Rachel

This book is not my typical fare; I don't read a lot of YA novels set in the real world. The story was funny and strange and a little uncomfortable at times. The characters were a bit angst, but, YA, right?

I hesitate to say that I liked the book, since at times I cringed at the behavior of the characters, but I liked the journey the author took us on with those characters. The story was interesting and I'm glad I read it. I would recommend it, but I probably won't re-read it.

It seems like there are a whole slew of books out there about art forgers. This one was fine. I wouldn't recommend it, others are better.

I felt like the story was similar to ones I've heard before and then suddenly the book ended. I guess in retrospect the story was complete, but it felt abrupt and incomplete.

I waited eagerly for the second book and now I've got to wait eagerly for the third.

Meyer puts together a fast-paced story filled with details about the characters in a believably constructed future-ish world. I loved all the information about the science and technology of this alternate world.

Of course this story isn't exactly new, but the telling doesn't seem to be forecast from the outset. We know who will encounter one another in the future, but we don't know exactly how their story will unfold.

Perhaps this is stupid, but I was expecting this book to be a combination of a book about drinks and a book about plants. I'm not much of a drinker and I will not try 90% of the recipes or ideas in the book.

I was hoping for interesting anecdotes and history about the plants that go into our drinks. This was like reading a cookbook with factoids in little boxes next to the recipe description.

What I'm trying to said it this was super dullness mixed with itty bitty bits of interesting history or mini-anecdotes. If you wanna read history and anecdotes related to beverages (alcoholic and not) read "A History of The World in 6 Glasses" by Tom Standage. It is way better.

If you want to make a lot of drinks and be an alcoholic drink snob, by all means, Stewart's is the book for you.

I have a great deal of respect for J. K. Rowling because of her careful crafting of a complex story, interesting characters and subtle foreshadowing in the Harry Potter series. I knew this book was going to be very different and I knew that others have strong reactions, both positive and negative. I read the book because I wanted to know what the author would do next.

I am having a difficult time "rating" the book because I didn't particularly like it. That being said, I was able to recognize the quality of the storytelling. The story was complex, the characters were varied and believable and the whole interweaving of their lives was incredibly carefully crafted. This is what storytelling is supposed to be. I didn't know where we were going until we got there, but once I arrived at the end of the book, I realized how much I knew about the people in the story, their lives and what brought them to where they were at the end. I could gaze back over my journey and be impressed with what I saw.

However, it is possible to be impressed with how a piece of art is made, what the artist intended and how she accomplished it without actually having a personal connection to the work. I don't defend my taste, but I am not a fan of a sad, heartrending, depressing story.
I didn't like many of the characters, and I suppose I wasn't meant to.

On the other hand, I thought the story and the setting and the characters were very true-to-life, very realistic. There are no saviors in the story, no exceptional people who triumph over evil, but there are real people who try the best they can.

This book was the work of a skilled storyteller and an my respect for the author is still strong. I can't decide if I recommend the book to others.

nope. I don't think they have anything useful to offer me.

This was more of a self-help book for people who aren't sure if they are artists. The authors assumed that fear prevents artists from making art. I disagree. I think fear prevents not-quite-artists from becoming artists. Artists make art.

I thought this was going to to be an art history book or a contemporary criticism book about society's reaction to confrontational art and art that breaks the rules. Either that or it would be about artists like Goya depicting fear, death, and horror in art.

sure. he was fine.

it might be on Lifetime. or an old fuzzy VHS at the library that no one checks out. For just two easy payments of 9.99 you too can be an artist. Take our free drawing test.

sorry aspiring artists, but you can become a real artist if you make art. you have to just do it, you don't need to listen to this audiobook.

I had heard a lot about this book and the author, which is why I tried it. Unfortunately, this book just isn't my style. I don't know that I can say that someone else wouldn't like it. It wasn't objectively bad, just not a good fit for me. The jungle setting was interesting, I guess, but the story focused too much on the romantic relationships of the people. I'm not sure the book is about the romance, but it spent to much time on it if it wasn't the point.

As far as the meat of the story, its an adventure in the Brazilian jungle. I guess I get annoyed with fiction based on a scientific / technological mystery set in an interesting real-life place. It seems almost feasible, but I can't get a handle on what bits are real and which aren't. Personally, I'd rather read a non fiction history of the Brazilian jungle and scientific breakthroughs in fertility or a science fiction adventure in an alternate world. This fake stuff in the real world isn't as impressive to me somehow.

I love Terry Pratchett, so I downloaded some audiobooks to try to replicate the experience of the reading the book, but while my hands were busy. Unfortunately, I don't think listening to these books is equivalent to the experience of reading them. Pratchett's footnotes are like little candy treats interspersed in your reading experience. I find them so excessively rewarding, but listening doesn't quite do it.
Nigel Planer is okay, but I think I had a hard time getting used to a narrator different than the one in my head. At first I couldn't do it. I came back to the books, literally, years later and I was able to enjoy them as an alternative to (but not a replacement for) reading the books.

If you haven't read any Terry Pratchett, I can't adequately express how excellent they are.
The books with Vimes (like this one) are some of my favorites and a good place to start.

I enjoyed the start of the book but it won me over with the mom stuff. yeah.
I like Tina Fey generally, but I'm not a big fan of 30 Rock so I wasn't sure about the book. (for the record, I think the story lines are ridiculous, I think Alec Balwin is slightly annoying and I many of the 30 Rock jokes make me feel slightly uncomfortable.)

I didn't think this book had any of the problems that 30 Rock has. Tina Fey seemed a bit neurotic but mostly just funny. I like her sarcastic take on most things (exception being: She seems pretty amazed by Alec Baldwin in a way I don't get).

I was listening to the audiobook (earphones), in part, while my daughter napped. I laughed out loud several times and was actually worried that I'd wake her.

Like I said, I particularly laughed at some of the times she talked about being a working mom and the pressures of being a mom (working or otherwise) in society today. This stuff always gets me, because I found the first 6 months of motherhood to be really hard and I like hearing from otherwise successful people who also had a hard time. Especially if they make it seem ridiculous that other people made you feel bad then. yeah.

anyway, its pretty short. You should probably read it. the book generally had some pretty right-on moments that I haven't heard before. It wasn't heavily SNL, 30 Rock or even feminist (I wouldn't have minded the former or the latter). I kept feeling that she concisely poked at a bit of truth over and over again, in a way that was light, funny and real.

I should know better, I'm not a big fan of short stories. I kept wanting to yell at the characters for doing stupid things. They did them anyway and I didn't really care. I was happy when it ended. I feel like I'm supposed to have liked these, but I didn't. Sorry.