John Irby > Recent Status Updates

I wish Mr. King had chosen a more readable name for his main character, Lisey. The narrator explains early on how to pronounce her name properly, not grammatically, but I find myself still mispronouncing her name in my head over and over, as I would stumble over a Russian novel's characters. Other than that, it's typical Stephen King. Excellent start.

Demon, our 10 year-old narrator has been sent to live in foster care with a single farmer and three other foster kids. The foster parent is only in it for the money he gets from the state and the work the four boys do on his farm each weekend. Demon's mother has been in drug rehab since she overdosed a week ago and her new husband physically assaulted Demon. It's a terrible situation for a young boy to be in.

Badger hatches a plan to stop Toad from buying and driving a new motorcar, which Badger is certain Toad will wreck. He enlists the help of Ratty and Mole and they confront Toad. More adventure surely lies ahead.

Damon's mother marries a boyfriend named Stoner, an abusive brute with tattoos up his neck and a vicious dog. He thinks Damon's been coddled and plans to right the ship. Not looking good for our young narrator.

It's Christmas time and we are visiting Mole's tidy. but bare little home. Ratty lends a hand and all is well.

An interesting start to a long adventure. I'm certain of that.

I've read a lot of books in my lifetime, including some Charles Dickens, but Angela's Ashes gives us a glimpse of how poverty, neglect, abuse, and alcoholism can create an absolute nightmare of a childhood. I'll never complain of my own childhood again, though it was worse than most.

Yesterday's chapter explained the difficult decisions with lives hanging in the balance that military leaders sometimes must make despite their fear and reluctance. The point was that people who rise to leadership positions got there because they exhibited competence to those above them and therefore are thrust into a role that they're capable of or they wouldn't be there at all.

The ship's captain seems to have issues in communication.

I read how trust and integrity is key to effective leadership.

I finished reading this wonderful memoir three or four days ago, and like most great stories, I can't get it out of my head. It's an old book that I started many years ago when it was first published, but for reasons I can't remember now set it aside after the first few pages. Like many avid readers, I suffered an abusive childhood, but nothing can compare to Frank McCourt's. I won't complain of my own again. j

I started this book yesterday after seeing a snippet about the author on Ari Melbur's MSNBC program a few days ago. I'm an ex-navy man, far from an Admiral, but he sounded interesting and I want to see where he's going with his thoughts on leadership at a time when America desperately needs an inspiring leader.

I started it late last night in bed, read the intro, the author's bio and the first ten pages before sleepy eyes took hold and dreamland came fast upon me, but I'm intrigued and looking forward to more tonight. j

found this book at an estate sale for three bucks. been sitting on it, reading around it for a year or two. finally got to it and glad i did.

read Le Carre's introduction of himself as a writer, and the first few pages of the story. Le Carre's vocabulary has me running to my dictionary to check my understanding of perspicuity, egregious, and shilling. now i've come to a dead stop at a slice of French: partir c'est courir un peu. i know nothing of French and i'm irritated when i encounter it. Europeans all know more than one language, but i but one.

i'm about half-way through now. this is not a plot intensive story that one can read in a few days. the descriptions of sea, emotion, and language are wonderful, but cause the reading to slow down and enjoy each word, like tiny sips of a fine wine.

good so far. an eight year-old boy's observations of the adult world he exists in

Just getting started. Lovely writing so far. Dialogue without quotation marks is a bit unusual, but the eye easily adjusts. So far a man in a fruit orchard is helping two stray young girls stay alive.

Just finished J.K. Rowling's first Harry Potter book. I put it off for a long while because wizards and such don't interest me much, but I decided to give it a try. I enjoyed the story, especially her creative use of names for all the characters which seem to fit their personalities. I liked The Hobbit much more, but that's probably not a fair comparison.

Never been much on science fiction before, but thought I'd give it a try. Interesting so far. Trevize, a young politician and Pelota, an older scholar, are being forced out into the universe, mostly to get rid of them and their disbelieving thoughts.

Just got cranking on this puppy, but so far a 15 year-old girl named Jamaica has been sent to a special school in New England because she hasn't been able to function as a normal teenager because she lost her first love, a boy from England named Reeve. That's all I know so far, but the telling is excellent. Think I'm gonna like this book very muchly. John

Should be a bit wary of this one due to a twenty page introduction explaining all of the pertinent issues of Forster's masterpiece. I may be in over my head, but I'm determined to work my way through it and learn as much as possible about this colonial period in India. So far the Indians are portrayed as being caught in the wide net of British colonialism, subservient and miffed.