Review:I finally finished The Magic Mountain about our aimless young Hans Castorp, who visits his cousin at a tuberculosis sanitorium in the Swiss Alps and, in a Kafkaesque twist, ends up staying there for seven years because of a mild fever. Reading the book was like catching a mild fever (in a good way), and, in taking more than a year to finish it (I was reading many other books), I feel that I, too, absurdly overstayed the length of my visit.

I read the book once, independently, with no assi... Read more

Review:I had never read anything by George Eliot and felt that an educated person should. So I picked The Mill on the Floss which is said to be her most autobiographical. It is a hard book to read. It's wordy with long sentences and filled with extraneous information not directly plot related. One has to slow down to read it. I was frustrated with it but persevered and was glad I did. It gives such a feel for the rural life in the 1800s in England and great characters. It is beautifully written and w... Read more

Review:I was on the NR train with a college junior who was a former Bible study student of mine in high school. We were on our way to the Carnegie Deli when I asked how his fellow classmates were doing. It was then that he told me the news. "Didn't you hear?" he said. "--- was recently in a porn video." When I heard this, I said that it was like hearing that a young child I knew had been molested. He responded incredulously, "When I heard about it, I laughed."

I might have laughed as well. The w... Read more

Review:This style of writing is wordy and more atuned to the period of speech. The story was able to keep my attention even with the unusual manner of speech. I was disappointed in the ending which left one very big question. Read more

Review:Gaskell's plots are village and people oriented, something like Jane Austin's. Unlike Austen, she provides not only the humorous descriptions of characters' actions and speech; she will at some point explain how that character came to be the way he/she is. I bought this because I had seen a PBS series based on the Gaskell's books. The TV shows omitted some characters and subplots and shortened or combined some actions. Even if you've seen the Cranston TV series, the novels are enjoyable beca... Read more

Review:Upton Sinclair at his best. The story of an accidental "secret agent" and the traps he falls into. The innocent victims this poor man takes with him is another example of the tyranny of the Fascist regimes Sinclair despises. It is an excellent example of this man's skills, never failing to keep the reader guessing as to where the grim tale will lead. If you like Sinclair with "The Jungle" and "King Coal", you will enjoy this one, too. Read more

Review:charles dickens is one of my favorites.....i have listened to almost everything available on cd.....i'm sure this book is as wonderful as all the others but I'm gonna have to read it i guess....the person who narrates this book is so distracting that i cannot follow the story line...maybe it's just me but I've about given up....for this reason alone,not because of the wonderful author,I cannot recommend this audiobook at all Read more

Review:An intense and lovely second chance romance, I completely fell for Jude and Veronica’s (Ronnie) story. Veronica has scars inside and out, and Jude is has scars of his own. Jude and Ronnie had an instant attraction which led to her avoiding her professor's class thereafter. Jude has his own reasons. A fantastic beginning, this gives great tension and let's us see where they both are. It's a great read and it's wonderful getting to know the characters and some other pieces in the undertones. This ... Read more

Review:I have been an admirer of Mr. Maugham since my high school years. He influenced in me at that early age to better understand humanity. His easy prose made more enjoyable its reading discovering for me other parts of the world with its mysteries and crude realities. Read more

Review:Something that I can only describe as fun and truly letting go! Read this when you want to relax at the end of the day with a story that has funny and hot moments. I loved the supporting characters as well. They added good depth!

I received a copy of this book and am voluntarily reviewing. Read more