Emily Reinhold

This is the third and final book in the Millenium series. I highly recommend this book but it is necessary, I feel, to read the first two books so that the subtle nuances of this book are fully appreciated. For readers looking for a strong female protagonist, this book does not disappoint. I don't think that I would say that this is my favorite of the three novels, the others were able to stand alone as novels with compelling action, but as a whole the entire series was a great listen. I am looking forward to the movies and hope that they will do the novels justice.

As I have enjoyed many books about dogs in the past such as The Art of Racing in the Rain, One Good Dog, and A Dog's Purpose, I picked up this novel because I was ready for an easy listening experience after two marathon listens that I had just finished. At first, I was disappointed to find that this novel had the same narrator as another book that I did not enjoy, Merle's Door. I found, however, that the narrator suited this story much better.
This novel chronicles the life of a dog whose own curiosity gets to the best of him. He leads a life quite different from the dog that I have sleeping next to me currently. Roam is mainly about simply the dog's life as he encounters adventure after adventure.
It was an easy and a short read as I was hoping for. Another thing that was different about this book was that it has music occasionally incorporated into it. I wouldn't say that the addition of music enhanced the listening experience for me all that much but it didn't hurt it. All in all, Roam is a fun, sweet story for the dog lover out there.

In starting this book, I was skeptical that I would enjoy it. I usually stay away from non-fiction but we are an Apple family and my husband wanted to read it too. This book took me awhile to get through but I enjoyed practically every minute of it. There were maybe one or two sections that I could have done without, such as what music Steve had on his ipod. Aside from getting a really in depth view into this man's very exciting and successful life, I also gained an insight into the reasons behind his success. The biographer does not superficially paint job in a positive light. Instead, he shows how Jobs' methods worked to make Apple the amazing company that it is today. At one point it is said, that if they could have better combined Jobs' stern way of operating and high expectation with Wozniak's playful, friendly approach that working at Apple might be a perfect experience. But, just as Steve is not perfect, Apple has it's flaws as well. I love that by working closely with Jobs the author is able to carefully layout Steve's intricate thinking and forethought that went into creating the products that I know and love. The narrator did a great job keeping my interest and relaying the words of Isaacson. I recommend this book to anyone whether or tech geek or not.

This book is my first experience with Murakami. This book is without a doubt a unique piece of literature. I figured that with all of the hype that I needed to give it a try. The best way for me to describe it is that it starts out fairly normal and slowly the reality unravels as the supernatural takes it place. With almost 47 hours of listening getting through this book requires a true investment of time. I feel that it is worth it. I enjoyed the voice acting of the 3 narrators and appreciated how their voices interacted with each other's. The novel is actually split up into 3 books that were released in Japan at separate times. As I went further and further down the rabbit hole that is this book, I was compelled to continue reading to see where the bizarre was all leading. Some readers may be disappointed in the ending of this book as Murakami doesn't leave the book with all of the story lines tied up nicely with a pretty bow. I, however, really appreciate how the author ends things. It is as if he is saying "I didn't wrap-up all of the story lines because in the end only one story line matters. The rest is just details." The other story lines remind me of what Hitchcock termed a MacGuffin, an element of a story used to drive the plot but serves no other purpose. This novel may not be for everyone but it is for those who appreciate a story that is in and of itself compelling while at the same time encourages quite a bit of thought on the part of the reader.

I first purchased this book back in 2009. I stopped reading it because it did not hold my interest and because a Stieg Larsson trilogy was calling my name. I decided to try it again a couple of weeks ago. While I got farther in the book this time, I was reminded why the book bored me the first time. This boredom surprises me as I am a huge dog lover and have enjoyed all of the other dog-centered literature that I have read. There are a couple of reasons specifically that I can identify as being the reasons I did not enjoy the book. The first thing that bothered me was the narrator. I couldn't pin point it at first but I realized that the voice was too animated for the story. It is a little hard to describe but his voice made it seem like he was overly excited about every single event. The other reason that I didn't like the story was that it wasn't really a story but a recollection of events and facts. On top of that, the author came across as an expert on everything dog. Unlike the lovable real-life story delivered by John Groban, Kerasote constantly sprinkles in facts like how dogs smell, where the dogs came from, and why they act the way they do. I guess I didn't realize that I was listening to a history book, or even worse an encyclopedia. Needless to say, I didn't finish this book this time around either.

I am hesitant to say too much about this book because I don't want to spoil it for readers that haven't finished the series. I will say that this book made me uneasy, perhaps in a good, thought provoking way. As I was listening to the book, at the end, I heard an interview with the author and she spoke about how she hopes that this book brings up challenging queries for young adults. She hopes that the book causes the reader to think about the implications of the book in one's own life. It can be so easy to judge the capitol for being horrible, gluttonous people when the majority are starving. In reality, many people living in the United States stuffed their faces last night at dinner without even thinking about those that didn't eat at all. Also, with the election coming up, I have been thinking about where I stand politically and am disturbed because, as this book points out, there is no side or party that stands free from blame or guilt. I didn't like this book as much as the other two but, I am glad that I read it as I feel that it helped to round out the story.

My husband and I chose this book to listen to during our road trip because we already knew and loved the story from having seen the movie. We enjoyed both the book and the movie. The book certainly had some hilarious scenes that the movie lacked but the movie as well had some added scenes. I was little saddened to see that the FBI agent from the movie (the Tom Hanks character) had a very minimal role in the book and the relationship that formed between the agent and Frank was nearly absent. Also, you know how when you are watching a movie like Meet the Parents you get to a point where life is so bad for the main character that you almost can't watch anymore. Well, in this book, I begin to feel that life was so easy for Frank that it begin to become tedious and even more unrealistic then I thought possible. All in all, it was a great and fun listen for my husband and I to share.

I decided to read this book having not read any of the other books in the series and not really knowing what to expect. Parts of the writing of this book disappointed me, some bored me, while others made me laugh out loud. The gay friend, Marcus, I found to be hilarious, sort of the comic relief. I was turned off by the mix of this story being a mystery and romance novel. The main character reminded me of a grown-up Nancy Drew but the relationship with the Ned Nickerson character was not purely innocent (the way I feel it should be). I just didn't expect to be reading about the strong female protagonist's sex life.

I really, really liked this book. You know how fun it is when you are watching a movie or a TV show or listening to a song and you see or hear a reference to your favorite movie or TV show or song? This movie is filled with non-stop references to all of my favorite movies, TV shows, and songs (video games as well, but I didn't get many of those references). The story takes place in the future where a man who has created an alternate reality similar to World of Warcraft but on a much larger and virtual scale. This man dies promising his fortune to the first person who can solve all of these riddles and find a hidden easter egg in his alternate reality. The man loved the 1980s so many references were made to movies, music, and video games from that era. I liked the characters in this book. I very much enjoyed the narration and I was hugely impressed with the amount of thought that went into the story-line as all of these allusions tied so closely to the plot. One scene made me giddy as it directly referenced one of my favorite movies of all time.

When I started this book, I didn't think that I would enjoy it as much as the other books I read that center around dogs. I thought that the story would center too much around the owner of the dog but I was pleasantly surprised. It did take a while to see the bond between man and dog form but the story helped explain why that is. All in all, I enjoyed the story and appreciated the switch of narrators between man and dog. This gave me insight into both the man's and the dog's perspective. As I listened to the story, the narrators did a great job of giving life to the variety of characters in the story. Once again, I would recommend this story to animal lover's everywhere.

I found that this book was a lot different from the first one. I liked both books a lot. The first one clearly showed a strong teenage girl who has had to grow up way to fast. This book showed that that teenage girl has now been launched in adulthood and is dealing with adult issues. This book was very intense for me. Where as I could easily see the appeal for the first for the teenage audience, this book challenges ideas of politics, loyalty, and romance that might require a more mature, adult brain to fully understand the full scope of the issues. It should be interesting to see how the movie handles all of the intense scenes from the movie. Also, I have heard that the third book falls short. We'll see.