By Zora Neale Hurston
A beautiful love story that took me a while to finish (though I did finish it a week ago), mostly because a lot of it was written in dialect. [240 pp.]
Book link
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Strand of a Thousand Pearls
By Dorit Rabinyan
It was weird reading a book that was translated from Hebrew in English. Seems like the translator did a good job, but I couldn't help re-translating it back to Hebrew. The book is okay. Not my favorite, but quite readable. I know a Hebrew teacher who was looking for an Israeli book that have been translated to English, and are less than 300 pp. long that would tell her students a little bit about what life in Israel is like. I thought about recommending this book for her class, but decided not too. They might think that all Israeli girls are obsessed with breasts... [272 pp.; finished on 5 days ago]
Book link
It was weird reading a book that was translated from Hebrew in English. Seems like the translator did a good job, but I couldn't help re-translating it back to Hebrew. The book is okay. Not my favorite, but quite readable. I know a Hebrew teacher who was looking for an Israeli book that have been translated to English, and are less than 300 pp. long that would tell her students a little bit about what life in Israel is like. I thought about recommending this book for her class, but decided not too. They might think that all Israeli girls are obsessed with breasts... [272 pp.; finished on 5 days ago]
Book link
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Inheritance
By Natalie Danford
An interesting book about a woman following her father's past and finding disturbing stories about what he did during the war. Apart for one confusing case of inconsistent telling of facts, I found the book very well written, gripping, and enjoyable. [224 pp., actually finished a week ago, just slow to post]
Book link
An interesting book about a woman following her father's past and finding disturbing stories about what he did during the war. Apart for one confusing case of inconsistent telling of facts, I found the book very well written, gripping, and enjoyable. [224 pp., actually finished a week ago, just slow to post]
Book link
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Being Dead
By Jim Crace
I probably should have guessed from the title that this book would not be easy to read. Indeed, parts of it made me wish I hadn't picked it up. But for the most part, it was a pretty good read. Very knowledgeable and insightful. But seriously, why did the death have to be so horrible (especially for poor Joseph). The descriptions of what happens to the bodies are also pretty gruesome, but again, the fall under the "informative" category. It was nice to share the time between this read and the previous one (Seven Year Switch). These books are so different, it made complete sense to move from one to the other when I couldn't take one of them anymore (Being Dead was the one I couldn't take much of, actually. Especially in the beginning).
Book link
I probably should have guessed from the title that this book would not be easy to read. Indeed, parts of it made me wish I hadn't picked it up. But for the most part, it was a pretty good read. Very knowledgeable and insightful. But seriously, why did the death have to be so horrible (especially for poor Joseph). The descriptions of what happens to the bodies are also pretty gruesome, but again, the fall under the "informative" category. It was nice to share the time between this read and the previous one (Seven Year Switch). These books are so different, it made complete sense to move from one to the other when I couldn't take one of them anymore (Being Dead was the one I couldn't take much of, actually. Especially in the beginning).
Book link
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Seven Year Switch
By Claire Cook
A fun book that is really a page-turner! It's been a while that a reading went so fast for me. It is also informative (culture and wildlife, for example). But there are a few things that bothered me, like putting words in a 10-year old girl that don't make sense for a girl that age to say (criticizing the new star wars movies), and minor common grammatical mistakes (like using "me xxx-ing" instead of "my xxx-ing" in a sentence). They're common and minor, but they still bother me, especially in a book. Also, the end was kind of rushed, like the author tried to squeeze as much as possible in a little bit of space and time. Despite that, I enjoyed reading it. [256 pp.]
Book link
A fun book that is really a page-turner! It's been a while that a reading went so fast for me. It is also informative (culture and wildlife, for example). But there are a few things that bothered me, like putting words in a 10-year old girl that don't make sense for a girl that age to say (criticizing the new star wars movies), and minor common grammatical mistakes (like using "me xxx-ing" instead of "my xxx-ing" in a sentence). They're common and minor, but they still bother me, especially in a book. Also, the end was kind of rushed, like the author tried to squeeze as much as possible in a little bit of space and time. Despite that, I enjoyed reading it. [256 pp.]
Book link
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation
By Olivia Judson
A great review of reproductive strategies in mostly animals, but also plants, fungi, and some obscure creatures. Very interesting, and could be used as a starting point for activities in the classroom, as well as provide lots of anecdotes. Need to get the book! [297 pp. (235 on are notes and literature)]
Book link
A great review of reproductive strategies in mostly animals, but also plants, fungi, and some obscure creatures. Very interesting, and could be used as a starting point for activities in the classroom, as well as provide lots of anecdotes. Need to get the book! [297 pp. (235 on are notes and literature)]
Book link
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Leviathan
By Paul Auster
I read it before, many years ago, in Hebrew. It's one of those books that pass well both in Hebrew and English. I guess it's because the Hebrew translation was done well. (Other times, when the book isn't very good in English it's because it was poorly translated from some other language.) Anyway, not much to say - I like Paul Auster, and I wasn't disappointed. [274 pp.]
Book link
I read it before, many years ago, in Hebrew. It's one of those books that pass well both in Hebrew and English. I guess it's because the Hebrew translation was done well. (Other times, when the book isn't very good in English it's because it was poorly translated from some other language.) Anyway, not much to say - I like Paul Auster, and I wasn't disappointed. [274 pp.]
Book link
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