Q. Why did you choose this book?
A. I'd never read a Nora Roberts book until last year, and I liked it so much I bought a whole bunch more of them. These two books were bundled together in one volume entitled Born O'Hurley. Last year I read two other titles in the O'Hurley siblings series, although those two technically came after these two.
Q. Did you like the story?
A. Yes, both of them. To me, Nora Roberts' books are the literary equivalent of Toll House chocolate-chip cookies: good eating, not to be confused with fine dining. It's as if the books are written according to a recipe, which means they have pretty much the same ingredients and turn out almost the same way every time. I like that recipe, so it's a good thing.
Q. Were the characters believable?
A. Nora Roberts' characters are always people I'd like to know. In fact, I'd say it was her strong female characters who drew me to her books in the first place.
Q. Did you like the writing style?
A. Yes, it isn't fussy.
Q. Did you think about the book when you were doing other things?
A. Not especially, but I did keep it handy so I could pick it up anytime I knew I'd be sitting in one spot for more than a couple of minutes.
Q. Was there anything about the book that drove you nuts?
A. At my ripe old age I find the sex scenes boring. As I discovered in my own experience, there are only so many ways to go about coupling, and the same apparently applies to writing descriptions of the act. That being said, I can skip those passages without missing any of the story. And, to give the author the benefit of the doubt, I'm well aware that those might have been my favorite parts of the book thirty years ago.
Q. How did you feel when you finished the book?
A. Happy and a little guilty, just the way I feel after eating a handful of chocolate-chip cookies.
Q. Will you keep the book to reread later?
A. Probably not. I may reread them at some point, but I imagine Nora Roberts' fan base is big enough that these books will always be easy to find.
Q. Any final thoughts about the book?
A. No. All I'm thinking about now is cookies.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Monday, January 21, 2008
Echo Burning (by Lee Child)
Q. Why did you choose this book?
A. A blurb on the front cover captured my attention: "The best thriller writer of the moment." -- The New York Times
That was enough to make me pick it up and read the back cover. The story sounded interesting, so I read the first page to see if it hooked me. It did.
Q. Did you like the story?
A. Very much. It would make a great movie.
Q. Were the characters believable?
A. Yes. By the end of the book, I felt as if I knew each of them well.
Q. Did you like the writing style?
A. Yes. The writing was so natural that I didn't even think about it; I was too absorbed in the story.
Q. Did you think about the book when you were doing other things?
A. Yes, but I wasn't thinking so much about what would happen next in the story as I was trying to figure out who I'd cast in a movie as the main character, Jack Reacher. It needs to be a tall guy with steely eyes. A young Clint Eastwood would have been perfect. Denzel Washington would be great, but there are issues of racism in this book, and the story wouldn't work if Jack Reacher were anything but white.
Q. Was there anything about the book that drove you nuts?
A. Switching back and forth between two sets of characters was a little confusing at first, but I got used to it quickly.
Q. How did you feel when you finished the book?
A. Happy with the way it ended and glad I discovered this author.
Q. Will you keep the book to reread later?
A. Maybe. What I will do for sure is order the other books in the Jack Reacher series.
Q. Any final thoughts about the book?
A. If you like mysteries, I think you'd like this one.
A. A blurb on the front cover captured my attention: "The best thriller writer of the moment." -- The New York Times
That was enough to make me pick it up and read the back cover. The story sounded interesting, so I read the first page to see if it hooked me. It did.
Q. Did you like the story?
A. Very much. It would make a great movie.
Q. Were the characters believable?
A. Yes. By the end of the book, I felt as if I knew each of them well.
Q. Did you like the writing style?
A. Yes. The writing was so natural that I didn't even think about it; I was too absorbed in the story.
Q. Did you think about the book when you were doing other things?
A. Yes, but I wasn't thinking so much about what would happen next in the story as I was trying to figure out who I'd cast in a movie as the main character, Jack Reacher. It needs to be a tall guy with steely eyes. A young Clint Eastwood would have been perfect. Denzel Washington would be great, but there are issues of racism in this book, and the story wouldn't work if Jack Reacher were anything but white.
Q. Was there anything about the book that drove you nuts?
A. Switching back and forth between two sets of characters was a little confusing at first, but I got used to it quickly.
Q. How did you feel when you finished the book?
A. Happy with the way it ended and glad I discovered this author.
Q. Will you keep the book to reread later?
A. Maybe. What I will do for sure is order the other books in the Jack Reacher series.
Q. Any final thoughts about the book?
A. If you like mysteries, I think you'd like this one.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
The Ultimate Gift (by Jim Stovall)
Q. Why did you choose this book?
A. My son-in-law read it, liked it, and offered to lend it to me.
Q. Did you like the story?
A. Yes, I found it charming.
Q. Were the characters believable?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you like the writing style?
A. Very much.
Q. Did you think about the book when you were doing other things?
A. It's a short book. I read it in one sitting, but I have thought of it since.
Q. Was there anything about the book that drove you nuts?
A. Nope.
Q. How did you feel when you finished the book?
A. Inspired.
Q. Will you keep the book to reread later?
A. I'll return it to its owner, but it's the kind of book that would be good to read again from time to time.
Q. Any final thoughts about the book?
A. I hope I can keep its lessons in mind.
A. My son-in-law read it, liked it, and offered to lend it to me.
Q. Did you like the story?
A. Yes, I found it charming.
Q. Were the characters believable?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you like the writing style?
A. Very much.
Q. Did you think about the book when you were doing other things?
A. It's a short book. I read it in one sitting, but I have thought of it since.
Q. Was there anything about the book that drove you nuts?
A. Nope.
Q. How did you feel when you finished the book?
A. Inspired.
Q. Will you keep the book to reread later?
A. I'll return it to its owner, but it's the kind of book that would be good to read again from time to time.
Q. Any final thoughts about the book?
A. I hope I can keep its lessons in mind.
Atonement (by Ian McEwan)
Q. Why did you choose this book?
A. I was intrigued by the commercials for the movie based on this book, so when I saw the book, I snatched it up.
Q. Did you like the story?
A. I might have liked it if it had been told in about 15 pages. The story was buried in fluff. (Let me acknowledge here that I've read a bunch of online reviews for this book and find that my opinion puts me in a minority. Ah, well, it is what it is.)
Q. Were the characters believable?
A. Believable, yes, but not particularly likeable.
Q. Did you like the writing style?
A. The writing in the last part of the book was crisp and sharp, and I liked it just fine. For the first third of the book, though, I felt as if I were slogging hip-deep through horse manure that had been liberally sprinkled with flowers. There's a point to the differences between the first and last parts of the book, but the point, to me, was the literary equivalent of a shaggy-dog story.
Q. Did you think about the book when you were doing other things?
A. Um...well, when I was brushing my teeth at bedtime, I'd think about whether I should pick up this book again or cut my losses and start a new one.
Q. Was there anything about the book that drove you nuts?
A. Yes, the verbosity of the first part.
Q. How did you feel when you finished the book?
A. As if I'd wasted hours of my life I could never get back.
Q. Will you keep the book to reread later?
A. No way.
Q. Any final thoughts about the book?
A. Pfffffttt!
A. I was intrigued by the commercials for the movie based on this book, so when I saw the book, I snatched it up.
Q. Did you like the story?
A. I might have liked it if it had been told in about 15 pages. The story was buried in fluff. (Let me acknowledge here that I've read a bunch of online reviews for this book and find that my opinion puts me in a minority. Ah, well, it is what it is.)
Q. Were the characters believable?
A. Believable, yes, but not particularly likeable.
Q. Did you like the writing style?
A. The writing in the last part of the book was crisp and sharp, and I liked it just fine. For the first third of the book, though, I felt as if I were slogging hip-deep through horse manure that had been liberally sprinkled with flowers. There's a point to the differences between the first and last parts of the book, but the point, to me, was the literary equivalent of a shaggy-dog story.
Q. Did you think about the book when you were doing other things?
A. Um...well, when I was brushing my teeth at bedtime, I'd think about whether I should pick up this book again or cut my losses and start a new one.
Q. Was there anything about the book that drove you nuts?
A. Yes, the verbosity of the first part.
Q. How did you feel when you finished the book?
A. As if I'd wasted hours of my life I could never get back.
Q. Will you keep the book to reread later?
A. No way.
Q. Any final thoughts about the book?
A. Pfffffttt!
Who needs another book-review blog? I do.
What I learned from keeping a book list last year is that it doesn't help much. Oh, maybe it'll stop me from buying the same book twice (which I've done on more than one occasion), but it doesn't help me remember which books I can give away and which ones I might want to read again.
This year I decided to go a step further, to set up a Q&A-review blog, a cheat sheet, if you will, to jog my memory. These reviews won't be little literary gems in themselves (like the ones Janet writes), and there won't be any plot synopses here. If you want to learn more about a particular book, I highly recommend that you Google the title and read other online reviews before investing your time or your money.
I apologize in advance if I happen not to like somebody else's favorite book. My literary taste is uniquely my own.
This year I decided to go a step further, to set up a Q&A-review blog, a cheat sheet, if you will, to jog my memory. These reviews won't be little literary gems in themselves (like the ones Janet writes), and there won't be any plot synopses here. If you want to learn more about a particular book, I highly recommend that you Google the title and read other online reviews before investing your time or your money.
I apologize in advance if I happen not to like somebody else's favorite book. My literary taste is uniquely my own.
2007 Reading List
In 2007 I kept a list of the books I read, the first time I've ever done that. As I look over the list, a few titles, the books that were exceptionally good, stand out from the rest. A lot of the ones that don't stand out were good, too, but I'll be darned if I can remember which ones they were just by looking at their titles and authors. I have to hold each book in my hand and flip through it again to refresh my memory. There must be a better way. Here (for what it's worth) is the freshly-alphabetized list.
A Thousand Splendid Suns (Khaled Hosseini)
Beach Road (James Patterson and Peter de Jonge)
Blaze (Stephen King, writing as Richard Bachman)
Blood Orange (Drusilla Campbell)
Bone Lake (Drusilla Campbell)
Born in Death (Nora Roberts writing as J. D. Robb)
Cage of Stars (Jacqueline Mitchard)
Carolina Moon (Nora Roberts)
Chesapeake Blue (Nora Roberts)
Cold Moon (Jeffery Deaver)
Coming Out (Danielle Steel)
Crisis (Robin Cook)
Cross (James Patterson)
Daring to Dream (Nora Roberts)
Dear John (Nicholas Sparks)
Death Dance (Linda Fairstein)
Deliverance (James Dickey)
Dog Days (Jon Katz)
Fat Girl (Judith Moore)
Finding the Dream (Nora Roberts)
Good Dog. Stay. (Anna Quindlen)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (J. K. Rowling)
Heart-Shaped Box (Joe Hill)
Here If You Need Me (Kate Braestrup)
High Noon (Nora Roberts)
Holding the Dream (Nora Roberts)
Inner Harbor (Nora Roberts)
Irish Rose (Nora Roberts)
Irish Thoroughbred (Nora Roberts)
Kill Me (Stephen White)
Killer Dreams (Iris Johansen)
Lean Mean Thirteen (Janet Evanovich)
Lisey's Story (Stephen King)
Look Me in the Eye (John Elder Robison)
Next (Michael Crichton)
Night Moves (Nora Roberts)
Pain Free (Pete Egoscue with Roger Gittines)
Partners (Nora Roberts)
Playing for Pizza (John Grisham)
Power Play (Joseph Finder)
Pretty Woman (Fern Michaels)
Proof Positive (Phillip Margolin)
Public Secrets (Nora Roberts)
Red River (Lalita Tademy)
Rhett Butler's People (Donald McCaig)
Ricochet (Sandra Brown)
Rising Tides (Nora Roberts)
Sea Swept (Nora Roberts)
Sharon Osborne Extreme: My Autobiography (Sharon Osborne)
Simple Genius (David Baldacci)
Skin Deep (Nora Roberts)
Sleep No More (Greg Iles)
Stalemate (Iris Johansen)
The Art of Deception (Nora Roberts)
The Blue Zone (Andrew Gross)
The Bone Garden (Tess Gerritsen)
The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)
The Choice (Nicholas Sparks)
The Game (Neil Strauss)
The Glass Castle (Jeannette Walls)
The God of Animals (Aryn Kyle)
The Good Guy (Dean Koontz)
The Husband (Dean Koontz)
The Know-It-All (A.J. Jacobs)
The Memory Keeper's Daughter (Kim Edwards)
The Mephisto Club (Tess Gerritsen)
The Nanny Diaries (Emma Mclaughlin and Nicola Kraus)
The Quickie (James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge)
The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
The Widow of the South (Robert Hicks)
The Woods (Harlan Coben)
The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible (A.J. Jacobs)
Third Degree (Greg Iles)
True Evil (Greg Iles)
Two Little Girls in Blue (Mary Higgins Clark)
Water for Elephants (Sara Gruen)
Whistling in the Dark (Lesley Kagen)
Wild Fire (Nelson DeMille)
Without a Trace (Nora Roberts)
You've Been Warned (James Patterson & Howard Roughan)
A Thousand Splendid Suns (Khaled Hosseini)
Beach Road (James Patterson and Peter de Jonge)
Blaze (Stephen King, writing as Richard Bachman)
Blood Orange (Drusilla Campbell)
Bone Lake (Drusilla Campbell)
Born in Death (Nora Roberts writing as J. D. Robb)
Cage of Stars (Jacqueline Mitchard)
Carolina Moon (Nora Roberts)
Chesapeake Blue (Nora Roberts)
Cold Moon (Jeffery Deaver)
Coming Out (Danielle Steel)
Crisis (Robin Cook)
Cross (James Patterson)
Daring to Dream (Nora Roberts)
Dear John (Nicholas Sparks)
Death Dance (Linda Fairstein)
Deliverance (James Dickey)
Dog Days (Jon Katz)
Fat Girl (Judith Moore)
Finding the Dream (Nora Roberts)
Good Dog. Stay. (Anna Quindlen)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (J. K. Rowling)
Heart-Shaped Box (Joe Hill)
Here If You Need Me (Kate Braestrup)
High Noon (Nora Roberts)
Holding the Dream (Nora Roberts)
Inner Harbor (Nora Roberts)
Irish Rose (Nora Roberts)
Irish Thoroughbred (Nora Roberts)
Kill Me (Stephen White)
Killer Dreams (Iris Johansen)
Lean Mean Thirteen (Janet Evanovich)
Lisey's Story (Stephen King)
Look Me in the Eye (John Elder Robison)
Next (Michael Crichton)
Night Moves (Nora Roberts)
Pain Free (Pete Egoscue with Roger Gittines)
Partners (Nora Roberts)
Playing for Pizza (John Grisham)
Power Play (Joseph Finder)
Pretty Woman (Fern Michaels)
Proof Positive (Phillip Margolin)
Public Secrets (Nora Roberts)
Red River (Lalita Tademy)
Rhett Butler's People (Donald McCaig)
Ricochet (Sandra Brown)
Rising Tides (Nora Roberts)
Sea Swept (Nora Roberts)
Sharon Osborne Extreme: My Autobiography (Sharon Osborne)
Simple Genius (David Baldacci)
Skin Deep (Nora Roberts)
Sleep No More (Greg Iles)
Stalemate (Iris Johansen)
The Art of Deception (Nora Roberts)
The Blue Zone (Andrew Gross)
The Bone Garden (Tess Gerritsen)
The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)
The Choice (Nicholas Sparks)
The Game (Neil Strauss)
The Glass Castle (Jeannette Walls)
The God of Animals (Aryn Kyle)
The Good Guy (Dean Koontz)
The Husband (Dean Koontz)
The Know-It-All (A.J. Jacobs)
The Memory Keeper's Daughter (Kim Edwards)
The Mephisto Club (Tess Gerritsen)
The Nanny Diaries (Emma Mclaughlin and Nicola Kraus)
The Quickie (James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge)
The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
The Widow of the South (Robert Hicks)
The Woods (Harlan Coben)
The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible (A.J. Jacobs)
Third Degree (Greg Iles)
True Evil (Greg Iles)
Two Little Girls in Blue (Mary Higgins Clark)
Water for Elephants (Sara Gruen)
Whistling in the Dark (Lesley Kagen)
Wild Fire (Nelson DeMille)
Without a Trace (Nora Roberts)
You've Been Warned (James Patterson & Howard Roughan)
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