I just re-read this. I don't think I liked it as much the second time. I'm not sure. Maybe I was just feeling grumpier the second time around.
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i thought i would get tired of alex's comic-effect bad english, but i never did. it was hilarious. also, it is hard to write a holocaust-journey-of-remembrance without being a big ol' cliche, but i didn't think this was. basically i liked it a whole lot and cried a l'il bit.

I grabbed this audiobook from the library for our weekend trip because it was approximately the same length as our drive and I remember really liking it as a kid. Update: I still think it's a great book, and this was a really well-done audiobook, with perfect voices for all the characters. Hooray!

currently re-reading because i found it on my floor.

i'm a big fan of bill bryson in general, and this is no exception, but it's not my fave. he gets kind of smug in this one.

I thought this book was hilarious. If you think the Colbert Report is hilarious, you will like this book. If you do not like the Colbert Report, you will not like this book.

I was surprised at how consistently funny this was. I wasn't sure if the Colbert "character" would be funny for so long? But he was.

this book is very enjoyable! a lot of good stuff i wouldn't have otherwise read. also a couple boring things i wouldn't otherwise have read, but generally a good mix.

this book was so hella good. i can't wait to read more by jim shepard. smart, funny, fun, insightful, blah blah blah one of them is about a giant shark.

10/09
I re-read this and might bump it up to five stars. Lovely.
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01/07
i started reading this over winter break and i have like... not very much left, but it's so good that i want to make sure i devote proper reading attention to the last bit and i haven't found the chance for that yet :O and by now i've probably forgotten the first half of the book.
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Finally finished it! I loved it, basically. Now I want to re-read it all together, without a big pause in the middle. But it's really less about plot and more about her careful, precise, beautiful prose. A good book to savor.

I'm not sure why I am only giving this three stars. I liked all the stories; they were good, they were interesting, well-observed, compelling. I guess lately I have been lucky enough to read stuff that I really, really like, and in comparison this seems like a three star book to me.

Again, I really wish GR had half stars because probably I would do three and a half. Ah well, it's just the internet.

this book was pretty disappointing, actually. i really enjoy sherman alexie's writing for its humor and subtlety and humanity. this book put in a half-day's work on humor and called in sick on subtlety. realllly hits you over the head with the theme of OPRESSION. but still--i enjoyed the protagonist and there is some great historical exploration in here. it was a good read, just not as good as, say, [book:The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven].