ralovesbooks's reviews
1431 reviews

Would recommend: Yes

The book club meeting for The Secret History isn't for another month, but I started it early just in case I needed the time to finish it. Well! I shouldn't have worried. I had a really had time putting it down, which made for some late nights and frenzied fits to get back to it. The premise is morose, but the characters are so interesting that I couldn't help myself. Five hundred pages flew by, and now I think I might need to buy it so I can see if I catch anything new in a second look.

Would recommend: Maybe

I love collections of essays, so I was primed and ready for I Was Told There'd Be Cake. I didn't find the book disappointing so much as inconsistent. Some essays were wonderful and others just flat. I'm still on the fence as to whether I'd get along with Sloane Crosley in real life because I suspect I would be intimidated by her if she is as witty and sarcastic out loud as she is in this book.

Regardless, it was an enjoyable read. I wouldn't recommend this book as a whole to just anyone, but I'd definitely point out a few essays for people to try:

- The Pony Problem
- You on a Stick
- Lay Like Broccoli

Would recommend: Probably

I enjoyed this book much more than I expected. I thought I might be bored in a period-book kind of way, but that Edith Wharton is quite the zinger.

I was surprised to feel like I was reading a shorter, American version of Anna Karenina, but without all of the waxing poetic about philosophy and farming (thank goodness). There isn't a lot of dialog, the action moves slowly, but there are lovely little bits scattered throughout the read that make it enjoyable. This is more of a "good for you" read than an entertaining page-turner, but I liked it well enough. I'd like to investigate more of Edith Wharton's books; this was my first one.

Would recommend: Probably not

If Goodreads had a "shrug" category for reviews, that's where this book would fall for me. It wasn't terrible, it wasn't great, and it didn't make a mark on me. There were some really funny bits, like when the author's name is misconstrued as Guillermo Winger. However, on the whole, I found it too rambly for its own good. The first quarter was pretty much all the same, and I didn't get interested until the last quarter, when the book ended. Oh, well.

Would recommend: Maybe

I was pleasantly surprised by Paper Daughter. Most of my experiences with Asian writing hails from the east and west coast, so hearing the perspective of a family in Denver was different, but a good change nonetheless. This is one of the better Chinese immigrant memoirs I've read, but certain scenes were way too intense for my personal taste. It's not that I think they were inaccurate, but it was hard to read at times.

I think Mar does a good job painting a picture of the struggles of modern immigration, which is a far cry from the old images of Ellis Island. It makes me grateful that my parents were born in this country. She described the Chinese culture really well, but I cringed at the recognition of the harsher aspects.

I am considering passing along my copy to my mom because I imagine that she and the author may have had similar experiences as daughters of immigrants, but I hesitate because I'm afraid that it might hit too close to home.

Would recommend: Probably

Greg got The Last Lecture for Christmas, and I read it as a sort of filler book while I waited for a library book to come in. I have mixed feelings about this book. The first half was more autobiographical, and I enjoyed it very much. The author/lecturer, Randy Pausch is a really fascinating person in how he approached life and his work. The last part was more made up of sound bytes about how he lived his life, full of cliches and one-liners. I suspect they were effective during his live lecture, but in the book, it reads as a corny self-help checklist. In any case, for a book with an underlying premise of terminal illness, it was hardly a tearjerker, which was surprising to me.

I have yet to watch the taped lecture, but I intend to do so.

Would recommend: Maybe

I powered through this book for my book club, but I only really enjoyed snippets of it. The first half was really slow for me, and then the much-touted armageddon was disappointing. I can definitely see how it was intended to be funny, but I was so tired of keeping all of the bazillion characters straight that I almost wanted the book's world to end.

Would recommend: Probably not

I know that The Book Thief has been really well-received, but I can not be enthusiastic about it. I don't understand all the hubbub. It really doesn't make sense; a book about books during WWII is pretty much right up my alley. I don't know. I thought there would be a lot more exciting book theft exploits, especially because I was under the impression that this novel was targeted to the YA audience. I found the book incredibly slow. After I slogged through (all 550 pages of) it, I tried to figure out why I wasn't a huge fan. The reason: I was just bored.

Would recommend: Probably not

Thanks for the Memories is a pleasant, although predictable, read. The conceit that drives the plot requires a fair suspension of disbelief, but it has the makings of a viable romantic comedy. If you like this genre of books, this one won't disappoint, but it won't blow your mind, either.

Would recommend: Maybe

Okay, I confess: I had no idea what this book was about. I heard it was a coming-of-age story, so with the title, I figured it was about a little girl sitting in a tree and growing up in Brooklyn. Which, it was, for about two pages. I just found the whole thing so melancholy, kind of like a hybrid of All-of-a-Kind Family and Angela's Ashes. But, I thought the language was really lovely, and I'm sure I'll read it again. I just don't get how this book was not terribly depressing for the people who read it as children.