I can’t imagine allowing oneself to be roped into a more horrible surprise than this.

For once, a holocaust story with a happy ending.

Keeps you guessing until the very end. Reading this book and some of Greene’s others has inspired me to read a biography of his life.

Despite critics’ complaints that there are incorrect forensic details (how could this happen with a writer as experienced as Lippman?) and that the story goes on too long I found this book a very good read. A wonderfully complicated plot, exceedingly well-drawn characters, along with insight into the minds of teenage girls made me empathize with these characters and want to know exactly how tragedy befell them.

I found this book very tedious at times. It’s very didactic like Struwelpeter but it has the disadvantage of being a whole lot longer. I suppose at the time of the publication of this book a lot of the children reading or being read to had daily experience with horses and benefitted from all the lessons on treating them kindly.

This is one of my very favorite movies. The last scene where Hanks is being dropped off always makes me tear up.

I love this book. I will never forget the Frankie’s phrase: “the we of me”.

I recommend this edition of The Quiet American for its enlightening introduction.

This is a remarkable book, the first Ha Jin has written about the Chinese immigrant experience in the United States. The main character Nan Wu, is a frustrated poet, who constantly struggles with loyalty to his wife and obsession with his first love. His wife Ping Ping is admirable in her devotion to her husband and her son and her unrelenting efforts to make a good life for all of them in America. Their son, Tao Tao is caught between his parents’ desire that he adhere to Chinese values and culture and his own to become Americanized and one with his peers. It’s a long work – I listened to it on 17 CDs but the time invested is worth it. Highly recommended.

This is not just a horror story but rather contains a lot of musing/brooding over the existence of a loving God. Detective Kinderman is a brilliant man, a little Columbo-ish, and also a lovable character. He’s getting on in years and feels oppressed by all the horrible things he’s seen and the devilish possession of the human mind. Highly recommended.