Monthly Reading: May 2008

June 1, 2008 at 11:14 am | In Monthly Reading, Reviews | Leave a Comment
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The Little Prince, drawn by Saint Exupéry hims...

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The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery — Children’s literature

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley — Mainstream fiction

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke — abandoned

The Bottoms by Joe R. Lansdale — 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: December 2007

January 1, 2008 at 1:27 pm | In Monthly Reading, Reviews | Leave a Comment
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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: October 2007

November 1, 2007 at 9:41 am | In Monthly Reading, Reviews | Leave a Comment
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The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver — historical fiction, Africa

The Postman by David Brin — post-apocalyptic science fiction

Mailman by J. Robert Lennon — mainstream fiction

The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson — 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: August 2007

September 1, 2007 at 9:51 am | In Monthly Reading, Reviews | Leave a Comment
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Click the book title for my full review or notes.

Seed to Harvest by Octavia Butler — dystopian speculative fiction

Ringworld by Larry Niven — post-apocalyptic science fiction, megastructures

The Diviners by Margaret Laurence — mainstream fiction

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 Comment
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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.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

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