**spoiler alert** Carrie Soto is Back is a very good book. There are many instances showing the sharp mind of Reid. I tried to guess how Carrie, or Ca**spoiler alert** Carrie Soto is Back is a very good book. There are many instances showing the sharp mind of Reid. I tried to guess how Carrie, or Care, as her father once jokingly called her (the best joke in the book for me) ... I tried to guess how much success she would have. I did not foresee what happened and I did not expect this punch lifted straight out from Rocky III. By that I meant the surprise ending of the book.
I am very grateful to Reid for making me feel emotions about a book. That has not happened since a long time, perhaps since I read Ice Bound: A Doctor's Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole. I desperately wanted to go to this Tennis Land and console Carrie, and Javier, and Bowe, not to forget every single good character in the book. I kid you not, this book has attributed every single character with a personal tragedy. The girls and the boys who tried to bully Carrie were handed their lesson. If I wrack my brains, I can think of only Gwen's husband who is not chastened within these relevant pages. Although I am sure that he and Naomi will need to reengage more upscale lawyers to handle their future divorce.
I am thrilled that the guy called Marco did not bounce back into the story. In this too I was wrongfooted by Reid. Marco was a reason for Carrie's stunted and distorted maturity and I am glad that Reid did not use him again. OTOH, I thought that Huntley would be getting just a footnote in the book. I liked how his handsomeness is hinted at, other times blatantly harped on. This is the best of both worlds. Bowe is one of the reasons why I consider Tennis Land with a twinge, a hunger and sadness in the same way I regret Hogwarts is not real.
The writing is ordinary, but these ordinary words were arranged by an extraordinary author. Taylor Jenkins Reid makes Colleen Hoover seem like her day job is that of a cleaning lady who practises writing 2 hours every twilight. Reid makes J.K. Rowling seem like Ilona Andrews and makes Ilona Andrews seem like Jen Campbell. I need to read all of TJR's books, because life is short and I want to draw a balance between having fun and saving time for future plans.
The matches are brilliantly narrated. I must tell you what I thought would happen. I glanced at the chapters when I was in the middle of the book. I saw that there is a SOTO vs CHAN at the penultimate stop. I thought that Soto would lose her first three Slams and win against Chan. Then Carrie Soto would mellow and see Chan win against Cortez, was it? Yes.
I was not enjoying the first third of the book. The start, despite a tragic death, was not very emotional. This was not compensated by anything agreeable. No game plans for dealing with loss, no self deprecative jokes, no struggle to overcome except for the death and the Tennis. This is the major reason why I gave this book 3 stars only.
The humourless and heartless, ultra competitive main character felt recognisable to me. Though... she did feel stripped of part of what would make a real person like her. We do not get to hear her thoughts a lot. Not really. But I settled for this zombie woman on steroids - figuratively. I thought that I can like this book if this woman keeps up the hubristic shtick and be a second Raging Bull. I would not have enjoyed the book but I might have given it 4 stars. It would have been a case study of a sportswoman sketched by a gifted author.
In the first half of the book Carrie Soto's tale reminded me of the movie Best. It was about a telefilm in all but name only about a former footballer called George Best. The Carrie Soto in the book initially was as charmless of a train wreck as the character in that movie. But it would still feel real. It would have been an exercise in detachment from me. Reid had other ideas. The blooming of Carrie was late, all after her retirement. I felt for Javier Soto, because if we are frank, Javier died partly because of his row with her daughter, along with neglecting his health.
I have a theory that says that nobody can change after they turn 14 years old. The older I get, the more often this gets validated. Carrie Soto seems to have metamorphosed. But all that happened to her is that she made peace with her hurts and her limits, which are only human, and which, in turn render herself human.
I need to cut this review short now. To summarise, I loved this book because of Tennis Land and its secret, and native inhabitants. This world is not real. It is a fake but skillful take into the minds of people who live for a passion. I loved the ending a lot. Maybe I'll reread this book someday and give it 5 stars. Bowe Huntley is the glue that holds this book together though. Without him, I would have been glad to have seen the back of Carrie Soto....more
I read most of this book over a period of a month or more time. It left me exhausted, partly because this book would exhaust anyone sane. Also I did nI read most of this book over a period of a month or more time. It left me exhausted, partly because this book would exhaust anyone sane. Also I did not temper the reading experience with the enjoyment of a second (and much less voluminous) book. I must belabour the point that I fell at the last hurdles. I could not bear to persevere with this book to what would be a bitter end. Thus the removal of one star from my rating.
What is utterly bizarre is that this reading acted like a quantum phenomenon. First, I was enjoying it. Secondly, I had given the initial reading of Oathbringer 5 stars. But since that time I had been reviewing the book in my head and decided that the book merited 1 star. The fun does not end here. I also was shocked to discover that this so-called 1 star material had lots of moments that I had forgotten, most of them moments of gem-like brilliance.
Even after these volte-faces, I felt my brain being lobotomised to a slush while reading this book which to my senses, was an excellent read. I do not know why I was enjoying it and hating it at the same time. Maybe my quantum comparison was inaccurate. After all, Feynman himself claimed that if you think you understand quantum theory, then you don't understand it at all.
But though I digress, this is no joking matter. I got severe reading block when reading Oathbringer. I had to take a break from reading, a 4 day hiatus. When I went back to the book, I used my last strength to read up to the last quarter. After that I said 'no more'. This book broke me. And here I thought we were going to get along.
The magical stuff in the book is not magic. It narrates the reintroduction of 'magic' in the book, but there is a fuel of sorts in this book which powers most awe-inspiring acts. That fuel is Stormlight, which occurs whenever a 'highstorm' falls on a settlement or city. We get the same characters who we had cared for in book 2. They are all struggling with their troubles. Shallan, she of unspeakable sense of humour was different here.
Did I say this book was rocambolesque? It was indeed. Before picking book 3 up again, my preferred characters were 1) Kaladin 2) Adolin 3) Dalinar 4) Shallan. Now, this order is upside down and reversed completely. Shallan as Veil was my favourite because of her adventures. They were the best. I always feel good when a male author writes about a female character with care, and skill.
The world building was, as to be expected, elaborate in the merest details. Sanderson turns into a world beater when writing this series. I was particularly avid for any info about the unmade. And I was glad to hear one of them (nine Unmade in total here) talk, and have an individuality and a sense of right and wrong. This is one correct way to render supernatural beings. The Unmade are powerful and mysterious beings. They feel so much more unbeatable than good old dragons (which are not in this universe).
By reading patiently and turning back pages, I managed to piece together a lot of details that had been missed by me all these years ago. Oathbringer was my Moby Dick. I'm glad not to have gone to the bitter end with it, though, and to have cut it loose. The structure of this book was intelligent. There was no big reveal at the end (I checked coppermind, a wiki of the Stormlight Archives), but each adventure in the book brought new knowledge to the fore. Though I almost became an Unmade with the perusal of this book, I gleaned a sense of appeasement reading it. Now I can resume my activities as a reader with my regular earthly, and 'Newtonian' (read Unquantum) small tasks....more
This book is not atrocious. It is simply a book devoid of curves, and you cannot have twists without a curve. The book is both an exercise in oversimpThis book is not atrocious. It is simply a book devoid of curves, and you cannot have twists without a curve. The book is both an exercise in oversimplification and an exercise in the absurd. But when a story is both banal and nonsensical, a little sense begins to creep in it.
What little sense crept in made, predictably, little sense. There is just one part of the book that resonated humanly with me. That was when the stork said "it is nice to help people". The comparison of Moomin #1 with Alice in Wonderland must have appeared in the papers of that time, all the way in Finland. I say papers, because I doubt whether there were magazines back then devoted to such topics and writing of critical analysis and reviews and whatnot.
Alice in Wonderland had a structure. This book was like the types of books written by a 13 year old. A clever one, but still limited by experience and artfulness and sheer inexperience. Tove Jansson was born one year later than Albert Camus, and died a full 41 years later than the man. If only it was known what kind of loss has been suffered by such vicissitudes of fate. I am reading The Myth of Sisyphus and though I am dismayed to find it obscure as most modern philosophy books ( and as obscure as ancient texts too to be fair), the glimmerings of reason and imagination exceed Moomin 1's offering.
There is one real danger in Moomin's book. There is only one display of real evil. But it came in the form of a serpent, which made sense but was disappointing all the same. Tulippa the flower child was ahead of her time - the sixties - but she had little to contribute to the book. I say book only, because it has no plot worth weighing. The most enigmatic creature is the little creature. He sounds displeased with the story he has been thrown in and I totally sympathise with him. Moominmamma and Moomintroll are bland but perhaps characters cherished by children who grew up reading this series.
I got to read this book because of a challenge, a prompt in it. It did not make a strong case for continuing the challenge next year (a country based one). If I am to be coaxed in reading fluff like this, then I would rather be rudderless in my journey in the domain of books and literature and reading and leisure. The last word trumps every other consideration. I do not suffer books like this because I can afford to dispense with any meaning I may have missed - and the odds say I have - with examining The Moomins and the Great Flood.
To conclude, I would rather welcome other books that will expand my horizons in literature, but I have by now discounted swathes of the latter discipline. I am done with 99 % of Victorian literature, because I cannot maintain my joie de vivre in the face of such rigid and immutable structure. I am done with science fiction and YA Fantasy and horror and Westerns. And I have been a non participatory frigid neutral where Romance is concerned. Romance leaves me cold and I feel manipulated whenever I read most of the books in that genre.
So the number of books is being constantly limited to me. This is a plus as well as not one. It is a plus because I am getting refined in my search for a good book to read. Like all worthy readers, I am a creature of habit. And the more the habit grows on me, the more certain I am of what I want in a book that will please me. It is a misfortune - i.e. not a plus - to me because entire genres of the system of reading are now off limits. But it is a fact of evolution that the creatures that specialises most, that deviates most from its ancestors, evolves fastest, though in totality few options are available for its next step.
I have been puzzled by my own choice in giving this book 1 star. I did not hate it. I was disappointed in it, but was not displeased by it. That is probably because little time has been expended in reading the book. It is disarmingly short and harmless in its indulgence. I do not hate Tove Jansson and this series has the reputation of being the most popular children's literature from Scandinavian countries. That is a blurb from the Afterword of the book and I must consider it true at face value. Though I wonder if Finland is part of Scandinavia. That is the type of negationism that has dogged my steps in one of the most eclectic and unsatisfactory reads of the year. Definitely short but certainly not sweet....more
I was excited to read this book, because it would be one of the rare times that I read it via the audiobook format. I knew there was more of a chance I was excited to read this book, because it would be one of the rare times that I read it via the audiobook format. I knew there was more of a chance of me finishing the read through listening to the very professional Juliet Stevenson. I can't really decimate this book bit by bit. I can't take it up to be verbose, snarky, and varied.
So I'll be brief and move on to the next read, to which I am already looking forward to. After this book, the only way is up. But my foray into YA Fantasy is not over. I want to read at least a couple of good books, lest I become bitter, unconnected with the spirit of the times, and lackadaisical.
I don't recognise many of my friends's adoration and fondness for this book. Maybe it is a YA thing, maybe it is a feminine thing. But things don't compute. People who react somewhat similarly to me, roughly so, lose their collective minds over this series, and this author, Maas. This book was jaw-droppingly of poor quality, for me at least.
I'm having difficulty in formulating the traumatic experience. My ears kind of glazed over. The professional narration, instead of fixing things, aggravated them. Stevenson meant every word that she read. The words jarred with the voice's tone. The material of the book felt so fake, and so devoid of creativity. These are immortals? These characters?
The same problem that I had with Kevin Hearne's Urban Fantasy series was apparent here. Why do even experienced women readers like this. Maybe the young and the old need the romance factor to appease them. But at what cost! At what cost, in all things holy.
The banter was extremely unfunny. Every time I listened to one 'joke', my mind came up with a better one. And that was me relaxing, or trying to, and being passively submissive to the experience. I came up with jokes that was better than those of one of the best YA authors around. I couldn't believe what was happening.
I am giving it the one star that I expected it to receive. But I thought I have seen everything with book 1. I was wrong. I will read book 3. I am hypnotised by the crap spouting out of a narrator's voice in my ear, me wishing that I was listening to some rap music or country music instead. I don't see the younger readers go against this in their later years, unlike the tacky fashion sense that always accompanies most teenagers's lives. Because... their mothers and grandmothers like the same thing.
The speed at which the eroticism began happened faster than most porn videos. Porn these days are getting too plot-centric. They ought to take a leaf out of this series. If a boring work of art is so numbing that it becomes obscene, then I guess I will almost never find favor with a single one of these bleeding books. It was not for me, my mind says. This deserves to be the only rightly banned book among the 1600 ones that have been banned in the last 9 months in schools. My heart says....more
**spoiler alert** My lukewarm fears were realised after reading the final word in the book, The Night Shift by Alex Finlay. I knew, from the part betw**spoiler alert** My lukewarm fears were realised after reading the final word in the book, The Night Shift by Alex Finlay. I knew, from the part between the first and second Acts - the story takes place over 3 days - that the author had a terrible hand, and was bluffing. The thing with writing is that you cannot fool everyone all the time after the manuscript has been printed.
There features a pregnant woman in the book. She is pregnant and is assigned to an unsolved murder case. In the epilogue, she is written with her twins - one year olds - and her husband. There is something to be said about kids that are toddlers. It is very difficult to write adventures about them. Shows that succeed in doing so, do a terribly hard thing. Witness the Rugrats success. To a lesser extent, The Simpsons. So, it is very difficult to write scripts about very young adults. But what is the easiest part of the trade is that it is absolutely easy to make toddlers endearing. Unless the reader is a sociopath. And this easy bit of 101 writing was apparently beyond the skills of the author.
This treatment is meted out to every single character in the book. The book is the definition of superficiality and shallowness. Ella, one of the victims, survivor, and main characters has a lifestyle that looks like she is in her mid 20s. If she were in her early 30s, her promiscuous but unobtrusive lifestyle would look like that of a loser. This the author glosses over spectacularly. Most good guys are cute or hot. I compiled a list of suspects from the story based only on the appearance and description of the characters. It was easy to include the culprit's name in that list. I did not solve this rocambole of a case. I did not care enough to rub two neurons about it.
Alex Finlay wrote his/her book like an inchoate script. Nothing wrong with that. Except that the book was very boring to read. A little characterisation would go a long way. In movie scripts, dialogue is the key, followed by action, and then references. This, apparently, Finlay ignored or was unaware of. The only reason I wasn't bored by the book completely, was because of the death of SIX people. That what it took to prevent me from deliberating what to do with the book, whether to delete it, or ask for a refund.
This is definitely the worst book that features names of characters as chapters. Alternate POVs or what have you. There was nothing to engage the mind in. There wasn't even moments that could have played for shock value. For a serial killing thriller, this book is considerably tame, mindful of language, and lacking in twists. The lack of respect for locations and the rules of the law made the reading greyer than it would have been if the author had stuck to reality. In relying on his/her/their writing prowess to carry the book's bulk without having talent took some guts. Unfortunately, this resulted in what to me was a mediocre effort.
The buildups were disjointed and lead to dead ends. Being someone who has read many mysteries in his bookish life, I was never going to be impressed by this book. I don't know if Ella, Chris or Atticus Singh survived, and I don't care. Atticus reveals part of the problem with this book. He carries insufficient reason for caring for him. He has doe eyes, a thin tie, an ailing mother to care for, and he talks about To Kill a Mockingbird for a while. He is a nobody. Just like everyone else .Every single person in this book was like a cut scene from a videogame.
The twists in the book, whatever there were, tallied with the conclusion of the the latter. But the attempts to misdirect were baleful. Several pages of the story were about nothing that mattered. Do these people even sleep at night? One of them being a mother to be? It seemed like the killing joke of the serial killer, repeated twice, in the interval of 15 years was as inconsequential as a lullaby. I take that back. It would be super creepy if that quote had psychological roots and a material impact.
Till now, I do not have a thorough knowledge of why I like some books but dislike others. I guess I find boring books depressive. And it was so in this case too. It just didn't do anything remotely interesting. The only worse piece of suspense that I read was 'Why Didn't they Ask Evans?', by Agatha Christie. Finlay didn't make it easy for me to expect anything good from his career. And I must enunciate this... I won't be reading anything by this writer soon, unless it wins the Goodreads Choice Award or something. That was sarcasm by the way. Do you know where you can find worse sense of sarcastic humour? In this book. Do you know what book might win the GCA soon? Hmm?
The author must learn to infuse life and urgency and a sense of purpose in his characters. I'm beginning to understand how certain books are chosen to give them publicity. The editors seem to be the natural readers of this type of thriller, which is topsy-turvy and loony. But that is the sad reality. The type of readers who will find this book great are people who read a lot and are too tired from their day to research what is good and what is not. This affirmation and gestation of a revelation will serve me well in my search for the next great book. So unless you have real reasons for wanting a book, movie, song, or painting, do not fork out your hard earned money to scammers like these impostors....more
My first one star of the year arrived earlier than I would have wished. John Green's schtick in trying very, very hard to come across as a thoughtful,My first one star of the year arrived earlier than I would have wished. John Green's schtick in trying very, very hard to come across as a thoughtful, humble, wonderstruck guy does not fly with yours truly.
I know how nice guys think, and John Green is not a pukka nice guy. He is very good at pretending to be one, and has polished his trade, both in terms of writing and also socialising, to a perfection I can only dream of.
Nevertheless, apart from 3 or 4 'essays' if such short on substance and formatting can be called that, the book didn't work for me. I DNFed it. I had also DNFed another book, L'ombre jaune, by Henri Vernes, who has been a worse writer than Green, but also had a better life than him.
But I had to register this book before I forgot its existence. This book is as forgettable as New Coke's taste, and as ignorable as the tissue paper one gets from the KFC near where I live.
The Greens, I will watch you on Tuesday, because your internet presence, unfunny often as it is, is much more welcome in my house than your books....more
Reading Martin Chuzzlewit - a book that I've been reading simultaneously with House of Earth and Blood - is like reading, well Dickens. Reading Sarah Reading Martin Chuzzlewit - a book that I've been reading simultaneously with House of Earth and Blood - is like reading, well Dickens. Reading Sarah J. Maas is like eating a wallpaper and then going back for the glue. This book is vile.
There was not one thing in this book that indicated good growth and benevolence. There was not one thing in this vile book that hazarded one to look at it benignantly. I can never endorse this shit book. How are the 30 year olds reading the book holding up? Where is the furor about such chasm-like drift in quality.
Is this what the YA crowd, and the too long in the tooth YA crowds hailing as a great book? This is infamy. This is treason against reason. This is intellectual suicide. How is it that Mr Rogers's Neighborhood has more maturity than Sarah J. Maas's lurid creation? How is it that Noddy, Goldorak, and Ronin Wariors and La Linea all have more gumption than HoEaB? This book is a kind of bubblegum crisis. That's what it is. I wish.
I fell at the last hurdle. Completed most of the book. I had to rub my eyes at the last 'act'. This is the type of book to give the snobs power. Else what choice there is? Is it fatally certain that the choice for a parent to suffer her child read this shit book, or engage her in the competitive world of ballet and piano playing, and tough hurdles like martial arts class.
There is only one book that comes close to matching the execrable quality of HoEaB, and that is The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. Objectivity won't do. If I had a time machine I would rescue all the books Hitler was burning and fuel those blazes with every single book this copycat, cynical, laughing-all-the-way-to-the-bank author has written....more
Vespertine is a new series, from a new-to-me author. There has been a huge stream of authors who are women and are young, hip, and smart. I think thatVespertine is a new series, from a new-to-me author. There has been a huge stream of authors who are women and are young, hip, and smart. I think that this model will not be sustainable as few people read books, compared to moviegoers, or sports fans.
This writer has alas not been that inspired in her writing here. She struggles to do the basic stuff. This means e.g. tracking the passing of time. It may also mean - it does also mean - the changing of setting of the story. The concept is stellar, but the delivery leaves to be desired.
Margaret Rogerson is an intelligent author. She will learn from her shortcomings. I forgot the true name of the main character, but it is she who gets to be the Vespertine, a fifth order relic holder. This means she is a saint, and people pray to her. Despite all this the writing is as wooden as The Tree of Life.
Two stars is a bad rating, there is no getting past it. One of the annoying things about the book is that the author felt the need to include a love interest. Add that to the mix, and an enemies to friends to lovers (eventually) trope and the die is cast. Reading this book was a discovery, so I don't regret doing so. But it was not enjoyable....more
How cute. A Krusty wanting to write a bestseller, faddish, and sensational book about vampires. Well, his hard work has paid off, as the book is critiHow cute. A Krusty wanting to write a bestseller, faddish, and sensational book about vampires. Well, his hard work has paid off, as the book is critically and commercially a success. This will cause a lot of budding or even experienced readers to get conned by Krusty.
We are like newborn turtles trying to reach the sea from our hatching underground nest. Most of us don't reach that sea of understanding and critical thinking that makes the mind fertile with discerning thoughts.
The shock value in this book is laughable. Take the instance of the deaths. They may be gory, but they are not pathos ridden, unless you take each book at face value and ditch your experience during reading.
The ending does not salvage a bad piece of work. I hope the teens who got hoodwinked by this book will learn to give proper due to real classics. I know that I'm speaking out of turn, knowing that every book is subjectively consumed. But the alternative to riding the objective train is to berate Krusty till I die, and I think I already have had 800 pages worth of the guy to last my lifetime.
There's no way this book gets more staying power than even the Anne Rice books. The need to reinvent a religion (hailed by some readers as world building) shows the cowardice of Krustovski. He is like a cook who started with the intention to make a cronut (yum!) and instead ended with pretzels....more
I thought I wouldn't be surprised by this thin volume. I was wrong. This book is just what I like about stories that keep reeling you in, while you enI thought I wouldn't be surprised by this thin volume. I was wrong. This book is just what I like about stories that keep reeling you in, while you enjoy every scent, every sight, every sound that it has to offer.
I think the half happy, half sad ending was entirely out of the blue. I would have preferred a happier ending. But the end is not yet come. I wish I could meet the author and ask her how she devised this thing that I read in hours. How cascading, and how illuminating this experience reached her imagination.
The book is a fairy tale. It is that. It is much more. Look, part of me was aloof when beginning reading. I knew there will be manipulative twists to this story. I was a willing participant in this read. But the best twists are those that you forget are manipulative.
Even now, I don't know what hit me. Perhaps others won't be impressed. There is a certain love story here, but that too is a surprise. I hope when reading this book you'll understand this review. I want to read the sequels, the more manipulative the better....more
I have been keeping firmly away from every type and shade of reviews that would give me spoilers for this book, Jade City. I know there are one star rI have been keeping firmly away from every type and shade of reviews that would give me spoilers for this book, Jade City. I know there are one star reviews of this book. I don't understand the reason people give for it. The most misunderstanding complaint is that the book is boring.
Believe me, it is not. Nor will it not be for countless other readers. In trying to know why a minority hated it, I recall the books that ranked high to which I gave 1 star. Hamnet, A Prisoner of Birth, The Three Musketeers, many more. Some books that I rated 1 star were classics that would only please the initiated.
What I know is that I get Jade City. I love its earthy prose. I admire its openly vague acts of vagueness, i.e. little to no display of research, except perhaps for the accounting of the Jade in the book. Jade City is not extremely popular. But it is extremely well plotted. The pacing is perfect. It will be remembered by its fans and will not be completely forgotten.
Jade City is a stepping stone for me. I have made my peace with romance books. But though I'll never complete a romance book that mention genitals galore in its second chapter, I've made progress in the right direction.
Why am I telling you all this? I would have dropped Jade City in the not so distant past. I have evolved for the better. And this diversity is what I need to prevent me from becoming a YA book lover, or a scholar of Dickens. I will not specialise. Specialisation is for insects. You have only one life here. Take a sip from most books that you fancy....more
Not bad. Not bad at all. In fact, 4.5 stars to Forgotten in Death. I never read the entire series, so I don't know what is considered spoilers and whaNot bad. Not bad at all. In fact, 4.5 stars to Forgotten in Death. I never read the entire series, so I don't know what is considered spoilers and what is common knowledge. But though J.D. Robb and I go nearly a decade back, as a writer and reader relationship, I have never been a staunch fan of hers.
So you must understand how surprised I was that the book, dismissed by some as lacking in Eve-Roarke magic, had me under its spell maybe for that very reason. Forgotten in Death is a hybrid of sorts. There are dualities more than singularities in this book more than most times. The rich/poor contrast, the male/female familiarity (and one person in particular, so macho looking, bearing the brunt of Eve's skill - that was brilliant), the love/hate one, the American/Foreign tension... it's all here.
And it's all current affairs echoing in the book. I have the feeling that the latter is aligned with many bona fide fans of the book when I reveal that the most recent victim drew more sympathy for me. That's how it hit me. Am I going to be a fan of J.D. Robb for the first time since I've been reading thrillers? Since I've been an adult? The target audience of J.D. Robb is going to be much across the age and gender strata if things go like this. If things go like this, I may have found in the aging Robb, an inimitable author. PS - The one liners in the story are really something aren't they?...more
I didn't understand the last chapter. I kind of understood who was who, but there's a suspicion that the author was trolling in a way different from tI didn't understand the last chapter. I kind of understood who was who, but there's a suspicion that the author was trolling in a way different from the rest of the book. It seems like Moriarty had overextended her resources. She might have worked the ending during a late night in buzzing critter infested Australia. At least that's what I imagined.
The book is better than what I read of her other books. This book is special. It is the same with me with jokes. Recently I've been cracking more good jokes than usual. If the sense of humour is like a muscle, then so is the knack to write book after book. Stephen King practically said that if one can subsist on one's writing, he considered that person a good writer. So why does he keep degrading James Patterson?
What's my business in this entire reading experience is the fact that just like with the best of writers, the words kept reaching my eyes with no lull in quality, bar a couple of early chapters where I imagined giving the book 2 stars. Apples Never Fall is such a surprising title that I thought there must be a tennis reference buried in it. Fat chance of that.
Among the four siblings in the story, I mentally reached out to poor Brooke, who cannot catch a happy ending to match those of her brothers and one sister. But she does get a smashing (yep) apple crumble in the end. That counts, right? The most satisfying tennis trivia I have independently known is about why zero is called love in tennis. You should google it.
I was thoroughly entertained by this book, which I bought from Amazon. I feel the necessity to support the best authors who repay you with words worth more than the book's price. Begging, borrowing, or stealing won't do here. I was reminded of how powerful a reading experience can be. The latter can be classified in merely the mystery/thriller register. But that would be unfair. There are traces of literariness, and chick lit in the mix. In the end, don't we readers crave for something similar? I look to the next book of Moriarty with great anticipation....more
I read the C.S. Lewis books when I was a child. I read one of the books in French, never knowing where to reach for its lost to me siblings.
Now that II read the C.S. Lewis books when I was a child. I read one of the books in French, never knowing where to reach for its lost to me siblings.
Now that I've reread this book, I feel that reading was worth the weeds for flowers like this. It's often funny how the expensive e-books are the ones that prove costly and the classics, true to their reputation.
Beyond the Christian mythos in this particular book, I loved most when the boy, the girl, and the flying horse spoke the same words together. Read at your own leisure and to your own satisfaction....more
This fresh and ingenious children's book is for me, divided into two parts. The first part gets 5 stars from me, but from the point where the childrenThis fresh and ingenious children's book is for me, divided into two parts. The first part gets 5 stars from me, but from the point where the children succeed, to past the climax, the book barely holds its own.
I really liked the first part. Many of the ideas were more than can be hoped in such a simple book. The children were lifelike. Their holidays's details were evocative. The Kirrin House, the island, the boat and the sea, and the people in the story were distinctive.
But when the villains made their appearance, I felt nothing. I really ought to like the climax, but the starkly real world felt like a doll's house.
I'm giving the book its due but I also cannot give the book more than it deserves. There were lots of positives to take from the story. I hope to reread this book one day and revisit the premise. For a while it made me feel like a wonderstruck person....more
I don't know what to say about Pride and Prejudice, because I've read so many reviews by readers who adore it. I can't match them in any way.
I can onlI don't know what to say about Pride and Prejudice, because I've read so many reviews by readers who adore it. I can't match them in any way.
I can only contribute that the book is deceptively complex, the themes of pride, prejudice, class, family, and marriage playing a big role in shaping this story.
Please excuse my lack of ideas. This novel is the work of a person with such a strong mental fortitude that my words of praise ring hollow to me. Jane Austen humbled me with her perception. She is such a fantastic writer.
This is what happens when you write not to please everybody. Disney take note, you bastard. My first 5 star book of the year....more
My first review of the year. This was as usual a different book from its predecessors. It looked liked I would be bored senseless by reading about theMy first review of the year. This was as usual a different book from its predecessors. It looked liked I would be bored senseless by reading about the rodeo in the story, but things took a different turn.
Mel's resourcefulness was tested to the max here. She is the POV from which we view the events unfolding in the book. It's an advantage here, since everything worth telling is witnessed by Mel.
The denouement was surprising. The murder seemed almost like an act of benevolence. Whether the reader buys it or not is up to the preference of each reader. I loved this book, though personally I wanted more. So 4 stars....more
Rating this book takes me back to 2008, when I rated the movie The Dark Knight 6/10 stars. And now I'm giving the book of the year for many people, 1 Rating this book takes me back to 2008, when I rated the movie The Dark Knight 6/10 stars. And now I'm giving the book of the year for many people, 1 star.
I admit to not understanding the story to even half completion. Lots of chapters are subtle. The epilogue is representative of that. But I can only relay what I could understand.
I found many of the stories in the book to be as unsatisfying as Soulcast grain. The book, for me, was indeed, a dirty trick. But I'll be there when book 5 comes chugging.
I give the 1 star rating after huge deliberation. I understood the most easy conundrums in Rhythm of War. I claim the foreshadowing of Adolin's dead sword as one of the meagre rewards.
This book was incompatible to me. I am glad it pleased so many, and I'm not glad that I can't explain my stance better. But there have been great books that I've understood. There have also been mediocre books that I've worshipped. Thus is the life of this reader....more
This particular book had one or three very, very good ideas, and a bunch of okay ideas to fill the pages with a coherent story. As soon as the murder This particular book had one or three very, very good ideas, and a bunch of okay ideas to fill the pages with a coherent story. As soon as the murder occurs, there is no upping of the tempo. I reckon I was happy to know more about the trio of best friends who are the main characters....more
I got irked with this book and maybe the fault lies in my limitations, but just like with Roman history, there's a lot of guesswork going on. Is that I got irked with this book and maybe the fault lies in my limitations, but just like with Roman history, there's a lot of guesswork going on. Is that science?
In this book it's written that it's probable that our ancestors don't come from Africa. But I remember a YouTube video where Dawkins approves that we're all Africans. Politically correct but stably not as much.
I got fed up with a book that's either too brainy for me or because it is simply has a not interesting a finale enough. It could have been better. But I dislike it for now and forever....more
Luffy Sempai
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