Book Review: Hood

S.Winter said...
The King Raven Trilogy-HOOD(1st book) and SCARLET (2nd book).by Stephen LawheadLawhead has reimagined or recreated the tale of Robin Hood, Rhi Bran Y Hud. The story takes place not in Sherwood Forest or during the reign of Richard the Lionhearted. Instead the story takes place during the tumultuous time just after the Norman invasion of England in 1066. Robin Hood is a welsh prince fighting for his stolen land and for the safety of his people.Stephen Lawhead has the ability to make the reader think that what he has written truly happend. The pain and loss that the welsh people have felt, you feel it too. Scarlet is a follow up to Hood-Lawheads serial version of Robin Hood or Rhi Bran Y Hud. If you are a lover of historical fiction or of Robin Hood then this is a must read, if you haven't read it yet you are missing out.

Book Review: The Uncommon Reader

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
Barely over 100 pages, this book is a delight. Queen Elizabeth II has discovered "reading for pleasure" and it changes her to everyone's horror. The book gives a peek into the world of royalty with all its restrictions.

Book Review: Run

Run by Ann Patchett
Engaing and moving, this book tells the story of Bernard Doyle and his three sons. Two of his sons are adopted and are African Americans. Doyle is the former mayor of Boston and hopes that one of his sons will follow in his footsteps. However, the boys have no interest in politics. One snowy night a car appears from nowhere radically changing the lives of these characters. Linda Knel

Book Review:The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century

The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century
by Alex Ross
Does your enjoyment of classical music end with Beethoven? Why not expand your horizons with this very readable and engaging look at classic music in the twentieth century penned by the music critic for the New Yorker? Great stories. Great music. Jen Bollerman

Book Review: Grief

Grief by Andrew Holleran

This is one perfectly written little novel. A middle aged gay man goes to Washinton D.C. to escape the grief he feels over the recent death of his mother. As he explores the city, his grief gets intertwined with that of Mary Todd Lincoln's, as revealed to him through her letters. First and foremost a novel about hope,losses and the unavoidable grief that we all experience. Really excellent. Jen Bollerman

Book Review: The Tender Bar

The Tender Bar
by J.R. Moehringer
Well written memoir about the authors life growing up in Manhasset under the influence of the men at "Publicans", a local town bar.-B.Shupe

Book Review: The Demon in the Freezer: A True Story

The Demon in the Freezer: A True Story
by Richard Preston
This nonfiction book reads like a medical thriller. Preston describes the circumstances surrounding the anthrax scares in 2001 and goes on to detail the worldwide battle that was fought to iradicate a much more deadly virus - smallpox. In spite of it's iradication, this virulent disease sleeps in many bio-research facilities around the world and the thought that it could be used as a bio-weapon is a scary one.The ease with which Preston makes you believe this is possible is made all the more disturbing by the fact that this is a work of nonfiction.Anyone addicted to medical thrillers/drama (both TV and book) should give this book a try.
December 6, 2007 2:08 PM

Book Review: The Road

Just finished "the road" by Cormack Mccarthy. This is probably the best book I've read in a very long time. Truly an amazing writer and a wonderful story about a man and his son trying to survive in a world destroyed by nuclear war. -B.Shupe

Book Review: The Loop

The Loop by Joe Coomer Lyman
A thirty-year-old night patrolman on a Fort Worth highway, is convinced that his pet, a parrot with a complicated history, holds a vital message for him, and researches the parrot's past in the library while coping with the librarian's amorous advances.

Book Review: The Husband

Kelly F. said...
The Husband by Dean Koontz
An average, working class, married man gets a strange and alarming phone call that the caller is holding his wife hostage. He thinks that this may be a joke until scary things start to happen that prove the caller is not lying. This novel is most definitely a page turner and will keep you guessing until the very end.

Book Review: The Glass Castle

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
I loved this memoir of an unbelievably dysfunctional family - sort of an American "Angela's Ashes" complete with humor and tragedy.
by Kathy Carter

Book Review: KING'S GAMBIT: A SON, A FATHER, AND THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS GAME

KING'S GAMBIT: A SON, A FATHER, AND THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS GAME
by Paul Hoffman
A well-written book about the world of competitive chess. Meet an entertaining array of grandmasters, lunatics, eccentrics and geniuses who exist among the world of 64 squares. The book is not perfect; the sections where the author reflects on his father are weak, but the author's understanding of chess and psychology make this worth perusing. Jen Bollerman

Book Review: So Many Books, So Little Time

So Many Books, So Little Time
by Sara Nelson
I savored this book from December 2006 to April 2007. It is a diary of a woman's reading plan of one book a week for one year. She turned me onto so many books.

Book Review: Three Junes

Three Junes by Julia Glass
Award-winning novel of a family that takes place during the span of three Junes and is told in three different voices. The first is told by the father, the second by one of his sons and the third by a woman that they both know. Some characters appear in her newest novel, "The Whole World Over."

Book Review: Digging to America

Digging to America by Anne Tyler
Set in Baltimore Tyler's novel focuses on two families waiting at the airport to receive their adopted baby girls from Korea. These two families, unknown to each other, couldn't be any different from each other. One is rich and very WASPy, the other is Iranian-American. It is this latter family that gives the book color and heart and taste and the father gives some excellent insights about being foreign-born in America.

Book Review: The Historian

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
Young girl tells the story of her parents' search for Vlad the Impaler aka Dracula. There is a lot of colorful history as well as wonderful looks at Eastern European countries. I especially liked the importance of libraries in its plot.Kathy Carter
November 21, 2007 11:37 AM

Book Review: The Road

The Road by Cormac McCarthy
In a very haunting story we follow a man and his young son as they travel across a blackened America. Together they battle the weather, starvation, fellow survivors and despair. Not for the faint-hearted.Kathy Carter

Book Review: The Moon-Spinners

The Moon-Spinners

by Mary Stewart

A fantastic book, full of descriptions, characterization and constant suspense - more suspense than romance I must admit. Set in Crete it's the story of an Englishwoman who works in Athens and how she accidentally gets involved in a murder/robbery plot. Nicola is a strong, independent and believable character.

Book Review: The Moon-Spinners

The Moon-Spinners
by Mary Stewart
A fantastic book, full of descriptions, characterization and constant suspense - more suspense than romance I must admit. Set in Crete it's the story of an Englishwoman who works in Athens and how she accidentally gets involved in a murder/robbery plot. Nicola is a strong, independent and believable character.Kathy Carter
November 21, 2007 11:23 AM

Book Review: The Alienist

The Alienist
by Caleb Carr
Someone is brutally murdering boys in 19th Century NYC who ply their trade dressing up as female prostitutes. The "alienist" refers to what we would now call a psychiatrist. All the NY figures are here: Jacob Riis and Teddy Roosevelt to name a few. A riveting though oftentimes grusome account of New York City history.Kathy Carter

Book Review: The Eyre Affair

Anonymous said...
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
WARNING - this series of books featuring Thursday Next can become addictive. This is the first and I believe it appeals to anyone who likes mysteries, suspense and/or literature.

Book Review: A War of Gifts

A War of Gifts, by Orson Scott Card, is a very short, but cool read. Only 126 pages, but very well done, right to the last page. Set in the Enders Game storyline, it fits right in with the other books.

Book Review: Life on the refrigerator door

Life on the refrigerator door: a novel in notes by Alice Kuipers is a heart warming story about a single mother and her fifteen year old daughter. Their lives are so busy that they've resorted to leaving notes to one another on the refrigerator door. Things drastically change and their lives are turned upside down when Claire's mom is diagnosed with breast cancer. Grab the Kleenex!!!