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The Swan Kingdom 4 reviews
Zoë Marriott
Candlewick, 2008
Amazing!
I really enjoyed this book! It is a bit like Juliet Marillier's first in her Sevenwater's Trilogy, but differs in places and shouldn't be overlooked because of this. Once I started reading it I simply couldn't put it down!
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The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable 309 reviews
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Random House, 2007
A great book long over due
The author, I think, is one of the great thinkers of our time. I enjoyed his work. On YouTube, there is a long interview of Mr. Taleb by an old guy. It was a disaster in that the interviewer has almost no knowledge about what what Taleb was talking about (including chaos, ...) and consistently interrupts and makes annoying noises. Therefore, I could only partially tell what Taleb was trying ...
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Wild Swans : Three Daughters of China347 reviews
Jung Chang
Touchstone, 2003
Want to Understand China? Read This Book
Before leaving for my 2004-05 sojourn in China, I naturally sought to acquaint myself with the culture in which I was about to live and work. Of the various books I read (which ranged from Chinese history to essays from American expats to descriptions of "the Asian mind" as applied to Western business people), it turned out that this book was BY FAR the most helpful in my day-to-day interactions ...
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Summer of the Swans, The (PMC) (Puffin Modern Classics)183 reviews
Betsy Byars
Puffin, 2004
Theresa's Review ; )
This book is a mixture of drama,emotions, and different kinds of relationships. A 10 year old boy getting lost,an aunt flipping out, an a bad father,daughter relationship,all in one small book. This book was really interesting to me because I could relate to a lot of the characters. Sara,Mary, and Wanda are the characters I could most relate to,just small details.It is hard for me to capture this ...
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The Trumpet of the Swan (full color)105 reviews
E. B. White
HarperCollins, 2001
Another family favorite
The Trumpet of the Swan turned out to be another big hit for my family and I to share together. You know you have a big hit with my kids when they will do whatever you ask of them just so you will sit there and read the next chapter!!
TOTS is told from a number of different perspectives. It starts off from the perspective of Sam Beaver, a young boy from Montana on vacation with his father in ...
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The Silver Swan: A Novel23 reviews
Benjamin Black
Henry Holt and Co., 2008
The Dubliner Victims
In a sequel to his first crime novel, the 2008 Edgar-nominated Christine Falls, Benjamin Black (nom de plume of John Banville) creates a complicated tale, filled with unnecessary characters and obfuscations clouding the mystery. It brings back Quirke, the Dublin pathologist with an "incurable curiosity."
A college acquaintance implores Quirke to forgo an autopsy on his wife who jumped off a ...
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Black Swan Green: A Novel60 reviews
David Mitchell
Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2007
...ouch
When I was about thirteen or fourteen and having a miserable time in junior high, my mother once snapped at me "You're going to look back at this as the best years of your life." Happily, I did not slit my wrists at this pronouncement (and even more happily, my mother was wrong). Black Swan Green perfectly captures all the clarity, possibility and crushing powerlessness of early adolescence, from ...
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Swan Song455 reviews
Robert McCammon
Pocket, 1987
5 Stars with a bullet!
I loved McCammon books but had yet to read Swan Song. I saw that over 300 people had given this book 5 stars. Had to have it. Over 900 pages and I mowed through it and wanted more. I am a slow reader usually. I am doing good to get through a book of 350 pages in a couple of weeks if I really like it. I got through this 900+ in a week and a half. What a great read! The first few chapters ...
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Swan Peak: A Dave Robicheaux Novel2 reviews
James Lee Burke
Simon & Schuster, 2008
Burke at the Peak of his powers
Swan Peak is a "pseudo-sequel" to Black Cherry Blues, the Edgar Award-winning third Dave Robicheaux novel. Like that previous book, it takes place in Montana, where Robicheaux, his wife Molly and longtime friend Clete Purcel go for a fishing trip partly meant to help them escape the devastation of Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina (which was powerfully and sadly evoked in The Tin Roof Blowdown.) ...
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The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable 1 review
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Penguin Books Ltd, 2008
deceptively simple
"The Black Swan" may seem to be a simple concept, but the implications are more complex and deep than may appear at first glance. The leap from commonplace beliefs to the realization that many of them are just that: commonplace and wrong is as difficult as the leap was for physics from linear Newtonian systems to Quantum physics and non-linear systems. This means waking up to the fact that market ...
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Black Swan: The Twelve Lessons of Abandonment Recovery20 reviews
Susan Anderson
Rock Foundations Press, 2000
A Guy's Review - Scientifically proven system
I bought this for a woman I care deeply about. I knew she had some abandonment issues and thought it may help and want her to be happy and healthy even if she's not with me. I read through it briefly. I'm sure it helped me too and I don't have this type of issues. It's the only book I've read besides parts of The Message (bible by Eugene Peterson) were I felt strange afterwards. A weird kind of ...
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How the Swans Came to the Lake10 reviews
Rick Fields
Shambhala, 1992
Priceless
Wow -- only five reviews for a uniquely priceless 400 page history of Buddhism in America? Not to mention what's likely the best 12 page summary in print of Siddhartha Buddha's life and legacy? Erudite American Buddhist author and old hippie character Rick Fields (1942-1999) left an enthusiastic storyteller's history that brings to life every remotely key player -- starting even far before the ...
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Great Swan: Meetings with Ramakrishna4 reviews
Lex Hixon
Larson Publications, 1997
Bonding
Lex Hixon's words float in the reader's mind like clear, sweet water. Hixon is not a philosopher or theologian. He is a lover. His words melt into the heart and rise one's level of awareness into a state of ecstatic bliss. Read this book and discover the Ramakrishna that Lex Hixon knew and loved. The Ramakrishna who believed all religions were ultimately guided by the same Godhead. ...
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A Company of Swans8 reviews
Eva Ibbotson
Young Picador, 2008
Why Do The Best Books Go Out Of Print (OOP)?
This book is not hard to find used or at a public library. Otherwise, I would hate to get anyone's hopes up. There is nothing worse than saying, "I just read a fabulous book and you will never be able to find it yourself." This novel is set in Europe and South America in the early 20th century before WWI, a time period I would like to see used more frequently. The heroine, Harriet, meets a ...
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Practical English Usage29 reviews
Michael Swan
Oxford University Press, USA, 2005
Excellent
The book is alphabetically organised which is just so practical and easy to use. It explains things in an easy to understand English. I couldn't teach without it. Invaluable! Excellent buy!!!!
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A Swan in Heaven: Conversations Between Two Worlds9 reviews
Terri Daniel
FIRST HOUSE PRESS, 2008
Remembering Danny
An emotional journey of the heart and spirit, this book defies gravity. In my work with others who experience loss, I will be sure to put this read at the top of the list when recommending resources. As Danny's journey beyond continues and his mother heals, he says, "Remember that you are of Heaven... This will keep you open and ventilated". I think A Swan in Heaven will keep readers open and ...
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Sweet Swan of Avon: Did a Woman Write Shakespeare?18 reviews
Robin P. Williams
Peachpit Press, 2006
Totally convinced by the 3rd Page
I heard Robin P. Williams discuss her book on a radio show and was very intrigued. I read it and was completely convinced before the end of the first chapter. What nailed it for me? William Shakespeare's mother, father, wife and 2 of his 3 children were illiterate. There is no way that the author of Shakespeare would allow his children to sign their name with an X. The other thing that sold ...
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The Swan House (The Swan House Series #1)16 reviews
Elizabeth Musser
Bethany House Publishers, 2001
Great book.
I don't know where these folks get off nit-picking this book. It is a wonderful story, well-written, and clearly involves faith. Read and enjoy. I have met the author. This is a wonderful piece of historical, Christian fiction. If that's not your genre, then read something else.
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Leonardo's Swans: A Novel 41 reviews
Karen Essex
Broadway, 2007
Winner of the Premio Roma!
My girlfriend had to read this novel last spring for a class on the Lives of Artists. She liked it so much that we took it to Italy last fall and used it as a guidebook to all the locations featured in the book. We would never have gone to Ferrara or Mantova, much less have experienced them in the way that we were able to with the historical background the novel gave us. And if you are planning ...
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Swan Lake5 reviews
Lisbeth Zwerger
North-South / Night Sky Books, 2002
A Magical Retelling.....
"Once upon a time, all you needed was the right mix of enough evil and a good spell to transform a person into a tree, a rock, or even an animal. In those days, there lived a prince..." So begins award winning author and illustrator, Lisbeth Zwerger's, captivating retelling of Tchaikovsky's, Swan Lake. Her eloquent prose is filled with imagery and magic, and enhanced by evocative illustrations ...
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