TakYak

• Rated 3 stars

“This is an autobiography of a Marine who served with the 1st Marine Division on the front line of battles at Guadalcanal, Cape Glouster and Peleliu in the Pacific during World War II. It is a vivid and frank tale of what the author felt and did. I love the subject and respect the author's honesty in revisiting his battle experiences just a decade after the war ended. But I did not like this book until 3/4s of the way through. The author's attitude toward authority was very off-putting. His glorification of carousing while recuperating in Melborne (although a peaceful rest was well deserved) was also off-putting. His celebration of being a "brig-rat" was also off-putting. His disdain for other Marine units was also off-putting. Only when he described his experience as a scout during Cape Glouster, did I start to care more about his fate and those close to him. And by the time he reached the beaches of Peleliu I was very much enjoying the book. I also was not a fan of his writing style. It was too flowery and abstract at times and lacked grounding to really help a reader understand the context. But as I said, I appreciate the author's frankness, that he laid bare his disrespectful and selfish attitude, that he laid bare his warm feelings for his friends, that he laid bare his fear and courage, and that he laid bare his and the sacrifice of others. ”

TakYak wrote this review Wednesday, June 17 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“This book continues the story begun in A Game of Thrones by adding more characters and plunging almost all of the characters into a warring landscape. I did not enjoy this book as much as the first and I doubt I will enjoy any in the rest of the series as much as A Game of Thrones. The pacing of A Game of Thrones was fairly tight. I never skipped ahead and felt evenly invest in all the characters' stories. With this book, I cheated and skipped ahead, reading chapters devoted to favorite characters and slogging through chapters that dealt with more lumbering character stories. I was also hoping for an answer to my suspicions as to one of the character's parentage, but it appears this "mystery" will not be answered until book 7 or 8. I'll stick with the series, but mostly by audio book in the car. The book is adequate and serves the series, but to be great, it needs better pacing.”

TakYak wrote this review Wednesday, June 17 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“I enjoyed this book a lot. It felt like reading a classic mystery/gothic tale, and it had an emotional punch as well. The story is of an introverted biography writer who is selected by a reclusive popular mystery writer to author the writer's biography before the mystery writer dies. The mystery writer's public past is largely a fiction and the biographer must discover the truth behind the writer's past and the biographer's own past in order to fulfill her task. The mysteries in the book concern family secrets, twins, and a crumbling house. Outstanding prerequisites for a classic mystery tale. Very well written and very enjoyable. I highly recommend it.”

TakYak wrote this review Wednesday, June 17 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“This is the fist book in a very long series about waring lords and kings in a world in which the magic forces of ice creatures and dragons are awakening and will threaten a human race distracted by infighting. That's the series. This book is mostly about the Stark family. A noble father, his courageous wife, and their six kids, each of whom gains a wolf companion in the first chapters. Not all of the family members or all of the wolves survive the end of the novel. The book is fun. I enjoyed getting to know all the characters, imagining a giant Ice Wall, watching dragons be born, seeing an adult world through the eyes of children who have to grow up very quickly. The book was fairly well paced and the writing is decent. A good read if you are into this type of genre. ”

TakYak wrote this review Wednesday, June 17 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“My mom lent me this book. We were both fascinated by the recipes which began each chapter. The Food-Emotions-Memories connection is almost always a rewarding theme. In this book, a trio of sisters escapes the reprecussions of the Iranian revolution and find themselves opening an Iranian restaurant in a tiny Irish town to the joy of some and dismay of other locals. In general, I enjoyed the book, because it combined Iranian history and culture with food (and included recipes for some of my favorite dishes). In particular, I did not enjoy the writing style. The writing style was "immature," meaning it demonstrated the talents of an earnest but undeveloped writer. Often times the book was full of anecdotes obviously taken from the personal experiences and impressions of the author rather than demonstrating creativity. The tone was also uneven. The Irish characters had implausible, fairy-tale like or allegorical stories. The Iranian characters more realistic and grounded stories. There change of tone between the different types of characters was disjointed. Good book to read if you like food and fiction. Also short, with a couple good recipes.”

TakYak wrote this review Wednesday, June 17 2009. ( reply | permalink )

1 of 1 members found this review helpful.

• Rated 4 stars

“I love this book just as much as I love the other two. It made me laugh out loud and want to live among the characters. In Revenge of the Spellmans, private investigator Izzy Spellman is back. She's taking a break from working directly for the family private "eye" business, but nothing could stop this heroine from investigating. She takes on a few independent jobs and contemplates taking over the family business. Meanwhile, she has the same family problems, the same boyfriend problems, and the same "growing-up" problems, but it seems like bit by bit her life is getting a little straighter. A wonderful, quick read. One of the final pages contains the transcript of a therapy session among all members of the Spellman family. That page alone is worth the read. Highly recommended.”

TakYak wrote this review Thursday, March 19 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“I chose this novel, expecting to read a well written crime novel. Instead, to my equal enjoyment, it was a well written historical novel. I was initially impatient with the start of the book as it took many pages before the two main characters interacted. The book's prologue, however, is wonderful and promised that if I hung in, it would be worth it, and it was. The novel brings to life forgotten portions of post World War I (1918/19) U.S. history: the Spanish flu pandemic, anarchist bombings, the Red scare, the Boston police strike, and my favorite, the great molasses flood. These historical facts impel both the book's narrative and its themes. The story concerns Luther Lawrence, an African American baseball player on the run for a killing a man. Luther ends up fleeing to Boston and working for Police Captain Thomas Coughlin's family as a house servant. Luther eventually becomes good friends with the other protagonist in the book, eldest son Danny Coughlin, an undercover police officer who is sympathetic to police unionizing.

The book does a compelling job of tracing the theme of power: how to exert it when you lack it and how to survive it when it impedes you. Best illustrative of the theme is the book's prologue which tells the story of a baseball game between a team of black players and a team of idling professional players. The professional players, embarrassed by the black players' skill, cheat and manipulate the rules in order to win the game once they realize they will loose otherwise. The black players, despite the cheating, manage to stay even, but Luther, who is about to catch a game-tying ball that will surely lead to an extra inning and more likely a violent confrontation between the teams...declines to catch the sure thing, lets the ball drop to the ground and walks away with his team and without a word. Babe Ruth, playing with the professionals, is ashamed of his role in the incident (and continues to serve as a thematic tent pole throughout the book). The baseball game is analogous to struggles Luther faces later on and to Danny's activities regarding the police union. Most striking, the prologue eloquently ties together the themes of race, power and honor. Ultimately, the book concludes on both a fatalist and optimistic note, which I feel is the book's reflection on the "American Dream."

This is an excellent book if you enjoy U.S. history and especially if you enjoy the history of Boston. It is well written, full of historical facts, lots of action and cameos by Babe Ruth, Calvin Coolidge and J. Edgar Hoover. All this is balanced with thematic musings on race, family, honor and power. (It's also my idea of a "boy" book, as it focuses on male characters and often narrates action and violence). ”

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

3 of 3 members found this review helpful.

• Rated 4 stars

“This is an excellent work of political history. The novel explores the character and leadership of Abraham Lincoln by examining his decision making and his relationships among members of his cabinet. Either the book is extremely sympathetic to Lincoln, or he was truly both a great and good man. He brought into his cabinet his chief rivals for the Republican nomination and through the course of his administration won over their admiration, loyalty and love.

As for the book, it is easy and enjoyable to read. The pace and tension naturally picks up during the Republican nomination convention and during the Civil War. The most difficult parts of the book are the first 150 pages or so which explore and compare the biographies of Lincoln and key cabinet members as well as the politics of the Ante Bellum period. The names and historical events of the Ante Bellum era are not as familiar as those of the civil war, thus, that portion of the book requires more concentration. But the background and context provided by those pages make the rest of the book much more rewarding.

Author Doris Kearns Goodwin also makes special effort to highlight women tangential to the Cabinet members’ biography. She gives a very sympathetic portrayal of Mrs. Lincoln, and she takes time to give details about the lives and personalities of Kate Chase and Fanny Seward.

The best part of the book is the story of the friendships Lincoln developed with his personal secretaries, with Secretary of State Seward, with Secretary of War Stanton, with Post Master General Montgomery Blair, and with abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Equally compelling is his relationship with Secretary of Treasury Salmon Chase. Ms. Goodwin effectively intersperses familiar and new anecdotes about Lincoln to illustrate these relationships. She writes of Lincoln waking his personal secretaries in the night to share with them a funny story. She writes of Lincoln easily lying in bed with a recovering friend to quietly converse with him and ease his comfort. She clearly brings across Lincoln’s humor and compassion and demonstrates why Lincoln’s friends loved him so dearly.

The important part of the book is the window into Lincoln’s character and decision making. Ms. Goodwin emphasizes examples of Lincoln’s pragmatism in distancing himself from his passions in order to make decisions in the best interests of the country. She cites several examples of Lincoln writing an impulsive and impassioned reply to someone who slighted him and then never delivering the writing to its recipient. She also cites several examples of Lincoln ignoring slights, complementing foes, shouldering blame and being extremely kind.

From a writing perspective, my favorite parts of the book are the few times when Ms. Goodwin pauses to analyze the development of certain seminal speeches composed by Lincoln. She beautifully highlights how Lincoln adopted and edited words recommended by Secretary Seward to be more eloquent and more reflective of Lincoln’s pragmatic idealism. She also traces the development of Lincoln’s core beliefs and his patience and skill at waiting for the right time to eloquently introduce those concepts to the American public.

There are many excellent parts of this book and if you have the time it is well worth the read.

”

TakYak wrote this review Tuesday, December 2 2008. ( reply | view 1 replies | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“This novel is set in an alternative 1985 England in which England is still at war with Russia over the Crimea, Wales is an independent socialist republic, the police enforce time travel, scientists regularly clone and sell pet dodo birds, and literature is taken very, very, very seriously. In this world lives Thursday Next, a literary detective who must stop evil genius Acheron Hades from entering classic Dickens and Bronte works (through a "prose portal"), kidnapping characters, and causing great works of literature to be re or unwritten. Sound complicated? Well, it is.

I liked the book, but, as noted, the reality of the book was too complicated. All the strange facets of the book's universe didn't come together. A chapter about catching meteorites with baseball gloves. A chapter about closing a rip in time. A chapter about slaying vampires (with a vampire hunter named Spike....Buffy much?) Some of these chapters and even the characters (i.e., the dodo) didn't contribute significantly towards the main mystery. I must admit that romping around in Jane Eyre and meeting Mr. Rochester was fun. Also entertaining were the literary allusions (many of which I'm sure went over my head). And the gang wars over who really wrote Shakespeare's plays were extremely fun to read.

So it's an okay book, if you can get over the hurdle of figuring out the elements of the book's alternative reality. It's a very good book if you love literary allusions. I much prefer the author's other book The Big Over Easy which tackles nursery rhymes and mythology allusions. My memory may be fuzzy, I read The Big Over Easy a year ago, but that novel seemed more focused. (It's satirical commentary on media and crime was also better than this novel's satirical commentary on war and corporate greed).

If you love Jane Eyre and Charles Dickens read this book. If you read one book by Jasper Fforde, read The Big Over Easy ”

TakYak wrote this review Wednesday, November 19 2008. ( reply | permalink )

1 of 1 members found this review helpful.

• Rated 2 stars

“This is a novel about a group of intelligent criminals who, while committing a drug theft from a university building, happen to also steal a file of documents researched and drafted by one of the university’s professors. The research and plans, funded by the U.S. government, basically set out a blueprint for how to cause mass chaos in any city in the world. The government wants the plans back. The criminals lead the government on a merry dance of blackmail, even resorting to using the plans against Los Angeles. That’s the plot.

The reason I picked up the book was the title. Dr. Metzger is a cat. Dr. Metzger, the cat, has a dog. I’m a cat person. I was intrigued. But I didn’t like the book. I didn’t like the characters or the plot. It just wasn’t my thing. I didn’t warm to any character, though they were colorfully draw. I just didn’t feel the characters were clearly drawn. It was difficult to determine the characters’ motivations and morality…which was probably the point and the genius that another reviewer would see in this book. And the plot seemed to develop slowly for such a short book. Again, it just wasn’t my thing. And I would not recommend it. ”

TakYak wrote this review Monday, November 17 2008. ( reply | permalink )