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{
"answer_start": [
155
],
"text": [
"agree with some reviewers"
]
} | How is book? | I like what this diet teaches, as far as sound nutritional information about foods that cause more harm than good, as well as foods that are extra good. I agree with some reviewers' comments that the book was a bit repetitive at times, and also made the diet out to be far more simple than it truly is to execute. Maintaining strictness about this diet while traveling is nearly impossible. "Simply asking" your server at a restaurant to cook everything in a different and special manner just for you is insulting and a pain in the rear for any chef or food industry worker, and in some settings (fixed menu, a wedding, for example) is not a possibility. JJ's statement that it's easy when traveling, and there are "no excuses" is baloney in the real world for most of us. Making better decisions is easy, such as not having the bread served before a meal, and ordering things that closely conform to the diet when possible, is more realistic. Carving out 7 entire weeks where I won't have any travel and can control every bite that goes in my mouth? Easier for some than for others, I guess. When I'm home, this is fairly easy to do, and I greatly enjoy the benefits.Overall, about 30% of the book was useful. The rest I skipped over, such as the repetitive testimonial stories. The actual information on how to execute the diet successfully is good, and the information on WHY certain foods cause harm, and why certain foods heal and benefit the body is good. |
{
"answer_start": [
133
],
"text": [
"The writing is excellent"
]
} | Why do I have a positive review? | I was worried that I would constantly be missing all the beloved characters that Rowling has created, but I couldn't be more wrong. The writing is excellent, the mystery compelling and the characters complex. I was almost sad to finish and wishing it was the first in a series. How delighted I was to find that another Cormoran Strike novel is on the way. |
{
"answer_start": [
112
],
"text": [
"prepared"
]
} | What is the most exciting part of the story? | This is the second book I have read by Colleen Hoover and I have already come to some sound conclusions.One. Be prepared to be shocked. It is always best going into her books with little knowledge of what is going to happen. The synopsis will give you an idea but you can be sure that there is always going to be plenty of twists and turns along the way.Two. Be prepared to laugh. She beautifully blends in laughter with real life subjects that aren't always laughable.Three. Be prepared to cry. We are not talking the tiny little tears, these are the healthy, giant, sobbing tears. You won't be upset that she has made you cry, strangely you will be silently thanking her as the tears are falling.Four. Be prepared to discover a new favorite author. I mean this in the most sincere way possible... Colleen Hoover, you rock!The irony is not lost me that I can't seem to find the words to express the emotions and feelings that I experienced while I was reading Slammed. Why is it ironic? Because this is a book about words. Words thrown together to express feelings through poetry... slam poetry. But really it is so much more than that. This is not your typical girl meets boy, girl and boy fall in love and the rest is history type of story. Yes there is a girl and a boy, yes they fall in love but that is not even the half of it."Life happens. S*** happens. And it happens a lot. To a lot of people."This story is about life. This story is about death. This story is about living. The good, the bad and the ugly of it all."Three days ago, I was devastated, bitter, and hopeless. Today I woke up feeling happy for the first time in months."Layken (Lake) is one of the strongest female characters I have ever read. She is strong, supportive, mature, stubborn, loyal... the list could go on and on. She finds herself torn from everything she knows in her life quite suddenly. Her father dies unexpectedly, her mother then moves her and her brother from Texas to Michigan. She doesn't want her new life but quickly she finds Will and everything changes."And what's a slam?" I ask."It's poetry." He smiles at me. "It's what I'm all about."Will is also one of the strongest male characters I have read. Every characteristic I have given to Lake can be given to Will. What he has done with his life in order to care for and support his younger brother is awe-inspiring. To be responsible for another life at such a young age shows courage. He never whines or moans about it. There is never the 'woe is me' or 'what has happened to my life' speeches. He is simply amazing.To be honest there is not a character that is not written well and rounded out beautifully. You will end up caring and loving each and every one of them and you will care about what happens to them. Lake's brother Kel and Will's brother Caulder are adorable. They are so funny and I laughed so many times... I will only say this. The dead snowman. Could not have laughed more. Then we have Lake's new best friend Eddie. I think she is fantastic and could not love her more than I do already. oooOOOooohhh Eddie's boyfriend Gavin. *sigh* He is so sweet and the love he has for Eddie is apparent.So, back to point number one about a Colleen Hoover book. You do not want to know too much about it before you start so this is all you are getting out of me. I do not want to be the person that ruins this beautiful story for anybody who will be reading it. And I truly hope that person who will be reading it will be you if you haven't already. This story will touch you and stay with you for a long time after you have completed it.Now for me I am off to start book two, Point of Retreat. I have only just found out that it is actually told from Will's POV and I am so excited I could burst."And if you've ever grown up with dreams in your head about life, and how one of these days you would pirate your own ship and have your own crew and that all of the mermaidswould loveonly you?Well, you would realize...Like I eventually realized...That all the good things about her?All the beautiful?It's not real.It's fake.So you keep your ocean,I'll take the Lake."ChristineRainy Day Reads |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"I loved that These two had some hard times and found each other at the perfect time"
]
} | Who do you love? | Let me start off by saying I don't normally write a lot of reviews, I just felt compelled to do so with this book. I mean, wow! One of the best books I've ever read. I went through so many emotions while reading this book. I laughed, smiled, gasped, got nervous, and was on the verge of tears, It was a roller coaster!I loved Camryn and Andrew. I loved how he brought out the best in her, made her feel alive, showed her what it was like to live to the fullest, no regrets, no worries, not to be scared to say what you want when you want to. He might have even taught me a few things ;) Andrew is pretty much perfect, sexy, sweet, caring, protective, funny...etc. I loved Cam too, I loved when she started opening up and growing into herself. She was relatable and I loved that.These two had some hard times and found each other at the perfect time, their friendship was amazing. I didn't really find the beginning slow, I felt like I was sucked in, living in the moment with them. We had to understand what it was that made Cam feel like getting away. I felt like I knew Andrew had a secret but wasn't sure what it was and when we'd find out. Then I was hoping I was wrong about the secret.This book teaches you to live, be you, don't worry about what people think, do what makes you happy, live your life the way you want to live it. Never have any regrets. Don't be afraid to love and to grow.This book also just stunned me speechless! But I also had my outbursts, gasps, my oh no's, my oh my gosh's, my aww's, you get the point. My poor heart was heavy and racing and it took me a while to calm it down. These characters and this story will definitely stay with you. I can't say how much I love it. Read the whole thing within a day.Just gotta say Bravo to you Ms Redmerski! What an amazing job on this book, the writing, the story, the characters, everything! |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"This series is wonderful"
]
} | How is the series? | This series is wonderful but the ending is sooooooo sad it makes you wanna cry someone told me the ending but I still was surprised :( |
{
"answer_start": [
2050
],
"text": [
"claim"
]
} | What is the story like? | A mix between "Eyes Wide Shut", "National Treasure" and Oliver Stone's "JFK", Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code is an exciting novel wrapped in intrigue, suspense, and controversy.To criticize the book for offering one dimensional characters, silly plot twists, and predictable discoveries about conniving figures who we thought were good-guys would be disingenuous on my part, since I particularly enjoy entertaining stories without much depth. Curator Jacques Sauniere is murdered in the Louvre, and professor Robert Langdon, innocent yet the primary suspect, and cryptologist/granddaughter of the victim Sophie Neveu go on a wild adventure running separately from the cops, the tall limping albino Opus Dei monk who really committed the murder, and the secret "Teacher" orchestrating the crime, while at the same time trying to figure out the mystery behind the hidden secret Sauniere was killed for. We find out that Sauniere was part of a secret society, the Priory of Sion, that has and protects the true identity and nature of the Holy Grail. The Albino monk is Silas, a member of spooky Catholic organization Opus Dei, working for his mentor Archbishop Aringarosa and the unknown Teacher, to seek out the Grail for ad majorem dei gloriam. French police chief Bezu Fache seems too religious, and arouses suspicion about his motives in pursuing Langdon. Luckily, Langdon knows Sir Leigh Teabing, a prominent Grail scholar eager to help in their search, in the hopes of revealing the "truth" of the Grail to a world that has been denied it by the "evil" Church. But, would Sauniere really have wanted the truth revealed?It would be simple if this work of fiction were really just a lighthearted work of fiction. However, Brown offers a disclosure stating that certain parts of the book are true. Yes, he is sure to point out that, while the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei exist, the main characters who are members are fictional, and while pointing out that descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals are true, he never makes any claims about the historical theories put forth by the characters. Yet, it is these claims by the characters that have excited the popular imagination and must be confronted.Both Langdon and Teabing refer anachronistically to "the Vatican" when criticizing past historical actions of the Church. Whether or not the claims made about the Church are true, it is incorrect to refer to the actions of "the Vatican" in the 15th century, much less the 3rd and 4th century. Vatican Hill, the location in Rome where St. Peter's Basilica and Vatican City are located, has only in the last few centuries been the seat of Church governance. Before then, the Pope's home base (and still the official Cathedral Church of the diocese of Rome) was the Cathedral of St. John Lateran in Rome. The 4th century, the era most derided in the book, the Pope was not in practical terms "in charge" of the Church, and East and West were still more than half a millennium from splitting. The Catholic Church as we know today, and Teabing loves to bash, was not around then. There was a Catholic Church, but it included both West and East, Latin and Greek, unlike today, where it is just Latin and few Eastern Rite Churches.Teabing and Langdon's major theses involve the idea that the Holy Grail is not the chalice of the Last Supper, but the blood line of the children of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene, a 2000 year old secret that would shock the world. We learn in the book that the Priory of Sion heroically protects the secret by meeting and having "Eyes Wide Shut" style orgies. But, why keep this fact a secret? Why not tell the whole world that Mary Magdalene and our homeboy JC got...it...on? Then we can all have orgies.Book claim: "Constantine made Jesus divine." But you see, Teabing tells Sophie when Langdon and she seek refuge in his mansion, the Church has suppressed this truth. All the early Christian followers "knew" that Jesus was just a swell guy, descended from the royal blood of David who married Mary Magdalene of the royal line of Benjamin to make a super royal bloodline. But, Emperor Constantine ruined all the fun. He had the JC-MM marriage written out of the Bible, and decided to "make" Jesus divine at the Council of Nicea in 325, in what turned out to be a real close vote. Now, since Jesus is divine, no one can challenge the Christian religion of the Empire. A divine Jesus could not have a wife, so Mary Magdalene gets hush-hushed. From then on out, Christianity phased out the pagan practices of goddess worship, cut out the divine feminine, and the world started stinking.My rebuttal: Whether or not Jesus is divine is matter of faith. However, from a historical perspective, it is incorrect to claim that Constantine is the first to call Jesus divine. Since the time of Jesus, there have been many followers who have considered Jesus to be God, to be one with the Father. Yes, there also were followers, such as Arius, who placed Jesus as less than God, and the merits of the decision at Nicea is a much wider topic than a book review, but it is historically false to claim that there were not early Christians who believed in Christ's divinity. Also, the vote at Nicea was not close. It was an extreme majority that voted in favor of the Creed.Book claim: "Jesus married Mary Magdalene." It is claimed by Teabing and Langdon that Jesus must have married Mary Magdalene because he loved her, references to kisses he gave her in apocrophal (non-canonical) gospels, and the "fact" that all Jewish men married then.My rebuttal: However, in reality there is solid evidence against the view that Jesus married. NOT all Jewish men married. There was always a place for asceticism in Judaism. The Dead Sea Scrolls, just discovered at Nag Hammadi in 1945, were not early Christian texts, as mentioned in the DaVinci Code, but rather Jewish religious texts written by the Essenes, one group among a number of Jewish celibate ascetics, the equivalent of later Christian monks. While most Jewish men married, it was not unheard of for some to remain celibate. And, since marriage was looked highly upon, and all the great Jewish leaders from the Old Testament were married and had their wives mentioned, the only reason not to mention a wife of Jesus was that he probably did not have one. After all, at this time, it would have made Jesus look better to have been married. The only reason not to mention it is it is not true.Book claim: "Sex is sacred." We can see the true colors of the Priory of Sion, the defenders of the "truth" of the Grail, in Sophie's traumatizing experience that drove her from her grandfather. An orgy to show that sex is sacred? Actually, this is not a "new" idea. All of the ancient pagan religions believed that sex was divine, and many practiced ritualized sex. This is supposedly in contrast to the Church, which through the "fictional" story of Original Sin, has made sex dirty and shameful.My rebuttal: It is true that the Church does not consider sex to be divine. Unlike the straw-man that is set up to be torn down in the DaVinci Code, the Church also does not consider sex to be evil or dirty. Sex is a normal human activity. Not demonic or divine. It is good and a gift of God, but thoroughly human. And, frankly, whether one is someone who believes that sex is only for marriage or that sex is for any two (or more) consenting adults, I think we can all agree that it is kind of creepy and weird to call sex divine or sacred or religious. It does not cure cancer or make you fly or anything. It's sex. Even animals do it.Book claim: "No need to reveal the "truth" of the Holy Grail." Let's pretend for a second that there really was a big cover up, and the Church has kept the Priory of Sion, under threat, from revealing the truth, and that is why they have to keep the bloodline of Jesus and Mary Magdalene a secret, only meeting once in awhile to perform some, um, rituals. Teabing is secretly the Teacher orchestrating the murder of Sauniere and seeking out the Grail because he thinks the "truth" that JC and MM married should be shouted from the rooftops. Langdon hedges, because Sauniere, the Grand Master leader of the Sion's, did not want it told, and, as Langdon says, "if you and I could dig up documentation that contradicted holy stories of...belief, should we do that?" After all, "those who truly understand their faiths understand the stories are metaphorical," i.e. religious faith is based on fantasy, and it does not matter what one believes if it makes him feel good and he is nice to others. Plus, as we find out from Sophie's long lost grandmother who is not really dead like we earlier thought, the "truth" about Mary Magdalene and Jesus' marriage is found in art, historical objects, writings, phallic objects, and nature. Riiiiight. No reason to tell people the truth. We are the enlightened ones who have it.My rebuttal: Obviously, this is very patronizing. It conjures up images of the Grand Inquisitor who "knew" there was no God, but burned heretics to spare people the unbearable truth of a life without hope. If something is true, why not reveal it? And, the idea that the "important" truths are meant to be hidden and only known by the enlightened few is not Christianity, but Gnosticism. True Christianity is for everybody. Jesus did not come for just for the enlightened few. His message is for us all.If Jesus is just a man, and not divine, what is the point of worshipping him, or Mary Magdalene, or their "sacred" bloodline? The reason why Christians worship Jesus, and do not just revere him as a prophet like Moses or Muhammad, is because we believe him to be the God whose love is stronger than death, who offers us hope for new life after this one. And, far from disgracing Mary Magdalene's name, the Church honors her. Who but she is revered as the one who is definitively present at the empty tomb to witness the Risen Lord? |
{
"answer_start": [
1839
],
"text": [
"pretty hot sex scenes"
]
} | How is scene? | Synopsis:Drew is your typical top-of-the-food-chain playboy with a no nonsense, tell it like it is attitude. He is the best at everything and is used to getting everything he wants. Women are nothing more than a release to him and love doesn't even factor into his thoughts. Until he sees her. She is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen and the most intriguing. She doesn't fall at his feet begging to go home with him, she walks away. Little does he know, she is just starting a new job at his firm. Things are about to get interesting.Review:I decided to read this book based upon the rave reviews it was getting. The fact that it is written from a man's perspective is great. And the fact that he isn't an angsty romantic, but a total guy in all of his glory is even better. I laughed my ass off reading this book. The fact that so many of my friends are male and I happen to know that they think exactly like Drew, made it even funnier. In fact, I think I have actually heard a few of these lines before in real life.The characters in this book are funny and play their parts well. I loved Drew. Not because of his looks or status or anything ridiculous like that, but because he was real and didn't apologize for it. Men just aren't men like they used to be, and it's nice to read a character like this, even if he does have his slappable moments. Kate is one tough cookie and I loved that. She wasn't a lay down and take it type of girl. She is strong and independent and fights to get hers. I loved that she wasn't portrayed as weak even once in this book. The supporting cast is great as well.The relationship between Drew and Kate develops nicely. There is a definite attraction, but it isn't love at first sight. They have a love/hate thing going on and its pretty hilarious. I also have to mention that this book has some pretty hot sex scenes. One in particular was one of the sexiest I've read.I really wanted this to be a 5-star book, but I wouldn't feel right rating it above a 4. Don't get me wrong, it is great, but there was a piece missing. I can't really put my finger on it. With all that said, this was a pretty great debut for Emma Chase. I will definitely be following her future work. READ IT! |
{
"answer_start": [
356
],
"text": [
"the kind of book"
]
} | How is impact? | I love this book! It is not easy to read, but I believe it has a very important message, one that every teenager needs to be aware of. I think it is a book that every teen needs to read, as well as parents and other adults, especially those who deal with kids. It is a book that will leave a mark long after it is finished and will get you thinking. It is the kind of book that will get people to change their behaviour and become more aware of how anything and everything they do affects other people. I love this book, it is in the top 3 best books I've ever read and since I've read a LOT!!!! (like thousands) that's saying something.Lastly,READ THIS!!!!!!!!! |
{
"answer_start": [
1179
],
"text": [
"this book so bad"
]
} | How is book? | If you think you can have tons of rich powerful men all over you though you can't bother to do anything for yourself including bathe, wash your clothing or comb your hair, this is the book for you.If you think you can be considered smart and clever and not get through university without knowing how to open an email account, this is the book for you.If you dream of having all your financial problems resolved through the luck of roommates with rich parents or attracting the right guy with your ass though you never bother to work out, this is the book for you.If you dream of having a man constantly tell you to eat disgusting unhealthy piles of pancakes and sausages instead of having to worry about your figure, this is the book for you.If you dream that people are going to see through all your disgusting flaws though you can barely murmur more than the word "oh" and do more than blush in your life, this is the book for you.IF on the other hand you're a woman who despises book companies generating fake reviews, playing into your psychology to sell a crap book, has a hard time reading unedited manuscripts and has a good grasp of your own psyche, you're going to find this book so bad it will generate absolute contempt in you. You need look no further than the author to understand exactly who this book is for. |
{
"answer_start": [
67
],
"text": [
"The story is fantastic and well written"
]
} | Does this have a good balance of enjoyment? | I had never heard anything about orphan trains prior to this book. The story is fantastic and well written, if a little rosey at the end, but don't we all need a feel good book some times? |
{
"answer_start": [
214
],
"text": [
"The premise was interesting"
]
} | What is your premise of the movie? | I am a huge fan of Stephanie's and LOVE the twilight books. I am however in my 30's so when I saw this book and the caption "adult novel" I thought great! Something with her style written for a more adult audience.The premise was interesting and there were allot of places it could go. (alien being in a human body, planet taken over etc.) I think my biggest criticism is that the main character seems like a revisit of her main character from Twilight- Bella. The caring, martyr that puts everyone above herself. The love story that develops takes a interesting turn, but makes itself a lot less complicated than the direction it seemed to be going. All in all it was enjoyable, just not as good as her other series. If you haven't read the Twilight series I recommend that more. Also I would not characterize this book as "Adult" there aren't any steamy love scenes or bouts of swearing like a sailor.Steph- if you happen to read this: I hope what I had to say (and others) doesn't discourage you. I really enjoy your books and hope that you write more. :) |
{
"answer_start": [
477
],
"text": [
"trilogy with this book"
]
} | Is the story in a book? | Since I was already a fan of Cassandra Clare from her Mortal Instruments series, I knew I had to give the Infernal Devices series a try. I've also been hearing a lot of great things about it from other readers so I couldn't wait to dive into it.Let's just say, when comparing both series, I was immediately captured with City of Bones, while it took me quite awhile to get into Clockwork Angel. It felt like Clare was basically setting the tone and scenery for the rest of the trilogy with this book. I felt like there was too much detail without really telling you anything. I still had so many questions and felt like a lot of the book was just fluff. I really didn't even feel for the characters very much.I did love that it has a historical setting and Tessa has a sort of innocence to her that I found very charming, so I could see how easily the boys would fall for her, yet also how she wouldn't be able to see it in herself. Tessa does well as the female lead, and I love her love of books. She also has great strength and determination, even though she doesn't know anything about her power or about the paranormal world. I don't know which guy I really feel for either, as neither one really stood out to me. Will reminds me Jace, your typical hot, bad boy who treats you like crap sometimes yet leaves you breathless at other times. Jem is basically your best friend, the one you can depend on and talk to kind of guy.There wasn't really a lot of action in this book or love scenes for that matter, which disappointed me a bit, but it was interesting enough to keep me going. As far as a first book goes, it wasn't as captivating as I would've liked it to be, something that draws the reader in, but I'm hoping the second book will be better since I really do like Clare's writing. |
{
"answer_start": [
175
],
"text": [
"Both characters are well described"
]
} | What is your impression of this interaction? | These books are excellent. I couldn't wait to get back to the story and I can't wait for book three. Very well written, characters are likeable and real in there emotions. Both characters are well described and real life issues and reactions to events in there life. Love it. |
{
"answer_start": [
230
],
"text": [
"I did really like it"
]
} | What do you think about book? | I read Twilight and New Moon in two days a few years ago when I was home sick for a week in high school. I had read them at a time when few people knew what it was. Twilight is an okay book, to be frank. The first time I read it, I did really like it, but after a few more reads, I began to have more and more problems with the book. It's good for a one time read, however, the character of Bella is way too self-sacrificing to be real, and Edward much too perfect. Also, it's a little disturbing that vampires are doing what? Sparkling. I wasn't aware that immortal beings who were as hard as diamonds had to literally look like one in the sunlight. I admit, an interesting concept, but not to my taste. There are also a ton of grammatical errors. It has nothing amazing in it that wowed me, and I'm also tired of people comparing it to Harry Potter. This book is no where near JK Rowling's genius. This whole fan girl hype about the books and movies is also disturbing, and a complete turn off to the books. I will recommend a read through once if you like vampire novels of all kinds, however, if you're looking for something like Anne Rice's novels, I suggest you stay away. |
{
"answer_start": [
59
],
"text": [
"Each novel starts a little slow but by the end leaves you ready for the next"
]
} | Is it easy to get this book? | i like this series and am in the process of rereading it. Each novel starts a little slow but by the end leaves you ready for the next. All in all it is worth reading, but I wouldn't rank it amoung my favorites. |
{
"answer_start": [
77
],
"text": [
"Some of that carried through to the story"
]
} | How is the future in that story? | I put off reading Divergent just because the premise was so...unbelievable. Some of that carried through to the story but the most promising thing about this series is Tris as a character. She is well-developed and likable. I think Four could have been better developed, but since it was Tris' POV, you can't really expect the same level of intimacy. I will definitely read the second book, but while the character development of Tris was great, the world-building wasn't so hot. Nor was the ending. I was really enjoying the book up until the crisis, and then I was like...nah, that's just not believable. I didn't really think the Dauntless world was believable either. Too many gaps in what they were doing and the whole piercing and tattoo thing...was it just me, or did that just allow the author to make the book more "edgy"? Maybe it was just me. And besides, it didn't really work. I liked the factions, but had totally forgotten by the end that there were more than three!!!! (Surprise, surprise!) I'd say the price is a little high for a Kindle book, but the story exceeded most of my expectations. |
{
"answer_start": [
186
],
"text": [
"The ending was disappointing"
]
} | How was the end? | Grisham writes books that have wooden characters. It sets up situations where there is a battle between good and evil. Also he draws pictures of large law firms that are charactures. The ending was disappointing.Having said all the above I have to admit that I had a hard time putting this book down. I enjoyed the story and it was fun to read. |
{
"answer_start": [
86
],
"text": [
"to become the most powerful wizard the world has ever seen"
]
} | What you can infer about life from this story ? | In a nutshell, The Name of the Wind recounts the tale of Kvothe, a young man destined to become the most powerful wizard the world has ever seen. It begins with Kvothe's childhood years, first as a member of a traveling troupe of musicians and artists, and then as a street urchin forced to fend for himself in a violent environment. Later, the story shifts to his adolescence, at a time when he is admitted to the University, renowned school of magic.Reading along, I found the structure of the story a little odd. The better part of the novel is comprised of Kvothe's back story, with only a few scenes occurring in "real time." Having never encountered something like it, I discussed it with Betsy Wollheim. She did shine some light on the matter, and it turns out that Rothfuss' first trilogy will focus on the main character's past, with occasional tantalizing hints of things to come. A second trilogy will then recount Kvothe's "present" tale.The Name of the Wind is told in a first person narrative. Hence, other than those "real time" segments told in the third person, most of the book is told from Kvothe's perspective. Those who have a problem with single-POV narratives similar to that of Robin Hobb's The Farseer and The Tawny Man trilogies, consider yourselves warned. The main danger in using the first person narrative is that the entire story rests on the shoulder of a single character. If you like Kvothe, terrific. If you don't, that's where it gets tricky. I had no problem with that facet of the novel, but I'm acutely aware that some readers don't care much for the first person perspective.The worldbuilding doesn't play a big role in this debut. And yet, Rothfuss hints at a much vaster depth, hopefully to be explored in future sequels. The author has an eye for details, and the story does come alive as you turn the pages. The magic system appears to be well thought of and interesting, and I'm eager to learn more about it.The Name of the Wind is a character-driven book. As a first person narrative, it can't be anything but that. The supporting cast is composed of a relatively small number of characters, which is rather rare for a book of this size. I'm looking forward to learning more about them in the upcoming installments.The novel suffers from only one flaw -- a flaw shared by various Daw books: it's too long. I feel that Rothfuss' attention to details slows the pace in several portions of the book. I feel that some scenes could have been truncated and others excised without the readers missing out on any major plotlines. In my opinion, this would quicken the rhythm and improve the overall quality of the book.Unlike some debuts that are not easily accessible -- Hal Duncan's Vellum and Steven Erikson's Gardens of the Moon come to mind -- I'm persuaded that The Name of the Wind can appeal to both neophytes and long-time fans of the genre. As such, it's similar to both Brandon Sanderson's Elantris and Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself in that regard. It's also a throwback work, which brought fantasy novels likes Raymond E. Feist's Magician and David Eddings' Pawn of the Prophecy to mind.Although a bit overlong, The Name of the Wind is a solid and ambitious effort. Two years ago I would have claimed that it could well be the debut of the year. But Hal Duncan and Scott Lynch have forced us to look at debuts in a different way. Still, Patrick Rothfuss wrote an auspicious debut, and I'm curious to discover the rest of Kvothe's tale.[...] |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"My husband and"
]
} | How is life? | My husband and I have been weaning ourselves from fast food for a long time. Mostly it's because I've discovered home-cooked food and how much more filling it is than eating out all the time and another reason is that we have two small children ~~ we want them to eat nutritious meals before getting hooked on fast food. Another reason is that when we were kids, we were taken to McDonald's as a special treat ~~ it was a big deal to eat out then.I wish I hadn't read this book because I took my sons to McDonald's the other night to celebrate their first Christmas program ever ~~ and throughout my meal, I kept having visions of what this author was telling in his book. I probably won't stop eating at fast food restaurants, but I won't be a big time consumer in the future.I have never read Upton Sinclair's book ~~ but would like to eventually since Schlosser shared a few pieces from that book. I am honestly appalled by the meat packing plants and their lack of concern. I am appalled by what animals eat ~~ and what is being processed into our food. I am appalled but not surprised.Schlosser writes a very thorough study on how fast food (namely McDonald's but there are others) have changed the economy ~~ not for good either ~~ and how it has a long-reaching impact on everyone's lives today. He writes of the meat-packing plants, diseases that have been discovered and the unsanitary practices ~~ things behind the scene that most people don't realize. There are a lot of politics involved in the whole process of what goes in our food and our animals ~~ and while others might find this book bashing the whole fast food industry, I didn't. I found it interesting and disturbing how it changed the whole economic landscape of our country. Schlosser has written positive things about different companies or executives ~~ but mainly, he writes passionately and in some cases, dispassionately, about this whole epidemic of fast food eaters.Like I mentioned, I won't stop eating some fast food, but this book has disturbed me enough to start thinking of changing my eating habits ~~ mine and my family's. I highly recommend reading this book just for the sheer volume of facts and history behind the food industry. It's better to be informed. Not only is it informative, it is interesting. This is your food and should be an impartial issue, but it's not. And that is just the beginning of a very informative read.12-9-05 |
{
"answer_start": [
36
],
"text": [
"not find this to be a great book"
]
} | Is the book recommended to people? | It may be an "age thing," but I did not find this to be a great book...I cannot imagine anyone loving the brutality in the sex scenes. Anastasia was an experienced, stupid girl. Christian should have been an older man. This was one trashy book in my eyes. I realize we all have different opinions, and I know people who loved this book, but I'm just saying.... |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"This was a really good story"
]
} | Does this work have a deep and complicated story line? | This was a really good story.Read this one- you won't regret it.The characters were both very likeable.I'll definitely read more by this author. |
{
"answer_start": [
1084
],
"text": [
"this story and get attached"
]
} | How is the reader? | This novel was very much unexpectedly great. It was not just good, it was great. I do not normally read the book descriptions or the back of a book when I buy them. When you do that you have expectations of how you think a novel will be and when you read the description and it is not the way you thought it would be, it is kind of a let down. I also did not read the description on this book either, but seeing how everyone was raving about how good this book was I decided to read it. I don't know what kind of book I thought this would be, but it was exceedingly better than I thought it was going to be. The mystery in this novel was very captivating and held my interest so much so that I had a hard time putting this book down. It was a little boring in the beginning because it talked a lot about big time company businesses and how this journalist got in trouble for writting about them in a magazine. So, when I started this novel I said to myself "people are loving THIS?" However, after the first two chapters it got very interesting. I also was unsure if I wanted to read this story and get attached to it because the ending of the story is gone, but I can asure you that at least in the first book the story does not leave you hanging. I thought that you wouldn't find out the ending to any problem or mystery in this book because there was more to follow. I can not wait to read the next book!The only advice I can give to anyone about to purchase this book, is that this novel is based in Sweden and is a foreign novel. I know that many of you probably assumed that, but that would have been a nice little bit of information that I would have liked to know. It really doesn't matter that it was based in Sweden or that it is a foreign based novel because it was still great and had nothing to do with how good or not the novel is, but it was just unexpected. The other thing that I would have liked to know is that there is very strong sexual violence in this novel. Again this does not make the novel bad in my eyes, but for others that don't like reading novels with things like that in it, I would advise you not to read this novel. There are very few parts of sexual violence in this novel, but the few parts are hard to read. However, it does make you have even stronger emotions for this novel and the characters.Hope you love it as much as I did. Great read!The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo |
{
"answer_start": [
20
],
"text": [
"disappointment"
]
} | Is it a good book? | I found the booking disappointment, maybe because there is so much hype about it and my expectations were too high.Fist of all 21 years old virgin? hard to believeand from her first time having sex she is having mind blowing orgasimsI found the book filled in with fluff, like pages and pages of e mails between them that don't say anything but fill the pages. Each of them on his cover letter with at least six lines filled with name, subject, date etc and one or two words or one line of the actual e mail and very childishMaybe it is meant for younger audience but I am 44 and found it lacking and have hard time finishing it. Keep reading hoping it will get better but it does not.To me it was waste of money! |
{
"answer_start": [
39
],
"text": [
"I am passionate about art and thoroughly enjoy novels with art as a theme2"
]
} | Was the story good? | Two reasons that I bought this book:1. I am passionate about art and thoroughly enjoy novels with art as a theme2. This book was marketed as Kindle no1 best seller, but I think marketing has more to do with its success than the actual merits of the bookThe book started off brilliantly and I became totally engaged with the characters and storyline. Her style of writing is very descriptive and interesting going into the psychology of things, but I don't that I would recommend this to my husband to read as this style may be more appealing to a woman's perspective..I will not repeat much of what is said in the many other reviews, but I agree with others that the lengthy book loses momentum towards the end and I was left feeling dissatisfied by the ending.The ending seemed to have been added on as an after thought -almost felt like it had been written by someone else.It was rather a rambling anti-climax and I was left feeling disappointed int he book after having thoroughly enjoyed a large part of the rest of it. Due to my mixed feelings this book will only receive a solid 3. |
{
"answer_start": [
5
],
"text": [
"this book tore a hole through my heart"
]
} | How was the book? | Jeez this book tore a hole through my heart. I loved it so much but this is not a happy perfect love story. There is a ton of baggage going on during this book. I loved Sky and how she was at the beginning with her friends, Six and Brekin. Some of the funniest lines were between them. Then Dean Holder enters the picture and I was immediately intrigued as well as confused by, as sky describes it, his multiple personality disorder. Colleen Hoover did an amzing job of weaving the storylines of this book so that it wasn't obvious from the beginning what the twists were. She gave you enough information at the appropriate time so that you could piece it together naturally. The relationship between Dean and Sky was just heartbreaking and amazing all at the same time. I loved it! I was so mesmerized by the bond that they shared and the commitment to each other despite all the tragedies that had fallen on them. The ending was great with out trying too hard to wrap it up in a fancy pretty bow. It had an ending that fit with the emotional feel to the book it didn't try to jar you into an epilogue 5-10 years down the round when everything is magically perfect. It just kind of stated that life is not perfect and will not ever be so. Fantastically amazing story that is exactly what we have come to expect from Colleen Hoover! |
{
"answer_start": [
325
],
"text": [
"sheds"
]
} | How did the thing get tense? | Well, I've been waiting for this book for quite some time and I'm very pleased with how Ms. Hand ended the series. The book is fast-paced and wastes no time giving a recap of Hallowed. I would definitely recommend reading Radiant, the e-novella first if you haven't already. It's not completely necessary, but it definitely sheds some light on certain key events in the book. I was impressed by how much the author packed into this book. All of the unresolved conflicts are finished up quite nicely. I only have a couple complaints. For one thing, I wouldn't have minded a little more Tucker. Even just one more quality scene would've made the book more complete for me. Also, the ending was predictable and a little cliche. When I was getting to the end and things were looking exciting I was half-hoping Cynthia Hand would do something daring and leave us with a fulfilling, but slightly-less-than-happy ending. But alas, another feel-good but ultimately forgettable ending. That being said, I was satisfied with how everything was wrapped up, and I thought the whole angel mythology part of the book was better executed than in the first two. I have no idea what Cynthia Hand's future plans are, but I'll definitely keep reading her wonderful writing. |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"novelist "
]
} | What kind of adventure do they have? | The story of "The Kite Runner" opens in the Kabul of the 1970s. The main character, and the narrator, is Amir, the teenage son of Baba, a prosperous businessman. The film's title derives from the fact that Amir likes kite fighting, a popular sport in Afghanistan, and the central incident in the novel occurs during a kite fighting tournament. Amir has cut an opponent's line and his friend Hassan, his "kite runner", is racing to fetch the downed kite when he is set upon and sexually assaulted by a gang of bullies, who despise him because he is a member of the minority Shia Muslim Hazara ethnic group. (Amir, like the bullies, is from the majority Sunnite Pashtun group). Unknown to Hassan Amir, who was running closely behind him, witnesses the assault, but fails either to intervene or to summon help.This incident puts an end to the friendship between the boys. Amir, ashamed of his behaviour, wants to get rid of Hassan from his life, and falsely accuses him of theft. (Hassan is the son of Baba's servant Ali). Hassan, not wanting to expose his friend, falsely confesses; Baba is ready to forgive him, but Ali leaves the family's service, taking Hassan with him. When the Soviets invade Afghanistan in 1978, Amir and Baba are forced to leave the country and make a new life for themselves in California, where Amir becomes a writer. Many years later, after Afghanistan has fallen to the Taliban, Amir has an opportunity to atone for his treatment of Hassan, but this involves him making a dangerous journey back to his homeland.Khaled Hosseini offers us a window onto a culture which, for most of us in the West, is an exotic one, as well as a commentary on the turbulent recent history of Afghanistan. He clearly has little time for either the secular totalitarianism of the Communists or the religious totalitarianism of the Taliban; there are graphic scenes depicting the brutality of both regimes. Kites were banned by the Taliban, and the book's central image of the soaring kite may be symbolic of hopes for a return of the happier times which Afghanistan enjoyed before the overthrow of the monarchy in 1973.Yet, perhaps more importantly, Hosseini also deals with some universal human themes, most notably friendship and father-son relationships. Hassan is Amir's devoted companion, but Amir finds it difficult to regard him as his "friend", even though Hassan has no reluctance in using this word about Amir. The two boys are divided by ethnicity, by religion and, most importantly, by social class, which makes it difficult for Amir to accept Hassan as an equal. Amir tries to persuade himself that he failed to come to Hassan's assistance because he was too afraid to do so, but his motives were more complex than simple cowardice; part of the reason is that he despises Hassan as an inferior and regards his devotion as no more than a servant's duty towards his master.The other important relationship in the book is that between Amir and Baba. (Amir's wife Soraya is a relatively minor character; this is a book where relationships between men are given greater weight than those between men and women). Amir, whose mother died giving birth to him, is haunted by the idea that he is a disappointment to his father, an idea which has some basis in truth. The two men are very different. Baba has little time for books and culture; his main interests, apart from his business, are hunting and sport, which do not interest the studious, bookish Amir. He looks down on his son's ambition to become a writer, which he regards as an unmanly way to earn a living. (He would have been happier had Amir used his academic gifts to study law or medicine). Amir's love of kite-fighting is in part due to the fact that it is the one physical sport at which he can excel and therefore a way for him to win favour in Baba's eyes. Much of Amir's life, in fact- even after Baba's death- can be interpreted as an attempt to gain his father's approval. It is only later in life that Amir learns something which causes him to reappraise his relationships with both Baba and Hassan.Although Amir and Baba are complex figures, some of the other characters are drawn in over-simplified terms. Hassan is perhaps too good to be true, and Assef, the leader of the bullies who assaulted Hassan who later appears as senior Taliban official, is certainly too bad to be true. Not content with making his main villain a bully, a bigot and a sadist, Hosseini also makes him a paedophile and a Nazi. The plot, particularly in the second half of the book, is excessively reliant upon coincidence (although Hosseini is far from being the only writer to be guilty of this) and the scenes set in California lack the power and local colour of those set in Afghanistan.The book's faults, however, are outweighed by its virtues. Hosseini gives a wonderfully vivid picture of life in pre-Soviet Afghanistan and draws a powerful psychological portrait of his central character, a man dominated by the shadow of his father and by the need to make amends for his act of betrayal. In this respect it reminded me of Ian McEwan's "Atonement", another novel from the early part of the last decade which deals with the theme of a person who, as an adult, attempts to atone for a youthful misdeed which has had serious consequences. Of the two books, I would perhaps rate "Atonement" slightly higher, but then that is a work by a very experienced novelist. "The Kite Runner", by comparison, is a first novel, but it is a very good oen and was amde into an equally good film by Marc Forster. |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"read of accidents"
]
} | Does this have a lot of important details? | ... I'm not specifically an anti-nuke person, I believe that they were the only way in the cold war of avoiding an unaffordable conventional arms race - but you can't match a totalitarian regime like the soviets were in conventional arms without shifting to a total-war economy, so the first-strike principle made sense. But wow - to read the number of accidents that have happened, and the number of times we've got away by sheer chance from having these weapons detonate on our own territory or on that of friendly nations is frightening. And that's with the resources of a first world country, let alone what would happen in some of the third world places that have them. This stuff is really scary, and the lies and cover ups from our own military are absolutely disgraceful, particularly when it came to civilian-environmental contamination, as well as the way they treated people who helped out in the main Damascus incident. Everyone should be aware of the downsides and dangers of even routine handling of these things, especially the nations that see their possession as ways to get seats at "The big boys table" when it comes to international negotiations. The technical descriptions are well detailed, along with the political and historical decisions taken at different times and why. I heard about this book on NPR and thoroughly enjoyed it. I still think on the balance it's useful to have a few of them around, but under much more careful supervision than our armed forces have displayed in the past. |
{
"answer_start": [
65
],
"text": [
"the hero was wonderful"
]
} | How is the hero? | I really enjoyed this story! I thought the heroine was great and the hero was wonderful! I loved the way it ended. I will definitely be purchasing more books from this author! |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"books that delight every page"
]
} | How was the book? | Sometimes John Grisham gets it exactly right. The Racketeer joins the list ofA Time to Kill: A Novel,The Rainmaker, andThe Appealof lawyers' lawyer books that delight with every page.Meet Malcolm Bannister, age 43, African-American, and an inmate at a federal work camp in Frostburg Maryland. Five years ago, he was a lawyer in the town of Winchester Virginia, making somewhat of living along with two partners. Overzealous federal prosecutors indicted him for violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, otherwise known as RICO, and when the dust had settled Bannister found himself on the wrong end of a ten year sentence. That Bannister's "crimes" were essentially illusory is beside the point. A jury, under the gun of the so-called "shotgun charge" read to deadlocked panels, convicted him and his appeals have run their course. Malcolm is gonna finish out his time, and then return to a world without his profession, wife and kid.There are only two things for an inmate with the skills of Bannister to do-practice a little jailhouse law and scheme to get out.The opportunity for the second comes with the murder of a United States District Judge in Roanoke. Killing a federal judge is a very serious offense. In fact only four sitting federal judges have been killed in our nation's history-all within the last thirty years. I actually appeared before one of those judges Robert Vance of the Eleventh Circuit. A classmate of mine from law school was appointed to represent his assassin and I followed his trial and conviction closely. So when I say as a trial lawyer in the federal courts for thirty seven years that this book is incredibly authentic, I have a substantial basis for that opinion. Lawyers reading this book will recognize the cast of characters from lawyers, inmates, U.S. Marshals, FBI agents, judges and corrections officers. It is absolutely spot on.It is also incredibly imaginative. Grisham always tells a good story, but this one is quite special. Pick it up today. |
{
"answer_start": [
419
],
"text": [
"writing style is quite lyrical and achingly beautiful"
]
} | What words did the author use to describe this novel? | I want to recommend a book I just finished reading. The Book Thief is a very wonderfully written & touching story. It's not a new book (2006) but I just recently ran across it. I decided to read it because I've never seen a book that's been on the New York Times Bestseller List for over 230 weeks.From the write up on it you wouldn't think this is a beautifully written book ("Narrated by Death" - yikes!) but Zusak's writing style is quite lyrical and achingly beautiful in some passages... "At those times, in the enormous mileage of sleep, she had never felt so completely alone." ... `the enormous mileage of sleep'... I like that.I highly recommend this book! |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"Weird Very surprised considering"
]
} | How do you like the story? | Weird, weird book. Very surprised considering its popularity. Had to finish it, though, and it was okay. I hate to say I wouldn't recommend it to a friend. Both characters were very odd and had several issues of their own. No real "good guy" I guess. Left me with a big ole question mark dangling at the end of this one. |
{
"answer_start": [
623
],
"text": [
"with"
]
} | How is the sense? | <I received and ARC from Netgalley in return for an honest review>5 Stars!!I am a huge Kylie Scott fan-girl. I was very excited for this book to come out. Malcolm “Mal” Ericson was a favorite character in the first book “Lick.” Mal has a great sense of humor but in some instances he uses his humor to cover up his hurt. He is a hot alpha male Rock Star. Who does not love a hot Rock Star? Along comes Anne Rollins. She has a lot of responsibilities and is overwhelmed by life. Mal is intrigued and moves right in on her. Anne is not sure of Mal’s true feelings because he covers them with his humor so we have a lot of emotional turmoil on Anne’s part.This book takes you through the gamut of emotions, love, giddiness, heartbreak, angst (a lot of it), and laughter. At several points in the book I was ready to strangle or slap Anne! I had to walk away from the kindle and regroup. Kylie provokes these emotions in you with her brilliant writing. As usual Kylie steams up the pages of your book with her love scenes.One of my favorite parts of the book is the jumping on the bed. (I won’t say anymore to ruin it) I was laughing out loud and swooning at the sweetness of the moment. There are several swoon worthy moments in this book. Read it to find out. You will love Malcolm just as much as I did. At the end I did feel it was a little rushed and would have liked to know just a hair more than what was given. I do realize we will see more of Mal and Anne throughout the other books. I am excited for this.I would recommend this book to all. You will not be disappointed in this addition of the series. It can be read as a stand-alone but if you read “Lick” first you will understand all the characters and what is going on. I am really looking forward to the next addition to the series “Lead” Jimmy’s Story.Bravo Ms Scott on another example of brilliant writing. You make me laugh. Thank you.Quotes:What was truly upsetting was the way he separated my hands from his body. They wept silently. – Anne“Life’s a song, Anne. Let’s play.” My life hadn’t been much of a song… at least not up until this point. – Anne“We’ve broken my bed,” I said, stating the obvious. “In battle, sacrifices must be made, pumpkin” – MalUpon reflection, I don’t think I’d make a very good cowgirl because my thigh muscles still hadn’t quite recovered from the ride. – Anne“Anne, my pants itch. I think I’m allergic to them. Come help me take ‘em off.” – Mal |
{
"answer_start": [
369
],
"text": [
"story was comprised of many true people"
]
} | How relevant is the story? | The Invention of Wings: A Novel by Sue Monk KiddWhile writing the book, the author states that she was inspired by the words of professor Julius Lester, which she kept propped up on her desk: “History is not just facts and events. History is also pain in the heart, and we repeat history until we are able to make another's pain in the heart our own.”This story was comprised of many true people, and events in history. Knowing she wanting to write about sister in her next book, and living in Charleston, SC she came across some information on a pair of sisters, who became well known for their work as abolitionist and speakers for the equality of women. Sarah and Angelina Grimké, were ahead of their times, but having grown up in a slave owning society it took them awhile to be able to change their lives and to help others. Besides the sisters, other great characters were slaves, Hetty, aka handful, and her mother also very strong woman that, happened to be born at the wrong time in history. The author brings all of the characters to life in fascinating ways, we are able to see both sides of this time in history and see the different viewpoints. I loved the pieces told of African folklore which mainly were told through Handfuls mother, and the beautiful story quilt she made.This story is so well written, you are swept up right away into these peoples lives.I am glad I got the (Original Publisher's Edition-No Annotations) with no distractions. This book is really worth reading. |
{
"answer_start": [
83
],
"text": [
"Anderson movie"
]
} | What is story? | I am really unsure how to start this. This book was quirky and dramatic like a Wes Anderson movie. That is the best that I can describe it. I was frustrated through most of the book, thanks to the gnats and her husband. The saving grace for this book was her daughter. To be fair, I was told by many people that this was a comedy, so I went into it with that mindset. While there were some comedic moments, I found it more a drama than anything. |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"Told from the perspective Christopher"
]
} | What is your rating on the book The Promised Land by Grace Ogot? | Told from the perspective of Christopher, an autistic but mathematically gifted 15-year old, this story essentially is a diary of his experiences over the course of a week or so during which he unwittingly opens a can of worms while attempting to figure out who killed the neighbor's dog.The plot is secondary to the perspective in which the book is written. Haddon does an excellent job of getting us inside the head of Christopher, who is so emotionally detached from the world and so logical in his thinking that while deftly observing the events around him he can not understand them or draw proper conclusions.The resulting story is both sad and humorous. Sad, because we realize that on top of just the sheer challenge of coping with life, Christopher's condition has robbed him (and his family, to some extent) of the very essence of what is rewarding in life - the ability to connect emotionally with others. In a sense we see that his autism has stolen a significant part of his humanity from him, rendering him an island unto himself unable to truly relate to others. The nuance and subtlety of life is lost on him. And humorous because we see how Christopher's condition allows him to be more or less oblivious to the annoyance or outrage of others attempting to deal with what they see as his weird behavior.Ultimately, this story is well-worth reading simply because it expands our understanding of the human condition. Rather than being just another book in the long line of stories that we will read, and ultimately forget - this story shows us the world from a very different perspective. And in doing so, it causes us to evaluate our own lives and to realize just how important feelings and emotions are to our ability to derive enjoyment from others and from life. |
{
"answer_start": [
3402
],
"text": [
"incredible"
]
} | How is the quality of the concept on the story? | Just a tiny note first to say that I just re-read this amazing book. <3 And posting below will be my new book recommendation for it :) Which you can also read on my blog, here: http://carinabooks.blogspot.no/2014/04/book-recommendation-reboot-by-amy.html---Re-reading Reboot made me happy. And I'm so glad that I finally decided to do so. I've been meaning to re-read it ever since I downloaded Rebel for review back in January. But I was nervous. I was nervous about not loving it the same way this second time, as it has been more than a year since I first read it. But I shouldn't have worried. Because I loved it so much. I still think Reboot is an amazing book. It is exciting and fun and full of amazing romance. I'm so happy that I finally read it again. It's awesome.I'm not going to recap the book in this recommendation of mine. Because I feel that I would end up talking for ages, lol. But I will say that the plot in Reboot is amazing. I enjoyed it so much. It's exciting and surprising and full of action. And the romance. Swoon. More on that soonish. There is a lot of death in this book. But I didn't really mind. Except for this one death. That broke my heart. But it also made sense, and I think I would have made the same choice. Sniffs. But yes. It was very heartbreaking.Reboot is told from the point of view of seventeen year old Wren. Who is all kinds of amazing. I loved her. And I loved reading about her. At first she doesn't feel all that much. Which I didn't mind. But then Callum arrives and she starts to change. And I loved that so much. I think she ended up an even better person. But anyway. I adored reading about her. I adored her scars, even though they shame her. I think she's beautiful. And agh. I really loved reading about her and cannot wait to get to know more of her.Wren is a Reboot. There are a lot of them in this book. And that was such an awesome plot twist. I loved getting to know stuff about them. How much stronger they are than other humans. How fast they heal. How different they are as well. So awesome. Wren has been dead for 178 minutes, which is the most at the moment. What she had to go through was so heartbreaking to read about. Yet I wanted to read more and more. Sigh. I just love to torture myself, don't I? lol. But yeah. I thought the Reboots were amazing.One of the things I loved the most about Wren was her roommate and friend, Ever. I adored her as well. But I really loved their friendship. It gets better and more real after Callum arrives. And they are just too cute. Sigh. Ever is amazing. Though holy crap. Such awful things happen with her. Heartbreak. But also so interesting to read about. It was amazing. Sigh. There are a few other characters in this book that I liked as well. Like Addie. Would like to get to know her more as well. She did seem awesome.Then, of course, there is Callum. Who is a Twenty-Two. Which is a very low number for a Reboot. It means that he has more emotions that the others, and is more human. And sigh. I loved that. Because Callum is amazing. I loved reading about him so much. And I loved getting to know him. I loved how he was with Wren. He is horrified with how many she has killed, but I feel like he accept her. I hope. The romance is very sweet in this book. It made me grin like crazy. Callum is just all kinds of amazing.I don't want to say more about this book. Just that it is incredible. And I need you all to read it. Especially since the last book, Rebel, is coming out in less than a month. <3 Though, yeah, I'm reading it in a moment since I have a review copy of it :D And I cannot wait. I need to know what happens next. Anyway. Reboot is a stunning novel. I loved it. And I loved the writing as well. Just loved everything about it. Sigh. I also cannot wait to read more books by Amy Tintera. She's pretty amazing as well.~He slid his hand into mine and leaned over to press a soft kiss onto my cheek. I shifted a little closer, until his warm arm rubbed against mine, and lowered my gaze to hide the goofy smile spreading across my face.---I first read this book on February 21st 2013. You can find my review here: http://carinabooks.blogspot.no/2013/02/review-reboot-by-amy-tintera.html |
{
"answer_start": [
296
],
"text": [
"She is unflinching honest"
]
} | How is the life? | Ordinary people whose lives intersect in extraordinary ways. Each of the three main characters have very different lives and dilemmas to face. Their stories build and intertwine until it becomes impossible to put the book down. The author has great insight into people and their motivations. She is unflinching honest! |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"This was such a sexy , funny and cute story"
]
} | How is scene? | This was such a sexy, funny and cute story!!! I was worried it was going to be a cliff hanger since it shows it a series but it had a great ending! I even found myself reading part of the story to my husband as Drew has some great lines, points and perspective! Can't wait to read another book from this author :) |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"The character development was great"
]
} | How was the character development? | The character development was great. The people in this book were unhappy but very real. The small town politics were well developed. |
{
"answer_start": [
259
],
"text": [
"My advice would be to read the first 2"
]
} | What story do I tell you? | I loved the first 2 books. I couldn't put them down. I could barely get through this one. The story was repetitive and boring. I don't know why Roth decided to take the book the way she did. All I can think is that the up coming movies swayed her decisions.My advice would be to read the first 2 and make up your own ending. This one will only disappoint you. |
{
"answer_start": [
36
],
"text": [
"I knew it was a book I had to read"
]
} | What is the quality of the book? | When I first became aware of Quiet, I knew it was a book I had to read. I've always been an introvert, content to curl up with a book for hours and wary of crowded places and loud parties. Yet, even though I was aware of my introversion, I don't think I really understood it and what it meant. I always saw it as a sort of flexible personality trait that I could change if I wanted to, and I always had the sense that there was something unhealthy about my particular personality type. After reading the book, I feel I have a much better understanding not only of myself, but of how the way American society is structured tends to work against someone like me.Cain uses a blend of some of the latest neurological research and years of psychiatric studies to show why introverts and extroverts are so different, and to lay rest to the idea that there's something broken in people who don't meet the gregarious, outgoing American ideal. The neuroscience she highlights in the book is easily understandable to the layperson, and shows how the brains of introverts and extroverts process stimuli differently. Quite literally, extroverts' brains function in such a way that they are exhilarated and recharged by plenty of social stimulation while introverts need quiet and downtime in order to recharge.Using this research, Cain then shows why so many aspects of modern American life are doing few favors for introverts and, in fact, may be hindering creativity and innovation overall. One of the topics she discusses is the seemingly ubiquitous open-plan workspace. Having spent some years in offices, I could feel myself recoil as soon as she began touching on the topic. The idea behind these plans is that an open atmosphere will create more interaction between employees, thus stimulating creativity and helping to further develop ideas. This goes hand-in-hand with the corporate love of brainstorming sessions and leadership retreats, all of which I've had the misfortune of attending. However, as Cain shows, all of these things actually hinder creativity. People are at their most creative when they have quiet time alone in which to let their mind roam freely. This is a topic of particular interest to me, and there are plenty of sources that support this conclusion. Some companies are beginning to recognize this problem and are starting to design offices that provide spaces where people can retreat for some quiet thought and reflection. This is a boon not only to the introverts, who really need these spaces, but to the extroverts as well because these more thoughtfully designed spaces offer all personality types the opportunity to seek out stimulation when they need it and to retreat into privacy when they need time for quiet thought.Another point that I found particularly interesting was Cain's examination of current educational philosophies. I'm a former high/middle school teacher and the parent of an elementary-aged child, so I've had the chance to see this in action--not to mention the styles and philosophies with which I was presented during my teacher training. There currently is a HUGE emphasis on group work, which I think can be attributed to the corporatization of education. Despite that I am, myself, an introvert, as a teacher, I bought into the idea that kids need to be constantly interacting, but Cain points out the flaws in this idea. Both my colleagues and myself were sometimes guilty of the "Johnny is a great student but so quiet--if only he'd talk more!" syndrome, and this book made me realize how harmful that can actually be. While there is emphasis in modern education on learning styles--the visual learner versus the auditory learner, for example--there is next to no emphasis on how to appeal to various personality types. I volunteer in my daughter's school, and every year the kids' desks are arranged in groupings, so that students spend a large amount of their time working with other students. Still, there is a bright spot in that they are occasionally granted small stretches of time during which they're free to retreat to whatever part of their classroom or the outside pod area they like so they may complete an assignment. Quiet really made me think about how important these opportunities are, and how they need to become a more integral part of the educational system.Most valuable of all, though, this book really made me think deeply about myself and those I love and to think of ways to better interact with them. I have a better understand now of how what seemed pliable personality traits are actually inherent in me, and how I can work with them instead of against them so that I can alleviate stress and avoid feeling overwhelmed and burned out. While the book is primarily about introverts, it also helped me to gain a better understanding about the extroverts in my life and how we can live more harmoniously with one another. The sections of the book that deal with married couples was particularly interesting in this respect, because they showed how our own biases make us judge the reactions of others. Since we tend to see the world through a certain lens, we sometimes have trouble understanding that not everyone thinks the way we do, and that we may be taking their reactions and misunderstanding them. This is truly invaluable because I realize that by taking a more thoughtful approach to interactions with others, I can better understand not only my actions but theirs, which will hopefully lead to a better level of understanding between us.Quiet is a book I would recommend to anyone, regardless of whether you're an introvert or an extrovert. I think that introverts like myself will feel better about our personalities and will see that the way we operate can be a strength rather than a social liability, as many of us have been conditioned to believe. And I think that extroverts can learn that introverts aren't necessarily socially backwards or cold, but people who often feel awkward in our own skins because we see and admire the outgoing traits of extroverts but may have trouble emulating them. This book simply works on so many levels: from the corporate world to the world of education and right on down to a personal level. |
{
"answer_start": [
3289
],
"text": [
"his only features seemed to be his unbelievably godlike good looks and his flashy car"
]
} | What is the problem of your car? | I bought this book because I believed all the hype. Silly me! I fell for that ploy yet again. It seems these days that sometimes the bigger the hype, the bigger the disappointment I'll feel.Usually I don't write a review before I've finished reading a book. But I've read over 200 pages of 'Twilight', and I'm not sure if I can bear reading the rest, so I think I may as well review it now.How best to describe this book? Hmmm...Remember back to when you were a little kid in school, and your teacher would set you an essay-writing assignment on 'What I Did At School Today'? Well, this book reads like one of those essays, only it goes on and on and on and on and on, day after day after day...I don't get why it's so important to tell us EVERY SINGLE CLASS that Bella goes to at school, for months on end, especially if it's totally irrelevant to the storyline. It's like reading someone's school diary, the kind that outlines which classes to go to at which times each day and which assignments are due, but leaves out any of the juicier, more interesting gossip you'd get in a normal diary. And the same goes for Bella's homelife - we get to hear what she eats and when, what she does for homework, exactly how well she slept each night, and so on, every day. And it's almost never interesting facts that are relevant, it's dry, boring, repetitious stuff. Bella's life is so DULL, I think you could read instruction manuals for watching paint dry that were less boring. Ugh! If my pillows were this overstuffed with fluff and filler, I'd have to sleep almost in a sitting-up position.And Bella was annoying. Whingy, self-centred, quite rude to her 'friends' at times, and totally lacking a sense of humour or a modicum of intelligence or any genuine concern for anyone other than herself or her pretty boy boyfriend, she grated on my nerves like a constantly dripping tap. I could understand why no one at her old school liked her. I couldn't understand, though, why everyone at her new school seemed to treat her like royalty and wanted to be with her constantly, right from day one of her arriving there.Using first person narrative can be a wonderful thing, in the hands of a good writer - it can be used to convey the central character's feelings and thoughts and motivations so much more effectively than third-person narrative. But this author wasted this opportunity, and gave us practically nothing in the way of the narrator's personality, or nothing positive, anyway, unless you think that being a whingy sociopath is a positive. The other trap with using first person narrative as a writer is that you can fall into the trap of making too many 'I' statements, which gets really dull, or even annoying. This author fell right into that trap. It wasn't uncommon to find an entire, long paragraph where every sentence began with 'I' (like on page 114, for instance). Perhaps if the character of Bella had thought about others more often, instead of just herself, or had made witty commentary about current events or what was going on around her, she wouldn't have had a need to start so many sentences with 'I'. Clearly, a very self-centred character, written by an author lacking in imagination or experience, or so it would seem.And the hero of the piece, Edward, was dull - his only features seemed to be his unbelievably godlike good looks and his flashy car. I want more to my heroes than that, thankyou. And as for the other characters in the book, we learn practically nothing about them - they only seem to exist to help or interact with the heroine; they don't seem to have any lives or character or quirks of their own.I found this book REALLY painful. I hate quitting, and I usually see books through to the end. But this one is so bad, I don't know that I'll be able to force myself to finish it, and I don't think I should - I'm just not a fan of masochism. I've been having to force myself to read it, for a few minutes at a time, here and there, over months, just to get to page 200+. Spending time with this book is like being forced to visit relatives I don't like - I sit there, lamenting that I don't like them, that I have nothing in common with them, that they're about as exciting as a day spent staring at the wall, that it is a waste of my valuable time to be there, and I count down the minutes until I can escape. Better that I had never visited them in the first place - in other words, better that I had never started reading this book in the first place.I think that if I crave any vampire tales in future, I'll just stick to watching Buffy reruns or reading Patricia Briggs' wonderful 'Mercy Thompson' series of books. I definitely won't be reading any more of Stephenie Meyer's books, anyway. |
{
"answer_start": [
388
],
"text": [
"The characters were so believable and easy to follow"
]
} | What is the hero character like in this book? | First of all I never give a five star rating hardly ever. If I could give it more I would!! This book takes you on a rollercoaster ride with art and art history like you wouldn't believe. It gives you such a visual you actually feel you are right there in the middle of it all. The twists and turns blew me away. I found myself talking out loud to myself in disbelief at certain points. The characters were so believable and easy to follow I had a very hard time putting this book down. I even tried to slow down my reading to make the book last longer. Seldom do I come across a book that I think about before I go to bed and again when I wake up. Usually when I finish a book I just download another one and start reading again; but I think I'll wait for awhile and just enjoy the residuals of this epic book. Read it....you won't be disappointed!!!!! |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"The story was excellent"
]
} | Does this story mucho better? | The story was excellent. The foster parents, particularly Rosa, turned out to be more and better than my first impression in the beginning. Death's comments were confusing at first until I realized his part in the story. Great book! |
{
"answer_start": [
60
],
"text": [
"the good reviews are part of a PR strategy and fake"
]
} | Why is the write of this book considered irregular? | this book is just awful,so much so that I am convinced that the good reviews are part of a PR strategy and fake. |
{
"answer_start": [
26
],
"text": [
"pretty long"
]
} | How would you describe the gift of Gregory in writing historical fiction? | I read the sample, it was pretty long, since I'm going to get this book, and I was drawn into this story, just like I was drawn into LOTR. I think Martin has a real way with words. So go ahead and jump into this book; I don't think you'll be able to get out of it. |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"I thought the main character acted & # 34;out of character" ; at times ( not referring to the twist )"
]
} | Which is the good premise principal? | I thought the structure, plot, and characters were original and interesting. I thought the main character acted "out of character" at times (not referring to the twist), which made the story a little unbelievable, but in all I liked it. I didn't find the ending unsatisfying, as some others did. I think it set up a sequel and I'm eager to read it when it comes out. |
{
"answer_start": [
13
],
"text": [
"story was far more interesting"
]
} | How is story? | One orphan's story was far more interesting than the other's. The end of this book felt rushed. But I enjoyed it enough. |
{
"answer_start": [
122
],
"text": [
"they were predictable and very short"
]
} | How is your evaluation for the book? | Ever since Fifty Shades of Grey and Bared to You I have been reading a LOT of books in the genre. Most left me luke warm, they were predictable and very short ( not to mention not very well written). I'm not going to name names. Suffice to say I came upon Naked and I didn't know what to expect. Once I started reading I could not put it down until I finished it. I told my husband to fend for himself for dinner, and got immersed in the Blackstone Affair. The characters are well defined and very engaging. There is a good flow to the story. And it's steamy hot. Yeah, very HOT. And that is what I was looking for. A well written, interesting, sexy story. And Raine Miller delivered in spades. The only thing that frustrated me was that now I have to wait for books 2 and 3. But as Mr. Grey taught us, anticipation can be very rewarding. I definitely recommend this trilogy (second book is due out soon), if you're looking for a good love story sans the BDSM, but with a dash of "control". |
{
"answer_start": [
1393
],
"text": [
"left me feeling this satisfied and glowing"
]
} | Do children have a story? | I saw an entertainment blurb on television one night with Sarah Jessica Parker holding this book so I looked it up and couldn't resist buying it. I'm glad I did.This is the unique coming of age story of Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, just home from college in 1962, anxious to become a writer, who is advised by a New York editor to hone her skills by writing "about what disturbs you." And at this particular time in her life, she is disturbed by the plight of the black maids in the early 1960's in Jackson, Mississippi who raise their employer's children, yet are treated as criminals if so much as a silver spoon gets misplaced.I have to say that Ms. Stockett had the prissy, holier-than-thou Jr. League ladies down to a tee. The story is full of tears, laughter and triumph as Skeeter weaves her way through a miasma of roadblocks to gain the trust and loyalty of Aibileen, a maid who's raised 17 children, and Aibileen's best friend Minny, who's found herself unemployed more than a few times after mouthing off to her white employers. The incident which is the ultimate payback by Minny to her mean, evil employer's daughter, Miss Hilly, is so shocking, funny and distasteful that it literally made me gasp when I read it, then laugh out loud. Miss Hilly is the president of the Jr. League and got exactly what she deserved, I must say.It's been a long time since I've read a novel that left me feeling this satisfied and glowing. There's absolutely nothing like a great story, well-told! I'd give this book ten stars if I could!! |
{
"answer_start": [
37
],
"text": [
"this story impressed me on many levels"
]
} | What story do I tell you? | From page one until almost the last, this story impressed me on many levels--As a writer, I was impressed and envious that a first novel could be SO good.As a reader, I fell in love with the voices of the book's 3 main characters--Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny--and never wanted their story to end.As a human being, the stories of black servants and their white employers in 1960s Mississippi alternately wrenched my heart and created a bitter knot in my stomach. As a white person, the attitudes of (most of) the white characters in this story are an embarassment to me. I know it's just a novel, but I also know (even with not having lived any further south than Virginia) that these attitudes are not fiction.The bond between Aibileen and Mae Mobley, one of the two white children she cared for, was beautifully drawn, as was Aibileen's hope for MaeMo to grow up a different kind of white woman than her mother and most other white women who inhabit the story.The balance these characters had to dance between wanting to do something that felt RIGHT--something that mattered and might help the next generation have a better life--and the fear of doing so in that racially explosive time and place was palpable throughout much of the story.In the last half of the book, I was reading while watching TV--something I don't think I've EVER done before--reading during commercials, reading in bed, reading on the porch...I felt that I HAD to keep reading. Until the last chapter or two, I was absolutely convinced that I was going to give this book a 5-star review. I was telling everyone I knew about it and recommending it heartily.But then came the ending, and I found it SO unsatisfying...especially compared to how incredibly satisfying I found the rest of the book. I may be wrong, but it screamed one of two things to me--sequel or tight deadline; i.e., either things were left unfinished because there's going to be another book or she ran out of time to bring it to the complete, fulfilling and heart-gladdening ending that this amazing story deserved.I still very much recommend the book; just perhaps not as enthusiastically as I would have 50, 100 or 400 pages ago.Edited 08/11/11 to add that I just came from seeing the movie version of The Help and I thought it was FABULOUS! The movie's director and the book's author are friends since childhood, so I was very hopeful that he would do a good job bringing this wonderful story to the screen and, in my opinion, he has. The acting is marvelous, especially from Viola Davis (Aibileen) and Octavia Spencer (Minnie). If you loved this book, I think you'll love the movie too! |
{
"answer_start": [
115
],
"text": [
"I find them very entertaining"
]
} | How good is this story? | Dan Brown is one of my favorite authors and his books intrigue me, besides the fact that I am a history major, and I find them very entertaining. This book was very hard to put down and I finished it in a week. |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"There 's fighting , humor , horror , everything you could expect out a series"
]
} | How is the story line? | When I started the Song of Ice and Fire series a few years ago, I was blown away. The scale of the world and the depth of the characters GRRM has created are unmatched by any fantasy series I've read, and yes, I have read Tolkien.POV chapters for this book are broken up between three different powerful families in the mythical land of Westeros; the Starks, the Lannisters, and the Targaryens. What makes this book so great is that we have sympathy for all of these families, or at least some of there individual members. Weaker writers build two-dimensional sum-of-all-evil characters for the heroes to fight, but not Martin. All the characters are complex and fully formed.And the plot of course is excellent. There's fighting, humor, horror, everything you could expect out a series. He avoids cliche's in favor of great twists and turns.Get this book. Now. |
{
"answer_start": [
485
],
"text": [
"great chemistry"
]
} | How is the attraction? | Wait For You is the kind of story that takes about 10 seconds flat for you to become absorbed.And man, was I grateful. Because I had a reading hole that needed filling and nothing short of muchero coolioness would have done.In this contemporary NA, we have one Avery Posh-Bird, with a horrid past that she's all too keen to leave behind.We also have one Cameron Hot-Spanky-Pants, who wants to nudge through the shell Ms Posh-Bird's deposited herself in.From the get-go, these two have great chemistry, great camaraderie, and differing personalities that, when placed together, become something pretty awesome. I loved watching their time together. Loved watching the development of their relationship--even though it was a relationship way before either of them realised it--and loved the character development in here too. Loved Cam's perseverance and the subtleness of it, and the way he needled his way into her heart.I also appreciated that he wasn't Mr Perfect. And I don't just mean that he had what he considered to be a dark secret of his own. I mean in the sense that he struggled to handle certain parts of their relationship. Whilst I wanted to smack him upside the head for appearing to turn away when she oh-so needed him not to, I get that it wouldn't have been so true to life for a dude of that age to take absolutely everything in his stride and know how to react to it. So, on top of loving all their interactions, I loved the fact that this was kept `real'.Plus there were the side character. The pals of each of the two main players. They were as full bodied and great to spend time with as Cam & Avery, so big kudos for that--though, I'd expect nothing less from this author.However, there were a couple of things that drove me nuts about this book.The first has to do with Cam ... *cringes and ducks as shoes fly in my direction* Yes, he's pretty awesome. Lord knows, he says so himself enough times. Just as he tells--often--about his hotness, like we can't figure that out ourselves when his dark hair falls just so, and he peers up from extremely lush dark lashes with incredibly striking blue eyes, or by the tautness of his abs, and the hotness of his flat stomach, and the rigidness of his--okay, that's enough of that. Because, for me the guy had a major flaw. Yup, his use and overuse and even more uses of the endearment `sweetheart' made my eye twitch like it had spasm-control issues. Sorry. Truly. But I just couldn't get on board with a guy that age constantly using that word--not unless he's a slimeball. Dunno--maybe it's the Brit V US deal going on.And the second thing I had issue with? Well, it has absolutely nothing to do with JLA's writing ability, because her talent at telling a tale is what has me coming back time after time. It was the editing. There were so many errors--grammatical mostly, and some typos--in this book that it became distracting. Errors like you for your, or on for one, and words blatantly absent from sentences ... if there were a handful, I could've ignored them, but the book was pretty rife.Those issues aside, though, there's no denying this is a great read. It was `hotter' than I expected. But majorly enjoyable. |
{
"answer_start": [
71
],
"text": [
"None of the characters were very likeable"
]
} | What dou yu see about none? | While I enjoyed the plot of this book, it did kind of drag in places. None of the characters were very likeable. |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"There 's no question that she can come up with some great humor and create comical situations"
]
} | Is this book funny? | Jenny Lawson has some hilarious stuff in her book, LET'S PRETEND THIS NEVER HAPPENED. There's no question that she can come up with some great humor and create comical situations. And then the rest of the book rears its ugly head.For one thing, Lawson must find some way to moderate her excessive use of the F word. The word itself is not funny. If it is used as a shocker in situations where it's not expected and by characters not expected to utter it, the expletive can be humorous and the effect can produce a jolt. If not, it becomes tedious and trite. It ceased being funny after high school.Overuse of comments involving body parts and their functions is also a part of this book. Headaches and nauseousness caused by overindulging in alcohol and illegal substances is more likely to be considered stupid than funny. Reinvent your misery, Lawson, and present it in a more tasteful form. More people are turned off by your puking than appreciate it.One more little annoyance surfaces here. Lawson seems to have a need to broadcast what's coming up; to alert the reader that more funnies are on the way. Good writers let their dialogue direct the reader through the orchard to discover the plums. Be our guide, Lawson. We are astute enough to decide what is golden and what is sludge.It's only fair that I point out some good material. I thought her Post-It notes to Victor were hilarious. Notably, the obscenities were used sparingly. I also enjoyed her human resources experiences, probably because they didn't vary much from some of mine. The chapter on housekeeping was funny, probably because I have relatives who like her style. ODing on laxatives was great (I had to set aside my dislike for toilet humor here) as was the Halloween party of endless babbling and no underpants. And finally, I really enjoyed the journal of her book tour because it brought back memories. Was that you next door, Jenny?Jenny Lawson has a wide and rabid audience, based on the comments I've seen. So, contempt will probably rain on me for this review. I deserve it: I'm just an old fart without a life. But I could also be a raging fan of Lawson's because I recognize the talent she has. I'm going to check her blog and other writings because I know there are gems there. I want to be on her side.Schuyler T WallaceAuthor of TIN LIZARD TALES |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"Sometimes characters have so much sex that it 's all do"
]
} | How to identify sex? | I am so excited to read a good story that doesn't give everything away!!!! I love the banter between ace and ruylessule ules!!!! I loved the cliff hanger at the end!!! I absolutely love that ryles is strong but also vulnerable to Colton. I cannot wait to read what is in store for them!!!!! Please don't take a long time!!!! You have to read this!!!!!! They have great sex scenes that are well strung out so that they are memorable. Sometimes characters have so much sex that it's all they do!!!! Quality over quantity!!!!! |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"There 's no reason to get into a"
]
} | What were they based on to write this book? | Okay, okay, so I tend to be one of those people who doesn't read the hot, bestselling "must-read" books until everyone else on the planet has, but sometimes there's a good reason for that--and this book is a prime example of that. After finishing this book, I can only shake my head in amazement at its popularity.There's no reason to get into a "loved it/hated it" war with fans of the book. Instead, I'd like to give an honest blow-by-blow description for those who haven't read the book yet but are considering it. The book begins with about 100 pages devoted to intrigue in the world of Swedish financial publications...zzz...huh? What? Oh, I'm sorry. I fell asleep just typing that sentence, so imagine how bored I was while slogging through those dreary chapters. The book does begin to get interesting afterward, when an old man hires our intrepid main character to investigate the disappearance of his beloved relative, who vanished from an island years before in a sort of a "locked room" type mystery.During the investigation, our intrepid main character comes across a series of old murders that could be linked to the disappearance of the old man's relative. Was she the victim of a serial killer? Did she vanish because she knew too much? These plot twists make the book much more exciting--for a while. Unfortunately, though, the mystery behind the disappearance of the girl is laughably un-mysterious, and the story of the serial killer is trite, worn-out, and needed far more explanation in order to be really interesting. For instance--and I don't feel a spoiler alert is necessary here--the killer performs some strange rituals during the killings, but the reasons behind these are never explained. Once the killer is revealed, the only explanation seems to be that the killer was a nut job who did crazy things.So, in conclusion--tired plot, poorly-executed mystery, too many boring chapters about Swedish financial publications, and about 300 pages too many in general (I'm starting to think there's a dire shortage of editors in Sweden). My advice? Read at your own risk--but keep plenty of strong coffee at hand. You'll need it. |
{
"answer_start": [
33
],
"text": [
"The premise was intriguing"
]
} | Is the book the most thing interesting? | I was disappointed by this book. The premise was intriguing, but the writing and story-line were uninteresting and the characters were inconsistent in their development. |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"I ca n't even begin to explain how much I loved this book"
]
} | Is this love book beautiful? | I can't even begin to explain how much I loved this book! I mean really LOVED this book! The characters were so real. The emotion was so real. The love was so real! Just when I thought I figured this story out, I was amazingly surprised with another twist. Just when you think it's over, the author reels you back in. I both laughed and cried while I read this. I love the female lead character, which I often times find that I don't in romance novels. I find that a lot of times, the lead female character is whiny and spoiled. But "Sky" is raw, funny, and lovable all at the same time. And "Holder," OH GOD Holder! I think I'm in love with him! He just has a way with words that are so completely perfect!If you are debating whether to purchase this book, don't debate any longer! BUY IT! You won't regret it! I'm going to have a hard time getting myself to read another story, as I just don't think any other will compare! |
{
"answer_start": [
2093
],
"text": [
"there you have it"
]
} | Does this novel have a lot of tension? | Good fundamentals in this book: well-written characters whose conflicts drive the story forward. The perspective characters here are Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny, and each has her own distinctive voice and set of goals and character arcs. You watch them rise and fall, learn, love, adapt, react, everything we want from a good character-driven story. The story moves at a relaxed pace, but it never gets boring.That said, this was Stockett's first novel and a few newbie habits annoyed me. Most significantly, after the brilliant characterization of the heroes, we got this lazy characterization of the villain. Stockett succumbs to the old cliche--the villain is identified by being fat. And, hilariously, as the story progresses and the antagonist gets sympathetic, she also gets fatter (it's telling that other overweight characters are uniformly described as "plump", but "fat" is reserved for Hilly). She also can't resist the old historical irony gag, talking about how smoking couldn't possibly be bad for you and how a reporter was saying that this skirmish in Vietnam would be over quickly. Or there's the fact that Skeeter's life so closely parallels Stockett's own. Or, hell, just read the acknowledgments and look at how many names from her writing workshop found their way into the book. In many ways the story feels borrowed, in a Lifetime-Movie-of-the-week sort of way. Not that it was ever bad--I just would have liked a bit more narrative depth. But I have to come back and give Stockett kudos for not being gun-shy on the plight of domestics in a pre-Civil-Rights Mississippi. She does not pull her punches, and this gives the book a weight that I feel the movie never quite achieved. And while we're comparing...The biggest complaint I heard about the film adaptation was that it was the story of black women being helped by a white woman--that the Civil Rights movement is being white-washed, essentially. The book handles this more gracefully than the movie did. It wraps up less neatly but more honestly than the film.Overall, I liked it. I will never read it again, but there you have it. |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"the magic of the first book ."
]
} | What kind of storyline does the book contain? | Sequels to stand out debuts often struggle to advance the series plot and recapture the magic of the first book. INSURGENT isn't one of those sequels. It's as powerful or even more powerful than it's predecessor. And considering how phenomenal DIVERGENT was, that's no small compliment.One of the most inventive and action packed dystopian series ever, INSURGENT picks up almost immediately after the end of DIVERGENT. The factions that dictate every aspect of society are in danger and all out war seems inevitable. Tris's faction has ben split as too many members have turned traitor. Power hungry Erudite have set their sights on the Divergent, like Tris, systematically rounding them up to kill...and worse.What continues to impress me with the Divergent series is the character arcs. They are magnificent. Tris transformed from the almost Amish-like Abnegation member to a brave and confrontational Dauntless member so convincingly in DIVERGENT, and her transformation in INSURGENT is no less impressive. After the tragic choice she made at the end of DIVERGENT, Tris is plagued with guilt, self recrimination, and shame. She isolates herself even from those she cares about the most. It's heartbreaking to read. And Tris isn't the only one who evolves in the book. Characters who I thought were villains became heroes, and characters who I thought were trustworthy became villains. Shocking doesn't begin to describe it.The beginning of INSURGENT was a little slow and not as easy to jump into as the debut, especially since the worldbuilding isn't really recapped for readers (like me) who could have benefitted from a refresher. But once I got my bearings, and the central conflict was revealed, INSURGENT was as compulsively readable as DIVERGENT. And the revelations at the end were almost overwhelming--in a good way--considering their implications. Bottom line, this is a series not to be missed. The stakes just keep getting higher and I can't wait to dive into the third book in the Divergent series when it comes out in 2013.Sexual Content:Kissing |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"the best thriller / psychological suspense / family saga / mystery"
]
} | How is the book? | This was one of the best thriller/psychological suspense/family saga/mystery I have ever read. Ms Flynn has a terrific ability for description and development of very interesting characters. She puts you right there in the middle of the story. I couldn't put it down. It has twists and turns and a double ending. As much as I enjoyed this book, there was much dark and depressing elements of the story that I cannot forget. I'll wait awhile before I read Dark Places, the only other novel I have left to read that she has written. It's not that I don't want to read it. I just want go save it and let the novel just finished digest a bit. Actually looking forward to Dark Places. Hoping she will have another novel published soon. She is one writer that I intend to keep reading. I did read Gone Girl last year and loved it. But somehow it did not have the same kind of experience for me. It was a great novel but very different . Highly recommend this if you like real psychological thrillers. And some parts require a strong stomach. But so filled with dysfunction and disordered lives that are wonderfully written, no matter how difficult it may be to read. It is a unique kind of book. Not for children and adolescents in my opinion. Some very heavy material and necessary but ugly descriptions of things better left for mature adults. It all comes together and leaves you breathless. |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"This book was AMAZING"
]
} | Does this book have a fresh story? | This book was AMAZING!!! I've been trying to find a book that different, and this is it! There is so much detail and imagery. I love the unique twist about the angels being the enemy. Penryn is such a great character. She's strong and kicks ass when she needs to. I love that she's so tough and the insight about her mother and family is a great added dynamic. And i just LOVE Raffe. This book has such an unique and original story line. I thought it was cool that some of the Angels don't believe in God. There are so many twists to explore. I can't wait to start the next book. Hopefully it won't take 2 years for the third one comes out :/ Great book! |
{
"answer_start": [
301
],
"text": [
"I found the story to be"
]
} | Is this book have a familiar name? | Pros: I learned a lot about exquisite art/antique furniture restoration when reading this book. The characters are well-developed and unforgettable, and the general plot is interesting and believable. The honest, intelligent candor of the young central character was his most endearing quality..Cons: I found the story to be frustrating, and often downright depressing. There were too many instances of the reader being dragged through the gutter on teenage/young adult unhealthy and dangerous 3-day drug and alcohol binges.. There were obvious reasons why the young characters would be so flawed, and I must admit that their ability to physically survive was remarkable. The main character stayed consistent throughout the book, which isn't a good thing when one is caught in the throes of post traumatic stress disorder since the age of thirteen.Learning about art and its effects on humanity is interesting to a degree, but holding the storyline hostage, while the reader muddles through page after page of descriptive writing, is not the best way to write an engaging book. I found myself skipping pages while searching for the continuing storyline.I am glad I read the book. It opened up another sub culture for me. But I suspect that the important teaching points could have been made with 200 less pages. |
{
"answer_start": [
55
],
"text": [
"This book was terrible"
]
} | How is book? | Really enjoyed the first book. Tolerated the second. This book was terrible. The author seemed to want to get it over and done with. Plot line was stupid. |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"ending for the third book really ruined the entire series this ending was horrible"
]
} | How is the end? | I don't know what to say positive about this book...I was so disappointed in it. It felt like an entirely different author wrote the third book compared to the first and second. The first and second books had more complicated plot lines and it felt like the story was working up to something huge in the third book, like saving-all-of-mankind huge. But this plot line seemed so weak compared to the other two, and the character development was minimal and there wasn't much meaningful action going on.The ending....oh gosh don't get me started on the ending. (SPOILERS) The ending for the third book really ruined the entire series for me. And I LOVED this series! I mean before the third book came out, I read and reread the other two over and over because they were just so good! But this ending was horrible, and not just because a very important character dies, but because I don't feel like they died for a very important cause. No one was going to die, the world wasn't going to come to an end, really I feel like they just died because they wanted to have the final say in what happens. It didn't feel meaningful like when characters were killed off in Harry Potter, it just felt like useless death and then the epilogue talks about how they can't really get on their lives after this person is dead? Okay I'm ranting now but I would just really like to caution anyone thinking about starting this series that if you like happy endings, even somewhat happy endings, you should NOT start reading this series, or just don't read the last book. Please! |
{
"answer_start": [
1119
],
"text": [
"incredible talented author"
]
} | How would you define the incredible talent that this author has? | This is not the first time I stayed up until 5 am reading a book by Tarryn Fisher, she has this amazing way to pull you into the story in a way that even after you finished it it's so difficult to untangle yourself from it.Mud Vein is a crazy ride even from the blurb, it doesn't says much about what the book really is about, but that is Tarryn's way to ask you to jump almost blind into this amazing story and now I can say it makes sense you have to experience it that way, I got so many emotions and a hell of a headache trying to figure it out what I was reading until I decided to just enjoyed one page at the time, this is not a typical love story I wouldn't say is a romance either, yes love is an important part of the story but this is so much more.You'll feel a thousand emotions, I got angry, scared, and yes I cried too, Tarryn always does that to me she makes me feel every word she writes, and she doesn't sugarcoat things she gives you imperfect characters and raw emotions, so if you want a sweet romance this might not be for you but if you are expecting a great book, written in an amazing way by an incredible talented author this is it, it will make yo feel and it will left you thinking about it for a while. |
{
"answer_start": [
4954
],
"text": [
"Christina McColl"
]
} | Who is author ? | I wanted to try this series out after hearing it and the author likened to J.K. Rowling-- in that with her 4 books, Stephenie Meyer had cultivated a media storm of sales very quickly, comparable (but not nearly on the same level) to the Harry Potter series. That got my attention, so I went out and bought the first book in the series, Twilight.The book starts and already we know a few things: The main character, Bella Swan, is seemingly apathetic about everything in her life. She is leaving Phoenix, where she was living with her mother, to go stay in rainy little Forks, Washington where her father Charlie works and resides. Bella refers to her parents, Charlie and Renee, by their first names rather than Mom and Dad. This isn't particularly significant, but just annoys me for some reason. It's also a glimpse into the family dynamics of the characters. You get the impression off the bat that they are this modern, laid back family...but it doesn't take long for the author to reverse that and put Bella back into her place as far as women's "roles" and "duties". She is 16, 17, but doing the cooking and grocery shopping for her police chief father and herself. Ok, whatever. She breezes indifferently through school, brushing off kids her own age because she has to "cook dinner for Charlie", making it sound like she's an old married maid rather than a highschool teenager.Fast forward- things start to change for Bella one day when she sees a pale and mysterious boy that she can only describe as "gorgeous and perfect." He is Edward, of the elusive Cullen clan of Forks. Her first day seeing him, she thinks he hates and despises her because he clenches his fists and leans away at the sight of her. Later, accident prone Bella gets in a near death accident but Edward swiftly and mysteriously swoops in and saves her. Turns out he doesn't hate her, its just that he's a vampire and no one has ever smelled that good to him before. And then its all history from there. They know very little about eachother, just that *he* is 'gorgeous' and immaculately put together, and *she* has an irresistable scent and is clumsy so he's inclined to protect her. The book is melodramatic in the way that only naive teenagers can be, as the two profess their undying and eternal love for eachother.Overall there is just little character development, a general lack of imagination, and it's just unrealistic. Yes we are all well-aware its a fan-fic, but in terms of Bella and Edward's relationship-- they are two strangers who are madly (key word mad) in love with eachother. What kind of love is that? She's the first human who's mind he can't read, and she smells "mouthwatering", so automatically she's the love of his immortal life? And he is pale and marble-like and has icy skin and is gorgeous. Bella shuns all her friends and admiring boys from her school because she's so enamored with Icy Edward. Because he is 'gorgeous'. That's about all you get as far as the character depth goes. I think it kind of speaks volumes when a book of this subject matter is actually boring. Meyer's writing is flat and boring and has all the creativity of a fire ant.I can see how these books became popular- it kind of reminds me of how R.L. Stine's "Goosebumps" series was really popular when I was younger. These are similar in that they have an alluring and interesting subject matter, but ultimately (if you know better) you lose interest because Meyer's just kind of misses the mark. It is unlike the Harry Potter series, in that J.K. Rowling does an amazing job at completely capturing your attention and taking you to this whole other imaginary realm of wizards and witchcraft, etc. Her details are exquisite, very clever, and Harry Potter really can be enjoyed by adults as well as younger readers. Whereas the twilight series really stands out as young-adult and not much else. The premise of this whole series, while not original by any stretch of the imagination, wasn't a bad idea... it just would have been better by leaps and bounds had the author fleshed out the details a little better, and gave us more substance to work with. I also kept waiting for the "mystery and suspense" as described on the back cover, but that never came either. This author's idea of suspense and intrigue really just made me yawn. I read the book as if someone had already told me everything that was going to happen- that's how predictable the plot turns were. I like a good love story as much as anybody else. And a love story mingled with the occult? I'm all for it. But this story is just full of so many holes and breadth in general that I found it hard to stay interested. Twilight is shallow and dull and for the life of me I can't comprehend why people are ranting and raving about it. It just seems like one of those 'latest fads' type thing. Right now this is all the rage, but when the novelty wears off...Twilight is very forgettable.Christina McColl, 2008-29-09 |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"Allegiant gave us an explosive ending to a thrilling series !"
]
} | How are things at the end of this story? | 4.5/5 StarsWow!! I had to wait a day or so to write this review because my head was just spinning when I put the book down (not to mention the fact that I was sobbing and needed time to catch my breath!). I think it really helped that I read all three of these books in a row because I really got to see the full arc of the story and the characters that way (without having to try to remember what it was I loved about the first two books). Plus, this way the series had momentum for me that would have been lost otherwise.The negatives:Failure to communicate.Once again, there were periods in this book where Tris and Tobias had problems based mostly on their failure to communicate. Just when I thought that they were going to really work together and face the world as a team, they would disagree over something and then pretty much not talk to each other - it made me crazy! Tris' lack of compassion also got to me sometimes (for instance, she doesn't seem to understand why Tobias might have strong feelings about his father's sentencing and then, when she does realize it's bothering him, still doesn't bother to talk to him about it). Now, to give Roth some credit, there were parts of the story where Roth did have Tris and Tobias hash out their issues (and where they made good relationship choices) - I just wish I hadn't had to suffer through their lack of communication to get to it. (Although, honestly, the relationship might not have been all that unrealistic - lack of communication is a real issue in lots of relationships!)Some people will HATE the ending.I honestly feel sorry for any author who is ending a hugely popular series like this one because it seems that there is no way to truly satisfy everyone - all these people who are waiting for their story to come to an end and might not agree with how the author does it. This is one of those cases where I can tell you right now that many people are going to hate this ending. Roth doesn't let all of our beloved characters live happily ever after in a world where all their problems have been solved - nowhere even close to that. I list this as a negative because I know many people will see this as a big negative. Most people will either love it or hate it. But I'm actually kind of on Roth's side on this one - see my note below.What I LOVED:I didn't hate the ending.Okay, that's not exactly true. In some ways I hated what happened at the end of the book. But I also felt that it made sense based on who Roth made these characters to be and the type of world they lived in. Was it painful, horrifying and gut-wrenching when certain characters we've come to know and love didn't get their happy ending? Definitely. Was it still amazing? I certainly thought so! I will not be forgetting this book any time soon - I can't stop mulling it over in my mind, and that is a sign of a fantastic story in my opinion!So many questions answered.I LOVED that this book answered all of my questions and made sense of a lot of the holes in logic from the first two books. I mean, I really didn't get why the Divergent were supposed to go out into the outside world and how they were expected to save humanity. And why was it that people in the factions had such strong tendencies toward specific behaviors? (It was explained - there was an actual reason based on genetic experimentation that was done!!) I was honestly desperately worried that the answers I would be given in Allegiant would make no sense, so I sighed a huge sigh of relief when so many things were explained in ways that made sense to me! Yay!!Tobias' struggles.I loved that we got to see half (or so) of this book from Tobias' viewpoint!! I was thrilled to see the world through his eyes and to really be able to see and sympathize with his struggles. Whereas, in the first book (and somewhat in the second), we got to see Tris' vulnerabilities and her struggles with who she was - selfless or brave - in Allegiant we got to see that Tobias, with only four fears, could still be haunted by those fears. In this book, it is Tobias who doubts who he truly is - what makes him who he is. Is it his genes, his upbringing, his choices? He struggles to come to terms with all of that and there are no easy answers. I grew to love Tobias even more in his weaknesses and was that much more behind him when he overcame them!The action.The first half of this book didn't have nearly as much action as Divergent andInsurgent, but I found myself so intrigued by learning about Tris and Tobias' world, that I actually didn't mind much. The second half of the book picked up the action quite a bit and there were enough twists and turns to keep me constantly wondering what would happen next.Allegiant gave us an explosive ending to a thrilling series! While it had a few negatives, this is not a series that I will soon forget and I'm not disappointed. I only hope that the upcoming movie does it justice!(I debated back and forth between 4 and 4.5 stars for this book, but when I compare it to other books that I rated 4 stars, I came to the conclusion that, even with its flaws, I enjoyed this book more than most.) 4.5/5 stars. |
{
"answer_start": [
2465
],
"text": [
"sentence fragment or two"
]
} | Was a long chapter? | If you aren't up to date on the publication and release drama surrounding the Cuckoo's Calling author, I'll give you a second to catch up. Good? Okay. The Cuckoo's Calling by J.K. Rowling was orignally masqueraded as a excellent debut novel by newcomer Robert Galbraith. In the statement "debut novel", critics reveal a bias toward letting some flaws slide and overlooking the less-than0stellar details of the book, while praising the good things it does well. Now that we know Robert Galbraith is not a newcomer, and no less he is the great J.K. Rowling, I think it's time we all looked at it through the lens of a regular critique: that this is the third outing of a well-known author... and it is also her weakest.The Cuckoo's Calling concerns itself with the apparent suicide of super model Lula Landry, who jumped out of her third floor balcony due to depression. Our detective is Cormoran Strike, a one-legged veteran-turned-private-eye, who finds himself randomly teamed up with a young woman named Robin, who was sent over by a temp service that he forgot to cancel. After receiving the assignment from a worried brother of Lula's, the two hit the streets of London to find out what actually happened the night the model died.The plot is surprisingly feeble, especially for a murder mystery. From the first few pages of the novel, there isn't anything particularly gripping or suspenseful about what is going to happen. You know two things from the get-go: there is a mystery and we will get a resolution eventually. There never was a "how are we going to figure this out?" or "what will we do if we can't?" moment-- Strike lines up a list of suspects and witnesses and goes through them, one by one, for 400 pages. Each suspect lasts one to two chapters, they tell there side of the story, and then Strike moves. Absolutely no clues are given to the reader during this time, and then somewhere around page 400, a surge of true information comes out and then the book is neatly wrapped up. This makes the plot structure very weird, like one long expository flatline and then a huge drop of a sudden resolution.But despite the plot, the writing in here is superb. It's what you'd expect from the first person to make a billion dollars writing books. The writing is tight, clean, and clinical at times, matching the investigative nature of the story. At first, this may seem a little jarring, and hard to get in to. A few of the paragraphs do tend to go on a sentence fragment or two too long. But the writing does it's job, never gets in the way of the story, and pulls the reader along the way... even if the plot doesn't.The dialogue in this book is phenomenal, easily one of it's strongest points. Each line of each character's speech is carefully written, hand picked to reflect their background, their views, and their characteristics. It is truly a treat to visit each and every witness or suspect and get their side of the story, even if that story isn't compelling. From Tansy Bestigui to Guy Somé, each character has distinctive speech patterns, a feat which does not go unnoticed after working through each of the novel's 40 or so characters. Sometimes the author even writes in Dialect, which goes well in every case except for one particular one (Lula Landry's birth mother, who's cockney drawl was a headache to read and interpret, especially for an American).After sifting through the various things this book has to offer, you finally get to the end. Many readers and reviews before me have praised this part of the book, but in my opinion, it was nothing special. The loose ends get tied up in a satisfactory way, but nothing shocking or surprising really happens, and, in truth, some of the motives for one specific character get a little murky and quite silly. Of the eight hundred million things that are clarified and revealed to the reader in the final forty pages, only one of them managed to actually surprise me, and it wasn't the "oh dang!" moment I was expecting from a mystery with this many high reviews.I'm not sure if my opinion on this book is going to change your mind over whether or not you read it. I mean, come on, it's JK Rowling, it's the talk of the month. You're going to read it. But I hope that my points inspired some thought in you over whether or not you enjoyed this book. As for me? I'm surprised this is the one all the hubbub is about. Personally, I thoughtThe Casual Vacancywas a much better book with a way more solid ending. |
{
"answer_start": [
23
],
"text": [
"the book is so much better"
]
} | How would you describe the story? | I loved the movie, but the book is so much better.The ending is so perfect! I wish it was longer! |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"I found Habel 's creation interesting"
]
} | Is a great work on the creations of this book? | This book was a first in many ways for me. It was my first book in the steampunk genre, which seems to have become all the rage. It was my first zombie and my first modern horror novel. And it was the first YA book I've read since being a YA myself.I hadn't been avoiding any of these--on the contrary: seeing review after review by my Goodreads friends has had me adding book after book that I would not normally have read or sought out. One of the reasons I'm making a point of telling you all this though is because unlike many readers who will read this review and/or the book itself, I don't have much to compare it to--frankly, I have nothing to compare it to! But here goes ...===SUMMARY===Dearly, Departedis set in 2195 and centers around the people of New Victoria and the Punks. While they share ancestors, the two groups have been in a war with one another for generations, though at this point it's not all-out and amounts to border skirmishes, as well as propaganda-driven ignorance and misinformation about one another.Nora Dearly, a young woman in New Victoria, is still mourning the loss of her father a year ago. She's home from boarding school and is greeted by the distressing news that her aunt has wasted away their fortune and one of them will have to marry advantageously to refill the family coffers. All of this gets shoved to the back of her mind though, when Nora's life takes a dramatic turn.Home alone one night, she is attacked by a group of flesh-eating, decomposing, and mindless zombies. Trying to fight them off, she is saved just in time by a team of soldiers--also zombies, but turns out they are the good guys.What follows is one revelation and danger after another. She learns that being "dead" doesn't mean what she thought it did, befriends zombies, and falls into requited love with one of them, Bram. All around her, various existential battles are being fought: Punks versus New Victorians, the living versus the dead, the good guys versus the bad ones.===REACTION===Overall, I enjoyed the book and found the middle portion very engaging. The beginning and end were fine while I was reading them, but easy to lose interest in between reads. There were several funny lines and great exchanges. I loved most all the characters and found Nora to be a surprisingly likable heroine (I have problems with a lot of the PNR ones); she also showed no signs of having been lobotomized, but instead acknowledged risks while also not freaking out at every little thing. I loved the secondary characters: they were very funny, the back-and-forth between them was entertaining, and they were well-defined; by the end, I liked some of them as much as I did the main onesThe author tries to pack a lot into one book and that was the book's main failure in my mind. There are too many storylines being explored and too many different factions, which was a shame because on their own I found most all of them interesting. The final section feels extremely rushed and includes a huge and non-subtle information dump explaining everything.One of the things that took a little getting used to was that the story is told in first person ... from five different people's POVs. By far, Nora and Bram get the most narration time, but we also spend significant time with the other three characters. At least the transitions were clear though, with the narrating character's name at the beginning of every chapter. The switch was annoying when it would happen just as I was really getting into a POV. It wasn't a deal-breaker though and I enjoyed Bram's and Nora's.I have learned by now that many fantasy/paranormal romance readers have certain pet peeves, a certain type of ending being one of them (Chicagoland Vampires anyone?), so I want to include this warning: while there is not a dramatic cliffhanger like that, the ending and epilogue are most definitely a setup for the next book, with a few plotlines left dangling.===STEAMPUNK and ZOMBIES and YA, OH MY!===Despite the issues I had with the author biting off more than she could chew, I thought this was a good introduction to these genres. It definitely piqued my interest and makes me want to move these books higher in my TBR list. I found Habel's creation interesting and there's no doubt she has a good imagination--I loved the Punk vs. New Victorian aspect and wanted that to be further explored.While I haven't read steampunk or zombies before, I love the science fiction classics, so I am familiar with world-building and etc. Though I never felt like I was back in the "regular" world, I did think that the integration was not consistent and at times confusing. Some examples are how not all the zombies were really zombie-ish (right? not an expert here), the Victorian-ness at times felt forced, and I often completely forget about this supposedly huge and defining division between the two societies.===BOTTOM LINE===At the end of the day, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it. Were there problems? Yes, most definitely. But the romance between Nora and Bram was sweet, the secondary characters were wonderful, and the novel has an interesting storyline ... well, several, which was one of the problems, but regardless: I did likeDearly, Departed. Though I will not be rushing out to buy the second book when it comes out, I am curious about what happens next in this world Habel has created.*Originally reviewed for Fiction Vixen Book Reviews. This review is of a copy provided by the author/publisher to FVBR. |
{
"answer_start": [
725
],
"text": [
"blew me away"
]
} | Is the book good causing emotion? | BRAVO! Ms. Park not only has an amazing linguistic talent, but she also knows how to weave together an amazing plot line flawlessly. I have to admit that I had to speed through some of the sex scenes (there are a lot of them) because I am a total prude, but damn does she know how to write those scenes! I'm still blushing! Serendipity comes to mind when I think about the twists of fate that bring the two main characters together! I really don't think my review can do this book justice. Ms. Park has studied her craft and it shows. She knows how to develop dynamic and different characters, plant important plot points leading up to several twists, and show true character arc. This is not my genre of choice and she just blew me away. Thank you for putting the time into developing every aspect of this book. Slow and steady wins the race. xo |
{
"answer_start": [
95
],
"text": [
"a book from this series but I think that works"
]
} | How is the book? | I did things in the "wrong" order, I watched three seasons of the show before touching a book from this series but I think that works. They really do complement each other and of course, after reading a book or two I went back and indulged in a little Varys and Dany visually. I have now read all 5 books and am in awe of the way the whole saga and whole universe it inhabits hang together and have such depth and vibrancy. One should read the books emphatically as the TV shows cannot and do not explain all the nuances that you need to know to make sense of it all. In addition : the way the chapters focus on the players in turn works out really well, complements and again is better than the linear TV experience |
{
"answer_start": [
229
],
"text": [
"I was reading this book"
]
} | How is book? | I'm not a laugh out loud kinda person, more of a chuckler. I have a great sense of humor but it's a bit narrow, admittedly. I read in bed a lot. My husband actually kicked me out of the bedroom because I kept waking him up while I was reading this book. The guys dad is insane and insanely funny. |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"This is another great love story by Nicholas Sparks"
]
} | How pleasant is the end of the story? | This is another great love story by Nicholas Sparks. You laugh and cry but it has a wonderful ending. Excellent book! |
{
"answer_start": [
363
],
"text": [
"He has a true gift for writing dialogue and even"
]
} | Is the movie dialogue good? | Dry humor, witty remarks, and a bit of sarcasm, written in first person by the man we all now know as House. For me, the actual plot - which is sort of a spy thriller; part serious, part satire - was secondary to the writing and the characters. I didn't particularly care what they were doing. I just loved reading his words. His characters are vivid and unique. He has a true gift for writing dialogue and even his narrative sucked me in and held me in place.In all fairness, however, I must admit that the plot was at times convoluted in such a way that it could be difficult to follow. I think, in Laurie's effort to bring suspense to the story, he sometimes leaves the reader dangling in the wind. However, the entertainment value of his writing style carried me through any little rough spots in the plot.When I turned the last page, I was sad to say goodbye to the characters. Thomas Lang, Laurie's main character, wants to live on in my mind. And, for me, that's the mark of a great story. |
{
"answer_start": [
525
],
"text": [
"the weather gets colder"
]
} | How is the time? | Years ago, Grace was attacked by a starving wolf pack, and only survived because one wolf, the one with brilliant yellow eyes, protected her. Ever since then she's watched for "her" wolf each winter, caught in a longing she can't quite explain. Then one fall a boy appears on her porch, injured, with those same yellow eyes. Grace knows he is her wolf.Grace feels more connected to Sam than anyone else in her life, and Sam would do anything for her. But right from the beginning, a shadow looms over their time together. As the weather gets colder, it's harder and harder for Sam to stay human. And he's sure that this time, when he turns into a wolf, it will be for good.SHIVER is a melancholy, romantic novel with equal parts tenderness and passion. Readers will find themselves swept up in Grace and Sam's unfolding relationship as they are finally able to talk and touch, and struggle to hold on to what little time they have together. The book is filled with gorgeous imagery that comes alive in your mind, and adds to the sense of fleeting beauty.Some may find the story a little slow-moving: many of the scenes are simply Grace and Sam being together, and of the few subplots that increase the suspense, all but one are dropped with little or no resolution. But the book is well worth picking up just for the character study of a boy growing up torn between human and animal worlds, and the main characters' chemistry and frantic attempts to hold off Sam's change will keep appreciative readers glued to the page.Recommended for paranormal fans who prefer thoughtfulness and simmering emotion to action and violence.Reviewed by: Lynn Crow |
{
"answer_start": [
201
],
"text": [
"The story was filled with plot twists"
]
} | How was the twist of the story? | I loved this story! The plot was intense, romantic, and violent. The writing was well done, if a bit sappy, and through the violence, there was a great message. The protagonist was brave, and amazing. The story was filled with plot twists, battle scenes, and exciting dramatic moments. Over all, it was amazing and I can't wait for the sequel! |
{
"answer_start": [
6
],
"text": [
"Habits"
]
} | How is the foundation? | The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change was first published in 1990. I first read it around 1991 and recently reread it as part of a series of corporate training sessions I'm currently enrolled in. I had some pretty strong impressions about the book when I first read it and this recent reread gave me the opportunity to refresh my mind as to the books specifics (I remember the main points in general), look at the work with a few years more experience and maturity behind me, thus providing me an opportunity to rethink my impressions and opinions.On the whole, my assessment of the book hasn't changed much. I was disappointed with the book back then and remain so today.This disappointment has little to do with the validity of the premise of the book or the relevance of the "7 Habits" it outlines. Covey has some good points to make and the book has some useful insights into what one could reasonably call a "balanced life".My problem is that all too often-well, really, almost continually-the book imposes major impediments to getting at, fully understanding and implementing its major premises.The problems include (1) unbelievable verbosity (Covey seems to think there's no reason to use one word when 7 will do), (2) linguistic pomposity (purportedly this is a book for "your family and business lives" but I ask you, how often do terms like paradigm, intra-this or intra-that, globally, leveraged, matrix and so on, and on, and on get used in your family?), (3) excessive jargonistic gymnastics (see {2} previously) and (4) the hard sell for Covey Enterprise accouterments (order our "helpful" calendar, notebook, pamphlets, and so on, and so on and so on....).In the end, all of the major points could have been made much more clearly and concisely in half the space with much better overall understanding and usability than is available here.The bottom line is this is a book written to be used as a "warm and fuzzy" business-training tool. There's nothing wrong with that as long as it's aimed at the right audience. Unfortunately this is a book aimed at-and written for-executives and all too often imposed on the rank and file. In the end, I doubt either group ever gets what is should out of the excellent ideas and premises that underline the whole effort.In the final analysis, both ten years ago and just recently, I couldn't help but wonder if the book really was written so much as to help the reader or simply a clever device to enrich the author. I'd like to think it's not the latter-there's too much substance here and, in an obscure way, Covey comes across as a good sort-but the simple fact you think about those sort of things virtually automatically renders the book a failure of a sort, which is as sad as it is unfortunate. |
{
"answer_start": [
502
],
"text": [
"exciting"
]
} | What is the excitement level in the ending? | I read all 5 books (yes I read it already) and I really enjoyed them. At first I read the books because everyone in my class read the books (that was before the 4th book came out) so I felt kind of pressured to read them, so I read the first book and I really enjoyed it! then the second, after that I read the 3th book and I thought it was the best.Now that I read 5 books already, I really see that the third book was one of the best that J.K Rolling wrote.Firstly, the plot was very interesting and exciting.Seondly, J.K Rolling doesn't over write in this book (that really gets kind of boring) she gets to the point here.So I really do recommend this book. And of course the other Harry Potter books. |
{
"answer_start": [
38
],
"text": [
"The love was palpable between these two"
]
} | How do you like the story? | This book had me from the beginning. The love was palpable between these two, and the title was perfect for the storyline. |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"making the world and characters feel and alive and above all"
]
} | Is character development great? | This book is undoubtedly the best I have ever read.It is full of rich detail and description, making the world and characters feel full and alive and above all...real. The characters are as human and vulnerable as I have ever encountered in fantasy literature, and Martin really has you caring about them as if you knew them in real life.Tyrion Lannister is one of the most brilliant characters I have ever read about, and throughout the book you build up a love of Eddard Stark and his family and friends (Like Hodor, a character who makes me laugh every time he speaks).Brilliant, realistic, brutal, emotionally charged and involving. I think even people who don't generally care for fantasy books would love this book. |
{
"answer_start": [
31
],
"text": [
"good advise"
]
} | How is the advice? | This book is basic and repeats good advise. Read it. I'm getting copies for my own children. I then went on to the next volume and am currently changing my life--FOR THE BETTER! I've never read another simple and useful financial handbook as well done. |
{
"answer_start": [
91
],
"text": [
"This one is hard to put down"
]
} | Does this one great? | The series takes some very unexpected but not unpleasant twists in the second installment. This one is hard to put down. |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"Mikael Blomvist , a professional journalist , is being convicted for libel but then takes a sudden turn when he is asked by Henrik Vanger , a member of one of the wealthiest family 's in Sweden"
]
} | How is character development? | Angelica PennettaMr. SlaterEnglish 910 December 2010The Girl With The Dragon TattooThe Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was the type of book that took awhile to get into but in the end was worth the wait because of the "on edge" feeling you got throughout almost the whole book; I highly recommend that anyone who loves a good mystery reads this book.The plot was very intriguing; once you think you have it all figured out there is still the doubt that you are wrong and knowing this book you probably are. It seems as if every time you think Salander and Blomvist have the case solved, they find a new piece of evidence that puts a whole new twist on the story. The book starts out in detail about how Mikael Blomvist, a professional journalist, is being convicted for libel but then takes a sudden turn when he is asked by Henrik Vanger, a member of one of the wealthiest family's in Sweden, to help investigate the disappearance of his niece, Harriet Vanger. Lisbeth Salander, a 24 year old rebellion who, let's just say, is a big fan of piercings, tattoos, and intense crime solving, eventually joins Blomvist in the search for Harriet. Step by step, as Salander and Blomvist continue their research they creep a little closer each day to finding out the truth about the Vanger family. As you get closer to the end, you'll find yourself getting ready to jump out of your skin; its one of those endings that slaps you right in the face. When it comes to the ending, you wont disappointed.The highly detailed characterization and conflict was what made this book such a fascinating thriller. When reading the description of Lisbeth Salander, not only does her striking appearance catch your attention but the way her personality is portrayed gives you the perfect imagery. It's not only the physical description of the characters that pulls you in, it's the way everything is played out and crafted so carefully. The conflict was the most important part of this book, in my opinion just because there was conflict after conflict that Salander and Blomvist then had to try and solve. This book is filled from beginning to end with a roller coaster of suspenseful conflict and thrill.Henrik Vanger searched for his niece for 40 years, when everyone gave up and he was all on his own, Blomvist and Salander were the only ones willing to help. By this act of generosity as portrayed in the book, I think the author was trying to make a point to the reader. The point trying to be made could have been anything from meaning do things happen for a reason to if you never give up you may be surprised at what you may find, either way it's a good read. Blomvist takes part in helping Salander find the real her, he helps her realize what she needs to do to be happy while at the same time trying to make everyone else happy.Overall, I loved this book! It was definitely the type of book that was constantly grabbing you and pulling you in; it had me jumping from page to page just to see what was going to happen next. If you're into mind boggling mysteries that make you think, this the book for you! It never stops making you wonder. I would definitely recommend reading this book, but I have to warn you, once you get started you can't stop!Work CitedStieg, Larsson. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. New York: Vintage Books, 2009. |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"felt like author ran out of steam which is too bad since the rest of the book was great"
]
} | How is the author like? | The twists and turns in this book are so worth the read - I won't give away any details, but it is a smart book for mystery readers. I was disappointed at the end though - it felt like author ran out of steam, which is too bad since the rest of the book was great. I know if they make this into a movie, the ending will be different, otherwise everyone will leave the theatre quiet with a "huh?" |
{
"answer_start": [
116
],
"text": [
"the end was stupid"
]
} | How is the end? | I couldn't wait to read this book because everyone was raving about it.The beginning was dull, the middle was wtf?, the end was stupid.It was overly dramatic, extremely contrived and neither character was developedenough for me to be interested in them. They should have both died at the end.Don't waste your time. |
{
"answer_start": [
963
],
"text": [
"Never ever stray away from the Hunger Games or I will come find you"
]
} | What is the book about? | Wow. I'm at a loss of words. This was amazing. When I first finished it, I thought it was a bit disturbing, but after reading the second and eventually third book, I fell in love with the series. I immediatly went and saw the movie. The best possible actors are in it. It couldn't have been better. I'm trying to persuade my mom to take me to the movie again :) What I recommend: Read the first book. Give it a couple of days to sink in. Go find the second and third books. Do not start reading the second book unless you have the thid right next to you. Read and enjoy. Go see the movie ASAP. Go see the movie again. Watch the movie one more time. Reread the series twice. Become obsessed. NEVER read any of the parodies. Meet Suzanne Collins. Take up archery lessons. Become amazing at archery. Find out where it is and move to District 12. Name your children after the characters. Hunt with a bow and arrow. Learn how to make Katniss's favorite dish properly. Never ever stray away from the Hunger Games or I will come find you and annoy you until you promise to stay with the Hunger Games for the rest of your life. Do all of this and you will have a wonderful amazing life :)Hunger GamesKatniss+Peeta=LoveKatniss+Gale=KissesGO HUNGER GAMES!!!!!!!! |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"It was such a cute best friends to girlfriend / boyfriend story"
]
} | How is the relationship? | The plot of the The Body Finder definitely caught me off guard, but in a good way. Violet's ability is something that I have never read about before, and I found it very fascinating. I admired her strength and how she embraced her gift. It seemed so overwhelming to me, and I was impressed with her maturity and how well she handled things. The romance between her and Jay was sweet. It was such a cute best friends to girlfriend/boyfriend story. I liked how Jay tried so hard to understand and support her even though she didn't always make the best decisions.The suspense element in this book was well done, and I found myself flying through the pages to see what would happen. It was disturbing to read the chapters from the killer's perspective, yet they definitely added to the story and piqued my curiosity about how and where Violet was going to find him. Throughout the book I was sometimes reminded that Violet was just a teenager as she didn't always think things through or plan ahead well. Nevertheless, I am interested to see where Derting will take Violet's character and her ability in subsequent books. |
{
"answer_start": [
731
],
"text": [
"I would not recommend this book to anyone"
]
} | Can you know what your opinion? | I had previously read Richard Dawkins book 'The Magic of Reality' and found it readable, that along with having seen an interview on TV peaked my interest. I bought this book hoping to support my fairly recent change of philosophy to Atheism. I found the book to be boring to the extreme with excessive name dropping and between the lines intelectual snobery. Had I not already become an atheist based upon my own rationalization and life expreience with religion this book would have done little or nothing to convince me that I was making an informed choice. The intolerence of the author for others that have a different belief than his reeked of English intelectual snobery which I found to be very distasteful to the extreme. I would not recommend this book to anyone that might be considering giving up an established religion or belief. I also question a number of his statistics regarding American religious beliefs and the rigidity of their doctrines comparing them to members of the Taliban. Overall the book was in retrospect a very uninteresting read. |
{
"answer_start": [
313
],
"text": [
"it covers how well"
]
} | Is this joke funny? | Wow, this book is simply amazing. First of all, I was a little lukewarm about reading this because I had just finished Dude, Where's My Country by Michael Moore. This book, however focuses more on the media and I must say that it is more entertaining than Dude.To begin with, this book tells the truth very well, it covers how well, (or poorly) the media distort the television we view and the papers we read. Liberal bias? No, this is a non-existent problem. Franken covers Sean Hannity, Bill O'Lielly, Ann Coulter, and once again, Rush Limbaugh.This book is mainly about how the right-wingers always manage to blame Clinton and fellow dem's for the state of the nation, when in fact, they are the ones to blame. There are many incidences where people like Sean Hannity include bogus facts, research and charts to bash Clinton and other Democratic leaders.This book, of course isn't always funny, it is, in fact downright sad sometimes, but it offers good encouragement to me and my fellow liberals, and says that there is hope, but first, let's make fun of stupid liars! |
{
"answer_start": [
755
],
"text": [
"Elle her new roommate"
]
} | How is the family? | On Dublin Street was in my TBR pile for a good four months before I dug it out for the Take Control challenge in March and I am glad it is one of the books I selected. Young offers up complex characters, a fantastic setting and weaves it all together to create a romance that swept me away.The tale takes place primarily in Scotland after a brief prologue that gives us a strong sense of Jocelyn Butler's background. Jocelyn is in search of a new flat and roommate after graduation and is on her way to visit a place on Dublin Street when she hails a cab and ends up sharing it with Braden Carmichael. Their conversation was funny and right away we get a sense of who they are. She ends up falling in love with the flat and takes an immediately liking to Elle her new roommate. As fate would have it, it turns out that Elle is the little sister of Braden who is now Jocelyn's landlord. The tale that unfolds held me captive as Jocelyn struggles with her past, her feelings for Elle and Braden, and a fear of losing herself.Young created fleshed out characters with flaws you can identify with. Jocelyn from the outside appears confident, calculated and snarky. She keeps people at a distance, tucking them into neat little boxes with labels. I instantly connected with her, and despite wanting to shake her a few times, I felt her emotions and struggles were genuine. Elle is in a word, "adorable" Ever optimistic, a totally romantic and someone you enjoy spending time with. She is a listener, and very good at picking up on subtle body language. While she is curious about Jocelyn she doesn't push her. Braden is older than Jocelyn and has been previously hurt in a failed marriage. He is successful, and goes from one relationship to the next. He is charming, smexy and despite all the dating, he is faithful when in a relationship. There is an immediate physical attraction between them but Jocelyn tries very hard to deny it. Braden really gets her, and cleverly worms his way into her life and bed. It was fun to watch it all unfold. Their relationship is hot, sweet, turbulent, intense and beautiful. I found myself wrapped up emotionally in the outcome. The secondary characters all had their own voice, and personalities making the setting intimate.There were many threads in the story, quickly making me invested in the characters and while it focused on Jocelyn I found myself caught up in the other characters lives as well. Jocelyn has secrets and carries a lot of grief but we see growth throughout the novel. Young has her seeing a therapist and I loved that she made Jocelyn strong enough to realize she needed to talk to someone. I consumed this in a single evening and enjoyed the author's writing style and plot pacing. There are some hot, steamy scenes, that are detailed enough to let your imagination soar. I quickly slipped away from reality as the world and characters she created took me on an emotional journey I did not want to end. This series has the feel of a small-town series and I am excited to continue. originally posted at caffeinatedbookreviewer dot com. |
{
"answer_start": [
138
],
"text": [
"Preston and Childs"
]
} | What novel is great? | This novel is really good and takes you on a ride through the museum. I like the characters and the mystery involved. I also love to read Preston and Childs. Thanks for the journey! |
{
"answer_start": [
0
],
"text": [
"a story about love is n't soppy or cheesy"
]
} | Does his life empty? | Despite having nearly everything going for it, Delirium rarely engaged me as a reader. And yet, I am going to rate this a strong 4 stars because I can see why this series has appealed to so many. Author Oliver has a unique ability to write about common people, giving them personality and life. For once, a story about love isn't soppy or cheesy. And the reader really does want to root for the characters and see them together in the end.Story: Lena lives in a part of America where emotions, specifically love, have been controlled through a surgical procedure. It was done to keep society peaceful and placid and stop the 'delirium' - the love 'disease'. But when she meets Alex, a boy supposedly 'cured', everything changes. Suddenly, Lena doesn't want to get the procedure done on her 18th birthday. But in this America, choice isn't an option and she will lose all she feels for Alex forever if she goes in on her birthday.Delirium is a slow burn story with most of the action near the end. It's a girl-meets-boy story, a little Romeo and Juliet in a world that doesn't allow romance. But the angst of forbidden love isn't the story so much as Lena awakening from torpidity into emotion. Since the story is all first person POV, we see Lena's change unfold organically through her interactions with Alex.Side characters aren't left bereft and given as much personality as our protagonists. From best friend Hana to Lena's adopted family (her mother committed suicide due to the love 'disease'), each person is distinct and doesn't fall into the cardboard character cliche. All the same, Alex was a bit too good for my taste, lacking in nuance and enough quirks to distinguish him beyond idealized love interest.So why did Delirium fail to engage me personally? I think it has to do with having read the Shatter Me series first. Both series deal with angsty emotion but I preferred the more full on emotion of Shatter Me rather than the slow burn of Delirium. It seems a shame to even compare the two books; honestly, as much as I loved Shatter me, it definitely was not as well written as Delirium. The strength of Delirium is Oliver's writing and characters.As with most YA dystopian, the premise is pretty bonkers and doesn't hold up to close scrutiny (I felt the same way about Oliver's Panic setting). But Delirium is all about the awakening of a normal girl and a sweet love story.I listened to the Audible version of this story and the narrator was one of the best I've heard. She lives and breaths the story, not just reads it. |
{
"answer_start": [
16
],
"text": [
"book on slow cooking"
]
} | How is the book? | This is a great book on slow cooking. It has a ton of tips and tricks that only apply to slow cooker cooking. I thought that the book was well worth it just for these targetted slow cooker tips.At the same time, I will say this....slow cookers does not equal "automatic cooking." I think that's the biggest mistake that people make - thinking that you throw in all the ingredients and walk away "set it and forget it" doesn't work with crockpots. I have found that crock pots are a great and important part of cooking. For example, I love to make ropa vieja (an old cuban dish) but it's really hard to make it in a crockpot in one step. Rather, I slow cook the meat in the crock pot until it falls apart and then I spend 30 minutes mixing it with green peppers and the other ingredients in a skillet to finish the dish. The crock pot saves me a ton of time but it's not always a one stop. If you learn to put the crock pot in its place, you'll be that better off.At the same time there are some receipes that are fool proof and work great right out of the crockpot. This book has over 200 receipes and you can pretty much tell which ones are "set and forget" vs ones where you'll need extra work.So what is the premise of this book? Well there is a group in Vermont called the "test kitchen" where basically they set up a bunch of crockpots (literally a whole line of them) and they proceed to test and tweak receipes until they collect a few hundred good receipes tha they have fine tuned. So, the knowledge that comes is first hand and they taste test all of the receipes in the book. Of note, the receipes are mostly "crock-pot" rather than crock-pot + additional work.....but they do share the tips.They're also careful to note which receipes might benefit from a final step like broiling for a few minutes in the oven or some other similar step. I think this is wonderful that they realize that not everything can be a one stop shop. Also, they are clear to note which cuts of meat are best for crockpot cooking.The book is very "tip centric" so they talk about:- things you might have to do after you cook something in a crock-pot- flavor enhancers- picking the right cut of meat- placement of meat (upside down chickens to keep breasts moist) etcOverall, they're trying to pass along all the tips and tricks that they learned and gathered in their "test kitchen."Overall, a very neat concept - this test kitchen thing.Anyway - I love crockpotting --- I hope you do too. This book really does help. |
{
"answer_start": [
492
],
"text": [
"to have a great deal of fun with this novel"
]
} | When the book is more interesting? | Definitely deserving of it's status in the Best of 2012. Gillian Flynn writes with razor-sharp insights into these deeply troubled, hateful but somehow lovable characters. The mystery is intriguing, the plotting ingenious, the research excellent, but what I liked best of all was the examination of one of society's most revered institutions: marriage. As well, the social commentary and satire of America's media culture had me in stitches at times. It seems the author allowed herself to have a great deal of fun with this novel. I have already ordered her first two novels and hope to enjoy them. Although she states that she didn't structure this book to allow for a sequel, I for one beg Gillian Flynn to revisit our deeply disturbed duo. |
{
"answer_start": [
617
],
"text": [
"it is good for a laugh"
]
} | Does this book make laugh? | This book was very funny, but I have to say that I don't think it is meant to be read all at once. I read it for my book group and waited until a few days before the meeting to read it. I usually do this because if I read it too soon, I will have read several other books by the time we meet to talk about the book. Because I read this so quickly, I felt that some of the stories were a little tiresome after reading so many crazy things in succession. I would have enjoyed it much more in small doses. I was really ready to be finished with it by the time we met. We did have a fun time talking about it though, and it is good for a laugh. |
Subsets and Splits