• Rated 0 stars

“I can say that I've read it now, and there were some really lovely passages of prose in it, but by the time I got to the end, I mostly just wanted to take my shoe off and bash Dean's head in. Is that a normal reaction? I know he's supposed to be the holy Beat saint and all of that, but I found him to be too selfish to ever be saintly. I didn't find him endearing or inspiring at all. I just kept wishing he'd have his final manic-depressive episode and get it over with.”

aprynn wrote this review 5 days ago. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“I read from this when I feel badly. Jeeves and Bertie never fail to make me smile. How could anyone resist them?”

aprynn wrote this review Monday, December 8 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“There is something perennially powerful to me about this drama. Faustus lets his mighty mind mislead him, and in his hubris, he overlooks the grace that could save him from final destruction. To watch the epitome of what man can achieve with his intellect destroy himself never fails to move me. I feel great pity for poor deluded Faustus.”

aprynn wrote this review Monday, December 8 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“Of all the Hemingway there is, this is my favorite. Perhaps it's Spain. Perhaps it's the nature that surrounds them in the mountains as they wait to blow up the bridge. Perhaps it's the fact that it's not A Farewell to Arms (which I LOATHE). There is something about this one, though, which I can read again and again. To me, it is perfect.”

aprynn wrote this review Monday, December 8 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“"Follow your bliss." -- Joseph Campbell

Enough said. Read it.”

aprynn wrote this review Monday, December 8 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“SOOOOO funny. I laugh to the point of tears every time I read the part about the bear attacks.... If you've never read any Bryson, start with this one. He's priceless.”

aprynn wrote this review Monday, December 8 2008. ( reply | permalink )

1 of 1 members found this review helpful.

• Rated 5 stars

“I teach this book every year, and every time I reread it, I love it just a little more. It's not a snuggle-under-the-covers-and-be-cozy sort of book. It's a wake-up-and-pay-attention-to-what's-going-on-around-you book. There's nothing comfortable, no rounded edges or smooth surfaces here, but that's just as it should be. Not all literature should be a lazy summer's day. We need the arctic blast of reality sometimes to shock us into a bit of justifiable survival skills paranoia from time to time, and 1984 is one of the works that has always been happy to provide it.”

aprynn wrote this review Monday, December 8 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“There is no poetry to compare to Rumi's. It will quite simply take the top of your head off. I can't recommend this collection highly enough. ”

aprynn wrote this review Monday, December 8 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“This book is one of the best of its kind that I've read in a long, long time. I had just about given up on new writers in the mishmash genre of fantasy/scifi since so much of it seems to be poor reworkings, if not outright plagiarism of the grandmaster who went before such as Tolkien, Moorcock, and Howard.
I see nods to some of them in Butcher, as it's hard to escape the influence of those worlds for any writer who reads (and don't we hope they all do?), but he's managed to come up with a world of his own at the same time. Even better, he's made a character with dimension. Harry Dresden is neither totally paladin-pure nor so angst-ridden that only a teenager could sympathize with him. He's a man trying to do the best he can with what he has to protect what he believes to be right in impossible situations. He has a sense of humor, and he doesn't always win every little battle, or even every big one.
I can't recommend this series enough. I've been ripping through them over this Christmas holiday, and I've already pre-ordered the forthcoming 2008 release. If you're a fan of fantasy, come and enjoy Harry Dresden's Chicago for awhile. You won't be sorry you did.”

aprynn wrote this review Saturday, December 29 2007. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“When I was little, I made my dad read this to me over and over. For some reason, and I think it may be all the bright red hats, this book was my favorite Seuss. This is one of the ones I kept when my parents did the "purge the kid's room" routine after I moved to college. Read it to your kids. Just be ready to read it often....”

aprynn wrote this review Sunday, July 22 2007. ( reply | permalink )