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read alongside ds for his history studies. a girl discovers her deeper roots in India when her grandmother - an activist in Gandhi's time - visits the family for the first time. very Canadian in it's approach, it does a pretty good job of demonstrating the minefield that is the reaction to second generation immigrants - too right leaning cause an us-versus-them attitude, and too left leaning causes overcompensation via white liberal guilt. how's a gal supposed to belong when either side keeps emphasizing their 'other' nature?

I was expecting something more from the author of Unwritten but this was a typical, contrived high school movie. it wasn't bad, but it wasn't particularly good either.

got this one entirely because of the title. turns out it's another blogger cum author but I didn't take it too seriously, read it breezily like a blog, and had quite a few belly laughs over it. (note to self: never listen to a book on tape from a blogger turned author. their niche really is that small feeling of you-and-I. and books on tape are read as if to an audience)

compelling enough for me to get through it in 2 days, this book is devastating in its plausibility. the genetics manipulation for food and medical science, the financial impetus behind diseases that keeps you alive long enough to take all your money, the wariness of blanketed porn...
i think atwood nails the hidden aggression in men's relationships - there's so much going on underneath the words of jimmy and crake. so often you see the complexity of relationships between women; this was a refreshing take.
her female character is diaphenous: in many ways a true reflection of how men project their ideas of 'woman' onto women.
but i truly hated the ambiguous ending. tell me what happened. it's a cop out not to.

the third and final memoir in her series. I still loved the first one the best, but the first half of this book was quite funny in its own right. interestingly enough, if you just read this one, you'd wonder why someone deigned her life worthy of a memoir - it's not terribly exciting or pressing - but I imagine there was a clamor for her first 2 books to continue.

i'm still trying to wrap my head around this book - there's a sense of danger (real or imagined) throughout the story; some of it 'light' - adultery, escaping a locked house, a collision with a moose - and some very dark - suicide, rape, and murder. figures of authority abandon their code of conduct - but not always with a negative result. medical students are elbow deep in the gore of anatomy and dissection, but are also elbow deep in the vulnerability of love and poetry

meh. it was interesting to read - a great start with a desire to see the mystery unfold. but it did so at too slow a pace, and without enough reward when the ending became clear

wonderful novel that reads more like poetry - a perfect antidote to that dragging age of confusion and angst: pre-adolescence. mina is part modern day pollyanna, part junior philosopher. there is not only unvalid thing she contemplates, even if her wondering cause huge headaches for her teacher and school. naturally, she must be homeschooled :) but the author has a balanced approach - depicting another school with deeply flawed students but equally gifted human beings there to teach them.
anyhow, this is a book that would have been perfect for my daughter when she was 11. or she could have even written it. i wish she's read it, but she doesn't take notice of my recommendations anymore.

had to read for a bookclub but it bored me so much that I forgot to finish. yada, yada, the city is a person, the boy is a musical genius with an angry father, a kindly neighbor and a vicious squatter living above him. that description sounds enticing but it wasn't.
I thought maybe this Koonzt guy was supposed to be mystery, but know it think it's more paranormal stuff... not my cup of tea since junior high.

a weird, convoluted tale of what I thought was one kid, but was actually 2 childhoods and one adulthood... I can't imagine how anyone followed it when it was released as a serial in a weekly Chicago newspaper (for 5 or 6 years?) but then again, being forced to read it so slowly might have helped the understanding process, and it definitely would allow a greater appreciation for the art (some of it spectacularly detailed). my favorite parts were the childhood(s) scenes. perhaps it was the sadness of the tale, or the mumbling protagonist as an adult, but I didn't enjoy this half as much as I thought I would.

What the heck? The best part of the book I read before this one -We Were Liars- was the notion/inspirational quote of 'be a little kinder than you have to be' and this book is chock full of inspirational quotes, mantras and then culminates with the principals speech asking everyone to be a little kinder.

so interesting! instead of focusing on one person and their creativity and invention, this book champions the collaboration of individuals and tries to give each person his or her due. a little systematic at times (each section starting with a rambling biography of the current focus) the actual 'meat' of the book is fascinating: real chemistry sets, fiddling with resistors and circuits, entrepreneurs that made the first video games out of tv consoles - the folks who, collaboratively, created the digital age were a curious bunch that laid their physical hands on innovation long before it was hidden away in the box we know as the computer. in the same way that Cory Doctorow's Little Brother made me want to build a computer from scratch, this book makes me want to know further still about all the digital devices that have taken over our lives.

as many books about WWII as there are, and as many as I've read, there always seems to be a little more... feeling? meaning?.. that can be squeezed out.
I truly enjoyed this tale of 2 separate narrators, alike only in age, who are destined to meet. perhaps the girl's story was more compelling - coming from the point of view of being blind. fear inside war is strong enough. now add being abandoned and blind; the terror is nearly too much to take.
I didn't need the update to 2013. not everything needs to actually tie to the present day to mean something. the war itself has merit on it's own.

mash-up between funny book and self help. she manages to talk a lot of her divorce without giving any specific details. so probably disappointing to many. not a fan of her self-help sections - essentially she is still in the throws of her maternal drive and it colours her world in wonderful, positive ways, but this is a temporary phenomenon. it was nice to be reminded of it.