1 to 20 of 86 -
Page:
Review Date: 4/19/2009
"First in the A-List series by Zoey Dean, who also wrote "How to Teach Filty Rich Girls", which was the basis for the TV series "Privileged." Dean wrote this series for teenaged girls, and it is interestng, funny, and well-written. The main character, Anna Percy, is likable, intelligent, and going through some serious family issues- leaving her wealthy New England WASPy life for the excesses of life in Hollywood with her estranged, New Age, hippy, touchy-feely, former businessman father, who insists on being called "Jonathan". She encounters some very privileged, been-there, done-that, Hollywood brats who set out to make her life miserable because they are all vying for the affections of one Princeton freshman, Ben Birnbaum. This is a very easy read- with an interesting plot that makes you just want to devour the whole thing in one sitting."
Review Date: 7/21/2010
"As a product of a prep school environment and an Ivy League education( Yale, Brown), I couldn't wait to read this novel about a Princeton college admissions officer. I was sorely disappointed. Originally I had planned to send this book to my niece, a Princeton grad, but I have to admit, this book was so slow moving and mired in boring minutiae, I could not do it. The writing is dense and detail-oriented, to the point of making the reader want to tear her hair out! Vast pages of dense, uninterrupted text, barely broken into paragraphs, with endless details about working in the admissions office. Long, boring, and unreadable."
Review Date: 10/25/2010
"I just found out that this book was written by a young student at our high school, so of course I want to read it! And since I adored the Happy Hollister books as a child, written by her grandfather, I know this will be great!"
Review Date: 8/19/2012
"While having some humorous anecdotes, this stewardess for the fictional WAFTI airlines has a poor attitude and it definitely shows. Plus, her life's many details are just.....boring! Too bad, because flight attendant memoirs are usually such a fun read!"
Review Date: 11/26/2008
1 member(s) found this review helpful.
"This is a great cookbook for Greek cooking. My copy has been used so many times I'm trying to locate a replacement copy! There is a preface by Craig Claiborne and several chapters about Greek customs, traditions, religious holidays, wines and also a glossary. The recipes for pastitsio (Greek lasagne) and tsoureki (Greek Easter bread) can't be beat. I even have some tsourekia in the oven right now which made me want to put the book on my Wish List. I need a new copy!"
Review Date: 2/6/2008
"Words of wisdom from the lovable and acerbic Judge Judy. Self-help for women who want to find happiness and have it all. Interspersed with stories about her own marriage and court cases."
Review Date: 12/20/2008
"Long before 9/11, James Patterson wrote a thriller in which a para-military terrorist group bombed New York's stock market. There are ex-military characters, people in high places, drug dealers, CIA operatives and others - half working to solve the case and the others working to perpetuate it and continue the terrorist acts. Originally published as Black Market in 1986, you have to wonder if anyone involved in 9/11 had ever seen this book, because some of the ideas are similar. Scary thought!"
Review Date: 6/27/2010
1 member(s) found this review helpful.
"I used to love novels of romantic suspense when I was in high school. Things have really changed a lot since then! This story, set in France, is about a translator (young American damsel-in-distress) who is roped into translating at a mysterious business conference in a French chateau for the weekend. Things are not what they seem, and the group is really a group of international arms dealers who are ruthless killers and assassins. The hero, mysterious Bastien Toussaint, is also a paid hit-man for a rival group ("the Committee"). Once our heroine, Chloe, discovers what's afoot, she becomes the target of many assassins. Bastien, in between steamy sex scenes, tries to rescue Chloe from these ruthless caricatures of characters. The plot makes no sense. Why is everyone determined to kill Chloe? She really has no knowledge of what is going on. Why is Bastien, Mr. Ruthless macho-man heartless assassin, so willing to risk everything to keep Chloe safe? The plot is ludicrous, the sex super-steamy, but it's all totally unconvincing, in my opinion. This is the first in a series of 5 formulaic novels of "romantic suspense.""
Review Date: 6/21/2009
"Action packed adventure with many exotic locations such as Copenhagen, Nepal, and S. Africa. Sigma Force under Gray Pierce investigates the origins of evolution in this exciting, if a little far-fetched, novel. Cussler and Ludlum fans will adore this book!"
Review Date: 6/28/2011
2 member(s) found this review helpful.
"This book was surprisingly unpredictable, fast-paced, and hilarious! Annie Fleming must transition from the corporate world to soccer-mom-land fast and with a quick learning curve. She changes radically in the novel, in a good way, with some very funny, unpredictable events along the way. Highly recommended!"
Review Date: 3/31/2009
1 member(s) found this review helpful.
"Excerpts from the diaries of 23 children during WWII and the atrocities of the Holocaust. This book is both moving and horrifying. Each excerpt has an introduction which included information about the author- age, nationality, and fate during the war. Some of these are quite varied and unfailingly dramatic. A must-read for anyone who studies the Holocaust. This book is lengthy (over 400 pages) with varying writing styles. One of the most comprehensive anthologies of its type that I've read."
The Children of Willesden Lane: Beyond the Kindertransport: A Memoir of Music, Love, and Survival
Author:
Book Type: Paperback
6
Author:
Book Type: Paperback
6
Review Date: 11/2/2008
3 member(s) found this review helpful.
"This was an extremely memorable and well-written Holocaust story from a point of view not often described. Lisa Jura was one of the 10,000 German, Austrian, Polish and other Jewish children sent to England on the Kindertransport, to escape from the onslaught of the Nazi regime and the (at that time) unimagined horrors of World War II that were to come. The children were given lodging at various hostels, and put to work to earn their keep as nannies, maids, and in factories. Lisa Jura had been learning piano during her former life in Vienna, and started secretly using the piano in the hostel when she could. Her talent for piano was discovered, and she was awarded a scholarship to the London Academy of Music, and went on to become a world-renowned concert pianist. The story is told with pathos, humour and charm, by Lisa Jura's daughter, Mona Golabek, also a concert pianist. I usually read Holocaust memoirs at the same time while reading other books, but I can truthfully say, once I started this book, I could not put it down. I highly recommend it."
The Children of Willesden Lane: Beyond the Kindertransport: A Memoir of Music, Love, and Survival
Author:
Book Type: Hardcover
2
Author:
Book Type: Hardcover
2
Review Date: 11/4/2008
"This was an extremely memorable and well-written Holocaust story from a point of view not often described. Lisa Jura was one of the 10,000 German, Austrian, Polish and other Jewish children sent to England on the Kindertransport, to escape from the onslaught of the Nazi regime and the (at that time) unimagined horrors of World War II that were to come. The children were given lodging at various hostels, and put to work to earn their keep as nannies, maids, and in factories. Lisa Jura had been learning piano during her former life in Vienna, and started secretly using the piano in the hostel when she could. Her talent for piano was discovered, and she was awarded a scholarship to the London Academy of Music, and went on to become a world-renowned concert pianist. The story is told with pathos, humour and charm, by Lisa Jura's daughter, Mona Golabek, also a concert pianist. I usually read Holocaust memoirs at the same time while reading other books, but I can truthfully say, once I started this book, I could not put it down. I highly recommend it."
Review Date: 10/15/2011
"While this novel was my least favorite book in the Alex Cross series, due to the violence portrayed in Washington, DC and in Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Darfur, I truly couldn't put it down! This time Mr. Patterson really wrote a thriller! When an old acquaintance of Alex and her entire family are slaughtered, a bloodthirsty mercenary with a gang of boy-killers is suspected. "The Tiger" is a ruthless killer with no emotion as he unleashes his gang of little boy- throwaway boy-pre-teen killers upon any targets he is paid to eliminate. Alex Cross is led to Africa o investigate, where he is immediately pursued/imprisoned/tortured/beaten, etc until the "CIA" contact for the area intervenes. Without knowing whom to trust or turn to for help, the situation quickly becomes dire. I was literally unable to stop reading this book until 2:00 a.m. until I finished it."
Review Date: 8/15/2012
"My neighbor recommended this author and lent me 5 books by Randy Wayne White. I chose to begin with this one, as it was the oldest that she lent me. I have to say I could barely get through this book, which went all over the place. The plot moved excruciatingly slowly, although the Nazi references were interesting. The character Chessie was an enigma...was she Marlissa? Was she a ghost? It made no sense. The Tomlinson hippie pot smoking character reminded me of people from the '70s, so I could relate. Don't know if I dare read another one of these!"
Review Date: 8/15/2012
"My neighbor recommended this author and lent me 5 books by Randy Wayne White. I chose to begin with this one, as it was the oldest that she lent me. I have to say I could barely get through this book, which went all over the place. The plot moved excruciatingly slowly, although the Nazi references were interesting. The character Chessie was an enigma...was she Marlissa? Was she a ghost? It made no sense. The Tomlinson hippie pot smoking character reminded me of people from the '70s, so I could relate. Don't know if I dare read another one of these!"
Review Date: 11/9/2008
"This is not just "another book on the Holocaust." A few years ago I had seen the movie "The Devil's Arithmetic," while I watched in incredulity and horror as the events unfolded. Now, as a high school teacher who studies Holocaust history and remembrance, it was time to read the book by Jane Yolen from which the movie was made.
Modern day Hannah Stern is once again bored to tears at the Passover seder, where her older relatives and grandparents reminisce about the times of the persecutions of the Jews, and the horrors of the camps during WWII. Suddenly Hannah is transported back in time to the shtetl (Jewish enclave)in Poland where these same relatives came from. Somehow she has become Chaya Abramowicz, is speaking yiddish,is the orphaned niece of the family, and is fully involved in that alternate reality. With some vague memories of the future and what is to come, we accompany Chaya as she is transported via cattlecar to a camp (which closely resembles Auschwicz)where life is lived one day at a time, one hour at a time, and finally one minute at a time (if you are alive for that day, that hour, that minute, you are still alive and there is hope for survival).
This moving novel is fast-paced and thought-provoking. For young readers and adults alike, it is a story of hope, survival, and remembrance. We must never forget the past, and it must never be allowed to happen again!"
Modern day Hannah Stern is once again bored to tears at the Passover seder, where her older relatives and grandparents reminisce about the times of the persecutions of the Jews, and the horrors of the camps during WWII. Suddenly Hannah is transported back in time to the shtetl (Jewish enclave)in Poland where these same relatives came from. Somehow she has become Chaya Abramowicz, is speaking yiddish,is the orphaned niece of the family, and is fully involved in that alternate reality. With some vague memories of the future and what is to come, we accompany Chaya as she is transported via cattlecar to a camp (which closely resembles Auschwicz)where life is lived one day at a time, one hour at a time, and finally one minute at a time (if you are alive for that day, that hour, that minute, you are still alive and there is hope for survival).
This moving novel is fast-paced and thought-provoking. For young readers and adults alike, it is a story of hope, survival, and remembrance. We must never forget the past, and it must never be allowed to happen again!"
Review Date: 10/7/2012
1 member(s) found this review helpful.
"I won't summarize the plot since other reviewers have done so admirably. I am 3/4 through the book right now and must say I am disappointed at the implausible story once Marta is sent back to Prague to locate her old comrade in the resistance, Marek. The feeling of fear and desperation during the Communist takeover in E. Europe is authentic- that sense of paranoia that so many had in the espionage world of agents and double agents seems authentic. However, much of the story is implausible and unbelievable. Who would allow an untrained secretary back into Prague,or Czechoslovakia and E.Berlin for a ridiculous spy mission? And then our heroine meets up with her long lost true love from the past? The plot is turning into a far-fetched, implausible, made for cable movie. I can predict who the mole in the British diplomatic corps is going to be, and I'm sure our feisty heroine will end up with her first love at the end. This book started off so promising, but quickly degenerated into soap opera."
Review Date: 7/14/2012
"This is the first book about the French Holocaust I had read. It traces the search for a young French girl, Dora Bruder, a French Jewess, who ran away from the Convent where she was being hidden, in 1942. Patrick Modiano, the author, was himself a young boy in France during the end of WWII. His musings on the haunting, tragic times, comprise this slim volume. An excellent, unusual tome."
Review Date: 4/13/2013
1 member(s) found this review helpful.
"Now that everyone's favorite Mouseketeer has passed away, I thought readers might want to read her heartwarming autobiography which traces her years at the Mickey Mouse Club, to becoming a beach bunny starring in bikini beach movies, to becoming a singer in her 40s, and her life on and off the stage. After her diagnosis with multiple sclerosis, she decided to make this public knowledge so that her adoring fans could learn of her story."
1 to 20 of 86 -
Page: