Gerimia Alcomendras Alcomendras itibaren Hihifo, Wallis ve Futuna itibaren Hihifo, Wallis ve Futuna

I went into this book with some trepidation given that it's a collection of short stories designed to answer a very silly question: who would win in a fight, zombies or unicorns? As it turns out, I don't really care who wins because I really enjoyed these stories; I loved all the different approaches to the subjects and the editors' snarky back-and-forth in front of each story only makes it better. Personal favorites: Alaya Dawn Johnson's almost-sociopathic-but-charming zombie, Diana Peterfreund's adorable killer unicorn and Meg Cabot's wonderfully named unicorn that was clearly inspired by Lisa Frank.

I enjoy Tahir Shah's books, and learned so much about Ethiopia. Walking the gold trail of the ancients was interesting, but this was not my favorite work by Shah. At book club, one of the critiques was that Mr. Shah can sometimes seem a bit condescending towards the people he writes about, and I felt that in this book. Perhaps it was his yearning to follow in the footsteps of those Europeans who organized similar expeditions before him, but it came across as somewhat imperialistic to me. But you've got to hand it to him, it takes courage (or insanity!) to make the journey that he did and I appreciated his story of how the Ethiopians live.

Amazing.....

Pretty interesting book on a scion of industry that I didn't know much about. A bit difficult to get through all the business deals.

Laden with symbolism, as I like it. Not a feel-good book. In fact, it's more of a feel-uneasy book. And yet, it's hard to put down and then hard to forget. Much more than a "baseball book."

I really loved this book - it captivated me completely after the turning point, a few chapters in. The best parts of the book are the alternately heartwarming/heartwrending relationship between the two main characters, and how guilt and selfishness are lived with/worked around/dealt with by the main character. It's a story we all can relate to, which may surprise you if you are assuming this book is going to be dry and political in nature, which I did. I have to admit that after finishing reading it today, I went out for a walk and couldn't resist going inside 2 of the Middle Eastern stores/bakeries in my neighborhood to look around. I saw everything in the store in a whole different way. The book has truly opened my mind and eyes to Middle Eastern cultures. Before, when I might have entered a store like that, I would have looked around and had no connection to or understanding of the different food, decorative, and clothing items that make up meaningful parts of those cultures, except for the few items I'm familiar with. Today, I looked at everything in wonder, thinking about Amir and Baba and Hassan and how they used/ate/experienced the different things I was seeing, and what they meant to those characters. It struck me as a really happy coincidence that just a few hours earlier, I was reading about how one of the characters was eating "roasted watermelon seeds", and I thought, "Wow, that sounds really odd/gross/strange...", but then I saw a big barrel of them in one of the stores - "Watermelon Seeds - $1.97/lb." They were huge and brown and not the watermelon seeds I'm used to. It was a delightful "aha" moment - I smiled when I recognized this connection. Other people must have thought I was a weirdo, smiling at watermelon seeds... But it made me happy to think that in this fictional character's life, eating watermelon seeds was a single nostalgic memory from a beautiful childhood. And that I can definitely relate to.

The book is written in the first person by an autistic boy. I believe that the author, Mark Haddon, was very accurate in potraying the voice of this child. The boy held my interest, but the story is contrived in places and unconvincing.

A true lover of Paris and advocate of French friendliness, this book was purported to be an excellent read. However, I am having a difficult time getting past page 12. One needs to have a very in depth knowledge of French history or some sort of cheat sheet to read thoroughly or quickly.

Altijd weer een feestje, dit boek. De personages zijn zo leuk, vooral Dolf. Stoer maar toch emotioneel, daadkrachtig maar niet oppermachtig en altijd gelijk. Heerlijk. Het einde vind ik nu een beetje rommelig, dat ze nog verder trekken als het wonder uitblijft, wat bijna een samenvatting lijkt, afgezien van die ene spannende gebeurtenis waar ze als buffer worden gebruikt. Beetje jammer. Ik zou ook eigenlijk wel heel graag willen weten hoe het met Dolf verder ging. Beckman gaat niet op haar knieen zitten voor kinderen en dat leest erg fijn. Het enige wat ik eigenlijk wel een beetje miste, was het probleem van ontlasting. Maar goed. Zeker een aanrader voor iedereen die van een goed boek houdt.