kristinabrune_author's reviews
1000 reviews

I'm usually hit or miss with Stephen King - some stuff I love, the other stuff I just don't get. This was a great one. It had the right mix of his typical scary, supernatural, what is going on in his mind stuff, combined with great themes (redemption, healing, friendship, and love) and loveable characters.

As always with King, you have to accept a bit of the crazy and let your mind bend a little to enjoy and accept the conclusion of the story, but if you can do that, you won't be disappointed.

I wasn't sure I would like this. I'm not a huge fan of non-fiction books and I didn't know what to expect from King, who is such a master of suspense. But I loved this book. SO much. It felt like he was just chatting with me, like we were having a casual conversation about what it means to be a writer. It was an odd feeling, considering he is one of the most successful writers of all time and could probably say whatever he wanted to about the topic, in whatever tone he wanted. But he was witty and touching and struck the perfect balance of acknowledging his talent and success, while not being at all pretentious about it. I learned a lot from this book, and as wanna-be writer myself, found his advice inspiring, practical, and all-around wonderful.

I had a much longer, drawn-out review in my head that I was going to write here, but I think I just need to say - Go and read it. If you love to write, if you love to read, and especially if you like Stephen King, go read it now.

I don't even know what to say about this yet. I don't even know if three stars is how I feel about it. I wrote a blog post about it here:
http://kristinamarieb.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/book-review-the-final-testament-of-the-holy-bible/

I loved this. It's not my typical kind of book - it was a little slower-paced than what I usually like, but it didn't bother me here. I didn't know much about Hemingway before I read this (which is a travesty, I know) so I didn't have a lot of expectations going into it, which I think helped.

I found Hadley to be a completely loveable character, Hemingway, in spite of the author's attempts to get us to love him, unlikeable, and Pauline to be despicable.

*SPOILERS COMING*

Maybe not spoilers, because most people probably know how this story turns out, but I found the way the affair was characterized as completely CRAZY. Everyone just seemed to accept it! Even Hadley, for a while, while it was happening RIGHT NEXT TO HER. I didn't believe it, but I read that this book sticks very closely to the facts in spite of being a novel, so maybe it was just the way they lived. Who knows?

Anyway, loved it, highly recommend, especially if you like historical fiction - I found the descriptions of the 1920s fascinating.

I don't even know how to express how much I loved this book. I've started and deleted this review four times now. I want to say something about the difference between the war we're fighting now and WWII. I want to say something about the way Hillenbrand told a heartbreaking story beautifully. I want to say something about how I could not stop telling my husband about it and how I devoured this book, reading late into the night and every second during the day that I could.

I can't articulate any of it well enough, so I will just say that I cannot fathom the bravery it took to survive what Louie and the other POWs survived. To say that they are heroes doesn't even begin to do it justice. This will stay with me for a long, long time.

The 19th Wife tells the story of Brigham Young and all his wives, along with a murder mystery centered around a modern-day religious group (which is really a cult) that still practices polygamy.

I really enjoyed this book. It's a fascinating history (which the author acknowledges in the afterward is embellished, as this is a work of fiction)of polygamy and the beginning of Mormonism. Also, with the success of TLC's Sister Wives, it's interesting to read about how it all began and the effects is has on both polygamous wives and their children.

It's a really fast read, told in a variety of mediums (narratives, letters, academic reports, etc.) that keep the story interesting and you get to hear a lot of different characters' perspectives.

Two stars might be kind of harsh - I wanted to like this one. But it's another dystopian YA, with an interesting concept, yes, but I found the characters to be under-developed and a lot of the stuff in the book under-explained and just kind of plopped down in front of us. I think my over-all "meh" feeling about this one is because I so recently read Divergent and The Knife of Never Letting Go and this one just didn't stand up. Ugh. I'll probably read the next one, just to find out what happens, because I was drawn into the story, but I didn't love it.