|
TITLE
|
AUTHOR
|
WHEN READ
|
RATE
|
COMMENT
|
|
Steppenwolf |
Herman Hesse |
2011 |
 |
A sad old man that life is very much worth living despite all the disgusting
things around us and in us. Like listening to a scratched old record--
dirty and garbled but underneath the music is still good. |
|
Siddhartha |
Herman Hesse |
2011 |
 |
Beautiful story about a man who find his own redemption not through religious
dogma but through his own experience. |
|
Ishmael |
Daniel Quinn |
2010 |
 |
Lecture from a gorilla whose main message is: stop destroying the world! |
|
The Slave |
Isaav Bashevis Singer |
2010 |
 |
Masterful... modern in outlook yet it feels like a folk tale and is impossible
to put down. |
|
Choke |
Chuck Palahniuk |
2009 |
 |
Tries to be funny but it's not. Tries to have this dark social
commentary but it's stale. Nobody cares about these weirdos and they're
not even interesting. |
|
Divisadero |
Michael Ondaatje |
2009 |
 |
Kept looking for a connection between the stories or to somehow resolve them
but the author completely ignores this expectation.
NYT Review Explains of this division to the title of the book. Ha!
Separate stories by themselves are OK.
(Listened on audiobook) |
|
Around the World in 80 days |
Jules Verne |
2009 |
 |
Charming book. Not the adventure I thought it would be, which is good--
exceeds expectations. Can be somewhat cheesy portrayal of Brits but this
is the source of it all. |
|
Melachim Gimel (Hebrew) |
Yochi Brandes |
2009 |
 |
Jewish version of the Da Vinci Code... semi-fact-based novel
meant to shatter biblical pillars, and done in a captivating page-turner
style. |
|
Inner Tennis |
Timothy Gallwey |
2008 |
 |
Very useful book about how to look at life, not just tennis. Can be
applied to making music also. Somewhat overly accepting "no one is bad
at Tennis" but very good ideas about how to think about your own physical
movement through this world. |
|
Twilight |
Stephenie Meyer |
2008 |
 |
One of the worst books I read recently. Story about an ordinary life
injected with contrived and unimaginative fantasy. Doesn't come close to
the Harry Potter series in terms of invention and fantasy. Last bit of
action at the end comes out of nowhere and has very little to do with the rest
of the story. Despite all this, I am not surprised by shallow teenage
girls crazing over this piece of banal consumer fodder. |
|
The Source |
James Michener |
2008 |
 |
Michener captures the spirit of Israel and Judaism as I thought no non-Israeli
could. A must read for anyone interested in Judaism and the Middle East. |
|
The History of Love |
Nicole Kraus |
2008 |
 |
Contemporary 21st story-telling: not too abstract or far out. Brings
several narratives from different time periods and perspectives together into
a meaningful and unexpected synchronization. A good mix between
philosphization and dramatic story telling. Lively characters. |
|
Thunderbolt Kid |
Bill Bryson |
2008 |
|
Bryson being his usual cynical self about his childhood. It gets old.
But he does have an uncanny way of making the mundane seem bizzare. |
|
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
|
|
|
|
Kitchen
|
Banana Yoshimoto
|
2004
|
|
|
|
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
|
Italo Calvino
|
2004
|
|
|
|
Reading Lolita in Teheran
|
Azar Nafisi
|
2004
|
|
|
|
The Heart of Redness
|
Zakes Mda
|
2004
|
|
|
|
Chronicle of a Death Foretold
|
Gabriel García Márquez
|
2004
|
|
|
|
The King of Torts
|
John Grisham
|
2004
|
|
|
|
The Hot Zone
|
Robert Preston
|
2003
|
|
|
|
In the Lake of the Woods
|
Tim O'Brien
|
2003
|
|
|
|
East of Eden
|
John Steinbeck
|
2003
|
|
|
|
Virgin Blue
|
Tracy Chevalier
|
2003
|
|
|
|
The Life of Pi Patel
|
Yaan Martel
|
2003
|
|
How can an entire novel be based almost solely on a boy on a boat? Yaan Martel
achieves a trippy voyage through the ocean, with surprises at the end that tie
everything together brilliantly.
|
|
Lolita
|
Vladimir Nabokov
|
2003
|
|
|
|
The Da Vinci Code
|
Dan Brown
|
2003
|
|
|
|
Beethoven: The Life and Music
|
Louis Lockwood
|
2003
|
|
|
|
Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix
|
JK Rowling
|
2003
|
|
|
|
Daughter of Fortune
|
Isabel Allende
|
2003
|
|
|
|
The Red Tent
|
Anita Diamant
|
2003
|
|
|
|
Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire
|
JK Rowling
|
2003
|
|
|
|
Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban
|
JK Rowling
|
2003
|
|
|
|
Balzac & the Little Chinese Seamstress
|
Dai Sijie
|
2003
|
|
|
|
Indivisible by Four
|
Arnold Steinhart
|
2003
|
|
|
|
An Uncommon Friendship
|
Bernat Rosner & Fredrick Tubach
|
2003
|
|
|
|
The Good Earth
|
Pearl S. Buck
|
2002
|
|
|
|
Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets
|
JK Rowling
|
2002
|
|
|
|
Girl With A Pearl Earring
|
Tracy Chevalier
|
2002
|
|
|
|
Bach, A Biography
|
C Sanford Terry
|
2002
|
|
|
|
Catcher in the Rye
|
JD Salinger
|
2002
|
|
|
|
Twelfth Night
|
William Shakespeare
|
2002
|
|
If music be the food of love play on. We'll play on even though it
isn't.
|
|
The Sound and the Fury
|
William Faulkner
|
2002
|
|
|
|
Crime and Punishment
|
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
|
2002
|
|
|
|
The Importance of Being Ernest
|
Oscar Wilde
|
2002
|
|
|
|
Brave New World
|
Aldus Huxley
|
2002
|
|
|
|
Heart of Darkness
|
Joseph Conrad
|
2002
|
|
|
|
Hamlet
|
William Shakespeare
|
2001
|
|
|
|
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
|
Thomas Hardy
|
2001
|
|
Memorable strawberry-stuffing scene. The tragic life ruined by the
brutality of civil society.
|
|
Johannes Brahms A Biography
|
Jan Swafford
|
2001
|
|
This book got me interested in music history and musicology. Unfolds
dramatically, with musical examples. Told passionately, end effectively.
|
|
An Equal Music
|
Vikram Seth
|
2001
|
|
|
|
Behazara Mi Tuitchi (Hebrew)
|
Yosi Ginsburg
|
2001
|
|
|
|
Narcissus and Goldmund
|
Herman Hess
|
2001
|
|
|
|
The American Pageant
|
Bailey & Kennedy
|
2001
|
|
|
|
The Bean Trees
|
Barbara Kingslover
|
2001
|
|
|
|
Song of Solomon
|
Toni Morrison
|
2001
|
|
|
|
The Little Prince (French)
|
Antoine de St. Exupery
|
2001
|
|
|
|
The Great Gatsby
|
F. Scott Fitzgerald
|
2001
|
|
|
|
The Grapes of Wrath
|
John Steinbeck
|
2001
|
|
|
|
The Scarelet Letter
|
Nathaniel Hawthorne
|
2001
|
|
|
|
The Crucible
|
Arthur Miller
|
2001
|
|
|
|
Our Town
|
Thornton Wilder
|
2001
|
|
|
|
The Jungle
|
Upton Sinclair
|
2000
|
|
|
|
The Rosendorf Quartet (Hebrew)
|
Nathan Shaham
|
2000
|
|
|
|
Angela’s Ashes
|
Frank McCourt
|
2000
|
|
|
|
The Old Man and the Sea
|
Ernest Hemmingway
|
2000
|
|
|
|
All Quiet on the Western front
|
Erich Maria Remarque
|
2000
|
|
|
|
1984
|
George Orwell
|
2000
|
|
|
|
Macbeth
|
William Shakespeare
|
2000
|
|
|
|
The House on Mango Street
|
Sandra Cinceros
|
1999
|
|
|
|
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
|
JK Rowling
|
1999
|
|
|
|
The Samurai’s Garden
|
Gail Tsukiyama
|
1999
|
|
|
|
Armageddon Summer
|
Jane Yolen & Bruce Coville
|
1999
|
|
|
|
Fahrenheit 451
|
Ray Bradbury
|
1999
|
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|
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1984
|
George Orwell
|
1999
|
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|
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Animal Farm
|
George Orwell
|
1999
|
|
|
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Child of the Dawn
|
Gautama Chopra
|
1999
|
|
|
|
Romeo and Juliet
|
William Shakespeare
|
1999
|
|
|
|
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
|
Maya Angelou
|
1999
|
|
|
|
The Mayor of Casterbridge
|
Thomas Hardy
|
1999
|
|
|
|
The Lord of the Flies
|
William Golding
|
1999
|
|
|
|
Nectar in a Sieve
|
Kamala Markandaya
|
1999
|
|
|
|
A Separate Peace
|
John Knowels
|
1999
|
|
|
|
To Kill a Mockingbird
|
Harper Lee
|
1998
|
|
|
|
The Chosen
|
Chaim Potok
|
1998
|
|
|
|
My Name is Asher Lev
|
Chaim Potok
|
1998
|
|
|
|
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
|
Mark Twain
|
1998
|
|
|
|
Indian Blue Moon (?)
|
FORGOT
|
1998
|
|
|
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Maus
|
Art Spiegelman
|
1998
|
|
|
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The Hunt for Red October
|
Tom Clancy
|
1998
|
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|
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The Diary of Ann Frank
|
Anne Frank
|
1998
|
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|
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Dune
|
Frank Herbert
|
1997
|
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|
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The Rainmaker
|
John Grisham
|
1997
|
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|
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The Runaway Jury
|
John Grisham
|
1997
|
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|
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Beowulf
|
Unknown
|
1997
|
|
|
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The Firm
|
John Grisham
|
1997
|
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|
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The Chamber
|
John Grisham
|
1997
|
|
|
|
The Pelican Brief
|
John Grisham
|
1997
|
|
|
|
The Lost World
|
Michael Chricton
|
1997
|
|
|
|
A Time to Kill
|
John Grisham
|
1997
|
|
|
|
Jurassic Park
|
Michael Chricton
|
1996
|
|
|
|
Disclosure
|
Michael Chricton
|
1996
|
|
|
|
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|
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... Any
Suggestions???
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