cgj13's reviews
587 reviews

This was an interesting "read" Several chapters of this were too scientific, and I found myself zoning out during those portions, and if I had read it in print copy, I would have probably skimmed those pages as well. There are some very interesting correlations to how the modified wheat grain in our current diets impacts several health issues. As with any book of this type, I take the information with a grain of salt. What works for some people, might not work for others. The level of which a certain diet benefits a person is truly independent.

There are definitely some compelling points to make you want to lesson your intake of wheat, if not completely eliminate it.

I expected so much more from a book that is based on a TV character that has such an already rich story line. This fell quite flat from that. I would have liked more conflict in the story and more history about Red's family. After all, this book is titled "Red's Untold Tale" more like its the chronological of events that append to Red when she was a teen. It is told only from Red's perspective, but they give no clues as to what really happened to Red's parents, and to her grandmother.

As a stand alone story, it is fair and entertaining. And a bit of mild teen romance.

This book had me busting out laughing on many occasions and read aloud passages to my family at other times. She takes the odd little things that can happen to anyone and weaves them into funny little vignettes. Also somehow, despite her anxieties and phobias, she seems to find herself in some pretty hilarious situations.

Its refreshing to see that even though there are millions of things that weigh her down, the author still knows how to bring laughter and fun into her life.

This book is not all humor though. Added to the hilarious vignettes, the author does bring to light how mental illness, depression, anxiety, etc all play out in real life. How some days you cannot get around your ownself to move forward. How it creates conflict with those around you. How it can prevent you from doing the most simplist of tasks.

My only concern is that the author is using her illness as a crutch or a defense to act in a manner that she might not have. Or to make a normal situation into a hilarious, off the wall one because "that's just how I am" Then again, her storytelling might just be artistic license to actual events to make them seem more outlandish.

I'm not really sure how to rate this one. The layers of storytelling and descriptions were one of the things I loved most about this book. It was a page turner that had me delving in wanting to know more and find out what happened. So judging it based on that it is really stellar. But I didn't like the storyline when it was flushed out. And in the end, none of the characters were all that like able. I didn't figure it out ahead of time. And I was completely disgusted by the events that transpired.

Gah. This is 2 different books in one. I don't quite know how to rate this. I guess average the two and it is 3.5.
This is a two part book. In the first we find Bryson and his friend Katz out on the Appalachian trail starting from Georgia. This was probably the best part of the book. Bryson shares humorous stories about their time on the trail and the people they encounter. And his traveling companion, Katz, man you just have to love that guy. He comes into the trail not quite prepared for what lies ahead and a sense of humors that comes from being direct. In the first few chapters, you keep waiting for him to say he's done, he's going back home. But he doesn't. He sticks it through, you just have to live his perseverance. I found myself routing for him!

Part 2 is a bit dry. This part read more like a pointers for hiking, in general, and a history of the area around the trail. It lacked the humor that was found in part one and was much more difficult to read. Some parts were quite interesting about the area, such as the town of Centralia. A town that is almost entirely abandoned and razed due to the anthracite underground burning. It's a fascinating story. But I'm not sure how it relates to him hiking the trail. He didn't blend the two together very well. If he would have added the snippets of history, geology, conservation, etc alongside the travelogue vignettes i think it would have made for a more completed picture of his entire time on the trail.

I wonder if some of the lack of history in the beginning of the story is due to the monotonous nature of continual hiking. I get the sense from Bryson that after a few days it starts to look the same, and he mentions that the maps were quite useless, so at times he probably didn't really know the area he was hiking in. Whereas on his day hikes, he probably spent more time learning about the areas he was hiking and that came out in part 2.

At the end we see Bryson and Katz reunited to hike the final portion of the trail in Maine. And once again the humor comes back into the story. Which leads me to this conclusion: it's not Bryson who is funny, but Katz. It's when Katz is with him that we see personal level to this narrative, vs a lecture on the trail.

It is gripping and suspenseful in that penultimate chapter when you don't know what happened to Katz, and I was holding my breath waiting to find out. Was he still on the trail, did he get lost, was he hurt or worse???

One thing that left me unsettled throughout the book though was Bryson's "better than you" demeanor towards Katz. I felt at times that he was condescending and looking down on Katz. Almost from the get go. Katz was larger, slower, packed wrong, etc. Yet, it is quite obvious that the time spent on the trail with Katz was much more enjoyable than the time spent without him. And Katz didn't have to be there. He was one of the only fiends who volunteered to go along on this journey. And he stuck through it. The more I think about it. The more I like Katz and his tenacity. Sure it would have been easier to turn back and go home on a million occasions. But he didn't. In the end, we see that Bryson does care about him, in his own way. But it still unnerved me and made me like him less.

The writing was very fluid and pleasant. It was a wonderful story. It's almost impossible to believe that this wasn't a work of fiction.

A dinner with Edward showcases how people come in and out of lives,,even when they have what we believe a profound impact on our daily lives, that circumstances can change that effect, but not dampen the closeness.

I received this as an advanced reader copy from the publisher through NetGalley.


******* Review in progress. Not yet completed****

This was a page turner for me. I loved it.

The synopsis on the back cover is what drew me into this book. I have not ready any of the authors other books, but was aware of one of her books "If I Stay" was made into a movie. I only saw the previews and it looks like a heart wrencher.

Anyhow, the snippet "For every woman who has ever fantasized about driving past her exit on the highway instead of going home to make dinner, for every woman who has ever dreamed of boarding a train to a place where no one needs constant attention..." definitely caught my eye. I mean seriously, what mom doesn't sometime fantasize about a life of peace and quiet when things are harry and hectic. Most would not take that path, but in this case Maribeth does.

I thought to myself: who leaves their children?? Why don't I hate her more for doing this? For some reason I didn't hate her, but could empathize on how she ended up in that situation. I can almost identify with her. Maribeth is a harried mother, who pushes the limits of her resources/capabilities, takes on too much, doesn't ask for what is needed to have the support she needs, and then stews and gets upset when she feels she is not getting what she deserves from her husband. I think lots of relationships go that way at some point in time. Then she has a heart attack, and her world is turned upside down. She feels like she is being pushed out the door from her magazine job--an industry that is already cut throat. Her husband rushes to her side, but then acts like all is normal, a bit out of his selfish need to have the status quo maintained.

Maribeth has a complex need/want system. She wants help, but she wants it provided and in her style. She wants it to be from her husband and is irritated by the fact that he asked her mother to help. This places a lot of burden on him, and stress on her, as she believes her mother cannot do anything. Having personally faced a situation like this, I know how difficult it is to give up control of your household to someone else.

I was quite shocked when I started the second section and realized she had up and left her family. We are given the insight that in order for her to be at terms that she left her children, she compartmentalizes that aspect of her life and treats it like she is gone on a business trip. That is brought up multiple times throughout the time she is gone.

In fact, after some time, she decides to get back in touch with her ex. She is quite pissed that he has not been trying to find her or contact. His response is that he is doing what she asked. He even forwards her the letter she wrote. In an act of defiance and rage, she deletes the email, as if to say "how dare he throw my words back in my face" However, she doesn't even know what she wrote in the letter, and it remains a mystery to us, the reader, until she gains the courage to tell her husband to resend it, because she doesn't know what she wrote. I love, love, loved the dialogue between Maribeth and her husband that happens via e-mail. At first it is very terse. Her husband is responding in one word replies, which infuriates Maribeth, but eventually, they both let the walls come down, and we see some real honest discussion of their problems. (well, on a somewhat high-level, other wise the book would be way to long). This left me to feel that there was hope for a reconciliation, or at least with Maribeth returning home in the near future.

I have left out the bits about her relationships with the cardiologist and the search for her birth mother. This is intentional, as I have already wrote enough on this book.

I know it has a slight fairy tale ending with things wrapping up nicely between Maribeth and her husband. But I know that is not how it always plays out in real life, but it settled well with my heart and what I wanted for this book. I felt that the resolution between Maribeth and Elizabeth was too sugary sweet, with Elizabeth going from frigid standoff queen to doting, sweet best friend/ "auntie" to her kids. That seemed quite unrealistic to me.

After talking about this book with our children's librarian, she told me that Gayle Forman is a YA author. That makes sense for the speed of reading of this book, and the level of complexity of the relationships (or lack of complexity). I hate to say it makes for a great beach read, because I feel like it would minimize the book to something less than it is.

I picked this up one afternoon at work. It is a vast collection of Tan's work, covering everything from pen and ink to full on production work. There is a wide representation of artistic styles. It's fascinating that one artist could produce such a variety of work.

I really, really wanted to be scared to death by this book, but I wasn't, which is why it got a 4 instead of a 5. The cover made me really think that this was going to be a spine-tingling book that had you thinking the world was under attack by what you would think were spiders, but really it would be something more sinister or scarier. But it wasn't, it was spiders. They aren't normal spiders, but we don't quite know what they are yet.

I will say, this book did give me some heeby-jeebies and made me wonder if the itch on the back of my neck was really an itch or, maybe it was a spider. So in that respect, it did a great job of building in a creepy, suspenseful factor. I actually never thought someone could write a more suspenseful scene than the egg sack hatching in the lab. It had me at the edge of my seat ready to slam the book shut--just in case something were to jump out at me

This is definitely a book that sets up a series. You can tell by how much set up into the storyline was placed in this story. There were many, many characters introduced and the author does a great job of keeping you up to date on their individual story lines throughout the book. This draws you in and I really started to care what happened in each of their cases. I am excited to read the next in the series when it comes out and find out how the story continues.

**** I received this book as an advanced reader copy through NetGalley****

I would give this a 3.5.

The good:
This book did not follow the same format as Gone Girl or Girl on a Train, and that is a good thing. Those type of domestic suspense just leave you with a bad taste in your mouth and no genuine protagonist to root for. It has been touted as a literary mystery for Kate Atkinson and Tana French readers--I am not familiar with either of those others, so I can't make that comparison.

I was kept guessing right until the end. I had a suspicion or two of who did it, but it wasn't ever a clear cut choice. This left me wanting more and kept me turning the pages way into the night

The bad:
The incomplete backstories. We learn tons about Edith, but Manon's history is only marginally hinted at, not to the degree where we can see how her past truly affects her lack of personal connection now.

The intense love story for Manon, that fizzles out as quickly as it started. What's with that?

Too much going on with side stories. Why bring up Stuart--what does he add to the mystery? And the switch from the missing persons case to the life resolutions of Manon with her sister and Fly. Too much to follow, without enough pages devoted to telling the whole story.

The in-between:

The lack of strong women--REALLY!!!! Although, Manon seems like a strong independent woman on the surface, there are bits of her that show her strength, but she is quite reserved and hasn't learned to live a whole with these. Edith runs and hides. Blah--make them strong.

The inconsequential:
I couldn't follow all the vernacular. This is not a downfall of the book, just an observation that made me have to work harder to understand what was going on.