Book reviews written by Stewart P

“Ready Player One has just made it to the very top of the list of my favorite books! It is quite easily the most entertaining book I've ever read. Now, some people may claim that it doesn't have as much intellectual merit as other books but that doesn't matter one bit to me. I've read many great novels or all genres and have never picked one up that was more fun to read than this. The story felt like nerd porn. It practically oozed 80s nostalgia and had enough nerd culture references to make me squeal with excitement.

Honestly, if you have even the slightest interest in nerd culture, video games, or even just a sense of adventure, you won't regret reading this at all. ”

Stewart P wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink )

The City & The City

by China Miéville

Rated 5 stars

“This was my first experience reading Mieville and I'm generally not a fan of crime fiction/murder mysteries but The City & The City blew away my expectations! At first the idea of reading about 2 cities that exist in the same geographic simultaneously seemed like it would be overwhelming and tedious to read about but Mieville handled the complexity extremely well and I felt engaged the whole time. The story was masterfully created and spanned many genres.

I loved this book and will definitely pick up another one by China Mieville!”

Stewart P wrote this review Wednesday, January 18, 2012. ( reply | permalink )

The Pillars of the Earth

by Ken Follett

Rated 5 stars

“The story told in Pillars of the Earth far exceeded my expectations. It was beautiful and dark and told a story which felt very true to the time period. I plan to recommend it to everyone I know. Ken Follett did a brilliant job with his historical research and created a fictional story which was told so well that you almost believed it was real.”

Stewart P wrote this review Monday, November 28, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

Brave New World

by Aldous Huxley

Rated 3 stars

“Although I love the dystopian genre, I didn't find Brave New World to have the appeal of others in this genre. It wasn't terrible but simply wasn't as good as most other books I've read recently. While I think that the message is still relevant, it still has a very dated feel which was distracting.”

Stewart P wrote this review Wednesday, October 19, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

The Leftovers

by Tom Perrotta

Rated 5 stars

“A brilliant twist on a post-apocalyptic story! I loved this book from the beginning to the end. Unlike most books in this genre, Tom Perrotta focuses on the lives and emotional challenges of the individual characters rather than building a complex story. He does an amazing job of making the story feel very personal, and even somewhat plausible. I assume that the people who don't like this book felt the way they did mostly because it is a fairly sad story but don't let that discourage you from gobbling this up! I loved it!”

Stewart P wrote this review Monday, October 17, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

The Ballad of Reading Gaol (Collected Works of Oscar Wilde)

by Oscar Wilde

Rated 4 stars

“One of the better poetic works I've read. ”

Stewart P wrote this review Wednesday, October 12, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

Finn

by Jon Clinch

Rated 2 stars

“I wish I could say that I loved this book but I just couldn't manage to enjoy it. Overall the writing was decent and the plot was a good take on Finn's life while being true to the history of Huckleberry Finn but at times it moved extremely slow. Also, the timeline of the story was disjointed and confusing. I frequently had to ask myself when the events were occurring. ”

Stewart P wrote this review Monday, October 10, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

Bicentennial Man

by Isaac Asimov

Rated 3 stars

“Certainly not as mind blowing as I expected, but a nice short read I suppose. ”

Stewart P wrote this review Friday, October 7, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

The Stand

by Stephen King

Rated 5 stars

“The Stand is, in my opinion, Stephen King's greatest achievement. Quite honestly I think it is one of the best books I've read. Although it can be quite daunting because of it's length (about twice as long as Don Quixote), it is well worth the time and effort getting through. It is epic in every sense of the word. The book spans a few genres - paranormal, post-apocalyptic, religious, etc - but it is all done perfectly. The characters are likable and complex. The story brings in multiple moral dilemmas which drive the characters and do a great job of getting the reader emotionally involved.

Everyone should read this epic story!!”

Stewart P wrote this review Wednesday, October 5, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

by Rebecca Skloot

Rated 3 stars

“I have mixed feelings about Skloot's take on the life of Henrietta Lacks. Actually, that isn't really accurate since Skloot spent very little time actually sharing much of Henrietta's own history and focused more on her own experience searching for facts. This was all infused with experiences from the life of Henrietta's family with regards to her cells.

To be honest, I was really bored during the 1st half of the book. The second half was better when more of the ethical/moral issues were directly dealt with and I found myself becoming interested again.

Perhaps one of the biggest reasons I didn't LOVE the book is because I am a medical student and have heard these ethical issues beaten to death. Granted, Skloot manages to address them in a much more interesting manner than I experienced in school, but regardless, it felt like I'd heard it before.

Overall, I somewhat liked the book but didn't get what I was hoping to out of it. I wanted something more personal that would help me appreciate Henrietta a bit more in an emotional way.”

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Stewart P

Reviews

Ready Player One

by Ernest Cline