Five Star review, originally posted here on April 6, 2016. I am still surprised that I not only bothered reading this book, but liked it, and liked it enough to give it 5 stars. I used to visit battlefields with my family when I was a kid, and I learned about the Civil War, … More Goodreads Review: The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
Four Star review, originally posted here on March 19, 2016. This is actually a 4.5 star review. Somehow I made it through high school and on to my 30’s without having read 1984, so I realize that I’m even later to this party than I am to the Harry Potter party. Still, better late than … More Goodreads Review: 1984 by George Orwell
Four Star Review, originally posted here on February 23, 2016. First, a quick disclaimer: I did not actually finish the book, but I’m putting it down for now. I was nervous going into this one. Confession time: I have never read a book in Latvian before, except as a kid in Latvian school. Every now … More Goodreads Review: Meza Meitas by Sanita Reinsone
Here’s the deal. I like writing book reviews on Goodreads every time that I finish reading a book. It’s mostly for myself, because I like writing things down, because that’s what I do for fun. I recently finished reading two books that I did not particularly like (one I absolutely hated, the other had some pluses … More Anonymous Non-Goodreads Reviews of Anonymous Books
Four Star Review, orginally posted here on January 5th, 2016. For whatever reason I have read a whole bunch of memoirs over the past couple years, and I always find myself facing the tricky question of how much we should be evaluating the story vs how much we should be evaluating the writer. When the … More Goodreads Review: Suddenly, A Criminal by Melanija Vanaga
Three Star review, originally posted here on December 5, 2015. Well, it was sure to happen at some time or another… a point wherein it comes time to review a book that was recommended to me by a dear friend who can see my Goodreads reviews, and when I (sigh, sorry, you know who you … More Goodreads Review: Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore
Four Star review, originally posted here on November 3, 2015. This book took me forever to finish. It’s dense, repetitive, long, and dry. I wound up basically reading one or two chapters every month or so every time I finished some other book. If you’re looking for a can’t-put-it-down page-turner, or for flowing prose, this … More Goodreads Review: A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
Four Star review, originally posted here on October 22, 2015. Memoirs of a Geisha had 3 major strikes working against it when I started reading it: 1. It was a bestseller that everyone else raved about. I usually hate these books as they tend to be terrible (ahem, Water for Elephants, ahem, Gone Girl, etc) … More Goodreads Review: Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
Four Star review, originally posted here on October 26, 2015. The writing in this book is an absolute treasure. Sometimes I wonder whether there really is a distinction between supposedly good and supposedly bad writing, and if it isn’t all just the same, really. And then I picked up East of Eden, and I was … More Goodreads Review: East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Three Star review, originally posted here on September 11, 2015. ** spoiler alert ** Well, as everyone probably knows, there’s been a lot of controversy about this book. There shouldn’t be, though, at least not regarding the content. The basic gist is that Scout returns home and discovers that the seemingly black-and-white world of her … More Goodreads Review: Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
Helga without the H 