Books I've Rated 4 / 5
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The Name of the Wind
Finished
Doesn’t feel like a full book – feels like the first book of a book. Not so much of a climax, denouement in this one. Just setting the groundwork for future books. Lots of questions that were set up, I hoped, to be answered, are still unanswered. I think of multi-book plots as still having individual subplots in each book, which this one didn’t really. It was just Day One of the story, as I suppose was promised. Which has me a little annoyed and impatient. That said, I enjoyed it cover-to-cover, and I’ve started the second (which is even longer, at 1000 pages) already. I think, though, if he doesn’t give me something to hold onto in this one, I’m not going to get the third (when it comes out? is it out?).
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Bone, Vol. 8: Treasure Hunters
Finished
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Bone, Vol. 4: The Dragonslayer
Finished
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The Last Council
Finished
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A Study in Scarlet
Finished
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The Cloud Searchers
Finished
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Catching Fire
Finished
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The Hunger Games
Finished
Even books I’m enjoying don’t often pull me in as much as I’d like these days - I find myself setting them down and not picking them up for weeks, even. But I found this in paperback recently and remembered being curious about it when I saw it in hardcover so I bought it. There are so many ways this book could have failed, building on the clichés it uses, but it didn’t. I found myself engaged constantly, wondering what happened next, worrying about characters, and desperately needing to pick the book up again when I’d put it down.
I don’t know. I don’t really feel like analyzing it much beyond that, but I really enjoyed it. I’m going to find the second book as soon as I possibly can. And the third just came out! The final book! That’s exciting
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Finished
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The Time Machine
Finished
Despite its age, the adventure it presented and the concepts within felt neither dated, nor clichéd, nor unoriginal. There’s an atmosphere in the stark style of writing that lends itself to the waning days of life on planet Earth. Very quick but fascinating.
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The Hound of the Baskervilles
Finished
Quite an adventure. A pretty quick read, but its age and style present some interesting words and phrases that are less-familiar in modern English.
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Making Comics Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels
Finished
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Understanding Comics The Invisible Art
Finished
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In Defense of Food An Eater's Manifesto
Finished
A lot more food for thought (no pun intended?) than real prescriptions or proscriptions. Interesting, easily readable. A little more geared to the middle class, further on in life than I am - I essentially still live a college lifestyle still: no dining room, roommates are strangers, little room in the fridge or time to cook it because of social and professional obligations, and definitely nowhere to plant a garden. But that’s a lot of excuses and his advice is still sound. It’s a lifestyle change and it takes a commitment, as Pollan says. Anyway, I’d recommend this to anyone who wants to think about food culture, cooking, even American culture as a whole as it relates to big business.
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The Subtle Knife
Finished