My Goodreads reviews

author: Art Buchwald
name: Kim
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2006
rating: 2
read at: 2018/02/01
date added: 2018/07/14
shelves:
review:
My dad loved Art Buchwald, and I was once a big fan, too – had kind of forgotten about him for a few decades when I stumbled over this. Recalled his irreverent style, appreciated the subject matter, but it became a one joke story. RIP to a very funny man.

author: George Saunders
name: Kim
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2017
rating: 1
read at: 2018/01/01
date added: 2018/07/14
shelves:
review:
It’s won prizes, so it’s one of those books that one is “supposed” to love. Well I didn’t, gave up one third of the way into it – just didn’t get it – too clever by half for me.

author: Matthew West
name: Kim
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2018/07/14
date added: 2018/07/14
shelves:
review:

author: Pål Undall
name: Kim
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2018/07/14
date added: 2018/07/14
shelves:
review:
Needless to say – five stars from me – I translated it!
Want to get a bit of background about the book, go to www.soundofamurder.com.

author: Helen Dale
name: Kim
average rating: 3.65
book published: 1994
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2018/01/25
shelves:
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author: Melinda Edwards
name: Kim
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2018/01/23
shelves:
review:
Well written and surprisingly entertaining considering it contains no murders, no wars, no unsolved mysteries, not even a tiny little villain in sight! The book is about a very real and quite normal woman and the the way she faces challenges in her life. Her challenges are also quite normal, divorce, work changes, children, stuff most of us encounter along life’s journey and deal with in different ways. Virginia deals with it in her own unique way, embraces change and comes out the other end as not so much a changed woman, but maybe having discovered who she always was in the first place?

Virginia’s story is also a refreshingly quick read, no words wasted on the insignificant or trivial. I learnt something about life in general and a new country, Bhutan, in particular. Read it yourself to discover what an amazing place it is. It is now on my bucket list!

author: Elizabeth Gilbert
name: Kim
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2018/01/23
shelves:
review:
Profoundly moving

This is the first (fiction) book of Elizabeth Gilbert that I have read, and it may well be the last. I won’t read her earlier works for fear they won’t measure up, and I will approach her future work with much trepidation, for fear of expectation. The Signature of All Things is a masterpiece, on the surface a well told tale of the extraordinary life of Alma Whitaker, spanning eight decades through the 19th century, written with incredible insight and detail, in a prose that makes you hang on to every sentence waiting to see what happens next. Yet the narrative is not about a life of adventure or drama (although it does contain it’s share of that, too), but about the spirit and endurance of humanity, and ultimately evolution. It’s fictional, but interwoven into the times so cleverly it could well be the story of a heroine whose values and fortitude was beyond heroic. It will remain one of my all time favourite books forever.

author: Rutger Bregman
name: Kim
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2018/01/23
shelves:
review:
This is not just about universal income, it is a book that challenges almost every antiquated notion about what our affluence is built on. It is a book pointing the way towards an alternative future, a world were we can realistically move towards an end to poverty and inequality. The author bridges the gap between history and present reality, without pontificating, carrying not just many convincing arguments for his beliefs, but doings so with both humility and insight into the human condition. Brilliant.

Should be mandatory reading for anyone remotely interested in how we can make this world a better place for everyone.

author: Tom Wolfe
name: Kim
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2018/01/23
shelves:
review:
A most surprising and satisfying read, but you have to be patient, because the real purpose of the book isn’t revealed until the very end. It is erudite, eloquent, as you’d’ expect from this author, funny, irreverent and immensely insightful all at at he same time.

author: Paul Beatty
name: Kim
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2015
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2018/01/23
shelves:
review:
I was lured by the ravenous reviews, and gave it a good whirl, but gave up. Never been into rap, nor of trash talk as an effective means of communicating, especially not on “paper”. This will no doubt appeal to those that are, but for me this became just tedious, the narrative drowned out by what I found to be contrived cleverness of prose. Ingenuous, yes, but not interesting, which is a shame, as I really liked the premise on which it is purporting to be based.

author: David Leser
name: Kim
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2018/01/23
shelves:
review:
From the self serving grandiosity of Conrad Black to the raise and mysterious demise of Robert Maxwell, I have always enjoyed reading about people in the media. David Leser is neither self serving, nor mysterious, and he has written an at times brutally honest account of his life as a journalist, being a son, and being a husband and a father. Told with much wit and insight, his story cleverly uses world events and the many fascinating people he has met along the way as a backdrop to his own journey. Having spent much time in Jerusalem, a proud, but somewhat agnostic Jew, he agonises over the conundrum that is the Israel oppression of the Palestinian people. He serves up fascinating tidbits of the very long list of people he has interviewed and written about, not shying away from having opinions about those that may not share his own values, yet without malice or the hubris prevalent in the media world he inhabits. His meetings with Allan Jones are told with humour and due reverence to the enigmatic, self important and influential radio host. (That Jones sued Leser for the article he wrote about him speaks volumes about the narcissistic paranoia of Jones, but that is another story, and not one Leser himself dwells on to his credit.)

David is equally candid about his own demons, not least in the way he describes the at times fractious, but fundamentally loving, relationship with his mercurial father, the long-serving CEO of Conde Nast, one of the world’s largest media companies. He weaves the story of his family, fortunate survivors of the Holocaust, into that of his own at times painful pilgrimage of self-discovery. In summary, this is not so much an autobiography but a ripping yarn about a passionate, deeply caring, word- and world-wise man, worts and all. Do your self a favour and read it!