tori_storydelver's reviews
625 reviews

Things I liked about this book:
- Sunny is growing up
- Small clues are being dropped about the ongoing mystery
- The Baudelaires have their closest encounter being caught yet
- We get to learn a little more about Count Olaf's theater troupe
- The ending was great!

Things I didn't like about this book:
- Those Volunteers Fighting Disease people
- That Volunteers Fighting Disease ANNOYING SONG! It is repeated so many times, I was just so sick of it by the end of the book!

This was a great book for people like me. I learned about most everything in this book in high school science classes, but that was almost ten years ago now. This book was a great refresher! If you already know a lot about astrophysics I think the information in this book will be too basic to be entertaining. On the other hand I think if you know nothing about the topic you'll either think the descriptions are too vague or be overwhelmed by the facts being thrown at you. So, like I said, I thought this book was great for me, but I definitely wouldn't recommend this to just anyone.

I feel almost bad giving this a three star rating. I really enjoyed reading it a lot! It just was a little underwhelming. I feel like I know Amy Poehler's personality much better, but I was hoping for some more "behind the scenes" stories. It would have been great to hear more about the UCB and SNL. They were mentioned but most of the stories are about Amy's relationship with the other members. That's making it sound more interesting than it was, it was more like, " Me and this person got along great, I love them," and sometimes there would be a short story about something that person did. Like I said, I really did like this book, I just feel like it is a perfect example of why it is bad to give someone a book deal who doesn't even have an idea for a book.

I liked it, but I didn't think it was one of the strongest books of the series. Which is really a shame because I love circus/carnival themes and my boyfriend said this was one of his favorites of the whole series. It is definitely one of, if not the, most violent book of the series. (at least so far) You can tell things with the V.F.D. mystery are picking up, but I still wish it wasn't moving so slowly. I did love the disguises and the so-called "freaks." I really like that there are bigger messages in these books then just what is on the surface.

I had heard mixed reviews about The Alchemist, it seemed like you either love it or you hate it. Then I read it and I couldn't imagine how it could get such terrible reviews. After reading the reviews I understood. So many people have interpreted this story much differently then I did. Everyone (on both sides of the scale) are saying this book is about following your dreams, but it really isn't. Dreams can be fleeting, there are things you may desire in life that you will never achieve no matter how much you work for it. The boy in this story was not following his "dreams" he was following his calling. There are things in life that no matter how hard you try to ignore them or move on to something else they will continue to resurface. Those are what the author is talking about when he says personal legends.

I understand it is annoying when someone whose irresponsible and has poor work ethic talks about how much they love this book and uses it as justification to not work and just follow their other passions. I would be annoyed too. But this story doesn't condone that behavior. Santiago works hard and overcomes obstacles to get to the pyramids. He made lots of money at the crystal shop and could have stopped there and lived a happy enough life, but he ventured on. He fell in love with a girl and could have stayed there and lived a very fulfilling life with his family, but he took a chance and hoped that she would still be waiting when he got back. He got all the way to the pyramids just to find out the treasure was where he started from. The moral of this story was not (in my mind) that the treasure was right there the whole time. The moral was that the journey is the treasure, that learning how to run a successful business, meeting the love of your life, experiencing and learning from things outside your comfort zone are truly valuable. If you just want to make money stay where you are you can make yourself rich anywhere. If you want to find true value in life then keep an open mind, explore when you can, and never stop learning from the things and people around you.

Thank you Angie Thomas for writing this book! It is exactly what America needs. Like any book that completely awes me, this has sat on my currently reading shelf despite the fact I finished it months ago. I get nervous when I try to review books that are so important and sooo good! The thing that I really loved about this book is how well-balanced it is. There are cops who are racist and unnecessarily violent, there are cops who are genuinely trying to do the right thing. There are good families in bad neighborhoods, there are bad families in bad neighborhoods. There are racists who will attack and even kill someone because of the color of that persons skin, there are racist who would never think of being so violent but are just as hateful with their voices. Every side of this story has an equal and opposite side in this story and it is just incredible that anyone was able to do that so well.

I am white. I went to school in a predominately white town. My school was full of Haileys, my town was full of Haileys. I wish I had had this book to hand out to anyone who ever thought I was "uptight" because I wasn't laughing at their racist "joke" or told me to "lighten up" when I refused to hang out with someone who was always making racist comments. I think if they knew that black people still have to struggle then they wouldn't have thought what they were saying was funny or harmless. They never understood that even though we don't have (openly) segregated schools anymore, even though slavery is illegal now, racism is still a huge problem and it effects people every day. This book approaches the issues from so many different angles that I don't think it would put off anyone that thinks like that, and I am sure this story will change the minds of many people who do.

Finally! I feel like this addition to the series answers a lot of the questions we've been wondering this whole time. Of course, now there are many more mysteries to find out, but I am glad some things were actually answered and it wasn't just a little snippet of information revealed. I also love how much Sunny has grown up over the series, she is quickly becoming my favorite character.

I know this is a long book, and it will continue to grow until SNL is over (if that ever happens) but it is a must read for any fan of the show! I loved it! I learned so much about what goes on behind the scenes. It is really interesting to see how opinions differ on the same subjects. Especially Lorne Michaels, that guy has a lot of people who love him and a lot of people who hate him. It was really neat to see the differences in the cast's attitudes throughout the decades. And I was really impressed with how well all the clipped together quotes from the cast member's interviews and books flow together so well.

I found this series because I always loved the Disney movie, The Black Cauldron, which I guess it is also based off The Book of Three too. The writing was not the greatest but the characters completely saved this one for me. I love the pig who can tell the future, the bard whose harp strings break every time he lies, and the magical girl who thinks she knows best. Seriously, Eilonwy really reminded me of my sister who I thought was annoying when we were young, sure, but I also ultimately thought she was lovable too. The fact that Lloyd Alexander can make a personality like that so realistic makes me like his story so much more. The bad guy is genuinely scary and I love all the places they go to.

Initially I liked this book. I thought it was simply written, but had some good characters and was a great introduction to sci-fi for a kid who may only read fantasy. The descriptions were great. This is a very sensory driven book and it gives a very trippy effect to the story. I didn't care about the religious stuff very much, I felt like there wasn't a whole lot of it to be honest. My main problem with this book is that it is so forgettable! I'm writing this review a couple weeks after I read the book, which is very normal for me and my memory is a little foggy on all the details. I can't tell you the number of times I've heard someone say, "I read A Wrinkle in Time as a kid but I forget what it is about." The book just doesn't stick with most people. I recommend this book to people who are tripping and want to read but are afraid you won't remember the details the next day. Because not only is it awesome and psychedelic, but even if you were sober you probably would eventually forget what happened in this book!