52 Books in 52 Weeks (2011) discussion

Book reviews for week 15.

Juliet Naked
by Nick Hornby
Penguin Audio Book - read by Ben Miles, Bill Irwin & Jennifer Wiltsie
1/5

Eh. Usually really enjoy Nick Hornby. I read the book when it first camoe out ('09, I believe),and it was so forgettable that I picked up the audio book a couple days ago. I found the characters less interesting and less likable and the story less intriguing when read aloud. The first scene takes place in a toilet. With some attractive, funny actors and good music, this might make an entertaining movie. As it was written, who cares?

Title: Against Happiness
Author: Eric G. Wilson
Rating: 2.00/5.00

This book is a long, long essay about melancholy, and how it is the more “natural” ground state of humans. The author basically argues that happiness is not the normal human condition, and how while people are always feigning happiness in order to appear perfect, they are actually hindering their capabilities. He thinks that within melancholy lays a deeper and more fulfilling life; in terms of intellectual productivity and creativity. The sample of people that his observations are based on is the American population. Although, he argues his case by taking examples from his list of famous “melancholic geniuses” from global history (e.g. Beethoven, Newton and Freud), and how he thinks they (and the world) gained by accepting their melancholy.

The book represents an interesting theory. I am personally not with the majority of the “pseudo-happy” so I did find some thought provoking passages in the book. However, I do think that reading this book as a discontented teenager would have given it a higher rating :)

My Review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Water for Elephants

4\5
""Water for Elephants" is a novel that takes you through the ups and the downs of the characters lives during their time with "Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth" circus. The interaction between the characters is one of the best things of this book, and I liked the story very much - especially the last few chapters- Yet I expected more as the book is labelled "International word of mouth best seller". All in all, the story is touching, and it is a sure thing that after finishing this novel you'll never see the circus with the same eyes you looked with before reading it. "
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Winter's Passage

5/5

This book is an in between book. It connects book 1 and two and basically explains how Megan and Ash get from point A to point B. I still thought it was excellent though, and you can see their relationship grow and then see and feel true heartbreak.

Since this book was only 55 pages, I am not sure if it should count, does anyone have an opinion?

The Devil and Miss Prym
Paulo Coelho
3/5
As always, it has a good message inside.
I like it

العرب وجهة نظر يابانية
4\5


باختصار، أجاد الياباني نوبوأكي نوتوهارا قراءة العرب!
كتاب يستحق القراءة..

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Water For Elephants
3/5

I was not really pulled to Jacob and Marlena’s relationship since whenever they have a dialogue it is always short and somehow meaningless. I read the book for about one week since I got bored every now and then.

I have nothing against plot or even the flow of the story. It was just the characters aren’t as stimulating as I thought they would be.

Drop me a line if you have time. http://magicoficecream.wordpress.com/...

لمحات
أحمد فايز
5/5

تاريخ ضائع
مايكل مورجان
3-3.5

قرأت النسخة المترجمة.

كتاب جميل ومفيد ويبدو لي أنه كان مكتوب بأسلوب رائع وجذاب ولكن ولم تعجبني الترجمة كثيرا .. عانيت من شرود الذهن كثيرا بسببها ..

The Bucolic Plague: How Two Manhattanites Became Gentlemen Farmers: An Unconventional Memoir by Josh Kilmer-Purcell

4/5 I wish I could have given it 3.5.

The beginning of the book was so funny. I laughed out loud several times. The rest of it was not so fun. The second and third sections were depressing and sometimes made me squirm like I was out to dinner with a couple who were obviously in the middle of a big fight. It was a great introduction to the TV show but alone it seems a little unfinished. The best part of the book was how sweetly Josh writes about his partner Brent. He just seems so abrasive on the TV show. The book made me warm to him more. Maybe I'll like the book better if I try out the margarita recipe at the end of the book and then read it again. It would be worth a try.

The Bad Beginning ( A Series Of Unfortunate Events)
Rating: ★★★★☆

He describes things in a funny and witty way. His participation as the narrator does not limit on the character’s thought but includes in his own opinion. I felt like I was really in conversation with Snicket.

The book may make the reader miserable. But it was not all depressing when I read it. The story doesn’t build too much on the characters’ emotion but rather on what was happening around. However, I’m not staying the characters are flat. They are both lovely and lively.

Drop me a line, if you have time http://magicoficecream.wordpress.com/...

Rating: 4/5

"This book is deeper than Something Borrowed. I felt connected with everything that was happening than I felt with the first one"

My review with Minor spoilers

The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


it was pulling,i had a hard time putting the book down but it was truly beautiful.
one of my new favorites for nicholas sparks.



View all my reviews

Shayma wrote: "The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
it was pulling,i had a hard time putting the book down but it was truly beautiful.one of my new favorites for nicholas sparks.

View all my rev..."

I LOVED this book! I think his earlier ones are some of his best!

The Westing Game
By Ellen Raskin

3/5 stars

A friend lent this to me because she loved it and wanted me to read it. I wasn't a big fan. I liked it but the writing seemed really choppy and the story was really cool but I don't think it was played out in the best way. I had high hopes but was disappointed, even though I liked it, if that makes sense!

فهم الاقتصاد
جاسم سلطان
4/5

كتاب بسيط، جميل، وخفيف ...

مقدمة أو كما يقول المؤلف : خطوة أولى لعالم الاقتصاد ..

الصراحة رغم قصره، خرجت منه بفائدة طيبة وأنصح بقراءته (يأخذ قرابة الساعة والنصف)

Title: The Hunger Games
Author: Suzanne Collins
Rate: I refuse to rate it until I read the three books.

I have to admit, it started off boring. But as soon as I reached chapter 11 page 148 I just couldn't stop flipping pages! God. I just can't wait to read the next two books, and yet, I don't want to read them 'cause I don't want it to finish.

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

One Virgin Too Many
Lindsay Davis

3/5

An enjoyable instalment in this long running series. Falcon is back in Rome and it only takes a couple of days before trouble lands at his feet.

Paula
Isabelle Allende
1/5

Isabelle has supposedly written some beautiful fiction. I picked up one of, possibly only nonfiction book. Her daughter, Paula, living overseas, contracts a rare disease which puts her in a coma. While various family members come and visit, Isabelle keeps vigil along with Paula's husband. Isabelle decides to use the time to tell her daughter of her own life, growing up in the well known Allende family. She also reminds her daughter how much she loves her and prays for her recovery. With all the money, education, connections, travel and life in various countries, this ought to have been an interesting life. Maybe its lost in translation. I found it quite boring, and started it twice, forcing myself to finish, hoping for some of her wonderful writing to appear. Very disappointing. I will still give her fiction a try, though I'm told its much more beautiful in Spanish.

The Fellowship of the Ring
J.R.R Tolkien
5/5

It's definetly a masterpeice. love love loved it. Gonna read the whole series soon.

وعّاظ السلاطين
by علي الوردي

3/5

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

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Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays by Stephen W. Hawking
Rating 4/5

A bunch of great essays and articles. In it Prof. Hawking talks about his life and his achievements, and a lot of other interesting science stuff.
recommended if you want to know who prof. Hawking is or want to know more about the universe.

Paper Towns by John Green

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Light and brisk.
I loved every minute of reading Paper Towns. I've never read anything by John Green before but I knew he wrote YA fiction, therefore I did not expect that it will engage me this much. I absolutely loved how unpretentious it is, and that in its use of simple language, it delivered greater meanings than one would think. The whole time, in my head, I imagined it as a combination of all the quirky indie films I've watched (I mean, the gang DID listen to The Mountain Goats!) so maybe that played a huge part in me liking it. There were funny bits, and geeky bits, and goofy bits... and they were all perfect.
Also, I'd like to read 'Song of Myself', the very long poem by Walt Whitman, since it was referenced so many times in the book.

I'd like to quote some bits I liked:

"Leaving feels good and pure only when you leave something important, something that mattered to you. Pulling life out by the roots. But you can't do that until your life has grown roots."

"Did you know that for pretty much the entire history of the human species, the average life span was less than thirty years? You could count on ten years or so of real adulthood, right? There was no planning for retirement, There was no planning for a career. There was no planning. No time for plannning. No time for a future. But then the life spans started getting longer, and people started having more and more future. And now life has become the future. Every moment of your life is lived for the future--you go to high school so you can go to college so you can get a good job so you can get a nice house so you can afford to send your kids to college so they can get a good job so they can get a nice house so they can afford to send their kids to college."





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Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos
Michio Kaku
4/5

Most of the book is a general history of physics and cosmology, not unlike many other general science books.

What really stood out to me is the discussion towards the end of the book of ideas about parallel universes. I've read other books briefly mention the possibility of parallel universes, but never have I read such a deep discussion about them. There are fascinating ideas of how future advanced civilizations could do things like traveling to a parallel universe, or escape the end of our universe by creating another universe.

It just blew my mind.. the realization that while our engineering capabilities are so far behind to realize such potentialities, our scientific minds are advanced enough to consider them in quite some detail.

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Minding Frankie

5/5

Binchy is certainly one of my favorite story tellers. It's always a treat to read one of her novels. I loved it. I highly recommend it.

Shopaholic and Baby by Sophie Kinsella.

This book makes me realize how much I have missed the frivolity of the Shopaholic series. I miss the silly situations Becky Bloomwood gets herself in and how one of her "white" lies turns into a fully-fledged conundrum.

In this one, Becky is pregnant and, of course, that means more shopping and more dilemmas.

It's a light read but pretty shallow and silly.

I gave it 3 stars.

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The Body in the Library (Miss Marple #3)
by Agatha Christie
4 /5

" An enjoyably read.
Read it while waiting in the airport and finished it in the plane.
"

Eh, I am running seriously behind.


Room by Emma Donoghue

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book was completely engaging. The author executed the writing style perfectly, telling the story from the point of a five year old. The story pulled all the right heartstrings without exposing the reader to any sordid details, which was surprisingly refreshing. There is a sort of a lull towards the end of the book, but maybe that's just me getting used to the aftermath of the climax.



Absolutely recommended.



View all my reviews

الشطار

محمد شكري

٣/٥

لم أقرأ الجزء الأول من هذه الرواية او كما اتضح لاحقاً "السيرة الذاتية للكاتب" ولكني إعتمدت على كونها رواية وأنها منفصلة عن سابقتها على الأقل في تكوين أحداثها اللحظي،ربما لذلك لم أنسجم كثيراً مع الرواية أو أن الأسلوب ونوعية الأحداث والقصص التي رواها ضمن سيرته لم تستهويني إجمالاً.

أستهوتني القصة بداية لإنه يسرد قصة كفاح وكدح ومحاولة خلق حياة له من العدم والفقر والإنحطاط الذي إتسمت به بيئته الأم،لكنني بعد ذلك وجدته طور من ذلك الإتجاه بمستوى أعلى مما كان فقط!
يمارس الرذائل برتبة مثقف،لماذا جاهد للخروج من مستنقعه الأول؟!

بعض الجمل تدعو للتمعن في روايته ولا شك،أحدها حين أخبره أحد المعلمين له في بداية كفاحة لتعلم القراءة أن اللغة العربية لغة صوتية،حينها خطر في بالي عنوان لأحد كتب عبدالله القصيمي "العرب ظاهرة صوتية"،ومما فاجأني أنني وجدت الكاتب يذكر هذه الملاحظة في السطر الذي يليه...
لذلك تسائلت هل هناك علاقة بين طبيعة لغتنا العربية وطبائع العرب عامة؟هل هناك تأثير من اللغة على الفعل؟
أعتقد أن الإجابة نعم،لكن كيف وإلى أي مدى،لا أعلم،أتمنى لو أجد كتاباً يتحدث عن هذا الموضوع إجمالاً كدراسة لتأثير اللغات عموماً على طبائع البشر وما إلى ذلك.

من المقاطع التي أجاد فيها الوصف وأعجبتني كثيراً هي وصفه لحال المهاجرين والمغتربين
"الأذكياء جنوا أو هم يهذون في الشوارع والأحقون بالبقاء هاجروا وكبلتهم الغربة بسلاسلها الثقيلة.لقد بدأ سفرهم قبل أن يهاجروا.رأيتهم يشربون الكؤوس الأخيرة.حفنة من تراب الوطن رأيت أحدهم يحملها في كبس صغير كحرز.ربما سيسمد بها بذوراً ما في غربته القهرية!"

كتاب: العهد الاخير
قصة سقوط آخر ملوك الجان
المؤلف: لؤي فائز فلمبان
التقييم: 5/5


بداية، لا اعرف كيف اصنف هذا الكتاب، أهو كتاب يحوي قصة خرافية، أم انه يحوي قصة ذات حقائق حدثت بالفعل
القصة مشوقة جدا، و الاحداث بها تستدعي الاهتمام حقا فهي عن مخلوقات كانت قبل بني آدم، ولكن بسبب جهلي بعالم الجان و ظني بأن ليس لاحد علم بما كان يحدث في عالمهم قبلنا، فهذا جعلني اصنف الكتاب "بدايةً" بأنه يحتوي قصة خرافية من نسج خيال الكاتب و لكن و مع تطور الاحداث و وصولي لنص الكتاب، تيقنت بأن هناك حقائق كثيرة حدثت و أعلمها جيداً فما كان مني الا ان اكملت القصة الى النهاية لأعرف بماذا سينهي الكاتب هذه القصة.
الحقيقة تقال، أن كثيرا من كلامه صحيح، حتى ما وصفه و تحدث عنه بشأن مثلث برمودا على حسب معلوماتي المتواضعة عن ذاك المثلث فإني وجدتها معقولة جدا.
أتوقع أنني احتاج أن أقرأ أكثر عن عالم الجان
و لكن باختصار، الكتاب مشوق و مليء بالاحداث و الحقائق

Soooo far behind =)


Here is my book



4/5


I love mystery books and was really into the field of forensics for many years, I find it quite interesting. It was a good book overall.

Laylah =)