What is the last book you read, and your rating?

lumberchucker · Post by **lumberchucker** » 24 Aug 2010, 21:14

Just read September's selection--"The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold. Is "trendy", akin to "Ghost Whisperer" and the like, with our narrator the ghost or spirit of Susie Salmon, visiting but just out of reach of the world etc. Nice though; well done, clever and effective way to provide the "bones" holding the characters together.
Very very sad. However, certainly rings of much truth re: the devastating fallout of a loved one's murder.
Many characters I liked. Sebold seems to like her men, with the exception of Mr. Harvey and maybe Mr. Singh. She cuts them much slack and understanding, and affection.
The metaphor of the sinkhole is very good. As an actual place in the book it provides much tension and shouts for notice. Why does no one think to look there?
The murder is an IED that destroys the Salmon family--not at all surprised a mother leaves children and family over it--there is no response that would surprise.
Not sure how to take Ruth, one of my favorite characters. Is she really believing she "feels" the dead women and children? Is she really obsessing over these lost souls to the detriment of normal living? Poor Ruth--an intelligent and self-assured type, unafraid of being herself. She's the most interesting.

Energyadvisor · Post by **Energyadvisor** » 28 Aug 2010, 19:25

The last book I read was The Eagles Gift by Carlos Castaneda. I'll give this book 5/5. I really loved it. Extensively written about awareness (the food of the eagle) which he takes at our death unless...you've trained your awareness in such a way that you can go past the eagle.[/i]

EXPECT_THE_EXPECTED · Post by **EXPECT_THE_EXPECTED** » 28 Aug 2010, 21:45

it was alright i guess,it had a lot of helpful tactics,he seem like he was just a fiend for the truth, he was a realigious man who searched endlessly for what made him feel comfort,he taught non violence,but he condemned himself to the point where he starved himself to show self importance,he died tragically murdered by his own people. ghandi was all peace,india is where it is now,and ghandi played a major role,in the 19th century.

on a scale of 1-10 the book came to about a 6.5
chunky book too.

Nienna · Post by **Nienna** » 29 Aug 2010, 19:36

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. Usually horror doesn't really scare me - especially classic horror - but this made my spine tingle at points, and considering it was such a short story, enough to make it worthy of the horror genre! Very well told, although I would take a point for James' extremely verbose and rambling writing style. 4/5

Kandacetoner · Post by **Kandacetoner** » 31 Aug 2010, 22:48

i just got done reading Vampire Academy and it was awesome. i plan on finishing the series and will give it a 6 out of 5

B-fly · Post by **B-fly** » 01 Sep 2010, 08:57

Frankenstein by Marry Shelley 5/5
Actually I was a little disappointed but there were several thoughts which impressed me very much.

Perrywinkle47 · Post by **Perrywinkle47** » 02 Sep 2010, 06:25

The Zahir by P. Ceolho.

3/5 because I found it very unrealistic.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » 02 Sep 2010, 12:55

Just finished Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel ... enjoyable read although the constant moving from first to third person makes it somewhat difficult to keep track of the characters. All in all 4/5

MadBookWorm · Post by **MadBookWorm** » 02 Sep 2010, 17:24

As I'm new here thought I'd state the last 3 books read in the last 2 weeks:

Diamond Raiders (Bob Curby) 4/5
Theadore Boone (John Grisham) 4/5
Medusa (Clive Cussler) 4/5

Medusa was the first of Clive Cussler's books I'd read, I think I will take a look at some of his other work, enjoyed the story although at times I found his writing style a little scratchy... if you get my meaning.

pontalba · Post by **pontalba** » 02 Sep 2010, 17:52

The Secret Pilgrim by John Le Carré. 5/5

I've read a few of Le Carré's before, but this is my favorite. I have to now read all of the Smiley books.

MadBookWorm · Post by **MadBookWorm** » 02 Sep 2010, 18:07

pontalba wrote:The Secret Pilgrim by John Le Carré. 5/5

I've read a few of Le Carré's before, but this is my favorite. I have to now read all of the Smiley books.

I'm reading his "A Most Wanted Man" at the min. first of his I've read.

fay · Post by **fay** » 03 Sep 2010, 03:48

The last book I read was spud... the madness continues its the second book of the spud trilogy its written by south african author (his name escapes me!) Both first (spud) and second book very cool funny and clever gonna start the last one spud... learning to fly soon

Fran · Post by **Fran** » 03 Sep 2010, 05:16

Just finished 'The Housekeeper & The Professor' by Yoko Ogawa.
Really teerrific book, only 180 pages & I finished it at 5:10am this morning ... just could not put it down except to wipe the tears. A little gem .. 10/10

StephenKingman · Post by **StephenKingman** » 03 Sep 2010, 07:40

Fran wrote:Just finished 'The Housekeeper & The Professor' by Yoko Ogawa.
Really teerrific book, only 180 pages & I finished it at 5:10am this morning ... just could not put it down except to wipe the tears. A little gem .. 10/10

Wow, you really do read a lot of books, you have posted entries here almost every day!! Well done.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » 03 Sep 2010, 12:23

StephenKingman wrote:
Fran wrote:Just finished 'The Housekeeper & The Professor' by Yoko Ogawa.
Really teerrific book, only 180 pages & I finished it at 5:10am this morning ... just could not put it down except to wipe the tears. A little gem .. 10/10
Wow, you really do read a lot of books, you have posted entries here almost every day!! Well done.

I'm on 'the doss' at the moment so getting through a lot of backlog on my TBR pile.