Julie > Recent Status Updates

I’m putting this book on pause because this one is pretty mediocre, and two other audiobooks that I’ve been waiting for at the library have just come available. This one - Raft of Stars - has kind of a good storyline, but the writing’s not so good. It drags a lot while the characters ruminate over their angsts and struggles. At this point I’d give it a 2.5 stars.

This book is ridiculously complex and the writing is overly abstruse. While her basic ideas are good, the author's love af big words and academic writing makes her points nearly inaccessible. Argh. Reading for a class, but life is too short for this.

I both like and really dislike this book. The plot is engaging - I'm hooked - but the writing is flowery and over the top descriptive, and I'm finding I have to skim whole paragraphs to get through it.

Oh my gosh, I am loving this little book that I picked up at a Little Free Library!

Wow, wow, wow. Such exquisite writing! I am swooning and under this writer's spell.

Excellent, fun classic, which is marred only by the racism contains. Read in the context of its time, one can understand but not condone it. Still, Twain was a master.

I’m totally enjoying this book and have been savoring it slowly, reading one chapter a day. I love the format of the book - a wise conversation between two friends - and the author has done a wonderful job of putting it together. The personalities of Archbishop Tutu and the Dalai Lama come through so beautifully, I feel like I’m right in the room with them.

I’m totally enjoying this book and have been savoring it slowly, reading one chapter a day. I love the format of the book - a wise conversation between two friends - and the author has done a wonderful job of putting it together. The personalities of Archbishop Tutu and the Dalai Lama come through so beautifully, I feel like I’m right in the room with them.

I don't know why I'm attempting to read this, actually. It's one of those books you "should" read, I guess, but I'm dubious that I'll make it to the end. I didn't like "Catcher in the Rye" at all - too monotonous and to me, the character was unrelatable. I have similar feelings about Franny and Lane, and so far I'm not much liking the characters in "Zooey." The writing is dense and overly wordy.

Meh. I'm going to stop reading this book. The main character is so downtrodden, and I don't see him improving. In fact, I'm in page 111, and I haven't found a character yet that I care about. Too many wonderful books out there; time to move on!

This is a strange book, but I mostly liked it. It's a story of a woman's imperfect life, told in vignettes. It jumps back and forth in time and builds nicely. It concludes in the only way it can, I suppose, but I think I wanted something else - more redemption maybe. Still I'd recommend it, and the recorded version is read well.

Ick.

Fun summer beach read

Important and interesting basic premise - that much volunteer and charitable work done to alleviate poverty actually harms the recipients. However the how-to portion of this book is lacking. Not enough information is given to guide the average do-gooder to make a change in how they contribute.
It's a good book to start discussion, though and it's a discussion worth having.

I am really enjoying listening to this autobiography. Sotomayor has an interesting life story, and the audio version is read very well by Rita Moreno.

I enjoyed this book. It took me a while to get engaged, but by the end I found it to be a page-turner. It's a good summer read. There were a couple of spots where it dragged, and the end seemed a bit drawn out, but still, I'm glad I read it. I thought this author's book "Room" was pretty remarkable, and now I'm curious to read something else she's written.