kristianawithak's reviews
1598 reviews

My new bff suze breaks down all the things you want to know about credit cards, buying a car, ira's, investing etc. It's really easy to read and really practical. I really like this book. It's amazing how much you can learn and it's not hard to understand.

I'm really enjoying this book. It took me the first chapter to really get into, but I'm totally stoked now that I'm into it.
Rob Bell brings such encouragement to the christian life, and challenges the reader to think things through for themselves. It's totally challenging and inspiring.

It's a beautiful look at christianity and God's love for his people.

Loved it!

I am amazed and astonished by The Double Bind. It is my first time reading Chris Bohjalian, and I was not disappointed. I thought I knew where the book was going, and was prepared to feel smart and triumphant at the end of the novel, and instead I was left speechless. I highly recommend this book.

I love books writeen in the 60's.

Hurry Down Sunshine is a memoir of a father grappling with his daughter's psychotic break. It is interesting to see how the family deals. It isn't an emotional story it is told after quite a lot of time has passed. It is a brief look at pyschiatry, mania and a family recovering from this episode.

Oh Lisa Lutz, I like to think you write these books just for me and my friends. They are perfect. I spent Saturday in bed, only leaving to shower and eat, so that I could finish the most recent installment of the Spellman series.

Lovely.

I've started about six books in the last two weeks, and I finally finished one. Sometimes I am restless when starting new books. I do not know the mood I am in and what book will satisfy my restless attention span.

When a book captures my attention and puts me at ease the moment comes when I realize I am nearing the end of the book. It is a painful exciting time as I keep checking the time left. I cannot wait to find out how the book will end, but I also want it to keep going on. It's wonderful. That is the Elegance of the Hedgehog.

The book is about connecting with people. It is a wonderful look at how we isolate ourselves from the world to be ourselves. Life is lived though when you find those people that you can be yourself around.

Oh man! this book starts like something shooting out of a cannon. It totally addresses one of my most recent thoughts, 'do we only interact with what we already believe?'. Jacoby sets out to discuss just that thought. She discusses the term 'intillectual' and how conservatives have turned that into a 'bad word'. Jacoby discusses the use of language to turn serious situations into something we don't feel emotion towards. Years ago we did not use the term 'troops', but rather 'soldiers'. There is an impersonal feel when you hear on the news that "troops died" instead of hearing of the "soldiers" who died while fighting in the war.

I don't think I will agree with everything she says, and that's great, but I'm so excited to learn and hear so many new opinions, plus she seems to come down on Christianity, so I know I will disagree with her in some areas.

As the book progresses it seems to have Jocoby realizing how the world has changed over the course of her life. It is an interesting personal twist to the story, but it seemed a little uncharacteristic from the overall feel of the book.

Here is a list of things Jacoby discusses that made me excited to hear about:

communism
the decline of print culture
decline of reading and the decline of intellectual conversation
'anti-intellectualism'
The difference between the Kennedy campaign and the Kerry campaign. Kerry embraced a more mainstream
Highbrow, Lowbrow, Middlebrow (I used the phrase 'high brow' last night and I realized I wouldn't have said that if I hadn't been reading this book, it was only to Hank, so I didn't come off as terribly pretentious.)
Other great thoughts that made me stop and pause:

Many of the millions of encyclopedias, sold between the 20 and the 50s, were purchased on the installment plan by parents who had never owned a book, but were willing to sacrifice to provide their children with information about the world that had been absent from their own upbringing.

"you'll never walk alone." our need to be connect to things.

Courses in popular culture allow students to continue aiming their mind at low objects.

Watching tv is more like over eating than smoking or drinking, smoking or drinking can be eliminated.

Overall I was really challenged in listening to this book. It made me want to stop watching tv. not get a phone with Internet. to read more, to write more, to talk more. Basically all the things I feel when I am paying close attention to the life I am living, or not living. It was great.

3.5 stars

I thought this would fall into the category of, saw the movie now I'll read the book and note the differences. An Education does not fall into that category at all. This memoir was not released in print until the movie version, with a screen play by Nick Hornby, was already in production. The chapter detailing her years in high school is really not a large part of the book as a whole. Instead Lynn Barber tells little vignettes of her life, her at different ages and different jobs. It is good, a quick read. I can appreciate the book and the movie separately.

It is fun to note that the traumatic things that happen to us in our high school years, really pale in comparison to the rest of ones life. I hope that is a universal truth.