find new books to read, put your reading list online

• Current

Type: fiction

Status: —

Author: Lilli Thal

Tags: 10

Description: I picked this book up, almost against my better judgement. A story of a court jester -- howI picked this book up, almost against my better judgement. A story of a court jester -- how fascinating could that be? Well, I didn't know what I was getting into. This book is incredibly good. It's complex, girrty, and the world is well and full and fleshes out complex psychological ideas. If I were a 9th grade English teacher, tired of the same old books, I might choose this to teach. ...

2008-12-12

  & 2 users

• Current

Type: fiction

Status: —

Authors: Anne McCaffrey Margaret Ball

Tags: 4

Description: Well, it's an interesting idea but.... don't waste your time. At times, the writingWell, it's an interesting idea but.... don't waste your time. At times, the writing is laughable. Some of their sentences could enter into"A dark and stormy night," contest and win. The romance in the book is equally stilted, leaving the reader to wonder what happened to character development and believable, naturally drawn sub-plots. Ah well. ...

2008-12-09

• Current

Type: fiction

Status: —

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Tags: 9

Description: Le Guin is a master writer, and this is the evidence. What is most skillful about this bookLe Guin is a master writer, and this is the evidence. What is most skillful about this book is how she made all the characters foreign (as, really, people from that time would be to us) and familiar at the same time. It is hard to explain and I'm sure even harder to do, but it is admirable....

2008-12-09

• Current

Type: fiction

Status: —

Author: Margaret Mahy

Tags: 7

Description: While this is not an ultimate classic that will satisfy even an adult, it is a good book forWhile this is not an ultimate classic that will satisfy even an adult, it is a good book for teens. Nicely written with a strong and yet far from perfect heroine, this book is lacking somewhat in depth to add it to my favorites list....

2008-12-09

• Current

Type: fiction

Status: —

Author: Alison Croggon

Tags: 10

Description: The second book of Pellinor may be better even than the first. I was enraptured enough thatThe second book of Pellinor may be better even than the first. I was enraptured enough that I found myself thirsting for the next two... only to find my library doesn't carry them. Stingy that I am, I am actually buying them from Amazon! ...

2008-12-09

• Current

Type: fiction

Status: —

Author: Doris Lessing

Tags: 7

Description: An interesting book, an interesting idea, and interesting tale... but I will damn it with "faintAn interesting book, an interesting idea, and interesting tale... but I will damn it with "faint praise," as they say. Sometimes I get dishearted by the amount of merely okay books that I read, when I know that there are too many really good ones out there for me to read in a lifetime....

2008-08-24

• Current

Type: fiction

Status: —

Author: Elise Blackwell

Tags: 5

Description: This is a contemporary retelling of New Grub Street. At times the story is coarse, like manyThis is a contemporary retelling of New Grub Street. At times the story is coarse, like many of the characters in the book, and mundane, and useless, but at the end of the book the reader does hear those beautiful strainings the writer is trying to get across. Somewhat less vapid than all that "new fiction" out there, but this isn't immediately apparent. I don't think that this novel could have been made into anything else, purely based on subject matter, and I do admire how sensitively Blackwell portrayed some of the more beautiful characters, and the overall idea of this does come off... Overall, mixed. Part of me wants to say "banal," the other, not. Gems gleaned from dirt....

2008-08-24

• Current

Type: fiction

Status: —

Author: Garrison Keillor

Tags: 7

Description: Keillor tries a little too hard to be funny-- and it is funny, but it's spoiled by that.Keillor tries a little too hard to be funny-- and it is funny, but it's spoiled by that. A story of a man who it is easy to sympathize with, but hard to like. ...

2007-12-10

  & 5 users

• Current

Type: fiction

Status: —

Author: Kazuo Ishiguro

Tags: 9

Description: Competently told, engrossing, thick plot, rich characters, mystery... what more could you want?Competently told, engrossing, thick plot, rich characters, mystery... what more could you want? This tale of uncovering the past feels shadowy, dangerous, exciting. Read it!...

2007-12-10

• Current

Type: fiction

Status: —

Author: Ha Jin

Tags: 7

Description: Waiting allows us a realistic glimpse into other lives. The reader becomes so caught up inWaiting allows us a realistic glimpse into other lives. The reader becomes so caught up in the character's lives that we feel both their pain and numbness. In the end, we too are left wondering "Why?" and that is where we see the connection with our own lives. We are always yearning towards something we don't have, berating ourselves for not yet having reached the place in life that we would like, yet we are most truely happy when we are not worrying. Can we forget all that? This book accurately portrays not just actions and inactions but the thoughts behind them. and this, it seems, takes up the bulk of our energy....

2007-12-10