Books I've Read
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Mildred Pierce
Mildred starts a restaurant after getting divorced from her philandering husband. Noir. No one is murdered.
Quote:
"The gams, the gams! Your face ain't news!"Quote:
Salad, for some reason, is served first in California.Words I Had To Look Up:
Untrammeled bosom.Read:
7/2024
The Postman Always Rings Twice
I don't know what the title has to do with anything. I looked it up and I still don't understand. So I say, "WhatEVER". The story was OK, the female character is just weird.
Quote:
"You think I'm going to cash that? I am like hell. I'm going to frame it. It goes up there, right over my desk."Read:
9/2024
Dear And Glorious Physician
Story of St. Luke. Pretty long. I might not have read the third third quite as throughly as the first two thirds.
Read:
12/2002
Honey Baby Sweetheart
Ruby meets a boy who is trouble. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend to teenage girls, but there is a bit more profanity than I would like for middle school students. Although no one will notice as I am only the second person to read it in since it was acquired in 2006.
Quote:
"I love that Heart of Darkness. Steinbeck's a genius," Frank said.
"Joseph Conrad," my mother said. "Heart of Darkness is by Joseph Conrad."
"I'm sure it's Steinbeck," Frank said. "I remember it from high school."
"She's a librarian," Harold said. -- Pg. 287
Read:
1/2015
Sportbike Performance Handbook
In a form of self-torture I perused this book. Can't way I READ every word, though. Lots of interesting "how stuff works" information. I remember the author's column and articles from Cycle magazine. I don't see much "how to do it", though. I've got to get a bike...
Read:
6/2009
Andorra
Strange story, a mystery fantasy. I didn't know there was a beach in Andorra...
SMOKE QUOTE:
I sat next to her and watched her smoke. I liked how she did it: a little greedily, narrowing her green eyes and sucking in her cheeks as if smoking were very hard work.Read:
3/2000
A Dog's Purpose: A Novel For Humans
Took me a while to get into this story, about a hundred pages. A dog recounts his various lives (dogs are reincarnated). Damn book is so dusty, my eyes keep watering...
Read:
10/2010
The Tequila Worm
A very enjoyable story of a Mexican-American girl winning a scholarship to a exclusive boarding school. Full of wonderful family and cultural stuff.
Words I Had To Look Up:
cascorones (pg. 18) -- Hollow-out eggs filled with confetti or small toys.
H.E.B. (pg. 129) -- A supermarket chain in Texas and Lousiiana.
pendeja (pg. 168) -- Idiot.
Read:
10/2010
God Save The Queen
A butler dies in the john, a young girl might inherit, a silver tea strainer has been missing for two hundred years. A very nice little mystery, very enjoyable.
Read:
4/2001
The Thin Woman
Ellie Simons must lose 63 pounds, among other requirements, to inherit. Funny story.
Read:
4/2001
Blood On The River: James Town 1607
For some reason I don't care much for books about Early America, but this historical fiction novel was pretty good. Orphan/accused thief Samuel Collier comes to America with Captain John Smith (as his page).
Read:
10/2010
A Planet Called Treason
Lanik Mueller is heir to one of the ruling families on a planet called Treason. His family grows extra body parts to sell off- world. I found the story to be offensive at first, but it develops into an ok story. Certainly not an "Ender's Game" by any stretch.
Read:
8/1999
A War Of Gifts
A Battle School Sinterklaas Day.
Read:
8/2013Read Again:
5/2018
Alvin, Journeyman
This is part 4 of a series. What if magic really worked! I found it fascinating and disturbing at the same time Recommended for high school readers.
Read Best Guess:
6/1999
Children Of The Fleet
Fleet School #1, Dabeet Ochoa get to go to Fleet School.
Read:
4/2023
Earth Awakens
The third book in The First Formic War trilogy. I did not feel any emotion while reading this story, but it was a quick read after Robin Hobb's books! To summarize, after many setbacks Earth men kill all the bugs and capture the giant mother ship. Which turns out to not be the giant mother ship, but merely a giant scouting ship. The mother ship is on it's way.
Read:
10/2017
Earth Unaware
The First Formic War, Volume One Of The Formic Wars. I must have liked it, I read it straight through!
Read:
8/2013
Empire
Nice, Card, kill off the protagonist two-thirds of the way in! I enjoyed this tale of armed conflict between conservatives and those wacky leftists. I keed, I keed! Lots of clever quips to lighten things up a bit, too. Kind of unresolved at the end, is there going to be a sequel?
Words I Had To Look Up:
flouted and flaunted (pg. 193)-- The text takes exception to a misuse. The dictionary (Merriam-Webster OnLine) says they are different, with examples, but for the life of me I can't tell the difference!
Armand Hammer (pg. 241) -- I didn't get it, all these years. "Arm and Hammer". Ha ha.
Quote:
Isn't this good ice cream? My secret is lots of hydrogenated fat. I buy it in large lots from doctors who do liposuction. (pg. 163)Most Important Quote:
Or maybe, we can just calm down and stop thinking that our own ideas are so precious that we must never give an inch to accomodate the heartfelt beliefs of others.
How can we accomplish that? It begins by scorning the voices of extremism from the camp we are aligned with. Democrats and Republicans must renounce the screamers and haters from their own side instead of continuing to embrace them and denouncing onthe the screamers from the opposing camp. We must moderate ourselves instead of insisting on moderating the other guy while keeping our own fanaticism alive. (Afterword, pg. 347) THIS!
Read:
7/2008
Enchantment
Ivan finds a sleeping princess in the forest.
QUOTE:
University people were always so proud of being readers instead of television watchers, but what was the difference, really? It was a one-way transmission. I read, but it made no difference to the writer. He never knew. And when I'm dead, what will it matter the books I read? My memory is where the book ends up, just like the TV show, and when I'm dead, that memory is gone from the world.--p. 303Read:
5/2001
Ender's Shadow
"A parallel novel to Ender's Game". Very good. Read again.
Read:
2/2000Read:
4/2011
20 books displayed
[Cain - Card] [Card - Carey] [Carlson editor - Chambers] [Chambers - Choldenko] [Clagett - Clearly] [Clements - Coel] [Cohen - Colfer] [Collier - Collins] [Collins - Connelly] [Connelly - Constantine] [Constantine - Corey] [Corey - Correia] [Cottrell - Crais] [Crais - Crime] [Croke - Cushman] [Cussler - Cussler]