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The Castle in the Forest: A Novel 67 reviews
Norman Mailer
Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2007
Insight on Good and Evil
+ Insight on Good and Evil
+ Insight on Good and Evil
+ Diary of a Madman
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Hannibal Rising 362 reviews
Thomas Harris
Dell, 2007
A cut above the usual murder story
This book is, in some ways, more chilling than the previous installments of Harris' Hannibal Lecter books. Set during and after World War II, we see how wartime horrors bend the already unique mind of a brilliant, sensitive child, and how, in the search for postwar revenge, a monster emerges.
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Never Let Me Go193 reviews
Kazuo Ishiguro
Vintage, 2006
Won't ever fade
+ Will stay with you for days
+ Sensitive, ultimately credible
"...complaining about how memories, even your most precious ones, fade surprisingly quickly. But I don't go along with that. The memories I value most, I don't see them ever fading. I lost Ruth, and I lost Tommy, but I won't lose my memories of them."
For a novel that packs so much broiling ...
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Empress Orchid 81 reviews
Anchee Min
Mariner Books, 2005
An excellent novel
+ Interesting Book Sets the Table for the Sequel
This novel is good from a literary perspective. We follow the life of Yehenara/Yehonala/Orchid/the future dowager empress Cixi as she is taken as a concubine into the Forbidden City until shortly after her husband's death.
Keep in mind that this is a novel, and while general historical facts are ...
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Christina, Queen of Sweden: The Restless Life of a European Eccentric5 reviews
Veronica Buckley
Fourth Estate, 2004
An excellent examination of a life.
+ Scholarly bio of a Drama Queen
Buckley has done a wonderful job with her first book and I am hoping that others will follow. This is a well-researched and well-documented biography of Christina. The queen is placed within her time period and Buckley wisely refrains from enforcing a modern view on the queen's lifestyle and ...
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Angelica: A Novel19 reviews
Arthur Phillips
Random House, 2007
A True Masterpiece
+ Read it in two days (on vacation--but still...)
+ Not sure what to say
Set in late-Victorian London, ANGELICA is a book like no other. It seamlessly weaves strands of a ghost story, the dissolution of a once near-perfect marriage, and a horrific descent into madness against a profound meditation on the nature of memory, identity, and truth.
ANGELICA revolves ...
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Duchess of Aquitaine: A Novel of Eleanor5 reviews
Margaret Ball
St. Martin's Griffin, 2007
deep look at a woman of ambition
+ "From the devil he comes, and to the devil he'll go."
At 15, Eleanor knows as the heiress to Aquitaine and Poitou, men will come out of woodwork to claim her as their bride upon the death of her father. She believes that no one less than a king should be her husband. Her goal is to become the Queen of France and not the wife of some duke or worse.
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Data Mining with SQL Server 200515 reviews
ZhaoHui Tang, Jamie MacLennan
Wiley, 2005
A bible for those using SQL 2005
+ Just what I needed!
+ Great Book for All Levels
Some people commented on the poor editing: typos & some wrong pictures. True. (It detracts, but you can figure it out easily)
Some stated that it is not a good general overview of Data Mining. True (though it has a bit of a summary)
Some stated that is doesn't discuss business applications in ...
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Dragonwyck25 reviews
Anya Seton
Chicago Review Press, 2005
Nice Job!
+ A HOUSE IS NOT A HOME...
+ Child to Adult
+ well,,
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The King's Nun: A Novel of King Charlemagne3 reviews
Catherine Monroe
NAL Trade, 2007
A Romantic Fable of King and Saint
Charlemagne is the subject of relatively few biographical or fictional works. The list is even shorter -- practically zero -- for his contemporary, Saint Amalberga, aka Amelia of Muenster-Bilzen Abbey in Belgium. So when I saw "The King's Nun" I eagerly pre-ordered it, hoping for a novel that would ...
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In the Company of the Courtesan: A Novel94 reviews
Sarah Dunant
Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2007
Company Worth Keeping
+ i enjoyed it
While reading this book, my first by Sarah Dunant, I could not believe how fast I was charmed and held by it. I don't think I did much else for a day or so while I read through it. It was a wonderful visit with these characters and their world. BRAVO Sarah Dunant. I have since read everything ...
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Life of Pi1836 reviews
Yann Martel
Harvest Books, 2003
A masterpiece
+ Great Fable
+ THE RIGHT BOOK AT THE RIGHT TIME
+ Leaves you thinking about it long after you are finished
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Bess of Hardwick: Empire Builder 10 reviews
Mary S. Lovell
W. W. Norton, 2007
The Most Powerful Women in England After Elizabeth I
+ Powerful woman who led her family to wealth & greatness
+ legacy
+ I loved this book
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The Last Mrs. Astor: A New York Story13 reviews
Frances Kiernan
W. W. Norton, 2007
Mrs Aster
+ A "Tactful and Admiring" Biography of an Admirable Woman
This book was what I wanted to know about Mrs. Aster's life and her charitable giving. I was very interested and enjoyed the book.
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The Story of Chicago May10 reviews
Nuala O'Faolain
Riverhead Hardcover, 2005
When History and Memoir Mix
+ She Did It Her Way
+ Fascinating historical account of survival
Like some of the previous reviewers, I was annoyed and bewildered after the initial reading of this book. Not because it wasn't well-written. It is. But the intermingling of the author's experiences and what she perceives May Duignan-Churchill to have felt/experienced was disorienting because I ...
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The Great Stink33 reviews
Clare Clark
Harvest Books, 2006
The Great Stink
+ First novel raises good stink
+ A fascinating Dickensian tale
+ Worth the slog
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A Dirty Job: A Novel54 reviews
Christopher Moore
HarperCollins, 2007
Best book I've read in a long time
+ Born-again Reader
+ Perfection!
+ strange and funny
+ Death: Someone's Gotta Do it, Right?
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Castaways of the Flying Dutchman (Firebird)77 reviews
Brian Jacques
Puffin, 2003
Returneth Doth Potter
+ Perfect adventure
+ Fanatastic Journey for Kids and Adults!
Castaways of the Flying Dutchman (Firebird) review:
I have never, ever liked animal fiction. Especially Redwall. The idea of little mice and voles running around with swords just seemed so...absurd to me. Thus onto this book I came with a skeptical look at my friend who justhad just recommended ...
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His Excellency: George Washington220 reviews
Joseph J. Ellis
Vintage, 2005
Excellent
+ A Great Man not an Deity
Some have wanted to reserve 5 stars to a "War and Peace" type book. To me 5 stars means the book did what it set out to do and did it well. "His Excellency" indeed did. It is an excellent short biography of the father of our country. When I picked this book up, I realized all I knew about ...
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Lisey's Story: A Novel442 reviews
Stephen King
Pocket, 2007
A Rich Read
+ Steven King
I see many people complaining about the language. I think the use of the personal intermarriage lexicon is a further rebuttal of the modern shallow manner in which people interact just as Cell was a comment on what he deemed to be the detrimental impact of the ubiquitous gadget phone on public ...
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