Monthly Reading: October 2008
October 31, 2008 at 9:07 am | In Monthly Reading, Reviews | 2 CommentsTags: Allegory, Books about books, Classic, Environmentalism, George Orwell, Marisha Pessl, Science fiction, Ursula K Le Guin
Always Coming Home by Ursula K. Le Guin — environmental science fiction
Animal Farm by George Orwell — classic allegory
Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl — fiction about books
My rating scale:
- 1 star: Abandoned before finishing. Don’t waste your time.
- 2 stars: Poor. Avoid with extreme prejudice.
- 3 stars: Average. Read it, have a good time and move on. Or not.
- 4 stars: Great. Push it on your friends and family.
- 5 stars: Excellent. Keep it, treasure it, reread it.
Disclaimer: My ratings are very personal and may have little to do with the book’s artistic or commercial merit, or its place in the literary canon. Rather, the rating reflects how the story, characters and writing spoke to me and augmented my understanding of the world.
Other reviews of favorite books from around the blogosphere:
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Book Lady’s Blog)
- Bird by Bird (Sophisticated Dorkiness)
- Clay’s Ark and Icehenge (From a Sci-Fi Standpoint)
- The Haunting of Hill House (Things Mean a Lot)
- Fragile Things (You Can Never Have Too Many Books)
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Monthly Reading: August 2008
September 1, 2008 at 9:15 am | In Monthly Reading, Reviews | Leave a CommentTags: Classic, Emily Bronte, Food and cooking, Gothic, Horror, Joyce Carol Oates, Kate Wilhelm, Kathleen Flinn, Memoir, Nevil Shute, Post-apocalypse, Science fiction, Stephen King
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm – post-apocalyptic science fiction
The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry by Kathleen Flinn — food and cooking memoir
On the Beach by Nevil Shute — post-apocalyptic science fiction
Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates — horror
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte — gothic classic
Miscellaneous Reading: Stephen King short story in McSweeney’s Issue 27.
My rating scale:
- 1 star: Abandoned before finishing. Don’t waste your time.
- 2 stars: Poor. Avoid with extreme prejudice.
- 3 stars: Average. Read it, have a good time and move on. Or not.
- 4 stars: Great. Push it on your friends and family.
- 5 stars: Excellent. Keep it, treasure it, reread it.
Disclaimer: My ratings are very personal and may have little to do with the book’s artistic or commercial merit, or its place in the literary canon. Rather, the rating reflects how the story, characters and writing spoke to me and augmented my understanding of the world.
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Monthly Reading: December 2007
January 1, 2008 at 1:27 pm | In Monthly Reading, Reviews | Leave a CommentTags: Classic, Contemporary fiction, Cormac McCarthy, Crime, Douglas Adams, Ian McEwan, Japanese, Mainstream, Natuso Kirino, Novella, Post-apocalypse, Sarah Hall, Science fiction, Tom Perrotta, Truman Capote
The Road by Cormac McCarthy — post-apocalyptic science fiction
Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote — classic novella
Atonement by Ian McEwan — contemporary fiction
The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta — mainstream fiction
Out by Natsuo Kirino — Japanese crime
Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams — abandoned
Haweswater by Sarah Hall — abandoned
My rating scale:
- 1 star: Abandoned before finishing. Don’t waste your time.
- 2 stars: Poor. Avoid with extreme prejudice.
- 3 stars: Average. Read it, have a good time and move on. Or not.
- 4 stars: Great. Push it on your friends and family.
- 5 stars: Excellent. Keep it, treasure it, reread it.
Disclaimer: My ratings are very personal and may have little to do with the book’s artistic or commercial merit, or its place in the literary canon. Rather, the rating reflects how the story, characters and writing spoke to me and augmented my understanding of the world.
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Monthly Reading: June 2007
July 1, 2007 at 12:47 pm | In Monthly Reading, Reviews | Leave a CommentTags: Azar Nafisi, Classic, Crime, Elizabeth David, Food and cooking, Jane Austen, Jonathan Lethem, Mainstream, Nonfiction, Richard Bachman
Persuasion by Jane Austen — classic
An Omelette and a Glass of Wine by Elizabeth David — food and cooking nonfiction
You Don’t Love Me Yet by Jonathan Lethem — mainstream fiction
Blaze by Richard Bachman — crime
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi — abandoned
My rating scale:
- 1 star: Abandoned before finishing. Don’t waste your time.
- 2 stars: Poor. Avoid with extreme prejudice.
- 3 stars: Average. Read it, have a good time and move on. Or not.
- 4 stars: Great. Push it on your friends and family.
- 5 stars: Excellent. Keep it, treasure it, reread it.
Disclaimer: My ratings are very personal and may have little to do with the book’s artistic or commercial merit, or its place in the literary canon. Rather, the rating reflects how the story, characters and writing spoke to me and augmented my understanding of the world.
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Monthly Reading: February 2007
March 1, 2007 at 8:29 am | In Monthly Reading, Reviews | Leave a CommentTags: Classic, Essays, Food and cooking, Jane Austen, Joanne Harris, Julian Barnes, Kimberly Witherspoon, Nick Hornby, Psychological suspense, Romantic comedy
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen — classic romantic comedy
Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris — psychological suspense
Housekeeping vs. the Dirt by Nick Hornby — essays
How I Learned to Cook: Culinary Educations from the World’s Greatest Chefs edited by Kimberly Witherspoon — food and cooking
Arthur and George by Julian Barnes — abandoned
My rating scale:
- 1 star: Abandoned before finishing. Don’t waste your time.
- 2 stars: Poor. Avoid with extreme prejudice.
- 3 stars: Average. Read it, have a good time and move on. Or not.
- 4 stars: Great. Push it on your friends and family.
- 5 stars: Excellent. Keep it, treasure it, reread it.
Disclaimer: My ratings are very personal and may have little to do with the book’s artistic or commercial merit, or its place in the literary canon. Rather, the rating reflects how the story, characters and writing spoke to me and augmented my understanding of the world.
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The Author
shannon.turlington AT gmail.com
What I’m Reading- Consuming "The Sustainable Kitchen : Passionate Cooking Inspired by Farms, Forests and Oceans"
- Consuming "Italian Farmhouse Cookbook"
- Consuming "Bakewise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking with Over 250 Magnificent Recipes"
- Consuming "Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accessories"
- Consumed "Casual Cooking from Foster's Market: Simple Fresh Recipes for the Way We Eat Today"
- What Should I Read Next?
- Reading Lists
-
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