I give this 5 stars for effort, because I can tell the writer is really trying hard to become a good writer; and I give it 1 star for plot, because thI give this 5 stars for effort, because I can tell the writer is really trying hard to become a good writer; and I give it 1 star for plot, because the plot is completely predicable; and I give it 2 stars for humor, because there was not much at all. Making fun of cults is kind of fun, and that's what the book is about. I would have called it Monastery, not Convent. A Convent is for women, exclusively. I got this book for free on Amazon, so my only investment was my time in reading it. I look forward to seeing this writer improve, because I think the talent is there....more
Lily King, naturally 5 stars. It started a little slowly, but the second half was a masterful piece of writing. I already miss Daley and her awful butLily King, naturally 5 stars. It started a little slowly, but the second half was a masterful piece of writing. I already miss Daley and her awful but multifaceted and sometimes even loving father. All Daley sacrificed for him, it’s somehow worth it in the end, or is it just tears/rain?...more
Deftly written and perfectly translated. The ties that keep us together are invisible but stronger than the thickest rope. They are mysterious and relDeftly written and perfectly translated. The ties that keep us together are invisible but stronger than the thickest rope. They are mysterious and relentless. Great book, this is a work of literature....more
**spoiler alert** I really liked this book. I saw many shades of the future Lily King’s brilliant writing, of course lots of Thomas Hardy and Tess of **spoiler alert** I really liked this book. I saw many shades of the future Lily King’s brilliant writing, of course lots of Thomas Hardy and Tess of the D’Urbervilles, and looming quite large, Virginia Woolf. The kernel of the book is the rape that produced Peter, who lives and is going to be a very good man, contrasted with the rape of Tess. Peter is the star, not his mother, the English teacher; he saves his mother from herself by being himself....more
The Price of Time is a well thought out book with a brilliant Greek tragedy plot and an outstanding ending. I’m eager to read about the further adventThe Price of Time is a well thought out book with a brilliant Greek tragedy plot and an outstanding ending. I’m eager to read about the further adventures of Chase and Skylar!...more
**spoiler alert** This is a book for the ages. Huge Swede Hakan (Hawk) becomes a legend in his own time. In the distance is his brother who he’s tryin**spoiler alert** This is a book for the ages. Huge Swede Hakan (Hawk) becomes a legend in his own time. In the distance is his brother who he’s trying to find thousands of miles across America. In the distance is Sweden, his homeland. And because his legend is larger than him and mainly unlike him, he maintains distance from other people. At first enslaved by a strange, rotten mouthed woman who repeatedly forces him to have sex with her, he escapes and sets off on an unintentional adventure of survival, violence against evil men who kill a girl he’s fallen for, and sometimes peace in the vast America of the nineteenth century, where during one period he makes a giant home underground, and in another period lives with a man, Asa, who is in love with him and in awe of him, yet not intimate. Ultimately, Hawk escapes the mainland for Alaska, and at the end of the book, an old but still giant and strong man, he plans to cross into Russia on ice and set a course for Sweden. Great read!...more
**spoiler alert** This is a really well-written thriller/mystery! Weddings are charged with many good and bad emotions, often exacerbated by excess al**spoiler alert** This is a really well-written thriller/mystery! Weddings are charged with many good and bad emotions, often exacerbated by excess alcohol consumption by those attending from the guest list, and this one is a doozy. Set on a remote, abandoned, probably haunted, Irish island, the mood is dark and fraught with danger. The groom, Will gets his just deserts by being killed. The killer gets away with murder that is blamed on Johnno. The bride, Jules, hates Will after she finds out that he got her younger sister Olivia pregnant and never let on that he knew Olivia when he "met" her. The bride's best friend's wife finds out that her husband had sex with the bride after she, Hannah, had her first child. Her husband Charlie tells her it didn't mean anything! Oh my! Will is a murderer, liar, thief, cheater, betrayer of supposed friends, ringleader of hurting others -- masquerading as a golden-boy actor. So many masks are worn by Will that he is unrecognizable even to himself by the end of the book and end of his life.
I loved this book and I recommend it for anybody who has been to a big wedding, which is most everybody!...more
**spoiler alert** Ice Cream for Refugees is a really funny book, and I chuckled a lot through it. Ultimately, the only refugees are the disaffected re**spoiler alert** Ice Cream for Refugees is a really funny book, and I chuckled a lot through it. Ultimately, the only refugees are the disaffected residents of the small Austrian town who have lived there for multiple generations. They have been lied to and swindled by their mayors, who repeatedly empty the town’s coffers with foolish projects and do not really serve the town's needs. A quasi-communist overlord ostensibly rules over the mayors. The newest mayor of Maisland swindles his short-term girlfriend out of a massive amount of money to build, supposedly, a refugee center, with the first floor dedicated to an ice cream parlor run by her, Therese, so she can get rich off of the refugees, who are to come from some unnamed Arabian country and who may or not be Christians, but probably not. But it’s all been a joke, starting with the overlord to mess with the first mayor, Franz, and perpetuated by Therese, who loses all her ice cream money to the new mayor, Wolfgang. Wolfgang, owner of the local sporting goods store even though he's never handled a firearm or any other sporting good, had started an armed uprising against the refugee center as a joke, but because of that uprising and with Therese’s help, he got elected as the new mayor. He lied to her, telling her he would build the refugee center with her money, but most likely only because she had sex with him, and he had up to then been a virgin. He also lied to Franz, telling him if he, Wolfgang, was elected mayor, he would immediately resign and name Franz mayor. However, Wolfgang fooled both of them and told everyone in town that the huge new building would be a community center. This community center was in addition to the festival hall, another community center made by previous mayors, no longer in vogue, perpetuating the cycle of mayors/rulers “helping” the denizens of the town, as if they are refugees from some nameless oppression, far away, instead of in their own town - they are refugees from their own rulers and do not know it.
This is definitely a feel good book, and I did feel good at the end. I gave it 2 stars because:
1. I thought most of the chapters about Ellis were unnThis is definitely a feel good book, and I did feel good at the end. I gave it 2 stars because:
1. I thought most of the chapters about Ellis were unnecessary for the story line and made it drag at many points. 2. The dialogue seemed forced and awkward throughout. 3. The introduction of alternate lifestyles near the end should have happened a lot earlier. 4. The transition from mean father to nice father should have been explained better.
All of these things could have been fixed with more editing and polishing. ...more
**spoiler alert** Oh what a book! It’s like no other I’ve read, with its interview style that works exceedingly well. I felt like I knew Daisy well en**spoiler alert** Oh what a book! It’s like no other I’ve read, with its interview style that works exceedingly well. I felt like I knew Daisy well enough to fall in love with her like Billy did. I easily empathized with everyone except abusive Niccolo, even Eddie despite his nearly constant chagrin. Billy, although magnetic and charismatic, is eclipsed by Daisy in all her unfortunately drugged glory, sheer talent, searing love, and careless individuality. This is like having a backstage pass to a rock group’s life for several years. The amount of detail provided by all those interviewed is so well done, so well written. I’m amazed.
Throughout. I kept thinking Fleetwood Mac. This isn’t about them but has some similarities. They also had one perfect album, Rumors. ...more
I loved all of the Jessica Christ books! The author poked fun at many of Christianity's problems while imagining what would happen if God had a daughtI loved all of the Jessica Christ books! The author poked fun at many of Christianity's problems while imagining what would happen if God had a daughter today. Christianity is not sacred, because it's merely a religion. I believe that Jesus is the savior of the world, and this series of 7 books didn't change my mind, it just made me laugh, a lot!...more
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