Reviews (55)

Efron Is Real
As a university professor originally from New York City and definitely past the "baby Boomer" stage, I still found time to read Nora's essays and thoroughly enjoyed them."Sleepless in Seattle" and "You've Got Mail," are not "Hilarious" as so many people expect, but rather poignant portrayals of real-life human dilemmas presented in a lighter voice.Nora has been the one who can capture the rare moment within the chaos of reality, and her essays in the "neck" book do just that. This was obviously not meant to be the "book of the year," but a snapshot of the woman behind the captivating novels and films.The essays allow us to see that, she too, is aging with the rest of us, and it comes on all so quickly.I plan on gifting this book for the holidays, along with Gangi's "Forget The Cures, Find The Cause," and "Crazy Salad."The combination will help to get many minds and bodies on a better track.

A disappointment
I ran to get a copy of Nora Ephron's newest book, as I always liked her work. I'm glad I didn't spend the money, and instead got it from the library. I expected a very funny book that would be filled with wisdom and wit. Instead I found a slightly funny book that lacked originality and really had nothing to say. It would be too harsh to call it self-indulgent, but in a way it was. So she had a rent-controlled apartment that she loved, so parenting has changed,and so she has to dye her hair (often). Yawn yawn.
Women (and men) Will Love This Book
I was one of the 5 women in Azzarella's car going to Rayna Gangi's book signing(another great book, by the way) and all of us are at least over 50.Nora, the Golden Girls, even Oprah, will love these stories. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Aging    2. American Satire And Humor    3. Form - Essays    4. Humor    5. Women's Studies - General    6. Humor / Essays   

Reviews (16)

I'm sorry but I'm sooooo bored
I've read all the glowing reviews here and I will say that I loved Cold Mountain.I'm only 1/2 way through Thirteen Moons and I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to finish it.It is so boring that I read pages and pages and realize that I have no idea what I've just read!It might as well be a book on economic theory for all the pleasure it is giving me.

Who the hell is Claire?
a mysterious girl named Claire.... we never found out who she is, what
Did I miss something too?
Like an earlier reviewer, I wonder what I missed that others did not.Though the author writes beautiful prose, I think his story (or the lack of one) makes for one of the most boring and uninteresting novels I have ever read.I recommend that you not waste your valuable time reading this novel. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Action & Adventure    2. Fiction    3. Fiction - General    4. General    5. Fiction / General   

Reviews (40)

Albom Write an American Fable
One More Day is an American Fable, and I mean that in the best of ways. This "as told to me" tale is poignant and tender and perhaps a bit too story-ish, but that's what it is--agood story with a good meaning. Not every book has this intention, but this does, so I accepted the terms and kept reading.
This is book is life changing!!
I loved this book!!!! It really made me start to think about my life and how I need to begin to appreciate things more. This book is better than "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" because the story. I love my mother and this story made me appreciate her even more. READ THIS BOOK!! YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!!

Not as good as TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE but still worth reading
FOR ONE MORE DAY by Mitch Albom
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Subjects:  1. Death    2. Fiction    3. Fiction - General    4. General    5. Mothers    6. Mothers and sons    7. Popular American Fiction    8. Suicidal behavior    9. Fiction / General   

Reviews (11)

A pedestrian effort from an otherwise engaging author.
Flynn, with his latest novel, "Act of Treason" manages to punch his time card and, I would imagine, collect on his Mitch Rapp annuity.But this book is on balance a great disappointment.My wife and I have both eagerly awaited each of Flynn's new novels and have yet to be disappointed.But this book disappoints.Not so much so that I wouldn't recommend buying it and reading it but it ends up being a mundane and ordinary effort particularly in comparison to his early Mitch Rapp books.My wife, father, and both in-laws will all end up reading this book but it will only be with a lukewarm recommendation from me.
Good but not Great
If this is your first introduction to Mitch Rapp, then this is a 5 star book.But for those of us who have read the first seven, this one is a little thin on plot (wasn't difficult to see where it was going) and character development (nothing new).
Too short.
I loved the book.Thought the ending was great.As always, it's a rush and then a letdown to finish a Vince Flynn book.I'm always left wanting more.Go Vince!! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - Espionage / Thriller    3. Literary    4. Political    5. Thrillers    6. Fiction / General   

Editorial Review

Best known for his Border Trilogy, hailed in the Read more

Reviews (76)

Thoughts along "The Road"
It is true that art is in the eye of the beholder. In fact, literature is a medium that is art in its highest form and you can therefore think of it as not being confined to restrictions of form, content, idea or characterization. I have always enjoyed the challenge of reading McCarthy, but I found "The Road" perhaps his least challenging read, at least as far as sentence structure goes. I can remember a particular sentence in "Blood Meridian" where he is describing the terrifying horde of marauders that was an entire paragraph and contained, oh, 250 words. That was challenging. In my view he has toned down his verbosity about five clicks in this latest work. It was, however, quite fetching in its sparsity.
He'd fail in my class.
I don't care how "artistic" a writer may think he or she is. He or she cannot use this as an excuse for poor, ungrammatical writing.And that's what is in this book .Take the first three "sentences," for example.Two of the three are not even sentences at all, but merely sentence fragments. I think there are more sentence fragments in this book than there are sentences. There are very few commas in this book, though many are called for.The dialog is not even placed within quotation marks. It is not readable at all.
The Road Of Destruction
Take a dark journey on a postapocalyptic road, with a father and his son, in a cold, stark, barren, lifeless empty world. Where sudden terror could strike. So real is this world that you have no doubt of its existence. You feel their plight only too well. You know where its ending, still you turn the pages. Any realist cannot but dread, are we headed down that road?
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Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - General    3. General    4. Literary    5. Mccarthy, Cormac - Prose & Criticism    6. Fiction / General   

Reviews (69)

there are better Turkish novelists
Pamuk's Nobel Prize caught me a little more than halfway through this book. I find it rather disappointing that the Nobel Committee picked Pamuk over a much more deserving Turkish novelist, Yashar Kemal. Even by the political criteria that often seem to be more important to the Nobel Committee than literary criteria, Kemal trumps Pamuk: instead of merely talking about historically oppressed peoples like the Kurds and Armenians, Kemal is himself a Kurd, and rather than merely having had charges brought against him as a political dissident, Kemal has actually been to prison. But much more importantly, Kemal is a much finer writer.
He is Nobel Prize Vinner...
What can I say? He got the Nobel!
A Turkish denizen returns to his homeland after having spent years in exile in Germany.
I thought that this book would be one that would be mediocre when I started it, but good gracious, was I mistaken! It was an exhilarating tale down which I could not put. It was so easy to connect with Ka, Ipek and the rest of the characters and to follow their lives. Pamuk's writing style just flowed and his descriptions of the people and places just filled my mind with the incentive to know more.I rarely read such interesting stories and the one featured here in "Snow" is a gem. If you only read one book this decade, then this should be it! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - General    3. General    4. Literary    5. Turkish (Language) Contemporary Fiction    6. Fiction / Literary   

Reviews (197)

Undecided
I finished reading this more than a week ago and have hesitated to comment because I'm not sure, even yet, exactly what I think of it.This is unusual for me.My first inclination was that this was nothing more than a soap opera saga.Secondly, I had little patience for the wife whose twin died at birth, so far as she knew, but who pined for the "deceased" daughter and let it affect her happiness, let it lead her to drink and extramarital affairs.As I was reading the book I wanted to shake her.In real life, people lose known children to disease, murder kidnapping--all sorts of tragedies.Losing one twin in childbirth is not that disastrous by comparison.
Not Great
Why didn't they just get divorced????Great beginning and premises - but lost the momentum by mid-way through.Writing was only slight better than a Danielle Steel novel.Characters poorly developed and annoying.Disappointed because I had heard so many great this about this book. Didn't finish this book.

Ken Boire author of Inherit The Tide
I was drawn to the book by the Best Seller list and then by the diversity of reviews posted on Amazon.There were nearly two hundred of them which indicates seomebody either has a very popular book or a very good system for getting reviews posted.Then after paging through a few of them I noted they were polarized.Some were flowing 5 star reviews that could have been written by the author's mother.Others could have been by her worst enemy using the review to send her 1-2 stars in front of God and everybody.
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Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - Espionage / Thriller    3. Fiction - General    4. General    5. Popular American Fiction    6. Psychological    7. Suspense    8. Fiction / Literary   

Editorial Review

Since his first novel was published in 1974, Stephen King has stretched the boundaries of the written word, not only bringing horror to new heights, but trying his hand at nearly every possible genre, including children's books, graphic novels, serial novels, literary fiction, nonfiction, westerns, fantasy, and even e-books (remember The Plant?). With Read more

Subjects:  1. Authors    2. Fiction    3. Fiction - General    4. Fiction - Horror    5. General    6. Grief    7. Horror    8. Horror - General    9. King, Stephen - Prose & Criticism    10. Widows    11. Fiction / General   

Reviews (2)

Baldacci's best
I'm quite sure, and I've read almost all of his books, this is his best yet. Brilliant plot, very believable characters. Best book this year since I read Bob Collins' "Ambassador Strikes."

Perhaps Baldacci's Best Yet. Sit Back and Enjoy This One!
David Baldacci's ensemble of fascinating and brilliantly created characters in `The Collectors' coupled with two intertwining plots of murder and a clever financial con make for a completely enjoyable and page-turning read.Following his best selling hit `The Camel Club' with some familiar faces and the addition of the sultry yet incorrigibly scandalous Annabelle Conroy, readers will be continually amused and entertained as Baldacci, as if a grand maestro, intertwines and blends the character action and movement with such ease and storyline pleasure.As usual and expected in Baldacci's novels, readers will be left turning the pages, in this case as the plot moves to a very interesting conclusion when the World of Washington politics and those involved with a long-term swindle are forced to collide. Folks, sit back and enjoy `The Collectors', it very well may be David Baldacci's best yet. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Baldwin, James - Prose & Criticism    2. Conspiracies    3. Fiction    4. Fiction - Espionage / Thriller    5. Legislators    6. Secret societies    7. Thrillers    8. United States    9. Fiction / Thrillers   

Editorial Review

Settle down to enjoy a rousing good ghost story with Diane Setterfield's debut novel, Read more

Reviews (57)

What is the truth?
Margaret Lea, the narrator of The Thirteenth Tale is a solitary, intelligent woman, with a true passion for the written word.However, true to the gothic styling of the story, she has her own compelling secrets to discover.She is commissioned to compose the dying Vida Winter's (the world's best selling and most peculiar{?} author) biography...or has she?
A Modern Classic
This book is written in the grand old style of the 19th-century authors, and it's amazing.It gives a strong nod to Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, so if you liked those books you may like this as well.But the plot is not copied from those books, it's just written in a similar style.The Thirteenth Tale will sit nicely beside my Jane Austen and Bronte sisters, and I would welcome more books by Ms. Setterfield.

I could not put it down.
Ms. Setterfield has written a book lover's book, with a wave of her pen acknowledging Rebecca, Jane Eyre, Scheherazade and countless Gothic heroines. This book has it all: strange family members, incest, rape,sadism, murder, madness, secrets and lost children. Quickly, the plot. A biographer is hired by a well known, much loved author to tell the truth about her life. The author, Vida Winters, has outwitted one interviewer after another by sharing marvelously inventive and utterly untruestories about her background.Now dying, she feels compelled to tell the truth. Margaret, a bookish young woman and reluctant biographer, has secrets of her own.
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Subjects:  1. English First Novelists    2. Female friendship    3. Fiction    4. Fiction - General    5. Fiction - Historical    6. General    7. Historical - General    8. Literary    9. Recluses as authors    10. Women authors    11. Fiction / Historical   

Subjects:  1. American Mystery & Suspense Fiction    2. Corey, John (Fictitious character)    3. Ex-police officers    4. Fiction    5. Fiction - General    6. General    7. Nuclear terrorism    8. Thrillers    9. Fiction / General   

Subjects:  1. African American psychologists    2. Cross, Alex (Fictitious character)    3. Fiction    4. Fiction - Espionage / Thriller    5. Fiction - General    6. General    7. Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)    8. Rapists    9. Thrillers    10. Fiction / General   

Reviews (85)

I read about 6 years ago
I read the book in its original language and it was fun. I was in the 16th century Istanbul for about a week (well, of course the author's perception of 16th century Istanbul), while reading this book. I don't recall what the details were, but it was interesting in the sense that objects like colors etc. were telling the story in each chapter. I had never seen that in a novel before.

One of the best writers of all time
One of the best I have ever read. Also red his other book "snow" but this one is I think is one of the best reads I had. Highly recomended...

Benim Adim Kirmizi
This is not a review but a congratulory salutation to Mr. Pamuk for being Read more

Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - General    3. Literary    4. Literature: Classics    5. Fiction / Literary   

Reviews (12)

To Be Or Not To Be, That Is The Problem.
To Each His Own, But To Deface History in This Way.
Horrible
After reading Inheritance of Loss, I immediately turn to read Salman Rusdie as a way of reminding myself what great Indain writing is.
Ambitious but Satisfying
Cho Oyu, a crumbling old house in the foothills of the Himalayas is home to the main characters of Kiran Desai's Booker shortlisted The Inheritance of Loss.
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Subjects:  1. Asian American Novel And Short Story    2. Fiction    3. Fiction - General    4. Literary    5. Popular American Fiction    6. Fiction / Literary   

Editorial Review

Jacob Jankowski says: "I am ninety.Or ninety-three.One or the other."At the beginning of Read more

Reviews (161)

Ham Sandwich
Easy going down and eminently forgettable.Not a bad effort by Ms. Gruen by any means, but a substantial amount of the book is given to cliched, obvious writing (both in language and character).The general premise is enjoyable, however; who doesn't like the circus.Reading "Water for Elephants" is like watching a movie on cable - odds are that you've already seen it, you know where it's going, but it's still a fine way to pass some time.

Wonderful, engaging book
What a great read. Couldn't put it down. Great character development. I truly cared about these people. A wonderful combination of a book about aging, the circus, a love affair and at the same time keeps you on the edge of your sit. Oh, its about an elephant too!

A Wonderful Book
I found this book while perusing Amazon.com.It is rare for me to find a book that is so entertaining but this one was.I have never read any of the other books by this author, but she is excellent.The book takes you into the time of the depression and you feel, smell and experience everything that the charachter is feeling.The main charachter is in his nineties now, but we get to travel back in time through him, to this time in U.S. history and experience how a traveling circus worked back then.It is such a richly written story, you will not want to put it down.The desperation of the times, the way people lived, their expectations, their feelings, etc. are all here.I have recommended this book to multiple friends, which I rarely do.You will not be disappointed with this story.There are no low points that drag.It's a green light read from start to finish.There is an authors note at the end, and she explains how she came up with the idea and her research to write this book depicting this time period and the circus era.Although it is fiction, she got the facts first and melded it into this novel.Very good indeed. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. American Historical Fiction    2. Circus    3. Circus performers    4. Depressions    5. Fiction    6. Fiction - General    7. Historical - General    8. Literary    9. Fiction / Literary   

Editorial Review

An emperor amasses an army of hundreds of thousands, drawn from twocontinents, to invade a third continent and conquer a tiny, divided nation. Onlya few hundred warriors stand against them. Yet the tiny nation is saved. Itsounds like the plot of a preposterous fantasy novel. It is historical fact. In481-480 B.C., King Xerxes of Persia raised forces in Asia and Africa and invadedGreece with an army so huge that it "drank rivers dry." Then they entered themountain pass of Thermopylae and encountered 300 determined soldiers fromSparta....Read more

Reviews (64)

Worth every penny!
This is a georgeous folio book.Frank Miller at his best.Dark and vivid.This book was out of print for a while, and it is an absolute treasure to own.

Herodotus meets Sin Cityand gets whacked.
I was hoping that Miller would turn his talents from the dark side and we would see how well he could reproduce a Classical Epic.What we get is a blood splattered "300 Lacedaimons in the Hood".The Spartans are presented to be a buch of Homo erotic Rastafarians.The Persians rather than the Noble Middle Eastern Autocrats presented in their Art are drawn by Miller to resemble African American Gangstas with piercings and Skin art everywhere.I was looking for Xerxes to have a grill and whitewalls on his chariot.
I will always think of this as 'Zoo.'What can I say?I'm special.
But do not miss this trade paperback.The story is as fine as you'll ever read, a tale as old as time.And the artwork is fantastic.
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Subjects:  1. Comics & Graphic Novels    2. Fiction    3. General    4. Graphic Novels - General    5. Historical - General    6. History - General History    7. Comics & Graphic Novels / General    8. Graphic novels   

Reviews (66)

World War Z Makes This Reader Want MORE
Max Brooks' shamblingly good World War Z made this zombie-genre-fan want more, more, more. This "oral history" chronicles the stories of many who fought in and survived the zombie wars. If any one of their stories were expanded into a full-length novel, I would snap it up. I'm sure he's already been asked, but I must add my voice to the clamor: Please, Max Brooks, if youhave a third zombie book in you, write one that follows a protagonist from start to finish so we can go even further into the scary, creepy, wonderful world you've created.
A cut above genre
Zombies as a genre fit overwhelmingly into a visual medium, and there have been quite a few great zombie movies, "Night of the Living Dead", "Sean of the Dead", "28 Days Later",as well as some fun zombie graphic novels, "Marvel Zombies".Zombies are simple creatures that translate well to visuals with their sole moviation of kill, eat and infect. In "World War Z" Max Brooks takes on the zombie genre in the form of an intelligent oral history from the survivors of the global epidemic. Each chapter is the story told from a different survivor and organized chronologically from the start of the infections in China, throught the rise of zombies globally, the human resistance, and eventual human triumph. How do you translate the zombie genre from their success in the visual mediums into prose form? Mr. Brooks does exceedingly well by telling the human side of the horror story.
Worthy Read for Zombie Lovers
A fun read that has a bit of difficulty maintaining a tone. Is this serious, sometimes its very serious, at others a bit comicbooky - as the narrative of war against the undead unfolds we have some rather uneven snap shots - but the highs definitely outweigh the lows. Recommend reading for Zombie or survival fiction enthusiasts. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. American Satire And Humor    2. Fiction    3. Fiction - Men'sAdventure    4. Humor    5. Humorous    6. War    7. War & Military    8. Fiction / General   

Reviews (166)

Absolutely Fascinating!
I was hooked after reading only the first line!What a wonderful picture of Life in 19th Century China.Gloriously written.I've not read anything by Ms. Lee before, but I'm definitely going to explore some of her other books!

Touching and informative
The setting of this book is 19th. century China, a time when men's and women's roles are rigidly defined by age-old customs and rules.The two main characters are Lily, the narrator, and Snow Flower, her "laotong", who are bound together by contract and by love developed through many shared experiences.They are closer than husband and wife, or parent and child and they give one another much-needed love and support in a society where they are women and therefore useless for anything other than producing sons.Lisa See reveals details about many practices of the day, including foot-binding and nu shu, a specialized "women's writing" which is used by Lily and Snow Flower to communicate.They write hearfelt messages to one another on a fan, which becomes a chronicle of their intertwined lives and their most priceless possession.This is a fascinating look at what life was like for Chinese women in the 19th. century, and on another level it is a timeless lesson on the necessary components for a successful friendship between women.I highly recommend this book.

Intriguing Look into A Different World
What I thoroughly enjoyed about Snow Flower and the Secret Fan was becoming engrossed in the time period of the novel, learning about a culture I knew little about, and coming to understand the role of women in the Chinese society of the day. The friendship between Snow Flower and Lily was very well drawn, but the relationships between all of the female characters in the book was intriguing. This novel proved to be an excellent choice for my women's book club! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Asian American Novel And Short Story    2. China    3. Female friendship    4. Fiction    5. Fiction - General    6. Fiction - Historical    7. General    8. Historical - General    9. Popular American Fiction    10. Psychological    11. Reminiscing in old age    12. Women    13. Fiction / General   

Editorial Review

If your pulse flutters at the thought of castle ruins and descents into crypts by moonlight, you will savor every creepy page of Elizabeth Kostova's long but beautifully structured thriller