recommended by someone else that was struggling with depression. i can see how this is meant to be uplifting, and i think to many people it might be. recommended by someone else that was struggling with depression. i can see how this is meant to be uplifting, and i think to many people it might be. but to me it was a poor study in what people think will help.
quote: ... I read some poems by an English poet, and something he said impressed me greatly: 'Be like the fountain that overflows, not like the cistern that merely contains.' I always thought he was wrong. It was dangerous to overflow, because we might end up flooding areas occupied by our loved ones and drowning them with our love and enthusiasm. All my life I did my best to be a cistern, never going beyond the limits of my inner walls. ...more
not going to review this on its own merits, more just as the conclusion of the three books. i'm not usually a fan of the mystery or thriller genre butnot going to review this on its own merits, more just as the conclusion of the three books. i'm not usually a fan of the mystery or thriller genre but picked these up because of the buzz and strong praise. i enjoyed the series in a 'summer reading' sense. solid characters, lots of action, satisfying story conclusions. imho, all three books, but especially this one, could have used a stronger plot edit. they tend to throw a lot of totally detailed but not incredibly important, yet slightly connected, facts at the reader (did i really need to keep track of the entire vanger family? or know all the details of the SIS history?). yet the story and characters really held the thread through the three books. definitely enjoyable 'light' (although the subject matter is often dark) reading. i've recommended them to several people. ...more
a bleak book about a bleak world after some great (unspoken) calamity has fallen on the earth. a nameless boy and his father struggle to survive and ha bleak book about a bleak world after some great (unspoken) calamity has fallen on the earth. a nameless boy and his father struggle to survive and head to a warmer climate. the book is touching, suspenseful at moments, and poignant. but it is also a very bleak look at what humanity is reduced to when so reduced. ...more
highly recommend by my mentor to help with current work stress. i finished it because of the recommendation, but found it very unhelpful. i didn't finhighly recommend by my mentor to help with current work stress. i finished it because of the recommendation, but found it very unhelpful. i didn't find any part of it inspiring or achievable. in fact, i found it frustrating. the concepts are well meaning - but when you're so far away from them, it's rather like someone telling you the benefits of a raft when you're already drowning. ...more
read a snippet of this in a magazine and was interested enough to pick up the whole book. definitely interesting to get a view into a minimum securityread a snippet of this in a magazine and was interested enough to pick up the whole book. definitely interesting to get a view into a minimum security prison for the span of almost a year.
quote that i feel sums it up: ... as the familiar jailhouse troupe says "you come in alone and you walk out alone," and common counsel is to keep to oneself and mind your own business. But that's not what I learned in prison. That's not how I survived prison. What I discovered was that I am emphatically not alone. The people on the outside who wrote and visited every week and travelled long distances to come and tell me that I wasn't forgotten, that I wasn't alone, had a tremendous impact on my life. /However, most of all, I realized that I was not alone in the world because of the women I lived with for over a year, who gave me a dawning recognition of what I shared with them... we shared a deep reserve of humor, creativity in adverse circumstances, and the will to protect and maintain our own humanity despite the prison system's imperative to crush it. "
i was warned early on that the first 150 pages or so are trying and i actually stopped reading it for a bit and snuck another book in. but after returi was warned early on that the first 150 pages or so are trying and i actually stopped reading it for a bit and snuck another book in. but after returning, i was rewarded with a mystery story that i stayed up half the night to finish. it was an entertaining book. some of the action was trite, ditto for the dialog. but the book definitely draws you into the story. ...more
i'm kind of indifferent about this book. i generally am interested in adaptations of the life of jesus and was interested to find a liked author pick i'm kind of indifferent about this book. i generally am interested in adaptations of the life of jesus and was interested to find a liked author pick this up. i didn't find the duplicity of the protagonist (brothers - one jesus, one christ) that compelling. but i did sit with, and think about, the magic (or propaganda) that happens in the telling of the story (which i think pullman puts well in the quote below). even in that though, to fully appreciate that, i think pullman relied a little too much on the space between how well the reader remembers bible stories and the text he has written. Quote: "And here I am, my hands red with blood and shame and wet with tears, longing to begin telling the story of Jesus, and not just for the sake of making a record of what happened: I want to play with it; I want to give it a better shape; I want to knot the details together neatly to make patterns and show correspondences, and if they weren't there in life, I want to put them there in the story, for no other reason than to make a better story. The stranger would have called it letting truth into history. Jesus would have called it lying. He wanted perfection; he asked too much of people... But this is the tragedy: without the story, there will be no church, and without the church, Jesus will be forgotten."...more
A peek into the lives of a handful of characters all connected by a single thread - an english language newspaper based in Rome. Engaging little storiA peek into the lives of a handful of characters all connected by a single thread - an english language newspaper based in Rome. Engaging little stories within stories. Well done....more
i wanted to read something light and funny and got more than i bargained for. Halpern's father is a character - someone full of love for his family bui wanted to read something light and funny and got more than i bargained for. Halpern's father is a character - someone full of love for his family but also terribly honest about how he feels - and Halpern provides just enough story material to set up the punch line. quick read that will likely get very old soon (if it hasn't yet, with talk of a TV show).
Quote: On Slumber Parties: "There's chips in the cabinet and ice cream in the freezer. Stay away from knives and fire. Okay, I've done my part. I'm going to bed.
just wasn't on the same page as the author. i read these once in a while to hear someone else confess their love of books and talk about books that hajust wasn't on the same page as the author. i read these once in a while to hear someone else confess their love of books and talk about books that have changed their way of thinking. ~it did remind me of being a little kid, having a terrible day, completely losing myself in a Nancy Drew book, and somehow making the connection that i could escape into reading. but the second half of this (incredibly short book) just didn't resonate as she talked about writing, the death of the book, and provided some 'must reads'. all in all - something to skip. ...more
a while ago, I saw the film 'Triage' and there leaned a bit about Dr. James Orbinski and his work. it was incredibly moving and i was absolutely fascia while ago, I saw the film 'Triage' and there leaned a bit about Dr. James Orbinski and his work. it was incredibly moving and i was absolutely fascinated - with his work and with what a great story teller he is. The film covered his return to Somalia and Rwanda where he had worked for MSF (Doctors without Borders) and his (then) current endeavor of writing a book about his experiences and viewpoint. i do highly recommend the film. the book itself is a more thorough look at his life, motivation, and time spent working for MSF and beyond. it's difficult to say 'this is a good book' in a conventional sense - as the subject matter is at times frustrating, horrific, and emotional. yet it is the best book i've read in some time. but again, I find Orbinski is an incredible story teller - focusing in on such small but important moments in the midst of detailing the political situations. it is amazing to me that someone can see the worst of humanity and still have hope, still fight. and that, to me, was the question i had reading this book.
Quote: Stories, we all have stories. Nature does not tell stories, we do. We find ourselves in them, make ourselves in them, choose ourselves in them. If we are the stories we tell ourselves, we had better choose them well.... I ask again and again, "How am I to be, how are we to be in relation to the suffering of others?"... It is about a way of seeing that requires humility, so that one can recognize the sameness of self in the other. It is about the mutuality that can exist between us, if we choose. ...more
I wasn't aware of Rosalynn Carter's work in the mental health field until recently and found this book a full account of the work that she has done inI wasn't aware of Rosalynn Carter's work in the mental health field until recently and found this book a full account of the work that she has done in her 35 years working on this issue. She covers the basics of why our current system fails us - fails all of us - and programs that have been put in place to help address those issues and gaps. But certainly calls for the rally to arms to put more effective programs in place.
Quote: For diabetes and heart disease, you want to know what works over many, many years. The same is true for bipolar disease. You need to know what's going to be effective in the long haul. So you begin to think not so much about the magic bullet, but [about:] how we detect these disorders very early and develop interventions that are more preemptive than preventive.
Very honest in cataloging where we have made some improvements but the true aim of the book, i believe, is to make obvious the gap between the current system and the system that we need to put in place. As she says 'this is everyone's issue'. ...more
quick read about a group of young women, right at the end of the war, live in a boarding house for girls of 'slender means'. rations, love interests, quick read about a group of young women, right at the end of the war, live in a boarding house for girls of 'slender means'. rations, love interests, poetry, a beautiful dress shared amongst them, and a calamity. tightly written, witty, but also full characters.
i'd seen so many people holding this book between their hands that i was curious about the story. i found the characters imperfect and honest. what sti'd seen so many people holding this book between their hands that i was curious about the story. i found the characters imperfect and honest. what stirred my interest the most though was the constant of striving to be something that you are not - to set yourself above - and how that leaves you both unable to connect with those you strive to be like and with those that you come from. the cook, the judge, the son, the inhabitants of mon ami. all have their own impressions of who they are and what that means to them amongst those that they are with daily.
quote: He retreated into a solitude that grew in weight day by day. The solitude became a habit, the habit became the man, and it crushed him into a shadow. But shadows, after all, create their own unease, and despite his attempts to hide, he merely emphasised something that unsettled others. For entire days nobody spoke to him at all, his throat jammed with words unuttered, his heart and mind turned into blunt aching things.
i was disappointed in the ending though. in having followed these characters for so long, it didn't make sense to leave them as they were left. ...more
felt very much like a group of magazine articles or blog entries pulled together. pop culture ruminations. although some questions or commentaries stifelt very much like a group of magazine articles or blog entries pulled together. pop culture ruminations. although some questions or commentaries stick in my mind - why do we laugh so automatically when we speak (and why don't the germans?), why do people answer questions in interviews, etc. i found the book entertaining but not enough to recommend. ...more
i thought this would be an interesting read - the author's experience of losing all her savings via Madoff and how she coped with that. the scandal ani thought this would be an interesting read - the author's experience of losing all her savings via Madoff and how she coped with that. the scandal and situation so fresh, i thought the perspective of someone that went through it would be worth reading. penney focused a lot on how she actually made her money and much of her earlier career. and it all felt a bit peppered with 'don't hate me because i was rich and used to nice things'. i admire her spirit, she has to have tremendous guts and quick wit to get where she got in life (esp w/publishing) and i admire how she has kept her humor. but this didn't give me the inside glimpse into what happened/how she felt/etc that i was originally thinking it might. it was well written (very blog style, which i guess is what much of it was based on). but just not what i was hoping it would be. ...more
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