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blairconrad's Reviews (1.12k)
I guess “amibitious” (stealing from the author’s preface) is accurate, but I’d say the comparisons to Umberto Eco are not warranted. A big(ish) tale, including a large cast of (sometimes poorly-differentiated) characters. I didn’t find the prose to be particularly striking, and it had a fairly easy vocabulary.
I was disappointed by the confusion introduced by the large number of characters and constant shifting between them. Also, there were a large number of deus ex machina events, many of which weren’t justified, in my opinion.
I think I was also turned off by the range of the characters’ ranks – we have grunts, ordinary citizens, and all the way up to the Empress’s right hand, and I didn’t feel like the way in which these people interacted was realistic.
In spite of all these complaints, there are some interesting ideas, and the story moved quickly for me, so I’m not totally turned off. I’m told later books are better, so I may return. Still, as far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t deserve its reputation.
I was disappointed by the confusion introduced by the large number of characters and constant shifting between them. Also, there were a large number of deus ex machina events, many of which weren’t justified, in my opinion.
I think I was also turned off by the range of the characters’ ranks – we have grunts, ordinary citizens, and all the way up to the Empress’s right hand, and I didn’t feel like the way in which these people interacted was realistic.
In spite of all these complaints, there are some interesting ideas, and the story moved quickly for me, so I’m not totally turned off. I’m told later books are better, so I may return. Still, as far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t deserve its reputation.
Light. Easy to read, but ultimately not that compelling. I was unable to manage the requisite suspension of disbelief - since the books was ostensibly set in our universe, I would've needed a lot fewer people to know about vampires than did in order for the story to be believable.
Other complaints include the [sic]s inserted in passages torn from Abe's journals, even when those passages included vampire references - if we're going to use a fictional entry, why insert spelling mistakes? Also, the use of the journal entries was distracting - we'd jump in and out willy nilly.
It wasn't a terrible book, given what it was supposed to be, but not nearly as interesting an effort as P&P&Z.
Other complaints include the [sic]s inserted in passages torn from Abe's journals, even when those passages included vampire references - if we're going to use a fictional entry, why insert spelling mistakes? Also, the use of the journal entries was distracting - we'd jump in and out willy nilly.
It wasn't a terrible book, given what it was supposed to be, but not nearly as interesting an effort as P&P&Z.
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It's Not You, It's the Dishes (originally published as Spousonomics): How to Minimize Conflict and Maximize Happiness in Your Relationship
Paula Szuchman, Jenny Anderson
Very entertaining and possibly useful discussion of how certain economic principles can be applied to help maintain, improve, or maybe even save a marriage.
Mostly covers how couples can deal with "small, ordinary problems" as some other reviewers have noted - how to divide up household chores, schedule sex, and manage competing schedules. So, if you're looking for help with a cheating spouse, a looming foreclosure, or the inability to conceive or something, go elsewhere.
Still, what is here is really interesting and fun to read. Discusses (among other things):
* how comparative advantage can help you assign chores,
* how to use incentives to get your spouse to do what you want (for your mutual benefit, of course)
* how game theory applies to your marriage
Of course not every example will apply to every couple, and the case studies seem to involve an awful lot of young professionals, I think there's something here for nearly anyone who's married and wants to stay that way.
Oh, yeah. It's funny too. The authors go to the trouble of choosing amusing (and often surprising) examples and situations, to ensure that the reader's interest is not lost.
Mostly covers how couples can deal with "small, ordinary problems" as some other reviewers have noted - how to divide up household chores, schedule sex, and manage competing schedules. So, if you're looking for help with a cheating spouse, a looming foreclosure, or the inability to conceive or something, go elsewhere.
Still, what is here is really interesting and fun to read. Discusses (among other things):
* how comparative advantage can help you assign chores,
* how to use incentives to get your spouse to do what you want (for your mutual benefit, of course)
* how game theory applies to your marriage
Of course not every example will apply to every couple, and the case studies seem to involve an awful lot of young professionals, I think there's something here for nearly anyone who's married and wants to stay that way.
Oh, yeah. It's funny too. The authors go to the trouble of choosing amusing (and often surprising) examples and situations, to ensure that the reader's interest is not lost.
Warning: this is the first Penny book I've read. I realize I'm coming in to book #6 of a series that features the same character, so this may not be a fair review. I normally wouldn't have started partway into a series, but it's the book my community chose for 2011's One Book, One Community effort, and I'm nothing if not compliant.
Kind of a disappointment, given the reviews that the book and series have gotten. A big part of that is probably missing backstory, as there are three mysteries going on in the book - one unfolding in real time, and two from the past.
I think at least one of the two past events was the subject of a previous book, and I'm left flat after being thrown onto it without the prior knowledge that the book ([b:The Brutal Telling|7017510|The Brutal Telling (Armand Gamache Series #5)|Louise Penny|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1256078422s/7017510.jpg|6639657]) would've given me. The way in which the mystery was reintroduced was even more off-putting, especially the extremely implausible justification the investigator gave to the locals for reexamining its events.
I think the other mystery from the past is the real reason that this book exists, since how Gamache's current actions and attitudes were shaped by that event are much more interesting than the current investigation. In fact, the only interesting passages in the book are related to this story. Unfortunately, there were way too few of those to carry this book.
I found Penny's prose to be much less interesting than I expected from the other reviews here. There were a number of places where I thought I detected an attempt to make a beautiful or noteworthy phrase, but by and large these fell a little short of the mark, and were more jarring than anything else.
The characters were also not very interesting, with only Gamache being developed at all.
While I'm on a roll, I have another complaint - the author changes point of view entirely too frequently - often from one paragraph to the next, with nearly no warning, prompting the reader to do a double-take and reread passages to understand who's thinking what. This was really jarring, and markedly lessened my enjoyment of the book.
Kind of a disappointment, given the reviews that the book and series have gotten. A big part of that is probably missing backstory, as there are three mysteries going on in the book - one unfolding in real time, and two from the past.
I think at least one of the two past events was the subject of a previous book, and I'm left flat after being thrown onto it without the prior knowledge that the book ([b:The Brutal Telling|7017510|The Brutal Telling (Armand Gamache Series #5)|Louise Penny|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1256078422s/7017510.jpg|6639657]) would've given me. The way in which the mystery was reintroduced was even more off-putting, especially the extremely implausible justification the investigator gave to the locals for reexamining its events.
I think the other mystery from the past is the real reason that this book exists, since how Gamache's current actions and attitudes were shaped by that event are much more interesting than the current investigation. In fact, the only interesting passages in the book are related to this story. Unfortunately, there were way too few of those to carry this book.
I found Penny's prose to be much less interesting than I expected from the other reviews here. There were a number of places where I thought I detected an attempt to make a beautiful or noteworthy phrase, but by and large these fell a little short of the mark, and were more jarring than anything else.
The characters were also not very interesting, with only Gamache being developed at all.
While I'm on a roll, I have another complaint - the author changes point of view entirely too frequently - often from one paragraph to the next, with nearly no warning, prompting the reader to do a double-take and reread passages to understand who's thinking what. This was really jarring, and markedly lessened my enjoyment of the book.
Not earth-shattering, but enjoyable. I wasn't always in love with Celia's character, but I didn't mind spending the time with her that we did. An interesting exploration of some potential pitfalls of being a "normal" daughter of super-powered parents. Small amounts of humour coupled with some actual suspense (to contrast it with [b:my previous read|7945049|Bury Your Dead (Armand Gamache, #6)|Louise Penny|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1278515084s/7945049.jpg|11453665]) kept me turning pages. Aspires to be an [b:Astro City|72111|Astro City Vol. 1 Life in the Big City|Kurt Busiek|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1246140727s/72111.jpg|97133] arc, and nearly makes it.
Pretty good. I don't read many memoirs, so I don't have much to compare it to. Heck, I'm not even sure what I was hoping to get out of the book. I enjoyed the early bits about Allen and [a:Gates's|23470|Bill Gates|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1198682732p2/23470.jpg] partnership. The story of the early growth of Microsoft was pretty interesting. I think I was expecting something a little more The Social Networky than I got, but I wasn't disappointed with the story.
After that, the book became a laundry list of Allen's endeavours and experiences since Microsoft. This isn't an entirely bad thing - I'd no idea that he was involved in so many high profile companies. I really enjoyed the bits about the charitable and research foundations he's set up, especially the brain mapping project.
The book reads well, with enjoyable if unspectacular prose. More importantly, Allen comes off well - a smart, ambitious man with good intentions. I appreciate that he didn't shy away from describing how he's made some good (and not so good) decisions and been at various times lucky (and not so lucky) - the book didn't devolve into "look how great I am".
After that, the book became a laundry list of Allen's endeavours and experiences since Microsoft. This isn't an entirely bad thing - I'd no idea that he was involved in so many high profile companies. I really enjoyed the bits about the charitable and research foundations he's set up, especially the brain mapping project.
The book reads well, with enjoyable if unspectacular prose. More importantly, Allen comes off well - a smart, ambitious man with good intentions. I appreciate that he didn't shy away from describing how he's made some good (and not so good) decisions and been at various times lucky (and not so lucky) - the book didn't devolve into "look how great I am".
A hard start, but ultimately worth it. Miéville's prose is more complex than most science fiction that I read, and there's a whole lot of new vocabulary and hinted-at history, tech, and details about the setting. Still, once you get past the initial stuff, we really dig into the novel concepts, and boy do they make the novel. I really enjoyed the explorations of the principle aliens' way of thinking, and what it implies for us. Specifically, how language is formed by and forms our thought patterns.
The book fell down on two points, in my opinion: the narrator is unsympathetic - I really didn't care about her, or most of her friends even. Also, the pacing was uneven, with the emotional climax coming in the middle of the book, then kind of drifting down toward the end. You'd think that the would be the most exciting part of the book, but by the time I got to it, I thought "we've already had the big intellectual payoff - wrap it up already". Still, there were a few nuggets all along.
The book fell down on two points, in my opinion: the narrator is unsympathetic - I really didn't care about her, or most of her friends even. Also, the pacing was uneven, with the emotional climax coming in the middle of the book, then kind of drifting down toward the end. You'd think that the
Spoiler
zombie apocalypse
A few chuckles, but ultimately disappointing. The characters were all caricatures - usually there's at least one normal person in these kinds of books. And there was no flow - the whole thing seemed to be just a succession of unrelated skits, barely tied together by the fact that they happened to the same person.
It was a quick read, though.
It was a quick read, though.