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The Monster of Florence 68 reviews
Douglas Preston
Grand Central Publishing, 2008
Shocking!
I won't get into this in great detail. I will just say this book shocked me into wondering if I would ever feel comfortable even visiting Italy. The incompetence of the police investigation coupled with it's leader's vengeful attitude is truly alarming. Another reviewer from Italy said they have one of the best police departments in the world? Sorry, but even if you disagree with this book or ...
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Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution 14 reviews
T. J. English
William Morrow, 2008
fake news brings one to real "news"
Heard the author interviewed on the Colbert Report and was blown away.
English illustrated why the book is a must read. Downplaying the JFK assertations the work is a through review of those "bury your head under the desk" years so many of us old people recall all too vividly.
If you don't understand the Fidel dynamics after this read you are deluding yourself. One can see why FC has ruled for ...
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World Without End379 reviews
Ken Follett
Dutton Adult, 2007
Solid Follett
A grand follow-up to Pillars of the Earth (but a "stand alone" as well). A joy to read, but horribly heavy to hold up in hardback.
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Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World 9 reviews
Roger Crowley
Random House, 2008
Compelling, page-turning history
My cultural blinders have long confined my view of 16th century history mainly to northern Europe and the Atlantic. Roger Crowley's "Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World" is a powerful corrective for that too-narrow point of view.
The story of the struggle between the Islamic Ottoman Empire and Catholic Hapsburg Spain for ...
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The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals33 reviews
Jane Mayer
Doubleday, 2008
Harrowing and disturbing
In a way, recommending this book reminds me of the old joke: "This is horrible. Here, smell this." I've been reading a great deal about the American Revolution recently. In David Hackett Fischer's excellent "Washington's Crossing," he tells of the mistreatment American soldiers were receiving at the hands of Hessians and British. Washington was determined that beating their opponents was not ...
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The Post-American World107 reviews
Fareed Zakaria
W. W. Norton, 2008
excellent, poignant, and prescient
This book should be required reading for us all. It brings together the thoughts of many of the great minds to illustrate the needs, opportunities, and challenges facing America in a world which it can no longer dominate, ignore, or control.
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The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism249 reviews
Naomi Klein
Picador, 2008
The Shock Doctrine
This book is a life-changing work that offers a far-reaching lens through which to understand world events over the last half century and into the 21st.
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The Pillars of the Earth1242 reviews
Ken Follett
NAL Trade, 2002
It was ok...
Yes I read the whole thing and I kind of don't know why. the first 3/4 of it are ok and then the ending was just too short. It seemed like the story crashed.
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The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century1144 reviews
Thomas L. Friedman
Picador, 2007
the world is flat
Tom Friedman ' s , The World Is Flat , is the consumate synopsis on the "world" we live in today . We live in a world economy , and all nations must adhere to this fact if they are to survive and compete . Anyone living today should read this book---or listen to it on Audio CD which I have done 4 times---so he/she is cognizant of the ever-changing world and the challenges ahead . If you have not ...
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What I Talk About When I Talk About Running6 reviews
Haruki Murakami
Knopf, 2008
Wonderful running memoir by one of my favorite authors.
I have placed this book atop my listmania group of literary running books. Haruki Murakami's marvelously entertaining WHAT I TALK ABOUT WHEN I TALK ABOUT RUNNING is about his running, yes, but it also touches on other interesting ideas, including the author's affinities for music, literature, and baseball, Japanese and American:
"As if to lament the defeat of the Boston Red Sox in the ...
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What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception180 reviews
Scott McClellan
PublicAffairs, 2008
Excellent purchase
Excellent purchase price for this book which arrived in a very timely manner. It was purchased as a gift for my son.
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Beloved79 reviews
Toni Morrison
Vintage, 2004
a story of guilt
I have to admit, I approached this novel with quite a bit of trepidation. It was an Oprah's book club pick, which generally means depressing, and I tend to be leery of "highly acclaimed" books. Maybe a bit of reverse snobbishness. But I've been making a point lately of ignoring my knee-jerk reactions and trying to check things out before I judge them.
If you haven't heard anything about it, ...
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The Catcher in the Rye2760 reviews
J.D. Salinger
Back Bay Books, 2001
Where do the Ducks Go?
In the beginning, I admit I did not like Holden Caulfield. I felt I couldn't relate to him. After the first 15 chapters that changed. I realized that, boy oh boy, I am way too much like Holden Caulfield. So much that I almost want to post a list of how we are alike, but that is not the point of reviews and I doubt it would be interesting reading. There are few eye-opening moments in Catcher in ...
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Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World14 reviews
David Maraniss
Simon & Schuster, 2008
The Cold War, Drugs, Twin China's, Erosion of Amateur Athletics, Brundage and the Great Stars That Shine
Maraniss defines the 1960 Olympics that changed the world not purely because of the political influence of the Cold War, that was obvious in 1936, but in describing the emergence of Russia as a dominant athletic power where the Soviet Union and the U.S. became the dominant medal winners and where the cold war rhetoric emerged more directly in the Olympics as they increasingly did over the next ...
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The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America752 reviews
Erik Larson
Vintage, 2004
Very entertaing!
Not too many people these days have heard of the infamous Doctor HH Holmes or the Columbian Exposition. Both were major news stories over a hundred years ago, but now are forgotten.
This book aims to change that, and it does so admirably. You get a real feeling of what life was like in Chicago and, indeed, much of America in the Guilded Age. You also see that serial killers like John Wayne ...
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The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective31 reviews
Kate Summerscale
Walker & Company, 2008
3.5 out of 5: Jumbled but Entertaining
The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher is one-third a true crime book about a famous murder in the English countryside in 1860, one-third a history of the English detective profession in general, one-third a biography of Jonathan Whicher, one of the first English detectives, and one-third a literary history of the English detective novel. If you're good at math, undoubtedly you have calculated that Mr. ...
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A Separate Peace 765 reviews
John Knowles
Scribner, 2003
Great Buy
I'm usually concerned about purchasing items on line, especially books. I can honestly say that this experience was worth it. I would recommend this seller to anyone interested in purchasing good quality books at extremely reasonable prices.
Buy with confidence, I did!
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Lord of the Flies (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century)1268 reviews
William Golding
Penguin (Non-Classics), 1999
Grrrr-8 Book!
This is a great book to read! Very interesting and intense. Great reading material.
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Such a Pretty Fat: One Narcissist's Quest To Discover if Her Life Makes Her Ass LookBig, Or Why Pie is Not ...55 reviews
Jen Lancaster
NAL Trade, 2008
Fabulous Book!!
I was laughing so hard I started snorting and had to put the book down. The laughter that Jen Lancaster brings to such an intimidating subject is so fresh and motivating. It's worth a second read!
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Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning314 reviews
Jonah Goldberg
Doubleday, 2008
Great Book As Evidenced by Liberal Reviews & Placement
Plainly this book has been out for quite some time but until it showed up on audio I didn't even know it existed. Why? Because it was well hidden by the major book stores that typically hide anything conservative on the bottom shelf of some sociology section in the back of the store. If this were a fascist-liberal tome like Al Frankens "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot", there would have been ...
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