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Recently Finished

Re-read Tove Jansson's Moominpappa At Sea for the first time in ages, and not only does it still hold up, but reading it as a jaded adult makes clear just how great a little novel it is. Forget about it being children's literature with fairytale creatures and just read it for what it is: a small family going through their father's midlife crisis and the son's early teens, trapped together on a small island, questioning everything they've ever known, trying to find some meaning in their lives. Identity, existentialism, depression, love, all that stuff. Beautiful. :star5:
 
A secret life

This is the fifth non fiction book pertaining to presidents from the late 1800's that I've read recently and it is a good one! It's not quite of the thriller ilk, but it's close. This book stays with the facts gathered by Charles Lachman's extensive research, but still leaves the reader feeling like he is reading fiction. That's the main criterion I look for in the genre I call non- fiction thrillers. The main authors in this category are two of my favorites: Candice Millard and Erik Larson. This book does leave the reader with some doubt as to who is lying about the supposed rape or non rape of Maria Halpin by Grover Cleveland, thus qualifying as an exemplar work of labyrinthine narrative storytelling. Well done Charles Lachman!
Book Reviews And Comments By Rick O
 
Reviews

I marvel at the lack of rendering a description of a book recently read by a lot of members. It's not very helpful for other members, if just the name of the book and author are left. Let us know a little about the book- did you like it? Did you like the author? I would rather the member be loquacious or bellicose versus being unforthcoming. On the other hand some of the members write exemplar comments and reviews.
Book Reviews And Comments By Rick O
 
ricko said:
I marvel at the lack of rendering a description of a book recently read by a lot of members. It's not very helpful for other members, if just the name of the book and author are left. Let us know a little about the book- did you like it? Did you like the author? I would rather the member be loquacious or bellicose versus being unforthcoming. On the other hand some of the members write exemplar comments and reviews.
Book Reviews And Comments By Rick O
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Are you really thirsting for further comment on Fifty Shades of Grey?
Perhaps writing a comment feels like all give and no get for some of us.
 
ricko said:
I marvel at the lack of rendering a description of a book recently read by a lot of members. It's not very helpful for other members, if just the name of the book and author are left. Let us know a little about the book- did you like it? Did you like the author? I would rather the member be loquacious or bellicose versus being unforthcoming. On the other hand some of the members write exemplar comments and reviews.
Book Reviews And Comments By Rick O
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There is *some* discussion in threads for books and their authors. This thread, I think, is mostly a list of what people have read though sometimes they add comments to it. As for myself, I don't always quite know what to say about the book. Plus, as of right now, I'm mostly reading analyses of other books and other non-fiction, not sure if a review of that is necessary.
 
ricko said:
I marvel at the lack of rendering a description of a book recently read by a lot of members. It's not very helpful for other members, if just the name of the book and author are left. Let us know a little about the book- did you like it? Did you like the author? I would rather the member be loquacious or bellicose versus being unforthcoming. On the other hand some of the members write exemplar comments and reviews.
Book Reviews And Comments By Rick O
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Fair points. I would expect more from a book forum but I think that many people aren't comfortable writing even a mini review -- and on the flip side, some people (myself included at times) feel the need to give a report at 0%, 25%, 75%, 100%, and a week later. :lol: :lol: :lol: Oh well, so it goes.
 
Jacqueline Susann-Valley of the Dolls

I can understand why this book was so controversial in the 60's, with the characters casually discussing sex, drug use, and abortion. While I raised my brow at a few moments, the novel probably won't shock modern-day readers. It was an entertaining read though.
 
ricko said:
I marvel at the lack of rendering a description of a book recently read by a lot of members. It's not very helpful for other members, if just the name of the book and author are left. Let us know a little about the book- did you like it? Did you like the author? I would rather the member be loquacious or bellicose versus being unforthcoming. On the other hand some of the members write exemplar comments and reviews.
Book Reviews And Comments By Rick O
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I have to agree with Polly. This thread should be mainly a listing.

If everyone wrote a thorough review of their reads this thread would wend it's way into oblivion. Boring. Most use the star rating system. That should give some clue as to enjoyment, and most BAR posters kind of know what sort of books the others enjoy, and that in itself is a rating.

I do agree however that a few lines, a thumbnail sketch would be helpful, but that isn't always possible with a complex many-themed novel. How to know which theme is the truly predominant one? The very theme we exclude might be just the hook for fellow readers, causing them to pass on the book (that they would have really enjoyed) completely.

'Tis a puzzlement. :)
 
Recently read reviews

I understand what you people are saying, but I still say it doesn't make sense to just write for example: Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie. What does anyone get out of that? To give the member the flavor of the book, I would say:
Eh bien,I figured it out! I actually came up with the correct killer, or killers, shortly after the millionaire heiress, Linnet Doyle, was found shot in the head on page 148. I didn't need all the clues used by our beloved Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. I got lucky and guessed based upon Agatha Christie's past tendencies. Mais oui it will never happen again. If you notice, I'm using all of Hercule's favorite French exclamations. This 1937 detective/mystery novel is first class, as usual. Our pyknic, mustached, French speaking gumshoe once again sifts through many suspects and clues to nail his man, or woman (I'm not giving you the killer!). This time he has a Colonel Race to use as his sounding board and a German Doctor Bessner as his medical advisor. What a' merveille entertaining novel this is.
Book Reviews And Comments By Rick O
 
Fifty Shades Freed by E.L. James. (Vol 3 of the trilogy).

The issues introduced in Volume 1 and strongly contested in Volume 2 are resolved in a gripping ending in Volume 3 -- which makes all the reading worth it.
 
ricko said:
I understand what you people are saying, but I still say it doesn't make sense to just write for example: Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie. What does anyone get out of that? To give the member the flavor of the book, I would say:
Eh bien,I figured it out! I actually came up with the correct killer, or killers, shortly after the millionaire heiress, Linnet Doyle, was found shot in the head on page 148. I didn't need all the clues used by our beloved Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. I got lucky and guessed based upon Agatha Christie's past tendencies. Mais oui it will never happen again. If you notice, I'm using all of Hercule's favorite French exclamations. This 1937 detective/mystery novel is first class, as usual. Our pyknic, mustached, French speaking gumshoe once again sifts through many suspects and clues to nail his man, or woman (I'm not giving you the killer!). This time he has a Colonel Race to use as his sounding board and a German Doctor Bessner as his medical advisor. What a' merveille entertaining novel this is.
Book Reviews And Comments By Rick O
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I agree that this thread should remain mainly a listing of books recently finished. Although it's cool if people want to share one or two sentences concerning what they read, I don't think it should be mandatory.

Also, you can post about Death on the Nile on it's own thread. The same goes for all the other books. If a thread doesn't exist, you can create one. That way, someone looking for a particular book would be able to find all the comments about it in just one thread.
 
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