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Showing posts from June, 2015

My Review of "At Home" by Bill Bryson

At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson My rating: 4 of 5 stars I found this book to be very illuminating. It is well-researched, but it reads more like a conversation than a history treatise. Bryson introduces characters who recur in the story, but in different roles. The end result is a fullness of understanding that is beyond the sum of the facts. In short, you are immersed in their history through their lives. One thought I had towards the end - after the discussion of how children are treated - is how people will look on us in the future. Certainly our society will seem strange to them too, right? I actually spent the last chapter with this in my mind and it may have taken away from the discussion of the landed gentry's troubles, along with the plight of the good parson. It was a very enjoyable book. I do enjoy his style and it's inevitable that it suffers a comparison to "A Short History of Nearly Everything", which is imnsho, one of the best

My Review of "Kushiel's Dart"

Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey My rating: 4 of 5 stars Ok, first let's look at the positives. There is a good story with top-notch political intrigue. The main character is touched by Kushiel and, thus, has an interesting method of acquiring important information. First she is used by her master to gain secrets but he also teaches her to do critical thinking, empowering her to make great choices on her own. I liked all of this and especially the rich world where it takes place. The characters were good (not great though - sometimes they were a bit too cliché) and the plot moved well until about the middle of the book (60% mark). Then things just worked out too well. I'm not a huge fan of perfect endings and I know there was bravery, risk taking, death, and sacrifice, but still... Anyway, I enjoyed it, but I wanted a little more. View all my reviews I loved it but...   ;-)