Haddon certainly has a gift for looking at things from an unusual perspective. This story centers around a family that is unraveling at the seams. The father is having a nervous breakdown, mother is having an affair with dad's former co-worker, daughter is getting married to someone even she isn't sure about, and son is having problems with his ( Read more... )

Carol Shields' writing always seems to catch me up emotionally and this book was no different. I felt Reta's emotions as she examined her life and the world around her in the light of her daughter's withdrawl from society. I experienced her heart break, her frustration, her anger and her hope. Carol Shields allows me to live inside her ( Read more... )

This was a very powerful book! Wright's tale of one young black man's seemingly inevitable journey into increasingly crimminal activities, culminating in multiple murders is brutally frank about the race relations of the time and the consequences that segregation breeds. Bigger Thomas isn't a hero, but I couldn't help feeling for him. While I ( Read more... )

This was a wonderful book! Hanff writes about New York as only someone who lives there and loves the city could. She may have been touring "tourist attractions", but she sees them through the eyes of a native and her wonderment at the incredible city where she lives shines through ( Read more... )

This book was good, but not great. At times it felt like it was written with the thought of translation to the big screen in the back of the authors' minds. It required a too much suspension of disbelief in places, but it maintained a fast pace and intensity throughout ( Read more... )

This was a wonderful story. I love Kingsolver's writing; she manages to draw me easily into the story and carry me along with the characters. I really enjoyed the characters in this book. They were wonderfully rich and real, even when their circumstances required some suspension of disbelief ( Read more... )

I really enjoyed this book, despite the fact that Beau always manages to rub me the wrong way. I'm not sure what it is about him, but I just don't like him very much. Fortunately, I really enjoyed most of the other characters in this book. They were wonderfully varied and the story pulled them through exciting twists ande turns that held my ( Read more... )

This was a wonderful read! Gaines has a chatty/gossipy style that almost felt like sitting around, dishing the dirt on the rich and famous with my girlfriends while at the same time communicating some of the history and culture of these landmark buildings. It was also fascinating to see the broker side of these kinds of deals, something that never ( Read more... )

This was a wonderful book! It was not at all what I was expecting. Tackling various difficult subjects such as AIDS, crack addicts, youth violence and pregnancy, and unemployment in the Detroit suburbs, I didn't expect such a positive and uplifting novel, but that's what Cleage delivered ( Read more... )

The Color Purple is a brilliant book, certainly worthy of the Putlizer Prize Walker won for it. I saw the movie several times years ago but had never read the book. I'm so glad that the Banned Books challenge motivated me to pick up a copy. I'll release this one, but may have to pick up another for my personal collection; it's good enough that I ( Read more... )