5 comments about Atlas Shrugged.

1. I rarely read books a second time. This is the one notable exception. I stumbled across Atlas Shrugged when I was in my late 20's, and have read it about every 5 years since. It has been the most influential book in my life.
   
   Why? Two reasons. First is because over time my spirit is eroded by the drumbeat of media pop philosophy. It's unfair to expect other people to perform to my level. I shouldn't be selfish merely because I am able to do more than others. I should accept that my role as a productive citizen is to serve those who can't or won't do the same. Rereading Atlas Shrugged reminds me that just because "people" say it constantly doesn't make it true.
   
   The second reason is that I tell people how prescient Ayn Rand was, but when I experience it again I relive that breath-taking astonishment at how someone could see so clearly through the decades. Every time I read it, our world has come much, much closer to the one she predicted. The latest financial crisis seems to be taken directly from the pages of Atlas Shrugged.



2. I was introduced to Ayn Rand in my high school philosophy class and began buying her books. she is a philosopher and even her novels are transparently manifestos of her philosophy! As a books, its simply too long for me. I read the first hundred pages and moved on to other books, cause i cant read one book forever. the book is 1100 pages, and I don't not read stories or fiction books in general. I attempted to read this book to learn more of her philosophy, but learning it in story form is not for me.
   
   her philosophy is objectivism. this philosophy is a great capitalist and business philosophy born out of industrial age ideals and glorifies self sufficiency, economic competition, entrepreneurship, and being an over all cutting edge and sharp business person. people take this philosophy out of context by applying it to all aspects of life like love, helping others, spirituality and inner happiness. ayn rands philosophy FAILS in all other aspects of life. its cold, logical, atheistic and bizarre. your family should not be runned like a competitive business, where the member that contributes the least is of less value. and you shouldn't avoid giving to the poor because "its not a fair trade" like capitalism teaches. and you cant find GOD or inner peace and happiness my analyzing reality with "cold, scientific, rational logic". if you practice objectivism at work and in your career, you will succeed and be a prosperous and fierce business person. but please don't make the mistake that many ayn rand followers do, by trying to apply objectivsim to anywhere or anyone outside of your work!



3. I picked this up at a friend's second home in the white mountains. (I think it is one of those books you may leave lying around the house to impress your friends even though you do not really have the time or fortitude to completely read it.) It is a hefty 1200 pages with a microscopic font size... I wanted to read it because I had a vague notion that it was an important work. I had no other sense of what the book was about.
   
   What I found is that it is a naked attempt at being a Capitalist Manifesto - expounding the virtues of hard work and how that is motivated by the pursuit of profit. Not only does it extol the virtues of the profit motive, it argues quite forcefully that the success and even survival of society depends on it.
   
   At times it is beautifully written - striking really. Other times it drones on as a thesis of political philosophy... On the whole it was worth the read - but I am certain that it could have easily made its arguments in half as many words.



4. Good delivery. This book is very, very, very, long. That is no fault of the seller. I bought it to enter a book report contest, only to find I would not be able to finish this book! It is all text, no pictures that I could find.



5. This is Rand's best work and the largest as well. The basic message of the book is the consequences associated with making some dependent to provide the needs of others at more than a basic level. IN this book, those who are successful are forced to turnover their genius and industry in order to support others at the level they demand. The others do not have to strive to get what they desire, but rather only ask government for it, and those who do are forced to comply. Well, those who do quit and drop out of the system, and this book details the consequences. It is not a pleasant world after the do so. Although the book is fiction, it is something that we should be familiar with as the US moves to adopting the model of country that ruined things in this book. A great read and enlightening. Get it and enjoy.

5 comments about Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage.

1. In the foreword, the author said she had destroyed one manuscript and started over. This one feels a bit sketchy and unfocused. There are some great stories here, but mostly, she retreats into theory instead of focusing on the reality of a what it means to build a real, long-term relationship. I wonder if she felt uncomfortable writing about her relationship once she was planning to marry? That might explain why it felt too cerebral and less heartfelt.



2. I enjoyed this book more than Eat, Pray, Love. I loved EPL as well. This book was more educational. Young people should read this before getting married. It made me laugh and cry more than Eat, Pray, Love. I enjoyed learning about how other cultures think about marriage and people from other times thought about marriage. Before I got married, I had a preconceived, "Western" idea about what marriage is. And then I got divorced. After reading Committed, I am more open to different ideas of what marriage is.



3. I hated EPL. Did not get at all how that book became such a world wide phenomenon. The woman bores me, frankly. And the only reason I am reading Committed is because I found it at a church book sale for 50 centimes. About 40 centimes too much as far as I can tell after 50 pages. Just as dreary as EPL.



4. If you can think for yourself, are passionate about questioning assumptions and open to a bit of subversion read this book! Here is your chance to have your mind opened if you will allow it.
   Gilbert gives herself to the conundrum of commitment as only a very bright questioner of authority could. She gamely challenges her own nagging doubts about the institution of marriage. She explores the twisted route (or roots) of its transformation, and maps its frequent changes over the last few centuries.
   If you are perfectly comfortable following the prescribed societal routines, if you are deep fried in any kind of fundamentalist religious beliefs and opposed to discovering historical context that might rattle your adamantine notions, if you expect this book to sing the praises of the bloated undertaking that is currently assumed to fulfill all a girl's princess-shaped fantasies, go elsewhere.



5. I only tried to read this because it came free on my Sony e-reader. I was not a huge fan of Eat, Pray, Love and am even less of a fan of this book. It is dull, boring and I think in part- made up. Elizabeth Gilbert starts out the book apologizing over and over again (I'm not a historian, I'm not an anthropoligist) enough already, we know who you are- just write the book. She then goes into great detail about how this is a book about WESTERN marriage and then proceeds to start it off by talking about the Hmong women of Vietnam...huh? As a reader, I felt confused and duped. She gives two different examples of people who had more or less arranged marriages who could not remember meeting their spouse-(ie because it just wasn't that important), early courtship, etc. I find this highly unlikely. Partly because I AM a social scientist and know from interviewing many, many people that life-changing events such as meeting your spouse (in whatever social construction that might be) is remembered, in detail. The worst part is that she goes on and on, goes off on tangents and then you forget what she is even talking about in the first place. She is like a really boring, really chatty neighbor you just can't get away from. Well, I can get away from her, I'm not going to finish the book!0

5 comments about The Passage.

1. (I would actually give this two and a HALF stars...)
   
   The Passage is one of those books that I just had to read. Not only is it a post-apocalyptic novel, but several trusted people recommended it to me, and I couldn't resist all the buzz. It's nearly 800 pages, so it took me about a month. There were many sentences that I really liked. There were several stretches of pages that I really liked. Overall, however, it was only a second-base hit for me.
   
   What I liked:
   
   The writing style. Very readable and well-paced, at the sentence and paragraph level. Lots of good description, but no bogging down.
   
   Lots of inventive story elements. While the story does have a lot of familiar virus, vampire, and apocalypse elements, it has equally as much stuff that feels fresh and original.
   
   Lots of tension, in spots. The book definitely keeps you reading to find out what happens. And a few times when the monsters were going to get the people, I couldn't put the book down until I found out what happened.
   
   What I didn't like:
   
   The length. The book is too long by at least 200 pages, and I got antsy during the second half, frequently checking how many pages I had left and feeling a little stuck. The part set 100 years after the virus, located in a California compound, became somewhat tedious to me, until some refugees finally left. In general, I don't mind huge books; right before reading The Passage, I read the expanded version of Stephen King's The Stand, which is over 1,000 pages, and despite some of King's foibles and excesses as an author, I didn't want that one to end. (I think The Passage draws a lot of inspiration from The Stand, by the way, and Stephen King is one of the book's big proponents, although I don't agree it's quite as good as he claims it is.)
   
   The characters. I don't think the characters are generally very strong. Some are better than others, but very often in this book I found myself getting confused between characters who are too similar or undifferentiated. Especially in the aforementioned compound section, I found characters confusing to keep track of because several of them are quite similar to each other, although later in the book some of the refugees become more developed characters.
   
   Lack of plausibility. The book features a virus that turns people into vampires, but I think it's asking a bit much of a virus to have such a big effect on their bodies in such a short time. Some aspects of these "virals" are quite interesting, but on other levels they're just like any number of other monsters you can fairly easily imagine. And then the book has virus survivors using a lot of 100-year-old food and fuel and clothing and vehicles and equipment as if they're still fine, and lots of dead bodies are still lying around intact after 100 years.
   
   The central figure. The book revolves around a little girl who receives a perfected form of the virus that makes her stay young, so she's still bouncing around the vampire-infested landscape 100 years after the military lost control of the virus and destroyed the world. The book starts with her sad story of living with a prostitute mom before the virus, and while this section is well written, I found it somewhat emotionally manipulative. And then she has this excessively sentimental relationship with an FBI agent who lost his own daughter and so makes this little girl his new daughter, emotionally. This all came across to me largely as formulaic stuff to help the book become a best-seller by playing on people's emotions, and there are some examples of this later in the book, too.
   
   When the girl (finally) comes back on the scene later in the book, her powers and her role remain unclear to me, and the narrative sort of forgets her but then remembers her again as the refugees go forth. There's a lot of hype in the book about how important she is and central to humanity's long-term survival, but the book doesn't really show why, to my satisfaction. She's involved with a lot of telepathy and other powers, but it's not clear to me how or why she has these powers. Granted, this is the first book in a trilogy, and I assume the author will explain more in later books, but I didn't like how this girl was handled; I didn't feel like the author had full control over his story, in book one. (Even though book one wasn't a home run for me, I'm definitely interested enough to read the next two, by the way.)
   
   The ending: I didn't like how the book wrapped up. One of the virals was given all these weird telepathic powers to affect people's dreams and stuff, and it seemed to be building up to some big climactic conflict with him, but then he and his mob of virals ("the Many") are killed way too easily. The virals are very dumb and are just like animals, by the way, with some observable instinctive behaviors but no real intelligence or communication possible, except with this one Babcock viral with the telepathic powers.
   
   The title: All during the book, I kept wondering what "The Passage" referred to. Near the end, the author makes an attempt to explain it, but it's just a few sentences that aren't very convincing, and the concept is never really developed.
   
   I don't know, maybe I'm just getting harder to please as I get older, or maybe I'm becoming a less empathetic reader or something, but this book only half-worked for me. If you like post-apocalyptic thrillers, you should definintely definitely check this out, and I think most people will like it better than I do.



2. "Every so often a novel-reader's novel comes along: an enthralling, entertaining story wedded to simple, supple prose, both informed by tremendous imagination. Summer is the perfect time for such books, and this year readers can enjoy the gift of Justin Cronin's The Passage. Read fifteen pages and you will find yourself captivated; read thirty and you will find yourself taken prisoner and reading late into the night." -- Stephen King
   
   King should have added the following: "Read 200 pages and you will find yourself hip-deep in a swamp of cliches and tropes pilfered from me. Read 300 pages and your eyes will glaze over in a coma of boredom induced by the relentless proliferation of characters you couldn't care less about, a plot that skips back and forth in time in an effort to seem less predictable than it actually is, and the apparently arbitrary rules governing the behavior of the zombies, sorry, vampires."
   
   I do not know how one would feel after (properly) reading the rest of this mammoth tome because I gave up at the point where the Girl Who Is to Save the World (TM) reappears, after 90 years and 100 pages, just in the right time and place to save our hero from a horde of ravenous zombies, sorry, vampires during a Battle in an Abandoned Shopping Mall (TM). Skimming the rest, I gather the Brave Band of Companions (TM) ran into a society of post-apocalyptic Mormons, sorry, polygamous pagans who have done a Deal With the Devil (TM) in which they sacrifice their young boys to the Big Bad Vampire. There was also a military-run colony and an escape by train. Oh yes, and a Magical Negro (a nun, yet!) who ends up blowing herself up to save our brave young (white) protagonists.
   
   The motivations of characters in this book tend to be bewilderingly mystical, not growing out of their circumstances, and often causing them to act against their own best interests, which I did not find very believable. E.g. why would Michael not have told the elders of the colony that the batteries were failing? And what was the point of the Sanctuary? Just a couple of examples that bugged me.
   
   Cronin's prose is serviceable, but tends to veer into the "incantatory." And as other reviewers have mentioned, the pace is slow, slow, slow. The author could have left out Wolgast's first date with his wife, who doesn't even appear in the book, and Sara's crush on Peter. Just examples, again.
   
   In conclusion, this book is pretty bad. King's "Under The Dome" was more readable, and that's saying something. I now think King praised this book in order to remind readers that we're damn lucky we still have him, because Justin Cronin, for one, is no substitute.



3. I tore through this thick book with ease because it was so enthralling. I found myself gasping and talking out loud as I read. Just when you thought you were in the thick of the story line, the book dips like a roller coaster taking you on a new bend of it's adventure. The words sometimes poured off the pages into pictures. I was grateful for an apocalyptic story that had some backdrop, dimension, explanation and follow-up. Still thought book ended rather abruptly for being so long, but it was very much worth the read!



4. I am currently listening to this book, the unabridged version, of course. Right now I am halfway through. It is very, very good. Scott Brick does an awesome job. I am able to listen at work, I work on a computer all day. Since the book is very long I wanted to listen instead of reading. It is an amazing book so far and cannot wait to see how it all ends. So, if you like audio books and books like "The Stand" I think you will enjoy listening to this novel.



5. Anybody who follows popular fiction has most certainly heard by now about "The Passage". It was big news before it was even available (hell, the movie rights were sold for a cool $1.75 million before Justin Cronin had even written it) and became even bigger news once it fell into the hands of book critics and customers, not to mention its debut at #3 on the New York Times Bestseller List for Hardcover Fiction.
   
   So there's been a lot of buzz. But it's not for everyone. If you're thinking about giving it a go, you'd better be in for the long haul because this is no beach read; it's best described as pretty darn lengthy at 766 pages. I surmised when I began this book in June that it would comprise all of my summer reading and I was correct in my assumptions - it took me a little over two months. I'm sure there are others who read it in far less time (those people probably don't have young children, spouses or extracurricular activities of any kind) but I enjoyed the fact that it wasn't over with as soon as it began, as most novels can feel sometimes (250-300 page average).
   
   "The Passage" is also epic in its span, containing a vastly detailed story divided into 11 parts and a postscript that will have readers wondering just how soon the next book in this planned trilogy will be published.
   
   It all begins in 2012 with an introduction to some major and minor players and a glimpse into the small and seemingly insignificant thing that will unravel the world: a virus. Cronin was smart to play on this common paranoia, as fear-mongering has become customary within the American media. Every week, month or year, it seems, the public hears about and grows afraid of some new and virulent strain of flu or other virus or bacteria and the potential it has for pandemic proportions. The virus of this book might even have some people wondering about a bat's potential as a vector for disease but more importantly it will fascinate them because it crosses over into the tired territory of vampires and makes it all fantastically new again, particularly by making it part of the larger theme of post-apocalyptic survival.
   
   The first 246 pages end in a magnificent jolt - the reader glimpses the end of the world with the inception of the outbreak, the flash of a nuclear bomb and a 6-year old girl who, inoculated with a perfected version of the virus that is causing widespread chaos, cannot die. What will happen to her? How will she possibly survive?
   
   Cronin refuses to answer that question just yet, taking us instead nearly 100 years into the future to a colony of survivors in California who have created a new world order for themselves. They are surviving off the power of turbines to keep the horde of superhuman vampiric creatures that now roam far and wide (known as "virals") out of their compound. We get to know key characters fairly well (others only get surface descriptions) along with how the colony came to be and it is only after another 100 pages that Amy (the girl) reenters the picture. Houston, we have lift-off.
   
   From Part V (The Girl From Nowhere) all the way to the very end, it is a wild and dangerous expedition for everyone, replete with love, sacrifice, violence, death and destruction. Some characters are fleshed out and become a bigger part of what is to come and some are lost and either found later or never recovered. Cronin's writing is slick, well-paced and provides plenty of character development for the important members of his vast cast (it's dizzying how many people he introduces throughout the entire book - a character index and a family tree of the colony would've been helpful). There are very few flashbacks or drawn-out personal histories to hinder the book's pacing -small but important details about people and places are adroitly fit in as events unfold, rarely disturbing his narrative. He ties it all up with an ending that more than suggests that the journey for the characters that we have come to know is far from over.
   
   Though I very much enjoyed "The Passage", it is not without flaws. From the beginning (even before she is infected) it is implied that Amy is special, somehow different from normal people, but the reason(s) for it are never explained (the zoo scene in Part I where she says that the animals know "what I am" is the initial teaser). It isn't even explained why the military is looking for her and wants her for their experiment. Perhaps those reasons will come to light in the next book but they never make an appearance in this one and that can be a real thorn in the side of some readers. The other is the loosely documented time frame - any semblance of accurate dating (and Cronin is a little vague about the current year at the beginning of the book anyway) gets thrown out the window once the apocalypse starts. It's understandable that time would get lost in the chaos but it makes it hard to tell exactly when in time it might be and how much time has really passed between pre and post-epidemic. The clock essentially starts over and days are literally numbered in journal entries (Day 14, Day 15, etc.) without indication of month or year, so for anyone trying to either lightly or thoroughly discern exactly when in the world it is, it can really drive a distractive wedge into the story for them.
   
   Love it, hate it - it cannot be denied that "The Passage" has made a dent in the literary world that will long be felt by everyone who hears of it and/or reads it. Though it contains shades of other works (notably "The Stand"), it somehow manages to put itself in a class all its own, setting a new standard for genre fiction, and is a book that writers old and new will seek to imitate in the hopes of surpassing it.

5 comments about The Book Thief.

1. I usually start my book reviews by writing a story overview to give you a glimpse of what the book is about. And I could do that for this book too ...
   
   "This is the story novel of a 9-year-old girl named Liesel Meminger who lives with her adoptive parents in World War II Germany in the working-class town of Molching. Given up by her mother to protect her safety, Liesel loses her younger brother on the train ride to Molching. (At his burial, she steals her first book, The Grave Diggers Handbook.) As she grows up on Himmel Street, we get to know Liesel and her accordion-playing adoptive father Hans Hubermann; her stern (but secretly loving) adoptive mother Rosa; her best friend Rudy; the depressed but kind Mayor's Wife (who passively encourages and abets Liesel's continuing book theft); and the sad but strong Jewish refugee Max (who is hidden in the Hubermann's basement). Set against the backdrop of World War II, we experience the war from Liesel's point of view--from forced participation in the Hitler Youth, to the stress of sheltering a Jew in your basement, to the importance of seeming to support the Nazis and Hitler when you're doing everything you can to subvert their atrocities while not being noticed."
   
   ...but I don't really want to do that. Why? Because giving a summary of this book doesn't convey to you what makes this book so incredibly powerful, amazing, gripping and poetic. It makes the book seem somewhat ordinary when it is anything but. For this is an extraordinary book.
   
   What makes it so extraordinary? The narrator. Our narrator, you see, is Death. (Yes ... Death. Like the Grim Reaper.) And, as you might expect, Death doesn't come at a story in the same way as you or I.
   
   EXCERPT: I could introduce myself properly, but it's not really necessary. You will know me well enough and soon enough, depending on a diverse range of variables. It suffices to say that at some point in time, I will be standing over you, as genially as possible. Your soul will be in my arms. A color will be perched on my shoulder. I will carry you gently away.
   
   Death is tired. Death needs a distraction. A vacation. Which is why he notices colors. To Death, Rudy isn't just a boy. He is the lemon-haired boy. Hans Hubermann isn't just a man. He is the silver-eyed man (whose eyes begin to rust at his death). But Death notices Liesel ... and something about her catches his notice. As Death says:
   
   EXCERPT: It's the story of one of those perpetual survivors--an expert at being left behind. It's just a small story really, about, among other things:
   
   * A girl
   * Some words
   * An accordionist
   * Some fanatical Germans
   * A Jewish fist fighter
   * And quite a lot of thievery
   
   I saw the book thief three times.
   
   From the very first page until the very last, I was completely enchanted by this book. I loved Death's narration ... his bolded, centered asides, his sly sense of humor, his use of imagery and colors, his way of listing the events in the upcoming chapters, his advice for meeting him, the gentle way he holds a soul in his arms. For me, Zusak's choice of narrator and the way he tells the story elevates this book from "another World War II novel" to a shimmering, dazzling prism of light that reflects our humanness back to us.
   
   If you can't tell already, I loved this book. Loved it. When you read a lot of books, you're always hoping for one that will surprise you, tell you a story in a unique way, or open your eyes to what a writer can do with words. For me, The Book Thief was one of those books. Upon starting it, I immediately regretted that I hadn't read it sooner. What if Death had come for me before I got to read it? Then it became a book that I didn't want to end. Although it is 576 pages, I found something to love and linger over on each page. And although I'm not a person who likes to reread books, I know I will revisit this one again.
   
   So, if you haven't read it yet, don't delay. It is a wondrous book--brimming with love and dazzling in its inventiveness and words. Perfection.
   
   A Brief Aside: For some reason, this book is always classified as a Young Adult novel, which I feel might turn off some readers. Do not let this label fool you into thinking there is anything simplistic about this book. If this is YA book, then it is the pinnacle of the genre. In my mind, I don't see it needing to be labeled as such, and I fear that such a label might keep some readers away from it. Don't make that mistake!



2. There have been so many good reviews of this book. Just wanted to add mine as I loved this book. Can't really understand the young reader tag tho?? A great story but the writing style is the thing that grabs you. Should be used in any writing class as an example of perfection.



3. I've been reading a lot of the reviews for this book and I've noticed a recurring theme with most of them. Some have been saying that this is not a book that teens would enjoy, but I'm here to let you know that that is nowhere near the truth. Now I will admit that I am an old teenager (19 years old) and that I mostly read mangas (Japanese comics) but although I still love Japanese comics, I'm looking for more novels to read, because I've miss them so much from my days as an avid reader. The Book Thief is a beautiful work of art amidst the vampire phase spurred by Meyer's Twilight series *gags* that I can't seem to escape in bookstores (seriously there's vampire crap EVERYWHERE, and quite frankly I'm sick of looking at it), Marcus Zusak has fired up my desire to read regular books. I'm now constantly on the look-out for more and more great novels like this one and I will be reading more of Zusak's work. I highly suggest any adults out there with teens to let them have a go at this book.



4. I went to Indigo three years ago looking for the new edition of Lolita. My mother who was with stumbled into the YA section and picked this book up for me and said it sounded interesting. I bought it, but I didn't think much of it for the past three years. But last summer when I literally had nothing to read, I read this book after two previous attempts.
   
   I devoured this book in one day.
   
   *SPOILERS INCLUDED IN THIS REVIEW*
   
   There is not enough praise in the world I could give this book. Yes, I had read books about the Holocaust previously, but this book will stand out to me forever. Mr. Zusak's writing style is so captivating and distinct that no one but him could ever write like that. Sure, he breaks the cardinal rule of "show don't tell" but he does it in such a quirky way you really don't care and can't help but enjoy it.
   
   There isn't too much action in this book (if you want action go turn on Transformers) but ever scene was written beautifully and masterfully crafted. Although much of the book is about Liesel learning to read and her relationship with Hans, and Rosa, and Max, and Rudy, the Holocaust was elegantly woven throughout the entire book. Even if Liesel is playing soccer or reading or having fun, you still sense the gloom and the mood of the war.
   
   Even though Mr. Zusak's writing is superb, the real gems of this novel (tarnished however, in the best way possible of course) are the characters--each one his or her own individual and equally unique and realistic. Liesel was such a relatable character to me, because she acted like a normal 9 year-old girl at the start and 10, 11, and 12 year-old as the book progressed. She struggled to fit in, and she was, not to mention, illiterate. How she overcomes those struggles is what makes her such a wonderful character. Max was fantastic and you couldn't help but dread his fate, Rudy was lovable and you couldn't help but bawl when he died, Hans was the dad you wished you had, Rosa was an animated character that you couldn't help but secretly love.
   
   But the most interesting character, perhaps, was the narrator: Death itself. No, we did not get a back story to Death (how could we ever?), but Death was so quirky and witty he was a character, too!
   
   The book provided an interesting point of view from a German girl's perspective. This is a book that can be life altering--it really and truly opened my eyes. The ending was probably one of the saddest, most bittersweet ones I have read in quite some times. I cried for nearly ten minutes and then re-read the ending again. You will laugh at Rudy's witty remarks as well as Liesel's snarky comebacks. Your heart will melt when you read about Hans and Max. You will feel Rosa's pain. Most of all, you will experience all of this through Death's perspective.
   
   One of the best books I have read in a while. Perhaps I am overrating his book like crazy, but in my eyes, it deserves it all.
   
   Overall Grade: A++++++(Haha, no I'm just kidding....) A+
   5 out of 5 stars (If only there was a 6 option.
   
   Similar books include: The boy in the striped pajamas, Milkweed, and Hunger Journeys.



5. Although this book already has 917 reviews as I write, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to add my name to the list of lovers of this powerful book. I had a little trouble getting into it at first. After about 85 pages I called the friend who recommended it to ask why she loved it so much. She told me to persevere and I will be greatly rewarded. So rarely do I have tears in my eyes while reading. There are many well written powerful books on the market with heart wrenching tales to tell but this book does it so well without being maudlin and manipulative. It is a very special piece of literature.

5 comments about Super Sad True Love Story: A Novel.

1. If you're coming to "Super Sad True Love Story" with no hype - that's good. In fact, that's excellent. Not to say that the hype doesn't have some truth to it, but it's a little skewed at times. Better to come with no preconceptions, because you honestly may like this book, or you may dislike it. Why? Well...
   
   "Super Sad True Love Story" starts out so normally, it's hard to imagine how it will progress (unless you've read the story summaries, the reviews, the massive publicity, etc.). It's a strong beginning, one that carefully plunges the reader into Shteyngart's new and rather weirdly futuristic world. It's not a dystopia, exactly, because things aren't trying to be perfect, and it's not really science fiction, even if it does take place in the future. It's satire, and there lies the problem.
   
   Writing satire is hard. Shteyngart needs to walk a fine line between believable punch-in-the-gut mockery and the simply unbelievable. For a while, he's on the good side - Shteyngart's future is plausible, if a little overdone, and interesting. Having the story told from two perspectives - one older, closer in mentality to the 2010 one, and one younger, in the brand new mentality Shteyngart hints that the younger generations today are heading towards - means that we're eased into the world and I was able to accept it at first.
   
   It helps that I very much enjoyed the story of "Super Sad True Love Story". Take out all the satire, take out all the "modern chat-speak" and you've got a simple, if somewhat unoriginal story. But it works. I liked the characters, I liked the way they behaved around each other, the way they thought and acted. It was a curious character study, and enough to keep me going even when the book started to get hard to read.
   
   Around the halfway mark, Shteyngart falls on the bad side of satire. I stopped buying the story. It became tedious and frustrating, in the way only satire can. Luckily, the book redeemed itself by having a strange, strong ending that resembled a book I very much liked (resembled, I should note, for all the wrong reasons but it worked).
   
   Even as I grit my teeth trying to deal with the over-satire (and this happened often), I found "Super Sad True Love Story" to be an interesting read. I don't buy all of what Shteyngart is trying to sell readers about consumerism and the death of humanity as we know it, but I liked aspects, just as I liked the story itself, the characters, and a few key moments. Depending on your tolerance for satire, this book may be perfect for you, but you may find yourself frustrated and disappointed as I did.



2. "Super Sad True Love Story" is a brilliantly conceived and exquisitely constructed piece of literature. The story is very much a deep love story. Yet, the real focus of the book is to depict the slightly futuristic auto-immolation of the United States of America. This self-destruction of what has been for a very long time the most wonderful and diverse culture and bastion of individuality and personal freedom is depicted as the worst American nightmare. All that we stand for is completely lost as a result of irresponsible fiscal policy and the failure of the monetary aristocracy of America to work to strengthen and stabilize the positive and beautiful characteristics of the United States, but instead they focus entirely on their own avariciously driven visions of what they feel America should become.
   
   One example of this misplaced vision of America represented in the book is the objective of one of the largest companies in the country to develop scientific methods to allow people to live ad infinitum. The company invests huge amounts of its own capital and resources in attempting to defeat the normal course of nature and the aging process. Since Ponce de Leon attempted to find the Fountain of Youth in Florida, the search for a process of reversing aging has been a long sought after and always elusive process. It proves to be so in Mr. Shteyngart's book as well.
   
   The story depicts an America that is futuristic, but only slightly so. The PDA's and Blackberries that people currently use have been technologically perfected to the point that written and spoken language has become arcane. People live in a visual society. All people carry a device that constantly is streaming data and information to everyone. The device is driven by the media and the fashion industry. The device allows the user to buy anything. It allows the user to rank people by a number of important factors, mostly though, factors that represent their appearance to others, not what they truly embody as human beings, but what they appear to represent by virtue of their physical appearance, the clothing that they wear and the manner that they present themselves to the public. The concept of a printed book becomes an absurdity, not even something with a collectable value, but something that people see as junk with a bad smell to them.
   
   Ultimately, the United States falls victim to those fiscally responsible countries in the world. The Chinese, the Norwegians and a few others that have managed to take ownership of the United States by virtue of the collection of vast amounts of US Public Debt. Those who own the Treasury Bonds that the US Government is selling to anyone who will buy them become those with the power to do whatever they want to the United States of America. What they want is a vision that no true American can internalize without feelings of hatred and disgust at what has become of the country that they love almost as much as their own lives.
   
   Within the text of this amazingly creative vision of the near future of America is the relationship of people to each other and to their families, friends and lovers. The book focuses very clearly and importantly on the nature of person to person relations in a world where the only thing that is truly valuable is how one is rated or ranked by the software on their streaming information devices. These relationships and interactions also are deeply injured and truly distorted in a world of images and debt. Truly, the author has captured the deepest and most meaningful aspects of life in America and most other places in the world today with respect to the true nature of human interaction and feelings and what happens when those important values are decimated in favor of a distorted concept of Capitalism.
   
   Because of the unfortunate reality that the book may in fact be a prescient indicator of what may happen to the United States of America, it is imperative that thinking citizens read what is portrayed within and work in ways to try and avoid the total loss of the greatest country in the world. Americans must overcome the gross errors and improprieties that capitalism and government have foisted upon this nation and work in ways that will allow the United States to retain its prime position in the world. Whatever it takes to accomplish this outcome, however the citizens have to sacrifice to change the country from the destiny that is portrayed in this book; we must work diligently to make that happen. If we do not heed the clear and concise warning elucidated in these pages, we will be left with a life no longer worth living. We must seek to overcome the obstacles that are trending our economic and political and social realities in the direction of frivolity and disaster so that America remains the greatest place in the world to live and work. This potential reality is the author's message. No American can afford to ignore or miss the messages so well presented in this book. It is imperative that we all read it and consider how we can reverse the direction that allowed Gary Shteyngart to predict the future of the United States of America that he has shown us so graphically in this book. We must remain, America, Home of the Free!



3. This is a very pleasant read--quick, funny, provocative and at times disturbing. At the end I felt profoundly sad, however, and not in a good way. Then again, the title did warn me, right?
   
   Sad and slightly disappointed--especially after all the glowing reviews. It's well done and enjoyable, but ... maybe it's me.
   
   I didn't really get why Lenny is so enamored of Eunice, for instance, or her feelings for him. Yes, she has youth and vitality, which he covets. And she seems to need protecting, which he finds attractive. For him, she's almost like a teddy bear--something he needs to keep safe because he craves safety himself. All right, I get all that. After a while, though, this grows pathetic and annoying, and seems simplistic. I wasn't really made to feel it in any way other than superficially.
   
   Also, the whole corporate dictatorship/terrorism conspiracy business left me confused. I suppose that's because the characters are confused by it, but still, I'm not entirely sure it actually made any sense.
   
   But as I said, maybe it's me.
   
   Nevertheless, it's a cleverly rendered piece--by turns laugh-out-loud funny, with brilliant observations about personal behavior and politics, and eerily familiar. I'm wild for smart cynicism, but there's something off here. By the end it feels a little like a child playing at being a grown-up.
   
   Much as I enjoyed it and gobbled it up, this book ultimately is a tad too dark for my tastes. I'd recommend it, but not for everybody.



4. Beware! My life was put on hold by this plot. I just couldn't put the thing down.



5. Imagine the USA 10 or 15 years down the road. The dollar is pegged to the yuan, and a tyrannical right-wing government is in power. The divide between High Net Worth Individuals and Low is a chasm that cannot be spanned. The country is bogged down in a losing war in Venezuela. Everyone carries an "apparat" -- an always-online device that broadcasts its carrier's Male or Female Hotness, health and nutritional benchmarks, and provides access to intimate correspondence. Not only are there no secrets from the government. There are no secrets among the people, either. Even your credit rating hovers brightly in the air above your head when you pass a Credit Pole on the street.
   
   This is the USA Gary Shteyngart creates to showcase the truly sad love story of Lenny Abramov (Russian-American, age 39, depressive reader of books) and Eunice Park (Korean-American, age 24, anorexic, self-obsessed, and cruel shopaholic like all her friends). The tale of their troubled relationship plays out against the backdrop of a city (New York) and a country in the throes of total collapse. It's not a pretty picture -- but it's extremely funny.
   
   Super Sad True Love Story is Shteyngart's third novel, and it's the best of the lot. It follows The Russian Debutante's Handbook and Absurdistan, both brilliantly satirical. All three are characterized by the author's masterful way with language and his delicious sense of humor.
   
   (From Mal Warwick's Blog on Books)

5 comments about Star Island.

1. this is one of the most stupid books i have read. i mostly skimmed it. dont waste your time or money on it.



2. The emergency medical technicians have been called to a hotel in South Beach, responding to call concerning a twenty-two year old female who has swallowed a "mix of vodka, Red Bull, hydrocodone, birdseed, and stool softener." A rather typical call for South Beach with the exception of the appearance of Bang Abbott, an overweight, intrusive paparazzo. He wants to have exclusive right to the pictures of the woman on the stretcher. However, when the EMT's wheel out the woman, he realizes that this is not the person he came to shoot. His real target, Cherry Pye, a lip synching "singer" with serious drug, alcohol, and sex issues, has been whisked out the back of the hotel and is on her way to rehab (again). Bang has been tricked by Cherry's handlers, who employ Ann DeLusia, an actress who is a spitting image of Cherry, and is considered an "undercover stunt double." Cherry has no idea that Ann exists, Ann is used any time Cherry is too wasted to make public appearances or to cover for her when she is in rehab.
   
   The use of Ann as a double is brilliant until she crashes her car on her way to Key West for some much deserved rest and relaxation. Rescued by a man known as "Skink," a former governor of Florida and who is now, for lack of a better term, an "eco terrorist," Ann connects with Skink, who then helps Ann get out of some very sticky situations and, ultimately, away from Cherry Pye and her entourage.
   
   In Star Island, Carl Hiaasen turns his eye on what passes for celebrity in America, but adds his usual criticism of Florida real estate developers and certain types of people that inhabit the Sunshine State. Regular readers will enjoy the appearance of Skink, who has a very effective and hilarious method of dealing with one unscrupulous real estate developer, and two other characters. All should relish Ann, the small voice of reason and sanity in the insane circle of people that inhabit Cherry's world.
   
   Hiaasen does an admirable job of skewering the music industry and "celebrity," but he seems to have lost a step. He should have pushed the boundaries farther. Also, other than Skink, who inhabits the novel but not to the extent of Hiassen's better works, Ann is the only character with whom the reader will connect. Hiassen should have spent more time with her, she is the perfect foil for the insanity and a joy to follow.
   
   Star Island isn't one of Hiassen's best works, but it is better than most fiction. In fact, you will discover that he has grabbed your attention with a fun, entertaining novel.
   
   Disclosure:
   Obtained from: Library
   Payment: Borrowed



3. I'll admit I'm one of the people who watches all the entertainment news shows and loves to keep up will the latest news on all the celebrities. So, this book really appealed to me. It's the story of a pop star named Cherry Pye and her body double, Ann. Ann is part of Cherry's entourage to be on hand to show up for events when Cherry is too drugged out to appear herself, and Cherry does not know she exists. The other main character is a paparazzo named Bang Abbott who is intent on getting all the latest photos of Cherry.
   
   The book really gives you an idea of what it's like for both the celebrity, who relies on the paparazzi to keep them in the public eye, and for the photographer and how he is able to find out who is going to be where and when. I thought that was very interesting. There is also a lot of celebrity name dropping, which makes the story really believable and fun.
   
   The book becomes somewhat of a mystery, with a few different story lines going. There are lots of really entertaining characters in the book which make it a lot of fun to read. There are Cherry's parents, who kind of remind me of Lindsay Lohan's parents and Cherry's bodyguard, Chemo. He is one of the more interesting characters in the book and his job is almost more to protect Cherry from herself than to protect her from others. He gets tired of her using words such as like and awesome all the time and uses a little electrical shock to keep her from doing it, and he goes to any length to keep her away from drugs. Ann also has kind of a bodyguard, who is a character from other Haissen books named Skink. I have to say I did not care for the parts he was in as much. Quite a bit of what he was involved with had to do with the current financial situation we are in and I was more interested in the celebrity side of it. But, if you know him from previous books, you'll probably like his role in the book.
   
   I did start getting tired of the story towards the end and wanted to hurry up and see how it was going to turn out. The ending was kind of flat and just left me feeling kind of ho-hum. But, up until about the last 1/4 of the book, it was really funny and entertaining, so I would recommend it as something quick and fun to read.



4. Star island is hilarious. Hiaasen at his best.
   Richard Brawer, author of Beyond Guilty and Silk Legacy



5. Hiaasen never fails to amuse me. His sarcasm and ironic tales of lowlifes and trouble souls in South Florida are always fantastic. The situation in this newest work, Star Island, involves a failing female popstar and we can all insert the name of a real popstar from the headlines.
   
   Hiaasen brings back several charming characters and inserts them aptly into the storyline. This was my first Kindle novel and I ate it up at the beach last week. I don't get to read for fun as much as I used to, but I loved this story.

5 comments about The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

1. Well researched and an intriguing story, but the book is bogged down and mired in unnecessary details and asides. The author's passion for the subject shines through, and her strong, clear sentences help, but overall, the book was a let-down.



2. I as others have stated can't believe that this is her first book. I was moved to tears because once again we african americans have been deprived of our rightful place in history/research. I wonder with the politically hateful climate we find our in today, how many white folks have benefited from this research. I daresay that not many would turn down treatment developed from this research. will be giving this book as a christmas gift. should be added to black history and research classes.



3. This was a book order for my son. He started school on the 25th.
   Item was ordered on the 23rd of August.
   Amazon sent shipping information to FedEx on the 23rd of August.
   FedEx did not receive the actual item from Amazon until August 30th.
   Today is 9/1/2010 and shipment estimated to arrive 9/4/2010.
   
   Amazon's systems should have alerted someone that an order is too late. Someone at Amazon should have called me the customer on the front side to notify me of the delay, and the plan to fix the issue.
   
   I will not be using Amazon for purchases going forward. Amazon should learn about QUALITY customer service from companies like Wal-Mart.



4. I found the beginning of this utterly captivating, very hard to put down. Skloot does a good job of addressing the science behind the subject without making it too technical. The part where the story derails is when the family gets involved, particularly the time spent with Mrs. Lacks' daughter, Deborah. The author seems to focus more on the struggles of Deborah and her apparent disabilities, maybe in a human-interest sort of way, but I felt that it began to become a bit more exploitative. I think it is very important to shine a light on the unethical way the black population was treated by the medical profession and how shameful it is that the Lacks family has not benefited in any way from the massive scale of production of the HeLa cell line. If this book had merely contained the first half, or left the drama of the second half out or at least shortened it some, I think this book would have appealed to me more as a whole. I would certainly recommend this to friends, but with a disclaimer of the soap-opera like drama that comes in at the end.



5. from the first page I was hooked and stayed up too late many a night because I didn't want to put it down.

5 comments about Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia.

1. I will preface this review with the fact that I didn't actually finish the book. I couldn't. I stopped somewhere in Italy. I think I am supposed to like the main character - and apparently many people did - but by page 2 I knew I didn't. She comes across extremely smug and self-righeous. The problems are two-fold: 1) she doesn't explain at all why she's so unhappy. And she actually says she's too enlightened now to hurt anyone so won't provide any details. Well, if I don't understand who she is and why she started her crazy journey, how can I possibly empathize and so like her? The bottom line is that I absolutely cannot relate to this woman. And because we are only provided surface glimpses she comes across extremely smug, self-absorbed and generally unlikeable. 2) This book I believe was written so others could appreciate and perhaps take lessons from her spiritual and self-discovery journey. The fact that she does this by getting a huge book advance and runs away for a year traveling the world is absurd. I almost want to say, "how dare you?" If you write a book about spiritual self-discovery and do not provide any real insight into who you are and do so in a manner in which no one else could do this - you are going to come across narcissistic and self-righteous - most certainly not enlightened. Skip this self-absorbed tale.



2. I am trying to get through this "book" because it is an assignment. It is slow, boring and depressing. She quits her job and dashes around the globe to find herself. Rich family and friends meet her in distant countries as she travels. Can you say spoiled brat with rich rich rich friends and family. She had no worries she just wanted to get out of her marriage and flit around with no responsibilities and no boundries. She is shallow and lacks any admirable characteristics.
   I am glad I was able to get this book on Amazon.com for pennies. It will not be too much of a loss when I throw it in the trash.



3. I wanted to like this book. Everyone I knew loved it and said I had to read this book. I didn't make it past Italy. I was disappointed that she was paid to take this trip (book advance) and wondered how much of it was manufactured for the book. Also, to me, her tone seemed haughty and self-important.



4. I cannot understand why people like this boooooooring book. I painfully made it through Italy and started India...that's when I couldn't take it anymore and felt that stapling my hand to the wall would be far more interesting than continuing with this woman who never stops talking about the damn bathroom floor...save yourself and save your money! I hope I can get a few bucks for it at the used bookstore especially since I only read a portion. Seriously this woman quit her marriage for some reason that she won't share....umm ok isn't that part of what sent her out on this journey that resulted in an overly hyped up, waste of paper, diary of a cry baby? She roamed around Italy eating and talking a bunch of nonsense meanwhile not having to worry about money thanks to her book advance. What idiot publisher did that! I agree with many of the other reviews.....she is a spoiled lame. I will not even bother seeing the movie ugg!



5. Great - the book is what I thought it would be. Shipping was on time and got here in perfect shape. Thanks - A+

5 comments about Outliers: The Story of Success.

1. I was very intrigued by the first half of the book. Great ideas regarding the influence birthday cutoffs have on our future development path. However, the second half seemed to wander and I didn't feel there was a connection to the concepts presented in the first half.
   
   I would recommend this book, but it didn't quite live up to the hype for me.
   
   Rami



2. Outliers is a fantastic read. If Gladwell started out this book with the intention of changing one's perspective on how success is achieved, he has without a doubt succeeded.
   
   He breaks down success with the 10,000 hour rule and the legacy of culture, all of which make perfect sense. If you have not realized yet, Gladwell has the uncanny ability to point out things that we overlook. He does it flawlessly here with stories of successful software billionaires, lawyers and doctors.
   
   An interesting bit in this book is as personal as it gets, Gladwell's breakdown of his mother as an outlier. A set of perfectly timed events centuries ago that result in her ending up in Canada.
   
   The word Interesting does not do justice to this book. I highly recommend it.



3. Although the factors author Malcolm Gladwell puts forth as coming into play and the data he uses to support his claims about outliers, which he describes as, (p 17), "men and women who do things that are out of the ordinary," are generally interesting, most are unsurprising. He contends that, (p 18) "there is something profoundly wrong with the way we make sense of success," and (p 19) "People don't rise from nothing...they are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways that others cannot." One wouldn't need much more than a little common sense to conclude that a person needs more than just a high IQ to achieve success (the other required component he calls, "practical intelligence"). The same is true for such things as the fact that athletes (and students) with birth dates placing them on the elder end of the spectrum of those making up a pool of potential standouts in academics and athletics do better than their youngest peers. Having a special talent (low supply) at the right time in history (high demand) is also likely to yield benefits. That children of parents who teach them special skills; kids who place the value of hard work over that of innate intelligence; and those who spend a significant time practicing their craft (independent of their initial aptitude for it) have a higher chance of success is also no surprise.
   
   My biggest gripe about the data, of which most of us know can often be framed with a little effort to support opposing views, is that about education. Specifically, Gladwell contends that (p 259) "[between] September and June...Schools work," in support of his claim that (p 258), "when it comes to reading skills, poor kids learn nothing when school is not in session." I agree that one of the reasons that other countries' students perform better than American kids academically is that their students' schools are in session longer, but I disagree wholeheartedly that kids from poor families do comparably well as those from middle and high income families during the school year. In my state, Washington, low-income students (those who qualify for free or reduced price lunch) overwhelmingly perform significantly worse on state tests (WASL/MSP) than those who don't by a wide margin in every tested subject and in every tested grade.
   
   In summary, while Outliers provides food for thought (and plenty of facts and figures), Gladwell's primary contention, that several fortuitous circumstances combined trump one single significant factor when it comes to predicting a person's success, is simply sensible. Better: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey, Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder, and On the Ridge Between Life and Death by David Roberts.



4. 
   
   "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell is an extremely well-written, insightful, and fascinating evaluation of what external factors in a person's life lead to success or failure. The book also examines the effects culture has on people and how those effects influence peoples' lives.
   
   Gladwell writes: "The sense of possibility so necessary for success comes not just from inside us or from our parents. It comes from our time: from the particular opportunities that our particular place in history presents us with."
   
   Gladwell writes about the microcomputer revolution and tells us most successful entrepreneurs during that revolution were born in the mid-1950s. This made them just old enough to take advantage of the microcomputer revolution that began in the mid-1970s.
   
   Gladwell concludes: "I don't mean to suggest, of course, that every software tycoon in Silicon Valley was born in 1955. Some weren't .... But there are very clearly patterns here, and what's striking is how little we seem to want to acknowledge them. We pretend that success is exclusively a matter of individual merit. ... Their success was not just of their own making. It was a product of the world in which they grew up."
   
   Not only is the year of birth important, but, surprisingly, the month of birth is sometimes crucial too. In his outstanding chapter, "The Matthew Effect," Gladwell examines the months of birth of star athletes and shows that when junior sports have eligibility cut-off dates, the effects of those cut-off date propagates all the way up to the professional level of play.
   
   For example, in Canada, most professional hockey players are born in January. The next most popular birth months are February and March. Forty percent of professional Canadian hockey players are born in these months. Thirty percent are born in the next three months of April to June, and only 20 percent are born between October and December. Why is this?
   
   Gladwell explains: "It's simply that in Canada the eligibility cutoff for age-class hockey is January 1. A boy who turns ten on January 2, then, could be playing alongside someone who doesn't turn ten until the end of the year--and, at that age, in preadolescence, a twelve-month gap in age represents an enormous difference in physical maturity."
   
   The implications of this sort of "self-fulfilling prophecy" are important to parents. Gladwell says parents often contemplate holding children who are born at the end of the calendar year back from kindergarten until they are a bit more mature. Gladwell says many parents probably decide to enroll the kids anyway because they assume any disadvantage the child suffers will go away with time. "But it doesn't. It's just like hockey. The small initial advantage that the child born in the early part of the year has over the child born at the end of the year persists. It locks children into patterns of achievement and underachievement, encouragement and discouragement, that stretch on and on for years[,]" concludes Gladwell.
   
   Gladwell writes about the academic and career advantages children born to richer parents have over children born to less affluent parents. Richer parents and financially poor parents have markedly different parenting styles. Richer parents tend to cultivate their kids, shuttle them between different activities, encourage them to interact with the adult world, and advocate strongly for them. Gladwell says poorer parents often believe children will just grow up and develop on their own. They also view the child's world as relatively inconsequential and separate from their adult world. Impoverished parents are often intimidated by authority, so they don't seek special privileges for their children. Children from more affluent homes learn social skills that help them succeed in life. On the downside, children from more affluent homes are often more self-centered and, literally, spoiled.
   
   What about the role of public or private education in determining how well children do? Gladwell addresses this in detail in a well-woven chapter titled "Marita's Bargain." He tells us the story of a young girl named Marita who attends an intensive school in the Bronx called KIPP Academy. The students put in massive amounts of time, and they do exceptionally well, especially in math. It reminded me of the film "Sand and Deliver." Come to school early, stay late, come in on Saturday, and work through the summer. Yep, that'll do it.
   
   While many politicians talk about the need to improve schools in impoverished areas, Gladwell tells us the achievement gap between poorer and richer students actually occurs during summer vacation, when poorer students lose ground academically. Gladwell concludes: "Virtually all of the advantage that wealthy students have over poor students is the result of the differences in the way privileged kids learn while they are not in school. ... For its poorest students, America doesn't have a school problem. It has a summer vacation problem..." It becomes clear the majority of American students would benefit from much shorter summer vacations.
   
   To be good in math requires effort. And, the cultures of many countries encourages students to work hard and instills the belief that if they work hard, they will learn. All students are expected to succeed. In America, by contrast, there is more of a false belief that talent in math is innate. Gladwell shows us that cultural differences can affect learning. Drawing upon the book "The Number Sense" by Stanislas Dehaene, we learn that Asians may have a built-in cultural advantage in learning math. In particular, the Chinese have shorter words for numbers, which allows them to remember more numbers.
   
   For example, Gladwell tells us that only about half of Americans can remember the sequence of 4,8,5,3,9,7,6 after 20 seconds of study. Yet, nearly all Chinese can remember the sequence, because the Chinese language allows all those numbers to be said in a two-second period.
   
   I highly recommend "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell. The book is very well written and packed with insight.



5. This was a required book for my college English Lit class. It was an easy read and doing a report on it was also easy. However, after the opening hook, it relies on anecdotes and junk science. Read it for fun, and its few thought provoking moments. But if you are a parent, don't use this as a gauge for Little Johnny or Jane's future because they weren't born in the right time or at the right place. It's good for an A in an English class, but that's about all.

5 comments about The Help.

1. This is a great book, written from the point of view of three different people. it is not confusing when the author goes back and forth between the characters. The flow is smooth and easy to follow. I thought it was a great book and I highly recommend it.



2. Excellent book. This is the first book I have read in a long time that I just could not put down. I hope to read more by this author.



3. For a first book, this author produced a winner. The characters felt like real people. I really hated for the story to end..a real letdown to have to say "goodbye" to these truly inspirational women.



4. Beautiful, amazing, soulful, witty, sad, touching, real (not literally)... Actually, I can't find the words to describe the book, but it is great and definitely a must read. 2 things I noticed aside from the story itself that I love about Kathryn Stockett's writing (and I only mention these two because I'm sure the other reviewers have already raved about all her other great qualities):
   
   1. She so perfectly describes the physical aspects of any situation where characters interact, especially body language and facial expressions. I found myself thinking, "I never realized people make that face when they feel that way, but she nailed it!" For example, she describes Skeeter's mother driving away from the house in the car that Skeeter needed right away, and the mother stops briefly, starts driving again, then stops again and finally pulls up to the house. The mother says she forgot something and remembered it on her way towards the road (they have a long driveway). I just thought it was such a perfect description of how people really act when they forget something. "Aww, man! Ahhh, forget it! Nah, I really better go back and get it. "
   
   2. Related to the first, she has a good way of linking body language, facial expression and physical action to tell us what people are really thinking or intending.
   
   READ THIS BOOK!!



5. I finished reading this book, after having heard about it for at least a year. I must say I was a young bride in the sixties, engrossed in my life and not truly realizing what was taking place in our southern states. The book brought to me an invitation into their lives at that time. Fact or fiction I thank Ms Stockett for her story. I found myself apologizing, yes, for not truly having the knowledge I should have had. There were many heart warming stories, so many humorous parts I had to pause, lay the book down as I enjoyed what I had just read. When it was a time of horror I again found I had laid the book down while my mind and heart caught up with each other. I had to just pause and give myself time. I found myself laughing aloud and cheering for Abileen and the other black ladies and their strength and boldness they forced upon themselves. So proud of them was/am I and of dear Skeeter. The ending was good, many good things were happening all due to their bravery! ... I thank the author for her having enlightening me to this particular part of life in the south. MWM