels! I am 10 years old and love this book!!

<hl> This book is so much and i love it !! <hl> The book punched me right in the feels! I am 10 years old and love this book!!

3c9f476246e3c10a068bf2df38d896c2

books

Hunger Games

question: What is novel?, context: This is one novel that deserves the popularity it enjoys. Wow, is this book good!The main thing that makes this such a favorite is the suspense that Collins has woven in. I could not stop listening to this book! I kept trying to find more things to clean around the house to justify listening to it for "just another hour." Of course, that hour turned into two hours, which turned into three hours -- needless to say, I finished this one very quickly and my house was sparkling for a couple of days. There is never any part where the reader's emotions are allowed to rest. Like Katniss, I was always on edge, waiting for her next challenge, waiting for the next bad thing to happen. This makes it a fast read. Also, since it's told through Katniss's eyes and the storytelling is excellent, I was completely involved in the story from start to finish.Haymitch is by far my favorite character, with Katniss being a close second. I thought all the characters were wonderfully done. I got a sense of each of them without being told exactly who they were, what they did, and what I should think of them. Collins lets us draw our own conclusions by giving their personalities through Katniss's eyes and letting the characters' actions speak for themselves. I think this envelops all of the book, actually. She doesn't dumb down the writing just because it's young adult. It's complex, teaches lessons without being didactic, and (better yet) doesn't talk down to the reader.Another thing I appreciate is the realism Collins brings to The Hunger Games. Problems don't magically disappear and there isn't any forced happily-ever-afters. It's violent, brutal, and dark. Those who are squeamish will have a hard time with this story, but I think it's worth it. For one thing, the violence isn't there for shock value, as is the case for some novels, unfortunately. Rather, it's a statement about the government of Panem and what these people are forced to live with. I like that the characters are forced to work through their problems and actually deal with issues. It makes for an interesting story, the characters are allowed to grow and change, and it reflects the real world. Problems don't just disappear.The narration of the audiobook is also excellent. McCormick is so talented at infusing her words with emotions and getting the pacing exactly right. The voices for each of her characters are easy to distinguish, even if you're listening to it in the background. Her rendition is so well done, in fact, that I found myself pausing in my chores to just listen to her tell the story.I highly recommend this to everyone. Yes, there is violence, yes it is dark, but these are parts of the message The Hunger Games holds. This is one book worth reading.

What is novel?

The Hunger Games .

This is one novel that deserves the popularity it enjoys. Wow, is this book good!The main thing that makes this such a favorite is the suspense that Collins has woven in. I could not stop listening to this book! I kept trying to find more things to clean around the house to justify listening to it for "just another hour." Of course, that hour turned into two hours, which turned into three hours -- needless to say, I finished this one very quickly and my house was sparkling for a couple of days. There is never any part where the reader's emotions are allowed to rest. Like Katniss, I was always on edge, waiting for her next challenge, waiting for the next bad thing to happen. This makes it a fast read. Also, since it's told through Katniss's eyes and the storytelling is excellent, I was completely involved in the story from start to finish.Haymitch is by far my favorite character, with Katniss being a close second. I thought all the characters were wonderfully done. I got a sense of each of them without being told exactly who they were, what they did, and what I should think of them. Collins lets us draw our own conclusions by giving their personalities through Katniss's eyes and letting the characters' actions speak for themselves. I think this envelops all of the book, actually. She doesn't dumb down the writing just because it's young adult. It's complex, teaches lessons without being didactic, and (better yet) doesn't talk down to the reader.Another thing I appreciate is the realism Collins brings to The Hunger Games. Problems don't magically disappear and there isn't any forced happily-ever-afters. It's violent, brutal, and dark. Those who are squeamish will have a hard time with this story, but I think it's worth it. For one thing, the violence isn't there for shock value, as is the case for some novels, unfortunately. Rather, it's a statement about the government of Panem and what these people are forced to live with. I like that the characters are forced to work through their problems and actually deal with issues. It makes for an interesting story, the characters are allowed to grow and change, and it reflects the real world. Problems don't just disappear.The narration of the audiobook is also excellent. McCormick is so talented at infusing her words with emotions and getting the pacing exactly right. The voices for each of her characters are easy to distinguish, even if you're listening to it in the background. Her rendition is so well done, in fact, that I found myself pausing in my chores to just listen to her tell the story.I highly recommend this to everyone. Yes, there is violence, yes it is dark, but these are parts of the message The Hunger Games holds. This is one book worth reading.

The <hl> Hunger Games <hl> .

This is one novel that deserves the popularity it enjoys. Wow, is this book good!The main thing that makes this such a favorite is the suspense that Collins has woven in. I could not stop listening to this book! I kept trying to find more things to clean around the house to justify listening to it for "just another hour." Of course, that hour turned into two hours, which turned into three hours -- needless to say, I finished this one very quickly and my house was sparkling for a couple of days. There is never any part where the reader's emotions are allowed to rest. Like Katniss, I was always on edge, waiting for her next challenge, waiting for the next bad thing to happen. This makes it a fast read. Also, since it's told through Katniss's eyes and the storytelling is excellent, I was completely involved in the story from start to finish.Haymitch is by far my favorite character, with Katniss being a close second. I thought all the characters were wonderfully done. I got a sense of each of them without being told exactly who they were, what they did, and what I should think of them. Collins lets us draw our own conclusions by giving their personalities through Katniss's eyes and letting the characters' actions speak for themselves. I think this envelops all of the book, actually. She doesn't dumb down the writing just because it's young adult. It's complex, teaches lessons without being didactic, and (better yet) doesn't talk down to the reader.Another thing I appreciate is the realism Collins brings to The <hl> Hunger Games <hl>. Problems don't magically disappear and there isn't any forced happily-ever-afters. It's violent, brutal, and dark. Those who are squeamish will have a hard time with this story, but I think it's worth it. For one thing, the violence isn't there for shock value, as is the case for some novels, unfortunately. Rather, it's a statement about the government of Panem and what these people are forced to live with. I like that the characters are forced to work through their problems and actually deal with issues. It makes for an interesting story, the characters are allowed to grow and change, and it reflects the real world. Problems don't just disappear.The narration of the audiobook is also excellent. McCormick is so talented at infusing her words with emotions and getting the pacing exactly right. The voices for each of her characters are easy to distinguish, even if you're listening to it in the background. Her rendition is so well done, in fact, that I found myself pausing in my chores to just listen to her tell the story.I highly recommend this to everyone. Yes, there is violence, yes it is dark, but these are parts of the message The Hunger Games holds. This is one book worth reading.

This is one novel that deserves the popularity it enjoys. Wow, is this book good!The main thing that makes this such a favorite is the suspense that Collins has woven in. I could not stop listening to this book! I kept trying to find more things to clean around the house to justify listening to it for "just another hour." Of course, that hour turned into two hours, which turned into three hours -- needless to say, I finished this one very quickly and my house was sparkling for a couple of days. There is never any part where the reader's emotions are allowed to rest. Like Katniss, I was always on edge, waiting for her next challenge, waiting for the next bad thing to happen. This makes it a fast read. Also, since it's told through Katniss's eyes and the storytelling is excellent, I was completely involved in the story from start to finish. Haymitch is by far my favorite character, with Katniss being a close second. I thought all the characters were wonderfully done. I got a sense of each of them without being told exactly who they were, what they did, and what I should think of them. Collins lets us draw our own conclusions by giving their personalities through Katniss's eyes and letting the characters' actions speak for themselves. I think this envelops all of the book, actually. She doesn't dumb down the writing just because it's young adult. It's complex, teaches lessons without being didactic, and (better yet) doesn't talk down to the reader. Another thing I appreciate is the realism Collins brings to <hl> The Hunger Games . <hl> Problems don't magically disappear and there isn't any forced happily-ever-afters. It's violent, brutal, and dark. Those who are squeamish will have a hard time with this story, but I think it's worth it. For one thing, the violence isn't there for shock value, as is the case for some novels, unfortunately. Rather, it's a statement about the government of Panem and what these people are forced to live with. I like that the characters are forced to work through their problems and actually deal with issues. It makes for an interesting story, the characters are allowed to grow and change, and it reflects the real world. Problems don't just disappear. The narration of the audiobook is also excellent. McCormick is so talented at infusing her words with emotions and getting the pacing exactly right. The voices for each of her characters are easy to distinguish, even if you're listening to it in the background. Her rendition is so well done, in fact, that I found myself pausing in my chores to just listen to her tell the story. I highly recommend this to everyone. Yes, there is violence, yes it is dark, but these are parts of the message The Hunger Games holds. This is one book worth reading.

dee789fb7f6dc77a0e414c94c38be8f7

books

I found the booking disappointment

question: Is it a good book?, context: I found the booking disappointment, maybe because there is so much hype about it and my expectations were too high.Fist of all 21 years old virgin? hard to believeand from her first time having sex she is having mind blowing orgasimsI found the book filled in with fluff, like pages and pages of e mails between them that don't say anything but fill the pages. Each of them on his cover letter with at least six lines filled with name, subject, date etc and one or two words or one line of the actual e mail and very childishMaybe it is meant for younger audience but I am 44 and found it lacking and have hard time finishing it. Keep reading hoping it will get better but it does not.To me it was waste of money!

Is it a good book?

I found the booking disappointment , maybe because there is so much hype about it and my expectations were too high.

I found the booking disappointment, maybe because there is so much hype about it and my expectations were too high.Fist of all 21 years old virgin? hard to believeand from her first time having sex she is having mind blowing orgasimsI found the book filled in with fluff, like pages and pages of e mails between them that don't say anything but fill the pages. Each of them on his cover letter with at least six lines filled with name, subject, date etc and one or two words or one line of the actual e mail and very childishMaybe it is meant for younger audience but I am 44 and found it lacking and have hard time finishing it. Keep reading hoping it will get better but it does not.To me it was waste of money!

<hl> I found the booking disappointment <hl> , maybe because there is so much hype about it and my expectations were too high.

<hl> I found the booking disappointment <hl>, maybe because there is so much hype about it and my expectations were too high.Fist of all 21 years old virgin? hard to believeand from her first time having sex she is having mind blowing orgasimsI found the book filled in with fluff, like pages and pages of e mails between them that don't say anything but fill the pages. Each of them on his cover letter with at least six lines filled with name, subject, date etc and one or two words or one line of the actual e mail and very childishMaybe it is meant for younger audience but I am 44 and found it lacking and have hard time finishing it. Keep reading hoping it will get better but it does not.To me it was waste of money!

<hl> I found the booking disappointment , maybe because there is so much hype about it and my expectations were too high. <hl> Fist of all 21 years old virgin? hard to believeand from her first time having sex she is having mind blowing orgasimsI found the book filled in with fluff, like pages and pages of e mails between them that don't say anything but fill the pages. Each of them on his cover letter with at least six lines filled with name, subject, date etc and one or two words or one line of the actual e mail and very childishMaybe it is meant for younger audience but I am 44 and found it lacking and have hard time finishing it. Keep reading hoping it will get better but it does not. To me it was waste of money!

f2163b697dc0f2decb651b68d3d8c648

books

Raw is a very apt title because the emotions evoked are raw

question: Why do you have raw parts in the book?, context: This is a really hard book to read, with extremely violent and twisted situations. It's not for the faint of heart and it's not a warm and fuzzy story. Raw is a very apt title because the emotions evoked are raw. And disturbing. But in it's own strange way, beautiful because as Twitch says, &#34;what is normal?&#34; By the end of this book, I was sobbing like a baby, feeling every ounce of hurt and sadness that the characters feel. This story is so different from anything else I've read and I'm glad. Do not read if you're easily turned off but difficult subject matters.

Why do you have raw parts in the book?

Raw is a very apt title because the emotions evoked are raw .

This is a really hard book to read, with extremely violent and twisted situations. It's not for the faint of heart and it's not a warm and fuzzy story. Raw is a very apt title because the emotions evoked are raw. And disturbing. But in it's own strange way, beautiful because as Twitch says, &#34;what is normal?&#34; By the end of this book, I was sobbing like a baby, feeling every ounce of hurt and sadness that the characters feel. This story is so different from anything else I've read and I'm glad. Do not read if you're easily turned off but difficult subject matters.

<hl> Raw is a very apt title because the emotions evoked are raw <hl> .

This is a really hard book to read, with extremely violent and twisted situations. It's not for the faint of heart and it's not a warm and fuzzy story. <hl> Raw is a very apt title because the emotions evoked are raw <hl>. And disturbing. But in it's own strange way, beautiful because as Twitch says, &#34;what is normal?&#34; By the end of this book, I was sobbing like a baby, feeling every ounce of hurt and sadness that the characters feel. This story is so different from anything else I've read and I'm glad. Do not read if you're easily turned off but difficult subject matters.

This is a really hard book to read, with extremely violent and twisted situations. It's not for the faint of heart and it's not a warm and fuzzy story. <hl> Raw is a very apt title because the emotions evoked are raw . <hl> And disturbing. But in it's own strange way, beautiful because as Twitch says, &#34;what is normal?&#34; By the end of this book, I was sobbing like a baby, feeling every ounce of hurt and sadness that the characters feel. This story is so different from anything else I've read and I'm glad. Do not read if you're easily turned off but difficult subject matters.

5420ce1ee89e9fb01e9e46464e5449e5

books

avoid

question: Are evil people on story line of this book?, context: I tend to avoid the blockbuster bestsellers. But my mother's friend gave her The Help, and she passed it on to me. I wasn't very interested, although the movie trailers looked better than I'd expected. But I was in desperate need of something distracting one night, something other than what I'd been reading or, it seemed, anything else within reach, and The Help next thing I knew it was 2:30 AM and it was only through sheer willpower that I put this down and tried to go to sleep. Tried. It wasn't easy. I read this book in three sittings, and it would have been one if I'd had any say in the matter. That hasn't happened in a while.An indication of how thoroughly distracted I was: I loathe, despise, and abominate the present tense in fiction. It's silly to admit it, but I was halfway through the book before it really registered that all three points of view in The Help are present tense. I grew used to it in Aibileen's section - it was just a part of the dialect, of Aibileen's voice; the same was true of Minny's, and by the time I started Skeeter's first chapter I was well beyond simply engrossed. I literally did a double-take when for some reason one present-tense usage registered It was simply that I was paying far more attention to what was happening than to how it was written - and it's been a very long time since that happened, that thoroughly.It should not have been so very compulsively readable. Present tense; dialect to one degree or another throughout; but the three women whose voices tell the story are so vibrant and alive that Kathryn Stockett might have been able to get away with future tense Pig Latin and still produced gold. (I wouldn't recommend it, however.) Aibileen and Minny and Skeeter are each in her way wounded, and are not about to be sharing everything right off with someone they know as little as the reader. It takes time to gain their friendship and their confidence, and in the meantime the secrets they keep are only hinted at, to torment and tease. When the secrets are finally revealed, in their own time, they are equal to their buildup. Again, not something easily pulled off.Each section is written just as if the narrator were talking to the reader, truly in her voice. Each woman's voice belongs to her and her alone. Aibileen's dialect is heavy, warm but mildly ironic, bitterness and sorrow always just below the surface - or higher. I adore Aibileen. Minny's mother was a schoolteacher and had no patience for slang, and Minny has never quite lapsed from her high standards; neither of these women is stupid, not by a long mark, but Minny's voice has a closer relationship to formal grammar - along with a bigger helping of sarcasm and bitterness. Skeeter is a college girl, and her voice, always worried, is closest to standard - but she is still a Mississippi girl and still calls the Harper & Row editor Missus Stein. One test of good fiction writing is whether a character's dialogue can be matched to that character based on style and syntax alone. Any single paragraph in this book can pass that test.I feel a little stupid that some of the dangers of the time and place never occurred to me. The 60's aren't my milieu. I happily missed nearly all the decade, and the only thing I've regretted was the moon launch (and maybe the Beatles). Plus I'm a Northern girl; even at the worst of it, before I was born, it wasn't quite as bad here. (Partly because, I find, segregation was more due to strictly separated neighborhoods (or rather neighborhoods and ghettos) than law.) I knew some of it, of course. I knew the basics of the story of Emmet Till (though I didn't realize he was only 14; or maybe it was another case I had heard of. There were no doubt many). But I simply was clueless about how prevalent and constant the danger was. Every day, every action, every word and look and conversation and quirk of an eyebrow might be scrutinized, and might lead to ... anything. Being fired; being beaten; being killed. Crosses burned, houses burned, bodies burned. And even beyond the danger, almost as hard to live with had to be the constant, continuous barrage of words. Even someone otherwise not unfriendly thought nothing of what is now (happily almost universally) considered outrageous remarks. Complete strangers were free to say appalling things.I know - I've been sheltered, that this was such a revelation to me. Don't think I'm not, in a large way, grateful.If I had been forced to say what I expected from The Help it would probably have been social commentary. Heart-warming. Heartstring-tugging. Some facile tale of some white girl's expos&eacute; on racial inequality. I was shocked, actually shocked, at the level of anxiety in this novel - it was more intense than a great many books intended as suspense novels. There was the not-quite comic suspense of what exactly the deal was with the pie. But, more, much more, there was the concern, the need to know if these women were going to be all right. There was no guarantee of that, none. Someone's review of another book nailed it:"Yes, somehow Mason made even those aspects of the novel incredibly interesting though it's a subject in which I have very little interest. I sympathised very much with Eloise's terrors and her courage at facing them - in fact I found I couldn't stop worrying about her even when I wasn't reading the book."I cared about these people. (Not characters: people.) I worried about them - yes, even when I wasn't reading the book. I learned from this, factually and emotionally. I was deeply impressed - this was a beautiful, beautiful book.

Are evil people on story line of this book?

I tend to avoid the blockbuster bestsellers.

I tend to avoid the blockbuster bestsellers. But my mother's friend gave her The Help, and she passed it on to me. I wasn't very interested, although the movie trailers looked better than I'd expected. But I was in desperate need of something distracting one night, something other than what I'd been reading or, it seemed, anything else within reach, and The Help next thing I knew it was 2:30 AM and it was only through sheer willpower that I put this down and tried to go to sleep. Tried. It wasn't easy. I read this book in three sittings, and it would have been one if I'd had any say in the matter. That hasn't happened in a while.An indication of how thoroughly distracted I was: I loathe, despise, and abominate the present tense in fiction. It's silly to admit it, but I was halfway through the book before it really registered that all three points of view in The Help are present tense. I grew used to it in Aibileen's section - it was just a part of the dialect, of Aibileen's voice; the same was true of Minny's, and by the time I started Skeeter's first chapter I was well beyond simply engrossed. I literally did a double-take when for some reason one present-tense usage registered It was simply that I was paying far more attention to what was happening than to how it was written - and it's been a very long time since that happened, that thoroughly.It should not have been so very compulsively readable. Present tense; dialect to one degree or another throughout; but the three women whose voices tell the story are so vibrant and alive that Kathryn Stockett might have been able to get away with future tense Pig Latin and still produced gold. (I wouldn't recommend it, however.) Aibileen and Minny and Skeeter are each in her way wounded, and are not about to be sharing everything right off with someone they know as little as the reader. It takes time to gain their friendship and their confidence, and in the meantime the secrets they keep are only hinted at, to torment and tease. When the secrets are finally revealed, in their own time, they are equal to their buildup. Again, not something easily pulled off.Each section is written just as if the narrator were talking to the reader, truly in her voice. Each woman's voice belongs to her and her alone. Aibileen's dialect is heavy, warm but mildly ironic, bitterness and sorrow always just below the surface - or higher. I adore Aibileen. Minny's mother was a schoolteacher and had no patience for slang, and Minny has never quite lapsed from her high standards; neither of these women is stupid, not by a long mark, but Minny's voice has a closer relationship to formal grammar - along with a bigger helping of sarcasm and bitterness. Skeeter is a college girl, and her voice, always worried, is closest to standard - but she is still a Mississippi girl and still calls the Harper & Row editor Missus Stein. One test of good fiction writing is whether a character's dialogue can be matched to that character based on style and syntax alone. Any single paragraph in this book can pass that test.I feel a little stupid that some of the dangers of the time and place never occurred to me. The 60's aren't my milieu. I happily missed nearly all the decade, and the only thing I've regretted was the moon launch (and maybe the Beatles). Plus I'm a Northern girl; even at the worst of it, before I was born, it wasn't quite as bad here. (Partly because, I find, segregation was more due to strictly separated neighborhoods (or rather neighborhoods and ghettos) than law.) I knew some of it, of course. I knew the basics of the story of Emmet Till (though I didn't realize he was only 14; or maybe it was another case I had heard of. There were no doubt many). But I simply was clueless about how prevalent and constant the danger was. Every day, every action, every word and look and conversation and quirk of an eyebrow might be scrutinized, and might lead to ... anything. Being fired; being beaten; being killed. Crosses burned, houses burned, bodies burned. And even beyond the danger, almost as hard to live with had to be the constant, continuous barrage of words. Even someone otherwise not unfriendly thought nothing of what is now (happily almost universally) considered outrageous remarks. Complete strangers were free to say appalling things.I know - I've been sheltered, that this was such a revelation to me. Don't think I'm not, in a large way, grateful.If I had been forced to say what I expected from The Help it would probably have been social commentary. Heart-warming. Heartstring-tugging. Some facile tale of some white girl's expos&eacute; on racial inequality. I was shocked, actually shocked, at the level of anxiety in this novel - it was more intense than a great many books intended as suspense novels. There was the not-quite comic suspense of what exactly the deal was with the pie. But, more, much more, there was the concern, the need to know if these women were going to be all right. There was no guarantee of that, none. Someone's review of another book nailed it:"Yes, somehow Mason made even those aspects of the novel incredibly interesting though it's a subject in which I have very little interest. I sympathised very much with Eloise's terrors and her courage at facing them - in fact I found I couldn't stop worrying about her even when I wasn't reading the book."I cared about these people. (Not characters: people.) I worried about them - yes, even when I wasn't reading the book. I learned from this, factually and emotionally. I was deeply impressed - this was a beautiful, beautiful book.

I tend to <hl> avoid <hl> the blockbuster bestsellers.

I tend to <hl> avoid <hl> the blockbuster bestsellers. But my mother's friend gave her The Help, and she passed it on to me. I wasn't very interested, although the movie trailers looked better than I'd expected. But I was in desperate need of something distracting one night, something other than what I'd been reading or, it seemed, anything else within reach, and The Help next thing I knew it was 2:30 AM and it was only through sheer willpower that I put this down and tried to go to sleep. Tried. It wasn't easy. I read this book in three sittings, and it would have been one if I'd had any say in the matter. That hasn't happened in a while.An indication of how thoroughly distracted I was: I loathe, despise, and abominate the present tense in fiction. It's silly to admit it, but I was halfway through the book before it really registered that all three points of view in The Help are present tense. I grew used to it in Aibileen's section - it was just a part of the dialect, of Aibileen's voice; the same was true of Minny's, and by the time I started Skeeter's first chapter I was well beyond simply engrossed. I literally did a double-take when for some reason one present-tense usage registered It was simply that I was paying far more attention to what was happening than to how it was written - and it's been a very long time since that happened, that thoroughly.It should not have been so very compulsively readable. Present tense; dialect to one degree or another throughout; but the three women whose voices tell the story are so vibrant and alive that Kathryn Stockett might have been able to get away with future tense Pig Latin and still produced gold. (I wouldn't recommend it, however.) Aibileen and Minny and Skeeter are each in her way wounded, and are not about to be sharing everything right off with someone they know as little as the reader. It takes time to gain their friendship and their confidence, and in the meantime the secrets they keep are only hinted at, to torment and tease. When the secrets are finally revealed, in their own time, they are equal to their buildup. Again, not something easily pulled off.Each section is written just as if the narrator were talking to the reader, truly in her voice. Each woman's voice belongs to her and her alone. Aibileen's dialect is heavy, warm but mildly ironic, bitterness and sorrow always just below the surface - or higher. I adore Aibileen. Minny's mother was a schoolteacher and had no patience for slang, and Minny has never quite lapsed from her high standards; neither of these women is stupid, not by a long mark, but Minny's voice has a closer relationship to formal grammar - along with a bigger helping of sarcasm and bitterness. Skeeter is a college girl, and her voice, always worried, is closest to standard - but she is still a Mississippi girl and still calls the Harper & Row editor Missus Stein. One test of good fiction writing is whether a character's dialogue can be matched to that character based on style and syntax alone. Any single paragraph in this book can pass that test.I feel a little stupid that some of the dangers of the time and place never occurred to me. The 60's aren't my milieu. I happily missed nearly all the decade, and the only thing I've regretted was the moon launch (and maybe the Beatles). Plus I'm a Northern girl; even at the worst of it, before I was born, it wasn't quite as bad here. (Partly because, I find, segregation was more due to strictly separated neighborhoods (or rather neighborhoods and ghettos) than law.) I knew some of it, of course. I knew the basics of the story of Emmet Till (though I didn't realize he was only 14; or maybe it was another case I had heard of. There were no doubt many). But I simply was clueless about how prevalent and constant the danger was. Every day, every action, every word and look and conversation and quirk of an eyebrow might be scrutinized, and might lead to ... anything. Being fired; being beaten; being killed. Crosses burned, houses burned, bodies burned. And even beyond the danger, almost as hard to live with had to be the constant, continuous barrage of words. Even someone otherwise not unfriendly thought nothing of what is now (happily almost universally) considered outrageous remarks. Complete strangers were free to say appalling things.I know - I've been sheltered, that this was such a revelation to me. Don't think I'm not, in a large way, grateful.If I had been forced to say what I expected from The Help it would probably have been social commentary. Heart-warming. Heartstring-tugging. Some facile tale of some white girl's expos&eacute; on racial inequality. I was shocked, actually shocked, at the level of anxiety in this novel - it was more intense than a great many books intended as suspense novels. There was the not-quite comic suspense of what exactly the deal was with the pie. But, more, much more, there was the concern, the need to know if these women were going to be all right. There was no guarantee of that, none. Someone's review of another book nailed it:"Yes, somehow Mason made even those aspects of the novel incredibly interesting though it's a subject in which I have very little interest. I sympathised very much with Eloise's terrors and her courage at facing them - in fact I found I couldn't stop worrying about her even when I wasn't reading the book."I cared about these people. (Not characters: people.) I worried about them - yes, even when I wasn't reading the book. I learned from this, factually and emotionally. I was deeply impressed - this was a beautiful, beautiful book.

<hl> I tend to avoid the blockbuster bestsellers. <hl> But my mother's friend gave her The Help, and she passed it on to me. I wasn't very interested, although the movie trailers looked better than I'd expected. But I was in desperate need of something distracting one night, something other than what I'd been reading or, it seemed, anything else within reach, and The Help next thing I knew it was 2:30 AM and it was only through sheer willpower that I put this down and tried to go to sleep. Tried. It wasn't easy. I read this book in three sittings, and it would have been one if I'd had any say in the matter. That hasn't happened in a while. An indication of how thoroughly distracted I was: I loathe, despise, and abominate the present tense in fiction. It's silly to admit it, but I was halfway through the book before it really registered that all three points of view in The Help are present tense. I grew used to it in Aibileen's section - it was just a part of the dialect, of Aibileen's voice; the same was true of Minny's, and by the time I started Skeeter's first chapter I was well beyond simply engrossed. I literally did a double-take when for some reason one present-tense usage registered It was simply that I was paying far more attention to what was happening than to how it was written - and it's been a very long time since that happened, that thoroughly. It should not have been so very compulsively readable. Present tense; dialect to one degree or another throughout; but the three women whose voices tell the story are so vibrant and alive that Kathryn Stockett might have been able to get away with future tense Pig Latin and still produced gold. (I wouldn't recommend it, however.) Aibileen and Minny and Skeeter are each in her way wounded, and are not about to be sharing everything right off with someone they know as little as the reader. It takes time to gain their friendship and their confidence, and in the meantime the secrets they keep are only hinted at, to torment and tease. When the secrets are finally revealed, in their own time, they are equal to their buildup. Again, not something easily pulled off. Each section is written just as if the narrator were talking to the reader, truly in her voice. Each woman's voice belongs to her and her alone. Aibileen's dialect is heavy, warm but mildly ironic, bitterness and sorrow always just below the surface - or higher. I adore Aibileen. Minny's mother was a schoolteacher and had no patience for slang, and Minny has never quite lapsed from her high standards; neither of these women is stupid, not by a long mark, but Minny's voice has a closer relationship to formal grammar - along with a bigger helping of sarcasm and bitterness. Skeeter is a college girl, and her voice, always worried, is closest to standard - but she is still a Mississippi girl and still calls the Harper & Row editor Missus Stein. One test of good fiction writing is whether a character's dialogue can be matched to that character based on style and syntax alone. Any single paragraph in this book can pass that test. I feel a little stupid that some of the dangers of the time and place never occurred to me. The 60's aren't my milieu. I happily missed nearly all the decade, and the only thing I've regretted was the moon launch (and maybe the Beatles). Plus I'm a Northern girl; even at the worst of it, before I was born, it wasn't quite as bad here. (Partly because, I find, segregation was more due to strictly separated neighborhoods (or rather neighborhoods and ghettos) than law.) I knew some of it, of course. I knew the basics of the story of Emmet Till (though I didn't realize he was only 14; or maybe it was another case I had heard of. There were no doubt many). But I simply was clueless about how prevalent and constant the danger was. Every day, every action, every word and look and conversation and quirk of an eyebrow might be scrutinized, and might lead to ... anything. Being fired; being beaten; being killed. Crosses burned, houses burned, bodies burned. And even beyond the danger, almost as hard to live with had to be the constant, continuous barrage of words. Even someone otherwise not unfriendly thought nothing of what is now (happily almost universally) considered outrageous remarks. Complete strangers were free to say appalling things. I know - I've been sheltered, that this was such a revelation to me. Don't think I'm not, in a large way, grateful. If I had been forced to say what I expected from The Help it would probably have been social commentary. Heart-warming. Heartstring-tugging. Some facile tale of some white girl's expos&eacute; on racial inequality. I was shocked, actually shocked, at the level of anxiety in this novel - it was more intense than a great many books intended as suspense novels. There was the not-quite comic suspense of what exactly the deal was with the pie. But, more, much more, there was the concern, the need to know if these women were going to be all right. There was no guarantee of that, none. Someone's review of another book nailed it:"Yes, somehow Mason made even those aspects of the novel incredibly interesting though it's a subject in which I have very little interest. I sympathised very much with Eloise's terrors and her courage at facing them - in fact I found I couldn't stop worrying about her even when I wasn't reading the book. "I cared about these people. (Not characters: people.) I worried about them - yes, even when I wasn't reading the book. I learned from this, factually and emotionally. I was deeply impressed - this was a beautiful, beautiful book.

92d2305ae7182f728cef8e2c7f0f1282

books

problem adjusting to writing

question: How do you rate the write?, context: This book is by far one of the best books I have ever read. I briefly had a problem adjusting to writing style but once lost in the story I was hooked. This author is exceptionally talented. Many other authors might fill several pages with description while this author paints extremely vivid pictures with only a few brush strokes. I also enjoyed the conversational tone of the narrative. As if, Katniss was telling her tale directly to me in my own home and if you know Katniss, she doesn't just trust anyone. So the illusion that I might just be a personal friend and confident to Katniss was truly impressive. And oh, did I feel her pain, her rage, her despair! Not very often there comes a story that is truly magic! I mean, Harry Potter, was a story about magic and has the place of highest honor on my bookshelves next to the Lord of the Rings books, but this one is entirely different. This book made me apart of the action. It made me feel like I know the characters on a personal level and once I was back in my own world I was left with a feeling like I'd just had a visit from an dear friend. I can't remember if I've ever read a book like it.

How do you rate the write?

I briefly had a problem adjusting to writing style but once lost in the story I was hooked.

This book is by far one of the best books I have ever read. I briefly had a problem adjusting to writing style but once lost in the story I was hooked. This author is exceptionally talented. Many other authors might fill several pages with description while this author paints extremely vivid pictures with only a few brush strokes. I also enjoyed the conversational tone of the narrative. As if, Katniss was telling her tale directly to me in my own home and if you know Katniss, she doesn't just trust anyone. So the illusion that I might just be a personal friend and confident to Katniss was truly impressive. And oh, did I feel her pain, her rage, her despair! Not very often there comes a story that is truly magic! I mean, Harry Potter, was a story about magic and has the place of highest honor on my bookshelves next to the Lord of the Rings books, but this one is entirely different. This book made me apart of the action. It made me feel like I know the characters on a personal level and once I was back in my own world I was left with a feeling like I'd just had a visit from an dear friend. I can't remember if I've ever read a book like it.

I briefly had a <hl> problem adjusting to writing <hl> style but once lost in the story I was hooked.

This book is by far one of the best books I have ever read. I briefly had a <hl> problem adjusting to writing <hl> style but once lost in the story I was hooked. This author is exceptionally talented. Many other authors might fill several pages with description while this author paints extremely vivid pictures with only a few brush strokes. I also enjoyed the conversational tone of the narrative. As if, Katniss was telling her tale directly to me in my own home and if you know Katniss, she doesn't just trust anyone. So the illusion that I might just be a personal friend and confident to Katniss was truly impressive. And oh, did I feel her pain, her rage, her despair! Not very often there comes a story that is truly magic! I mean, Harry Potter, was a story about magic and has the place of highest honor on my bookshelves next to the Lord of the Rings books, but this one is entirely different. This book made me apart of the action. It made me feel like I know the characters on a personal level and once I was back in my own world I was left with a feeling like I'd just had a visit from an dear friend. I can't remember if I've ever read a book like it.

This book is by far one of the best books I have ever read. <hl> I briefly had a problem adjusting to writing style but once lost in the story I was hooked. <hl> This author is exceptionally talented. Many other authors might fill several pages with description while this author paints extremely vivid pictures with only a few brush strokes. I also enjoyed the conversational tone of the narrative. As if, Katniss was telling her tale directly to me in my own home and if you know Katniss, she doesn't just trust anyone. So the illusion that I might just be a personal friend and confident to Katniss was truly impressive. And oh, did I feel her pain, her rage, her despair! Not very often there comes a story that is truly magic! I mean, Harry Potter, was a story about magic and has the place of highest honor on my bookshelves next to the Lord of the Rings books, but this one is entirely different. This book made me apart of the action. It made me feel like I know the characters on a personal level and once I was back in my own world I was left with a feeling like I'd just had a visit from an dear friend. I can't remember if I've ever read a book like it.

6417c7a79bb452a1bde370901382f810

books

I prefer reading memoirs because the stories really happened. Fiction writers often add details in the stories that don't sound believable. I know it's fiction, but I'm quickly turned off when a novel sites events that don't sound plausible. "The Help" is the rare novel that offers everything a reader could want in a good book. It's a true page-turner. One would never guess that this is Kathryn Stockett's debut novel. Her writing style is captivating. I generally don't enjoy books that have multiple narrators, but Stockett created such dynamic characters, she was able to pull it off beautifully. I would (and have) recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a Southern tale. I'm looking forward to reading more from Stockett in the future.

question: How did you think of the dog's eye?, context: I could not put this book down! Rare is the occassion when I choose fiction over non-fiction. I prefer reading memoirs because the stories really happened. Fiction writers often add details in the stories that don't sound believable. I know it's fiction, but I'm quickly turned off when a novel sites events that don't sound plausible. "The Help" is the rare novel that offers everything a reader could want in a good book. It's a true page-turner. One would never guess that this is Kathryn Stockett's debut novel. Her writing style is captivating. I generally don't enjoy books that have multiple narrators, but Stockett created such dynamic characters, she was able to pull it off beautifully. I would (and have) recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a Southern tale. I'm looking forward to reading more from Stockett in the future.

How did you think of the dog's eye?

I prefer reading memoirs because the stories really happened. Fiction writers often add details in the stories that don't sound believable. I know it's fiction, but I'm quickly turned off when a novel sites events that don't sound plausible. "The Help" is the rare novel that offers everything a reader could want in a good book. It's a true page-turner. One would never guess that this is Kathryn Stockett's debut novel. Her writing style is captivating. I generally don't enjoy books that have multiple narrators, but Stockett created such dynamic characters, she was able to pull it off beautifully. I would (and have) recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a Southern tale. I'm looking forward to reading more from Stockett in the future.

I could not put this book down! Rare is the occassion when I choose fiction over non-fiction. I prefer reading memoirs because the stories really happened. Fiction writers often add details in the stories that don't sound believable. I know it's fiction, but I'm quickly turned off when a novel sites events that don't sound plausible. "The Help" is the rare novel that offers everything a reader could want in a good book. It's a true page-turner. One would never guess that this is Kathryn Stockett's debut novel. Her writing style is captivating. I generally don't enjoy books that have multiple narrators, but Stockett created such dynamic characters, she was able to pull it off beautifully. I would (and have) recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a Southern tale. I'm looking forward to reading more from Stockett in the future.

<hl> I prefer reading memoirs because the stories really happened. Fiction writers often add details in the stories that don't sound believable. I know it's fiction, but I'm quickly turned off when a novel sites events that don't sound plausible. "The Help" is the rare novel that offers everything a reader could want in a good book. It's a true page-turner. One would never guess that this is Kathryn Stockett's debut novel. Her writing style is captivating. I generally don't enjoy books that have multiple narrators, but Stockett created such dynamic characters, she was able to pull it off beautifully. I would (and have) recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a Southern tale. I'm looking forward to reading more from Stockett in the future. <hl>

I could not put this book down! Rare is the occassion when I choose fiction over non-fiction. <hl> I prefer reading memoirs because the stories really happened. Fiction writers often add details in the stories that don't sound believable. I know it's fiction, but I'm quickly turned off when a novel sites events that don't sound plausible. "The Help" is the rare novel that offers everything a reader could want in a good book. It's a true page-turner. One would never guess that this is Kathryn Stockett's debut novel. Her writing style is captivating. I generally don't enjoy books that have multiple narrators, but Stockett created such dynamic characters, she was able to pull it off beautifully. I would (and have) recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a Southern tale. I'm looking forward to reading more from Stockett in the future. <hl>

I could not put this book down! Rare is the occassion when I choose fiction over non-fiction. <hl> I prefer reading memoirs because the stories really happened. Fiction writers often add details in the stories that don't sound believable. I know it's fiction, but I'm quickly turned off when a novel sites events that don't sound plausible. "The Help" is the rare novel that offers everything a reader could want in a good book. It's a true page-turner. One would never guess that this is Kathryn Stockett's debut novel. Her writing style is captivating. I generally don't enjoy books that have multiple narrators, but Stockett created such dynamic characters, she was able to pull it off beautifully. I would (and have) recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a Southern tale. I'm looking forward to reading more from Stockett in the future. <hl>

db011ce145934a4cc27175727351e141

books

The characters were not likable, and it often felt forced and a little pretentious

question: Why none is likeable?, context: It's the classic &#34;disconnected from parents, rebel against parents, become your parents, midlife crisis&#34; book. The characters were not likable, and it often felt forced and a little pretentious. I failed to see much that was creative or frankly even interesting.

Why none is likeable?

The characters were not likable, and it often felt forced and a little pretentious .

It's the classic &#34;disconnected from parents, rebel against parents, become your parents, midlife crisis&#34; book. The characters were not likable, and it often felt forced and a little pretentious. I failed to see much that was creative or frankly even interesting.

<hl> The characters were not likable, and it often felt forced and a little pretentious <hl> .

It's the classic &#34;disconnected from parents, rebel against parents, become your parents, midlife crisis&#34; book. <hl> The characters were not likable, and it often felt forced and a little pretentious <hl>. I failed to see much that was creative or frankly even interesting.

It's the classic &#34;disconnected from parents, rebel against parents, become your parents, midlife crisis&#34; book. <hl> The characters were not likable, and it often felt forced and a little pretentious . <hl> I failed to see much that was creative or frankly even interesting.

2e2066402722bd3249e22d058c45859b

books

the hero was wonderful

question: How is the hero?, context: I really enjoyed this story! I thought the heroine was great and the hero was wonderful! I loved the way it ended. I will definitely be purchasing more books from this author!

How is the hero?

I thought the heroine was great and the hero was wonderful !

I really enjoyed this story! I thought the heroine was great and the hero was wonderful! I loved the way it ended. I will definitely be purchasing more books from this author!

I thought the heroine was great and <hl> the hero was wonderful <hl> !

I really enjoyed this story! I thought the heroine was great and <hl> the hero was wonderful <hl>! I loved the way it ended. I will definitely be purchasing more books from this author!

I really enjoyed this story! <hl> I thought the heroine was great and the hero was wonderful ! <hl> I loved the way it ended. I will definitely be purchasing more books from this author!

5cdffb302685505bc1be394d9459c3e7

books

The book is compelling and the plot is clever

question: How is the write?, context: The book is compelling and the plot is clever, but it certainly falls apart at the end. The final product is good, but it could have been great.

How is the write?

The book is compelling and the plot is clever , but it certainly falls apart at the end.

The book is compelling and the plot is clever, but it certainly falls apart at the end. The final product is good, but it could have been great.

<hl> The book is compelling and the plot is clever <hl> , but it certainly falls apart at the end.

<hl> The book is compelling and the plot is clever <hl>, but it certainly falls apart at the end. The final product is good, but it could have been great.

<hl> The book is compelling and the plot is clever , but it certainly falls apart at the end. <hl> The final product is good, but it could have been great.

600ef9bd32181ea190ab401c310b6916

books

Excellent writing style but not one of my all

question: How is story?, context: Let's face it--I'm a huge Lisa Scottoline fan and this book kept me guessing. The main character was a little hard to warm up to because of the way she handled her problems in the beginning. She didn't show much strength when faced with accusations. Saving her child should have been a no-brainer, but she allowed other parents to cause self doubt. Excellent writing style but not one of my all-time fav Scottoline books. I miss the law office.

How is story?

Excellent writing style but not one of my all -time fav Scottoline books.

Let's face it--I'm a huge Lisa Scottoline fan and this book kept me guessing. The main character was a little hard to warm up to because of the way she handled her problems in the beginning. She didn't show much strength when faced with accusations. Saving her child should have been a no-brainer, but she allowed other parents to cause self doubt. Excellent writing style but not one of my all-time fav Scottoline books. I miss the law office.

<hl> Excellent writing style but not one of my all <hl> -time fav Scottoline books.

Let's face it--I'm a huge Lisa Scottoline fan and this book kept me guessing. The main character was a little hard to warm up to because of the way she handled her problems in the beginning. She didn't show much strength when faced with accusations. Saving her child should have been a no-brainer, but she allowed other parents to cause self doubt. <hl> Excellent writing style but not one of my all <hl>-time fav Scottoline books. I miss the law office.

Let's face it--I'm a huge Lisa Scottoline fan and this book kept me guessing. The main character was a little hard to warm up to because of the way she handled her problems in the beginning. She didn't show much strength when faced with accusations. Saving her child should have been a no-brainer, but she allowed other parents to cause self doubt. <hl> Excellent writing style but not one of my all -time fav Scottoline books. <hl> I miss the law office.

6d9e3f060da10c80925a7cd326a4f3f5

books

this was my #1 all time favorite book

question: How is the book?, context: Before I read the book Real, this was my #1 all time favorite book. I absolutely LOVE this story, I find myself trying to find similar stories and outside of Real none holds a candle to how awesome this book truly is. Definitely a must read!

How is the book?

Before I read the book Real, this was my #1 all time favorite book .

Before I read the book Real, this was my #1 all time favorite book. I absolutely LOVE this story, I find myself trying to find similar stories and outside of Real none holds a candle to how awesome this book truly is. Definitely a must read!

Before I read the book Real, <hl> this was my #1 all time favorite book <hl> .

Before I read the book Real, <hl> this was my #1 all time favorite book <hl>. I absolutely LOVE this story, I find myself trying to find similar stories and outside of Real none holds a candle to how awesome this book truly is. Definitely a must read!

<hl> Before I read the book Real, this was my #1 all time favorite book . <hl> I absolutely LOVE this story, I find myself trying to find similar stories and outside of Real none holds a candle to how awesome this book truly is. Definitely a must read!

75dcd2cb419997d3491ea5c8e436acdf

books

funny and romantic

question: How it is the story?, context: I am a romance book addict. But sometimes books can get SO CHEESY! This book can be so funny and romantic at the same time! I recommend this book to the all hopeless romantic (including myself) that believes in love!

How it is the story?

This book can be so funny and romantic at the same time!

I am a romance book addict. But sometimes books can get SO CHEESY! This book can be so funny and romantic at the same time! I recommend this book to the all hopeless romantic (including myself) that believes in love!

This book can be so <hl> funny and romantic <hl> at the same time!

I am a romance book addict. But sometimes books can get SO CHEESY! This book can be so <hl> funny and romantic <hl> at the same time! I recommend this book to the all hopeless romantic (including myself) that believes in love!

I am a romance book addict. But sometimes books can get SO CHEESY! <hl> This book can be so funny and romantic at the same time! <hl> I recommend this book to the all hopeless romantic (including myself) that believes in love!

3ffcc932dd38f6666b93ea6200cf65b1

books

one of those books you can't put down but are greatly disappointed

question: How good is that book?, context: Liane Moriarty's The Husband's Secret is one of those books you can't put down but are greatly disappointed when you turn that last page. The book follows three women and how their seemingly unrelated stories intertwine to reveal a life changing twist.Summary:Story #1: Cecelia accidentally finds a dusty letter in the attic, written by her husband John-Paul, only to be opened after his death. While sharing this strange discovery with him, she senses that he is hiding a secret.Story #2: Tess, a working mother, learns that her husband Will has fallen in love with her best friend Felicity. Angry and shocked, she flies to Sydney with her son Liam to escape her wrecking marriage.Story #3: The death of her daughter Janie years ago always reminds Rachel that the murder is still out there, and her world is about to get crazy as she gets closer on finding out the truth.My Thoughts:The book's setting is very intriguing, and the story has so much potential. The author writes in such a smooth, natural way that allowed me to truly relate to these women. Character development is fantastic; the plot and the twists are really thought provoking. I did, however, find the first few chapters confusing when so many characters were introduced all at once, and it became difficult to differentiate all the names. The storyline was also tedious and boring towards the middle, but I definitely appreciated some of the deeper issues that the author takes on. The ending (epilogue) seemed somewhat abrupt but is very clever and ties everything together.As much as I wanted to love this book, it just felt a little short. Some parts were dragged out too much and the twist was also very predictable. Plus, I never fully understood the repetitive Berlin Wall reference.Overall, this is a nice read but not great literature material. I think for the right reader, this can be an amazing book, but unfortunately it's just not for me. The book itself is very well written, but the storytelling is definitely not for everyone.

How good is that book?

Liane Moriarty's The Husband's Secret is one of those books you can't put down but are greatly disappointed when you turn that last page.

Liane Moriarty's The Husband's Secret is one of those books you can't put down but are greatly disappointed when you turn that last page. The book follows three women and how their seemingly unrelated stories intertwine to reveal a life changing twist.Summary:Story #1: Cecelia accidentally finds a dusty letter in the attic, written by her husband John-Paul, only to be opened after his death. While sharing this strange discovery with him, she senses that he is hiding a secret.Story #2: Tess, a working mother, learns that her husband Will has fallen in love with her best friend Felicity. Angry and shocked, she flies to Sydney with her son Liam to escape her wrecking marriage.Story #3: The death of her daughter Janie years ago always reminds Rachel that the murder is still out there, and her world is about to get crazy as she gets closer on finding out the truth.My Thoughts:The book's setting is very intriguing, and the story has so much potential. The author writes in such a smooth, natural way that allowed me to truly relate to these women. Character development is fantastic; the plot and the twists are really thought provoking. I did, however, find the first few chapters confusing when so many characters were introduced all at once, and it became difficult to differentiate all the names. The storyline was also tedious and boring towards the middle, but I definitely appreciated some of the deeper issues that the author takes on. The ending (epilogue) seemed somewhat abrupt but is very clever and ties everything together.As much as I wanted to love this book, it just felt a little short. Some parts were dragged out too much and the twist was also very predictable. Plus, I never fully understood the repetitive Berlin Wall reference.Overall, this is a nice read but not great literature material. I think for the right reader, this can be an amazing book, but unfortunately it's just not for me. The book itself is very well written, but the storytelling is definitely not for everyone.

Liane Moriarty's The Husband's Secret is <hl> one of those books you can't put down but are greatly disappointed <hl> when you turn that last page.

Liane Moriarty's The Husband's Secret is <hl> one of those books you can't put down but are greatly disappointed <hl> when you turn that last page. The book follows three women and how their seemingly unrelated stories intertwine to reveal a life changing twist.Summary:Story #1: Cecelia accidentally finds a dusty letter in the attic, written by her husband John-Paul, only to be opened after his death. While sharing this strange discovery with him, she senses that he is hiding a secret.Story #2: Tess, a working mother, learns that her husband Will has fallen in love with her best friend Felicity. Angry and shocked, she flies to Sydney with her son Liam to escape her wrecking marriage.Story #3: The death of her daughter Janie years ago always reminds Rachel that the murder is still out there, and her world is about to get crazy as she gets closer on finding out the truth.My Thoughts:The book's setting is very intriguing, and the story has so much potential. The author writes in such a smooth, natural way that allowed me to truly relate to these women. Character development is fantastic; the plot and the twists are really thought provoking. I did, however, find the first few chapters confusing when so many characters were introduced all at once, and it became difficult to differentiate all the names. The storyline was also tedious and boring towards the middle, but I definitely appreciated some of the deeper issues that the author takes on. The ending (epilogue) seemed somewhat abrupt but is very clever and ties everything together.As much as I wanted to love this book, it just felt a little short. Some parts were dragged out too much and the twist was also very predictable. Plus, I never fully understood the repetitive Berlin Wall reference.Overall, this is a nice read but not great literature material. I think for the right reader, this can be an amazing book, but unfortunately it's just not for me. The book itself is very well written, but the storytelling is definitely not for everyone.

<hl> Liane Moriarty's The Husband's Secret is one of those books you can't put down but are greatly disappointed when you turn that last page. <hl> The book follows three women and how their seemingly unrelated stories intertwine to reveal a life changing twist. Summary:Story #1: Cecelia accidentally finds a dusty letter in the attic, written by her husband John-Paul, only to be opened after his death. While sharing this strange discovery with him, she senses that he is hiding a secret. Story #2: Tess, a working mother, learns that her husband Will has fallen in love with her best friend Felicity. Angry and shocked, she flies to Sydney with her son Liam to escape her wrecking marriage. Story #3: The death of her daughter Janie years ago always reminds Rachel that the murder is still out there, and her world is about to get crazy as she gets closer on finding out the truth. My Thoughts:The book's setting is very intriguing, and the story has so much potential. The author writes in such a smooth, natural way that allowed me to truly relate to these women. Character development is fantastic; the plot and the twists are really thought provoking. I did, however, find the first few chapters confusing when so many characters were introduced all at once, and it became difficult to differentiate all the names. The storyline was also tedious and boring towards the middle, but I definitely appreciated some of the deeper issues that the author takes on. The ending (epilogue) seemed somewhat abrupt but is very clever and ties everything together. As much as I wanted to love this book, it just felt a little short. Some parts were dragged out too much and the twist was also very predictable. Plus, I never fully understood the repetitive Berlin Wall reference. Overall, this is a nice read but not great literature material. I think for the right reader, this can be an amazing book, but unfortunately it's just not for me. The book itself is very well written, but the storytelling is definitely not for everyone.

42ab84a5f48bcfcac076a0d2e9baf0c0

books

What a great end to a great series

question: How is the series?, context: What a great end to a great series. Such a thought provoking book, and I loved hearing more from Four in this one. The entire Divergent series is well worth your reading time.

How is the series?

What a great end to a great series .

What a great end to a great series. Such a thought provoking book, and I loved hearing more from Four in this one. The entire Divergent series is well worth your reading time.

<hl> What a great end to a great series <hl> .

<hl> What a great end to a great series <hl>. Such a thought provoking book, and I loved hearing more from Four in this one. The entire Divergent series is well worth your reading time.

<hl> What a great end to a great series . <hl> Such a thought provoking book, and I loved hearing more from Four in this one. The entire Divergent series is well worth your reading time.

f86eb4bd5fe607253503de5ade38f7ec

books

the story picks up with Tris in trouble and Evelyn in control of the city

question: What story do I tell you?, context: After Insurgent, the story picks up with Tris in trouble and Evelyn in control of the city. Soon, Tris, Four and some others choose to leave Chicago and pursue the meaning of the Edith Prior video. Most of the remaining story takes place inside a special facility a short drive from Chicago, where we find out what the story is about Chicago and the factions, as well as what it really means to be divergent. Three-quarters of the way into this story, I was very disappointed. It felt like the author was just going through the motions, and frankly, the story was boring and dull--lots of talking and philosophical introspection, but not much plot movement. The last quarter of the book salvaged things for me and raised the story from one star to 3.5. No, like a thousand others, I didn't like the ending, and I didn't think the ending was necessitated in any way by the story arc. It seemed almost as if the author realized the story about to crash and burn, so she tossed in this ending to slap us in the face. HOWEVER, the ending was well done and beautifully written, and it was quite evocative. I thought the writing went from passable and average to excellent and gripping. BUT, I'm only at 3.5 stars because the ending doesn't really fit the overall trilogy IMO. So, for those that want a 'they all lived happily ever after' ending, don't read this book. Stop with Insurgent and think up your own ending. For those of you, who--like Tris--aren't afraid to jump off the roof into the net below, you should read it and experience the pain. I just wish the first part of the book was written nearly as well as the ending. Yo, Tris, you...well, you know what i mean.

What story do I tell you?

After Insurgent, the story picks up with Tris in trouble and Evelyn in control of the city .

After Insurgent, the story picks up with Tris in trouble and Evelyn in control of the city. Soon, Tris, Four and some others choose to leave Chicago and pursue the meaning of the Edith Prior video. Most of the remaining story takes place inside a special facility a short drive from Chicago, where we find out what the story is about Chicago and the factions, as well as what it really means to be divergent. Three-quarters of the way into this story, I was very disappointed. It felt like the author was just going through the motions, and frankly, the story was boring and dull--lots of talking and philosophical introspection, but not much plot movement. The last quarter of the book salvaged things for me and raised the story from one star to 3.5. No, like a thousand others, I didn't like the ending, and I didn't think the ending was necessitated in any way by the story arc. It seemed almost as if the author realized the story about to crash and burn, so she tossed in this ending to slap us in the face. HOWEVER, the ending was well done and beautifully written, and it was quite evocative. I thought the writing went from passable and average to excellent and gripping. BUT, I'm only at 3.5 stars because the ending doesn't really fit the overall trilogy IMO. So, for those that want a 'they all lived happily ever after' ending, don't read this book. Stop with Insurgent and think up your own ending. For those of you, who--like Tris--aren't afraid to jump off the roof into the net below, you should read it and experience the pain. I just wish the first part of the book was written nearly as well as the ending. Yo, Tris, you...well, you know what i mean.

After Insurgent, <hl> the story picks up with Tris in trouble and Evelyn in control of the city <hl> .

After Insurgent, <hl> the story picks up with Tris in trouble and Evelyn in control of the city <hl>. Soon, Tris, Four and some others choose to leave Chicago and pursue the meaning of the Edith Prior video. Most of the remaining story takes place inside a special facility a short drive from Chicago, where we find out what the story is about Chicago and the factions, as well as what it really means to be divergent. Three-quarters of the way into this story, I was very disappointed. It felt like the author was just going through the motions, and frankly, the story was boring and dull--lots of talking and philosophical introspection, but not much plot movement. The last quarter of the book salvaged things for me and raised the story from one star to 3.5. No, like a thousand others, I didn't like the ending, and I didn't think the ending was necessitated in any way by the story arc. It seemed almost as if the author realized the story about to crash and burn, so she tossed in this ending to slap us in the face. HOWEVER, the ending was well done and beautifully written, and it was quite evocative. I thought the writing went from passable and average to excellent and gripping. BUT, I'm only at 3.5 stars because the ending doesn't really fit the overall trilogy IMO. So, for those that want a 'they all lived happily ever after' ending, don't read this book. Stop with Insurgent and think up your own ending. For those of you, who--like Tris--aren't afraid to jump off the roof into the net below, you should read it and experience the pain. I just wish the first part of the book was written nearly as well as the ending. Yo, Tris, you...well, you know what i mean.

<hl> After Insurgent, the story picks up with Tris in trouble and Evelyn in control of the city . <hl> Soon, Tris, Four and some others choose to leave Chicago and pursue the meaning of the Edith Prior video. Most of the remaining story takes place inside a special facility a short drive from Chicago, where we find out what the story is about Chicago and the factions, as well as what it really means to be divergent. Three-quarters of the way into this story, I was very disappointed. It felt like the author was just going through the motions, and frankly, the story was boring and dull--lots of talking and philosophical introspection, but not much plot movement. The last quarter of the book salvaged things for me and raised the story from one star to 3.5. No, like a thousand others, I didn't like the ending, and I didn't think the ending was necessitated in any way by the story arc. It seemed almost as if the author realized the story about to crash and burn, so she tossed in this ending to slap us in the face. HOWEVER, the ending was well done and beautifully written, and it was quite evocative. I thought the writing went from passable and average to excellent and gripping. BUT, I'm only at 3.5 stars because the ending doesn't really fit the overall trilogy IMO. So, for those that want a 'they all lived happily ever after' ending, don't read this book. Stop with Insurgent and think up your own ending. For those of you, who--like Tris--aren't afraid to jump off the roof into the net below, you should read it and experience the pain. I just wish the first part of the book was written nearly as well as the ending. Yo, Tris, you...well, you know what i mean.

9af986b21e45b5e52639b0f93f22b550

books

This one is futuristic with androids and cyborgs and aliens

question: What is you favorite world?, context: Wow! This is definitely a WOW book for me. I never would have thought to read it if it wasn't for all the early reviews raving about how awesome it is. So when I had the opportunity to review it myself I totally jumped at the chance and I do not regret it! This book was so full of awesome that the second I finished I immediately convinced about six others that they MUST read it! And they are!I am not really into sci-fi unless it's more of the fantasy variety. This one is futuristic with androids and cyborgs and aliens. Totally not my thing usually. But Cinder is basically a normal girl. She hides that she's a cyborg as much as she can because it seems they are kind of looked down on, like they aren't fully human. But she is. I mean she has a human brain and still thinks like a normal girl. And she was completely real and like-able to me. I connected with her right off the bat and 'got' her. She was funny and compassionate but she was dealt such a rough hand that she was a bit cynical, or she forced herself to be anyway, trying to convince herself that she was 'less'. No one would like her if they knew she was cyborg, etc.The other characters were great as well. The prince was totally not prince-like. I mean, he wasn't full of himself. He was funny and he was also compassionate and like Cinder he was dealt a rough hand. Though it's completely different because yes, he's a prince, but he's suddenly thrown into this tough position and his decisions mean the fate of his country. But he had a clear head and struggled to do his best in deciding what to do. But one thing that wasn't a struggle for him was Cinder. At least as far as we see. They are continuously running into one another and he doesn't even hesitate to be kind and gently flirtatious with her. And though he doesn't know she's cyborg he does know she's not royalty and he still pays her attention. I totally loved him for that. And don't worry, yes- he's completely swoon-worthy! He's not a bad boy, but he's still swoony!The stepmother was definitely evil and had me so angry! I totally wanted to reach in and strangle her. Same with the one stepsister. The other one was kind and has her own story but I don't want to spoil it for you. The Cinderella part of the story was perfect. It was definitely it's own retelling but still followed along enough that it was pretty obvious that it was a retelling of Cinderella.The sci fi elements were important but somehow the book was never heavy. There wasn't lots of long descriptions or a ton of backstory. For me it was perfect. I got enough that I wasn't confused but not so much I felt overwhelmed. I thought the world building was good but some may feel it's lacking because we don't really learn a whole lot about things from before. But really, I thought it was perfect and in future books I'm sure we'll learn much more.This was a clean read that had me on the edge of my seat. While it's fairly long I read it in only a day because it was so good and was fast paced. I very highly recommend this book!Disclosure: I received this book free of charge through the amazon vine program for review purposes. All opinions expressed are my own and I was not paid or influenced in any way.

What is you favorite world?

This one is futuristic with androids and cyborgs and aliens .

Wow! This is definitely a WOW book for me. I never would have thought to read it if it wasn't for all the early reviews raving about how awesome it is. So when I had the opportunity to review it myself I totally jumped at the chance and I do not regret it! This book was so full of awesome that the second I finished I immediately convinced about six others that they MUST read it! And they are!I am not really into sci-fi unless it's more of the fantasy variety. This one is futuristic with androids and cyborgs and aliens. Totally not my thing usually. But Cinder is basically a normal girl. She hides that she's a cyborg as much as she can because it seems they are kind of looked down on, like they aren't fully human. But she is. I mean she has a human brain and still thinks like a normal girl. And she was completely real and like-able to me. I connected with her right off the bat and 'got' her. She was funny and compassionate but she was dealt such a rough hand that she was a bit cynical, or she forced herself to be anyway, trying to convince herself that she was 'less'. No one would like her if they knew she was cyborg, etc.The other characters were great as well. The prince was totally not prince-like. I mean, he wasn't full of himself. He was funny and he was also compassionate and like Cinder he was dealt a rough hand. Though it's completely different because yes, he's a prince, but he's suddenly thrown into this tough position and his decisions mean the fate of his country. But he had a clear head and struggled to do his best in deciding what to do. But one thing that wasn't a struggle for him was Cinder. At least as far as we see. They are continuously running into one another and he doesn't even hesitate to be kind and gently flirtatious with her. And though he doesn't know she's cyborg he does know she's not royalty and he still pays her attention. I totally loved him for that. And don't worry, yes- he's completely swoon-worthy! He's not a bad boy, but he's still swoony!The stepmother was definitely evil and had me so angry! I totally wanted to reach in and strangle her. Same with the one stepsister. The other one was kind and has her own story but I don't want to spoil it for you. The Cinderella part of the story was perfect. It was definitely it's own retelling but still followed along enough that it was pretty obvious that it was a retelling of Cinderella.The sci fi elements were important but somehow the book was never heavy. There wasn't lots of long descriptions or a ton of backstory. For me it was perfect. I got enough that I wasn't confused but not so much I felt overwhelmed. I thought the world building was good but some may feel it's lacking because we don't really learn a whole lot about things from before. But really, I thought it was perfect and in future books I'm sure we'll learn much more.This was a clean read that had me on the edge of my seat. While it's fairly long I read it in only a day because it was so good and was fast paced. I very highly recommend this book!Disclosure: I received this book free of charge through the amazon vine program for review purposes. All opinions expressed are my own and I was not paid or influenced in any way.

<hl> This one is futuristic with androids and cyborgs and aliens <hl> .

Wow! This is definitely a WOW book for me. I never would have thought to read it if it wasn't for all the early reviews raving about how awesome it is. So when I had the opportunity to review it myself I totally jumped at the chance and I do not regret it! This book was so full of awesome that the second I finished I immediately convinced about six others that they MUST read it! And they are!I am not really into sci-fi unless it's more of the fantasy variety. <hl> This one is futuristic with androids and cyborgs and aliens <hl>. Totally not my thing usually. But Cinder is basically a normal girl. She hides that she's a cyborg as much as she can because it seems they are kind of looked down on, like they aren't fully human. But she is. I mean she has a human brain and still thinks like a normal girl. And she was completely real and like-able to me. I connected with her right off the bat and 'got' her. She was funny and compassionate but she was dealt such a rough hand that she was a bit cynical, or she forced herself to be anyway, trying to convince herself that she was 'less'. No one would like her if they knew she was cyborg, etc.The other characters were great as well. The prince was totally not prince-like. I mean, he wasn't full of himself. He was funny and he was also compassionate and like Cinder he was dealt a rough hand. Though it's completely different because yes, he's a prince, but he's suddenly thrown into this tough position and his decisions mean the fate of his country. But he had a clear head and struggled to do his best in deciding what to do. But one thing that wasn't a struggle for him was Cinder. At least as far as we see. They are continuously running into one another and he doesn't even hesitate to be kind and gently flirtatious with her. And though he doesn't know she's cyborg he does know she's not royalty and he still pays her attention. I totally loved him for that. And don't worry, yes- he's completely swoon-worthy! He's not a bad boy, but he's still swoony!The stepmother was definitely evil and had me so angry! I totally wanted to reach in and strangle her. Same with the one stepsister. The other one was kind and has her own story but I don't want to spoil it for you. The Cinderella part of the story was perfect. It was definitely it's own retelling but still followed along enough that it was pretty obvious that it was a retelling of Cinderella.The sci fi elements were important but somehow the book was never heavy. There wasn't lots of long descriptions or a ton of backstory. For me it was perfect. I got enough that I wasn't confused but not so much I felt overwhelmed. I thought the world building was good but some may feel it's lacking because we don't really learn a whole lot about things from before. But really, I thought it was perfect and in future books I'm sure we'll learn much more.This was a clean read that had me on the edge of my seat. While it's fairly long I read it in only a day because it was so good and was fast paced. I very highly recommend this book!Disclosure: I received this book free of charge through the amazon vine program for review purposes. All opinions expressed are my own and I was not paid or influenced in any way.

Wow! This is definitely a WOW book for me. I never would have thought to read it if it wasn't for all the early reviews raving about how awesome it is. So when I had the opportunity to review it myself I totally jumped at the chance and I do not regret it! This book was so full of awesome that the second I finished I immediately convinced about six others that they MUST read it! And they are!I am not really into sci-fi unless it's more of the fantasy variety. <hl> This one is futuristic with androids and cyborgs and aliens . <hl> Totally not my thing usually. But Cinder is basically a normal girl. She hides that she's a cyborg as much as she can because it seems they are kind of looked down on, like they aren't fully human. But she is. I mean she has a human brain and still thinks like a normal girl. And she was completely real and like-able to me. I connected with her right off the bat and 'got' her. She was funny and compassionate but she was dealt such a rough hand that she was a bit cynical, or she forced herself to be anyway, trying to convince herself that she was 'less'. No one would like her if they knew she was cyborg, etc. The other characters were great as well. The prince was totally not prince-like. I mean, he wasn't full of himself. He was funny and he was also compassionate and like Cinder he was dealt a rough hand. Though it's completely different because yes, he's a prince, but he's suddenly thrown into this tough position and his decisions mean the fate of his country. But he had a clear head and struggled to do his best in deciding what to do. But one thing that wasn't a struggle for him was Cinder. At least as far as we see. They are continuously running into one another and he doesn't even hesitate to be kind and gently flirtatious with her. And though he doesn't know she's cyborg he does know she's not royalty and he still pays her attention. I totally loved him for that. And don't worry, yes- he's completely swoon-worthy! He's not a bad boy, but he's still swoony!The stepmother was definitely evil and had me so angry! I totally wanted to reach in and strangle her. Same with the one stepsister. The other one was kind and has her own story but I don't want to spoil it for you. The Cinderella part of the story was perfect. It was definitely it's own retelling but still followed along enough that it was pretty obvious that it was a retelling of Cinderella. The sci fi elements were important but somehow the book was never heavy. There wasn't lots of long descriptions or a ton of backstory. For me it was perfect. I got enough that I wasn't confused but not so much I felt overwhelmed. I thought the world building was good but some may feel it's lacking because we don't really learn a whole lot about things from before. But really, I thought it was perfect and in future books I'm sure we'll learn much more. This was a clean read that had me on the edge of my seat. While it's fairly long I read it in only a day because it was so good and was fast paced. I very highly recommend this book!Disclosure: I received this book free of charge through the amazon vine program for review purposes. All opinions expressed are my own and I was not paid or influenced in any way.

4d1fc55b9e5718a1425a0a8f6119e1e0

books

the sex is surprisingly bland

question: How is the sex?, context: I'll start with a few confessions: All the hype surrounding E L James' erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey finally prompted a download to my Kindle. However, a stockpile of Bing Rewards meant I didn't actually have to pay for what may be the most horribly edited book ever to become a bestseller.Simply put, curiosity finally got the better of me after having a few good laughs with my husband over all the delightfully negative reviews already on Amazon. Plus, I wanted a lite read for a long Memorial Day weekend drive. Not to mention, various snippets have shown ladies from the View, Good Morning America, and countless other shows referring to how hot the book got them. What's titillating about this book? Nothing. For supposedly being an S & M novel, the sex is surprisingly bland. And repetitive.What bothered me the most as a reader is how the story is narrated in first-person point of view, and yet the author still uses italics to represent Anastasia's banter with her sub-conscious. Ana's repeated reference to her vagina as being down there creates unintended comical effects. Yes, Ana's head is apparently in her vagina. She is a horribly conceived character devoid of personality, except for the moments when she refers to others by their defining traits, such as Blonde One and Blonde Two.Although unlikely, it's believable that a young woman would remain a virgin throughout four years of college. What is less believable is Ana's never having experienced an orgasm. Specifically, the reader soon sees that almost anything can make Ana climax. Then one must consider she does not have her own lap-top or even an email address! Reasons are never given why she is best friends with a wealthy roommate. Plus she's a decidedly British girl who likes her tea bag out. Yeah, all college students living in the land of Starbucks eschew coffee for tea. The scene where Ana vomits after downing five margaritas was almost good. Throughout the rest of the book she's drinking wine all the time, so as with everything else, she seems to lose her innocent qualms quickly.Then there's Christian Grey. E L James does manage to create a few intriguing motivational points to establish his character, but they fail to coalesce into believable actions. For being such a supposed dominant, he's always giving in to Ana. This young billionaire is on the phone a lot, but it's never clear how he made his fortune. Given his age, the author should have fashioned him after Mark Zuckerburg. The way E L James incorporates the clauses of their contract and emails between Christian and Ana read as filler and the sure mark of an amateur writer. But it's shame on the editors and publishers, not the author.Even if Fifty Shades of Grey did get started as Twilight Fanfiction, there is no excuse for how shoddily it reads. E L James obviously knows little about the geography of North America, and much of the gallivanting about did little to advance the story, particularly the narrator's trip to her mother's in Savannah, GA (My guess is that it might be the one place in America the author has some familiarity with since she was specific put the mother's house near Tybee Beach.) Alas, a re-write could have set the novel in and around the author's London home rather than the far-flung Seattle location. Perhaps then the setting details would have added, rather than, detracted from the story.All novels show promise. It's just extremely disheartening that Fifty Shades of Grey was published with such rough edges. Anyone who gives this book a passing score really needs to re-think their criteria for good books. Or maybe this book precisely appeals to its niche. Just like Edward and Bella make for trite and boring lovers, so too do Christian and Anastasia make for dull and uninspired sex fiends.[...]

How is the sex?

For supposedly being an S & M novel, the sex is surprisingly bland .

I'll start with a few confessions: All the hype surrounding E L James' erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey finally prompted a download to my Kindle. However, a stockpile of Bing Rewards meant I didn't actually have to pay for what may be the most horribly edited book ever to become a bestseller.Simply put, curiosity finally got the better of me after having a few good laughs with my husband over all the delightfully negative reviews already on Amazon. Plus, I wanted a lite read for a long Memorial Day weekend drive. Not to mention, various snippets have shown ladies from the View, Good Morning America, and countless other shows referring to how hot the book got them. What's titillating about this book? Nothing. For supposedly being an S & M novel, the sex is surprisingly bland. And repetitive.What bothered me the most as a reader is how the story is narrated in first-person point of view, and yet the author still uses italics to represent Anastasia's banter with her sub-conscious. Ana's repeated reference to her vagina as being down there creates unintended comical effects. Yes, Ana's head is apparently in her vagina. She is a horribly conceived character devoid of personality, except for the moments when she refers to others by their defining traits, such as Blonde One and Blonde Two.Although unlikely, it's believable that a young woman would remain a virgin throughout four years of college. What is less believable is Ana's never having experienced an orgasm. Specifically, the reader soon sees that almost anything can make Ana climax. Then one must consider she does not have her own lap-top or even an email address! Reasons are never given why she is best friends with a wealthy roommate. Plus she's a decidedly British girl who likes her tea bag out. Yeah, all college students living in the land of Starbucks eschew coffee for tea. The scene where Ana vomits after downing five margaritas was almost good. Throughout the rest of the book she's drinking wine all the time, so as with everything else, she seems to lose her innocent qualms quickly.Then there's Christian Grey. E L James does manage to create a few intriguing motivational points to establish his character, but they fail to coalesce into believable actions. For being such a supposed dominant, he's always giving in to Ana. This young billionaire is on the phone a lot, but it's never clear how he made his fortune. Given his age, the author should have fashioned him after Mark Zuckerburg. The way E L James incorporates the clauses of their contract and emails between Christian and Ana read as filler and the sure mark of an amateur writer. But it's shame on the editors and publishers, not the author.Even if Fifty Shades of Grey did get started as Twilight Fanfiction, there is no excuse for how shoddily it reads. E L James obviously knows little about the geography of North America, and much of the gallivanting about did little to advance the story, particularly the narrator's trip to her mother's in Savannah, GA (My guess is that it might be the one place in America the author has some familiarity with since she was specific put the mother's house near Tybee Beach.) Alas, a re-write could have set the novel in and around the author's London home rather than the far-flung Seattle location. Perhaps then the setting details would have added, rather than, detracted from the story.All novels show promise. It's just extremely disheartening that Fifty Shades of Grey was published with such rough edges. Anyone who gives this book a passing score really needs to re-think their criteria for good books. Or maybe this book precisely appeals to its niche. Just like Edward and Bella make for trite and boring lovers, so too do Christian and Anastasia make for dull and uninspired sex fiends.[...]

For supposedly being an S & M novel, <hl> the sex is surprisingly bland <hl> .

I'll start with a few confessions: All the hype surrounding E L James' erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey finally prompted a download to my Kindle. However, a stockpile of Bing Rewards meant I didn't actually have to pay for what may be the most horribly edited book ever to become a bestseller.Simply put, curiosity finally got the better of me after having a few good laughs with my husband over all the delightfully negative reviews already on Amazon. Plus, I wanted a lite read for a long Memorial Day weekend drive. Not to mention, various snippets have shown ladies from the View, Good Morning America, and countless other shows referring to how hot the book got them. What's titillating about this book? Nothing. For supposedly being an S & M novel, <hl> the sex is surprisingly bland <hl>. And repetitive.What bothered me the most as a reader is how the story is narrated in first-person point of view, and yet the author still uses italics to represent Anastasia's banter with her sub-conscious. Ana's repeated reference to her vagina as being down there creates unintended comical effects. Yes, Ana's head is apparently in her vagina. She is a horribly conceived character devoid of personality, except for the moments when she refers to others by their defining traits, such as Blonde One and Blonde Two.Although unlikely, it's believable that a young woman would remain a virgin throughout four years of college. What is less believable is Ana's never having experienced an orgasm. Specifically, the reader soon sees that almost anything can make Ana climax. Then one must consider she does not have her own lap-top or even an email address! Reasons are never given why she is best friends with a wealthy roommate. Plus she's a decidedly British girl who likes her tea bag out. Yeah, all college students living in the land of Starbucks eschew coffee for tea. The scene where Ana vomits after downing five margaritas was almost good. Throughout the rest of the book she's drinking wine all the time, so as with everything else, she seems to lose her innocent qualms quickly.Then there's Christian Grey. E L James does manage to create a few intriguing motivational points to establish his character, but they fail to coalesce into believable actions. For being such a supposed dominant, he's always giving in to Ana. This young billionaire is on the phone a lot, but it's never clear how he made his fortune. Given his age, the author should have fashioned him after Mark Zuckerburg. The way E L James incorporates the clauses of their contract and emails between Christian and Ana read as filler and the sure mark of an amateur writer. But it's shame on the editors and publishers, not the author.Even if Fifty Shades of Grey did get started as Twilight Fanfiction, there is no excuse for how shoddily it reads. E L James obviously knows little about the geography of North America, and much of the gallivanting about did little to advance the story, particularly the narrator's trip to her mother's in Savannah, GA (My guess is that it might be the one place in America the author has some familiarity with since she was specific put the mother's house near Tybee Beach.) Alas, a re-write could have set the novel in and around the author's London home rather than the far-flung Seattle location. Perhaps then the setting details would have added, rather than, detracted from the story.All novels show promise. It's just extremely disheartening that Fifty Shades of Grey was published with such rough edges. Anyone who gives this book a passing score really needs to re-think their criteria for good books. Or maybe this book precisely appeals to its niche. Just like Edward and Bella make for trite and boring lovers, so too do Christian and Anastasia make for dull and uninspired sex fiends.[...]

I'll start with a few confessions: All the hype surrounding E L James' erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey finally prompted a download to my Kindle. However, a stockpile of Bing Rewards meant I didn't actually have to pay for what may be the most horribly edited book ever to become a bestseller. Simply put, curiosity finally got the better of me after having a few good laughs with my husband over all the delightfully negative reviews already on Amazon. Plus, I wanted a lite read for a long Memorial Day weekend drive. Not to mention, various snippets have shown ladies from the View, Good Morning America, and countless other shows referring to how hot the book got them. What's titillating about this book? Nothing. <hl> For supposedly being an S & M novel, the sex is surprisingly bland . <hl> And repetitive. What bothered me the most as a reader is how the story is narrated in first-person point of view, and yet the author still uses italics to represent Anastasia's banter with her sub-conscious. Ana's repeated reference to her vagina as being down there creates unintended comical effects. Yes, Ana's head is apparently in her vagina. She is a horribly conceived character devoid of personality, except for the moments when she refers to others by their defining traits, such as Blonde One and Blonde Two. Although unlikely, it's believable that a young woman would remain a virgin throughout four years of college. What is less believable is Ana's never having experienced an orgasm. Specifically, the reader soon sees that almost anything can make Ana climax. Then one must consider she does not have her own lap-top or even an email address! Reasons are never given why she is best friends with a wealthy roommate. Plus she's a decidedly British girl who likes her tea bag out. Yeah, all college students living in the land of Starbucks eschew coffee for tea. The scene where Ana vomits after downing five margaritas was almost good. Throughout the rest of the book she's drinking wine all the time, so as with everything else, she seems to lose her innocent qualms quickly. Then there's Christian Grey. E L James does manage to create a few intriguing motivational points to establish his character, but they fail to coalesce into believable actions. For being such a supposed dominant, he's always giving in to Ana. This young billionaire is on the phone a lot, but it's never clear how he made his fortune. Given his age, the author should have fashioned him after Mark Zuckerburg. The way E L James incorporates the clauses of their contract and emails between Christian and Ana read as filler and the sure mark of an amateur writer. But it's shame on the editors and publishers, not the author. Even if Fifty Shades of Grey did get started as Twilight Fanfiction, there is no excuse for how shoddily it reads. E L James obviously knows little about the geography of North America, and much of the gallivanting about did little to advance the story, particularly the narrator's trip to her mother's in Savannah, GA (My guess is that it might be the one place in America the author has some familiarity with since she was specific put the mother's house near Tybee Beach.) Alas, a re-write could have set the novel in and around the author's London home rather than the far-flung Seattle location. Perhaps then the setting details would have added, rather than, detracted from the story. All novels show promise. It's just extremely disheartening that Fifty Shades of Grey was published with such rough edges. Anyone who gives this book a passing score really needs to re-think their criteria for good books. Or maybe this book precisely appeals to its niche. Just like Edward and Bella make for trite and boring lovers, so too do Christian and Anastasia make for dull and uninspired sex fiends. [...]

59e0fd02732a4bdc74bc96c4dd097de0

books

Sequels to stand out debuts often struggle to advance the series plot

question: What kind of storyline does the book contain?, context: Sequels to stand out debuts often struggle to advance the series plot and recapture the magic of the first book. INSURGENT isn't one of those sequels. It's as powerful or even more powerful than it's predecessor. And considering how phenomenal DIVERGENT was, that's no small compliment.One of the most inventive and action packed dystopian series ever, INSURGENT picks up almost immediately after the end of DIVERGENT. The factions that dictate every aspect of society are in danger and all out war seems inevitable. Tris's faction has ben split as too many members have turned traitor. Power hungry Erudite have set their sights on the Divergent, like Tris, systematically rounding them up to kill...and worse.What continues to impress me with the Divergent series is the character arcs. They are magnificent. Tris transformed from the almost Amish-like Abnegation member to a brave and confrontational Dauntless member so convincingly in DIVERGENT, and her transformation in INSURGENT is no less impressive. After the tragic choice she made at the end of DIVERGENT, Tris is plagued with guilt, self recrimination, and shame. She isolates herself even from those she cares about the most. It's heartbreaking to read. And Tris isn't the only one who evolves in the book. Characters who I thought were villains became heroes, and characters who I thought were trustworthy became villains. Shocking doesn't begin to describe it.The beginning of INSURGENT was a little slow and not as easy to jump into as the debut, especially since the worldbuilding isn't really recapped for readers (like me) who could have benefitted from a refresher. But once I got my bearings, and the central conflict was revealed, INSURGENT was as compulsively readable as DIVERGENT. And the revelations at the end were almost overwhelming--in a good way--considering their implications. Bottom line, this is a series not to be missed. The stakes just keep getting higher and I can't wait to dive into the third book in the Divergent series when it comes out in 2013.Sexual Content:Kissing

What kind of storyline does the book contain?

Sequels to stand out debuts often struggle to advance the series plot and recapture the magic of the first book.

Sequels to stand out debuts often struggle to advance the series plot and recapture the magic of the first book. INSURGENT isn't one of those sequels. It's as powerful or even more powerful than it's predecessor. And considering how phenomenal DIVERGENT was, that's no small compliment.One of the most inventive and action packed dystopian series ever, INSURGENT picks up almost immediately after the end of DIVERGENT. The factions that dictate every aspect of society are in danger and all out war seems inevitable. Tris's faction has ben split as too many members have turned traitor. Power hungry Erudite have set their sights on the Divergent, like Tris, systematically rounding them up to kill...and worse.What continues to impress me with the Divergent series is the character arcs. They are magnificent. Tris transformed from the almost Amish-like Abnegation member to a brave and confrontational Dauntless member so convincingly in DIVERGENT, and her transformation in INSURGENT is no less impressive. After the tragic choice she made at the end of DIVERGENT, Tris is plagued with guilt, self recrimination, and shame. She isolates herself even from those she cares about the most. It's heartbreaking to read. And Tris isn't the only one who evolves in the book. Characters who I thought were villains became heroes, and characters who I thought were trustworthy became villains. Shocking doesn't begin to describe it.The beginning of INSURGENT was a little slow and not as easy to jump into as the debut, especially since the worldbuilding isn't really recapped for readers (like me) who could have benefitted from a refresher. But once I got my bearings, and the central conflict was revealed, INSURGENT was as compulsively readable as DIVERGENT. And the revelations at the end were almost overwhelming--in a good way--considering their implications. Bottom line, this is a series not to be missed. The stakes just keep getting higher and I can't wait to dive into the third book in the Divergent series when it comes out in 2013.Sexual Content:Kissing

<hl> Sequels to stand out debuts often struggle to advance the series plot <hl> and recapture the magic of the first book.

<hl> Sequels to stand out debuts often struggle to advance the series plot <hl> and recapture the magic of the first book. INSURGENT isn't one of those sequels. It's as powerful or even more powerful than it's predecessor. And considering how phenomenal DIVERGENT was, that's no small compliment.One of the most inventive and action packed dystopian series ever, INSURGENT picks up almost immediately after the end of DIVERGENT. The factions that dictate every aspect of society are in danger and all out war seems inevitable. Tris's faction has ben split as too many members have turned traitor. Power hungry Erudite have set their sights on the Divergent, like Tris, systematically rounding them up to kill...and worse.What continues to impress me with the Divergent series is the character arcs. They are magnificent. Tris transformed from the almost Amish-like Abnegation member to a brave and confrontational Dauntless member so convincingly in DIVERGENT, and her transformation in INSURGENT is no less impressive. After the tragic choice she made at the end of DIVERGENT, Tris is plagued with guilt, self recrimination, and shame. She isolates herself even from those she cares about the most. It's heartbreaking to read. And Tris isn't the only one who evolves in the book. Characters who I thought were villains became heroes, and characters who I thought were trustworthy became villains. Shocking doesn't begin to describe it.The beginning of INSURGENT was a little slow and not as easy to jump into as the debut, especially since the worldbuilding isn't really recapped for readers (like me) who could have benefitted from a refresher. But once I got my bearings, and the central conflict was revealed, INSURGENT was as compulsively readable as DIVERGENT. And the revelations at the end were almost overwhelming--in a good way--considering their implications. Bottom line, this is a series not to be missed. The stakes just keep getting higher and I can't wait to dive into the third book in the Divergent series when it comes out in 2013.Sexual Content:Kissing

<hl> Sequels to stand out debuts often struggle to advance the series plot and recapture the magic of the first book. <hl> INSURGENT isn't one of those sequels. It's as powerful or even more powerful than it's predecessor. And considering how phenomenal DIVERGENT was, that's no small compliment. One of the most inventive and action packed dystopian series ever, INSURGENT picks up almost immediately after the end of DIVERGENT. The factions that dictate every aspect of society are in danger and all out war seems inevitable. Tris's faction has ben split as too many members have turned traitor. Power hungry Erudite have set their sights on the Divergent, like Tris, systematically rounding them up to kill...and worse. What continues to impress me with the Divergent series is the character arcs. They are magnificent. Tris transformed from the almost Amish-like Abnegation member to a brave and confrontational Dauntless member so convincingly in DIVERGENT, and her transformation in INSURGENT is no less impressive. After the tragic choice she made at the end of DIVERGENT, Tris is plagued with guilt, self recrimination, and shame. She isolates herself even from those she cares about the most. It's heartbreaking to read. And Tris isn't the only one who evolves in the book. Characters who I thought were villains became heroes, and characters who I thought were trustworthy became villains. Shocking doesn't begin to describe it. The beginning of INSURGENT was a little slow and not as easy to jump into as the debut, especially since the worldbuilding isn't really recapped for readers (like me) who could have benefitted from a refresher. But once I got my bearings, and the central conflict was revealed, INSURGENT was as compulsively readable as DIVERGENT. And the revelations at the end were almost overwhelming--in a good way--considering their implications. Bottom line, this is a series not to be missed. The stakes just keep getting higher and I can't wait to dive into the third book in the Divergent series when it comes out in 2013.Sexual Content:Kissing

87bafdd6d8252140e0863ad3f5bdd4c4

books

Joe Hill writes a good story

question: Was the story magical?, context: The novel is a wild, trippy ride through the inscapes of the mind meshed with the story of one woman's struggle to relate to her loved ones and the world around her.Joe Hill writes a good story. I loved the idea of inscapes, and especially the call out to Mid-World from the Dark Tower Series. The overarching story of how Vic McQueen deals with her gift (or curse) and her conflict with the antagonist, Charlie Manx, drive the story.My main criticism is that at times I felt that the narrative could have been tighter, and in fact a review I read on Amazon nailed how I feel:'NOS4A2 is epic in length, but not in scope.'Vic McQueen is the best part of the story. She has a gift or a curse, depending on your point of view, and her life unfolds in response to this gift (or curse). Joe Hill nails the reality of mental illness with his portrayal of the evolution of Vic's character. I felt a great deal of sympathy for her and pulled for her throughout the novel. Vic is the classic tragic heroine.Charlie Manx is a real-life villain. What he does is horrible, but when seen from his point of view you can understand why he does what he does. You understand why he thinks what he does is right. In that way Charlie is not a caricature, but I never sympathized. There are points in Charlie's history where Joe Hill could have tweaked a few events and made Charlie a villain for whom you feel sympathy, thus making Charlie deeper, but that never materialized.Outside of Vic, the real delight is the idea of inscapes--how everyone has their own perception of reality and that each of our perceptions of reality are linked. These perceptions of reality can become separate worlds whose extent are limited only by our imagination. It's a powerful set of ideas that Joe has put out there.Unlike Horns, Joe Hill's previous novel, I was able to set aside NOS4A2 when I needed to sleep--except for the climax. The last hundred or so pages flew by.In the end what makes NOS4A2 a good novel is the sum of the positives. Like I said, the prose could be tighter, but the lead character, Vic McQueen, and the story itself pull this novel together and make it a good read.If you like Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere or The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King, I think you might like NOS4A2.I will say that after reading NOS4A2 I now want a Rolls Royce Wraith.

Was the story magical?

Joe Hill writes a good story .

The novel is a wild, trippy ride through the inscapes of the mind meshed with the story of one woman's struggle to relate to her loved ones and the world around her.Joe Hill writes a good story. I loved the idea of inscapes, and especially the call out to Mid-World from the Dark Tower Series. The overarching story of how Vic McQueen deals with her gift (or curse) and her conflict with the antagonist, Charlie Manx, drive the story.My main criticism is that at times I felt that the narrative could have been tighter, and in fact a review I read on Amazon nailed how I feel:'NOS4A2 is epic in length, but not in scope.'Vic McQueen is the best part of the story. She has a gift or a curse, depending on your point of view, and her life unfolds in response to this gift (or curse). Joe Hill nails the reality of mental illness with his portrayal of the evolution of Vic's character. I felt a great deal of sympathy for her and pulled for her throughout the novel. Vic is the classic tragic heroine.Charlie Manx is a real-life villain. What he does is horrible, but when seen from his point of view you can understand why he does what he does. You understand why he thinks what he does is right. In that way Charlie is not a caricature, but I never sympathized. There are points in Charlie's history where Joe Hill could have tweaked a few events and made Charlie a villain for whom you feel sympathy, thus making Charlie deeper, but that never materialized.Outside of Vic, the real delight is the idea of inscapes--how everyone has their own perception of reality and that each of our perceptions of reality are linked. These perceptions of reality can become separate worlds whose extent are limited only by our imagination. It's a powerful set of ideas that Joe has put out there.Unlike Horns, Joe Hill's previous novel, I was able to set aside NOS4A2 when I needed to sleep--except for the climax. The last hundred or so pages flew by.In the end what makes NOS4A2 a good novel is the sum of the positives. Like I said, the prose could be tighter, but the lead character, Vic McQueen, and the story itself pull this novel together and make it a good read.If you like Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere or The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King, I think you might like NOS4A2.I will say that after reading NOS4A2 I now want a Rolls Royce Wraith.

<hl> Joe Hill writes a good story <hl> .

The novel is a wild, trippy ride through the inscapes of the mind meshed with the story of one woman's struggle to relate to her loved ones and the world around her.<hl> Joe Hill writes a good story <hl>. I loved the idea of inscapes, and especially the call out to Mid-World from the Dark Tower Series. The overarching story of how Vic McQueen deals with her gift (or curse) and her conflict with the antagonist, Charlie Manx, drive the story.My main criticism is that at times I felt that the narrative could have been tighter, and in fact a review I read on Amazon nailed how I feel:'NOS4A2 is epic in length, but not in scope.'Vic McQueen is the best part of the story. She has a gift or a curse, depending on your point of view, and her life unfolds in response to this gift (or curse). Joe Hill nails the reality of mental illness with his portrayal of the evolution of Vic's character. I felt a great deal of sympathy for her and pulled for her throughout the novel. Vic is the classic tragic heroine.Charlie Manx is a real-life villain. What he does is horrible, but when seen from his point of view you can understand why he does what he does. You understand why he thinks what he does is right. In that way Charlie is not a caricature, but I never sympathized. There are points in Charlie's history where Joe Hill could have tweaked a few events and made Charlie a villain for whom you feel sympathy, thus making Charlie deeper, but that never materialized.Outside of Vic, the real delight is the idea of inscapes--how everyone has their own perception of reality and that each of our perceptions of reality are linked. These perceptions of reality can become separate worlds whose extent are limited only by our imagination. It's a powerful set of ideas that Joe has put out there.Unlike Horns, Joe Hill's previous novel, I was able to set aside NOS4A2 when I needed to sleep--except for the climax. The last hundred or so pages flew by.In the end what makes NOS4A2 a good novel is the sum of the positives. Like I said, the prose could be tighter, but the lead character, Vic McQueen, and the story itself pull this novel together and make it a good read.If you like Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere or The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King, I think you might like NOS4A2.I will say that after reading NOS4A2 I now want a Rolls Royce Wraith.

The novel is a wild, trippy ride through the inscapes of the mind meshed with the story of one woman's struggle to relate to her loved ones and the world around her. <hl> Joe Hill writes a good story . <hl> I loved the idea of inscapes, and especially the call out to Mid-World from the Dark Tower Series. The overarching story of how Vic McQueen deals with her gift (or curse) and her conflict with the antagonist, Charlie Manx, drive the story. My main criticism is that at times I felt that the narrative could have been tighter, and in fact a review I read on Amazon nailed how I feel:'NOS4A2 is epic in length, but not in scope. 'Vic McQueen is the best part of the story. She has a gift or a curse, depending on your point of view, and her life unfolds in response to this gift (or curse). Joe Hill nails the reality of mental illness with his portrayal of the evolution of Vic's character. I felt a great deal of sympathy for her and pulled for her throughout the novel. Vic is the classic tragic heroine. Charlie Manx is a real-life villain. What he does is horrible, but when seen from his point of view you can understand why he does what he does. You understand why he thinks what he does is right. In that way Charlie is not a caricature, but I never sympathized. There are points in Charlie's history where Joe Hill could have tweaked a few events and made Charlie a villain for whom you feel sympathy, thus making Charlie deeper, but that never materialized. Outside of Vic, the real delight is the idea of inscapes--how everyone has their own perception of reality and that each of our perceptions of reality are linked. These perceptions of reality can become separate worlds whose extent are limited only by our imagination. It's a powerful set of ideas that Joe has put out there. Unlike Horns, Joe Hill's previous novel, I was able to set aside NOS4A2 when I needed to sleep--except for the climax. The last hundred or so pages flew by. In the end what makes NOS4A2 a good novel is the sum of the positives. Like I said, the prose could be tighter, but the lead character, Vic McQueen, and the story itself pull this novel together and make it a good read. If you like Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere or The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King, I think you might like NOS4A2.I will say that after reading NOS4A2 I now want a Rolls Royce Wraith.

df989599afe2ef089775c7d53a09d214

books

This book was fantastic

question: Where can I find book with excellent review?, context: I had zero intentions to read this book originally. It just didn&#8217;t seem like something that would interest me. Well I don&#8217;t know if you have noticed, but I have been challenging myself to read stuff outside of my normal reading comfort zone. Since that&#8217;s the case when this was offered by Epic Reads(Harper Teen) as a 68 hour free read online only, I jumped on it. My conclusion: I&#8217;m an idiot for passing in the first place. This book was fantastic and addicting and mesmerizing!Shatter Me is about Juliette, a girl that has been locked away in isolation for months because she possesses a power that frightens everyone around her. Juliette can kill people with the simplest of touches and because of that it has been almost a year since she had touched anything. Alone and scared Juliette&#8217;s world turns upside down when she is suddenly sharing a cell, and not just anyone, with a boy that may or may not be from her past. When things become even more complicated and Juliette finds out exactly why she has been locked up she must decide who to trust and just what she is willing to do to save her life and those around her.God did I love Juliette. She was such a great character. She had strength, but not too much so she was unbelievable, and she had vulnerability, but not enough to make her seem whiney. And she and Adam together were complete and utter magic. I could not get enough of their interaction. They played off each other so well and yet there was innocence to them even if you could constantly cut the sexual tension with a knife. Add in the stress of Werner and you have a winning combination of awesome. What really grabbed me though was the story telling. It was done in a way that I actually believed in the &#8220;fantasy&#8221; aspect which was what scared me away in the first place. Everything was paced nicely which added to the realistic feel not to mention the emotions all characters showed.All in all, this is a must read book and series. I have the second book waiting for me to read and I can&#8217;t wait to get to it.

Where can I find book with excellent review?

This book was fantastic and addicting and mesmerizing!Shatter

I had zero intentions to read this book originally. It just didn&#8217;t seem like something that would interest me. Well I don&#8217;t know if you have noticed, but I have been challenging myself to read stuff outside of my normal reading comfort zone. Since that&#8217;s the case when this was offered by Epic Reads(Harper Teen) as a 68 hour free read online only, I jumped on it. My conclusion: I&#8217;m an idiot for passing in the first place. This book was fantastic and addicting and mesmerizing!Shatter Me is about Juliette, a girl that has been locked away in isolation for months because she possesses a power that frightens everyone around her. Juliette can kill people with the simplest of touches and because of that it has been almost a year since she had touched anything. Alone and scared Juliette&#8217;s world turns upside down when she is suddenly sharing a cell, and not just anyone, with a boy that may or may not be from her past. When things become even more complicated and Juliette finds out exactly why she has been locked up she must decide who to trust and just what she is willing to do to save her life and those around her.God did I love Juliette. She was such a great character. She had strength, but not too much so she was unbelievable, and she had vulnerability, but not enough to make her seem whiney. And she and Adam together were complete and utter magic. I could not get enough of their interaction. They played off each other so well and yet there was innocence to them even if you could constantly cut the sexual tension with a knife. Add in the stress of Werner and you have a winning combination of awesome. What really grabbed me though was the story telling. It was done in a way that I actually believed in the &#8220;fantasy&#8221; aspect which was what scared me away in the first place. Everything was paced nicely which added to the realistic feel not to mention the emotions all characters showed.All in all, this is a must read book and series. I have the second book waiting for me to read and I can&#8217;t wait to get to it.

<hl> This book was fantastic <hl> and addicting and mesmerizing!Shatter

I had zero intentions to read this book originally. It just didn&#8217;t seem like something that would interest me. Well I don&#8217;t know if you have noticed, but I have been challenging myself to read stuff outside of my normal reading comfort zone. Since that&#8217;s the case when this was offered by Epic Reads(Harper Teen) as a 68 hour free read online only, I jumped on it. My conclusion: I&#8217;m an idiot for passing in the first place. <hl> This book was fantastic <hl> and addicting and mesmerizing!Shatter Me is about Juliette, a girl that has been locked away in isolation for months because she possesses a power that frightens everyone around her. Juliette can kill people with the simplest of touches and because of that it has been almost a year since she had touched anything. Alone and scared Juliette&#8217;s world turns upside down when she is suddenly sharing a cell, and not just anyone, with a boy that may or may not be from her past. When things become even more complicated and Juliette finds out exactly why she has been locked up she must decide who to trust and just what she is willing to do to save her life and those around her.God did I love Juliette. She was such a great character. She had strength, but not too much so she was unbelievable, and she had vulnerability, but not enough to make her seem whiney. And she and Adam together were complete and utter magic. I could not get enough of their interaction. They played off each other so well and yet there was innocence to them even if you could constantly cut the sexual tension with a knife. Add in the stress of Werner and you have a winning combination of awesome. What really grabbed me though was the story telling. It was done in a way that I actually believed in the &#8220;fantasy&#8221; aspect which was what scared me away in the first place. Everything was paced nicely which added to the realistic feel not to mention the emotions all characters showed.All in all, this is a must read book and series. I have the second book waiting for me to read and I can&#8217;t wait to get to it.

I had zero intentions to read this book originally. It just didn&#8217;t seem like something that would interest me. Well I don&#8217;t know if you have noticed, but I have been challenging myself to read stuff outside of my normal reading comfort zone. Since that&#8217;s the case when this was offered by Epic Reads(Harper Teen) as a 68 hour free read online only, I jumped on it. My conclusion: I&#8217;m an idiot for passing in the first place. <hl> This book was fantastic and addicting and mesmerizing!Shatter <hl> Me is about Juliette, a girl that has been locked away in isolation for months because she possesses a power that frightens everyone around her. Juliette can kill people with the simplest of touches and because of that it has been almost a year since she had touched anything. Alone and scared Juliette&#8217;s world turns upside down when she is suddenly sharing a cell, and not just anyone, with a boy that may or may not be from her past. When things become even more complicated and Juliette finds out exactly why she has been locked up she must decide who to trust and just what she is willing to do to save her life and those around her. God did I love Juliette. She was such a great character. She had strength, but not too much so she was unbelievable, and she had vulnerability, but not enough to make her seem whiney. And she and Adam together were complete and utter magic. I could not get enough of their interaction. They played off each other so well and yet there was innocence to them even if you could constantly cut the sexual tension with a knife. Add in the stress of Werner and you have a winning combination of awesome. What really grabbed me though was the story telling. It was done in a way that I actually believed in the &#8220;fantasy&#8221; aspect which was what scared me away in the first place. Everything was paced nicely which added to the realistic feel not to mention the emotions all characters showed. All in all, this is a must read book and series. I have the second book waiting for me to read and I can&#8217;t wait to get to it.

85ff55f4bc7285f58f9344591e355e2a

books

It's a wonderful read and an informative read

question: How is this Agatha Christie's book for a beach read?, context: WOW...everything you would want in a thriller and one of the most timely books I have ever read. I have a degree in economics with graduate work and 25+ years on Wall Street. Brad Thor has told a great story and weaved into it the perils the country faces as the Federal Reserve (as "Federal" as Federal Express) is not at all "Federal" and has no "Reserves" and will fight for its existence. Did it have a time and place? Yes, surely. But it has no regulatory agency oversight, arrogantly refuses or deflects from direct questions at hearings, and for years has benefited from those tossing out "Black Helicopter Loons" to dismiss it's critics when it has been discussed.The Fed is a club. It was created in secret and it operates in secret ("Hidden Order delves into this in detail) with no intentions at all of being transparent or being reigned in. Instead of fixing the systemic issues it brought about from the years of easy money by Greenspan, this stooge Bernanke, along with Turbo-Tax Timmy, bailed out all their powerful friends. But don't let Bush off the hook as Hank Paulson, via the Goldman Sachs revolving door into Fed and Treasury policy, diverted the TARP funds to pay premiums for pure junk to their pals, not the American people who are still hurting.It's a wonderful read and an informative read. Mr. Thor has been appearing on more shows than any author I have seen of late and this book should be a real eye-opener for those who thought we are on the right track because the train is speeding and barely holding the rails thanks to this clandestine group that tacks on more-and-more debt that even our grand children will be burdened by. The Fed needs to be stopped and this awareness Mr. Thor brings to the people in this thriller is a good start for the common man. I already have seen and fully understood the points in the book due to education and working on the street. Now the general public has an great read and an education to go with it. Thank you Mr. Thor. A job well done...kudosP.S. And on the day of its release Bernanke issued a statement: "Highly accommodative monetary policy for the foreseeable future is what's needed in the U.S. economy." The stock market was looking vulnerable, interest rates were rising, and that affects profits. The club can't have that so the taxpayer funded bailouts will continue. The Fed MUST be audited and reigned in. And you'll understand why when you read this book!

How is this Agatha Christie's book for a beach read?

It's a wonderful read and an informative read .

WOW...everything you would want in a thriller and one of the most timely books I have ever read. I have a degree in economics with graduate work and 25+ years on Wall Street. Brad Thor has told a great story and weaved into it the perils the country faces as the Federal Reserve (as "Federal" as Federal Express) is not at all "Federal" and has no "Reserves" and will fight for its existence. Did it have a time and place? Yes, surely. But it has no regulatory agency oversight, arrogantly refuses or deflects from direct questions at hearings, and for years has benefited from those tossing out "Black Helicopter Loons" to dismiss it's critics when it has been discussed.The Fed is a club. It was created in secret and it operates in secret ("Hidden Order delves into this in detail) with no intentions at all of being transparent or being reigned in. Instead of fixing the systemic issues it brought about from the years of easy money by Greenspan, this stooge Bernanke, along with Turbo-Tax Timmy, bailed out all their powerful friends. But don't let Bush off the hook as Hank Paulson, via the Goldman Sachs revolving door into Fed and Treasury policy, diverted the TARP funds to pay premiums for pure junk to their pals, not the American people who are still hurting.It's a wonderful read and an informative read. Mr. Thor has been appearing on more shows than any author I have seen of late and this book should be a real eye-opener for those who thought we are on the right track because the train is speeding and barely holding the rails thanks to this clandestine group that tacks on more-and-more debt that even our grand children will be burdened by. The Fed needs to be stopped and this awareness Mr. Thor brings to the people in this thriller is a good start for the common man. I already have seen and fully understood the points in the book due to education and working on the street. Now the general public has an great read and an education to go with it. Thank you Mr. Thor. A job well done...kudosP.S. And on the day of its release Bernanke issued a statement: "Highly accommodative monetary policy for the foreseeable future is what's needed in the U.S. economy." The stock market was looking vulnerable, interest rates were rising, and that affects profits. The club can't have that so the taxpayer funded bailouts will continue. The Fed MUST be audited and reigned in. And you'll understand why when you read this book!

<hl> It's a wonderful read and an informative read <hl> .

WOW...everything you would want in a thriller and one of the most timely books I have ever read. I have a degree in economics with graduate work and 25+ years on Wall Street. Brad Thor has told a great story and weaved into it the perils the country faces as the Federal Reserve (as "Federal" as Federal Express) is not at all "Federal" and has no "Reserves" and will fight for its existence. Did it have a time and place? Yes, surely. But it has no regulatory agency oversight, arrogantly refuses or deflects from direct questions at hearings, and for years has benefited from those tossing out "Black Helicopter Loons" to dismiss it's critics when it has been discussed.The Fed is a club. It was created in secret and it operates in secret ("Hidden Order delves into this in detail) with no intentions at all of being transparent or being reigned in. Instead of fixing the systemic issues it brought about from the years of easy money by Greenspan, this stooge Bernanke, along with Turbo-Tax Timmy, bailed out all their powerful friends. But don't let Bush off the hook as Hank Paulson, via the Goldman Sachs revolving door into Fed and Treasury policy, diverted the TARP funds to pay premiums for pure junk to their pals, not the American people who are still hurting.<hl> It's a wonderful read and an informative read <hl>. Mr. Thor has been appearing on more shows than any author I have seen of late and this book should be a real eye-opener for those who thought we are on the right track because the train is speeding and barely holding the rails thanks to this clandestine group that tacks on more-and-more debt that even our grand children will be burdened by. The Fed needs to be stopped and this awareness Mr. Thor brings to the people in this thriller is a good start for the common man. I already have seen and fully understood the points in the book due to education and working on the street. Now the general public has an great read and an education to go with it. Thank you Mr. Thor. A job well done...kudosP.S. And on the day of its release Bernanke issued a statement: "Highly accommodative monetary policy for the foreseeable future is what's needed in the U.S. economy." The stock market was looking vulnerable, interest rates were rising, and that affects profits. The club can't have that so the taxpayer funded bailouts will continue. The Fed MUST be audited and reigned in. And you'll understand why when you read this book!

WOW...everything you would want in a thriller and one of the most timely books I have ever read. I have a degree in economics with graduate work and 25+ years on Wall Street. Brad Thor has told a great story and weaved into it the perils the country faces as the Federal Reserve (as "Federal" as Federal Express) is not at all "Federal" and has no "Reserves" and will fight for its existence. Did it have a time and place? Yes, surely. But it has no regulatory agency oversight, arrogantly refuses or deflects from direct questions at hearings, and for years has benefited from those tossing out "Black Helicopter Loons" to dismiss it's critics when it has been discussed. The Fed is a club. It was created in secret and it operates in secret ("Hidden Order delves into this in detail) with no intentions at all of being transparent or being reigned in. Instead of fixing the systemic issues it brought about from the years of easy money by Greenspan, this stooge Bernanke, along with Turbo-Tax Timmy, bailed out all their powerful friends. But don't let Bush off the hook as Hank Paulson, via the Goldman Sachs revolving door into Fed and Treasury policy, diverted the TARP funds to pay premiums for pure junk to their pals, not the American people who are still hurting. <hl> It's a wonderful read and an informative read . <hl> Mr. Thor has been appearing on more shows than any author I have seen of late and this book should be a real eye-opener for those who thought we are on the right track because the train is speeding and barely holding the rails thanks to this clandestine group that tacks on more-and-more debt that even our grand children will be burdened by. The Fed needs to be stopped and this awareness Mr. Thor brings to the people in this thriller is a good start for the common man. I already have seen and fully understood the points in the book due to education and working on the street. Now the general public has an great read and an education to go with it. Thank you Mr. Thor. A job well done... kudosP.S. And on the day of its release Bernanke issued a statement: "Highly accommodative monetary policy for the foreseeable future is what's needed in the U.S. economy." The stock market was looking vulnerable, interest rates were rising, and that affects profits. The club can't have that so the taxpayer funded bailouts will continue. The Fed MUST be audited and reigned in. And you'll understand why when you read this book!

dc174983de56e0278afd171cc91e99d7

books

there you have it

question: Does this novel have a lot of tension?, context: Good fundamentals in this book: well-written characters whose conflicts drive the story forward. The perspective characters here are Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny, and each has her own distinctive voice and set of goals and character arcs. You watch them rise and fall, learn, love, adapt, react, everything we want from a good character-driven story. The story moves at a relaxed pace, but it never gets boring.That said, this was Stockett's first novel and a few newbie habits annoyed me. Most significantly, after the brilliant characterization of the heroes, we got this lazy characterization of the villain. Stockett succumbs to the old cliche--the villain is identified by being fat. And, hilariously, as the story progresses and the antagonist gets sympathetic, she also gets fatter (it's telling that other overweight characters are uniformly described as "plump", but "fat" is reserved for Hilly). She also can't resist the old historical irony gag, talking about how smoking couldn't possibly be bad for you and how a reporter was saying that this skirmish in Vietnam would be over quickly. Or there's the fact that Skeeter's life so closely parallels Stockett's own. Or, hell, just read the acknowledgments and look at how many names from her writing workshop found their way into the book. In many ways the story feels borrowed, in a Lifetime-Movie-of-the-week sort of way. Not that it was ever bad--I just would have liked a bit more narrative depth. But I have to come back and give Stockett kudos for not being gun-shy on the plight of domestics in a pre-Civil-Rights Mississippi. She does not pull her punches, and this gives the book a weight that I feel the movie never quite achieved. And while we're comparing...The biggest complaint I heard about the film adaptation was that it was the story of black women being helped by a white woman--that the Civil Rights movement is being white-washed, essentially. The book handles this more gracefully than the movie did. It wraps up less neatly but more honestly than the film.Overall, I liked it. I will never read it again, but there you have it.

Does this novel have a lot of tension?

I will never read it again, but there you have it .

Good fundamentals in this book: well-written characters whose conflicts drive the story forward. The perspective characters here are Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny, and each has her own distinctive voice and set of goals and character arcs. You watch them rise and fall, learn, love, adapt, react, everything we want from a good character-driven story. The story moves at a relaxed pace, but it never gets boring.That said, this was Stockett's first novel and a few newbie habits annoyed me. Most significantly, after the brilliant characterization of the heroes, we got this lazy characterization of the villain. Stockett succumbs to the old cliche--the villain is identified by being fat. And, hilariously, as the story progresses and the antagonist gets sympathetic, she also gets fatter (it's telling that other overweight characters are uniformly described as "plump", but "fat" is reserved for Hilly). She also can't resist the old historical irony gag, talking about how smoking couldn't possibly be bad for you and how a reporter was saying that this skirmish in Vietnam would be over quickly. Or there's the fact that Skeeter's life so closely parallels Stockett's own. Or, hell, just read the acknowledgments and look at how many names from her writing workshop found their way into the book. In many ways the story feels borrowed, in a Lifetime-Movie-of-the-week sort of way. Not that it was ever bad--I just would have liked a bit more narrative depth. But I have to come back and give Stockett kudos for not being gun-shy on the plight of domestics in a pre-Civil-Rights Mississippi. She does not pull her punches, and this gives the book a weight that I feel the movie never quite achieved. And while we're comparing...The biggest complaint I heard about the film adaptation was that it was the story of black women being helped by a white woman--that the Civil Rights movement is being white-washed, essentially. The book handles this more gracefully than the movie did. It wraps up less neatly but more honestly than the film.Overall, I liked it. I will never read it again, but there you have it.

I will never read it again, but <hl> there you have it <hl> .

Good fundamentals in this book: well-written characters whose conflicts drive the story forward. The perspective characters here are Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny, and each has her own distinctive voice and set of goals and character arcs. You watch them rise and fall, learn, love, adapt, react, everything we want from a good character-driven story. The story moves at a relaxed pace, but it never gets boring.That said, this was Stockett's first novel and a few newbie habits annoyed me. Most significantly, after the brilliant characterization of the heroes, we got this lazy characterization of the villain. Stockett succumbs to the old cliche--the villain is identified by being fat. And, hilariously, as the story progresses and the antagonist gets sympathetic, she also gets fatter (it's telling that other overweight characters are uniformly described as "plump", but "fat" is reserved for Hilly). She also can't resist the old historical irony gag, talking about how smoking couldn't possibly be bad for you and how a reporter was saying that this skirmish in Vietnam would be over quickly. Or there's the fact that Skeeter's life so closely parallels Stockett's own. Or, hell, just read the acknowledgments and look at how many names from her writing workshop found their way into the book. In many ways the story feels borrowed, in a Lifetime-Movie-of-the-week sort of way. Not that it was ever bad--I just would have liked a bit more narrative depth. But I have to come back and give Stockett kudos for not being gun-shy on the plight of domestics in a pre-Civil-Rights Mississippi. She does not pull her punches, and this gives the book a weight that I feel the movie never quite achieved. And while we're comparing...The biggest complaint I heard about the film adaptation was that it was the story of black women being helped by a white woman--that the Civil Rights movement is being white-washed, essentially. The book handles this more gracefully than the movie did. It wraps up less neatly but more honestly than the film.Overall, I liked it. I will never read it again, but <hl> there you have it <hl>.

Good fundamentals in this book: well-written characters whose conflicts drive the story forward. The perspective characters here are Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny, and each has her own distinctive voice and set of goals and character arcs. You watch them rise and fall, learn, love, adapt, react, everything we want from a good character-driven story. The story moves at a relaxed pace, but it never gets boring. That said, this was Stockett's first novel and a few newbie habits annoyed me. Most significantly, after the brilliant characterization of the heroes, we got this lazy characterization of the villain. Stockett succumbs to the old cliche--the villain is identified by being fat. And, hilariously, as the story progresses and the antagonist gets sympathetic, she also gets fatter (it's telling that other overweight characters are uniformly described as "plump", but "fat" is reserved for Hilly). She also can't resist the old historical irony gag, talking about how smoking couldn't possibly be bad for you and how a reporter was saying that this skirmish in Vietnam would be over quickly. Or there's the fact that Skeeter's life so closely parallels Stockett's own. Or, hell, just read the acknowledgments and look at how many names from her writing workshop found their way into the book. In many ways the story feels borrowed, in a Lifetime-Movie-of-the-week sort of way. Not that it was ever bad--I just would have liked a bit more narrative depth. But I have to come back and give Stockett kudos for not being gun-shy on the plight of domestics in a pre-Civil-Rights Mississippi. She does not pull her punches, and this gives the book a weight that I feel the movie never quite achieved. And while we're comparing...The biggest complaint I heard about the film adaptation was that it was the story of black women being helped by a white woman--that the Civil Rights movement is being white-washed, essentially. The book handles this more gracefully than the movie did. It wraps up less neatly but more honestly than the film. Overall, I liked it. <hl> I will never read it again, but there you have it . <hl>

a5dce480a056a2097a286bc4551ccacc

books

suspense the entire time

question: Why do I have a moment dull?, context: I read this 480-some odd paged book in one day. I know this is classified as young adult literature, but this book grabbed my attention and kept me in suspense the entire time. Absolutely loved every page and can completely understand why they have made a movie about it. I also think that this series is even better than The Hunger Games.

Why do I have a moment dull?

I know this is classified as young adult literature, but this book grabbed my attention and kept me in suspense the entire time .

I read this 480-some odd paged book in one day. I know this is classified as young adult literature, but this book grabbed my attention and kept me in suspense the entire time. Absolutely loved every page and can completely understand why they have made a movie about it. I also think that this series is even better than The Hunger Games.

I know this is classified as young adult literature, but this book grabbed my attention and kept me in <hl> suspense the entire time <hl> .

I read this 480-some odd paged book in one day. I know this is classified as young adult literature, but this book grabbed my attention and kept me in <hl> suspense the entire time <hl>. Absolutely loved every page and can completely understand why they have made a movie about it. I also think that this series is even better than The Hunger Games.

I read this 480-some odd paged book in one day. <hl> I know this is classified as young adult literature, but this book grabbed my attention and kept me in suspense the entire time . <hl> Absolutely loved every page and can completely understand why they have made a movie about it. I also think that this series is even better than The Hunger Games.

fb5de510cb16424e2dfb8a20bbd289b6

books

could not stop laughing out loud (seriously) with this one

question: How is the quality of book?, context: Rofl! Lol! Lmao! I could not stop laughing out loud (seriously) with this one. Ms. Clayton has a wicked, wicked sense of humour. Please buy it. I guarantee you will not regret it.Wallbanger was a nice cross between chick lit and NA but with none of the conflict and angst that you see in a lot of NA books of late. To be perfectly honest, I was getting tired of all the sobbing, helpless virgins. This book, however, was a very realistic take on relationships in the 21st century. Both protagonists have successful and fulfilling careers, and great friends. Oh and let's not forget Clive. :) I loved it and am looking forward to the next book (Rusty Nailed) which is all about Simon and Caroline settling into a relationship.The Wallbanger and Pink Nightie Girl start off as neighbours, then friends, and then inevitably, lovers. SPOILER ALERT-During their friendship phase there is plenty of sizzling heat and tension but no sexy times until 70% into the book. For those of you who love plenty of sexy times, this one may not be for you. That being said, once these two start they.... Do. Not. Stop. As in like rabbits, people!Yes, Caroline talking about her O, LC, Brain, and Heart did get a little annoying but definitely not anywhere close to getting me to give up on the story.The secondary characters were great. And I really do mean ALL the secondary characters-her best friends and his too. Love the matchmakers!I can totally see myself rereading Wallbanger. Bravo, Ms. Clayton!

How is the quality of book?

I could not stop laughing out loud (seriously) with this one .

Rofl! Lol! Lmao! I could not stop laughing out loud (seriously) with this one. Ms. Clayton has a wicked, wicked sense of humour. Please buy it. I guarantee you will not regret it.Wallbanger was a nice cross between chick lit and NA but with none of the conflict and angst that you see in a lot of NA books of late. To be perfectly honest, I was getting tired of all the sobbing, helpless virgins. This book, however, was a very realistic take on relationships in the 21st century. Both protagonists have successful and fulfilling careers, and great friends. Oh and let's not forget Clive. :) I loved it and am looking forward to the next book (Rusty Nailed) which is all about Simon and Caroline settling into a relationship.The Wallbanger and Pink Nightie Girl start off as neighbours, then friends, and then inevitably, lovers. SPOILER ALERT-During their friendship phase there is plenty of sizzling heat and tension but no sexy times until 70% into the book. For those of you who love plenty of sexy times, this one may not be for you. That being said, once these two start they.... Do. Not. Stop. As in like rabbits, people!Yes, Caroline talking about her O, LC, Brain, and Heart did get a little annoying but definitely not anywhere close to getting me to give up on the story.The secondary characters were great. And I really do mean ALL the secondary characters-her best friends and his too. Love the matchmakers!I can totally see myself rereading Wallbanger. Bravo, Ms. Clayton!

I <hl> could not stop laughing out loud (seriously) with this one <hl> .

Rofl! Lol! Lmao! I <hl> could not stop laughing out loud (seriously) with this one <hl>. Ms. Clayton has a wicked, wicked sense of humour. Please buy it. I guarantee you will not regret it.Wallbanger was a nice cross between chick lit and NA but with none of the conflict and angst that you see in a lot of NA books of late. To be perfectly honest, I was getting tired of all the sobbing, helpless virgins. This book, however, was a very realistic take on relationships in the 21st century. Both protagonists have successful and fulfilling careers, and great friends. Oh and let's not forget Clive. :) I loved it and am looking forward to the next book (Rusty Nailed) which is all about Simon and Caroline settling into a relationship.The Wallbanger and Pink Nightie Girl start off as neighbours, then friends, and then inevitably, lovers. SPOILER ALERT-During their friendship phase there is plenty of sizzling heat and tension but no sexy times until 70% into the book. For those of you who love plenty of sexy times, this one may not be for you. That being said, once these two start they.... Do. Not. Stop. As in like rabbits, people!Yes, Caroline talking about her O, LC, Brain, and Heart did get a little annoying but definitely not anywhere close to getting me to give up on the story.The secondary characters were great. And I really do mean ALL the secondary characters-her best friends and his too. Love the matchmakers!I can totally see myself rereading Wallbanger. Bravo, Ms. Clayton!

Rofl! Lol! Lmao! <hl> I could not stop laughing out loud (seriously) with this one . <hl> Ms. Clayton has a wicked, wicked sense of humour. Please buy it. I guarantee you will not regret it. Wallbanger was a nice cross between chick lit and NA but with none of the conflict and angst that you see in a lot of NA books of late. To be perfectly honest, I was getting tired of all the sobbing, helpless virgins. This book, however, was a very realistic take on relationships in the 21st century. Both protagonists have successful and fulfilling careers, and great friends. Oh and let's not forget Clive. :) I loved it and am looking forward to the next book (Rusty Nailed) which is all about Simon and Caroline settling into a relationship. The Wallbanger and Pink Nightie Girl start off as neighbours, then friends, and then inevitably, lovers. SPOILER ALERT-During their friendship phase there is plenty of sizzling heat and tension but no sexy times until 70% into the book. For those of you who love plenty of sexy times, this one may not be for you. That being said, once these two start they.... Do. Not. Stop. As in like rabbits, people!Yes, Caroline talking about her O, LC, Brain, and Heart did get a little annoying but definitely not anywhere close to getting me to give up on the story. The secondary characters were great. And I really do mean ALL the secondary characters-her best friends and his too. Love the matchmakers!I can totally see myself rereading Wallbanger. Bravo, Ms. Clayton!

8d5b68a632d1971f120e6f62b8e775cf

books

the story is just so emotional and touching

question: How is story?, context: I am a big fan of Colleens' Slammed series and this book was just wow...amazing. I couldn't put it down. It kept me guessing and the story is just so emotional and touching. This is that book...the one I would recommend to all my friends and will most likely find myself reading again because I just need to "feel" it again. Thanks Colleen, well done!!! Keep them coming!

How is story?

It kept me guessing and the story is just so emotional and touching .

I am a big fan of Colleens' Slammed series and this book was just wow...amazing. I couldn't put it down. It kept me guessing and the story is just so emotional and touching. This is that book...the one I would recommend to all my friends and will most likely find myself reading again because I just need to "feel" it again. Thanks Colleen, well done!!! Keep them coming!

It kept me guessing and <hl> the story is just so emotional and touching <hl> .

I am a big fan of Colleens' Slammed series and this book was just wow...amazing. I couldn't put it down. It kept me guessing and <hl> the story is just so emotional and touching <hl>. This is that book...the one I would recommend to all my friends and will most likely find myself reading again because I just need to "feel" it again. Thanks Colleen, well done!!! Keep them coming!

I am a big fan of Colleens' Slammed series and this book was just wow...amazing. I couldn't put it down. <hl> It kept me guessing and the story is just so emotional and touching . <hl> This is that book...the one I would recommend to all my friends and will most likely find myself reading again because I just need to "feel" it again. Thanks Colleen, well done!!! Keep them coming!

637c7cbeaf3bd26eba5629e10edd7de2

books

It is exciting and fun and full of amazing romance

question: How is the quality of the concept on the story?, context: Just a tiny note first to say that I just re-read this amazing book. &lt;3 And posting below will be my new book recommendation for it :) Which you can also read on my blog, here: http://carinabooks.blogspot.no/2014/04/book-recommendation-reboot-by-amy.html---Re-reading Reboot made me happy. And I'm so glad that I finally decided to do so. I've been meaning to re-read it ever since I downloaded Rebel for review back in January. But I was nervous. I was nervous about not loving it the same way this second time, as it has been more than a year since I first read it. But I shouldn't have worried. Because I loved it so much. I still think Reboot is an amazing book. It is exciting and fun and full of amazing romance. I'm so happy that I finally read it again. It's awesome.I'm not going to recap the book in this recommendation of mine. Because I feel that I would end up talking for ages, lol. But I will say that the plot in Reboot is amazing. I enjoyed it so much. It's exciting and surprising and full of action. And the romance. Swoon. More on that soonish. There is a lot of death in this book. But I didn't really mind. Except for this one death. That broke my heart. But it also made sense, and I think I would have made the same choice. Sniffs. But yes. It was very heartbreaking.Reboot is told from the point of view of seventeen year old Wren. Who is all kinds of amazing. I loved her. And I loved reading about her. At first she doesn't feel all that much. Which I didn't mind. But then Callum arrives and she starts to change. And I loved that so much. I think she ended up an even better person. But anyway. I adored reading about her. I adored her scars, even though they shame her. I think she's beautiful. And agh. I really loved reading about her and cannot wait to get to know more of her.Wren is a Reboot. There are a lot of them in this book. And that was such an awesome plot twist. I loved getting to know stuff about them. How much stronger they are than other humans. How fast they heal. How different they are as well. So awesome. Wren has been dead for 178 minutes, which is the most at the moment. What she had to go through was so heartbreaking to read about. Yet I wanted to read more and more. Sigh. I just love to torture myself, don't I? lol. But yeah. I thought the Reboots were amazing.One of the things I loved the most about Wren was her roommate and friend, Ever. I adored her as well. But I really loved their friendship. It gets better and more real after Callum arrives. And they are just too cute. Sigh. Ever is amazing. Though holy crap. Such awful things happen with her. Heartbreak. But also so interesting to read about. It was amazing. Sigh. There are a few other characters in this book that I liked as well. Like Addie. Would like to get to know her more as well. She did seem awesome.Then, of course, there is Callum. Who is a Twenty-Two. Which is a very low number for a Reboot. It means that he has more emotions that the others, and is more human. And sigh. I loved that. Because Callum is amazing. I loved reading about him so much. And I loved getting to know him. I loved how he was with Wren. He is horrified with how many she has killed, but I feel like he accept her. I hope. The romance is very sweet in this book. It made me grin like crazy. Callum is just all kinds of amazing.I don't want to say more about this book. Just that it is incredible. And I need you all to read it. Especially since the last book, Rebel, is coming out in less than a month. &lt;3 Though, yeah, I'm reading it in a moment since I have a review copy of it :D And I cannot wait. I need to know what happens next. Anyway. Reboot is a stunning novel. I loved it. And I loved the writing as well. Just loved everything about it. Sigh. I also cannot wait to read more books by Amy Tintera. She's pretty amazing as well.~He slid his hand into mine and leaned over to press a soft kiss onto my cheek. I shifted a little closer, until his warm arm rubbed against mine, and lowered my gaze to hide the goofy smile spreading across my face.---I first read this book on February 21st 2013. You can find my review here: http://carinabooks.blogspot.no/2013/02/review-reboot-by-amy-tintera.html

How is the quality of the concept on the story?

It is exciting and fun and full of amazing romance .

Just a tiny note first to say that I just re-read this amazing book. &lt;3 And posting below will be my new book recommendation for it :) Which you can also read on my blog, here: http://carinabooks.blogspot.no/2014/04/book-recommendation-reboot-by-amy.html---Re-reading Reboot made me happy. And I'm so glad that I finally decided to do so. I've been meaning to re-read it ever since I downloaded Rebel for review back in January. But I was nervous. I was nervous about not loving it the same way this second time, as it has been more than a year since I first read it. But I shouldn't have worried. Because I loved it so much. I still think Reboot is an amazing book. It is exciting and fun and full of amazing romance. I'm so happy that I finally read it again. It's awesome.I'm not going to recap the book in this recommendation of mine. Because I feel that I would end up talking for ages, lol. But I will say that the plot in Reboot is amazing. I enjoyed it so much. It's exciting and surprising and full of action. And the romance. Swoon. More on that soonish. There is a lot of death in this book. But I didn't really mind. Except for this one death. That broke my heart. But it also made sense, and I think I would have made the same choice. Sniffs. But yes. It was very heartbreaking.Reboot is told from the point of view of seventeen year old Wren. Who is all kinds of amazing. I loved her. And I loved reading about her. At first she doesn't feel all that much. Which I didn't mind. But then Callum arrives and she starts to change. And I loved that so much. I think she ended up an even better person. But anyway. I adored reading about her. I adored her scars, even though they shame her. I think she's beautiful. And agh. I really loved reading about her and cannot wait to get to know more of her.Wren is a Reboot. There are a lot of them in this book. And that was such an awesome plot twist. I loved getting to know stuff about them. How much stronger they are than other humans. How fast they heal. How different they are as well. So awesome. Wren has been dead for 178 minutes, which is the most at the moment. What she had to go through was so heartbreaking to read about. Yet I wanted to read more and more. Sigh. I just love to torture myself, don't I? lol. But yeah. I thought the Reboots were amazing.One of the things I loved the most about Wren was her roommate and friend, Ever. I adored her as well. But I really loved their friendship. It gets better and more real after Callum arrives. And they are just too cute. Sigh. Ever is amazing. Though holy crap. Such awful things happen with her. Heartbreak. But also so interesting to read about. It was amazing. Sigh. There are a few other characters in this book that I liked as well. Like Addie. Would like to get to know her more as well. She did seem awesome.Then, of course, there is Callum. Who is a Twenty-Two. Which is a very low number for a Reboot. It means that he has more emotions that the others, and is more human. And sigh. I loved that. Because Callum is amazing. I loved reading about him so much. And I loved getting to know him. I loved how he was with Wren. He is horrified with how many she has killed, but I feel like he accept her. I hope. The romance is very sweet in this book. It made me grin like crazy. Callum is just all kinds of amazing.I don't want to say more about this book. Just that it is incredible. And I need you all to read it. Especially since the last book, Rebel, is coming out in less than a month. &lt;3 Though, yeah, I'm reading it in a moment since I have a review copy of it :D And I cannot wait. I need to know what happens next. Anyway. Reboot is a stunning novel. I loved it. And I loved the writing as well. Just loved everything about it. Sigh. I also cannot wait to read more books by Amy Tintera. She's pretty amazing as well.~He slid his hand into mine and leaned over to press a soft kiss onto my cheek. I shifted a little closer, until his warm arm rubbed against mine, and lowered my gaze to hide the goofy smile spreading across my face.---I first read this book on February 21st 2013. You can find my review here: http://carinabooks.blogspot.no/2013/02/review-reboot-by-amy-tintera.html

<hl> It is exciting and fun and full of amazing romance <hl> .

Just a tiny note first to say that I just re-read this amazing book. &lt;3 And posting below will be my new book recommendation for it :) Which you can also read on my blog, here: http://carinabooks.blogspot.no/2014/04/book-recommendation-reboot-by-amy.html---Re-reading Reboot made me happy. And I'm so glad that I finally decided to do so. I've been meaning to re-read it ever since I downloaded Rebel for review back in January. But I was nervous. I was nervous about not loving it the same way this second time, as it has been more than a year since I first read it. But I shouldn't have worried. Because I loved it so much. I still think Reboot is an amazing book. <hl> It is exciting and fun and full of amazing romance <hl>. I'm so happy that I finally read it again. It's awesome.I'm not going to recap the book in this recommendation of mine. Because I feel that I would end up talking for ages, lol. But I will say that the plot in Reboot is amazing. I enjoyed it so much. It's exciting and surprising and full of action. And the romance. Swoon. More on that soonish. There is a lot of death in this book. But I didn't really mind. Except for this one death. That broke my heart. But it also made sense, and I think I would have made the same choice. Sniffs. But yes. It was very heartbreaking.Reboot is told from the point of view of seventeen year old Wren. Who is all kinds of amazing. I loved her. And I loved reading about her. At first she doesn't feel all that much. Which I didn't mind. But then Callum arrives and she starts to change. And I loved that so much. I think she ended up an even better person. But anyway. I adored reading about her. I adored her scars, even though they shame her. I think she's beautiful. And agh. I really loved reading about her and cannot wait to get to know more of her.Wren is a Reboot. There are a lot of them in this book. And that was such an awesome plot twist. I loved getting to know stuff about them. How much stronger they are than other humans. How fast they heal. How different they are as well. So awesome. Wren has been dead for 178 minutes, which is the most at the moment. What she had to go through was so heartbreaking to read about. Yet I wanted to read more and more. Sigh. I just love to torture myself, don't I? lol. But yeah. I thought the Reboots were amazing.One of the things I loved the most about Wren was her roommate and friend, Ever. I adored her as well. But I really loved their friendship. It gets better and more real after Callum arrives. And they are just too cute. Sigh. Ever is amazing. Though holy crap. Such awful things happen with her. Heartbreak. But also so interesting to read about. It was amazing. Sigh. There are a few other characters in this book that I liked as well. Like Addie. Would like to get to know her more as well. She did seem awesome.Then, of course, there is Callum. Who is a Twenty-Two. Which is a very low number for a Reboot. It means that he has more emotions that the others, and is more human. And sigh. I loved that. Because Callum is amazing. I loved reading about him so much. And I loved getting to know him. I loved how he was with Wren. He is horrified with how many she has killed, but I feel like he accept her. I hope. The romance is very sweet in this book. It made me grin like crazy. Callum is just all kinds of amazing.I don't want to say more about this book. Just that it is incredible. And I need you all to read it. Especially since the last book, Rebel, is coming out in less than a month. &lt;3 Though, yeah, I'm reading it in a moment since I have a review copy of it :D And I cannot wait. I need to know what happens next. Anyway. Reboot is a stunning novel. I loved it. And I loved the writing as well. Just loved everything about it. Sigh. I also cannot wait to read more books by Amy Tintera. She's pretty amazing as well.~He slid his hand into mine and leaned over to press a soft kiss onto my cheek. I shifted a little closer, until his warm arm rubbed against mine, and lowered my gaze to hide the goofy smile spreading across my face.---I first read this book on February 21st 2013. You can find my review here: http://carinabooks.blogspot.no/2013/02/review-reboot-by-amy-tintera.html

Just a tiny note first to say that I just re-read this amazing book. &lt;3 And posting below will be my new book recommendation for it :) Which you can also read on my blog, here: http://carinabooks.blogspot.no/2014/04/book-recommendation-reboot-by-amy.html---Re-reading Reboot made me happy. And I'm so glad that I finally decided to do so. I've been meaning to re-read it ever since I downloaded Rebel for review back in January. But I was nervous. I was nervous about not loving it the same way this second time, as it has been more than a year since I first read it. But I shouldn't have worried. Because I loved it so much. I still think Reboot is an amazing book. <hl> It is exciting and fun and full of amazing romance . <hl> I'm so happy that I finally read it again. It's awesome. I'm not going to recap the book in this recommendation of mine. Because I feel that I would end up talking for ages, lol. But I will say that the plot in Reboot is amazing. I enjoyed it so much. It's exciting and surprising and full of action. And the romance. Swoon. More on that soonish. There is a lot of death in this book. But I didn't really mind. Except for this one death. That broke my heart. But it also made sense, and I think I would have made the same choice. Sniffs. But yes. It was very heartbreaking. Reboot is told from the point of view of seventeen year old Wren. Who is all kinds of amazing. I loved her. And I loved reading about her. At first she doesn't feel all that much. Which I didn't mind. But then Callum arrives and she starts to change. And I loved that so much. I think she ended up an even better person. But anyway. I adored reading about her. I adored her scars, even though they shame her. I think she's beautiful. And agh. I really loved reading about her and cannot wait to get to know more of her. Wren is a Reboot. There are a lot of them in this book. And that was such an awesome plot twist. I loved getting to know stuff about them. How much stronger they are than other humans. How fast they heal. How different they are as well. So awesome. Wren has been dead for 178 minutes, which is the most at the moment. What she had to go through was so heartbreaking to read about. Yet I wanted to read more and more. Sigh. I just love to torture myself, don't I? lol. But yeah. I thought the Reboots were amazing. One of the things I loved the most about Wren was her roommate and friend, Ever. I adored her as well. But I really loved their friendship. It gets better and more real after Callum arrives. And they are just too cute. Sigh. Ever is amazing. Though holy crap. Such awful things happen with her. Heartbreak. But also so interesting to read about. It was amazing. Sigh. There are a few other characters in this book that I liked as well. Like Addie. Would like to get to know her more as well. She did seem awesome. Then, of course, there is Callum. Who is a Twenty-Two. Which is a very low number for a Reboot. It means that he has more emotions that the others, and is more human. And sigh. I loved that. Because Callum is amazing. I loved reading about him so much. And I loved getting to know him. I loved how he was with Wren. He is horrified with how many she has killed, but I feel like he accept her. I hope. The romance is very sweet in this book. It made me grin like crazy. Callum is just all kinds of amazing. I don't want to say more about this book. Just that it is incredible. And I need you all to read it. Especially since the last book, Rebel, is coming out in less than a month. &lt;3 Though, yeah, I'm reading it in a moment since I have a review copy of it :D And I cannot wait. I need to know what happens next. Anyway. Reboot is a stunning novel. I loved it. And I loved the writing as well. Just loved everything about it. Sigh. I also cannot wait to read more books by Amy Tintera. She's pretty amazing as well.~He slid his hand into mine and leaned over to press a soft kiss onto my cheek. I shifted a little closer, until his warm arm rubbed against mine, and lowered my gaze to hide the goofy smile spreading across my face.---I first read this book on February 21st 2013. You can find my review here: http://carinabooks.blogspot.no/2013/02/review-reboot-by-amy-tintera.html

ebe6cc7980321450487178f92fc72475

books

the book is so much better

question: How would you describe the story?, context: I loved the movie, but the book is so much better.The ending is so perfect! I wish it was longer!

How would you describe the story?

I loved the movie, but the book is so much better .The ending is so perfect!

I loved the movie, but the book is so much better.The ending is so perfect! I wish it was longer!

I loved the movie, but <hl> the book is so much better <hl> .The ending is so perfect!

I loved the movie, but <hl> the book is so much better <hl>.The ending is so perfect! I wish it was longer!

<hl> I loved the movie, but the book is so much better .The ending is so perfect! <hl> I wish it was longer!

3cf938fdafcbdea3e72cd9772a4cdcdd

books

He has a true gift for writing dialogue and even

question: Is the movie dialogue good?, context: Dry humor, witty remarks, and a bit of sarcasm, written in first person by the man we all now know as House. For me, the actual plot - which is sort of a spy thriller; part serious, part satire - was secondary to the writing and the characters. I didn't particularly care what they were doing. I just loved reading his words. His characters are vivid and unique. He has a true gift for writing dialogue and even his narrative sucked me in and held me in place.In all fairness, however, I must admit that the plot was at times convoluted in such a way that it could be difficult to follow. I think, in Laurie's effort to bring suspense to the story, he sometimes leaves the reader dangling in the wind. However, the entertainment value of his writing style carried me through any little rough spots in the plot.When I turned the last page, I was sad to say goodbye to the characters. Thomas Lang, Laurie's main character, wants to live on in my mind. And, for me, that's the mark of a great story.

Is the movie dialogue good?

He has a true gift for writing dialogue and even his narrative sucked me in and held me in place.

Dry humor, witty remarks, and a bit of sarcasm, written in first person by the man we all now know as House. For me, the actual plot - which is sort of a spy thriller; part serious, part satire - was secondary to the writing and the characters. I didn't particularly care what they were doing. I just loved reading his words. His characters are vivid and unique. He has a true gift for writing dialogue and even his narrative sucked me in and held me in place.In all fairness, however, I must admit that the plot was at times convoluted in such a way that it could be difficult to follow. I think, in Laurie's effort to bring suspense to the story, he sometimes leaves the reader dangling in the wind. However, the entertainment value of his writing style carried me through any little rough spots in the plot.When I turned the last page, I was sad to say goodbye to the characters. Thomas Lang, Laurie's main character, wants to live on in my mind. And, for me, that's the mark of a great story.

<hl> He has a true gift for writing dialogue and even <hl> his narrative sucked me in and held me in place.

Dry humor, witty remarks, and a bit of sarcasm, written in first person by the man we all now know as House. For me, the actual plot - which is sort of a spy thriller; part serious, part satire - was secondary to the writing and the characters. I didn't particularly care what they were doing. I just loved reading his words. His characters are vivid and unique. <hl> He has a true gift for writing dialogue and even <hl> his narrative sucked me in and held me in place.In all fairness, however, I must admit that the plot was at times convoluted in such a way that it could be difficult to follow. I think, in Laurie's effort to bring suspense to the story, he sometimes leaves the reader dangling in the wind. However, the entertainment value of his writing style carried me through any little rough spots in the plot.When I turned the last page, I was sad to say goodbye to the characters. Thomas Lang, Laurie's main character, wants to live on in my mind. And, for me, that's the mark of a great story.

Dry humor, witty remarks, and a bit of sarcasm, written in first person by the man we all now know as House. For me, the actual plot - which is sort of a spy thriller; part serious, part satire - was secondary to the writing and the characters. I didn't particularly care what they were doing. I just loved reading his words. His characters are vivid and unique. <hl> He has a true gift for writing dialogue and even his narrative sucked me in and held me in place. <hl> In all fairness, however, I must admit that the plot was at times convoluted in such a way that it could be difficult to follow. I think, in Laurie's effort to bring suspense to the story, he sometimes leaves the reader dangling in the wind. However, the entertainment value of his writing style carried me through any little rough spots in the plot. When I turned the last page, I was sad to say goodbye to the characters. Thomas Lang, Laurie's main character, wants to live on in my mind. And, for me, that's the mark of a great story.

7c81fff186ca960875e07347efeb1b5f

books

Life is often stranger than fiction

question: How is life style in those places?, context: It had been awhile since I read Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, twice I believe on publication, and it is a memoir that I will always remember. At times, I send it to others. So the other day I was surprised when a friend brought this book up and asked if I had heard of it. She has little time to read because of her schedule, and we rarely if ever discuss her childhood. When we first met more than three decades ago, she alluded to it once, and in little detail. We have a tacit understanding that it is a mute subject and here I will just relay that her story of early years has strong winds of war and elements of survival to be found within; an only child, she seldom revisits the past. Pragmatic by nature, she is solid, steadfast and honest, and although their circumstances are different, she told me that she was to relate to Jeannette Wallis, and some of the feelings the author felt at the time as a child growing up on unsteady grounds.Although a clear and remarkably crafted family portrait, Glass Castle is open to interpretation and some readers are going to feel that it is closer to the bone than others. Others are going to shake their heads in disbelief with some reason. A story of a lost childhood? A mistrust engendered at an early age towards one's parents and adults around one? It is going to depend on each and every person, regardless of whether they have siblings, or not in this story, which falls into the category of non-fiction and reads like a novel.From the early beginning of the author's narrative, you find her at the age of three boiling some hot dogs, standing on a step-stool over the oven range while her mother is happily drawing and singing in the next room. It does not take long for her little girl's frock to catch on fire. Some of the readers' hair may also go up metaphorically in flames at the same time, and these memoirs of Walls begin at a fast clip.Jeannette's father is the definition of a free-spirit; an irresponsible one at that, an actor and gambler of life on all fronts. Both parents are a match of a kind because they appear to feel best when taking chances and living dangerously while traveling together on life's journey. Such individuals are to be found among us in all social circles, and there can be hard and even tragic consequences for the children of these parents from the time of their birth, and later in life. Perhaps, you have met with some of these individuals, and they are friends of yours today.All to say, many readers may find themselves on edge and anxious for the next three hundred pages or so. The most worrisome part for this one, and when the red alarm bells went off at high pitch, was when Jeannette and her siblings are left by in the care of their frightening relative Erma by their adventurous parents, with no specific mention of their return. The Ermas of this world also exist in all different shapes and sizes. Bad news all around.In summary, much has been said about Glass Castle, and in all likelihood, more remains to be said of this remarkable book. Among her many assets, Jeannette Walls in her account meets the definition of a 'wise soul on young shoulders', and if some of her detractors feel that her 'Voice' is lacking in emotion, it is difficult for them to call her a whiner, sad mop or ingrate under the circumstances. These words are often recurring terms for authors of these young memoirs, when at a much later age and stage in life, they are simply writing about the complex and painful truth in these family matters.With appreciation to Jeannette Wallis for recounting her own story so well; a most difficult one to write and relay to others, but she did it and very finely indeed. It may be helpful to others who have yet to come to terms with their own childhood, and some of us with valid reason may feel grateful for this. As for my friend who recently read this, she added: 'It certainly confirms that Life is often stranger than fiction', and I have every reason to believe that she would know about this. She is not one to embellish her stories.

How is life style in those places?

As for my friend who recently read this, she added: 'It certainly confirms that Life is often stranger than fiction ', and I have every reason to believe that she would know about this.

It had been awhile since I read Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, twice I believe on publication, and it is a memoir that I will always remember. At times, I send it to others. So the other day I was surprised when a friend brought this book up and asked if I had heard of it. She has little time to read because of her schedule, and we rarely if ever discuss her childhood. When we first met more than three decades ago, she alluded to it once, and in little detail. We have a tacit understanding that it is a mute subject and here I will just relay that her story of early years has strong winds of war and elements of survival to be found within; an only child, she seldom revisits the past. Pragmatic by nature, she is solid, steadfast and honest, and although their circumstances are different, she told me that she was to relate to Jeannette Wallis, and some of the feelings the author felt at the time as a child growing up on unsteady grounds.Although a clear and remarkably crafted family portrait, Glass Castle is open to interpretation and some readers are going to feel that it is closer to the bone than others. Others are going to shake their heads in disbelief with some reason. A story of a lost childhood? A mistrust engendered at an early age towards one's parents and adults around one? It is going to depend on each and every person, regardless of whether they have siblings, or not in this story, which falls into the category of non-fiction and reads like a novel.From the early beginning of the author's narrative, you find her at the age of three boiling some hot dogs, standing on a step-stool over the oven range while her mother is happily drawing and singing in the next room. It does not take long for her little girl's frock to catch on fire. Some of the readers' hair may also go up metaphorically in flames at the same time, and these memoirs of Walls begin at a fast clip.Jeannette's father is the definition of a free-spirit; an irresponsible one at that, an actor and gambler of life on all fronts. Both parents are a match of a kind because they appear to feel best when taking chances and living dangerously while traveling together on life's journey. Such individuals are to be found among us in all social circles, and there can be hard and even tragic consequences for the children of these parents from the time of their birth, and later in life. Perhaps, you have met with some of these individuals, and they are friends of yours today.All to say, many readers may find themselves on edge and anxious for the next three hundred pages or so. The most worrisome part for this one, and when the red alarm bells went off at high pitch, was when Jeannette and her siblings are left by in the care of their frightening relative Erma by their adventurous parents, with no specific mention of their return. The Ermas of this world also exist in all different shapes and sizes. Bad news all around.In summary, much has been said about Glass Castle, and in all likelihood, more remains to be said of this remarkable book. Among her many assets, Jeannette Walls in her account meets the definition of a 'wise soul on young shoulders', and if some of her detractors feel that her 'Voice' is lacking in emotion, it is difficult for them to call her a whiner, sad mop or ingrate under the circumstances. These words are often recurring terms for authors of these young memoirs, when at a much later age and stage in life, they are simply writing about the complex and painful truth in these family matters.With appreciation to Jeannette Wallis for recounting her own story so well; a most difficult one to write and relay to others, but she did it and very finely indeed. It may be helpful to others who have yet to come to terms with their own childhood, and some of us with valid reason may feel grateful for this. As for my friend who recently read this, she added: 'It certainly confirms that Life is often stranger than fiction', and I have every reason to believe that she would know about this. She is not one to embellish her stories.

As for my friend who recently read this, she added: 'It certainly confirms that <hl> Life is often stranger than fiction <hl> ', and I have every reason to believe that she would know about this.

It had been awhile since I read Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, twice I believe on publication, and it is a memoir that I will always remember. At times, I send it to others. So the other day I was surprised when a friend brought this book up and asked if I had heard of it. She has little time to read because of her schedule, and we rarely if ever discuss her childhood. When we first met more than three decades ago, she alluded to it once, and in little detail. We have a tacit understanding that it is a mute subject and here I will just relay that her story of early years has strong winds of war and elements of survival to be found within; an only child, she seldom revisits the past. Pragmatic by nature, she is solid, steadfast and honest, and although their circumstances are different, she told me that she was to relate to Jeannette Wallis, and some of the feelings the author felt at the time as a child growing up on unsteady grounds.Although a clear and remarkably crafted family portrait, Glass Castle is open to interpretation and some readers are going to feel that it is closer to the bone than others. Others are going to shake their heads in disbelief with some reason. A story of a lost childhood? A mistrust engendered at an early age towards one's parents and adults around one? It is going to depend on each and every person, regardless of whether they have siblings, or not in this story, which falls into the category of non-fiction and reads like a novel.From the early beginning of the author's narrative, you find her at the age of three boiling some hot dogs, standing on a step-stool over the oven range while her mother is happily drawing and singing in the next room. It does not take long for her little girl's frock to catch on fire. Some of the readers' hair may also go up metaphorically in flames at the same time, and these memoirs of Walls begin at a fast clip.Jeannette's father is the definition of a free-spirit; an irresponsible one at that, an actor and gambler of life on all fronts. Both parents are a match of a kind because they appear to feel best when taking chances and living dangerously while traveling together on life's journey. Such individuals are to be found among us in all social circles, and there can be hard and even tragic consequences for the children of these parents from the time of their birth, and later in life. Perhaps, you have met with some of these individuals, and they are friends of yours today.All to say, many readers may find themselves on edge and anxious for the next three hundred pages or so. The most worrisome part for this one, and when the red alarm bells went off at high pitch, was when Jeannette and her siblings are left by in the care of their frightening relative Erma by their adventurous parents, with no specific mention of their return. The Ermas of this world also exist in all different shapes and sizes. Bad news all around.In summary, much has been said about Glass Castle, and in all likelihood, more remains to be said of this remarkable book. Among her many assets, Jeannette Walls in her account meets the definition of a 'wise soul on young shoulders', and if some of her detractors feel that her 'Voice' is lacking in emotion, it is difficult for them to call her a whiner, sad mop or ingrate under the circumstances. These words are often recurring terms for authors of these young memoirs, when at a much later age and stage in life, they are simply writing about the complex and painful truth in these family matters.With appreciation to Jeannette Wallis for recounting her own story so well; a most difficult one to write and relay to others, but she did it and very finely indeed. It may be helpful to others who have yet to come to terms with their own childhood, and some of us with valid reason may feel grateful for this. As for my friend who recently read this, she added: 'It certainly confirms that <hl> Life is often stranger than fiction <hl>', and I have every reason to believe that she would know about this. She is not one to embellish her stories.

It had been awhile since I read Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, twice I believe on publication, and it is a memoir that I will always remember. At times, I send it to others. So the other day I was surprised when a friend brought this book up and asked if I had heard of it. She has little time to read because of her schedule, and we rarely if ever discuss her childhood. When we first met more than three decades ago, she alluded to it once, and in little detail. We have a tacit understanding that it is a mute subject and here I will just relay that her story of early years has strong winds of war and elements of survival to be found within; an only child, she seldom revisits the past. Pragmatic by nature, she is solid, steadfast and honest, and although their circumstances are different, she told me that she was to relate to Jeannette Wallis, and some of the feelings the author felt at the time as a child growing up on unsteady grounds. Although a clear and remarkably crafted family portrait, Glass Castle is open to interpretation and some readers are going to feel that it is closer to the bone than others. Others are going to shake their heads in disbelief with some reason. A story of a lost childhood? A mistrust engendered at an early age towards one's parents and adults around one? It is going to depend on each and every person, regardless of whether they have siblings, or not in this story, which falls into the category of non-fiction and reads like a novel. From the early beginning of the author's narrative, you find her at the age of three boiling some hot dogs, standing on a step-stool over the oven range while her mother is happily drawing and singing in the next room. It does not take long for her little girl's frock to catch on fire. Some of the readers' hair may also go up metaphorically in flames at the same time, and these memoirs of Walls begin at a fast clip. Jeannette's father is the definition of a free-spirit; an irresponsible one at that, an actor and gambler of life on all fronts. Both parents are a match of a kind because they appear to feel best when taking chances and living dangerously while traveling together on life's journey. Such individuals are to be found among us in all social circles, and there can be hard and even tragic consequences for the children of these parents from the time of their birth, and later in life. Perhaps, you have met with some of these individuals, and they are friends of yours today. All to say, many readers may find themselves on edge and anxious for the next three hundred pages or so. The most worrisome part for this one, and when the red alarm bells went off at high pitch, was when Jeannette and her siblings are left by in the care of their frightening relative Erma by their adventurous parents, with no specific mention of their return. The Ermas of this world also exist in all different shapes and sizes. Bad news all around. In summary, much has been said about Glass Castle, and in all likelihood, more remains to be said of this remarkable book. Among her many assets, Jeannette Walls in her account meets the definition of a 'wise soul on young shoulders', and if some of her detractors feel that her 'Voice' is lacking in emotion, it is difficult for them to call her a whiner, sad mop or ingrate under the circumstances. These words are often recurring terms for authors of these young memoirs, when at a much later age and stage in life, they are simply writing about the complex and painful truth in these family matters. With appreciation to Jeannette Wallis for recounting her own story so well; a most difficult one to write and relay to others, but she did it and very finely indeed. It may be helpful to others who have yet to come to terms with their own childhood, and some of us with valid reason may feel grateful for this. <hl> As for my friend who recently read this, she added: 'It certainly confirms that Life is often stranger than fiction ', and I have every reason to believe that she would know about this. <hl> She is not one to embellish her stories.

c4bbc13f01e62e298408397ecc0a78df

books

made me cry and laugh, it was simply wonderful

question: What emotion was there?, context: This book was amazing...made me cry and laugh, it was simply wonderful. The love from Liam is so sweet! Although there are very sad parts it just adds to the depth of the book! Read this book! I can't wait to read more from this author!

What emotion was there?

made me cry and laugh, it was simply wonderful .

This book was amazing...made me cry and laugh, it was simply wonderful. The love from Liam is so sweet! Although there are very sad parts it just adds to the depth of the book! Read this book! I can't wait to read more from this author!

<hl> made me cry and laugh, it was simply wonderful <hl> .

This book was amazing...<hl> made me cry and laugh, it was simply wonderful <hl>. The love from Liam is so sweet! Although there are very sad parts it just adds to the depth of the book! Read this book! I can't wait to read more from this author!

This book was amazing... <hl> made me cry and laugh, it was simply wonderful . <hl> The love from Liam is so sweet! Although there are very sad parts it just adds to the depth of the book! Read this book! I can't wait to read more from this author!

cd83f52d5520855c137189ed4b341c07

books

This author has written a wonderful and heart warming book in spite of the subjects involved

question: How would you describe the gift of Gregory in writing historical fiction?, context: This book is one you will never forget reading. Being an avid reader who has read thousands of books, I can honestly say this one is unforgettable, and one of the most surprising ones I have ever read. So many secrets and mysteries are revealed, and you have no clue about how horrible they are until near the end. It grabs you from the first page, and you can't put it down. You feel for the characters Sky and Holder. How the author can write so convincingly about the tragedies in this book is hard to understand, but she does it so well. And in the end, you are amazed at the strength and love that can come out of such life-changing acts. This author has written a wonderful and heart warming book in spite of the subjects involved. I will purchase her other 2 books, and can't wait to read them! This book is worthy of 10 stars. NOTE: It's 6 months later and I just finished reading this book for the second time. It is that good!!

How would you describe the gift of Gregory in writing historical fiction?

This author has written a wonderful and heart warming book in spite of the subjects involved .

This book is one you will never forget reading. Being an avid reader who has read thousands of books, I can honestly say this one is unforgettable, and one of the most surprising ones I have ever read. So many secrets and mysteries are revealed, and you have no clue about how horrible they are until near the end. It grabs you from the first page, and you can't put it down. You feel for the characters Sky and Holder. How the author can write so convincingly about the tragedies in this book is hard to understand, but she does it so well. And in the end, you are amazed at the strength and love that can come out of such life-changing acts. This author has written a wonderful and heart warming book in spite of the subjects involved. I will purchase her other 2 books, and can't wait to read them! This book is worthy of 10 stars. NOTE: It's 6 months later and I just finished reading this book for the second time. It is that good!!

<hl> This author has written a wonderful and heart warming book in spite of the subjects involved <hl> .

This book is one you will never forget reading. Being an avid reader who has read thousands of books, I can honestly say this one is unforgettable, and one of the most surprising ones I have ever read. So many secrets and mysteries are revealed, and you have no clue about how horrible they are until near the end. It grabs you from the first page, and you can't put it down. You feel for the characters Sky and Holder. How the author can write so convincingly about the tragedies in this book is hard to understand, but she does it so well. And in the end, you are amazed at the strength and love that can come out of such life-changing acts. <hl> This author has written a wonderful and heart warming book in spite of the subjects involved <hl>. I will purchase her other 2 books, and can't wait to read them! This book is worthy of 10 stars. NOTE: It's 6 months later and I just finished reading this book for the second time. It is that good!!

This book is one you will never forget reading. Being an avid reader who has read thousands of books, I can honestly say this one is unforgettable, and one of the most surprising ones I have ever read. So many secrets and mysteries are revealed, and you have no clue about how horrible they are until near the end. It grabs you from the first page, and you can't put it down. You feel for the characters Sky and Holder. How the author can write so convincingly about the tragedies in this book is hard to understand, but she does it so well. And in the end, you are amazed at the strength and love that can come out of such life-changing acts. <hl> This author has written a wonderful and heart warming book in spite of the subjects involved . <hl> I will purchase her other 2 books, and can't wait to read them! This book is worthy of 10 stars. NOTE: It's 6 months later and I just finished reading this book for the second time. It is that good!!

d8bfc8099256c57428b979c6c970d53e

books

the period voice feels

question: How is the child?, context: The reviews of this book frequently use the word "delightful" and that's an apt word. The characters are charming, the period voice feels right, there are enough painful stories from the war to make it feel real without having so many as to make the book unpleasantly grim, and well, this is just a nicebook to read.I'd especially recommend it for fans of Helene Hanff's 84 Charing Cross Road; the tone and the literary references are so similar I'd be shocked if that book weren't one of the influence on this one. (After all, even in England in 1946 were there all *that* many fans of Elia?)I'm subtracting one star for holes in the internal logic; I have some trouble believing that the island's inhabitants would be so happy to have a book written about them by someone they'd known for so short a time. People seem very quick to trust, in general, especially right after so many years of having to be so cautious of betrayal. I may be wrong, but I think the British reserve and the remnants of the class system would have played a greater role throughout than they do here; the language in the first part is perfect 1946 (I wasn't around; I'm using Hanff as a standard) but it's a bit less period-perfect toward the end of the book.It deserves four stars, though, because none of these things diminished my enjoyment of the book; they just left me thinking "But, wait-" afterward.

How is the child?

The characters are charming, the period voice feels right, there are enough painful stories from the war to make it feel real without having so many as to make the book unpleasantly grim, and well, this is just a nicebook to read.

The reviews of this book frequently use the word "delightful" and that's an apt word. The characters are charming, the period voice feels right, there are enough painful stories from the war to make it feel real without having so many as to make the book unpleasantly grim, and well, this is just a nicebook to read.I'd especially recommend it for fans of Helene Hanff's 84 Charing Cross Road; the tone and the literary references are so similar I'd be shocked if that book weren't one of the influence on this one. (After all, even in England in 1946 were there all *that* many fans of Elia?)I'm subtracting one star for holes in the internal logic; I have some trouble believing that the island's inhabitants would be so happy to have a book written about them by someone they'd known for so short a time. People seem very quick to trust, in general, especially right after so many years of having to be so cautious of betrayal. I may be wrong, but I think the British reserve and the remnants of the class system would have played a greater role throughout than they do here; the language in the first part is perfect 1946 (I wasn't around; I'm using Hanff as a standard) but it's a bit less period-perfect toward the end of the book.It deserves four stars, though, because none of these things diminished my enjoyment of the book; they just left me thinking "But, wait-" afterward.

The characters are charming, <hl> the period voice feels <hl> right, there are enough painful stories from the war to make it feel real without having so many as to make the book unpleasantly grim, and well, this is just a nicebook to read.

The reviews of this book frequently use the word "delightful" and that's an apt word. The characters are charming, <hl> the period voice feels <hl> right, there are enough painful stories from the war to make it feel real without having so many as to make the book unpleasantly grim, and well, this is just a nicebook to read.I'd especially recommend it for fans of Helene Hanff's 84 Charing Cross Road; the tone and the literary references are so similar I'd be shocked if that book weren't one of the influence on this one. (After all, even in England in 1946 were there all *that* many fans of Elia?)I'm subtracting one star for holes in the internal logic; I have some trouble believing that the island's inhabitants would be so happy to have a book written about them by someone they'd known for so short a time. People seem very quick to trust, in general, especially right after so many years of having to be so cautious of betrayal. I may be wrong, but I think the British reserve and the remnants of the class system would have played a greater role throughout than they do here; the language in the first part is perfect 1946 (I wasn't around; I'm using Hanff as a standard) but it's a bit less period-perfect toward the end of the book.It deserves four stars, though, because none of these things diminished my enjoyment of the book; they just left me thinking "But, wait-" afterward.

The reviews of this book frequently use the word "delightful" and that's an apt word. <hl> The characters are charming, the period voice feels right, there are enough painful stories from the war to make it feel real without having so many as to make the book unpleasantly grim, and well, this is just a nicebook to read. <hl> I'd especially recommend it for fans of Helene Hanff's 84 Charing Cross Road; the tone and the literary references are so similar I'd be shocked if that book weren't one of the influence on this one. (After all, even in England in 1946 were there all *that* many fans of Elia?)I'm subtracting one star for holes in the internal logic; I have some trouble believing that the island's inhabitants would be so happy to have a book written about them by someone they'd known for so short a time. People seem very quick to trust, in general, especially right after so many years of having to be so cautious of betrayal. I may be wrong, but I think the British reserve and the remnants of the class system would have played a greater role throughout than they do here; the language in the first part is perfect 1946 (I wasn't around; I'm using Hanff as a standard) but it's a bit less period-perfect toward the end of the book. It deserves four stars, though, because none of these things diminished my enjoyment of the book; they just left me thinking "But, wait-" afterward.

19dc1c77c3031b92079527426cd34e7c

books

only a tale of bad parents

question: How is the story?, context: One of the dullest memoirs I've ever read. Some called this book "depressing" or said it was too painful to read. After reading the reviews, I steeled myself for the worst. What was so terrible? Horrible physical abuse? A painful story about sexual abuse? There is none of that here (though it seems to be the backbone of modern literature, unfortunately), only a tale of bad parents whom the author lets off the hook with a gentle shrug. There is no justification at the end of this book. No reason to be joyous. No lasting heartbreak, either. In fact, by the end of the book, the story is so dry you are just begging to be done with it. I'm a great fan of memoirs. I've read everything by David Sedaris, Frank McCourt's 'Angela's Ashes', Marcus Luttrell's amazing survival tale of being the sole survivor of a conflict in the wilderness of Afghanistan, the entire Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and several other memoirs from D-list authors. I've even read Jenny McCarthy's memoir/biography 'Jen-X' and there was much more substance to THAT book, if you can believe it.This memoir reeks of someone who has an axe to grind...but not against the people she should - Her PARENTS. Her axe to grind is probably against characters who never appeared in the pages of her memoir - old husbands, old college enemies, ex-friends...This is one of those "look at me now!" memoirs. "I lived on Park Avenue! Are you impressed with me yet?" She does mention this several times, throughout. The problem is that the story is...boring. Memoirs, when good, evoke EMOTION. Memoirs are best when served up with heavy doses of reality. For every painful moment in life, there are usually ten humorous ones. I didn't laugh out loud, once. I didn't cry either. For all the misery, there are often many moments of joy no matter what state of poverty you live in. What you get in this book is an uninteresting stranger with a semi-interesting life told in a dull way.Walls still seems convinced that her lazy parents shaped her life in a positive way, but she never tells us WHY she believes this and she doesn't give the reader permission to think, "Wow, your parents were terrible". In the end, we're supposed to love their quirkiness along with her. It's like a memoir that ventures out on the 'you should pity me' branch but retracts itself every time you begin to. I'm not saying Walls should have written a memoir bashing her parents. However, more realism would have done nicely. It's okay to love bad parents, too. She might want to justify her reasons, though. Why does she still gently praise these selfish, lazy people? She left this HUGE question unanswered - her respect for them, unjustified. There really aren't any bonding moments presented in the story or small acts that shine a light through the clouds about the mother or father's personalities and make them lovable at all.Walls narration of events is not candid, but very dry prose. There are also moments of unbelievability - things you really have a hard time believing. There is no heart and soul to this memoir. Here, you get a recounting of events, but none of the emotion. I have a friend who had parents incredibly like Walls' parents...ironically enough, she lives in the same state of denial about the quality of life her parents provided her with. Her mom was "cool", she was tolerant, open-minded, and someone to be pitied because she ended up pregnant when she didn't really want kids...so she tried to make due with this bohemian, whimsical life that robbed her children of the chance to have a normal mom who didn't bring home strange men at 4 a.m. She also did this while trashing the values of normal, unselfish mothers to make them think they had some rarity - some gem of a mother. Yet, they still loved her. I was hoping Walls could describe this family dynamic more so the rest of us can UNDERSTAND it, but in the end.....Silence. I wish the editor had sent her back to the drawing board with this story to flesh it out a little more. For REAL people, these characters were more 2-dimensional than many fiction characters I've read about.

How is the story?

There is none of that here (though it seems to be the backbone of modern literature, unfortunately), only a tale of bad parents whom the author lets off the hook with a gentle shrug.

One of the dullest memoirs I've ever read. Some called this book "depressing" or said it was too painful to read. After reading the reviews, I steeled myself for the worst. What was so terrible? Horrible physical abuse? A painful story about sexual abuse? There is none of that here (though it seems to be the backbone of modern literature, unfortunately), only a tale of bad parents whom the author lets off the hook with a gentle shrug. There is no justification at the end of this book. No reason to be joyous. No lasting heartbreak, either. In fact, by the end of the book, the story is so dry you are just begging to be done with it. I'm a great fan of memoirs. I've read everything by David Sedaris, Frank McCourt's 'Angela's Ashes', Marcus Luttrell's amazing survival tale of being the sole survivor of a conflict in the wilderness of Afghanistan, the entire Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and several other memoirs from D-list authors. I've even read Jenny McCarthy's memoir/biography 'Jen-X' and there was much more substance to THAT book, if you can believe it.This memoir reeks of someone who has an axe to grind...but not against the people she should - Her PARENTS. Her axe to grind is probably against characters who never appeared in the pages of her memoir - old husbands, old college enemies, ex-friends...This is one of those "look at me now!" memoirs. "I lived on Park Avenue! Are you impressed with me yet?" She does mention this several times, throughout. The problem is that the story is...boring. Memoirs, when good, evoke EMOTION. Memoirs are best when served up with heavy doses of reality. For every painful moment in life, there are usually ten humorous ones. I didn't laugh out loud, once. I didn't cry either. For all the misery, there are often many moments of joy no matter what state of poverty you live in. What you get in this book is an uninteresting stranger with a semi-interesting life told in a dull way.Walls still seems convinced that her lazy parents shaped her life in a positive way, but she never tells us WHY she believes this and she doesn't give the reader permission to think, "Wow, your parents were terrible". In the end, we're supposed to love their quirkiness along with her. It's like a memoir that ventures out on the 'you should pity me' branch but retracts itself every time you begin to. I'm not saying Walls should have written a memoir bashing her parents. However, more realism would have done nicely. It's okay to love bad parents, too. She might want to justify her reasons, though. Why does she still gently praise these selfish, lazy people? She left this HUGE question unanswered - her respect for them, unjustified. There really aren't any bonding moments presented in the story or small acts that shine a light through the clouds about the mother or father's personalities and make them lovable at all.Walls narration of events is not candid, but very dry prose. There are also moments of unbelievability - things you really have a hard time believing. There is no heart and soul to this memoir. Here, you get a recounting of events, but none of the emotion. I have a friend who had parents incredibly like Walls' parents...ironically enough, she lives in the same state of denial about the quality of life her parents provided her with. Her mom was "cool", she was tolerant, open-minded, and someone to be pitied because she ended up pregnant when she didn't really want kids...so she tried to make due with this bohemian, whimsical life that robbed her children of the chance to have a normal mom who didn't bring home strange men at 4 a.m. She also did this while trashing the values of normal, unselfish mothers to make them think they had some rarity - some gem of a mother. Yet, they still loved her. I was hoping Walls could describe this family dynamic more so the rest of us can UNDERSTAND it, but in the end.....Silence. I wish the editor had sent her back to the drawing board with this story to flesh it out a little more. For REAL people, these characters were more 2-dimensional than many fiction characters I've read about.

There is none of that here (though it seems to be the backbone of modern literature, unfortunately), <hl> only a tale of bad parents <hl> whom the author lets off the hook with a gentle shrug.

One of the dullest memoirs I've ever read. Some called this book "depressing" or said it was too painful to read. After reading the reviews, I steeled myself for the worst. What was so terrible? Horrible physical abuse? A painful story about sexual abuse? There is none of that here (though it seems to be the backbone of modern literature, unfortunately), <hl> only a tale of bad parents <hl> whom the author lets off the hook with a gentle shrug. There is no justification at the end of this book. No reason to be joyous. No lasting heartbreak, either. In fact, by the end of the book, the story is so dry you are just begging to be done with it. I'm a great fan of memoirs. I've read everything by David Sedaris, Frank McCourt's 'Angela's Ashes', Marcus Luttrell's amazing survival tale of being the sole survivor of a conflict in the wilderness of Afghanistan, the entire Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and several other memoirs from D-list authors. I've even read Jenny McCarthy's memoir/biography 'Jen-X' and there was much more substance to THAT book, if you can believe it.This memoir reeks of someone who has an axe to grind...but not against the people she should - Her PARENTS. Her axe to grind is probably against characters who never appeared in the pages of her memoir - old husbands, old college enemies, ex-friends...This is one of those "look at me now!" memoirs. "I lived on Park Avenue! Are you impressed with me yet?" She does mention this several times, throughout. The problem is that the story is...boring. Memoirs, when good, evoke EMOTION. Memoirs are best when served up with heavy doses of reality. For every painful moment in life, there are usually ten humorous ones. I didn't laugh out loud, once. I didn't cry either. For all the misery, there are often many moments of joy no matter what state of poverty you live in. What you get in this book is an uninteresting stranger with a semi-interesting life told in a dull way.Walls still seems convinced that her lazy parents shaped her life in a positive way, but she never tells us WHY she believes this and she doesn't give the reader permission to think, "Wow, your parents were terrible". In the end, we're supposed to love their quirkiness along with her. It's like a memoir that ventures out on the 'you should pity me' branch but retracts itself every time you begin to. I'm not saying Walls should have written a memoir bashing her parents. However, more realism would have done nicely. It's okay to love bad parents, too. She might want to justify her reasons, though. Why does she still gently praise these selfish, lazy people? She left this HUGE question unanswered - her respect for them, unjustified. There really aren't any bonding moments presented in the story or small acts that shine a light through the clouds about the mother or father's personalities and make them lovable at all.Walls narration of events is not candid, but very dry prose. There are also moments of unbelievability - things you really have a hard time believing. There is no heart and soul to this memoir. Here, you get a recounting of events, but none of the emotion. I have a friend who had parents incredibly like Walls' parents...ironically enough, she lives in the same state of denial about the quality of life her parents provided her with. Her mom was "cool", she was tolerant, open-minded, and someone to be pitied because she ended up pregnant when she didn't really want kids...so she tried to make due with this bohemian, whimsical life that robbed her children of the chance to have a normal mom who didn't bring home strange men at 4 a.m. She also did this while trashing the values of normal, unselfish mothers to make them think they had some rarity - some gem of a mother. Yet, they still loved her. I was hoping Walls could describe this family dynamic more so the rest of us can UNDERSTAND it, but in the end.....Silence. I wish the editor had sent her back to the drawing board with this story to flesh it out a little more. For REAL people, these characters were more 2-dimensional than many fiction characters I've read about.

One of the dullest memoirs I've ever read. Some called this book "depressing" or said it was too painful to read. After reading the reviews, I steeled myself for the worst. What was so terrible? Horrible physical abuse? A painful story about sexual abuse? <hl> There is none of that here (though it seems to be the backbone of modern literature, unfortunately), only a tale of bad parents whom the author lets off the hook with a gentle shrug. <hl> There is no justification at the end of this book. No reason to be joyous. No lasting heartbreak, either. In fact, by the end of the book, the story is so dry you are just begging to be done with it. I'm a great fan of memoirs. I've read everything by David Sedaris, Frank McCourt's 'Angela's Ashes', Marcus Luttrell's amazing survival tale of being the sole survivor of a conflict in the wilderness of Afghanistan, the entire Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and several other memoirs from D-list authors. I've even read Jenny McCarthy's memoir/biography 'Jen-X' and there was much more substance to THAT book, if you can believe it. This memoir reeks of someone who has an axe to grind...but not against the people she should - Her PARENTS. Her axe to grind is probably against characters who never appeared in the pages of her memoir - old husbands, old college enemies, ex-friends... This is one of those "look at me now!" memoirs. "I lived on Park Avenue! Are you impressed with me yet?" She does mention this several times, throughout. The problem is that the story is...boring. Memoirs, when good, evoke EMOTION. Memoirs are best when served up with heavy doses of reality. For every painful moment in life, there are usually ten humorous ones. I didn't laugh out loud, once. I didn't cry either. For all the misery, there are often many moments of joy no matter what state of poverty you live in. What you get in this book is an uninteresting stranger with a semi-interesting life told in a dull way. Walls still seems convinced that her lazy parents shaped her life in a positive way, but she never tells us WHY she believes this and she doesn't give the reader permission to think, "Wow, your parents were terrible". In the end, we're supposed to love their quirkiness along with her. It's like a memoir that ventures out on the 'you should pity me' branch but retracts itself every time you begin to. I'm not saying Walls should have written a memoir bashing her parents. However, more realism would have done nicely. It's okay to love bad parents, too. She might want to justify her reasons, though. Why does she still gently praise these selfish, lazy people? She left this HUGE question unanswered - her respect for them, unjustified. There really aren't any bonding moments presented in the story or small acts that shine a light through the clouds about the mother or father's personalities and make them lovable at all. Walls narration of events is not candid, but very dry prose. There are also moments of unbelievability - things you really have a hard time believing. There is no heart and soul to this memoir. Here, you get a recounting of events, but none of the emotion. I have a friend who had parents incredibly like Walls' parents...ironically enough, she lives in the same state of denial about the quality of life her parents provided her with. Her mom was "cool", she was tolerant, open-minded, and someone to be pitied because she ended up pregnant when she didn't really want kids... so she tried to make due with this bohemian, whimsical life that robbed her children of the chance to have a normal mom who didn't bring home strange men at 4 a.m. She also did this while trashing the values of normal, unselfish mothers to make them think they had some rarity - some gem of a mother. Yet, they still loved her. I was hoping Walls could describe this family dynamic more so the rest of us can UNDERSTAND it, but in the end..... Silence. I wish the editor had sent her back to the drawing board with this story to flesh it out a little more. For REAL people, these characters were more 2-dimensional than many fiction characters I've read about.

4d050f38a443b2d221417eaed27754cc

books

the novel won numerous literary awards and became a long-standing international best seller

question: How is the book?, context: The Book Thief (New York: Albert A. Knopf, 2007), a novel by Australian writer Markus Zusak, accomplished a rare feat for Holocaust literature: the novel won numerous literary awards and became a long-standing international best seller, including being on the New York Times best seller list for a record of 230 weeks. What&#8217;s even more surprising about the novel&#8217;s success is not only its somber theme, but also the fact it&#8217;s a work of literary fiction (as opposed to genre fiction), a style of writing that rarely becomes a mainstream hit. Although the distinction between literary fiction and genre fiction is not cut-and-dry&#8212;for instance, Elizabeth Kostova&#8217;s novel, The Historian, fits both genres--I&#8217;d say that genre fiction places emphasis upon a fast-moving, interesting plot, while literary fiction privileges psychologically nuanced characterizations and a unique narrative style.Death characterized the Holocaust, and Death is the real narrator of the novel, which begins with the heroine&#8217;s end: Liesel Meminger&#8217;s death, many years after WWII, after she&#8217;s lived a full life and had children and grandchildren of her own. As Death carries the elderly woman&#8217;s soul to the other side, it also takes and narrates her childhood diary.In the late 1930&#8217;s and early 40&#8217;s, Liesel is a young adopted girl living in Germany. She has her first encounter with Death when her brother, Werner Meminger, who is also given up for adoption along with her, dies on the train to Molching. He&#8217;s buried by the railway station. That day, Liesel&#8217;s obsession with books&#8212;and death--begins. She picks up The Grave Digger&#8217;s Handbook, a book dropped by the funeral director at her brother&#8217;s funeral.Shortly thereafter, the distraught girl joins what might be seen as a typical German family, with whom she bonds quickly. Liesel&#8217;s adoptive father, Hans Hubermann, is a loyal German, who served during WWI, but is not sympathetic to the Nazi regime. Despite his reservations, Hans is enlisted in the German army during WWII. Artistic and sensitive&#8212;a painter and accordion player--Hans probably characterizes the attitude of a vast majority of Germans who were not anti-Semitic yet were forced to participate in the Nazi regime. His wife, Rosa, is a no-nonsense woman with a sharp tongue and a loving heart. She washes people&#8217;s clothes to supplement their income but gradually, one by one, her customers fire her.Liesel also meets Max Vandenburg, a Jew hidden by the Hubermann family from the Nazis, whose father fought during WWI alongside Hans Hubermann. Liesel befriends him. When Hans becomes ill, she reads to him. He eventually recovers, in part, the novel suggests, because of the power of friendship transmitted through the act of reading. Liesel and her family have a close call with the Gestapo, as soldiers search their house to see if they can use their basement as a shelter. Fortunately, they deem it too shallow and they leave.In all respects, Liesel blends in with her adoptive family. Their hardships and struggles become hers as well. She becomes especially close friends with Rudy Steiner, a blond &#8220;Aryan&#8221; boy a few months older than her, who develops a crush on her. Although the girl refuses to kiss him, together they embark on many adventures, which bond them to one another. Together, they become book thieves when the Mayor and his wife also fire Rosa. Their love of books and of the forbidden, representing a kind of protest against the Nazi regime and against injustice in life in general, binds the two children even more.Perhaps the strongest character of the novel is Death itself, its main narrator. Death may be brought about by war and by the savage murders perpetrated by the Nazis, but it is not sympathetic to them. Rather, Zusak depicts Death as a kind of Humanist, philosophical character: humane and disapproving of senseless violence, hatred and destruction. In parts, Death touches upon the comic and the absurd, needing &#8220;a vacation&#8221; from its job during the war.I think the strength of this novel lies in its complex characterizations: the German characters in particular are nuanced and multifaceted, not stereotyped in any way. They too struggle with the evils perpetrated by the Nazi regime and try to help victims, as much as they can. In the end, however, they too become victims of Hitler&#8217;s war, as Rosa, Hans and Rudy all die when the Hubermann house is bombed. Rudy doesn&#8217;t even get to experience Liesel&#8217;s first kiss, dying seconds before she finally declares her love for him and kisses him. Only Liesel survives and gets the chance to have a full life.If I were to identify any weakness in the novel it would be in the narrative style. Since style functions as a kind of author&#8217;s unique fingerprint in literary fiction, it&#8217;s largely dependent upon each reader&#8217;s subjective taste. The choppy, short sentences and disjointed, subjective structure of the novel weren&#8217;t to my personal taste, particularly since I usually look for a dense, sweeping and well-informed description of lived history in Holocaust literature. This novel, however, is impressionistic in both style and structure. But these stylistic features also made The Book Thief popular with readers of all ages, particularly with young readers, who could identify with the characters and appreciate its accessible form. Due to its literary success, The Book Thief was recently made into a movie directed by Brian Percival, released in November 2013. The movie, however, unlike the book, received mixed reviews.Claudia Moscovici, Literature Salon

How is the book?

The Book Thief (New York: Albert A. Knopf, 2007), a novel by Australian writer Markus Zusak, accomplished a rare feat for Holocaust literature: the novel won numerous literary awards and became a long-standing international best seller , including being on the New York Times best seller list for a record of 230 weeks.

The Book Thief (New York: Albert A. Knopf, 2007), a novel by Australian writer Markus Zusak, accomplished a rare feat for Holocaust literature: the novel won numerous literary awards and became a long-standing international best seller, including being on the New York Times best seller list for a record of 230 weeks. What&#8217;s even more surprising about the novel&#8217;s success is not only its somber theme, but also the fact it&#8217;s a work of literary fiction (as opposed to genre fiction), a style of writing that rarely becomes a mainstream hit. Although the distinction between literary fiction and genre fiction is not cut-and-dry&#8212;for instance, Elizabeth Kostova&#8217;s novel, The Historian, fits both genres--I&#8217;d say that genre fiction places emphasis upon a fast-moving, interesting plot, while literary fiction privileges psychologically nuanced characterizations and a unique narrative style.Death characterized the Holocaust, and Death is the real narrator of the novel, which begins with the heroine&#8217;s end: Liesel Meminger&#8217;s death, many years after WWII, after she&#8217;s lived a full life and had children and grandchildren of her own. As Death carries the elderly woman&#8217;s soul to the other side, it also takes and narrates her childhood diary.In the late 1930&#8217;s and early 40&#8217;s, Liesel is a young adopted girl living in Germany. She has her first encounter with Death when her brother, Werner Meminger, who is also given up for adoption along with her, dies on the train to Molching. He&#8217;s buried by the railway station. That day, Liesel&#8217;s obsession with books&#8212;and death--begins. She picks up The Grave Digger&#8217;s Handbook, a book dropped by the funeral director at her brother&#8217;s funeral.Shortly thereafter, the distraught girl joins what might be seen as a typical German family, with whom she bonds quickly. Liesel&#8217;s adoptive father, Hans Hubermann, is a loyal German, who served during WWI, but is not sympathetic to the Nazi regime. Despite his reservations, Hans is enlisted in the German army during WWII. Artistic and sensitive&#8212;a painter and accordion player--Hans probably characterizes the attitude of a vast majority of Germans who were not anti-Semitic yet were forced to participate in the Nazi regime. His wife, Rosa, is a no-nonsense woman with a sharp tongue and a loving heart. She washes people&#8217;s clothes to supplement their income but gradually, one by one, her customers fire her.Liesel also meets Max Vandenburg, a Jew hidden by the Hubermann family from the Nazis, whose father fought during WWI alongside Hans Hubermann. Liesel befriends him. When Hans becomes ill, she reads to him. He eventually recovers, in part, the novel suggests, because of the power of friendship transmitted through the act of reading. Liesel and her family have a close call with the Gestapo, as soldiers search their house to see if they can use their basement as a shelter. Fortunately, they deem it too shallow and they leave.In all respects, Liesel blends in with her adoptive family. Their hardships and struggles become hers as well. She becomes especially close friends with Rudy Steiner, a blond &#8220;Aryan&#8221; boy a few months older than her, who develops a crush on her. Although the girl refuses to kiss him, together they embark on many adventures, which bond them to one another. Together, they become book thieves when the Mayor and his wife also fire Rosa. Their love of books and of the forbidden, representing a kind of protest against the Nazi regime and against injustice in life in general, binds the two children even more.Perhaps the strongest character of the novel is Death itself, its main narrator. Death may be brought about by war and by the savage murders perpetrated by the Nazis, but it is not sympathetic to them. Rather, Zusak depicts Death as a kind of Humanist, philosophical character: humane and disapproving of senseless violence, hatred and destruction. In parts, Death touches upon the comic and the absurd, needing &#8220;a vacation&#8221; from its job during the war.I think the strength of this novel lies in its complex characterizations: the German characters in particular are nuanced and multifaceted, not stereotyped in any way. They too struggle with the evils perpetrated by the Nazi regime and try to help victims, as much as they can. In the end, however, they too become victims of Hitler&#8217;s war, as Rosa, Hans and Rudy all die when the Hubermann house is bombed. Rudy doesn&#8217;t even get to experience Liesel&#8217;s first kiss, dying seconds before she finally declares her love for him and kisses him. Only Liesel survives and gets the chance to have a full life.If I were to identify any weakness in the novel it would be in the narrative style. Since style functions as a kind of author&#8217;s unique fingerprint in literary fiction, it&#8217;s largely dependent upon each reader&#8217;s subjective taste. The choppy, short sentences and disjointed, subjective structure of the novel weren&#8217;t to my personal taste, particularly since I usually look for a dense, sweeping and well-informed description of lived history in Holocaust literature. This novel, however, is impressionistic in both style and structure. But these stylistic features also made The Book Thief popular with readers of all ages, particularly with young readers, who could identify with the characters and appreciate its accessible form. Due to its literary success, The Book Thief was recently made into a movie directed by Brian Percival, released in November 2013. The movie, however, unlike the book, received mixed reviews.Claudia Moscovici, Literature Salon

The Book Thief (New York: Albert A. Knopf, 2007), a novel by Australian writer Markus Zusak, accomplished a rare feat for Holocaust literature: <hl> the novel won numerous literary awards and became a long-standing international best seller <hl> , including being on the New York Times best seller list for a record of 230 weeks.

The Book Thief (New York: Albert A. Knopf, 2007), a novel by Australian writer Markus Zusak, accomplished a rare feat for Holocaust literature: <hl> the novel won numerous literary awards and became a long-standing international best seller <hl>, including being on the New York Times best seller list for a record of 230 weeks. What&#8217;s even more surprising about the novel&#8217;s success is not only its somber theme, but also the fact it&#8217;s a work of literary fiction (as opposed to genre fiction), a style of writing that rarely becomes a mainstream hit. Although the distinction between literary fiction and genre fiction is not cut-and-dry&#8212;for instance, Elizabeth Kostova&#8217;s novel, The Historian, fits both genres--I&#8217;d say that genre fiction places emphasis upon a fast-moving, interesting plot, while literary fiction privileges psychologically nuanced characterizations and a unique narrative style.Death characterized the Holocaust, and Death is the real narrator of the novel, which begins with the heroine&#8217;s end: Liesel Meminger&#8217;s death, many years after WWII, after she&#8217;s lived a full life and had children and grandchildren of her own. As Death carries the elderly woman&#8217;s soul to the other side, it also takes and narrates her childhood diary.In the late 1930&#8217;s and early 40&#8217;s, Liesel is a young adopted girl living in Germany. She has her first encounter with Death when her brother, Werner Meminger, who is also given up for adoption along with her, dies on the train to Molching. He&#8217;s buried by the railway station. That day, Liesel&#8217;s obsession with books&#8212;and death--begins. She picks up The Grave Digger&#8217;s Handbook, a book dropped by the funeral director at her brother&#8217;s funeral.Shortly thereafter, the distraught girl joins what might be seen as a typical German family, with whom she bonds quickly. Liesel&#8217;s adoptive father, Hans Hubermann, is a loyal German, who served during WWI, but is not sympathetic to the Nazi regime. Despite his reservations, Hans is enlisted in the German army during WWII. Artistic and sensitive&#8212;a painter and accordion player--Hans probably characterizes the attitude of a vast majority of Germans who were not anti-Semitic yet were forced to participate in the Nazi regime. His wife, Rosa, is a no-nonsense woman with a sharp tongue and a loving heart. She washes people&#8217;s clothes to supplement their income but gradually, one by one, her customers fire her.Liesel also meets Max Vandenburg, a Jew hidden by the Hubermann family from the Nazis, whose father fought during WWI alongside Hans Hubermann. Liesel befriends him. When Hans becomes ill, she reads to him. He eventually recovers, in part, the novel suggests, because of the power of friendship transmitted through the act of reading. Liesel and her family have a close call with the Gestapo, as soldiers search their house to see if they can use their basement as a shelter. Fortunately, they deem it too shallow and they leave.In all respects, Liesel blends in with her adoptive family. Their hardships and struggles become hers as well. She becomes especially close friends with Rudy Steiner, a blond &#8220;Aryan&#8221; boy a few months older than her, who develops a crush on her. Although the girl refuses to kiss him, together they embark on many adventures, which bond them to one another. Together, they become book thieves when the Mayor and his wife also fire Rosa. Their love of books and of the forbidden, representing a kind of protest against the Nazi regime and against injustice in life in general, binds the two children even more.Perhaps the strongest character of the novel is Death itself, its main narrator. Death may be brought about by war and by the savage murders perpetrated by the Nazis, but it is not sympathetic to them. Rather, Zusak depicts Death as a kind of Humanist, philosophical character: humane and disapproving of senseless violence, hatred and destruction. In parts, Death touches upon the comic and the absurd, needing &#8220;a vacation&#8221; from its job during the war.I think the strength of this novel lies in its complex characterizations: the German characters in particular are nuanced and multifaceted, not stereotyped in any way. They too struggle with the evils perpetrated by the Nazi regime and try to help victims, as much as they can. In the end, however, they too become victims of Hitler&#8217;s war, as Rosa, Hans and Rudy all die when the Hubermann house is bombed. Rudy doesn&#8217;t even get to experience Liesel&#8217;s first kiss, dying seconds before she finally declares her love for him and kisses him. Only Liesel survives and gets the chance to have a full life.If I were to identify any weakness in the novel it would be in the narrative style. Since style functions as a kind of author&#8217;s unique fingerprint in literary fiction, it&#8217;s largely dependent upon each reader&#8217;s subjective taste. The choppy, short sentences and disjointed, subjective structure of the novel weren&#8217;t to my personal taste, particularly since I usually look for a dense, sweeping and well-informed description of lived history in Holocaust literature. This novel, however, is impressionistic in both style and structure. But these stylistic features also made The Book Thief popular with readers of all ages, particularly with young readers, who could identify with the characters and appreciate its accessible form. Due to its literary success, The Book Thief was recently made into a movie directed by Brian Percival, released in November 2013. The movie, however, unlike the book, received mixed reviews.Claudia Moscovici, Literature Salon

<hl> The Book Thief (New York: Albert A. Knopf, 2007), a novel by Australian writer Markus Zusak, accomplished a rare feat for Holocaust literature: the novel won numerous literary awards and became a long-standing international best seller , including being on the New York Times best seller list for a record of 230 weeks. <hl> What&#8217;s even more surprising about the novel&#8217;s success is not only its somber theme, but also the fact it&#8217;s a work of literary fiction (as opposed to genre fiction), a style of writing that rarely becomes a mainstream hit. Although the distinction between literary fiction and genre fiction is not cut-and-dry&#8212;for instance, Elizabeth Kostova&#8217;s novel, The Historian, fits both genres--I&#8217;d say that genre fiction places emphasis upon a fast-moving, interesting plot, while literary fiction privileges psychologically nuanced characterizations and a unique narrative style. Death characterized the Holocaust, and Death is the real narrator of the novel, which begins with the heroine&#8217;s end: Liesel Meminger&#8217;s death, many years after WWII, after she&#8217;s lived a full life and had children and grandchildren of her own. As Death carries the elderly woman&#8217;s soul to the other side, it also takes and narrates her childhood diary. In the late 1930&#8217;s and early 40&#8217;s, Liesel is a young adopted girl living in Germany. She has her first encounter with Death when her brother, Werner Meminger, who is also given up for adoption along with her, dies on the train to Molching. He&#8217;s buried by the railway station. That day, Liesel&#8217;s obsession with books&#8212;and death--begins. She picks up The Grave Digger&#8217;s Handbook, a book dropped by the funeral director at her brother&#8217;s funeral. Shortly thereafter, the distraught girl joins what might be seen as a typical German family, with whom she bonds quickly. Liesel&#8217;s adoptive father, Hans Hubermann, is a loyal German, who served during WWI, but is not sympathetic to the Nazi regime. Despite his reservations, Hans is enlisted in the German army during WWII. Artistic and sensitive&#8212;a painter and accordion player--Hans probably characterizes the attitude of a vast majority of Germans who were not anti-Semitic yet were forced to participate in the Nazi regime. His wife, Rosa, is a no-nonsense woman with a sharp tongue and a loving heart. She washes people&#8217;s clothes to supplement their income but gradually, one by one, her customers fire her. Liesel also meets Max Vandenburg, a Jew hidden by the Hubermann family from the Nazis, whose father fought during WWI alongside Hans Hubermann. Liesel befriends him. When Hans becomes ill, she reads to him. He eventually recovers, in part, the novel suggests, because of the power of friendship transmitted through the act of reading. Liesel and her family have a close call with the Gestapo, as soldiers search their house to see if they can use their basement as a shelter. Fortunately, they deem it too shallow and they leave. In all respects, Liesel blends in with her adoptive family. Their hardships and struggles become hers as well. She becomes especially close friends with Rudy Steiner, a blond &#8220;Aryan&#8221; boy a few months older than her, who develops a crush on her. Although the girl refuses to kiss him, together they embark on many adventures, which bond them to one another. Together, they become book thieves when the Mayor and his wife also fire Rosa. Their love of books and of the forbidden, representing a kind of protest against the Nazi regime and against injustice in life in general, binds the two children even more. Perhaps the strongest character of the novel is Death itself, its main narrator. Death may be brought about by war and by the savage murders perpetrated by the Nazis, but it is not sympathetic to them. Rather, Zusak depicts Death as a kind of Humanist, philosophical character: humane and disapproving of senseless violence, hatred and destruction. In parts, Death touches upon the comic and the absurd, needing &#8220;a vacation&#8221; from its job during the war. I think the strength of this novel lies in its complex characterizations: the German characters in particular are nuanced and multifaceted, not stereotyped in any way. They too struggle with the evils perpetrated by the Nazi regime and try to help victims, as much as they can. In the end, however, they too become victims of Hitler&#8217;s war, as Rosa, Hans and Rudy all die when the Hubermann house is bombed. Rudy doesn&#8217;t even get to experience Liesel&#8217;s first kiss, dying seconds before she finally declares her love for him and kisses him. Only Liesel survives and gets the chance to have a full life. If I were to identify any weakness in the novel it would be in the narrative style. Since style functions as a kind of author&#8217;s unique fingerprint in literary fiction, it&#8217;s largely dependent upon each reader&#8217;s subjective taste. The choppy, short sentences and disjointed, subjective structure of the novel weren&#8217;t to my personal taste, particularly since I usually look for a dense, sweeping and well-informed description of lived history in Holocaust literature. This novel, however, is impressionistic in both style and structure. But these stylistic features also made The Book Thief popular with readers of all ages, particularly with young readers, who could identify with the characters and appreciate its accessible form. Due to its literary success, The Book Thief was recently made into a movie directed by Brian Percival, released in November 2013. The movie, however, unlike the book, received mixed reviews. Claudia Moscovici, Literature Salon

0ac0dac53476c6069476ef35a9ccb2fc

books

Stories are for joining the past to the future

question: How was the book's story perceived?, context: "That's what stories are for. Stories are for joining the past to the future. Stories are for those late hours in the night when you can't remember how you got from where you were to where you are. Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story."This is truly one of the best books I have ever read. The praise at the beginning of the book calls it "a vital, important book" which cannot be honestly stated about too many books, but it is true in this case. It took me longer than it should have to read this book because I didn't want to read it when I was tired, or preoccupied or when the TV was on in the background. I only wanted to read it when I could dedicate my whole mind to it and immerse myself in it.Listed as a collection of short stories regarding Mr. O'Brien's time in the Vietnam war, I felt it read more like a novel, there was a strong continuity throughout the stories. The stories were honest, passionate and beautifully written without the need for fancy, lyrical writing."The Things They Carried" is honestly one of the best pieces of literature I have ever read, and I recommend it to everyone.(

How was the book's story perceived?

Stories are for joining the past to the future .

"That's what stories are for. Stories are for joining the past to the future. Stories are for those late hours in the night when you can't remember how you got from where you were to where you are. Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story."This is truly one of the best books I have ever read. The praise at the beginning of the book calls it "a vital, important book" which cannot be honestly stated about too many books, but it is true in this case. It took me longer than it should have to read this book because I didn't want to read it when I was tired, or preoccupied or when the TV was on in the background. I only wanted to read it when I could dedicate my whole mind to it and immerse myself in it.Listed as a collection of short stories regarding Mr. O'Brien's time in the Vietnam war, I felt it read more like a novel, there was a strong continuity throughout the stories. The stories were honest, passionate and beautifully written without the need for fancy, lyrical writing."The Things They Carried" is honestly one of the best pieces of literature I have ever read, and I recommend it to everyone.(

<hl> Stories are for joining the past to the future <hl> .

"That's what stories are for. <hl> Stories are for joining the past to the future <hl>. Stories are for those late hours in the night when you can't remember how you got from where you were to where you are. Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story."This is truly one of the best books I have ever read. The praise at the beginning of the book calls it "a vital, important book" which cannot be honestly stated about too many books, but it is true in this case. It took me longer than it should have to read this book because I didn't want to read it when I was tired, or preoccupied or when the TV was on in the background. I only wanted to read it when I could dedicate my whole mind to it and immerse myself in it.Listed as a collection of short stories regarding Mr. O'Brien's time in the Vietnam war, I felt it read more like a novel, there was a strong continuity throughout the stories. The stories were honest, passionate and beautifully written without the need for fancy, lyrical writing."The Things They Carried" is honestly one of the best pieces of literature I have ever read, and I recommend it to everyone.(

"That's what stories are for. <hl> Stories are for joining the past to the future . <hl> Stories are for those late hours in the night when you can't remember how you got from where you were to where you are. Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story. "This is truly one of the best books I have ever read. The praise at the beginning of the book calls it "a vital, important book" which cannot be honestly stated about too many books, but it is true in this case. It took me longer than it should have to read this book because I didn't want to read it when I was tired, or preoccupied or when the TV was on in the background. I only wanted to read it when I could dedicate my whole mind to it and immerse myself in it. Listed as a collection of short stories regarding Mr. O'Brien's time in the Vietnam war, I felt it read more like a novel, there was a strong continuity throughout the stories. The stories were honest, passionate and beautifully written without the need for fancy, lyrical writing. "The Things They Carried" is honestly one of the best pieces of literature I have ever read, and I recommend it to everyone. (

44b6bc72ff6bcf81d90bc698bf5ce1f6

books

The sex scenes were good

question: How is the sex?, context: I knew it was a mistake that I bought this book just after a few pages, yet I thought I might as well give it a chance. This sounded too much like fifty shades, just not as good. I don't mean the writing either, since fifty shades is not exactly a master piece, writing style wise. The story line is just not as good and sometimes boring. Some change in the charecters but overall most would remind one of the "other book". Eva is not as exciting and appealing as Anastasia. She is also very irrational on different occasions which made no sense as to why but to move the story along. The sex scenes were good but got old fast because they were in every other page. Something I found irritating in fifty shades as well. I found myself skipping a page or two here and there. I really wOuld have liked to see an ending to the story in this book because I just don't see how stretching the story into a whole other book will work. I gave it three stars because the writing was good and some situations kept me engaged but not e whole book. Gideon is just no Christain Grey which doesn't make the book great but not a total failure either.

How is the sex?

The sex scenes were good but got old fast because they were in every other page.

I knew it was a mistake that I bought this book just after a few pages, yet I thought I might as well give it a chance. This sounded too much like fifty shades, just not as good. I don't mean the writing either, since fifty shades is not exactly a master piece, writing style wise. The story line is just not as good and sometimes boring. Some change in the charecters but overall most would remind one of the "other book". Eva is not as exciting and appealing as Anastasia. She is also very irrational on different occasions which made no sense as to why but to move the story along. The sex scenes were good but got old fast because they were in every other page. Something I found irritating in fifty shades as well. I found myself skipping a page or two here and there. I really wOuld have liked to see an ending to the story in this book because I just don't see how stretching the story into a whole other book will work. I gave it three stars because the writing was good and some situations kept me engaged but not e whole book. Gideon is just no Christain Grey which doesn't make the book great but not a total failure either.

<hl> The sex scenes were good <hl> but got old fast because they were in every other page.

I knew it was a mistake that I bought this book just after a few pages, yet I thought I might as well give it a chance. This sounded too much like fifty shades, just not as good. I don't mean the writing either, since fifty shades is not exactly a master piece, writing style wise. The story line is just not as good and sometimes boring. Some change in the charecters but overall most would remind one of the "other book". Eva is not as exciting and appealing as Anastasia. She is also very irrational on different occasions which made no sense as to why but to move the story along. <hl> The sex scenes were good <hl> but got old fast because they were in every other page. Something I found irritating in fifty shades as well. I found myself skipping a page or two here and there. I really wOuld have liked to see an ending to the story in this book because I just don't see how stretching the story into a whole other book will work. I gave it three stars because the writing was good and some situations kept me engaged but not e whole book. Gideon is just no Christain Grey which doesn't make the book great but not a total failure either.

I knew it was a mistake that I bought this book just after a few pages, yet I thought I might as well give it a chance. This sounded too much like fifty shades, just not as good. I don't mean the writing either, since fifty shades is not exactly a master piece, writing style wise. The story line is just not as good and sometimes boring. Some change in the charecters but overall most would remind one of the "other book". Eva is not as exciting and appealing as Anastasia. She is also very irrational on different occasions which made no sense as to why but to move the story along. <hl> The sex scenes were good but got old fast because they were in every other page. <hl> Something I found irritating in fifty shades as well. I found myself skipping a page or two here and there. I really wOuld have liked to see an ending to the story in this book because I just don't see how stretching the story into a whole other book will work. I gave it three stars because the writing was good and some situations kept me engaged but not e whole book. Gideon is just no Christain Grey which doesn't make the book great but not a total failure either.

d1511d60259b7ddc805d2bb8a0399ed5

books

My advice would be to read the first 2

question: What story do I tell you?, context: I loved the first 2 books. I couldn't put them down. I could barely get through this one. The story was repetitive and boring. I don't know why Roth decided to take the book the way she did. All I can think is that the up coming movies swayed her decisions.My advice would be to read the first 2 and make up your own ending. This one will only disappoint you.

What story do I tell you?

My advice would be to read the first 2 and make up your own ending.

I loved the first 2 books. I couldn't put them down. I could barely get through this one. The story was repetitive and boring. I don't know why Roth decided to take the book the way she did. All I can think is that the up coming movies swayed her decisions.My advice would be to read the first 2 and make up your own ending. This one will only disappoint you.

<hl> My advice would be to read the first 2 <hl> and make up your own ending.

I loved the first 2 books. I couldn't put them down. I could barely get through this one. The story was repetitive and boring. I don't know why Roth decided to take the book the way she did. All I can think is that the up coming movies swayed her decisions.<hl> My advice would be to read the first 2 <hl> and make up your own ending. This one will only disappoint you.

I loved the first 2 books. I couldn't put them down. I could barely get through this one. The story was repetitive and boring. I don't know why Roth decided to take the book the way she did. All I can think is that the up coming movies swayed her decisions. <hl> My advice would be to read the first 2 and make up your own ending. <hl> This one will only disappoint you.

580886af4f040a664f2ae242bc648d23

books

The plot is very good

question: How is the plot line?, context: This book snuck up on me, grabbed me, and wouldn't let me go. A very current vampire story. The thing about this story is it has a real plot. It's not a creepy normal blood sucking book. The plot is very good. The book is well written, well thought out, involved and has substance. It is fast paced, yet at times, thoughtful and engaging. It's the first vampire type book I've read and enjoyed. You get involved with Gio and B..I was very pleased to see it has a follow up book, since I wasn't thrilled about the way it ended. Now it makes sense. I've only purchased one complete series since getting my Kindle. This will be the second. Great job, very creative and original. Holds your attention all the way til the end...Thank you

How is the plot line?

The plot is very good .

This book snuck up on me, grabbed me, and wouldn't let me go. A very current vampire story. The thing about this story is it has a real plot. It's not a creepy normal blood sucking book. The plot is very good. The book is well written, well thought out, involved and has substance. It is fast paced, yet at times, thoughtful and engaging. It's the first vampire type book I've read and enjoyed. You get involved with Gio and B..I was very pleased to see it has a follow up book, since I wasn't thrilled about the way it ended. Now it makes sense. I've only purchased one complete series since getting my Kindle. This will be the second. Great job, very creative and original. Holds your attention all the way til the end...Thank you

<hl> The plot is very good <hl> .

This book snuck up on me, grabbed me, and wouldn't let me go. A very current vampire story. The thing about this story is it has a real plot. It's not a creepy normal blood sucking book. <hl> The plot is very good <hl>. The book is well written, well thought out, involved and has substance. It is fast paced, yet at times, thoughtful and engaging. It's the first vampire type book I've read and enjoyed. You get involved with Gio and B..I was very pleased to see it has a follow up book, since I wasn't thrilled about the way it ended. Now it makes sense. I've only purchased one complete series since getting my Kindle. This will be the second. Great job, very creative and original. Holds your attention all the way til the end...Thank you

This book snuck up on me, grabbed me, and wouldn't let me go. A very current vampire story. The thing about this story is it has a real plot. It's not a creepy normal blood sucking book. <hl> The plot is very good . <hl> The book is well written, well thought out, involved and has substance. It is fast paced, yet at times, thoughtful and engaging. It's the first vampire type book I've read and enjoyed. You get involved with Gio and B..I was very pleased to see it has a follow up book, since I wasn't thrilled about the way it ended. Now it makes sense. I've only purchased one complete series since getting my Kindle. This will be the second. Great job, very creative and original. Holds your attention all the way til the end... Thank you

3e2816bd5c5279ec01abe46a454fe8ad

books

This book is absurdly bad

question: How is story?, context: This book is absurdly bad. The plot is ridiculous. The characters are stereotypes at best. The language is full of cliches, e.g., "Her heart thundered in her chest."

How is story?

This book is absurdly bad .

This book is absurdly bad. The plot is ridiculous. The characters are stereotypes at best. The language is full of cliches, e.g., "Her heart thundered in her chest."

<hl> This book is absurdly bad <hl> .

<hl> This book is absurdly bad <hl>. The plot is ridiculous. The characters are stereotypes at best. The language is full of cliches, e.g., "Her heart thundered in her chest."

<hl> This book is absurdly bad . <hl> The plot is ridiculous. The characters are stereotypes at best. The language is full of cliches, e.g., "Her heart thundered in her chest."

35956630498662c6254d9f0fa05fcc86

books

it was even hard to put down

question: What can you tell about the end of this book?, context: "The Dogs of Babel" was a fantastic debut from author, Carolyn Parkhurst. I'm hoping to discover more of her works in the years to come. I was easily able to sit and read this book in a matter of just a few hours while on vacation. At times, it was even hard to put down.I had originally picked up the book because I thought that it would prove to be an interesting mystery. However, I soon discovered that the book was less about a mystery and more about relationships. Not only the relationship between lovers, but also the relationship between people and dogs. It truly brought out the animal lover in me, and for that, I'm grateful.To tell you anything further in a review may ruin the story for readers who have not yet had the opportunity to experience "The Dogs of Babel," so I will leave my review short. Thank you for a "simple" yet entertaining read, Ms. Parkhurst.

What can you tell about the end of this book?

At times, it was even hard to put down .I had originally picked up the book because I thought that it would prove to be an interesting mystery.

"The Dogs of Babel" was a fantastic debut from author, Carolyn Parkhurst. I'm hoping to discover more of her works in the years to come. I was easily able to sit and read this book in a matter of just a few hours while on vacation. At times, it was even hard to put down.I had originally picked up the book because I thought that it would prove to be an interesting mystery. However, I soon discovered that the book was less about a mystery and more about relationships. Not only the relationship between lovers, but also the relationship between people and dogs. It truly brought out the animal lover in me, and for that, I'm grateful.To tell you anything further in a review may ruin the story for readers who have not yet had the opportunity to experience "The Dogs of Babel," so I will leave my review short. Thank you for a "simple" yet entertaining read, Ms. Parkhurst.

At times, <hl> it was even hard to put down <hl> .I had originally picked up the book because I thought that it would prove to be an interesting mystery.

"The Dogs of Babel" was a fantastic debut from author, Carolyn Parkhurst. I'm hoping to discover more of her works in the years to come. I was easily able to sit and read this book in a matter of just a few hours while on vacation. At times, <hl> it was even hard to put down <hl>.I had originally picked up the book because I thought that it would prove to be an interesting mystery. However, I soon discovered that the book was less about a mystery and more about relationships. Not only the relationship between lovers, but also the relationship between people and dogs. It truly brought out the animal lover in me, and for that, I'm grateful.To tell you anything further in a review may ruin the story for readers who have not yet had the opportunity to experience "The Dogs of Babel," so I will leave my review short. Thank you for a "simple" yet entertaining read, Ms. Parkhurst.

"The Dogs of Babel" was a fantastic debut from author, Carolyn Parkhurst. I'm hoping to discover more of her works in the years to come. I was easily able to sit and read this book in a matter of just a few hours while on vacation. <hl> At times, it was even hard to put down .I had originally picked up the book because I thought that it would prove to be an interesting mystery. <hl> However, I soon discovered that the book was less about a mystery and more about relationships. Not only the relationship between lovers, but also the relationship between people and dogs. It truly brought out the animal lover in me, and for that, I'm grateful. To tell you anything further in a review may ruin the story for readers who have not yet had the opportunity to experience "The Dogs of Babel," so I will leave my review short. Thank you for a "simple" yet entertaining read, Ms. Parkhurst.

7031efda8ac2a258aa488e19080c079a

books

good writer and story line from a bad one

question: How is the story line?, context: I was looking for a new good fantasy book to read. I've read hundreds of books and can tell a good writer and story line from a bad one.This book and new author Susan Ee is an excellent book and is now one of my favorite books and authors.In Angelfall the story is unique and puts you in a post apocalpytic setting with in depth characters that are true to human nature.I can't wait until the second book! I would definitely recommend this book!

How is the story line?

I've read hundreds of books and can tell a good writer and story line from a bad one .This book and new author Susan Ee is an excellent book and is now one of my favorite books and authors.

I was looking for a new good fantasy book to read. I've read hundreds of books and can tell a good writer and story line from a bad one.This book and new author Susan Ee is an excellent book and is now one of my favorite books and authors.In Angelfall the story is unique and puts you in a post apocalpytic setting with in depth characters that are true to human nature.I can't wait until the second book! I would definitely recommend this book!

I've read hundreds of books and can tell a <hl> good writer and story line from a bad one <hl> .This book and new author Susan Ee is an excellent book and is now one of my favorite books and authors.

I was looking for a new good fantasy book to read. I've read hundreds of books and can tell a <hl> good writer and story line from a bad one <hl>.This book and new author Susan Ee is an excellent book and is now one of my favorite books and authors.In Angelfall the story is unique and puts you in a post apocalpytic setting with in depth characters that are true to human nature.I can't wait until the second book! I would definitely recommend this book!

I was looking for a new good fantasy book to read. <hl> I've read hundreds of books and can tell a good writer and story line from a bad one .This book and new author Susan Ee is an excellent book and is now one of my favorite books and authors. <hl> In Angelfall the story is unique and puts you in a post apocalpytic setting with in depth characters that are true to human nature. I can't wait until the second book! I would definitely recommend this book!

30d7ee27368dcf6714fe83f58b046f6e

books

The story itself is pretty intriguing and suspenseful

question: Is the plot line good enough?, context: So I jumped on the bandwagon because a lot of my coworkers were reading the book. The story itself is pretty intriguing and suspenseful and you can't help but Cheer Katniss on as you read about her trials through the games. It hooks you in and keeps you there and that above all is what I enjoyed about the book.

Is the plot line good enough?

The story itself is pretty intriguing and suspenseful and you can't help but Cheer Katniss on as you read about her trials through the games.

So I jumped on the bandwagon because a lot of my coworkers were reading the book. The story itself is pretty intriguing and suspenseful and you can't help but Cheer Katniss on as you read about her trials through the games. It hooks you in and keeps you there and that above all is what I enjoyed about the book.

<hl> The story itself is pretty intriguing and suspenseful <hl> and you can't help but Cheer Katniss on as you read about her trials through the games.

So I jumped on the bandwagon because a lot of my coworkers were reading the book. <hl> The story itself is pretty intriguing and suspenseful <hl> and you can't help but Cheer Katniss on as you read about her trials through the games. It hooks you in and keeps you there and that above all is what I enjoyed about the book.

So I jumped on the bandwagon because a lot of my coworkers were reading the book. <hl> The story itself is pretty intriguing and suspenseful and you can't help but Cheer Katniss on as you read about her trials through the games. <hl> It hooks you in and keeps you there and that above all is what I enjoyed about the book.

e63781eacf79ea7a9c7ab4f937942758

books

There are very few novels where the movie is better and this is one of them

question: What objective opinion does the reader give to this story?, context: There are very few novels where the movie is better and this is one of them. Although the author creates one of the most interesting characters ever in Lisbeth, he bogs down the story with multiple plot lines. The main plot , which the movie focuses on is well paced and interesting but the secondary plot of the journalist's battle against an evil corporate CEO is useless and the movie appropriately cuts most of this out. Unfortunately 1/4th of the novel involves this uninteresting storyl line including the end. The main plot is solved with about 150 pages left only to revisit the journalist's revenge against the CEO.With that said, this book is worth reading for the character Lisbeth Salander alone. It gives a more insight into this dark but intelligent person. I only wish the WHOLE story was about her only!

What objective opinion does the reader give to this story?

There are very few novels where the movie is better and this is one of them .

There are very few novels where the movie is better and this is one of them. Although the author creates one of the most interesting characters ever in Lisbeth, he bogs down the story with multiple plot lines. The main plot , which the movie focuses on is well paced and interesting but the secondary plot of the journalist's battle against an evil corporate CEO is useless and the movie appropriately cuts most of this out. Unfortunately 1/4th of the novel involves this uninteresting storyl line including the end. The main plot is solved with about 150 pages left only to revisit the journalist's revenge against the CEO.With that said, this book is worth reading for the character Lisbeth Salander alone. It gives a more insight into this dark but intelligent person. I only wish the WHOLE story was about her only!

<hl> There are very few novels where the movie is better and this is one of them <hl> .

<hl> There are very few novels where the movie is better and this is one of them <hl>. Although the author creates one of the most interesting characters ever in Lisbeth, he bogs down the story with multiple plot lines. The main plot , which the movie focuses on is well paced and interesting but the secondary plot of the journalist's battle against an evil corporate CEO is useless and the movie appropriately cuts most of this out. Unfortunately 1/4th of the novel involves this uninteresting storyl line including the end. The main plot is solved with about 150 pages left only to revisit the journalist's revenge against the CEO.With that said, this book is worth reading for the character Lisbeth Salander alone. It gives a more insight into this dark but intelligent person. I only wish the WHOLE story was about her only!

<hl> There are very few novels where the movie is better and this is one of them . <hl> Although the author creates one of the most interesting characters ever in Lisbeth, he bogs down the story with multiple plot lines. The main plot , which the movie focuses on is well paced and interesting but the secondary plot of the journalist's battle against an evil corporate CEO is useless and the movie appropriately cuts most of this out. Unfortunately 1/4th of the novel involves this uninteresting storyl line including the end. The main plot is solved with about 150 pages left only to revisit the journalist's revenge against the CEO.With that said, this book is worth reading for the character Lisbeth Salander alone. It gives a more insight into this dark but intelligent person. I only wish the WHOLE story was about her only!

607d1fd395440b74d78c82b57dc5ab72

books

I found the story to be

question: Is this book have a familiar name?, context: Pros: I learned a lot about exquisite art/antique furniture restoration when reading this book. The characters are well-developed and unforgettable, and the general plot is interesting and believable. The honest, intelligent candor of the young central character was his most endearing quality..Cons: I found the story to be frustrating, and often downright depressing. There were too many instances of the reader being dragged through the gutter on teenage/young adult unhealthy and dangerous 3-day drug and alcohol binges.. There were obvious reasons why the young characters would be so flawed, and I must admit that their ability to physically survive was remarkable. The main character stayed consistent throughout the book, which isn't a good thing when one is caught in the throes of post traumatic stress disorder since the age of thirteen.Learning about art and its effects on humanity is interesting to a degree, but holding the storyline hostage, while the reader muddles through page after page of descriptive writing, is not the best way to write an engaging book. I found myself skipping pages while searching for the continuing storyline.I am glad I read the book. It opened up another sub culture for me. But I suspect that the important teaching points could have been made with 200 less pages.

Is this book have a familiar name?

The honest, intelligent candor of the young central character was his most endearing quality..Cons: I found the story to be frustrating, and often downright depressing.

Pros: I learned a lot about exquisite art/antique furniture restoration when reading this book. The characters are well-developed and unforgettable, and the general plot is interesting and believable. The honest, intelligent candor of the young central character was his most endearing quality..Cons: I found the story to be frustrating, and often downright depressing. There were too many instances of the reader being dragged through the gutter on teenage/young adult unhealthy and dangerous 3-day drug and alcohol binges.. There were obvious reasons why the young characters would be so flawed, and I must admit that their ability to physically survive was remarkable. The main character stayed consistent throughout the book, which isn't a good thing when one is caught in the throes of post traumatic stress disorder since the age of thirteen.Learning about art and its effects on humanity is interesting to a degree, but holding the storyline hostage, while the reader muddles through page after page of descriptive writing, is not the best way to write an engaging book. I found myself skipping pages while searching for the continuing storyline.I am glad I read the book. It opened up another sub culture for me. But I suspect that the important teaching points could have been made with 200 less pages.

The honest, intelligent candor of the young central character was his most endearing quality..Cons: <hl> I found the story to be <hl> frustrating, and often downright depressing.

Pros: I learned a lot about exquisite art/antique furniture restoration when reading this book. The characters are well-developed and unforgettable, and the general plot is interesting and believable. The honest, intelligent candor of the young central character was his most endearing quality..Cons: <hl> I found the story to be <hl> frustrating, and often downright depressing. There were too many instances of the reader being dragged through the gutter on teenage/young adult unhealthy and dangerous 3-day drug and alcohol binges.. There were obvious reasons why the young characters would be so flawed, and I must admit that their ability to physically survive was remarkable. The main character stayed consistent throughout the book, which isn't a good thing when one is caught in the throes of post traumatic stress disorder since the age of thirteen.Learning about art and its effects on humanity is interesting to a degree, but holding the storyline hostage, while the reader muddles through page after page of descriptive writing, is not the best way to write an engaging book. I found myself skipping pages while searching for the continuing storyline.I am glad I read the book. It opened up another sub culture for me. But I suspect that the important teaching points could have been made with 200 less pages.

Pros: I learned a lot about exquisite art/antique furniture restoration when reading this book. The characters are well-developed and unforgettable, and the general plot is interesting and believable. <hl> The honest, intelligent candor of the young central character was his most endearing quality..Cons: I found the story to be frustrating, and often downright depressing. <hl> There were too many instances of the reader being dragged through the gutter on teenage/young adult unhealthy and dangerous 3-day drug and alcohol binges.. There were obvious reasons why the young characters would be so flawed, and I must admit that their ability to physically survive was remarkable. The main character stayed consistent throughout the book, which isn't a good thing when one is caught in the throes of post traumatic stress disorder since the age of thirteen. Learning about art and its effects on humanity is interesting to a degree, but holding the storyline hostage, while the reader muddles through page after page of descriptive writing, is not the best way to write an engaging book. I found myself skipping pages while searching for the continuing storyline. I am glad I read the book. It opened up another sub culture for me. But I suspect that the important teaching points could have been made with 200 less pages.

6e67eace6a5e3564d894c8121a487cfe

books

This series is gripping

question: How is the storyline?, context: More like 4.5 I enjoyed this book more than the 1st in the series. It reminds me of a mystery by other authors I used to enjoy, but started to find too predictable, cheesy, trite, and cliche. This series is gripping and moving but also very smart. Some predictions can be made, but overall things flow with a relative amount of twists, turns, and realizations that are logical and believable. The ending on this one was excellent, I couldn't stop reading. Can't wait for the third, but am sad it will be the last. I know I will be upset when I get to the end.

How is the storyline?

This series is gripping and moving but also very smart.

More like 4.5 I enjoyed this book more than the 1st in the series. It reminds me of a mystery by other authors I used to enjoy, but started to find too predictable, cheesy, trite, and cliche. This series is gripping and moving but also very smart. Some predictions can be made, but overall things flow with a relative amount of twists, turns, and realizations that are logical and believable. The ending on this one was excellent, I couldn't stop reading. Can't wait for the third, but am sad it will be the last. I know I will be upset when I get to the end.

<hl> This series is gripping <hl> and moving but also very smart.

More like 4.5 I enjoyed this book more than the 1st in the series. It reminds me of a mystery by other authors I used to enjoy, but started to find too predictable, cheesy, trite, and cliche. <hl> This series is gripping <hl> and moving but also very smart. Some predictions can be made, but overall things flow with a relative amount of twists, turns, and realizations that are logical and believable. The ending on this one was excellent, I couldn't stop reading. Can't wait for the third, but am sad it will be the last. I know I will be upset when I get to the end.

More like 4.5 I enjoyed this book more than the 1st in the series. It reminds me of a mystery by other authors I used to enjoy, but started to find too predictable, cheesy, trite, and cliche. <hl> This series is gripping and moving but also very smart. <hl> Some predictions can be made, but overall things flow with a relative amount of twists, turns, and realizations that are logical and believable. The ending on this one was excellent, I couldn't stop reading. Can't wait for the third, but am sad it will be the last. I know I will be upset when I get to the end.

8100783e3b9f6b5dab5ffa04817cffe2

books

It was such a cute best friends to girlfriend/boyfriend story

question: How is the relationship?, context: The plot of the The Body Finder definitely caught me off guard, but in a good way. Violet's ability is something that I have never read about before, and I found it very fascinating. I admired her strength and how she embraced her gift. It seemed so overwhelming to me, and I was impressed with her maturity and how well she handled things. The romance between her and Jay was sweet. It was such a cute best friends to girlfriend/boyfriend story. I liked how Jay tried so hard to understand and support her even though she didn't always make the best decisions.The suspense element in this book was well done, and I found myself flying through the pages to see what would happen. It was disturbing to read the chapters from the killer's perspective, yet they definitely added to the story and piqued my curiosity about how and where Violet was going to find him. Throughout the book I was sometimes reminded that Violet was just a teenager as she didn't always think things through or plan ahead well. Nevertheless, I am interested to see where Derting will take Violet's character and her ability in subsequent books.

How is the relationship?

It was such a cute best friends to girlfriend/boyfriend story .

The plot of the The Body Finder definitely caught me off guard, but in a good way. Violet's ability is something that I have never read about before, and I found it very fascinating. I admired her strength and how she embraced her gift. It seemed so overwhelming to me, and I was impressed with her maturity and how well she handled things. The romance between her and Jay was sweet. It was such a cute best friends to girlfriend/boyfriend story. I liked how Jay tried so hard to understand and support her even though she didn't always make the best decisions.The suspense element in this book was well done, and I found myself flying through the pages to see what would happen. It was disturbing to read the chapters from the killer's perspective, yet they definitely added to the story and piqued my curiosity about how and where Violet was going to find him. Throughout the book I was sometimes reminded that Violet was just a teenager as she didn't always think things through or plan ahead well. Nevertheless, I am interested to see where Derting will take Violet's character and her ability in subsequent books.

<hl> It was such a cute best friends to girlfriend/boyfriend story <hl> .

The plot of the The Body Finder definitely caught me off guard, but in a good way. Violet's ability is something that I have never read about before, and I found it very fascinating. I admired her strength and how she embraced her gift. It seemed so overwhelming to me, and I was impressed with her maturity and how well she handled things. The romance between her and Jay was sweet. <hl> It was such a cute best friends to girlfriend/boyfriend story <hl>. I liked how Jay tried so hard to understand and support her even though she didn't always make the best decisions.The suspense element in this book was well done, and I found myself flying through the pages to see what would happen. It was disturbing to read the chapters from the killer's perspective, yet they definitely added to the story and piqued my curiosity about how and where Violet was going to find him. Throughout the book I was sometimes reminded that Violet was just a teenager as she didn't always think things through or plan ahead well. Nevertheless, I am interested to see where Derting will take Violet's character and her ability in subsequent books.

The plot of the The Body Finder definitely caught me off guard, but in a good way. Violet's ability is something that I have never read about before, and I found it very fascinating. I admired her strength and how she embraced her gift. It seemed so overwhelming to me, and I was impressed with her maturity and how well she handled things. The romance between her and Jay was sweet. <hl> It was such a cute best friends to girlfriend/boyfriend story . <hl> I liked how Jay tried so hard to understand and support her even though she didn't always make the best decisions. The suspense element in this book was well done, and I found myself flying through the pages to see what would happen. It was disturbing to read the chapters from the killer's perspective, yet they definitely added to the story and piqued my curiosity about how and where Violet was going to find him. Throughout the book I was sometimes reminded that Violet was just a teenager as she didn't always think things through or plan ahead well. Nevertheless, I am interested to see where Derting will take Violet's character and her ability in subsequent books.

f5ef6e386603a04f4609a53b8f904611

books

the best thriller/psychological suspense/family saga/mystery

question: How is the book?, context: This was one of the best thriller/psychological suspense/family saga/mystery I have ever read. Ms Flynn has a terrific ability for description and development of very interesting characters. She puts you right there in the middle of the story. I couldn't put it down. It has twists and turns and a double ending. As much as I enjoyed this book, there was much dark and depressing elements of the story that I cannot forget. I'll wait awhile before I read Dark Places, the only other novel I have left to read that she has written. It's not that I don't want to read it. I just want go save it and let the novel just finished digest a bit. Actually looking forward to Dark Places. Hoping she will have another novel published soon. She is one writer that I intend to keep reading. I did read Gone Girl last year and loved it. But somehow it did not have the same kind of experience for me. It was a great novel but very different . Highly recommend this if you like real psychological thrillers. And some parts require a strong stomach. But so filled with dysfunction and disordered lives that are wonderfully written, no matter how difficult it may be to read. It is a unique kind of book. Not for children and adolescents in my opinion. Some very heavy material and necessary but ugly descriptions of things better left for mature adults. It all comes together and leaves you breathless.

How is the book?

This was one of the best thriller/psychological suspense/family saga/mystery I have ever read.

This was one of the best thriller/psychological suspense/family saga/mystery I have ever read. Ms Flynn has a terrific ability for description and development of very interesting characters. She puts you right there in the middle of the story. I couldn't put it down. It has twists and turns and a double ending. As much as I enjoyed this book, there was much dark and depressing elements of the story that I cannot forget. I'll wait awhile before I read Dark Places, the only other novel I have left to read that she has written. It's not that I don't want to read it. I just want go save it and let the novel just finished digest a bit. Actually looking forward to Dark Places. Hoping she will have another novel published soon. She is one writer that I intend to keep reading. I did read Gone Girl last year and loved it. But somehow it did not have the same kind of experience for me. It was a great novel but very different . Highly recommend this if you like real psychological thrillers. And some parts require a strong stomach. But so filled with dysfunction and disordered lives that are wonderfully written, no matter how difficult it may be to read. It is a unique kind of book. Not for children and adolescents in my opinion. Some very heavy material and necessary but ugly descriptions of things better left for mature adults. It all comes together and leaves you breathless.

This was one of <hl> the best thriller/psychological suspense/family saga/mystery <hl> I have ever read.

This was one of <hl> the best thriller/psychological suspense/family saga/mystery <hl> I have ever read. Ms Flynn has a terrific ability for description and development of very interesting characters. She puts you right there in the middle of the story. I couldn't put it down. It has twists and turns and a double ending. As much as I enjoyed this book, there was much dark and depressing elements of the story that I cannot forget. I'll wait awhile before I read Dark Places, the only other novel I have left to read that she has written. It's not that I don't want to read it. I just want go save it and let the novel just finished digest a bit. Actually looking forward to Dark Places. Hoping she will have another novel published soon. She is one writer that I intend to keep reading. I did read Gone Girl last year and loved it. But somehow it did not have the same kind of experience for me. It was a great novel but very different . Highly recommend this if you like real psychological thrillers. And some parts require a strong stomach. But so filled with dysfunction and disordered lives that are wonderfully written, no matter how difficult it may be to read. It is a unique kind of book. Not for children and adolescents in my opinion. Some very heavy material and necessary but ugly descriptions of things better left for mature adults. It all comes together and leaves you breathless.

<hl> This was one of the best thriller/psychological suspense/family saga/mystery I have ever read. <hl> Ms Flynn has a terrific ability for description and development of very interesting characters. She puts you right there in the middle of the story. I couldn't put it down. It has twists and turns and a double ending. As much as I enjoyed this book, there was much dark and depressing elements of the story that I cannot forget. I'll wait awhile before I read Dark Places, the only other novel I have left to read that she has written. It's not that I don't want to read it. I just want go save it and let the novel just finished digest a bit. Actually looking forward to Dark Places. Hoping she will have another novel published soon. She is one writer that I intend to keep reading. I did read Gone Girl last year and loved it. But somehow it did not have the same kind of experience for me. It was a great novel but very different . Highly recommend this if you like real psychological thrillers. And some parts require a strong stomach. But so filled with dysfunction and disordered lives that are wonderfully written, no matter how difficult it may be to read. It is a unique kind of book. Not for children and adolescents in my opinion. Some very heavy material and necessary but ugly descriptions of things better left for mature adults. It all comes together and leaves you breathless.

521fa383bab8e008a15fc5ee968bd7d9

books

ending was so unsatisfying

question: How is the end?, context: I would have given this book 5 stars if I wasn't so totally disappointed with the ending. I'm not a big fan of the latest trend in publishing of the "to be continued" types of book series. I like my books to have a more stand alone type of quality to them. For whatever reason ,prob. because most of these series seem to be 3 books, I thought this was the final installment. WRONG ANSWER! Entwined's ending was so unsatisfying I almost wish I had waited for the next book so that I could read them together. This installment just added more questions with little to no answers. The authors note at the end said something like "yes dear readers Gideon & Eva's story is not done" YA THINK?? I will read the next installment, after reading this one you really kind of have to, because I love these characters but I can't help but feel like the reader's are being taken advantage of. At $15 for a print copy and around $10 for the ebook this is getting to be a very expensive story. Luckily for me I was able to borrow the last 2 from my local library or I probably wouldn't be able to afford it.

How is the end?

Entwined's ending was so unsatisfying I almost wish I had waited for the next book so that I could read them together.

I would have given this book 5 stars if I wasn't so totally disappointed with the ending. I'm not a big fan of the latest trend in publishing of the "to be continued" types of book series. I like my books to have a more stand alone type of quality to them. For whatever reason ,prob. because most of these series seem to be 3 books, I thought this was the final installment. WRONG ANSWER! Entwined's ending was so unsatisfying I almost wish I had waited for the next book so that I could read them together. This installment just added more questions with little to no answers. The authors note at the end said something like "yes dear readers Gideon & Eva's story is not done" YA THINK?? I will read the next installment, after reading this one you really kind of have to, because I love these characters but I can't help but feel like the reader's are being taken advantage of. At $15 for a print copy and around $10 for the ebook this is getting to be a very expensive story. Luckily for me I was able to borrow the last 2 from my local library or I probably wouldn't be able to afford it.

Entwined's <hl> ending was so unsatisfying <hl> I almost wish I had waited for the next book so that I could read them together.

I would have given this book 5 stars if I wasn't so totally disappointed with the ending. I'm not a big fan of the latest trend in publishing of the "to be continued" types of book series. I like my books to have a more stand alone type of quality to them. For whatever reason ,prob. because most of these series seem to be 3 books, I thought this was the final installment. WRONG ANSWER! Entwined's <hl> ending was so unsatisfying <hl> I almost wish I had waited for the next book so that I could read them together. This installment just added more questions with little to no answers. The authors note at the end said something like "yes dear readers Gideon & Eva's story is not done" YA THINK?? I will read the next installment, after reading this one you really kind of have to, because I love these characters but I can't help but feel like the reader's are being taken advantage of. At $15 for a print copy and around $10 for the ebook this is getting to be a very expensive story. Luckily for me I was able to borrow the last 2 from my local library or I probably wouldn't be able to afford it.

I would have given this book 5 stars if I wasn't so totally disappointed with the ending. I'm not a big fan of the latest trend in publishing of the "to be continued" types of book series. I like my books to have a more stand alone type of quality to them. For whatever reason ,prob. because most of these series seem to be 3 books, I thought this was the final installment. WRONG ANSWER! <hl> Entwined's ending was so unsatisfying I almost wish I had waited for the next book so that I could read them together. <hl> This installment just added more questions with little to no answers. The authors note at the end said something like "yes dear readers Gideon & Eva's story is not done" YA THINK?? I will read the next installment, after reading this one you really kind of have to, because I love these characters but I can't help but feel like the reader's are being taken advantage of. At $15 for a print copy and around $10 for the ebook this is getting to be a very expensive story. Luckily for me I was able to borrow the last 2 from my local library or I probably wouldn't be able to afford it.

1e9d946376e5d425c46237397e26f20b

books

The love was palpable between these two

question: How do you like the story?, context: This book had me from the beginning. The love was palpable between these two, and the title was perfect for the storyline.

How do you like the story?

The love was palpable between these two , and the title was perfect for the storyline.

This book had me from the beginning. The love was palpable between these two, and the title was perfect for the storyline.

<hl> The love was palpable between these two <hl> , and the title was perfect for the storyline.

This book had me from the beginning. <hl> The love was palpable between these two <hl>, and the title was perfect for the storyline.

This book had me from the beginning. <hl> The love was palpable between these two , and the title was perfect for the storyline. <hl>

b5aa7ac4a48cd7bee374854bc9bda2f6

books

These books have become very unsatisfying

question: How is the write?, context: I've spent 5 months reading these books. Each book after the first becomes slow and tedious then bursts into fireworks. The big show in the last two books have not been worth it. We are introduced to too many minor characters and the characters we've come to know simply disappear, Sam for example. These books have become very unsatisfying. I don't think Martin has a clue as to how he's going to end this so he's endlessly dragging it out.

How is the write?

These books have become very unsatisfying .

I've spent 5 months reading these books. Each book after the first becomes slow and tedious then bursts into fireworks. The big show in the last two books have not been worth it. We are introduced to too many minor characters and the characters we've come to know simply disappear, Sam for example. These books have become very unsatisfying. I don't think Martin has a clue as to how he's going to end this so he's endlessly dragging it out.

<hl> These books have become very unsatisfying <hl> .

I've spent 5 months reading these books. Each book after the first becomes slow and tedious then bursts into fireworks. The big show in the last two books have not been worth it. We are introduced to too many minor characters and the characters we've come to know simply disappear, Sam for example. <hl> These books have become very unsatisfying <hl>. I don't think Martin has a clue as to how he's going to end this so he's endlessly dragging it out.

I've spent 5 months reading these books. Each book after the first becomes slow and tedious then bursts into fireworks. The big show in the last two books have not been worth it. We are introduced to too many minor characters and the characters we've come to know simply disappear, Sam for example. <hl> These books have become very unsatisfying . <hl> I don't think Martin has a clue as to how he's going to end this so he's endlessly dragging it out.

936c3341d8a1c6db1e39fc6195e3ff6d

books

I highly recommend this book

question: What is your best experience?, context: This book went back to the basics and we got to enjoy what Anita does best! I am really sad to see all the poor reviews out there. This book was great! I read where the thought has been that the ending wrapped up too fast. But people the whole book was devoted to getting to the great ending. Do you not see all the awesome story lines this ending has opened up???!!!! I highly recommend this book - I have made time to read it twice and will start a third read soon.

What is your best experience?

Do you not see all the awesome story lines this ending has opened up???!!!! I highly recommend this book - I have made time to read it twice and will start a third read soon.

This book went back to the basics and we got to enjoy what Anita does best! I am really sad to see all the poor reviews out there. This book was great! I read where the thought has been that the ending wrapped up too fast. But people the whole book was devoted to getting to the great ending. Do you not see all the awesome story lines this ending has opened up???!!!! I highly recommend this book - I have made time to read it twice and will start a third read soon.

Do you not see all the awesome story lines this ending has opened up???!!!! <hl> I highly recommend this book <hl> - I have made time to read it twice and will start a third read soon.

This book went back to the basics and we got to enjoy what Anita does best! I am really sad to see all the poor reviews out there. This book was great! I read where the thought has been that the ending wrapped up too fast. But people the whole book was devoted to getting to the great ending. Do you not see all the awesome story lines this ending has opened up???!!!! <hl> I highly recommend this book <hl> - I have made time to read it twice and will start a third read soon.

This book went back to the basics and we got to enjoy what Anita does best! I am really sad to see all the poor reviews out there. This book was great! I read where the thought has been that the ending wrapped up too fast. But people the whole book was devoted to getting to the great ending. <hl> Do you not see all the awesome story lines this ending has opened up???!!!! I highly recommend this book - I have made time to read it twice and will start a third read soon. <hl>

e2bc7ca3c537a8d2d50f8d246bb79490

books

it is wonderful on all cylinders

question: How is the quality of the book?, context: Just get this book and read it - it is wonderful on all cylinders. Everything good you have ever read about this is true. I am not a raver if popular books but this book is terrific. I only wish that I had read it when it first came out.

How is the quality of the book?

Just get this book and read it - it is wonderful on all cylinders .

Just get this book and read it - it is wonderful on all cylinders. Everything good you have ever read about this is true. I am not a raver if popular books but this book is terrific. I only wish that I had read it when it first came out.

Just get this book and read it - <hl> it is wonderful on all cylinders <hl> .

Just get this book and read it - <hl> it is wonderful on all cylinders <hl>. Everything good you have ever read about this is true. I am not a raver if popular books but this book is terrific. I only wish that I had read it when it first came out.

<hl> Just get this book and read it - it is wonderful on all cylinders . <hl> Everything good you have ever read about this is true. I am not a raver if popular books but this book is terrific. I only wish that I had read it when it first came out.

181a59f5c7b04004931717105ab0b912

books

A bit hard to keep the characters straight, but the author is very good at helping you to

question: Does this book have an interesting story in terms of character development?, context: I enjoyed this book. A bit hard to keep the characters straight, but the author is very good at helping you to. Like my best friend said &#34; oh, the ending...&#34; She was right, just keep going!

Does this book have an interesting story in terms of character development?

A bit hard to keep the characters straight, but the author is very good at helping you to .

I enjoyed this book. A bit hard to keep the characters straight, but the author is very good at helping you to. Like my best friend said &#34; oh, the ending...&#34; She was right, just keep going!

<hl> A bit hard to keep the characters straight, but the author is very good at helping you to <hl> .

I enjoyed this book. <hl> A bit hard to keep the characters straight, but the author is very good at helping you to <hl>. Like my best friend said &#34; oh, the ending...&#34; She was right, just keep going!

I enjoyed this book. <hl> A bit hard to keep the characters straight, but the author is very good at helping you to . <hl> Like my best friend said &#34; oh, the ending...&#34; She was right, just keep going!

109c3fc25c5a58166e4626b6363e982e

books

the way Holden seeks an answer is what this book is really about

question: What is your feeling about this book?, context: If you're looking for a neat, tidy book where the hero beats the bad guy and gets the girl in the end--look somewhere else. Life isn't like that, and you know it. Holden Caulfield knows the world is full of phonies, and even if he lies a little himself, that's part of life too.On the surface, this is a story about nothing. Holden gets kicked out of boarding school and goes home to New York City. He doesn't want to tell his parents, so he gets a cheap room and spends a few days drinking, smoking, and catching up with old friends.What that doesn't tell you is that Holden is on the verge of a moral and emotional collapse. It's been coming ever since his kid brother died. Sure, lots of people can handle death gracefully, but a lot of us can't. For Holden, the death of sweet little kid challenges his belief in a just God, and without a moral foundation, he's left wondering how he can possibly live the rest of his life. It's a question any serious thinker poses eventually, and the way Holden seeks an answer is what this book is really about.Yes, there's language, but it's true to the character. What's more, while it may have been shocking 50 years ago, by today's standards it's very mild. Any reader with cable TV in the house has heard much worse. I recommend this book for any bright reader 12 years and up.

What is your feeling about this book?

It's a question any serious thinker poses eventually, and the way Holden seeks an answer is what this book is really about .Yes, there's language, but it's true to the character.

If you're looking for a neat, tidy book where the hero beats the bad guy and gets the girl in the end--look somewhere else. Life isn't like that, and you know it. Holden Caulfield knows the world is full of phonies, and even if he lies a little himself, that's part of life too.On the surface, this is a story about nothing. Holden gets kicked out of boarding school and goes home to New York City. He doesn't want to tell his parents, so he gets a cheap room and spends a few days drinking, smoking, and catching up with old friends.What that doesn't tell you is that Holden is on the verge of a moral and emotional collapse. It's been coming ever since his kid brother died. Sure, lots of people can handle death gracefully, but a lot of us can't. For Holden, the death of sweet little kid challenges his belief in a just God, and without a moral foundation, he's left wondering how he can possibly live the rest of his life. It's a question any serious thinker poses eventually, and the way Holden seeks an answer is what this book is really about.Yes, there's language, but it's true to the character. What's more, while it may have been shocking 50 years ago, by today's standards it's very mild. Any reader with cable TV in the house has heard much worse. I recommend this book for any bright reader 12 years and up.

It's a question any serious thinker poses eventually, and <hl> the way Holden seeks an answer is what this book is really about <hl> .Yes, there's language, but it's true to the character.

If you're looking for a neat, tidy book where the hero beats the bad guy and gets the girl in the end--look somewhere else. Life isn't like that, and you know it. Holden Caulfield knows the world is full of phonies, and even if he lies a little himself, that's part of life too.On the surface, this is a story about nothing. Holden gets kicked out of boarding school and goes home to New York City. He doesn't want to tell his parents, so he gets a cheap room and spends a few days drinking, smoking, and catching up with old friends.What that doesn't tell you is that Holden is on the verge of a moral and emotional collapse. It's been coming ever since his kid brother died. Sure, lots of people can handle death gracefully, but a lot of us can't. For Holden, the death of sweet little kid challenges his belief in a just God, and without a moral foundation, he's left wondering how he can possibly live the rest of his life. It's a question any serious thinker poses eventually, and <hl> the way Holden seeks an answer is what this book is really about <hl>.Yes, there's language, but it's true to the character. What's more, while it may have been shocking 50 years ago, by today's standards it's very mild. Any reader with cable TV in the house has heard much worse. I recommend this book for any bright reader 12 years and up.

If you're looking for a neat, tidy book where the hero beats the bad guy and gets the girl in the end--look somewhere else. Life isn't like that, and you know it. Holden Caulfield knows the world is full of phonies, and even if he lies a little himself, that's part of life too. On the surface, this is a story about nothing. Holden gets kicked out of boarding school and goes home to New York City. He doesn't want to tell his parents, so he gets a cheap room and spends a few days drinking, smoking, and catching up with old friends. What that doesn't tell you is that Holden is on the verge of a moral and emotional collapse. It's been coming ever since his kid brother died. Sure, lots of people can handle death gracefully, but a lot of us can't. For Holden, the death of sweet little kid challenges his belief in a just God, and without a moral foundation, he's left wondering how he can possibly live the rest of his life. <hl> It's a question any serious thinker poses eventually, and the way Holden seeks an answer is what this book is really about .Yes, there's language, but it's true to the character. <hl> What's more, while it may have been shocking 50 years ago, by today's standards it's very mild. Any reader with cable TV in the house has heard much worse. I recommend this book for any bright reader 12 years and up.

9ab5f0e0dbdc2f01b3cb445c35fa3c4d

books

"264 days of isolation. Juliette has been locked up in a cell consisting of 4 walls and 1 window. She hadn't seen or touched a single human being for 3 years until Adam Kent was sent to be her cellmate

question: Can you give me an idea of what's in this book?, context: "The world is flat.I know because I was tossed right off the edge and I've been trying to hold on for 17 years. I've been trying to climb back up for 17 years but it's nearly impossible to beat gravity when no one is willing to give you a hand." - JulietteThis book shattered my heart captured my heart from the very beginning up to the end. The writing is powerful and captivating, it was hard to put down."264 days of isolation. Juliette has been locked up in a cell consisting of 4 walls and 1 window. She hadn't seen or touched a single human being for 3 years until Adam Kent was sent to be her cellmate. That's where the story began and I was hooked immediately, excited to know who the boy was, and his connection to Juliette. I was excited to know why The Reestablishment put Juliette in the institution and why they suddenly put a boy in her room. I loved how the story was written in such a way that it became even more effective to see what's in Juliette's head and the things she had been thinking and feeling and I hope I could see Adam in the same way."Of course I remember you." My voice strangled whisper. I squeeze my eyes shut. I remember you every day forever in every broken moment of my life. "You were the only one who ever looked at me like a human being." - JulietteYou're going to love Adam Kent. It is always one of the things I look for in a story. A guy whom I can see myself rooting for. He's one of those sweet, sexy and dependable guy that you will put on your list of swoon-worthy book boyfriends that will make you fall in love over again. With a strong hero comes a strong heroine and a book is dull without them. Juliette is definitely one tough girl and I liked her because she has a good heart. I don't think I can describe Juliette in a more effective way than this, so I chose Adam's exact words as she said this words to her."A million times... I saw you do things like that a million times. But you never said a word unless it was forced out of you... You never asked for anything from anyone... But no one ever gave you a chance." -AdamI always loved a character with goodness in their heart because they inspire me... to do good, to think right. Juliette is one of those heroines that I tend to love because of that. Not just a kick-ass, but also kind-hearted.What I liked most about this book is the love story and that the words were written beautifully and effectively. It was surprisingly good and refreshing since I didn't expected it to be some kind of superhero thing. I realized that Juliette actually reminds me of Rogue. I wonder if Tehereh Mafi is a fan of X-Men and if she, too (like me) is fascinated by Rogue. It was quite interesting and I am excited to see how the things will turn out in the next books.I loved everything about this book except for the world-building which I think is lacking. I hope that the author gave us a clear picture of the "The Reestablishment", the leaders, and the society. Dystopian novels is one of my favorite genre, and it's important (I think) that we are given a clear image of the dystopian world and what it takes to live in that horrific period. Other than that, this book is great in many ways.An engaging book like this with strong characters and amazing story line will win the hearts of readers who enjoy paranormal-dystopian novels with deliciously crafted romance. The whole story is gripping, the ending is satisfying, and the experience... shattering.

Can you give me an idea of what's in this book?

"264 days of isolation. Juliette has been locked up in a cell consisting of 4 walls and 1 window. She hadn't seen or touched a single human being for 3 years until Adam Kent was sent to be her cellmate .

"The world is flat.I know because I was tossed right off the edge and I've been trying to hold on for 17 years. I've been trying to climb back up for 17 years but it's nearly impossible to beat gravity when no one is willing to give you a hand." - JulietteThis book shattered my heart captured my heart from the very beginning up to the end. The writing is powerful and captivating, it was hard to put down."264 days of isolation. Juliette has been locked up in a cell consisting of 4 walls and 1 window. She hadn't seen or touched a single human being for 3 years until Adam Kent was sent to be her cellmate. That's where the story began and I was hooked immediately, excited to know who the boy was, and his connection to Juliette. I was excited to know why The Reestablishment put Juliette in the institution and why they suddenly put a boy in her room. I loved how the story was written in such a way that it became even more effective to see what's in Juliette's head and the things she had been thinking and feeling and I hope I could see Adam in the same way."Of course I remember you." My voice strangled whisper. I squeeze my eyes shut. I remember you every day forever in every broken moment of my life. "You were the only one who ever looked at me like a human being." - JulietteYou're going to love Adam Kent. It is always one of the things I look for in a story. A guy whom I can see myself rooting for. He's one of those sweet, sexy and dependable guy that you will put on your list of swoon-worthy book boyfriends that will make you fall in love over again. With a strong hero comes a strong heroine and a book is dull without them. Juliette is definitely one tough girl and I liked her because she has a good heart. I don't think I can describe Juliette in a more effective way than this, so I chose Adam's exact words as she said this words to her."A million times... I saw you do things like that a million times. But you never said a word unless it was forced out of you... You never asked for anything from anyone... But no one ever gave you a chance." -AdamI always loved a character with goodness in their heart because they inspire me... to do good, to think right. Juliette is one of those heroines that I tend to love because of that. Not just a kick-ass, but also kind-hearted.What I liked most about this book is the love story and that the words were written beautifully and effectively. It was surprisingly good and refreshing since I didn't expected it to be some kind of superhero thing. I realized that Juliette actually reminds me of Rogue. I wonder if Tehereh Mafi is a fan of X-Men and if she, too (like me) is fascinated by Rogue. It was quite interesting and I am excited to see how the things will turn out in the next books.I loved everything about this book except for the world-building which I think is lacking. I hope that the author gave us a clear picture of the "The Reestablishment", the leaders, and the society. Dystopian novels is one of my favorite genre, and it's important (I think) that we are given a clear image of the dystopian world and what it takes to live in that horrific period. Other than that, this book is great in many ways.An engaging book like this with strong characters and amazing story line will win the hearts of readers who enjoy paranormal-dystopian novels with deliciously crafted romance. The whole story is gripping, the ending is satisfying, and the experience... shattering.

<hl> "264 days of isolation. Juliette has been locked up in a cell consisting of 4 walls and 1 window. She hadn't seen or touched a single human being for 3 years until Adam Kent was sent to be her cellmate <hl> .

"The world is flat.I know because I was tossed right off the edge and I've been trying to hold on for 17 years. I've been trying to climb back up for 17 years but it's nearly impossible to beat gravity when no one is willing to give you a hand." - JulietteThis book shattered my heart captured my heart from the very beginning up to the end. The writing is powerful and captivating, it was hard to put down.<hl> "264 days of isolation. Juliette has been locked up in a cell consisting of 4 walls and 1 window. She hadn't seen or touched a single human being for 3 years until Adam Kent was sent to be her cellmate <hl>. That's where the story began and I was hooked immediately, excited to know who the boy was, and his connection to Juliette. I was excited to know why The Reestablishment put Juliette in the institution and why they suddenly put a boy in her room. I loved how the story was written in such a way that it became even more effective to see what's in Juliette's head and the things she had been thinking and feeling and I hope I could see Adam in the same way."Of course I remember you." My voice strangled whisper. I squeeze my eyes shut. I remember you every day forever in every broken moment of my life. "You were the only one who ever looked at me like a human being." - JulietteYou're going to love Adam Kent. It is always one of the things I look for in a story. A guy whom I can see myself rooting for. He's one of those sweet, sexy and dependable guy that you will put on your list of swoon-worthy book boyfriends that will make you fall in love over again. With a strong hero comes a strong heroine and a book is dull without them. Juliette is definitely one tough girl and I liked her because she has a good heart. I don't think I can describe Juliette in a more effective way than this, so I chose Adam's exact words as she said this words to her."A million times... I saw you do things like that a million times. But you never said a word unless it was forced out of you... You never asked for anything from anyone... But no one ever gave you a chance." -AdamI always loved a character with goodness in their heart because they inspire me... to do good, to think right. Juliette is one of those heroines that I tend to love because of that. Not just a kick-ass, but also kind-hearted.What I liked most about this book is the love story and that the words were written beautifully and effectively. It was surprisingly good and refreshing since I didn't expected it to be some kind of superhero thing. I realized that Juliette actually reminds me of Rogue. I wonder if Tehereh Mafi is a fan of X-Men and if she, too (like me) is fascinated by Rogue. It was quite interesting and I am excited to see how the things will turn out in the next books.I loved everything about this book except for the world-building which I think is lacking. I hope that the author gave us a clear picture of the "The Reestablishment", the leaders, and the society. Dystopian novels is one of my favorite genre, and it's important (I think) that we are given a clear image of the dystopian world and what it takes to live in that horrific period. Other than that, this book is great in many ways.An engaging book like this with strong characters and amazing story line will win the hearts of readers who enjoy paranormal-dystopian novels with deliciously crafted romance. The whole story is gripping, the ending is satisfying, and the experience... shattering.

"The world is flat. I know because I was tossed right off the edge and I've been trying to hold on for 17 years. I've been trying to climb back up for 17 years but it's nearly impossible to beat gravity when no one is willing to give you a hand." - JulietteThis book shattered my heart captured my heart from the very beginning up to the end. The writing is powerful and captivating, it was hard to put down. <hl> "264 days of isolation. Juliette has been locked up in a cell consisting of 4 walls and 1 window. She hadn't seen or touched a single human being for 3 years until Adam Kent was sent to be her cellmate . <hl> That's where the story began and I was hooked immediately, excited to know who the boy was, and his connection to Juliette. I was excited to know why The Reestablishment put Juliette in the institution and why they suddenly put a boy in her room. I loved how the story was written in such a way that it became even more effective to see what's in Juliette's head and the things she had been thinking and feeling and I hope I could see Adam in the same way. "Of course I remember you." My voice strangled whisper. I squeeze my eyes shut. I remember you every day forever in every broken moment of my life. "You were the only one who ever looked at me like a human being." - JulietteYou're going to love Adam Kent. It is always one of the things I look for in a story. A guy whom I can see myself rooting for. He's one of those sweet, sexy and dependable guy that you will put on your list of swoon-worthy book boyfriends that will make you fall in love over again. With a strong hero comes a strong heroine and a book is dull without them. Juliette is definitely one tough girl and I liked her because she has a good heart. I don't think I can describe Juliette in a more effective way than this, so I chose Adam's exact words as she said this words to her. "A million times... I saw you do things like that a million times. But you never said a word unless it was forced out of you... You never asked for anything from anyone... But no one ever gave you a chance." -AdamI always loved a character with goodness in their heart because they inspire me... to do good, to think right. Juliette is one of those heroines that I tend to love because of that. Not just a kick-ass, but also kind-hearted. What I liked most about this book is the love story and that the words were written beautifully and effectively. It was surprisingly good and refreshing since I didn't expected it to be some kind of superhero thing. I realized that Juliette actually reminds me of Rogue. I wonder if Tehereh Mafi is a fan of X-Men and if she, too (like me) is fascinated by Rogue. It was quite interesting and I am excited to see how the things will turn out in the next books. I loved everything about this book except for the world-building which I think is lacking. I hope that the author gave us a clear picture of the "The Reestablishment", the leaders, and the society. Dystopian novels is one of my favorite genre, and it's important (I think) that we are given a clear image of the dystopian world and what it takes to live in that horrific period. Other than that, this book is great in many ways. An engaging book like this with strong characters and amazing story line will win the hearts of readers who enjoy paranormal-dystopian novels with deliciously crafted romance. The whole story is gripping, the ending is satisfying, and the experience... shattering.

0f9a3b37c248c8a34dc4144a47181b83

books

Told from three different points of view

question: How is the opinion?, context: It's 1962, a time when escalating tensions are rising between African-Americans (then known as "coloreds") and their white employers and neighbors! Told from three different points of view, this story probes the intimate thoughts about what it's like for the maids of wealthy and middle class white people in Jackson, Mississippi. It's more than just hard, hard work; it's trying to survive in a constantly demeaning, life or death survival environment! That may sound trite, but trust this reviewer - these accounts are absolutely riveting, heart-stopping and poignant in ways that put new definitions on these commonly used terms!A young woman, Miss Skeetter, wants to be a journalist while her family and friends believe that finding a husband is all that matters, no matter what one's educational background is. Her first question that opens the central plot is to ask if one of the maids, Aibleen, wishes things were different.Aibleen never gets to complete the conversation, but she remembers the comment as she continues to care for three-year-old Mae Mobley. Aibleen, like other hired "help," is more of a mother to Mae Mobley than her own distant, punishing mother by birth. The pain Aibleen feels over this coldness is stunning when one learns the numbing background of her own deep loss. Yet through it all, Aibleen's quietly muttered thoughts and written prayers to God make the reader roar with laughter and ponder what's important in the schemes and nonsense of daily family life. It is she who provides the impetus for Miss Skeeter's project, to get a few black women to talk about the joys, sorrows, challenges and downright insanity of their service employment.Then you'll meet Minnie, another maid who doesn't keep jobs too long because of her outspoken, funny, but offensively blunt comments to her employers. When that doesn't work, lies will do to get rid of her since she obviously doesn't know her "place" in this cold, tough world! Her challenges include a violent home life and an employer who is from the seedier side of Southern life, what used to be called "white trash." Miss Celia is lonely and constantly striving to fit in, but it's clear she doesn't have a clue about much!The project begins on a wrong note and seems doomed to die before it gets going, but tragedy will change all that. Then the reader will be just as stunned at the gritty, fiercely determined nature that arises in a dozen women to tell their tale despite what just might be brutally lethal results. They express their fury and their hysterical barbs as well at the turn of a plan by whites to create toilets for the "diseased" help.So many other characters and events fill these 464 wonderful pages. This reviewer hardly ever says this about any book, but this is a book you will not be able to put down and will be so, so sorry when it's over. It will change hearts and minds wherever it's experienced!This is Kathryn Stockett's first novel, a brilliant, potent celebration of astonishing and noteworthy hope for light to surmount darkness, be it in a person's color or behavior! The Help is a wonder to behold and cherish!Reviewed by Viviane Crystal on December 29, 2008

How is the opinion?

It's 1962, a time when escalating tensions are rising between African-Americans (then known as "coloreds") and their white employers and neighbors! Told from three different points of view , this story probes the intimate thoughts about what it's like for the maids of wealthy and middle class white people in Jackson, Mississippi.

It's 1962, a time when escalating tensions are rising between African-Americans (then known as "coloreds") and their white employers and neighbors! Told from three different points of view, this story probes the intimate thoughts about what it's like for the maids of wealthy and middle class white people in Jackson, Mississippi. It's more than just hard, hard work; it's trying to survive in a constantly demeaning, life or death survival environment! That may sound trite, but trust this reviewer - these accounts are absolutely riveting, heart-stopping and poignant in ways that put new definitions on these commonly used terms!A young woman, Miss Skeetter, wants to be a journalist while her family and friends believe that finding a husband is all that matters, no matter what one's educational background is. Her first question that opens the central plot is to ask if one of the maids, Aibleen, wishes things were different.Aibleen never gets to complete the conversation, but she remembers the comment as she continues to care for three-year-old Mae Mobley. Aibleen, like other hired "help," is more of a mother to Mae Mobley than her own distant, punishing mother by birth. The pain Aibleen feels over this coldness is stunning when one learns the numbing background of her own deep loss. Yet through it all, Aibleen's quietly muttered thoughts and written prayers to God make the reader roar with laughter and ponder what's important in the schemes and nonsense of daily family life. It is she who provides the impetus for Miss Skeeter's project, to get a few black women to talk about the joys, sorrows, challenges and downright insanity of their service employment.Then you'll meet Minnie, another maid who doesn't keep jobs too long because of her outspoken, funny, but offensively blunt comments to her employers. When that doesn't work, lies will do to get rid of her since she obviously doesn't know her "place" in this cold, tough world! Her challenges include a violent home life and an employer who is from the seedier side of Southern life, what used to be called "white trash." Miss Celia is lonely and constantly striving to fit in, but it's clear she doesn't have a clue about much!The project begins on a wrong note and seems doomed to die before it gets going, but tragedy will change all that. Then the reader will be just as stunned at the gritty, fiercely determined nature that arises in a dozen women to tell their tale despite what just might be brutally lethal results. They express their fury and their hysterical barbs as well at the turn of a plan by whites to create toilets for the "diseased" help.So many other characters and events fill these 464 wonderful pages. This reviewer hardly ever says this about any book, but this is a book you will not be able to put down and will be so, so sorry when it's over. It will change hearts and minds wherever it's experienced!This is Kathryn Stockett's first novel, a brilliant, potent celebration of astonishing and noteworthy hope for light to surmount darkness, be it in a person's color or behavior! The Help is a wonder to behold and cherish!Reviewed by Viviane Crystal on December 29, 2008

It's 1962, a time when escalating tensions are rising between African-Americans (then known as "coloreds") and their white employers and neighbors! <hl> Told from three different points of view <hl> , this story probes the intimate thoughts about what it's like for the maids of wealthy and middle class white people in Jackson, Mississippi.

It's 1962, a time when escalating tensions are rising between African-Americans (then known as "coloreds") and their white employers and neighbors! <hl> Told from three different points of view <hl>, this story probes the intimate thoughts about what it's like for the maids of wealthy and middle class white people in Jackson, Mississippi. It's more than just hard, hard work; it's trying to survive in a constantly demeaning, life or death survival environment! That may sound trite, but trust this reviewer - these accounts are absolutely riveting, heart-stopping and poignant in ways that put new definitions on these commonly used terms!A young woman, Miss Skeetter, wants to be a journalist while her family and friends believe that finding a husband is all that matters, no matter what one's educational background is. Her first question that opens the central plot is to ask if one of the maids, Aibleen, wishes things were different.Aibleen never gets to complete the conversation, but she remembers the comment as she continues to care for three-year-old Mae Mobley. Aibleen, like other hired "help," is more of a mother to Mae Mobley than her own distant, punishing mother by birth. The pain Aibleen feels over this coldness is stunning when one learns the numbing background of her own deep loss. Yet through it all, Aibleen's quietly muttered thoughts and written prayers to God make the reader roar with laughter and ponder what's important in the schemes and nonsense of daily family life. It is she who provides the impetus for Miss Skeeter's project, to get a few black women to talk about the joys, sorrows, challenges and downright insanity of their service employment.Then you'll meet Minnie, another maid who doesn't keep jobs too long because of her outspoken, funny, but offensively blunt comments to her employers. When that doesn't work, lies will do to get rid of her since she obviously doesn't know her "place" in this cold, tough world! Her challenges include a violent home life and an employer who is from the seedier side of Southern life, what used to be called "white trash." Miss Celia is lonely and constantly striving to fit in, but it's clear she doesn't have a clue about much!The project begins on a wrong note and seems doomed to die before it gets going, but tragedy will change all that. Then the reader will be just as stunned at the gritty, fiercely determined nature that arises in a dozen women to tell their tale despite what just might be brutally lethal results. They express their fury and their hysterical barbs as well at the turn of a plan by whites to create toilets for the "diseased" help.So many other characters and events fill these 464 wonderful pages. This reviewer hardly ever says this about any book, but this is a book you will not be able to put down and will be so, so sorry when it's over. It will change hearts and minds wherever it's experienced!This is Kathryn Stockett's first novel, a brilliant, potent celebration of astonishing and noteworthy hope for light to surmount darkness, be it in a person's color or behavior! The Help is a wonder to behold and cherish!Reviewed by Viviane Crystal on December 29, 2008

<hl> It's 1962, a time when escalating tensions are rising between African-Americans (then known as "coloreds") and their white employers and neighbors! Told from three different points of view , this story probes the intimate thoughts about what it's like for the maids of wealthy and middle class white people in Jackson, Mississippi. <hl> It's more than just hard, hard work; it's trying to survive in a constantly demeaning, life or death survival environment! That may sound trite, but trust this reviewer - these accounts are absolutely riveting, heart-stopping and poignant in ways that put new definitions on these commonly used terms!A young woman, Miss Skeetter, wants to be a journalist while her family and friends believe that finding a husband is all that matters, no matter what one's educational background is. Her first question that opens the central plot is to ask if one of the maids, Aibleen, wishes things were different. Aibleen never gets to complete the conversation, but she remembers the comment as she continues to care for three-year-old Mae Mobley. Aibleen, like other hired "help," is more of a mother to Mae Mobley than her own distant, punishing mother by birth. The pain Aibleen feels over this coldness is stunning when one learns the numbing background of her own deep loss. Yet through it all, Aibleen's quietly muttered thoughts and written prayers to God make the reader roar with laughter and ponder what's important in the schemes and nonsense of daily family life. It is she who provides the impetus for Miss Skeeter's project, to get a few black women to talk about the joys, sorrows, challenges and downright insanity of their service employment. Then you'll meet Minnie, another maid who doesn't keep jobs too long because of her outspoken, funny, but offensively blunt comments to her employers. When that doesn't work, lies will do to get rid of her since she obviously doesn't know her "place" in this cold, tough world! Her challenges include a violent home life and an employer who is from the seedier side of Southern life, what used to be called "white trash." Miss Celia is lonely and constantly striving to fit in, but it's clear she doesn't have a clue about much!The project begins on a wrong note and seems doomed to die before it gets going, but tragedy will change all that. Then the reader will be just as stunned at the gritty, fiercely determined nature that arises in a dozen women to tell their tale despite what just might be brutally lethal results. They express their fury and their hysterical barbs as well at the turn of a plan by whites to create toilets for the "diseased" help. So many other characters and events fill these 464 wonderful pages. This reviewer hardly ever says this about any book, but this is a book you will not be able to put down and will be so, so sorry when it's over. It will change hearts and minds wherever it's experienced!This is Kathryn Stockett's first novel, a brilliant, potent celebration of astonishing and noteworthy hope for light to surmount darkness, be it in a person's color or behavior! The Help is a wonder to behold and cherish!Reviewed by Viviane Crystal on December 29, 2008

4c46f9d11bf4c988c4a40c4f1d58619d

books

book.for some strange reason it was available in English prior to Christmas everywhere except USA

question: Where is the five element available?, context: Re; the Girl with the dragon Tattoo & the Girl who played with firehave read both and note that the new novel 'the girl who played with fire' is much better. it makes the characters believable by going in detail into their history and resulting psychological profiles, at the same time it is a white knuckles thriller.I strongly recommend this book.for some strange reason it was available in English prior to Christmas everywhere except USA. cant wait for the third book in the series, will there be a fourth? apparently Larsen wrote half of the 4th before suffering a fatal heart attack.

Where is the five element available?

I strongly recommend this book.for some strange reason it was available in English prior to Christmas everywhere except USA .

Re; the Girl with the dragon Tattoo & the Girl who played with firehave read both and note that the new novel 'the girl who played with fire' is much better. it makes the characters believable by going in detail into their history and resulting psychological profiles, at the same time it is a white knuckles thriller.I strongly recommend this book.for some strange reason it was available in English prior to Christmas everywhere except USA. cant wait for the third book in the series, will there be a fourth? apparently Larsen wrote half of the 4th before suffering a fatal heart attack.

I strongly recommend this <hl> book.for some strange reason it was available in English prior to Christmas everywhere except USA <hl> .

Re; the Girl with the dragon Tattoo & the Girl who played with firehave read both and note that the new novel 'the girl who played with fire' is much better. it makes the characters believable by going in detail into their history and resulting psychological profiles, at the same time it is a white knuckles thriller.I strongly recommend this <hl> book.for some strange reason it was available in English prior to Christmas everywhere except USA <hl>. cant wait for the third book in the series, will there be a fourth? apparently Larsen wrote half of the 4th before suffering a fatal heart attack.

Re; the Girl with the dragon Tattoo & the Girl who played with firehave read both and note that the new novel 'the girl who played with fire' is much better. it makes the characters believable by going in detail into their history and resulting psychological profiles, at the same time it is a white knuckles thriller. <hl> I strongly recommend this book.for some strange reason it was available in English prior to Christmas everywhere except USA . <hl> cant wait for the third book in the series, will there be a fourth? apparently Larsen wrote half of the 4th before suffering a fatal heart attack.

73d666cd036235a872c1bdde85eef798

books

it was a really good book about growing up and letting go of childhood fantasies

question: How did you think about the sibling relationship?, context: When Fangirl went on sale a while back I had heard wonderful things about Rainbow Rowell so I checked out some ratings and decided it was well worth a shot. I saw that the reviews had been a little mixed which piqued my interest, I probably shouldn&#8217;t admit it but when there is discord among readers it often convinces me even more to buy/read a book. I really had no idea what this book was going to be about other than a girl who is obsessed with a fictional character named Simon Snow, so I pretty much went in blind.I&#8217;m really glad I read Fangirl. I had been in a bit of a rut, not reading much and when I did read I just wasn&#8217;t enjoying it the way I always have. But Cath, Levi, Reagan, and the gang changed my tune. I loved Fangirl. A lot. I thought it was sweet and quirky and really reflected that sometimes holding onto something so tight can blind you from all the good things in store.The book starts with Cath heading off to the start college with her identical twin sister Wren. Cath and Wren may be identical on the outside but their personalities are very different. When Wren tells Cath she doesn&#8217;t want to room together it pretty much shatters Cath&#8217;s ideal college life. That is how Cath ends up with upperclassmen, Reagan. At first Cath doesn&#8217;t know what to do with Reagan. She&#8217;s bold, she&#8217;s intimidating, and she&#8217;s extremely blunt. Along with Reagan comes Levi, a guy Cath suspects is Reagan&#8217;s boyfriend since he spends so much time waiting outside their door for Reagan or with Reagan herself.On top of the pressure of learning to blend in to collegiate life Cath is faced with the daunting task of finishing Carry On, Simon, a fanfic of her favorite books about the one and only Simon Snow. So this is where readers of Fangirl seemed to be really divided. Some loved the idea of a fellow fanfic writer telling her story and some thought it was a totally mockery. In my opinion, I think Rowell was trying to tell the story of a girl who let her life be so consumed by fantasy that it blinded her to real life. I don&#8217;t think the book was meant to be mocking and granted there were a lot of parallels between Simon Snow and the world&#8217;s favorite boy Wizard but I think that was a plot tool to help readers relate. That&#8217;s just my opinion and I&#8217;m sure some will completely disagree but that&#8217;s their prerogative. That being said, the story does alternate between Cath&#8217;s life, to her fanfic and the actual Simon Snow stories. I know some readers found this annoying but I thought it was a clever parallel between Cath and Simon Snow&#8217;s lives. I think it was purposefully written this way so that the readers could see Cath and Simon (and even Baz) grow into the characters they were meant to be.I have to say of all the things I loved about this book (which I will definitely get to); I most loved the normalcy of the story. There were no big, deep, dark secrets waiting in the background. There was drama, including family and boy issues, but there wasn&#8217;t some huge issue that needed to be brought to light. It was a bit refreshing in my eyes.I also liked the slow-burn romance. More often than not, in YA there are a lot of really quick romances. I don&#8217;t have a major problem with insta-love but it&#8217;s nice to see the other side of the coin now and then. Not every teen jumps into love head-first. I loved the chemistry and the lack of pressure put on Cath. Cath&#8217;s romantic journey felt real to me, however innocent it might have been, and I enjoyed falling in love with her.As for the characters, I loved them. Cath was a bit nave at times but I don&#8217;t think it was unrealistic. Not every 18 year old goes into college with the same experiences. I know people like Cath, so I know that her type of person does exist. As for Levi, Levi was a doll. I always say this when I come across nice boys in books but goodness do I love the nice ones. Levi was just an average guy but just reading about him put a smile on my face. Levi always smiles so even through a book it&#8217;s contagious. And as for Reagan, I loved her, as well. She was one fierce girl and I loved that she took Cath under her wing and helped her navigate the college life a little better. As for Cath&#8217;s family, as dysfunctional as they seemed to be, I&#8217;m glad they got their time in the spotlight. I think it&#8217;s important for YA authors to build a strong familial background for MC&#8217;s (unless the MC doesn&#8217;t have a family); it makes the character more believable. I also will admit that I even loved Simon and Baz. It&#8217;s funny because they weren&#8217;t even the main characters in this story but I found myself wanting to know how their story ended, as well. It was like getting the cliff-note version of their story with some of the best parts.Anyways, I loved Fangirl. I thought it was a really good book about growing up and letting go of childhood fantasies. I know it won&#8217;t appeal to all readers due to the nature with which it is told and the subject of which it is about. But hey, that&#8217;s books. I would personally highly recommend this book to YA contemporary lovers. It was a well-written and engrossing read for me. Plus, everyone needs a little Levi in their life.

How did you think about the sibling relationship?

I thought it was a really good book about growing up and letting go of childhood fantasies .

When Fangirl went on sale a while back I had heard wonderful things about Rainbow Rowell so I checked out some ratings and decided it was well worth a shot. I saw that the reviews had been a little mixed which piqued my interest, I probably shouldn&#8217;t admit it but when there is discord among readers it often convinces me even more to buy/read a book. I really had no idea what this book was going to be about other than a girl who is obsessed with a fictional character named Simon Snow, so I pretty much went in blind.I&#8217;m really glad I read Fangirl. I had been in a bit of a rut, not reading much and when I did read I just wasn&#8217;t enjoying it the way I always have. But Cath, Levi, Reagan, and the gang changed my tune. I loved Fangirl. A lot. I thought it was sweet and quirky and really reflected that sometimes holding onto something so tight can blind you from all the good things in store.The book starts with Cath heading off to the start college with her identical twin sister Wren. Cath and Wren may be identical on the outside but their personalities are very different. When Wren tells Cath she doesn&#8217;t want to room together it pretty much shatters Cath&#8217;s ideal college life. That is how Cath ends up with upperclassmen, Reagan. At first Cath doesn&#8217;t know what to do with Reagan. She&#8217;s bold, she&#8217;s intimidating, and she&#8217;s extremely blunt. Along with Reagan comes Levi, a guy Cath suspects is Reagan&#8217;s boyfriend since he spends so much time waiting outside their door for Reagan or with Reagan herself.On top of the pressure of learning to blend in to collegiate life Cath is faced with the daunting task of finishing Carry On, Simon, a fanfic of her favorite books about the one and only Simon Snow. So this is where readers of Fangirl seemed to be really divided. Some loved the idea of a fellow fanfic writer telling her story and some thought it was a totally mockery. In my opinion, I think Rowell was trying to tell the story of a girl who let her life be so consumed by fantasy that it blinded her to real life. I don&#8217;t think the book was meant to be mocking and granted there were a lot of parallels between Simon Snow and the world&#8217;s favorite boy Wizard but I think that was a plot tool to help readers relate. That&#8217;s just my opinion and I&#8217;m sure some will completely disagree but that&#8217;s their prerogative. That being said, the story does alternate between Cath&#8217;s life, to her fanfic and the actual Simon Snow stories. I know some readers found this annoying but I thought it was a clever parallel between Cath and Simon Snow&#8217;s lives. I think it was purposefully written this way so that the readers could see Cath and Simon (and even Baz) grow into the characters they were meant to be.I have to say of all the things I loved about this book (which I will definitely get to); I most loved the normalcy of the story. There were no big, deep, dark secrets waiting in the background. There was drama, including family and boy issues, but there wasn&#8217;t some huge issue that needed to be brought to light. It was a bit refreshing in my eyes.I also liked the slow-burn romance. More often than not, in YA there are a lot of really quick romances. I don&#8217;t have a major problem with insta-love but it&#8217;s nice to see the other side of the coin now and then. Not every teen jumps into love head-first. I loved the chemistry and the lack of pressure put on Cath. Cath&#8217;s romantic journey felt real to me, however innocent it might have been, and I enjoyed falling in love with her.As for the characters, I loved them. Cath was a bit nave at times but I don&#8217;t think it was unrealistic. Not every 18 year old goes into college with the same experiences. I know people like Cath, so I know that her type of person does exist. As for Levi, Levi was a doll. I always say this when I come across nice boys in books but goodness do I love the nice ones. Levi was just an average guy but just reading about him put a smile on my face. Levi always smiles so even through a book it&#8217;s contagious. And as for Reagan, I loved her, as well. She was one fierce girl and I loved that she took Cath under her wing and helped her navigate the college life a little better. As for Cath&#8217;s family, as dysfunctional as they seemed to be, I&#8217;m glad they got their time in the spotlight. I think it&#8217;s important for YA authors to build a strong familial background for MC&#8217;s (unless the MC doesn&#8217;t have a family); it makes the character more believable. I also will admit that I even loved Simon and Baz. It&#8217;s funny because they weren&#8217;t even the main characters in this story but I found myself wanting to know how their story ended, as well. It was like getting the cliff-note version of their story with some of the best parts.Anyways, I loved Fangirl. I thought it was a really good book about growing up and letting go of childhood fantasies. I know it won&#8217;t appeal to all readers due to the nature with which it is told and the subject of which it is about. But hey, that&#8217;s books. I would personally highly recommend this book to YA contemporary lovers. It was a well-written and engrossing read for me. Plus, everyone needs a little Levi in their life.

I thought <hl> it was a really good book about growing up and letting go of childhood fantasies <hl> .

When Fangirl went on sale a while back I had heard wonderful things about Rainbow Rowell so I checked out some ratings and decided it was well worth a shot. I saw that the reviews had been a little mixed which piqued my interest, I probably shouldn&#8217;t admit it but when there is discord among readers it often convinces me even more to buy/read a book. I really had no idea what this book was going to be about other than a girl who is obsessed with a fictional character named Simon Snow, so I pretty much went in blind.I&#8217;m really glad I read Fangirl. I had been in a bit of a rut, not reading much and when I did read I just wasn&#8217;t enjoying it the way I always have. But Cath, Levi, Reagan, and the gang changed my tune. I loved Fangirl. A lot. I thought it was sweet and quirky and really reflected that sometimes holding onto something so tight can blind you from all the good things in store.The book starts with Cath heading off to the start college with her identical twin sister Wren. Cath and Wren may be identical on the outside but their personalities are very different. When Wren tells Cath she doesn&#8217;t want to room together it pretty much shatters Cath&#8217;s ideal college life. That is how Cath ends up with upperclassmen, Reagan. At first Cath doesn&#8217;t know what to do with Reagan. She&#8217;s bold, she&#8217;s intimidating, and she&#8217;s extremely blunt. Along with Reagan comes Levi, a guy Cath suspects is Reagan&#8217;s boyfriend since he spends so much time waiting outside their door for Reagan or with Reagan herself.On top of the pressure of learning to blend in to collegiate life Cath is faced with the daunting task of finishing Carry On, Simon, a fanfic of her favorite books about the one and only Simon Snow. So this is where readers of Fangirl seemed to be really divided. Some loved the idea of a fellow fanfic writer telling her story and some thought it was a totally mockery. In my opinion, I think Rowell was trying to tell the story of a girl who let her life be so consumed by fantasy that it blinded her to real life. I don&#8217;t think the book was meant to be mocking and granted there were a lot of parallels between Simon Snow and the world&#8217;s favorite boy Wizard but I think that was a plot tool to help readers relate. That&#8217;s just my opinion and I&#8217;m sure some will completely disagree but that&#8217;s their prerogative. That being said, the story does alternate between Cath&#8217;s life, to her fanfic and the actual Simon Snow stories. I know some readers found this annoying but I thought it was a clever parallel between Cath and Simon Snow&#8217;s lives. I think it was purposefully written this way so that the readers could see Cath and Simon (and even Baz) grow into the characters they were meant to be.I have to say of all the things I loved about this book (which I will definitely get to); I most loved the normalcy of the story. There were no big, deep, dark secrets waiting in the background. There was drama, including family and boy issues, but there wasn&#8217;t some huge issue that needed to be brought to light. It was a bit refreshing in my eyes.I also liked the slow-burn romance. More often than not, in YA there are a lot of really quick romances. I don&#8217;t have a major problem with insta-love but it&#8217;s nice to see the other side of the coin now and then. Not every teen jumps into love head-first. I loved the chemistry and the lack of pressure put on Cath. Cath&#8217;s romantic journey felt real to me, however innocent it might have been, and I enjoyed falling in love with her.As for the characters, I loved them. Cath was a bit nave at times but I don&#8217;t think it was unrealistic. Not every 18 year old goes into college with the same experiences. I know people like Cath, so I know that her type of person does exist. As for Levi, Levi was a doll. I always say this when I come across nice boys in books but goodness do I love the nice ones. Levi was just an average guy but just reading about him put a smile on my face. Levi always smiles so even through a book it&#8217;s contagious. And as for Reagan, I loved her, as well. She was one fierce girl and I loved that she took Cath under her wing and helped her navigate the college life a little better. As for Cath&#8217;s family, as dysfunctional as they seemed to be, I&#8217;m glad they got their time in the spotlight. I think it&#8217;s important for YA authors to build a strong familial background for MC&#8217;s (unless the MC doesn&#8217;t have a family); it makes the character more believable. I also will admit that I even loved Simon and Baz. It&#8217;s funny because they weren&#8217;t even the main characters in this story but I found myself wanting to know how their story ended, as well. It was like getting the cliff-note version of their story with some of the best parts.Anyways, I loved Fangirl. I thought <hl> it was a really good book about growing up and letting go of childhood fantasies <hl>. I know it won&#8217;t appeal to all readers due to the nature with which it is told and the subject of which it is about. But hey, that&#8217;s books. I would personally highly recommend this book to YA contemporary lovers. It was a well-written and engrossing read for me. Plus, everyone needs a little Levi in their life.

When Fangirl went on sale a while back I had heard wonderful things about Rainbow Rowell so I checked out some ratings and decided it was well worth a shot. I saw that the reviews had been a little mixed which piqued my interest, I probably shouldn&#8217;t admit it but when there is discord among readers it often convinces me even more to buy/read a book. I really had no idea what this book was going to be about other than a girl who is obsessed with a fictional character named Simon Snow, so I pretty much went in blind. I&#8217;m really glad I read Fangirl. I had been in a bit of a rut, not reading much and when I did read I just wasn&#8217;t enjoying it the way I always have. But Cath, Levi, Reagan, and the gang changed my tune. I loved Fangirl. A lot. I thought it was sweet and quirky and really reflected that sometimes holding onto something so tight can blind you from all the good things in store. The book starts with Cath heading off to the start college with her identical twin sister Wren. Cath and Wren may be identical on the outside but their personalities are very different. When Wren tells Cath she doesn&#8217;t want to room together it pretty much shatters Cath&#8217;s ideal college life. That is how Cath ends up with upperclassmen, Reagan. At first Cath doesn&#8217;t know what to do with Reagan. She&#8217;s bold, she&#8217;s intimidating, and she&#8217;s extremely blunt. Along with Reagan comes Levi, a guy Cath suspects is Reagan&#8217;s boyfriend since he spends so much time waiting outside their door for Reagan or with Reagan herself. On top of the pressure of learning to blend in to collegiate life Cath is faced with the daunting task of finishing Carry On, Simon, a fanfic of her favorite books about the one and only Simon Snow. So this is where readers of Fangirl seemed to be really divided. Some loved the idea of a fellow fanfic writer telling her story and some thought it was a totally mockery. In my opinion, I think Rowell was trying to tell the story of a girl who let her life be so consumed by fantasy that it blinded her to real life. I don&#8217;t think the book was meant to be mocking and granted there were a lot of parallels between Simon Snow and the world&#8217;s favorite boy Wizard but I think that was a plot tool to help readers relate. That&#8217;s just my opinion and I&#8217;m sure some will completely disagree but that&#8217;s their prerogative. That being said, the story does alternate between Cath&#8217;s life, to her fanfic and the actual Simon Snow stories. I know some readers found this annoying but I thought it was a clever parallel between Cath and Simon Snow&#8217;s lives. I think it was purposefully written this way so that the readers could see Cath and Simon (and even Baz) grow into the characters they were meant to be. I have to say of all the things I loved about this book (which I will definitely get to); I most loved the normalcy of the story. There were no big, deep, dark secrets waiting in the background. There was drama, including family and boy issues, but there wasn&#8217;t some huge issue that needed to be brought to light. It was a bit refreshing in my eyes. I also liked the slow-burn romance. More often than not, in YA there are a lot of really quick romances. I don&#8217;t have a major problem with insta-love but it&#8217;s nice to see the other side of the coin now and then. Not every teen jumps into love head-first. I loved the chemistry and the lack of pressure put on Cath. Cath&#8217;s romantic journey felt real to me, however innocent it might have been, and I enjoyed falling in love with her. As for the characters, I loved them. Cath was a bit nave at times but I don&#8217;t think it was unrealistic. Not every 18 year old goes into college with the same experiences. I know people like Cath, so I know that her type of person does exist. As for Levi, Levi was a doll. I always say this when I come across nice boys in books but goodness do I love the nice ones. Levi was just an average guy but just reading about him put a smile on my face. Levi always smiles so even through a book it&#8217;s contagious. And as for Reagan, I loved her, as well. She was one fierce girl and I loved that she took Cath under her wing and helped her navigate the college life a little better. As for Cath&#8217;s family, as dysfunctional as they seemed to be, I&#8217;m glad they got their time in the spotlight. I think it&#8217;s important for YA authors to build a strong familial background for MC&#8217;s (unless the MC doesn&#8217;t have a family); it makes the character more believable. I also will admit that I even loved Simon and Baz. It&#8217;s funny because they weren&#8217;t even the main characters in this story but I found myself wanting to know how their story ended, as well. It was like getting the cliff-note version of their story with some of the best parts. Anyways, I loved Fangirl. <hl> I thought it was a really good book about growing up and letting go of childhood fantasies . <hl> I know it won&#8217;t appeal to all readers due to the nature with which it is told and the subject of which it is about. But hey, that&#8217;s books. I would personally highly recommend this book to YA contemporary lovers. It was a well-written and engrossing read for me. Plus, everyone needs a little Levi in their life.

e681fd7eb28b77729838d7076607e92b

books

this story and get attached

question: How is the reader?, context: This novel was very much unexpectedly great. It was not just good, it was great. I do not normally read the book descriptions or the back of a book when I buy them. When you do that you have expectations of how you think a novel will be and when you read the description and it is not the way you thought it would be, it is kind of a let down. I also did not read the description on this book either, but seeing how everyone was raving about how good this book was I decided to read it. I don't know what kind of book I thought this would be, but it was exceedingly better than I thought it was going to be. The mystery in this novel was very captivating and held my interest so much so that I had a hard time putting this book down. It was a little boring in the beginning because it talked a lot about big time company businesses and how this journalist got in trouble for writting about them in a magazine. So, when I started this novel I said to myself "people are loving THIS?" However, after the first two chapters it got very interesting. I also was unsure if I wanted to read this story and get attached to it because the ending of the story is gone, but I can asure you that at least in the first book the story does not leave you hanging. I thought that you wouldn't find out the ending to any problem or mystery in this book because there was more to follow. I can not wait to read the next book!The only advice I can give to anyone about to purchase this book, is that this novel is based in Sweden and is a foreign novel. I know that many of you probably assumed that, but that would have been a nice little bit of information that I would have liked to know. It really doesn't matter that it was based in Sweden or that it is a foreign based novel because it was still great and had nothing to do with how good or not the novel is, but it was just unexpected. The other thing that I would have liked to know is that there is very strong sexual violence in this novel. Again this does not make the novel bad in my eyes, but for others that don't like reading novels with things like that in it, I would advise you not to read this novel. There are very few parts of sexual violence in this novel, but the few parts are hard to read. However, it does make you have even stronger emotions for this novel and the characters.Hope you love it as much as I did. Great read!The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

How is the reader?

I also was unsure if I wanted to read this story and get attached to it because the ending of the story is gone, but I can asure you that at least in the first book the story does not leave you hanging.

This novel was very much unexpectedly great. It was not just good, it was great. I do not normally read the book descriptions or the back of a book when I buy them. When you do that you have expectations of how you think a novel will be and when you read the description and it is not the way you thought it would be, it is kind of a let down. I also did not read the description on this book either, but seeing how everyone was raving about how good this book was I decided to read it. I don't know what kind of book I thought this would be, but it was exceedingly better than I thought it was going to be. The mystery in this novel was very captivating and held my interest so much so that I had a hard time putting this book down. It was a little boring in the beginning because it talked a lot about big time company businesses and how this journalist got in trouble for writting about them in a magazine. So, when I started this novel I said to myself "people are loving THIS?" However, after the first two chapters it got very interesting. I also was unsure if I wanted to read this story and get attached to it because the ending of the story is gone, but I can asure you that at least in the first book the story does not leave you hanging. I thought that you wouldn't find out the ending to any problem or mystery in this book because there was more to follow. I can not wait to read the next book!The only advice I can give to anyone about to purchase this book, is that this novel is based in Sweden and is a foreign novel. I know that many of you probably assumed that, but that would have been a nice little bit of information that I would have liked to know. It really doesn't matter that it was based in Sweden or that it is a foreign based novel because it was still great and had nothing to do with how good or not the novel is, but it was just unexpected. The other thing that I would have liked to know is that there is very strong sexual violence in this novel. Again this does not make the novel bad in my eyes, but for others that don't like reading novels with things like that in it, I would advise you not to read this novel. There are very few parts of sexual violence in this novel, but the few parts are hard to read. However, it does make you have even stronger emotions for this novel and the characters.Hope you love it as much as I did. Great read!The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I also was unsure if I wanted to read <hl> this story and get attached <hl> to it because the ending of the story is gone, but I can asure you that at least in the first book the story does not leave you hanging.

This novel was very much unexpectedly great. It was not just good, it was great. I do not normally read the book descriptions or the back of a book when I buy them. When you do that you have expectations of how you think a novel will be and when you read the description and it is not the way you thought it would be, it is kind of a let down. I also did not read the description on this book either, but seeing how everyone was raving about how good this book was I decided to read it. I don't know what kind of book I thought this would be, but it was exceedingly better than I thought it was going to be. The mystery in this novel was very captivating and held my interest so much so that I had a hard time putting this book down. It was a little boring in the beginning because it talked a lot about big time company businesses and how this journalist got in trouble for writting about them in a magazine. So, when I started this novel I said to myself "people are loving THIS?" However, after the first two chapters it got very interesting. I also was unsure if I wanted to read <hl> this story and get attached <hl> to it because the ending of the story is gone, but I can asure you that at least in the first book the story does not leave you hanging. I thought that you wouldn't find out the ending to any problem or mystery in this book because there was more to follow. I can not wait to read the next book!The only advice I can give to anyone about to purchase this book, is that this novel is based in Sweden and is a foreign novel. I know that many of you probably assumed that, but that would have been a nice little bit of information that I would have liked to know. It really doesn't matter that it was based in Sweden or that it is a foreign based novel because it was still great and had nothing to do with how good or not the novel is, but it was just unexpected. The other thing that I would have liked to know is that there is very strong sexual violence in this novel. Again this does not make the novel bad in my eyes, but for others that don't like reading novels with things like that in it, I would advise you not to read this novel. There are very few parts of sexual violence in this novel, but the few parts are hard to read. However, it does make you have even stronger emotions for this novel and the characters.Hope you love it as much as I did. Great read!The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

This novel was very much unexpectedly great. It was not just good, it was great. I do not normally read the book descriptions or the back of a book when I buy them. When you do that you have expectations of how you think a novel will be and when you read the description and it is not the way you thought it would be, it is kind of a let down. I also did not read the description on this book either, but seeing how everyone was raving about how good this book was I decided to read it. I don't know what kind of book I thought this would be, but it was exceedingly better than I thought it was going to be. The mystery in this novel was very captivating and held my interest so much so that I had a hard time putting this book down. It was a little boring in the beginning because it talked a lot about big time company businesses and how this journalist got in trouble for writting about them in a magazine. So, when I started this novel I said to myself "people are loving THIS?" However, after the first two chapters it got very interesting. <hl> I also was unsure if I wanted to read this story and get attached to it because the ending of the story is gone, but I can asure you that at least in the first book the story does not leave you hanging. <hl> I thought that you wouldn't find out the ending to any problem or mystery in this book because there was more to follow. I can not wait to read the next book!The only advice I can give to anyone about to purchase this book, is that this novel is based in Sweden and is a foreign novel. I know that many of you probably assumed that, but that would have been a nice little bit of information that I would have liked to know. It really doesn't matter that it was based in Sweden or that it is a foreign based novel because it was still great and had nothing to do with how good or not the novel is, but it was just unexpected. The other thing that I would have liked to know is that there is very strong sexual violence in this novel. Again this does not make the novel bad in my eyes, but for others that don't like reading novels with things like that in it, I would advise you not to read this novel. There are very few parts of sexual violence in this novel, but the few parts are hard to read. However, it does make you have even stronger emotions for this novel and the characters. Hope you love it as much as I did. Great read!The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

36e99ea15d85eda05bff6d49bebbfec0

books

If you are interested in Japan

question: Do you want to have a long life?, context: What makes this book so special is how richly it reveals details of the characters lives. Subtle details which create a vivid sense of time and place create for the reader a rich tapestry of places, people and culture. The story is fascinating, at times cruel and tragic, but very readable. If you are interested in Japan, it is a must. For others, it is worthy of your time.

Do you want to have a long life?

If you are interested in Japan , it is a must.

What makes this book so special is how richly it reveals details of the characters lives. Subtle details which create a vivid sense of time and place create for the reader a rich tapestry of places, people and culture. The story is fascinating, at times cruel and tragic, but very readable. If you are interested in Japan, it is a must. For others, it is worthy of your time.

<hl> If you are interested in Japan <hl> , it is a must.

What makes this book so special is how richly it reveals details of the characters lives. Subtle details which create a vivid sense of time and place create for the reader a rich tapestry of places, people and culture. The story is fascinating, at times cruel and tragic, but very readable. <hl> If you are interested in Japan <hl>, it is a must. For others, it is worthy of your time.

What makes this book so special is how richly it reveals details of the characters lives. Subtle details which create a vivid sense of time and place create for the reader a rich tapestry of places, people and culture. The story is fascinating, at times cruel and tragic, but very readable. <hl> If you are interested in Japan , it is a must. <hl> For others, it is worthy of your time.

4baedd3df4b28cff79ee84d27acd7056

books

Their story is riveting

question: Is story good?, context: Welcome to the world of Amy Elliott Dunne and her husband Nick Dunne. On their fifth wedding anniversary, a day Amy always celebrates to the hilt, she disappears under mysterious circumstances. Nick is the prime suspect and does nothing to make his family, the media, or the public think differently. Thus begins a highly suspenseful tale loaded with twists and turns to keep you eagerly turning the pages. I am in awe of author Gillian Flynn's clever plotting and now anxious to read her two previous books. To go more deeply into the story line would involve spoilers, so I will avoid that and just say Amy and Nick are two of the most dysfunctional, psychotic people you may ever come across. Their story is riveting, appalling, and highly readable. A smart and stylish golden couple who complete each other in every way, their story and the inside look into their marriage will have readers mesmerized from romantic beginning until the stunning finale.

Is story good?

Their story is riveting , appalling, and highly readable.

Welcome to the world of Amy Elliott Dunne and her husband Nick Dunne. On their fifth wedding anniversary, a day Amy always celebrates to the hilt, she disappears under mysterious circumstances. Nick is the prime suspect and does nothing to make his family, the media, or the public think differently. Thus begins a highly suspenseful tale loaded with twists and turns to keep you eagerly turning the pages. I am in awe of author Gillian Flynn's clever plotting and now anxious to read her two previous books. To go more deeply into the story line would involve spoilers, so I will avoid that and just say Amy and Nick are two of the most dysfunctional, psychotic people you may ever come across. Their story is riveting, appalling, and highly readable. A smart and stylish golden couple who complete each other in every way, their story and the inside look into their marriage will have readers mesmerized from romantic beginning until the stunning finale.

<hl> Their story is riveting <hl> , appalling, and highly readable.

Welcome to the world of Amy Elliott Dunne and her husband Nick Dunne. On their fifth wedding anniversary, a day Amy always celebrates to the hilt, she disappears under mysterious circumstances. Nick is the prime suspect and does nothing to make his family, the media, or the public think differently. Thus begins a highly suspenseful tale loaded with twists and turns to keep you eagerly turning the pages. I am in awe of author Gillian Flynn's clever plotting and now anxious to read her two previous books. To go more deeply into the story line would involve spoilers, so I will avoid that and just say Amy and Nick are two of the most dysfunctional, psychotic people you may ever come across. <hl> Their story is riveting <hl>, appalling, and highly readable. A smart and stylish golden couple who complete each other in every way, their story and the inside look into their marriage will have readers mesmerized from romantic beginning until the stunning finale.

Welcome to the world of Amy Elliott Dunne and her husband Nick Dunne. On their fifth wedding anniversary, a day Amy always celebrates to the hilt, she disappears under mysterious circumstances. Nick is the prime suspect and does nothing to make his family, the media, or the public think differently. Thus begins a highly suspenseful tale loaded with twists and turns to keep you eagerly turning the pages. I am in awe of author Gillian Flynn's clever plotting and now anxious to read her two previous books. To go more deeply into the story line would involve spoilers, so I will avoid that and just say Amy and Nick are two of the most dysfunctional, psychotic people you may ever come across. <hl> Their story is riveting , appalling, and highly readable. <hl> A smart and stylish golden couple who complete each other in every way, their story and the inside look into their marriage will have readers mesmerized from romantic beginning until the stunning finale.

890862be851fc68107b14545f7a61b5a

books

Story is intriguing

question: How is the story line?, context: Story is intriguing though incredulous. But I felt the book dragged on a bit too long. I did not feel compelled to any of the characters.

How is the story line?

Story is intriguing though incredulous.

Story is intriguing though incredulous. But I felt the book dragged on a bit too long. I did not feel compelled to any of the characters.

<hl> Story is intriguing <hl> though incredulous.

<hl> Story is intriguing <hl> though incredulous. But I felt the book dragged on a bit too long. I did not feel compelled to any of the characters.

<hl> Story is intriguing though incredulous. <hl> But I felt the book dragged on a bit too long. I did not feel compelled to any of the characters.

4b29c3df5d4efb6006b79d41b787871e

books

the characters are well drawn

question: How is the people?, context: I've only just started it - in about 200 pages, but I'm loving it! Her descriptions are wonderful; the characters are well drawn and I'm fascinated by the story. Can't wait to find out what happens to Theo and the painting! When I'm finished reading, I will come back with more....

How is the people?

Her descriptions are wonderful; the characters are well drawn and I'm fascinated by the story.

I've only just started it - in about 200 pages, but I'm loving it! Her descriptions are wonderful; the characters are well drawn and I'm fascinated by the story. Can't wait to find out what happens to Theo and the painting! When I'm finished reading, I will come back with more....

Her descriptions are wonderful; <hl> the characters are well drawn <hl> and I'm fascinated by the story.

I've only just started it - in about 200 pages, but I'm loving it! Her descriptions are wonderful; <hl> the characters are well drawn <hl> and I'm fascinated by the story. Can't wait to find out what happens to Theo and the painting! When I'm finished reading, I will come back with more....

I've only just started it - in about 200 pages, but I'm loving it! <hl> Her descriptions are wonderful; the characters are well drawn and I'm fascinated by the story. <hl> Can't wait to find out what happens to Theo and the painting! When I'm finished reading, I will come back with more....

60e8d5eec55391b3559a65db67125098

books

The first Hunger Games book was one of the best books I've read in a long time. The second was a disappointment, but I still had hopes the final in the trilogy would be better

question: How was the experience reading this book?, context: The first Hunger Games book was one of the best books I've read in a long time. The second was a disappointment, but I still had hopes the final in the trilogy would be better.It was even worse.Nothing really happens in this book. Katniss is whiny and demanding (seriously, you're in a war, stop making petulant demands), Peeta (my favorite character in the previous books) is missing or brainwashed, and the book mostly consists of a series of Katniss playing the aggrieved and spoiled brat underground in 13, and Katniss playing the foolish and sugary brave hero in mini-attacks against the Capitol. The book wasn't just boring, the plot and characters were annoying, and I ended up skimming the second half.It's probably better to avoid reading this book at all, and just imagine your own ending.

How was the experience reading this book?

The first Hunger Games book was one of the best books I've read in a long time. The second was a disappointment, but I still had hopes the final in the trilogy would be better .It was even worse.

The first Hunger Games book was one of the best books I've read in a long time. The second was a disappointment, but I still had hopes the final in the trilogy would be better.It was even worse.Nothing really happens in this book. Katniss is whiny and demanding (seriously, you're in a war, stop making petulant demands), Peeta (my favorite character in the previous books) is missing or brainwashed, and the book mostly consists of a series of Katniss playing the aggrieved and spoiled brat underground in 13, and Katniss playing the foolish and sugary brave hero in mini-attacks against the Capitol. The book wasn't just boring, the plot and characters were annoying, and I ended up skimming the second half.It's probably better to avoid reading this book at all, and just imagine your own ending.

<hl> The first Hunger Games book was one of the best books I've read in a long time. The second was a disappointment, but I still had hopes the final in the trilogy would be better <hl> .It was even worse.

<hl> The first Hunger Games book was one of the best books I've read in a long time. The second was a disappointment, but I still had hopes the final in the trilogy would be better <hl>.It was even worse.Nothing really happens in this book. Katniss is whiny and demanding (seriously, you're in a war, stop making petulant demands), Peeta (my favorite character in the previous books) is missing or brainwashed, and the book mostly consists of a series of Katniss playing the aggrieved and spoiled brat underground in 13, and Katniss playing the foolish and sugary brave hero in mini-attacks against the Capitol. The book wasn't just boring, the plot and characters were annoying, and I ended up skimming the second half.It's probably better to avoid reading this book at all, and just imagine your own ending.

<hl> The first Hunger Games book was one of the best books I've read in a long time. The second was a disappointment, but I still had hopes the final in the trilogy would be better .It was even worse. <hl> Nothing really happens in this book. Katniss is whiny and demanding (seriously, you're in a war, stop making petulant demands), Peeta (my favorite character in the previous books) is missing or brainwashed, and the book mostly consists of a series of Katniss playing the aggrieved and spoiled brat underground in 13, and Katniss playing the foolish and sugary brave hero in mini-attacks against the Capitol. The book wasn't just boring, the plot and characters were annoying, and I ended up skimming the second half. It's probably better to avoid reading this book at all, and just imagine your own ending.

3bec27f8de34b056b9bc5e800b067df9

books

The book is beautifully written and captured

question: How is the book?, context: The book is beautifully written and captured my interest from page one. The descriptions of both scenery and family relationships particularly between father and daughter are graphic. This is a story of great tragedy and love. I completely recommend it

How is the book?

The book is beautifully written and captured my interest from page one.

The book is beautifully written and captured my interest from page one. The descriptions of both scenery and family relationships particularly between father and daughter are graphic. This is a story of great tragedy and love. I completely recommend it

<hl> The book is beautifully written and captured <hl> my interest from page one.

<hl> The book is beautifully written and captured <hl> my interest from page one. The descriptions of both scenery and family relationships particularly between father and daughter are graphic. This is a story of great tragedy and love. I completely recommend it

<hl> The book is beautifully written and captured my interest from page one. <hl> The descriptions of both scenery and family relationships particularly between father and daughter are graphic. This is a story of great tragedy and love. I completely recommend it

9e688844326438362720c3d79852ff6c

books

this book and look forward to the final two volumes of the series

question: How is the book?, context: I read this book a couple weeks ago in a galley copy and enjoyed it immensely. While it is a watered down version of Battle Royale, it is still a good story, and it shows that the author is very capable. You have a strong female protagonist which the story is told form, which makes it a much more cohesive, and definitely less visceral story, as many of the deaths that occur in the book, occur out of your field of vision.It is extremely entertaining, and while it certainly is not for young children(under 11 or so I would say) it is a great addition to a many peoples libraries, and it is a much safer version of this type of story than Battle Royale.The whole tale behind the book, is the yearly occurrence of the "Hunger Games" which is a show of power of the government over the 12 districts which it controls(it used to be 13, but they nuked them many years before) and which 2 children(between 12 and 18) from each district are pitted against one another in a battle to the death. You meet your characters form district 12, and you get a "love" story which is quite good, and mostly understated. I would definitely recommend this book and look forward to the final two volumes of the series.

How is the book?

I would definitely recommend this book and look forward to the final two volumes of the series .

I read this book a couple weeks ago in a galley copy and enjoyed it immensely. While it is a watered down version of Battle Royale, it is still a good story, and it shows that the author is very capable. You have a strong female protagonist which the story is told form, which makes it a much more cohesive, and definitely less visceral story, as many of the deaths that occur in the book, occur out of your field of vision.It is extremely entertaining, and while it certainly is not for young children(under 11 or so I would say) it is a great addition to a many peoples libraries, and it is a much safer version of this type of story than Battle Royale.The whole tale behind the book, is the yearly occurrence of the "Hunger Games" which is a show of power of the government over the 12 districts which it controls(it used to be 13, but they nuked them many years before) and which 2 children(between 12 and 18) from each district are pitted against one another in a battle to the death. You meet your characters form district 12, and you get a "love" story which is quite good, and mostly understated. I would definitely recommend this book and look forward to the final two volumes of the series.

I would definitely recommend <hl> this book and look forward to the final two volumes of the series <hl> .

I read this book a couple weeks ago in a galley copy and enjoyed it immensely. While it is a watered down version of Battle Royale, it is still a good story, and it shows that the author is very capable. You have a strong female protagonist which the story is told form, which makes it a much more cohesive, and definitely less visceral story, as many of the deaths that occur in the book, occur out of your field of vision.It is extremely entertaining, and while it certainly is not for young children(under 11 or so I would say) it is a great addition to a many peoples libraries, and it is a much safer version of this type of story than Battle Royale.The whole tale behind the book, is the yearly occurrence of the "Hunger Games" which is a show of power of the government over the 12 districts which it controls(it used to be 13, but they nuked them many years before) and which 2 children(between 12 and 18) from each district are pitted against one another in a battle to the death. You meet your characters form district 12, and you get a "love" story which is quite good, and mostly understated. I would definitely recommend <hl> this book and look forward to the final two volumes of the series <hl>.

I read this book a couple weeks ago in a galley copy and enjoyed it immensely. While it is a watered down version of Battle Royale, it is still a good story, and it shows that the author is very capable. You have a strong female protagonist which the story is told form, which makes it a much more cohesive, and definitely less visceral story, as many of the deaths that occur in the book, occur out of your field of vision. It is extremely entertaining, and while it certainly is not for young children(under 11 or so I would say) it is a great addition to a many peoples libraries, and it is a much safer version of this type of story than Battle Royale. The whole tale behind the book, is the yearly occurrence of the "Hunger Games" which is a show of power of the government over the 12 districts which it controls(it used to be 13, but they nuked them many years before) and which 2 children(between 12 and 18) from each district are pitted against one another in a battle to the death. You meet your characters form district 12, and you get a "love" story which is quite good, and mostly understated. <hl> I would definitely recommend this book and look forward to the final two volumes of the series . <hl>

c99b7b64582b8972cc1210e1b605eee9

books

The story is amazing

question: How is the write?, context: Considering that "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, a review at this point is a bit silly and self-satisfying. You already know the book is extremely good. There is nothing revelatory that I can add to a review, I can only restate what others have said, but feel so affected by the book that I must address it, even in the face of being redundant."The Road" is a brilliant, stark book dripping with absolute bleakness and despair that transcends most human experience. It is the literary equivalent of what the utter lack of hope in life must feel like, an ugly grotesqueness that is alien to most of our emotional landscapes.Such an absolute lack of hope is something that the majority of people, thankfully, never truly experience. The all-consuming feeling that the struggle for life is fruitless is unnatural, it is not human qua human. The brilliance of McCarthy's novel is that it highlights something so deeply human, the enduring loving relationship between a father and his son in the face of extremely dire circumstances, and places this aspect of beauty in an alien and bleak world filled with no conceivable hope.The prose is poetic and strong, establishing a desperate, stark tone in an almost childishly straightforward, yet realistic manner. McCarthy's grammatical simplicity will likely be studied to death by literature students in the future. The story is amazing, constantly punching me emotionally and intellectually, to where the novel lingers with me days after I have finished. Like all transcendent experiences, it is something that one does not easily forget.Last Word:This struggle for survival of a father and his son in a post-apocalyptic future is poignant, beautiful, deeply moving and emotionally troublesome and draining. It is artwork of the highest degree, full of contradictions, answers and questions, comments and revelations, beauty and ugliness. A absolute must read.

How is the write?

The story is amazing , constantly punching me emotionally and intellectually, to where the novel lingers with me days after I have finished.

Considering that "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, a review at this point is a bit silly and self-satisfying. You already know the book is extremely good. There is nothing revelatory that I can add to a review, I can only restate what others have said, but feel so affected by the book that I must address it, even in the face of being redundant."The Road" is a brilliant, stark book dripping with absolute bleakness and despair that transcends most human experience. It is the literary equivalent of what the utter lack of hope in life must feel like, an ugly grotesqueness that is alien to most of our emotional landscapes.Such an absolute lack of hope is something that the majority of people, thankfully, never truly experience. The all-consuming feeling that the struggle for life is fruitless is unnatural, it is not human qua human. The brilliance of McCarthy's novel is that it highlights something so deeply human, the enduring loving relationship between a father and his son in the face of extremely dire circumstances, and places this aspect of beauty in an alien and bleak world filled with no conceivable hope.The prose is poetic and strong, establishing a desperate, stark tone in an almost childishly straightforward, yet realistic manner. McCarthy's grammatical simplicity will likely be studied to death by literature students in the future. The story is amazing, constantly punching me emotionally and intellectually, to where the novel lingers with me days after I have finished. Like all transcendent experiences, it is something that one does not easily forget.Last Word:This struggle for survival of a father and his son in a post-apocalyptic future is poignant, beautiful, deeply moving and emotionally troublesome and draining. It is artwork of the highest degree, full of contradictions, answers and questions, comments and revelations, beauty and ugliness. A absolute must read.

<hl> The story is amazing <hl> , constantly punching me emotionally and intellectually, to where the novel lingers with me days after I have finished.

Considering that "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, a review at this point is a bit silly and self-satisfying. You already know the book is extremely good. There is nothing revelatory that I can add to a review, I can only restate what others have said, but feel so affected by the book that I must address it, even in the face of being redundant."The Road" is a brilliant, stark book dripping with absolute bleakness and despair that transcends most human experience. It is the literary equivalent of what the utter lack of hope in life must feel like, an ugly grotesqueness that is alien to most of our emotional landscapes.Such an absolute lack of hope is something that the majority of people, thankfully, never truly experience. The all-consuming feeling that the struggle for life is fruitless is unnatural, it is not human qua human. The brilliance of McCarthy's novel is that it highlights something so deeply human, the enduring loving relationship between a father and his son in the face of extremely dire circumstances, and places this aspect of beauty in an alien and bleak world filled with no conceivable hope.The prose is poetic and strong, establishing a desperate, stark tone in an almost childishly straightforward, yet realistic manner. McCarthy's grammatical simplicity will likely be studied to death by literature students in the future. <hl> The story is amazing <hl>, constantly punching me emotionally and intellectually, to where the novel lingers with me days after I have finished. Like all transcendent experiences, it is something that one does not easily forget.Last Word:This struggle for survival of a father and his son in a post-apocalyptic future is poignant, beautiful, deeply moving and emotionally troublesome and draining. It is artwork of the highest degree, full of contradictions, answers and questions, comments and revelations, beauty and ugliness. A absolute must read.

Considering that "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, a review at this point is a bit silly and self-satisfying. You already know the book is extremely good. There is nothing revelatory that I can add to a review, I can only restate what others have said, but feel so affected by the book that I must address it, even in the face of being redundant. "The Road" is a brilliant, stark book dripping with absolute bleakness and despair that transcends most human experience. It is the literary equivalent of what the utter lack of hope in life must feel like, an ugly grotesqueness that is alien to most of our emotional landscapes. Such an absolute lack of hope is something that the majority of people, thankfully, never truly experience. The all-consuming feeling that the struggle for life is fruitless is unnatural, it is not human qua human. The brilliance of McCarthy's novel is that it highlights something so deeply human, the enduring loving relationship between a father and his son in the face of extremely dire circumstances, and places this aspect of beauty in an alien and bleak world filled with no conceivable hope. The prose is poetic and strong, establishing a desperate, stark tone in an almost childishly straightforward, yet realistic manner. McCarthy's grammatical simplicity will likely be studied to death by literature students in the future. <hl> The story is amazing , constantly punching me emotionally and intellectually, to where the novel lingers with me days after I have finished. <hl> Like all transcendent experiences, it is something that one does not easily forget. Last Word:This struggle for survival of a father and his son in a post-apocalyptic future is poignant, beautiful, deeply moving and emotionally troublesome and draining. It is artwork of the highest degree, full of contradictions, answers and questions, comments and revelations, beauty and ugliness. A absolute must read.

624b07cc9659d715fac726d35f8420af

books

The man reading this book is a genius with voices

question: How is the reader?, context: The man reading this book is a genius with voices! Because the book is so long, it does get tedious listening to it, but I still enjoy listening to it while I drive. Although I've read all the books, I still feel like book five is the book that is packed full of information (backwards and forwards) leading you into the last two. Sometimes I found myself bored by all the drawn out descriptions, but I was patient with them because #1...I love Harry Potter, and #2...I have a sneaking suspicion that these details are important for all that is to come. Altogether, a good tie-together of a book. You really have to stay on top of the discs, but still a great listen!

How is the reader?

The man reading this book is a genius with voices !

The man reading this book is a genius with voices! Because the book is so long, it does get tedious listening to it, but I still enjoy listening to it while I drive. Although I've read all the books, I still feel like book five is the book that is packed full of information (backwards and forwards) leading you into the last two. Sometimes I found myself bored by all the drawn out descriptions, but I was patient with them because #1...I love Harry Potter, and #2...I have a sneaking suspicion that these details are important for all that is to come. Altogether, a good tie-together of a book. You really have to stay on top of the discs, but still a great listen!

<hl> The man reading this book is a genius with voices <hl> !

<hl> The man reading this book is a genius with voices <hl>! Because the book is so long, it does get tedious listening to it, but I still enjoy listening to it while I drive. Although I've read all the books, I still feel like book five is the book that is packed full of information (backwards and forwards) leading you into the last two. Sometimes I found myself bored by all the drawn out descriptions, but I was patient with them because #1...I love Harry Potter, and #2...I have a sneaking suspicion that these details are important for all that is to come. Altogether, a good tie-together of a book. You really have to stay on top of the discs, but still a great listen!

<hl> The man reading this book is a genius with voices ! <hl> Because the book is so long, it does get tedious listening to it, but I still enjoy listening to it while I drive. Although I've read all the books, I still feel like book five is the book that is packed full of information (backwards and forwards) leading you into the last two. Sometimes I found myself bored by all the drawn out descriptions, but I was patient with them because #1...I love Harry Potter, and #2... I have a sneaking suspicion that these details are important for all that is to come. Altogether, a good tie-together of a book. You really have to stay on top of the discs, but still a great listen!

913f1710c01001b9378e87d144a82560

books

the tedious description kills the story and slows down the plot

question: What is pace?, context: The idea and the plot moving the story is pretty fascinating. However, the tedious description kills the story and slows down the plot. The characters are poorly developed except for Julie shown as the only creative and vigorous person. To finish the book, I had to skip a bunch of pages to be able to follow and enjoy the plot. The idea behind the plot is depressing to say the least, quite a morbid story without any hope of a better life.

What is pace?

However, the tedious description kills the story and slows down the plot .

The idea and the plot moving the story is pretty fascinating. However, the tedious description kills the story and slows down the plot. The characters are poorly developed except for Julie shown as the only creative and vigorous person. To finish the book, I had to skip a bunch of pages to be able to follow and enjoy the plot. The idea behind the plot is depressing to say the least, quite a morbid story without any hope of a better life.

However, <hl> the tedious description kills the story and slows down the plot <hl> .

The idea and the plot moving the story is pretty fascinating. However, <hl> the tedious description kills the story and slows down the plot <hl>. The characters are poorly developed except for Julie shown as the only creative and vigorous person. To finish the book, I had to skip a bunch of pages to be able to follow and enjoy the plot. The idea behind the plot is depressing to say the least, quite a morbid story without any hope of a better life.

The idea and the plot moving the story is pretty fascinating. <hl> However, the tedious description kills the story and slows down the plot . <hl> The characters are poorly developed except for Julie shown as the only creative and vigorous person. To finish the book, I had to skip a bunch of pages to be able to follow and enjoy the plot. The idea behind the plot is depressing to say the least, quite a morbid story without any hope of a better life.

f01a7113dd3a797a889e7fa3347230ba

books

good book should draw you in right

question: Can you write your opinion about this man?, context: I assumed I would like this book given all I had heard about it. So I wanted to like it. I am only 26% of the way through because unlike the books I typically try to read, it's just so boring that I am never motivated to go out of my way to find time to keep reading it. This is the first time , I've reviewed something without finishing it, but my point is a good book should draw you in right away and command your interest. The only reason I keep going on this one is because of its reputation and I keep waiting for it to get interesting. At 26% of the way through the title character has only had a very minor role. But I get the gist and despite the buzz I don't consider her that interesting or original. And the main character is downright boring. I suppose we're supposed to be drawn in by the fact that his life is upside down and he's facing prison, but he seems so oddly unaffected by it that why should we be? At the equivalent of over 120 pages in, NOTHING has happened. Absolutely nothing. At a certain point, who cares if it gets suddenly good later. It already failed. I wonder what the people who like this book typical read. Perhaps to an "Oprah" book-of-the-month reader this might be interesting. But to anyone reasonably well read in mysteries or thrillers, this is third rate at best.UPDATE: Eventually finished the book. The second half was better, but it doesn't change my opinion that it was incredibly boring in the first half. With the exception of Lizbeth (the "girl" of the title, who is a minor character until the second half of this book), none of the characters are fleshed out, believable or interesting. She is very interesting if not quite as original as the reputation of the book suggests. Fortunately she is more of the focus in the subsequent book which started out much better as a result.

Can you write your opinion about this man?

This is the first time , I've reviewed something without finishing it, but my point is a good book should draw you in right away and command your interest.

I assumed I would like this book given all I had heard about it. So I wanted to like it. I am only 26% of the way through because unlike the books I typically try to read, it's just so boring that I am never motivated to go out of my way to find time to keep reading it. This is the first time , I've reviewed something without finishing it, but my point is a good book should draw you in right away and command your interest. The only reason I keep going on this one is because of its reputation and I keep waiting for it to get interesting. At 26% of the way through the title character has only had a very minor role. But I get the gist and despite the buzz I don't consider her that interesting or original. And the main character is downright boring. I suppose we're supposed to be drawn in by the fact that his life is upside down and he's facing prison, but he seems so oddly unaffected by it that why should we be? At the equivalent of over 120 pages in, NOTHING has happened. Absolutely nothing. At a certain point, who cares if it gets suddenly good later. It already failed. I wonder what the people who like this book typical read. Perhaps to an "Oprah" book-of-the-month reader this might be interesting. But to anyone reasonably well read in mysteries or thrillers, this is third rate at best.UPDATE: Eventually finished the book. The second half was better, but it doesn't change my opinion that it was incredibly boring in the first half. With the exception of Lizbeth (the "girl" of the title, who is a minor character until the second half of this book), none of the characters are fleshed out, believable or interesting. She is very interesting if not quite as original as the reputation of the book suggests. Fortunately she is more of the focus in the subsequent book which started out much better as a result.

This is the first time , I've reviewed something without finishing it, but my point is a <hl> good book should draw you in right <hl> away and command your interest.

I assumed I would like this book given all I had heard about it. So I wanted to like it. I am only 26% of the way through because unlike the books I typically try to read, it's just so boring that I am never motivated to go out of my way to find time to keep reading it. This is the first time , I've reviewed something without finishing it, but my point is a <hl> good book should draw you in right <hl> away and command your interest. The only reason I keep going on this one is because of its reputation and I keep waiting for it to get interesting. At 26% of the way through the title character has only had a very minor role. But I get the gist and despite the buzz I don't consider her that interesting or original. And the main character is downright boring. I suppose we're supposed to be drawn in by the fact that his life is upside down and he's facing prison, but he seems so oddly unaffected by it that why should we be? At the equivalent of over 120 pages in, NOTHING has happened. Absolutely nothing. At a certain point, who cares if it gets suddenly good later. It already failed. I wonder what the people who like this book typical read. Perhaps to an "Oprah" book-of-the-month reader this might be interesting. But to anyone reasonably well read in mysteries or thrillers, this is third rate at best.UPDATE: Eventually finished the book. The second half was better, but it doesn't change my opinion that it was incredibly boring in the first half. With the exception of Lizbeth (the "girl" of the title, who is a minor character until the second half of this book), none of the characters are fleshed out, believable or interesting. She is very interesting if not quite as original as the reputation of the book suggests. Fortunately she is more of the focus in the subsequent book which started out much better as a result.

I assumed I would like this book given all I had heard about it. So I wanted to like it. I am only 26% of the way through because unlike the books I typically try to read, it's just so boring that I am never motivated to go out of my way to find time to keep reading it. <hl> This is the first time , I've reviewed something without finishing it, but my point is a good book should draw you in right away and command your interest. <hl> The only reason I keep going on this one is because of its reputation and I keep waiting for it to get interesting. At 26% of the way through the title character has only had a very minor role. But I get the gist and despite the buzz I don't consider her that interesting or original. And the main character is downright boring. I suppose we're supposed to be drawn in by the fact that his life is upside down and he's facing prison, but he seems so oddly unaffected by it that why should we be? At the equivalent of over 120 pages in, NOTHING has happened. Absolutely nothing. At a certain point, who cares if it gets suddenly good later. It already failed. I wonder what the people who like this book typical read. Perhaps to an "Oprah" book-of-the-month reader this might be interesting. But to anyone reasonably well read in mysteries or thrillers, this is third rate at best. UPDATE: Eventually finished the book. The second half was better, but it doesn't change my opinion that it was incredibly boring in the first half. With the exception of Lizbeth (the "girl" of the title, who is a minor character until the second half of this book), none of the characters are fleshed out, believable or interesting. She is very interesting if not quite as original as the reputation of the book suggests. Fortunately she is more of the focus in the subsequent book which started out much better as a result.

9ac0962013b250645a4852acc4e0abd5

books

what all the hype was about

question: Where did the end of this book occur?, context: Buy this book right now it will keep you hanging every minute of the day. I tried to avoid buying it until November, but then I had to see what all the hype was about. I read the first book and I probably read it eight times by now. Then I read the third book and it is way beyond five stars. If you think your money might be wasted you are very wrong. You will enjoy this book so much, you'll think it was the most expensive in the world. The one thing I noticed was different from other children's books was that its plot was different from any other book I have read in my life, and I've probably read at least a thousand. normal children's books are either a mystery a person solves or something happens in the end to make you put it down. Harry Potter boks are different because they leave you hanging for more. You will savor the thought of reading the unreleased book, and if you read it on a weekend, you will not do any of your chores. You will just curl up with the book and read it until midnight. at times I found myself getting up early to read the book over and over. i hope you make the right decision and buy this book.

Where did the end of this book occur?

I tried to avoid buying it until November, but then I had to see what all the hype was about .

Buy this book right now it will keep you hanging every minute of the day. I tried to avoid buying it until November, but then I had to see what all the hype was about. I read the first book and I probably read it eight times by now. Then I read the third book and it is way beyond five stars. If you think your money might be wasted you are very wrong. You will enjoy this book so much, you'll think it was the most expensive in the world. The one thing I noticed was different from other children's books was that its plot was different from any other book I have read in my life, and I've probably read at least a thousand. normal children's books are either a mystery a person solves or something happens in the end to make you put it down. Harry Potter boks are different because they leave you hanging for more. You will savor the thought of reading the unreleased book, and if you read it on a weekend, you will not do any of your chores. You will just curl up with the book and read it until midnight. at times I found myself getting up early to read the book over and over. i hope you make the right decision and buy this book.

I tried to avoid buying it until November, but then I had to see <hl> what all the hype was about <hl> .

Buy this book right now it will keep you hanging every minute of the day. I tried to avoid buying it until November, but then I had to see <hl> what all the hype was about <hl>. I read the first book and I probably read it eight times by now. Then I read the third book and it is way beyond five stars. If you think your money might be wasted you are very wrong. You will enjoy this book so much, you'll think it was the most expensive in the world. The one thing I noticed was different from other children's books was that its plot was different from any other book I have read in my life, and I've probably read at least a thousand. normal children's books are either a mystery a person solves or something happens in the end to make you put it down. Harry Potter boks are different because they leave you hanging for more. You will savor the thought of reading the unreleased book, and if you read it on a weekend, you will not do any of your chores. You will just curl up with the book and read it until midnight. at times I found myself getting up early to read the book over and over. i hope you make the right decision and buy this book.

Buy this book right now it will keep you hanging every minute of the day. <hl> I tried to avoid buying it until November, but then I had to see what all the hype was about . <hl> I read the first book and I probably read it eight times by now. Then I read the third book and it is way beyond five stars. If you think your money might be wasted you are very wrong. You will enjoy this book so much, you'll think it was the most expensive in the world. The one thing I noticed was different from other children's books was that its plot was different from any other book I have read in my life, and I've probably read at least a thousand. normal children's books are either a mystery a person solves or something happens in the end to make you put it down. Harry Potter boks are different because they leave you hanging for more. You will savor the thought of reading the unreleased book, and if you read it on a weekend, you will not do any of your chores. You will just curl up with the book and read it until midnight. at times I found myself getting up early to read the book over and over. i hope you make the right decision and buy this book.

76baee69a0aaaf23a134a03891d64e5e

books

I thought it was absolutely great

question: How is the write?, context: I was highly anticipating this book forever. The cover is beautiful, and the book just sounded amazing. It was worth the wait. I thought it was absolutely great. It was a unique and interesting story. I just couldn't stop reading.Juliette can't touch anyone without causing harm. The book starts with her imprisoned, and you make an instant connection with her. Your heart breaks for her that she has never had the love of her parents or friends. After she is taken from the isolation of being imprisoned to a headquarters where she is expected to be used as a weapon, you really get to see how strong she is. In more ways than one. She is mentally tough, and totally bad ass chick when she is mad or feels the need to protect.Adam is just completely swoon worthy. I swear my heart was melting for half of the book. He has known Juliette since they were kids, before she was taken away. He has always cared about her when no one else did, and for some reason he has immunity to Juliette's touch.The way the romance unfolds is beautiful and sweet. (and hot!) He says all the right things, and some of the thoughts that she has in her head are just absolutely amazing. You can feel how much they care about each other. I really liked that it wasn't an unbelievable fall in love too quick thing for a change too. They have known each other for a long time, and even though they never interacted, they watched each other and loved each other for a long time. He knew everything about her and it was so touching. I love Adam's character. Some of their interactions took my breath away.I really feel like I am not doing justice to how great I thought this book was. I have all these thoughts in my head, but I can't write them without spoiling it. Tahereh Mafi just did such an amazing job with the character connection, the story line, the romance, everything. I was so sad when the book ended. I wanted more. Needed more. I loved this book and can't wait for the next one.

How is the write?

I thought it was absolutely great .

I was highly anticipating this book forever. The cover is beautiful, and the book just sounded amazing. It was worth the wait. I thought it was absolutely great. It was a unique and interesting story. I just couldn't stop reading.Juliette can't touch anyone without causing harm. The book starts with her imprisoned, and you make an instant connection with her. Your heart breaks for her that she has never had the love of her parents or friends. After she is taken from the isolation of being imprisoned to a headquarters where she is expected to be used as a weapon, you really get to see how strong she is. In more ways than one. She is mentally tough, and totally bad ass chick when she is mad or feels the need to protect.Adam is just completely swoon worthy. I swear my heart was melting for half of the book. He has known Juliette since they were kids, before she was taken away. He has always cared about her when no one else did, and for some reason he has immunity to Juliette's touch.The way the romance unfolds is beautiful and sweet. (and hot!) He says all the right things, and some of the thoughts that she has in her head are just absolutely amazing. You can feel how much they care about each other. I really liked that it wasn't an unbelievable fall in love too quick thing for a change too. They have known each other for a long time, and even though they never interacted, they watched each other and loved each other for a long time. He knew everything about her and it was so touching. I love Adam's character. Some of their interactions took my breath away.I really feel like I am not doing justice to how great I thought this book was. I have all these thoughts in my head, but I can't write them without spoiling it. Tahereh Mafi just did such an amazing job with the character connection, the story line, the romance, everything. I was so sad when the book ended. I wanted more. Needed more. I loved this book and can't wait for the next one.

<hl> I thought it was absolutely great <hl> .

I was highly anticipating this book forever. The cover is beautiful, and the book just sounded amazing. It was worth the wait. <hl> I thought it was absolutely great <hl>. It was a unique and interesting story. I just couldn't stop reading.Juliette can't touch anyone without causing harm. The book starts with her imprisoned, and you make an instant connection with her. Your heart breaks for her that she has never had the love of her parents or friends. After she is taken from the isolation of being imprisoned to a headquarters where she is expected to be used as a weapon, you really get to see how strong she is. In more ways than one. She is mentally tough, and totally bad ass chick when she is mad or feels the need to protect.Adam is just completely swoon worthy. I swear my heart was melting for half of the book. He has known Juliette since they were kids, before she was taken away. He has always cared about her when no one else did, and for some reason he has immunity to Juliette's touch.The way the romance unfolds is beautiful and sweet. (and hot!) He says all the right things, and some of the thoughts that she has in her head are just absolutely amazing. You can feel how much they care about each other. I really liked that it wasn't an unbelievable fall in love too quick thing for a change too. They have known each other for a long time, and even though they never interacted, they watched each other and loved each other for a long time. He knew everything about her and it was so touching. I love Adam's character. Some of their interactions took my breath away.I really feel like I am not doing justice to how great I thought this book was. I have all these thoughts in my head, but I can't write them without spoiling it. Tahereh Mafi just did such an amazing job with the character connection, the story line, the romance, everything. I was so sad when the book ended. I wanted more. Needed more. I loved this book and can't wait for the next one.

I was highly anticipating this book forever. The cover is beautiful, and the book just sounded amazing. It was worth the wait. <hl> I thought it was absolutely great . <hl> It was a unique and interesting story. I just couldn't stop reading. Juliette can't touch anyone without causing harm. The book starts with her imprisoned, and you make an instant connection with her. Your heart breaks for her that she has never had the love of her parents or friends. After she is taken from the isolation of being imprisoned to a headquarters where she is expected to be used as a weapon, you really get to see how strong she is. In more ways than one. She is mentally tough, and totally bad ass chick when she is mad or feels the need to protect. Adam is just completely swoon worthy. I swear my heart was melting for half of the book. He has known Juliette since they were kids, before she was taken away. He has always cared about her when no one else did, and for some reason he has immunity to Juliette's touch. The way the romance unfolds is beautiful and sweet. (and hot!) He says all the right things, and some of the thoughts that she has in her head are just absolutely amazing. You can feel how much they care about each other. I really liked that it wasn't an unbelievable fall in love too quick thing for a change too. They have known each other for a long time, and even though they never interacted, they watched each other and loved each other for a long time. He knew everything about her and it was so touching. I love Adam's character. Some of their interactions took my breath away. I really feel like I am not doing justice to how great I thought this book was. I have all these thoughts in my head, but I can't write them without spoiling it. Tahereh Mafi just did such an amazing job with the character connection, the story line, the romance, everything. I was so sad when the book ended. I wanted more. Needed more. I loved this book and can't wait for the next one.

f9e2295d7300d2a0bb5b0401fa87d7c9

books

really but rather a gain

question: How do you rate the book?, context: I was eager to read, 'The God Delusion' because of all the hype and because I'm a fan of Dawkins. I especially enjoyed, 'The Blind Watchmaker'. Let me start off by saying that the book is very easily readable. You'll get through it in no time. The print (at least in my paperback edition) was large and the pages rather thick. This obviously added to the massiveness of the volume, albeit unnecessarily. I would have preferred a soft paperback with a smaller font (like many of Daniel Dennett's books).Anyway, Dawkins tears apart virtually every argument ever put forth in favour of god-belief. I say 'virtually' because he does not say much about belief in magic which is also used in many parts of the developing world as a reason to believe in the supernatural. Perhaps, being from the West, he thought it unnecessary. Anyway, he writes in his usual witty style with many anecdotes that are pure entertainment especially for atheists, like me. His emphasis is more toward why god belief is unnecessary rather than providing an alternative to those who fear being weaned of religion. He gives readers the benefit of the doubt that they will be able to trust their rationality and let it triumph over blind faith.'The God Delusion' is less academic than his other works. I noticed a lot of references to Internet resources which I suppose are understandable in this day and age but would have preferred if he kept them to a minimum. Keep in mind however, that my opinion on that is from the perspective of a scientist. Perhaps since it's Dawkins' first real stab at organized religion, he has avoided getting too technical and overwhelming his target audience with endless references and footnotes (a trait seen in many of Daniel Dennett's and Sam Harris' books, albeit intended for a different audience). I understand Dawkins' intention in writing this book is to get religious readers to abandon their faith, which he thinks is more harmful than good. This shouldn't dissuade the religious from reading it though, since faith by its very definition, is immune to any arguments against it. What harm ever came from reading a book? Some people 'lost their innoncence' to books like 'The Case Against God' (George H. Smith) or 'Atheist Universe' (David Mills) and I'm sure some will lose it to 'The God Delusion'. I wouldn't look at it as a 'loss' really but rather a gain. The religious unfortunately have no idea how beautiful the intellectual freedom of a life without blind faith really is.I think this latest work of his would make a great book for people who are uncertain about religious truth and are at crossroads in their life. Even long-time atheists would benefit from a fresh dose of reason and reality. No child should be indoctrinated with the teachings of any religous book without at least balancing that view with this book or one just like it. If you feel differently, then you either have no 'faith' in your children to think for themselves or have an agenda of your own.

How do you rate the book?

I wouldn't look at it as a 'loss' really but rather a gain .

I was eager to read, 'The God Delusion' because of all the hype and because I'm a fan of Dawkins. I especially enjoyed, 'The Blind Watchmaker'. Let me start off by saying that the book is very easily readable. You'll get through it in no time. The print (at least in my paperback edition) was large and the pages rather thick. This obviously added to the massiveness of the volume, albeit unnecessarily. I would have preferred a soft paperback with a smaller font (like many of Daniel Dennett's books).Anyway, Dawkins tears apart virtually every argument ever put forth in favour of god-belief. I say 'virtually' because he does not say much about belief in magic which is also used in many parts of the developing world as a reason to believe in the supernatural. Perhaps, being from the West, he thought it unnecessary. Anyway, he writes in his usual witty style with many anecdotes that are pure entertainment especially for atheists, like me. His emphasis is more toward why god belief is unnecessary rather than providing an alternative to those who fear being weaned of religion. He gives readers the benefit of the doubt that they will be able to trust their rationality and let it triumph over blind faith.'The God Delusion' is less academic than his other works. I noticed a lot of references to Internet resources which I suppose are understandable in this day and age but would have preferred if he kept them to a minimum. Keep in mind however, that my opinion on that is from the perspective of a scientist. Perhaps since it's Dawkins' first real stab at organized religion, he has avoided getting too technical and overwhelming his target audience with endless references and footnotes (a trait seen in many of Daniel Dennett's and Sam Harris' books, albeit intended for a different audience). I understand Dawkins' intention in writing this book is to get religious readers to abandon their faith, which he thinks is more harmful than good. This shouldn't dissuade the religious from reading it though, since faith by its very definition, is immune to any arguments against it. What harm ever came from reading a book? Some people 'lost their innoncence' to books like 'The Case Against God' (George H. Smith) or 'Atheist Universe' (David Mills) and I'm sure some will lose it to 'The God Delusion'. I wouldn't look at it as a 'loss' really but rather a gain. The religious unfortunately have no idea how beautiful the intellectual freedom of a life without blind faith really is.I think this latest work of his would make a great book for people who are uncertain about religious truth and are at crossroads in their life. Even long-time atheists would benefit from a fresh dose of reason and reality. No child should be indoctrinated with the teachings of any religous book without at least balancing that view with this book or one just like it. If you feel differently, then you either have no 'faith' in your children to think for themselves or have an agenda of your own.

I wouldn't look at it as a 'loss' <hl> really but rather a gain <hl> .

I was eager to read, 'The God Delusion' because of all the hype and because I'm a fan of Dawkins. I especially enjoyed, 'The Blind Watchmaker'. Let me start off by saying that the book is very easily readable. You'll get through it in no time. The print (at least in my paperback edition) was large and the pages rather thick. This obviously added to the massiveness of the volume, albeit unnecessarily. I would have preferred a soft paperback with a smaller font (like many of Daniel Dennett's books).Anyway, Dawkins tears apart virtually every argument ever put forth in favour of god-belief. I say 'virtually' because he does not say much about belief in magic which is also used in many parts of the developing world as a reason to believe in the supernatural. Perhaps, being from the West, he thought it unnecessary. Anyway, he writes in his usual witty style with many anecdotes that are pure entertainment especially for atheists, like me. His emphasis is more toward why god belief is unnecessary rather than providing an alternative to those who fear being weaned of religion. He gives readers the benefit of the doubt that they will be able to trust their rationality and let it triumph over blind faith.'The God Delusion' is less academic than his other works. I noticed a lot of references to Internet resources which I suppose are understandable in this day and age but would have preferred if he kept them to a minimum. Keep in mind however, that my opinion on that is from the perspective of a scientist. Perhaps since it's Dawkins' first real stab at organized religion, he has avoided getting too technical and overwhelming his target audience with endless references and footnotes (a trait seen in many of Daniel Dennett's and Sam Harris' books, albeit intended for a different audience). I understand Dawkins' intention in writing this book is to get religious readers to abandon their faith, which he thinks is more harmful than good. This shouldn't dissuade the religious from reading it though, since faith by its very definition, is immune to any arguments against it. What harm ever came from reading a book? Some people 'lost their innoncence' to books like 'The Case Against God' (George H. Smith) or 'Atheist Universe' (David Mills) and I'm sure some will lose it to 'The God Delusion'. I wouldn't look at it as a 'loss' <hl> really but rather a gain <hl>. The religious unfortunately have no idea how beautiful the intellectual freedom of a life without blind faith really is.I think this latest work of his would make a great book for people who are uncertain about religious truth and are at crossroads in their life. Even long-time atheists would benefit from a fresh dose of reason and reality. No child should be indoctrinated with the teachings of any religous book without at least balancing that view with this book or one just like it. If you feel differently, then you either have no 'faith' in your children to think for themselves or have an agenda of your own.

I was eager to read, 'The God Delusion' because of all the hype and because I'm a fan of Dawkins. I especially enjoyed, 'The Blind Watchmaker'. Let me start off by saying that the book is very easily readable. You'll get through it in no time. The print (at least in my paperback edition) was large and the pages rather thick. This obviously added to the massiveness of the volume, albeit unnecessarily. I would have preferred a soft paperback with a smaller font (like many of Daniel Dennett's books).Anyway, Dawkins tears apart virtually every argument ever put forth in favour of god-belief. I say 'virtually' because he does not say much about belief in magic which is also used in many parts of the developing world as a reason to believe in the supernatural. Perhaps, being from the West, he thought it unnecessary. Anyway, he writes in his usual witty style with many anecdotes that are pure entertainment especially for atheists, like me. His emphasis is more toward why god belief is unnecessary rather than providing an alternative to those who fear being weaned of religion. He gives readers the benefit of the doubt that they will be able to trust their rationality and let it triumph over blind faith.'The God Delusion' is less academic than his other works. I noticed a lot of references to Internet resources which I suppose are understandable in this day and age but would have preferred if he kept them to a minimum. Keep in mind however, that my opinion on that is from the perspective of a scientist. Perhaps since it's Dawkins' first real stab at organized religion, he has avoided getting too technical and overwhelming his target audience with endless references and footnotes (a trait seen in many of Daniel Dennett's and Sam Harris' books, albeit intended for a different audience). I understand Dawkins' intention in writing this book is to get religious readers to abandon their faith, which he thinks is more harmful than good. This shouldn't dissuade the religious from reading it though, since faith by its very definition, is immune to any arguments against it. What harm ever came from reading a book? Some people 'lost their innoncence' to books like 'The Case Against God' (George H. Smith) or 'Atheist Universe' (David Mills) and I'm sure some will lose it to 'The God Delusion'. <hl> I wouldn't look at it as a 'loss' really but rather a gain . <hl> The religious unfortunately have no idea how beautiful the intellectual freedom of a life without blind faith really is. I think this latest work of his would make a great book for people who are uncertain about religious truth and are at crossroads in their life. Even long-time atheists would benefit from a fresh dose of reason and reality. No child should be indoctrinated with the teachings of any religous book without at least balancing that view with this book or one just like it. If you feel differently, then you either have no 'faith' in your children to think for themselves or have an agenda of your own.

bc8bf1c1b601973a4624192eb1fb32d9

books

The smexy scenes OMG hot hot hot

question: How is life?, context: Well! This was a great addition to the series, I loved catching up with Cary and Trey plus Tatiana. Eva's boss Mike and his hunky boyfriend Stephen, so pleased for them, and I hope they don't think Eva and Gideon stole their thunder.Oh my what a mess between Eva and her mother, but love how the story is going between her and her dad.Corinna needs to stay away, she is beginning to get on my nerves now! Get back with her own husband who clearly loves her.Eva and Gideon just get better and better, how much does their love show. And how intense its got. So loving their journey.Oh my Brett is going to have a tough time accepting that Eva is totally head over heels in love with gideon , hope he's going to be man enough about it.Don't like the abrupt ending, but it does make it better knowing we ain't finished yet.The smexy scenes OMG hot hot hot!

How is life?

The smexy scenes OMG hot hot hot !

Well! This was a great addition to the series, I loved catching up with Cary and Trey plus Tatiana. Eva's boss Mike and his hunky boyfriend Stephen, so pleased for them, and I hope they don't think Eva and Gideon stole their thunder.Oh my what a mess between Eva and her mother, but love how the story is going between her and her dad.Corinna needs to stay away, she is beginning to get on my nerves now! Get back with her own husband who clearly loves her.Eva and Gideon just get better and better, how much does their love show. And how intense its got. So loving their journey.Oh my Brett is going to have a tough time accepting that Eva is totally head over heels in love with gideon , hope he's going to be man enough about it.Don't like the abrupt ending, but it does make it better knowing we ain't finished yet.The smexy scenes OMG hot hot hot!

<hl> The smexy scenes OMG hot hot hot <hl> !

Well! This was a great addition to the series, I loved catching up with Cary and Trey plus Tatiana. Eva's boss Mike and his hunky boyfriend Stephen, so pleased for them, and I hope they don't think Eva and Gideon stole their thunder.Oh my what a mess between Eva and her mother, but love how the story is going between her and her dad.Corinna needs to stay away, she is beginning to get on my nerves now! Get back with her own husband who clearly loves her.Eva and Gideon just get better and better, how much does their love show. And how intense its got. So loving their journey.Oh my Brett is going to have a tough time accepting that Eva is totally head over heels in love with gideon , hope he's going to be man enough about it.Don't like the abrupt ending, but it does make it better knowing we ain't finished yet.<hl> The smexy scenes OMG hot hot hot <hl>!

Well! This was a great addition to the series, I loved catching up with Cary and Trey plus Tatiana. Eva's boss Mike and his hunky boyfriend Stephen, so pleased for them, and I hope they don't think Eva and Gideon stole their thunder. Oh my what a mess between Eva and her mother, but love how the story is going between her and her dad. Corinna needs to stay away, she is beginning to get on my nerves now! Get back with her own husband who clearly loves her. Eva and Gideon just get better and better, how much does their love show. And how intense its got. So loving their journey. Oh my Brett is going to have a tough time accepting that Eva is totally head over heels in love with gideon , hope he's going to be man enough about it. Don't like the abrupt ending, but it does make it better knowing we ain't finished yet. <hl> The smexy scenes OMG hot hot hot ! <hl>

2c8b36c1d9c5f80b9c61e828386b8cbe

books

So you can only imagine what high expectations

question: What is the central idea of ​​the book?, context: The Hunger Games was phenomenal. Catching Fire did the impossible; it surpassed it's predecessor. So you can only imagine what high expectations I had of Mockingjay prior to reading it. I was deluded into thinking it would be as fantastic as the others. I was extremely disappointed and frankly, quite upset, that this was NOT the case. At all. Coming from a talented writer who has done amazing things with words and created unique, engrossing plots, Mockingjay was appalling. It didn't feel like reading for enjoyment; it felt like a chore.First off, Katniss. I don't even have words to describe how disappointed and disbelieving I am at what this strong, intelligent, resourceful, cunning, kick-butt protagonist has now become. In Mockingjay, she is an empty shell, a pawn for the rebels to use for their own objectives. She is diminished to an angsty, whiny, selfish brat who can do nothing but constantly bemoan her own fate. 90% of the book, she is a drugged up shadow; always wandering aimlessly through the hallways or throwing pity parties for herself in the closet. As the war unraveled, I felt like Katniss was always on the sidelines, only called in when other people commanded her to. We didn't get to see Katniss kicking butt against her enemies, we got to hear from other characters about events that occurred, or watch them on the TV. I kept waiting, sure this was all build-up for that moment when Collins would throw in the story changer. Sure that any minute Katniss would pick herself up and say "Enough is enough". I kept waiting for the moment when the winds would change and she would decide with conviction to actively work through her problems- but to my shock, that moment never came.Which brings me to my next biggest problem with the book: it was so anti-climatic! In the rare case we were ever given an exciting scene, as soon as it got intense, Katniss would get knocked out in the midst of things and we would wake up to her in the hospital being treated. The book was mindnumbingly dull; there was absolutely no excitement. I felt no emotion at all when the rebels triumphed; no relief, no joy. Because we were not there with them, amid all the action. We were stuck with dull Katniss, watching the events unfold from the sidelines. It was INFURIATING! Katniss did nothing to help defeat the Capitol; she basically watched Prim die, got burned, and woke up in a hospital, where she (and us) were TOLD instead of SHOWN how the Capitol fell. I also couldn't believe Katniss's trial just happened without us. Katniss is moping and plotting her suicide in her room in the Capitol (as usual), and then one day Haymitch wanders in and says, "Your trial's over. You're free." Honestly, I don't give a flying fart about Katniss' countless issues; give me some action!!WHAT IS WITH THE POINTLESS DEATHS??!! Deaths that don't ensure anyone else's survival, are excessively undignified, or never grieved for. Mockingjay was full of them. Finnick, Mesalla, itchell, Boggs, Cinna, need I say more? They are all ridiculous, gory, bloody and did NOTHING to aid Katniss bringing down the capitol. Essentially, they are all just deaths for the sake of death. Collins just randomly and meaninglessly killed off all the supporting characters to build excitement, because she couldn't bear to part with the main ones. Prim's death didn't have the impact Collins was aiming for; it felt like a strangers death. I didn't get to know or connect with Prim well enough throughout the three books to feel any emotion besides pity for Katniss. And she was absent for at least 100 pages before her death came out of nowhere, so I was too confused to feel any sadness. (Although it seems her death kind of defeated the point of sparing her from the Hunger Games.) On the other hand, I was extremely distraught over Finnick's death. He had just married the love of his life and she was pregnant, for god's sake! But I understand why Collins killed him off. I would even be okay with it (upset, but fine with it) if she had made his death a little classier. Or, A LOT classier. His death is absolutely nonsensical. I mean, eaten by mutts in a sewer? So unnecessesary.And finally, Gale. What happened to him? Oh, he's in District 2. And what's he doing in Distict 2? Dunno. How did he get there? Dunno. Why did he go there? Dunno. How does he feel about Katniss being with Peeta out of default, not either one's choice? Dunno. What's he going to do with his life now? Where is he going to live? What's going to happen to this character that we've been with for almost three whole books, and who's played a huge part in the story of Katniss's life? Uh...I dunno. I was team Gale all along, so I admit I may be a bit biased on this front, but I do feel like the conclusion of the love triangle was very rushed. Like Collins had no idea what to do with it, so she sent one off and left it at that. But Gale fit with Katniss so well. He was like the peanut butter to her jelly. Why did you do this to me, Suzanne Collins??

What is the central idea of ​​the book?

So you can only imagine what high expectations I had of Mockingjay prior to reading it.

The Hunger Games was phenomenal. Catching Fire did the impossible; it surpassed it's predecessor. So you can only imagine what high expectations I had of Mockingjay prior to reading it. I was deluded into thinking it would be as fantastic as the others. I was extremely disappointed and frankly, quite upset, that this was NOT the case. At all. Coming from a talented writer who has done amazing things with words and created unique, engrossing plots, Mockingjay was appalling. It didn't feel like reading for enjoyment; it felt like a chore.First off, Katniss. I don't even have words to describe how disappointed and disbelieving I am at what this strong, intelligent, resourceful, cunning, kick-butt protagonist has now become. In Mockingjay, she is an empty shell, a pawn for the rebels to use for their own objectives. She is diminished to an angsty, whiny, selfish brat who can do nothing but constantly bemoan her own fate. 90% of the book, she is a drugged up shadow; always wandering aimlessly through the hallways or throwing pity parties for herself in the closet. As the war unraveled, I felt like Katniss was always on the sidelines, only called in when other people commanded her to. We didn't get to see Katniss kicking butt against her enemies, we got to hear from other characters about events that occurred, or watch them on the TV. I kept waiting, sure this was all build-up for that moment when Collins would throw in the story changer. Sure that any minute Katniss would pick herself up and say "Enough is enough". I kept waiting for the moment when the winds would change and she would decide with conviction to actively work through her problems- but to my shock, that moment never came.Which brings me to my next biggest problem with the book: it was so anti-climatic! In the rare case we were ever given an exciting scene, as soon as it got intense, Katniss would get knocked out in the midst of things and we would wake up to her in the hospital being treated. The book was mindnumbingly dull; there was absolutely no excitement. I felt no emotion at all when the rebels triumphed; no relief, no joy. Because we were not there with them, amid all the action. We were stuck with dull Katniss, watching the events unfold from the sidelines. It was INFURIATING! Katniss did nothing to help defeat the Capitol; she basically watched Prim die, got burned, and woke up in a hospital, where she (and us) were TOLD instead of SHOWN how the Capitol fell. I also couldn't believe Katniss's trial just happened without us. Katniss is moping and plotting her suicide in her room in the Capitol (as usual), and then one day Haymitch wanders in and says, "Your trial's over. You're free." Honestly, I don't give a flying fart about Katniss' countless issues; give me some action!!WHAT IS WITH THE POINTLESS DEATHS??!! Deaths that don't ensure anyone else's survival, are excessively undignified, or never grieved for. Mockingjay was full of them. Finnick, Mesalla, itchell, Boggs, Cinna, need I say more? They are all ridiculous, gory, bloody and did NOTHING to aid Katniss bringing down the capitol. Essentially, they are all just deaths for the sake of death. Collins just randomly and meaninglessly killed off all the supporting characters to build excitement, because she couldn't bear to part with the main ones. Prim's death didn't have the impact Collins was aiming for; it felt like a strangers death. I didn't get to know or connect with Prim well enough throughout the three books to feel any emotion besides pity for Katniss. And she was absent for at least 100 pages before her death came out of nowhere, so I was too confused to feel any sadness. (Although it seems her death kind of defeated the point of sparing her from the Hunger Games.) On the other hand, I was extremely distraught over Finnick's death. He had just married the love of his life and she was pregnant, for god's sake! But I understand why Collins killed him off. I would even be okay with it (upset, but fine with it) if she had made his death a little classier. Or, A LOT classier. His death is absolutely nonsensical. I mean, eaten by mutts in a sewer? So unnecessesary.And finally, Gale. What happened to him? Oh, he's in District 2. And what's he doing in Distict 2? Dunno. How did he get there? Dunno. Why did he go there? Dunno. How does he feel about Katniss being with Peeta out of default, not either one's choice? Dunno. What's he going to do with his life now? Where is he going to live? What's going to happen to this character that we've been with for almost three whole books, and who's played a huge part in the story of Katniss's life? Uh...I dunno. I was team Gale all along, so I admit I may be a bit biased on this front, but I do feel like the conclusion of the love triangle was very rushed. Like Collins had no idea what to do with it, so she sent one off and left it at that. But Gale fit with Katniss so well. He was like the peanut butter to her jelly. Why did you do this to me, Suzanne Collins??

<hl> So you can only imagine what high expectations <hl> I had of Mockingjay prior to reading it.

The Hunger Games was phenomenal. Catching Fire did the impossible; it surpassed it's predecessor. <hl> So you can only imagine what high expectations <hl> I had of Mockingjay prior to reading it. I was deluded into thinking it would be as fantastic as the others. I was extremely disappointed and frankly, quite upset, that this was NOT the case. At all. Coming from a talented writer who has done amazing things with words and created unique, engrossing plots, Mockingjay was appalling. It didn't feel like reading for enjoyment; it felt like a chore.First off, Katniss. I don't even have words to describe how disappointed and disbelieving I am at what this strong, intelligent, resourceful, cunning, kick-butt protagonist has now become. In Mockingjay, she is an empty shell, a pawn for the rebels to use for their own objectives. She is diminished to an angsty, whiny, selfish brat who can do nothing but constantly bemoan her own fate. 90% of the book, she is a drugged up shadow; always wandering aimlessly through the hallways or throwing pity parties for herself in the closet. As the war unraveled, I felt like Katniss was always on the sidelines, only called in when other people commanded her to. We didn't get to see Katniss kicking butt against her enemies, we got to hear from other characters about events that occurred, or watch them on the TV. I kept waiting, sure this was all build-up for that moment when Collins would throw in the story changer. Sure that any minute Katniss would pick herself up and say "Enough is enough". I kept waiting for the moment when the winds would change and she would decide with conviction to actively work through her problems- but to my shock, that moment never came.Which brings me to my next biggest problem with the book: it was so anti-climatic! In the rare case we were ever given an exciting scene, as soon as it got intense, Katniss would get knocked out in the midst of things and we would wake up to her in the hospital being treated. The book was mindnumbingly dull; there was absolutely no excitement. I felt no emotion at all when the rebels triumphed; no relief, no joy. Because we were not there with them, amid all the action. We were stuck with dull Katniss, watching the events unfold from the sidelines. It was INFURIATING! Katniss did nothing to help defeat the Capitol; she basically watched Prim die, got burned, and woke up in a hospital, where she (and us) were TOLD instead of SHOWN how the Capitol fell. I also couldn't believe Katniss's trial just happened without us. Katniss is moping and plotting her suicide in her room in the Capitol (as usual), and then one day Haymitch wanders in and says, "Your trial's over. You're free." Honestly, I don't give a flying fart about Katniss' countless issues; give me some action!!WHAT IS WITH THE POINTLESS DEATHS??!! Deaths that don't ensure anyone else's survival, are excessively undignified, or never grieved for. Mockingjay was full of them. Finnick, Mesalla, itchell, Boggs, Cinna, need I say more? They are all ridiculous, gory, bloody and did NOTHING to aid Katniss bringing down the capitol. Essentially, they are all just deaths for the sake of death. Collins just randomly and meaninglessly killed off all the supporting characters to build excitement, because she couldn't bear to part with the main ones. Prim's death didn't have the impact Collins was aiming for; it felt like a strangers death. I didn't get to know or connect with Prim well enough throughout the three books to feel any emotion besides pity for Katniss. And she was absent for at least 100 pages before her death came out of nowhere, so I was too confused to feel any sadness. (Although it seems her death kind of defeated the point of sparing her from the Hunger Games.) On the other hand, I was extremely distraught over Finnick's death. He had just married the love of his life and she was pregnant, for god's sake! But I understand why Collins killed him off. I would even be okay with it (upset, but fine with it) if she had made his death a little classier. Or, A LOT classier. His death is absolutely nonsensical. I mean, eaten by mutts in a sewer? So unnecessesary.And finally, Gale. What happened to him? Oh, he's in District 2. And what's he doing in Distict 2? Dunno. How did he get there? Dunno. Why did he go there? Dunno. How does he feel about Katniss being with Peeta out of default, not either one's choice? Dunno. What's he going to do with his life now? Where is he going to live? What's going to happen to this character that we've been with for almost three whole books, and who's played a huge part in the story of Katniss's life? Uh...I dunno. I was team Gale all along, so I admit I may be a bit biased on this front, but I do feel like the conclusion of the love triangle was very rushed. Like Collins had no idea what to do with it, so she sent one off and left it at that. But Gale fit with Katniss so well. He was like the peanut butter to her jelly. Why did you do this to me, Suzanne Collins??

The Hunger Games was phenomenal. Catching Fire did the impossible; it surpassed it's predecessor. <hl> So you can only imagine what high expectations I had of Mockingjay prior to reading it. <hl> I was deluded into thinking it would be as fantastic as the others. I was extremely disappointed and frankly, quite upset, that this was NOT the case. At all. Coming from a talented writer who has done amazing things with words and created unique, engrossing plots, Mockingjay was appalling. It didn't feel like reading for enjoyment; it felt like a chore. First off, Katniss. I don't even have words to describe how disappointed and disbelieving I am at what this strong, intelligent, resourceful, cunning, kick-butt protagonist has now become. In Mockingjay, she is an empty shell, a pawn for the rebels to use for their own objectives. She is diminished to an angsty, whiny, selfish brat who can do nothing but constantly bemoan her own fate. 90% of the book, she is a drugged up shadow; always wandering aimlessly through the hallways or throwing pity parties for herself in the closet. As the war unraveled, I felt like Katniss was always on the sidelines, only called in when other people commanded her to. We didn't get to see Katniss kicking butt against her enemies, we got to hear from other characters about events that occurred, or watch them on the TV. I kept waiting, sure this was all build-up for that moment when Collins would throw in the story changer. Sure that any minute Katniss would pick herself up and say "Enough is enough". I kept waiting for the moment when the winds would change and she would decide with conviction to actively work through her problems- but to my shock, that moment never came. Which brings me to my next biggest problem with the book: it was so anti-climatic! In the rare case we were ever given an exciting scene, as soon as it got intense, Katniss would get knocked out in the midst of things and we would wake up to her in the hospital being treated. The book was mindnumbingly dull; there was absolutely no excitement. I felt no emotion at all when the rebels triumphed; no relief, no joy. Because we were not there with them, amid all the action. We were stuck with dull Katniss, watching the events unfold from the sidelines. It was INFURIATING! Katniss did nothing to help defeat the Capitol; she basically watched Prim die, got burned, and woke up in a hospital, where she (and us) were TOLD instead of SHOWN how the Capitol fell. I also couldn't believe Katniss's trial just happened without us. Katniss is moping and plotting her suicide in her room in the Capitol (as usual), and then one day Haymitch wanders in and says, "Your trial's over. You're free." Honestly, I don't give a flying fart about Katniss' countless issues; give me some action!!WHAT IS WITH THE POINTLESS DEATHS??!! Deaths that don't ensure anyone else's survival, are excessively undignified, or never grieved for. Mockingjay was full of them. Finnick, Mesalla, itchell, Boggs, Cinna, need I say more? They are all ridiculous, gory, bloody and did NOTHING to aid Katniss bringing down the capitol. Essentially, they are all just deaths for the sake of death. Collins just randomly and meaninglessly killed off all the supporting characters to build excitement, because she couldn't bear to part with the main ones. Prim's death didn't have the impact Collins was aiming for; it felt like a strangers death. I didn't get to know or connect with Prim well enough throughout the three books to feel any emotion besides pity for Katniss. And she was absent for at least 100 pages before her death came out of nowhere, so I was too confused to feel any sadness. (Although it seems her death kind of defeated the point of sparing her from the Hunger Games.) On the other hand, I was extremely distraught over Finnick's death. He had just married the love of his life and she was pregnant, for god's sake! But I understand why Collins killed him off. I would even be okay with it (upset, but fine with it) if she had made his death a little classier. Or, A LOT classier. His death is absolutely nonsensical. I mean, eaten by mutts in a sewer? So unnecessesary. And finally, Gale. What happened to him? Oh, he's in District 2. And what's he doing in Distict 2? Dunno. How did he get there? Dunno. Why did he go there? Dunno. How does he feel about Katniss being with Peeta out of default, not either one's choice? Dunno. What's he going to do with his life now? Where is he going to live? What's going to happen to this character that we've been with for almost three whole books, and who's played a huge part in the story of Katniss's life? Uh...I dunno. I was team Gale all along, so I admit I may be a bit biased on this front, but I do feel like the conclusion of the love triangle was very rushed. Like Collins had no idea what to do with it, so she sent one off and left it at that. But Gale fit with Katniss so well. He was like the peanut butter to her jelly. Why did you do this to me, Suzanne Collins??

1c1fd1abe54e1d3b000de127e715bd13

books

a nice easy style of writing

question: What do you think about the write?, context: I have really enjoyed this book. It hooked me in from the beginning and I can't wait to read the next in the series. Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl have a nice easy style of writing so it makes a lovely story, yet its full of imagination. There are many loose ends which I'm assuming will be continued in the next installments of the series.

What do you think about the write?

Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl have a nice easy style of writing so it makes a lovely story, yet its full of imagination.

I have really enjoyed this book. It hooked me in from the beginning and I can't wait to read the next in the series. Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl have a nice easy style of writing so it makes a lovely story, yet its full of imagination. There are many loose ends which I'm assuming will be continued in the next installments of the series.

Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl have <hl> a nice easy style of writing <hl> so it makes a lovely story, yet its full of imagination.

I have really enjoyed this book. It hooked me in from the beginning and I can't wait to read the next in the series. Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl have <hl> a nice easy style of writing <hl> so it makes a lovely story, yet its full of imagination. There are many loose ends which I'm assuming will be continued in the next installments of the series.

I have really enjoyed this book. It hooked me in from the beginning and I can't wait to read the next in the series. <hl> Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl have a nice easy style of writing so it makes a lovely story, yet its full of imagination. <hl> There are many loose ends which I'm assuming will be continued in the next installments of the series.

56e9078ad33a5130bf016e84e9c32cb0

books

Life of Pi is good, there is no debating that. I began this book and thought I would love it

question: Is it a good love?, context: Life of Pi is good, there is no debating that. I began this book and thought I would love it. During Part One, Pi Patel is a character describing his life. I enjoyed it. Thinking Part Two would be the same, I eagerly awaited what Martel had in store for us next. However, I thought the story began to drag. It was almost two hundred pages with next to no dialogue. You are placed in Pi's head, having him narrate the story as he experienced it. It was hard to push through those two hundred pages. It got old after a while.Currently a high school junior, I got to the end of this book with one thought. Huh? I found it confusing. I am not sure if that is because I do not understand the deeper significance, but I found it hard to comprehend. I am unsure of all the praise this book has gotten, because I don't understand what people found so great about it. I thought it was good, but not praiseworthy. Although I enjoyed the ending, I thought it was very anti-climactic. It was a good book and the writing was very good, but it was just not the book for me.

Is it a good love?

Life of Pi is good, there is no debating that. I began this book and thought I would love it .

Life of Pi is good, there is no debating that. I began this book and thought I would love it. During Part One, Pi Patel is a character describing his life. I enjoyed it. Thinking Part Two would be the same, I eagerly awaited what Martel had in store for us next. However, I thought the story began to drag. It was almost two hundred pages with next to no dialogue. You are placed in Pi's head, having him narrate the story as he experienced it. It was hard to push through those two hundred pages. It got old after a while.Currently a high school junior, I got to the end of this book with one thought. Huh? I found it confusing. I am not sure if that is because I do not understand the deeper significance, but I found it hard to comprehend. I am unsure of all the praise this book has gotten, because I don't understand what people found so great about it. I thought it was good, but not praiseworthy. Although I enjoyed the ending, I thought it was very anti-climactic. It was a good book and the writing was very good, but it was just not the book for me.

<hl> Life of Pi is good, there is no debating that. I began this book and thought I would love it <hl> .

<hl> Life of Pi is good, there is no debating that. I began this book and thought I would love it <hl>. During Part One, Pi Patel is a character describing his life. I enjoyed it. Thinking Part Two would be the same, I eagerly awaited what Martel had in store for us next. However, I thought the story began to drag. It was almost two hundred pages with next to no dialogue. You are placed in Pi's head, having him narrate the story as he experienced it. It was hard to push through those two hundred pages. It got old after a while.Currently a high school junior, I got to the end of this book with one thought. Huh? I found it confusing. I am not sure if that is because I do not understand the deeper significance, but I found it hard to comprehend. I am unsure of all the praise this book has gotten, because I don't understand what people found so great about it. I thought it was good, but not praiseworthy. Although I enjoyed the ending, I thought it was very anti-climactic. It was a good book and the writing was very good, but it was just not the book for me.

<hl> Life of Pi is good, there is no debating that. I began this book and thought I would love it . <hl> During Part One, Pi Patel is a character describing his life. I enjoyed it. Thinking Part Two would be the same, I eagerly awaited what Martel had in store for us next. However, I thought the story began to drag. It was almost two hundred pages with next to no dialogue. You are placed in Pi's head, having him narrate the story as he experienced it. It was hard to push through those two hundred pages. It got old after a while. Currently a high school junior, I got to the end of this book with one thought. Huh? I found it confusing. I am not sure if that is because I do not understand the deeper significance, but I found it hard to comprehend. I am unsure of all the praise this book has gotten, because I don't understand what people found so great about it. I thought it was good, but not praiseworthy. Although I enjoyed the ending, I thought it was very anti-climactic. It was a good book and the writing was very good, but it was just not the book for me.

78aabdfe562dff2d9b56b6dce7fa74b1

books

There's a reason publishers put those stickers on books that make comparisons to FSoG. Whatever the reason........ it sure as hell helped my choose Release Me!This captured my attention right out of the gate

question: Why do they hide a secret?, context: I FINALLY FOUND IT!!!!This is the book I have been searching for!!!!!! I wanted something that gave me the same feeling I had when I read FSoG or Crossfire Series......not the same story but the same feeling. If I wanted the same story, I would have just reread FSoG or Crossfire Series. I've been craving something hot, irresistible, sexy, controlling alpha male, and dark but with a fabulous story and even more fabulous writing. I simply want to fall in love with the guy and the story. Is that too much to ask for?????Well, I certainly found my WINNER. Admit it - if you are a FSoG or Crossfire fan, then you use those as a benchmark for all others. It's okay, admit it, I won't tell anyone. (Psst).... I'll tell you a secret..... I freely (and proudly) admit that's what I do. There's a reason publishers put those stickers on books that make comparisons to FSoG. Whatever the reason........ it sure as hell helped my choose Release Me!This captured my attention right out of the gate. I didn't have to give it time or let it grow on me at all. It was very engrossing. The anticipation & build up throughout were amazing. I was on the edge of my seat.The writing is polished with a wonderful flow. The writing style is more sophisticated and intelligent with great dialogue!!! The chemistry between Damien and Nikki is off the elemental charts! OMG. The hotness started off blistering in the limo and only continued from there. The sex scenes were beautiful, sensual, and erotic.Damien is the powerful, magnetic, beautiful, and seductive billionaire ex-tennis star that is used getting what he wants - and, that includes women. The word `no' does not factor in to his vocabulary unless it's coming from him. He's very possessive with the need to control everything and everyone around him. Damien harbors dark secrets and is very good at keeping them just that - secrets. He's one big mystery, revealing just enough to keep you wanting. I'm dying to know what he's hiding. The brief glimpses we do get of his vulnerability and his thoughtful gestures make him very likeable and real. I even think I saw a bit of his heart peak through that stiff and hard exterior.Nikki is the beautiful ex- pageant girl with sass, smarts, and attitude to boot. But, Nikki has her own secrets and demons - painful and dark secrets. She's broken on the inside just as much as much on the outside although no one can tell. Nikki uses her attitude as armor to protect herself. Her strong attitude is refreshing, and her witty sarcasm had me laughing out loud. It's nice to see a heroine that stands on her own two feet and isn't afraid to show her strong side.Damien and Nikki meet at a party and the attraction is instant. Damien decides that Nikki's next on his list of acquisitions. Nikki is more than attracted to Damien, but she isn't THAT kind of girl. She does things on her terms and this presents a challenge for him. Damien is relentless in his pursuit, and he soon becomes too much to resist. Nikki wants this, but is this just a game to Damien??? Because to Nikki it certainly is not; it's very very real and terrifying . If she pursues this is she ready for her past to come front and center? Is she ready to give up control and let Damien possess her?It's very easy to ruin the story by saying too much more here. I will say that their story is very passionate, and they very much understand one another. Secrets, skeletons, insecurities, doubt, and second guessing run rampant, but there are touching and heart felt moments that make these bad elements fade into the background. And, it's not all about the sex. HALLELUJAH!!! There was a nice balance between the sex and the story. Sex was part of the story, but it never became THE story. Nikki and Damien have a relationship, and that's what we get to see first and foremost. I love this couple because they are both strong and smart with a vulnerable side.After all this you're still probably thinking been there done that, rich billionaire alpha male goes after a young, beautiful, nave woman. THAT'S where you're wrong!!! By no means is Nikki nave. She's confident, smart, and doesn't allow anyone to make decisions for her, it's all on her terms. And, that is why this is different.I know a lot of people hate cliffhangers or waiting for follow up books, but I'm glad this is a trilogy. I'm loving this couple so much that it would have been a shame if Ms. Kenner tried to force their story to fit into a stand-alone book. Their story is too involved and complicated not to run this over multiple books.Nikki and Damien's story isn't very heavy into BDSM if that's what you're looking for. Yes, it's hot, erotic, and passionate with some kinky elements, but I wouldn't classify this as a BDSM or even light BDSM........ but, Release Me does give FSoG and the Crossfire Series a run for their money.I simply loved this book. At times, I think I was purposely reading slow just so it wouldn't end. There are certain books that I re-read occasionally just because I love the feeling I get from the intense feeling the characters have for one another. Release Me is going into that pile! I'm anxiously awaiting the next installment of Damien and Nikki!!!!!

Why do they hide a secret?

There's a reason publishers put those stickers on books that make comparisons to FSoG. Whatever the reason........ it sure as hell helped my choose Release Me!This captured my attention right out of the gate .

I FINALLY FOUND IT!!!!This is the book I have been searching for!!!!!! I wanted something that gave me the same feeling I had when I read FSoG or Crossfire Series......not the same story but the same feeling. If I wanted the same story, I would have just reread FSoG or Crossfire Series. I've been craving something hot, irresistible, sexy, controlling alpha male, and dark but with a fabulous story and even more fabulous writing. I simply want to fall in love with the guy and the story. Is that too much to ask for?????Well, I certainly found my WINNER. Admit it - if you are a FSoG or Crossfire fan, then you use those as a benchmark for all others. It's okay, admit it, I won't tell anyone. (Psst).... I'll tell you a secret..... I freely (and proudly) admit that's what I do. There's a reason publishers put those stickers on books that make comparisons to FSoG. Whatever the reason........ it sure as hell helped my choose Release Me!This captured my attention right out of the gate. I didn't have to give it time or let it grow on me at all. It was very engrossing. The anticipation & build up throughout were amazing. I was on the edge of my seat.The writing is polished with a wonderful flow. The writing style is more sophisticated and intelligent with great dialogue!!! The chemistry between Damien and Nikki is off the elemental charts! OMG. The hotness started off blistering in the limo and only continued from there. The sex scenes were beautiful, sensual, and erotic.Damien is the powerful, magnetic, beautiful, and seductive billionaire ex-tennis star that is used getting what he wants - and, that includes women. The word `no' does not factor in to his vocabulary unless it's coming from him. He's very possessive with the need to control everything and everyone around him. Damien harbors dark secrets and is very good at keeping them just that - secrets. He's one big mystery, revealing just enough to keep you wanting. I'm dying to know what he's hiding. The brief glimpses we do get of his vulnerability and his thoughtful gestures make him very likeable and real. I even think I saw a bit of his heart peak through that stiff and hard exterior.Nikki is the beautiful ex- pageant girl with sass, smarts, and attitude to boot. But, Nikki has her own secrets and demons - painful and dark secrets. She's broken on the inside just as much as much on the outside although no one can tell. Nikki uses her attitude as armor to protect herself. Her strong attitude is refreshing, and her witty sarcasm had me laughing out loud. It's nice to see a heroine that stands on her own two feet and isn't afraid to show her strong side.Damien and Nikki meet at a party and the attraction is instant. Damien decides that Nikki's next on his list of acquisitions. Nikki is more than attracted to Damien, but she isn't THAT kind of girl. She does things on her terms and this presents a challenge for him. Damien is relentless in his pursuit, and he soon becomes too much to resist. Nikki wants this, but is this just a game to Damien??? Because to Nikki it certainly is not; it's very very real and terrifying . If she pursues this is she ready for her past to come front and center? Is she ready to give up control and let Damien possess her?It's very easy to ruin the story by saying too much more here. I will say that their story is very passionate, and they very much understand one another. Secrets, skeletons, insecurities, doubt, and second guessing run rampant, but there are touching and heart felt moments that make these bad elements fade into the background. And, it's not all about the sex. HALLELUJAH!!! There was a nice balance between the sex and the story. Sex was part of the story, but it never became THE story. Nikki and Damien have a relationship, and that's what we get to see first and foremost. I love this couple because they are both strong and smart with a vulnerable side.After all this you're still probably thinking been there done that, rich billionaire alpha male goes after a young, beautiful, nave woman. THAT'S where you're wrong!!! By no means is Nikki nave. She's confident, smart, and doesn't allow anyone to make decisions for her, it's all on her terms. And, that is why this is different.I know a lot of people hate cliffhangers or waiting for follow up books, but I'm glad this is a trilogy. I'm loving this couple so much that it would have been a shame if Ms. Kenner tried to force their story to fit into a stand-alone book. Their story is too involved and complicated not to run this over multiple books.Nikki and Damien's story isn't very heavy into BDSM if that's what you're looking for. Yes, it's hot, erotic, and passionate with some kinky elements, but I wouldn't classify this as a BDSM or even light BDSM........ but, Release Me does give FSoG and the Crossfire Series a run for their money.I simply loved this book. At times, I think I was purposely reading slow just so it wouldn't end. There are certain books that I re-read occasionally just because I love the feeling I get from the intense feeling the characters have for one another. Release Me is going into that pile! I'm anxiously awaiting the next installment of Damien and Nikki!!!!!

<hl> There's a reason publishers put those stickers on books that make comparisons to FSoG. Whatever the reason........ it sure as hell helped my choose Release Me!This captured my attention right out of the gate <hl> .

I FINALLY FOUND IT!!!!This is the book I have been searching for!!!!!! I wanted something that gave me the same feeling I had when I read FSoG or Crossfire Series......not the same story but the same feeling. If I wanted the same story, I would have just reread FSoG or Crossfire Series. I've been craving something hot, irresistible, sexy, controlling alpha male, and dark but with a fabulous story and even more fabulous writing. I simply want to fall in love with the guy and the story. Is that too much to ask for?????Well, I certainly found my WINNER. Admit it - if you are a FSoG or Crossfire fan, then you use those as a benchmark for all others. It's okay, admit it, I won't tell anyone. (Psst).... I'll tell you a secret..... I freely (and proudly) admit that's what I do. <hl> There's a reason publishers put those stickers on books that make comparisons to FSoG. Whatever the reason........ it sure as hell helped my choose Release Me!This captured my attention right out of the gate <hl>. I didn't have to give it time or let it grow on me at all. It was very engrossing. The anticipation & build up throughout were amazing. I was on the edge of my seat.The writing is polished with a wonderful flow. The writing style is more sophisticated and intelligent with great dialogue!!! The chemistry between Damien and Nikki is off the elemental charts! OMG. The hotness started off blistering in the limo and only continued from there. The sex scenes were beautiful, sensual, and erotic.Damien is the powerful, magnetic, beautiful, and seductive billionaire ex-tennis star that is used getting what he wants - and, that includes women. The word `no' does not factor in to his vocabulary unless it's coming from him. He's very possessive with the need to control everything and everyone around him. Damien harbors dark secrets and is very good at keeping them just that - secrets. He's one big mystery, revealing just enough to keep you wanting. I'm dying to know what he's hiding. The brief glimpses we do get of his vulnerability and his thoughtful gestures make him very likeable and real. I even think I saw a bit of his heart peak through that stiff and hard exterior.Nikki is the beautiful ex- pageant girl with sass, smarts, and attitude to boot. But, Nikki has her own secrets and demons - painful and dark secrets. She's broken on the inside just as much as much on the outside although no one can tell. Nikki uses her attitude as armor to protect herself. Her strong attitude is refreshing, and her witty sarcasm had me laughing out loud. It's nice to see a heroine that stands on her own two feet and isn't afraid to show her strong side.Damien and Nikki meet at a party and the attraction is instant. Damien decides that Nikki's next on his list of acquisitions. Nikki is more than attracted to Damien, but she isn't THAT kind of girl. She does things on her terms and this presents a challenge for him. Damien is relentless in his pursuit, and he soon becomes too much to resist. Nikki wants this, but is this just a game to Damien??? Because to Nikki it certainly is not; it's very very real and terrifying . If she pursues this is she ready for her past to come front and center? Is she ready to give up control and let Damien possess her?It's very easy to ruin the story by saying too much more here. I will say that their story is very passionate, and they very much understand one another. Secrets, skeletons, insecurities, doubt, and second guessing run rampant, but there are touching and heart felt moments that make these bad elements fade into the background. And, it's not all about the sex. HALLELUJAH!!! There was a nice balance between the sex and the story. Sex was part of the story, but it never became THE story. Nikki and Damien have a relationship, and that's what we get to see first and foremost. I love this couple because they are both strong and smart with a vulnerable side.After all this you're still probably thinking been there done that, rich billionaire alpha male goes after a young, beautiful, nave woman. THAT'S where you're wrong!!! By no means is Nikki nave. She's confident, smart, and doesn't allow anyone to make decisions for her, it's all on her terms. And, that is why this is different.I know a lot of people hate cliffhangers or waiting for follow up books, but I'm glad this is a trilogy. I'm loving this couple so much that it would have been a shame if Ms. Kenner tried to force their story to fit into a stand-alone book. Their story is too involved and complicated not to run this over multiple books.Nikki and Damien's story isn't very heavy into BDSM if that's what you're looking for. Yes, it's hot, erotic, and passionate with some kinky elements, but I wouldn't classify this as a BDSM or even light BDSM........ but, Release Me does give FSoG and the Crossfire Series a run for their money.I simply loved this book. At times, I think I was purposely reading slow just so it wouldn't end. There are certain books that I re-read occasionally just because I love the feeling I get from the intense feeling the characters have for one another. Release Me is going into that pile! I'm anxiously awaiting the next installment of Damien and Nikki!!!!!

I FINALLY FOUND IT!!!!This is the book I have been searching for!!!!!! I wanted something that gave me the same feeling I had when I read FSoG or Crossfire Series......not the same story but the same feeling. If I wanted the same story, I would have just reread FSoG or Crossfire Series. I've been craving something hot, irresistible, sexy, controlling alpha male, and dark but with a fabulous story and even more fabulous writing. I simply want to fall in love with the guy and the story. Is that too much to ask for?????Well, I certainly found my WINNER. Admit it - if you are a FSoG or Crossfire fan, then you use those as a benchmark for all others. It's okay, admit it, I won't tell anyone. (Psst).... I'll tell you a secret..... I freely (and proudly) admit that's what I do. <hl> There's a reason publishers put those stickers on books that make comparisons to FSoG. Whatever the reason........ it sure as hell helped my choose Release Me!This captured my attention right out of the gate . <hl> I didn't have to give it time or let it grow on me at all. It was very engrossing. The anticipation & build up throughout were amazing. I was on the edge of my seat. The writing is polished with a wonderful flow. The writing style is more sophisticated and intelligent with great dialogue!!! The chemistry between Damien and Nikki is off the elemental charts! OMG. The hotness started off blistering in the limo and only continued from there. The sex scenes were beautiful, sensual, and erotic. Damien is the powerful, magnetic, beautiful, and seductive billionaire ex-tennis star that is used getting what he wants - and, that includes women. The word `no' does not factor in to his vocabulary unless it's coming from him. He's very possessive with the need to control everything and everyone around him. Damien harbors dark secrets and is very good at keeping them just that - secrets. He's one big mystery, revealing just enough to keep you wanting. I'm dying to know what he's hiding. The brief glimpses we do get of his vulnerability and his thoughtful gestures make him very likeable and real. I even think I saw a bit of his heart peak through that stiff and hard exterior. Nikki is the beautiful ex- pageant girl with sass, smarts, and attitude to boot. But, Nikki has her own secrets and demons - painful and dark secrets. She's broken on the inside just as much as much on the outside although no one can tell. Nikki uses her attitude as armor to protect herself. Her strong attitude is refreshing, and her witty sarcasm had me laughing out loud. It's nice to see a heroine that stands on her own two feet and isn't afraid to show her strong side. Damien and Nikki meet at a party and the attraction is instant. Damien decides that Nikki's next on his list of acquisitions. Nikki is more than attracted to Damien, but she isn't THAT kind of girl. She does things on her terms and this presents a challenge for him. Damien is relentless in his pursuit, and he soon becomes too much to resist. Nikki wants this, but is this just a game to Damien??? Because to Nikki it certainly is not; it's very very real and terrifying . If she pursues this is she ready for her past to come front and center? Is she ready to give up control and let Damien possess her?It's very easy to ruin the story by saying too much more here. I will say that their story is very passionate, and they very much understand one another. Secrets, skeletons, insecurities, doubt, and second guessing run rampant, but there are touching and heart felt moments that make these bad elements fade into the background. And, it's not all about the sex. HALLELUJAH!!! There was a nice balance between the sex and the story. Sex was part of the story, but it never became THE story. Nikki and Damien have a relationship, and that's what we get to see first and foremost. I love this couple because they are both strong and smart with a vulnerable side. After all this you're still probably thinking been there done that, rich billionaire alpha male goes after a young, beautiful, nave woman. THAT'S where you're wrong!!! By no means is Nikki nave. She's confident, smart, and doesn't allow anyone to make decisions for her, it's all on her terms. And, that is why this is different. I know a lot of people hate cliffhangers or waiting for follow up books, but I'm glad this is a trilogy. I'm loving this couple so much that it would have been a shame if Ms. Kenner tried to force their story to fit into a stand-alone book. Their story is too involved and complicated not to run this over multiple books. Nikki and Damien's story isn't very heavy into BDSM if that's what you're looking for. Yes, it's hot, erotic, and passionate with some kinky elements, but I wouldn't classify this as a BDSM or even light BDSM........ but, Release Me does give FSoG and the Crossfire Series a run for their money. I simply loved this book. At times, I think I was purposely reading slow just so it wouldn't end. There are certain books that I re-read occasionally just because I love the feeling I get from the intense feeling the characters have for one another. Release Me is going into that pile! I'm anxiously awaiting the next installment of Damien and Nikki!!!!!

f2e4eed4a55811e6865a31a23fe3343d

books

Divergent series

question: Is thi book a fantasy one?, context: When I first started reading Gone Girl, I almost stopped after discovering it is a dual narrative. To put this in perspective, the last book I had finished was Allegiant, of the Divergent series, and had it been an actual paper book I was reading rather than the kindle app on my iPad, I would have set it on fire. It was the worst experience I've ever had as far as books go, and a large part of that was due to the dual narrative.I am so glad I didn't stop reading because let me tell you, HOMEGIRL ROCKED THE DUAL NARRATIVE.It was like an illness. I COULD NOT STOP. I kid you not, I called in sick for work one day because I reached an especially exciting point in the book the night before, and couldn't bear waiting another 8 hours before continuing.And then I thought I would crap myself once the second part started.And then the third part started and I was just slack-jawed at the insanity exhibited by these two.It's a horrifying tale of &#34;if I can't have you nobody can&#34; wrapped up with some soul-crushing dependence, all told through a who-dun-it type of story. I will read this again and again, that is for dang sure.

Is thi book a fantasy one?

To put this in perspective, the last book I had finished was Allegiant, of the Divergent series , and had it been an actual paper book I was reading rather than the kindle app on my iPad, I would have set it on fire.

When I first started reading Gone Girl, I almost stopped after discovering it is a dual narrative. To put this in perspective, the last book I had finished was Allegiant, of the Divergent series, and had it been an actual paper book I was reading rather than the kindle app on my iPad, I would have set it on fire. It was the worst experience I've ever had as far as books go, and a large part of that was due to the dual narrative.I am so glad I didn't stop reading because let me tell you, HOMEGIRL ROCKED THE DUAL NARRATIVE.It was like an illness. I COULD NOT STOP. I kid you not, I called in sick for work one day because I reached an especially exciting point in the book the night before, and couldn't bear waiting another 8 hours before continuing.And then I thought I would crap myself once the second part started.And then the third part started and I was just slack-jawed at the insanity exhibited by these two.It's a horrifying tale of &#34;if I can't have you nobody can&#34; wrapped up with some soul-crushing dependence, all told through a who-dun-it type of story. I will read this again and again, that is for dang sure.

To put this in perspective, the last book I had finished was Allegiant, of the <hl> Divergent series <hl> , and had it been an actual paper book I was reading rather than the kindle app on my iPad, I would have set it on fire.

When I first started reading Gone Girl, I almost stopped after discovering it is a dual narrative. To put this in perspective, the last book I had finished was Allegiant, of the <hl> Divergent series <hl>, and had it been an actual paper book I was reading rather than the kindle app on my iPad, I would have set it on fire. It was the worst experience I've ever had as far as books go, and a large part of that was due to the dual narrative.I am so glad I didn't stop reading because let me tell you, HOMEGIRL ROCKED THE DUAL NARRATIVE.It was like an illness. I COULD NOT STOP. I kid you not, I called in sick for work one day because I reached an especially exciting point in the book the night before, and couldn't bear waiting another 8 hours before continuing.And then I thought I would crap myself once the second part started.And then the third part started and I was just slack-jawed at the insanity exhibited by these two.It's a horrifying tale of &#34;if I can't have you nobody can&#34; wrapped up with some soul-crushing dependence, all told through a who-dun-it type of story. I will read this again and again, that is for dang sure.

When I first started reading Gone Girl, I almost stopped after discovering it is a dual narrative. <hl> To put this in perspective, the last book I had finished was Allegiant, of the Divergent series , and had it been an actual paper book I was reading rather than the kindle app on my iPad, I would have set it on fire. <hl> It was the worst experience I've ever had as far as books go, and a large part of that was due to the dual narrative. I am so glad I didn't stop reading because let me tell you, HOMEGIRL ROCKED THE DUAL NARRATIVE.It was like an illness. I COULD NOT STOP. I kid you not, I called in sick for work one day because I reached an especially exciting point in the book the night before, and couldn't bear waiting another 8 hours before continuing. And then I thought I would crap myself once the second part started. And then the third part started and I was just slack-jawed at the insanity exhibited by these two. It's a horrifying tale of &#34;if I can't have you nobody can&#34; wrapped up with some soul-crushing dependence, all told through a who-dun-it type of story. I will read this again and again, that is for dang sure.

2ca01f66d7fdb82faf17d60e396b1d50

books

I definitely recommend this trilogy (second book is due out soon), if you're looking for a good love story sans the BDSM, but with a dash of "control"

question: How is your evaluation for the book?, context: Ever since Fifty Shades of Grey and Bared to You I have been reading a LOT of books in the genre. Most left me luke warm, they were predictable and very short ( not to mention not very well written). I'm not going to name names. Suffice to say I came upon Naked and I didn't know what to expect. Once I started reading I could not put it down until I finished it. I told my husband to fend for himself for dinner, and got immersed in the Blackstone Affair. The characters are well defined and very engaging. There is a good flow to the story. And it's steamy hot. Yeah, very HOT. And that is what I was looking for. A well written, interesting, sexy story. And Raine Miller delivered in spades. The only thing that frustrated me was that now I have to wait for books 2 and 3. But as Mr. Grey taught us, anticipation can be very rewarding. I definitely recommend this trilogy (second book is due out soon), if you're looking for a good love story sans the BDSM, but with a dash of "control".

How is your evaluation for the book?

I definitely recommend this trilogy (second book is due out soon), if you're looking for a good love story sans the BDSM, but with a dash of "control" .

Ever since Fifty Shades of Grey and Bared to You I have been reading a LOT of books in the genre. Most left me luke warm, they were predictable and very short ( not to mention not very well written). I'm not going to name names. Suffice to say I came upon Naked and I didn't know what to expect. Once I started reading I could not put it down until I finished it. I told my husband to fend for himself for dinner, and got immersed in the Blackstone Affair. The characters are well defined and very engaging. There is a good flow to the story. And it's steamy hot. Yeah, very HOT. And that is what I was looking for. A well written, interesting, sexy story. And Raine Miller delivered in spades. The only thing that frustrated me was that now I have to wait for books 2 and 3. But as Mr. Grey taught us, anticipation can be very rewarding. I definitely recommend this trilogy (second book is due out soon), if you're looking for a good love story sans the BDSM, but with a dash of "control".

<hl> I definitely recommend this trilogy (second book is due out soon), if you're looking for a good love story sans the BDSM, but with a dash of "control" <hl> .

Ever since Fifty Shades of Grey and Bared to You I have been reading a LOT of books in the genre. Most left me luke warm, they were predictable and very short ( not to mention not very well written). I'm not going to name names. Suffice to say I came upon Naked and I didn't know what to expect. Once I started reading I could not put it down until I finished it. I told my husband to fend for himself for dinner, and got immersed in the Blackstone Affair. The characters are well defined and very engaging. There is a good flow to the story. And it's steamy hot. Yeah, very HOT. And that is what I was looking for. A well written, interesting, sexy story. And Raine Miller delivered in spades. The only thing that frustrated me was that now I have to wait for books 2 and 3. But as Mr. Grey taught us, anticipation can be very rewarding. <hl> I definitely recommend this trilogy (second book is due out soon), if you're looking for a good love story sans the BDSM, but with a dash of "control" <hl>.

Ever since Fifty Shades of Grey and Bared to You I have been reading a LOT of books in the genre. Most left me luke warm, they were predictable and very short ( not to mention not very well written). I'm not going to name names. Suffice to say I came upon Naked and I didn't know what to expect. Once I started reading I could not put it down until I finished it. I told my husband to fend for himself for dinner, and got immersed in the Blackstone Affair. The characters are well defined and very engaging. There is a good flow to the story. And it's steamy hot. Yeah, very HOT. And that is what I was looking for. A well written, interesting, sexy story. And Raine Miller delivered in spades. The only thing that frustrated me was that now I have to wait for books 2 and 3. But as Mr. Grey taught us, anticipation can be very rewarding. <hl> I definitely recommend this trilogy (second book is due out soon), if you're looking for a good love story sans the BDSM, but with a dash of "control" . <hl>

07594c9c74e3185a31a1c14bc7191c9e

books

writer

question: How is the write?, context: Donna Tartt's novel is a bildungsroman with a modern edge to it. A frame narrative, the story follows Theo Decker beginning with an all-too-common modern tragedy. The novel is, however, so much more than this. The author creates remarkable characters and situations with often cascading sentences and phrases that are a delight. In addition, there is even another layer that uses the painting of the goldfinch, an integral part of the plot itself, as the means to bring forth the purpose of art in all its forms. Theo, the writer, speaks of &#34;...a rainbow edge where beauty comes into being, where two very different surfaces mingle and blur to provide what life does not: and this is the space where all art exists...&#34; This is beautifully expessed by Donna Tartt and beautifully demonstrated in her novel.

How is the write?

Theo, the writer , speaks of &#34;...a rainbow edge where beauty comes into being, where two very different surfaces mingle and blur to provide what life does not: and this is the space where all art exists...&#34; This is beautifully expessed by Donna Tartt and beautifully demonstrated in her novel.

Donna Tartt's novel is a bildungsroman with a modern edge to it. A frame narrative, the story follows Theo Decker beginning with an all-too-common modern tragedy. The novel is, however, so much more than this. The author creates remarkable characters and situations with often cascading sentences and phrases that are a delight. In addition, there is even another layer that uses the painting of the goldfinch, an integral part of the plot itself, as the means to bring forth the purpose of art in all its forms. Theo, the writer, speaks of &#34;...a rainbow edge where beauty comes into being, where two very different surfaces mingle and blur to provide what life does not: and this is the space where all art exists...&#34; This is beautifully expessed by Donna Tartt and beautifully demonstrated in her novel.

Theo, the <hl> writer <hl> , speaks of &#34;...a rainbow edge where beauty comes into being, where two very different surfaces mingle and blur to provide what life does not: and this is the space where all art exists...&#34; This is beautifully expessed by Donna Tartt and beautifully demonstrated in her novel.

Donna Tartt's novel is a bildungsroman with a modern edge to it. A frame narrative, the story follows Theo Decker beginning with an all-too-common modern tragedy. The novel is, however, so much more than this. The author creates remarkable characters and situations with often cascading sentences and phrases that are a delight. In addition, there is even another layer that uses the painting of the goldfinch, an integral part of the plot itself, as the means to bring forth the purpose of art in all its forms. Theo, the <hl> writer <hl>, speaks of &#34;...a rainbow edge where beauty comes into being, where two very different surfaces mingle and blur to provide what life does not: and this is the space where all art exists...&#34; This is beautifully expessed by Donna Tartt and beautifully demonstrated in her novel.

Donna Tartt's novel is a bildungsroman with a modern edge to it. A frame narrative, the story follows Theo Decker beginning with an all-too-common modern tragedy. The novel is, however, so much more than this. The author creates remarkable characters and situations with often cascading sentences and phrases that are a delight. In addition, there is even another layer that uses the painting of the goldfinch, an integral part of the plot itself, as the means to bring forth the purpose of art in all its forms. <hl> Theo, the writer , speaks of &#34;...a rainbow edge where beauty comes into being, where two very different surfaces mingle and blur to provide what life does not: and this is the space where all art exists...&#34; This is beautifully expessed by Donna Tartt and beautifully demonstrated in her novel. <hl>

1a9153f67e852f68370fe454171ba388

books

The characters were so believable and easy to follow

question: What is the hero character like in this book?, context: First of all I never give a five star rating hardly ever. If I could give it more I would!! This book takes you on a rollercoaster ride with art and art history like you wouldn't believe. It gives you such a visual you actually feel you are right there in the middle of it all. The twists and turns blew me away. I found myself talking out loud to myself in disbelief at certain points. The characters were so believable and easy to follow I had a very hard time putting this book down. I even tried to slow down my reading to make the book last longer. Seldom do I come across a book that I think about before I go to bed and again when I wake up. Usually when I finish a book I just download another one and start reading again; but I think I'll wait for awhile and just enjoy the residuals of this epic book. Read it....you won't be disappointed!!!!!

What is the hero character like in this book?

The characters were so believable and easy to follow I had a very hard time putting this book down.

First of all I never give a five star rating hardly ever. If I could give it more I would!! This book takes you on a rollercoaster ride with art and art history like you wouldn't believe. It gives you such a visual you actually feel you are right there in the middle of it all. The twists and turns blew me away. I found myself talking out loud to myself in disbelief at certain points. The characters were so believable and easy to follow I had a very hard time putting this book down. I even tried to slow down my reading to make the book last longer. Seldom do I come across a book that I think about before I go to bed and again when I wake up. Usually when I finish a book I just download another one and start reading again; but I think I'll wait for awhile and just enjoy the residuals of this epic book. Read it....you won't be disappointed!!!!!

<hl> The characters were so believable and easy to follow <hl> I had a very hard time putting this book down.

First of all I never give a five star rating hardly ever. If I could give it more I would!! This book takes you on a rollercoaster ride with art and art history like you wouldn't believe. It gives you such a visual you actually feel you are right there in the middle of it all. The twists and turns blew me away. I found myself talking out loud to myself in disbelief at certain points. <hl> The characters were so believable and easy to follow <hl> I had a very hard time putting this book down. I even tried to slow down my reading to make the book last longer. Seldom do I come across a book that I think about before I go to bed and again when I wake up. Usually when I finish a book I just download another one and start reading again; but I think I'll wait for awhile and just enjoy the residuals of this epic book. Read it....you won't be disappointed!!!!!

First of all I never give a five star rating hardly ever. If I could give it more I would!! This book takes you on a rollercoaster ride with art and art history like you wouldn't believe. It gives you such a visual you actually feel you are right there in the middle of it all. The twists and turns blew me away. I found myself talking out loud to myself in disbelief at certain points. <hl> The characters were so believable and easy to follow I had a very hard time putting this book down. <hl> I even tried to slow down my reading to make the book last longer. Seldom do I come across a book that I think about before I go to bed and again when I wake up. Usually when I finish a book I just download another one and start reading again; but I think I'll wait for awhile and just enjoy the residuals of this epic book. Read it....you won't be disappointed!!!!!

8cf37d5fa23ba53abe956f03ff9ef5bb

books

This was such a sexy, funny and cute story

question: How is scene?, context: This was such a sexy, funny and cute story!!! I was worried it was going to be a cliff hanger since it shows it a series but it had a great ending! I even found myself reading part of the story to my husband as Drew has some great lines, points and perspective! Can't wait to read another book from this author :)

How is scene?

This was such a sexy, funny and cute story !!!

This was such a sexy, funny and cute story!!! I was worried it was going to be a cliff hanger since it shows it a series but it had a great ending! I even found myself reading part of the story to my husband as Drew has some great lines, points and perspective! Can't wait to read another book from this author :)

<hl> This was such a sexy, funny and cute story <hl> !!!

<hl> This was such a sexy, funny and cute story <hl>!!! I was worried it was going to be a cliff hanger since it shows it a series but it had a great ending! I even found myself reading part of the story to my husband as Drew has some great lines, points and perspective! Can't wait to read another book from this author :)

<hl> This was such a sexy, funny and cute story !!! <hl> I was worried it was going to be a cliff hanger since it shows it a series but it had a great ending! I even found myself reading part of the story to my husband as Drew has some great lines, points and perspective! Can't wait to read another book from this author :)

ec4c2d6c35d51541328e0a239a2d1723

books