Books I have read

TITLE	AUTHOR	WHEN READ	RATE	COMMENT
The History of Love	Nicole Kraus	2008
Thunderbolt Kid	Bill Bryson
The Rest is Noise	Alex Ross	2008		Politically correct narration and fascination with the musical masterpieces and musical crap of the 20th century. Pretty interesting, but not discerning, not honest, not decisive. Tell us what you REALLY think!
Beware of God	Shalom Auslander	2008		Some of the stories are well crafted and even funny. Maybe it's part of the humor, but the overall tone reflects a bitter sarcasm that is as close-minded as the society it is making fun of.
The House in Amalfi	Elizabeth Adler	2008		Typical story of a hopeless romantic who falls in love with cliched beauties: Italian Men, coastline sunsets, chocolate, etc...... Very similar to Under the Tuscan Sun. Not very original but reasonably well crafted.
Peace Like a River	Lief Enger	2008		Dreamy book with a curious balance of nostalgia and novelty-- tragedy and beauty.
On the Road	Jack Keruac	2008		More about personal relationships than travel... all they did was zip through the country without really seeing anything except some bars.
Mozart in the Jungle	Blair Tindall	2008		Cleverly uses sex and drugs to trap readers into tirades about the business side of the classical music world. A typical professional musician who doesn't really love music.
Rashi's Daughters: Joheved	Maggie Anton	2008		Beautiful snapshot of life in 11th century France. No real plot, just a telling of a part of a life. Interesting bits of history to be learned too. Especially entertaining and enlightening if you know about wine and Judaism.
Cross	James Patterson	2008		Usually after reading a book you feel full, proud, learned. This one makes you feel guilty, dirty, disgusting. Patterson is a master of suspense but he stoops to the lowest of the low to grab our voyeuristic tendencies and our fascination with the obscene. Just when you think commercialized noveling can't go any lower, they pull this trick: the first two chapters of his NEXT novel, leading you to believe that it's part of the old story. GRRR
A Thousand Splendid Suns	Khaled Hosseini	2007
Giving Up America	Pearl Abraham	2007		Potentially good story about former Hasidic girl who goes through a usual American divorce story. Nice direct style, but never fulfills potential of her unique background, which would have given the story originality. Instead, the character mostly mopes about her boring office job and detached husband..
The Lost Continent	Bill Bryson	2007		Humorous and opinionated matter-of-fact narrative about travels across America. Funny because it's oh-so-true, and because he's almost always negative. When he gets what he wished for he complains and seeks what he complained about before. Clever, revealing and personal. (Listened on audio, excellent reading by William Roberts)
A Monk Swimming	Frank McCourt	2007		The stupidity, misfortune, and other adventures of an Irish alcoholic in the footsteps of his alcoholic father.
Angels & Demons	Dan Brown	2007		Almost the exact same formula as DaVinci Code, only the riddles are even easier to solve. I knew it was Castel San Angelo the whole time! Unbelievable riveting though, like a thriller movie.
The Idiot	Fyodor Dostoyevsky	2007		Dostoyevsky could have said what he had to say in half the verbiage. And I'm sick and tired of stories about the Russian nobility. The Prince reminds me of some people I know, yet he's made so extreme that it comes off as artificial.
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows	JK Rowling	2007		What a thrilling end to an epic series! I read them all, and I literally cried through a loving smile at the end. This generation grew right along with Harry, Ron and Hermione.
The Alchemist	Paulo Coelho	2007		A charming adventure journey, on the cheesy side, about destiny, decision-making, and the self.
Next	Michael Chricton	2007		One of the most impossible-to-put-down books I have ever read. I finished it in record time. Even though the science fiction is typically bizzare for Chricton, he tells a great tale.
Washington Square	Henry James	2007		Great story about an unlikely heroine, a simple-minded victim of more intelligent and successful people all around her. Even the less succesful and those who love her victimize the poor ugly dummy; the whole world pitches in.
Daisy Miller	Henry James	2007		Parallel antithesis of Washington Square. Also a victim, but this time because she is charming and beautiful.
Prey	Michael Chricton	2007		Typical Chricton, not one of his best, but interesting ideas about biology, evolution, and science coming together in the swarm concept.
The Far Euphrates	Aryeh Lev Stollman	2007		Weird book about 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation holocaust survivors. Holocaust's ripple effects continue to wreak their pain on victims. How many generations will it take? Given how we remembered the temple's destruction and before, this will haunt for millennia. Solitary Canadian Jewish family's particular tale. Lots of cryptic symbolism, I think.
The Good People of New York	Thisbe Nissen	2007		Cheese galore. Hadas recommended it. A middle class life. Moody teenager, divorce, career, bla bla bla. Nothing extraordinary, except how it changes focus from mother, to the daughter. Cheesy happy ending.
Moby Dick	Herman Melville	2006		READING it was an adventure. Mind boggling, bizarre work that surpasses all genre and anything that came before it. Exhausts the subject of whaling.
Tuesdays With Morrie	Mitch Albom	2006		An old man bravely and jovially faces death.
Five People You Meet When You Go to Heaven	Mitch Albom	2006		This guy (Albom) is obsessed fixed on this idea of death. A fantasy trip through life after death.
Kite Runner	Khaled Housseini	2006		Riveting story about growing up in Afghanistan. The cruelty and injustice is appalling, but the ending is heartbreakingly beautiful.
Don Juan	Byron	2006		Shockingly and mesmerizingly beautiful verse about that mischievous little Johnny boy. Many favorite lines about the true beauties of life: women, wine, and sunshine.
Atlas Shrugged	Ayn Rand	2006		An epic masterwork, but woefully misguided and delusional. The logic is practically impeccable, but she makes the wrong fundamental assumptions (in my opinion) about the reasons for being. Other main flaw in the logic is disregard for the environment and ignorance of the side-effects.
Sometimes Art Can't Save You	Jill Ferguson	2005		Refreshingly but shockingly honest tale about domestic abuse of an artsy teenager. Jill is not afraid to write about the most gruesome details, even though the happen every day all over the world.
1001 Arabian Nights	Sheherezade	2005		After a few of these, you get the idea, and then they all meld together. The idea is: a tale within a tale within a tale, usually about genies, sultans, and adulterous females.
The Odyssey	Homer	2005		What a great adventure tale! Infinitely better than the Iliad.
Travels With Charley	John Steinbeck	2005		Inspiring journey across America
The Iliad	Homer	2005		Had to put it down after the 1000th description of a fleet footed hero stabbing this or that fiery eyed hero. Basically a play by play of the Trojan War. Historically significant, ok. But as reading material?! Pointless! Where's the "masterpiece" everyone is claiming?
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince	JK Rowling	2005		The wizarding tale gets ever more complicated and dark.
Fathers and Sons	Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev	2005		Sad story about changing times.
Pere Goriot	Honore de Balzac	2005		Sad story about the irrationality of love, especially filial.
Alice in Wonderland	Lewis Carroll	2005		Interesting to read the source after being so familiar with the movie, pop culture references.
Clara	Janice Galloway	2005		Disappointing when stories about interesting people turn out to be mostly run of the mill.
The Queen of Spades	Alexander Pushkin	2005		Short story about a gambler who goes crazy.
The Picture of Dorian Gray	Oscar Wilde	2005		Excellent story about the picture that absorbs its subject's sins. Written in Wilde's witty style, overflowing with wonderful details.
The Music Lesson	Katherine Weber	2005		Turns out to be neither about music nor a lesson nor even the Vermeer painting. Typical female book- a woman fed up with a comfortable life, who needs an exotic man somewhere else.
Of Mice and Men	John Steinbeck	2005
An Na	A Step From Heaven	2005
The Joy Luck Club	Amy Tan	2004
A Solitary Blue	Cynthia Voigt	2004
The Bad Beginning	Lemony Snicket	2004		Formulaic storytelling style gets annoying very quickly. Harry Potter wanna be.
Longing	JD Landis	2004
The Kreutzer Sonata	Leo Tolstory	2004
War and Peace	Leo Tolstoy	2004
Shoa Shelanu (Hebrew)	Amir Gutfruend	2004
Airframe	Michael Chricton	2004
Music of a Life	Andrei Makine	2004