This should be required reading!

I found this book outdated and after I’d slogged through half of the extremely long “complete novel” I gave up. I’ve read elsewhere that there are other Heinlein books that are more relevant today.

This is a well written and interesting account of the war waged by the British Royal Navy in the North Atlantic during WWII.

What a beautiful story. It was published in 1975 and somehow I missed it. But that’s alright, because although it’s considered a “children’s book” I’m sure my reactions to mortality are far more complex today than they were when I was a child. So, I highly recommend this book. It’s beautifully written and can be read in two or three hours. Enjoy.

While I enjoyed this book there were times I wish I’d gotten the original edited version. This is the same reason I stopped reading Stranger in a Strange Land. It just went on and on….

I had the pleasure of reading this for the first time yesterday. What an astounding book! It happens to be my community’s summer read and still has great relevance today. It was published in 1895 and makes reference to telegraphs and telephones and, surprise… Kodak! The Time Machine has a lot to tell us about the dichotomies of our society and the unfortunate direction in which we may be heading. You can see, too, how it has affected succeeding works of sci-fi. The description of the Morlocks reminded me very much of the underground beings in the recent and very good film, The Descent.

I listened to this book and found it really delightful – a new slant on the normal detective/mystery series. I learned at least as much about Botswana as I did about the main character, Ma Ramotswe. No matter what the case she used good judgment and clever insight to solve it. Sometimes, I laughed out loud, sometimes I shuddered. Wonderful. Highly recommended!

This was a great one to listen to. Had I read it to myself I’m sure I would have had trouble getting finished also. But the reader was excellent and I could consume it while doing chores around the house. Although I suppose the Epilogue was believable I was dissappointed that the author decided to end the story that way.

I purposely read McEwan’s book right before seeing the movie and I’m glad I did. It helped to explain certain things about the film that I think would have left me at a loss. For example, the “flashbacks” seem to me to be not really flashbacks but rather episodes as Briony actually saw them and then how she later wrote about them, filling in details, dialogue, emotion, etc. Much of the dialogue was lifted straight from the book, which also helped me with some difficulties understanding the (perhaps mumbled?) British English. Also, since I was watching the movie on pay per view I rewatched some parts of it. I really think it’s a subtley complex film and could bear a number of “rewatchings”.

This is a very long book, 880 pages in the edition I read and I thought it did drag in a few places. Nevertheless it was an enjoyable read built around a very creative idea.