52 Books in 52 Weeks (2012) discussion

Share your reviews for this week's books here.

As Yasmine did last year's, the same rules are here.


"In this thread, everyone will post their reviews/opinions of the book they have read this week AFTER you rate/review it on your page. The purpose of this is so everyone can see what you read this week and read your review without having to visit each profile. Some of you have their profiles locked, so this saves you the trouble of unlocking it.

ANY COMMENTS THAT ARE NOT RELATED TO THAT MATTER WILL BE DELETED.

The format will be like this:

Name of book.
Author.
n/5 stars.

"Your simple opinion/extended review/one word that expresses what you thought of the book. GO CRAZY! Anything counts. Don't feel pressured."

Link to your review.

Also, this allows us to be organized, so even if a member didn't log in for about a month, they can add the book they've read to the appropriate thread.

THANK YOU ALL!


EDIT:
As I've mentioned in the guidelines, one word or a simple opinion counts as a 'review'. I only called it that because Goodreads calls it that."


Now let's see your achievements, awesome people.

كخه يا بابا.
عبدالله المغلوث.
2/5.



هل عاد لهالكلام فائدة؟ لربما يعتبر ما كتبه الكاتب أحد الأسباب اللي تؤدي للنهضة، ولا ألوم الكاتب ولكن ألوم أنفسنا. نقرأ الكتاب ونرميه بدون فائدة. الكتاب ما أتوقع فادني في شيء جديد إلا أنه ذكرني أنه عندنا مشاكل نحتاج نصلحها، قيام الأمة بالأخلاق هو شيء أكيد! ما تقوم أمة بدون أخلاق، وإحنا ناقصنا الأخلاق.

الكاتب كتب مقالات يختلف طولها من بين صفحتين لثلاثة كمعدل. الكتابة سلسة، ولكن ينقصها بعض الجمال. المقالات تحكي حال المجتمع اللي أحيان يسوء وأحيان يتطور. بعض المقالات كانت مبكية! مبكية! والبعض منها كان مجرد أن يتفاخر بغيرنا علينا. أعرف أن في الخارج "أناس متطورون" يأكلون أكلًا غير أكلنا، يعيشون في بيوتٍ غير بيوتنا، فضائيون. لا! هم مثلنا تمامًا ويبدو لي أن مقصد الكاتب هو أن التربية هي أساس كل شيء، وهذا ما أؤكد أنا أيضًا

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10...

:D

Title: Kane and Abel
Author: Jeffery Archer

5\5
Remarkable. Absolutely astonishing. Not one page was boring! Though, it had a lot of finance-related chapters, but that did not stop it from being a great, well-written book.

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

الأجنحة المتكسرة
جبران خليل جبران

5\5

"فليكن وداعنا هائلاً عظيماً مثل حُبِنا"
وكان وداعهم هائلاً وكانت نهاية سلمى مُحزنةً مؤثرةً تدمع لها الأعين


رائعة رائعة رائعة!

الأجنحة المتكسرة

Inside My Shorts by Adam Sifre

My first book of 2012 is a collection of 31 short stories that I read on my Kindle.


Although it contains different types of stories, a good majority are of the twisty horror variety with a good splash of humour. To be honest there were probably only a handful of stories which really impressed me, a few that were a little bit on the dull side and the rest were just about average. But, don't get me wrong, I think this young writer has plenty of potential, once he develops his voice as a writer. The 4 (or maybe) 5 stories which were good were really good and I think the horror/humour genre suits him.

My favourite story of the bunch was one called "Followers" which features a live 'Twitter' murder ! Other highlights include the funny and twisty 'Top 10 List', a strictly 'not for kids' Christmas story ! And look out for the highly original 'House Calls'.

On the whole this collection is a mixed bag and an interesting introduction to a new 'indie' author who I'd like to keep an eye on. A few too many spelling and punctuation errors didn't help the read though.

6/10

Angel's fury
Bryony Pearce

Let's hope that the year doesn't go downhill from here...

I loved the concept of the book, but unfortunately it was badly written. The characters were poorly constructed and none of themes were explored in depth.
It might be acceptable as a young-adult book, however I wasn't pleased with it at all.

1/5

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

أحببتكَ أكثر مما ينبغي
أثير عبدالله النشمي

4\5
ليس لجمال الأسلوب أو الوصف بل لتمثيلها قصة حب سعودية تقليدية بكل صدق وشفافية. عزيز: شاب مستهتر،أناني، لا مبالي بلا قيم ولا مبادئ. جمانة: فتاة طيبة ساذجة لم تعرف - أو بالأصح - تناست قيمتها وضحت بكرامتها وتحملت الذل والإهانة واستمتعت بدور الضحية في سبيل ما تعتقده حباً وهو أبعد ما يكون عن الحب.

مستفزة بشكل رائع.

أحببتك أكثر مما ينبغي

.Hotel Vendome
Author: Daniel Steel

4/5

As it always is with a Daniel Steel Book-save one- It goes on and on and on. It's always a beautiful fairytale and everything and everyone is beautiful and handsome and the place is breathtaking. I've had such a hard time finishing this book,but I love her style of writing,picturing places and all- and this was a good one. Very elegant and tasteful. It gets better as the story advances..

I'd have given it a 3 if it wasn't for the beautiful graphic details she adds.

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

Week 1!!


The Best of Me
Author: Nicholas Sparks

4/5

Sparks is one of my favorite authors, I wasn't super in love with his last book (Safe Haven) but I liked this one a lot more. Definitely sad, as usual, but well written and it kept me wanting more and more.

Week 1 Book 2

Letters to a young poet
Rainer Maria Rilke

I was given this book as a gift, and I'm so glad I was. I dot think I would have ever discovered it on my own.
I absolutely loved this book, it's so thought provoking. There is so much wisdom in these letters.
The only downfall of this book is that the poems are not included.

4/5

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

the Pleasure Express
5/5
i bought this book in a hurry, i needed a book to read! and i didn't know what to get i liked the Chinese character on the cover so i chose it out of like a really big collection at The Good Book Shop :)
To tell you the truth i haven't finished it all although i have the time to! because of its epicness :D
the book is just amazing and i like how the author succeed in describing the places she is in or the weather, you feel like you are not reading! you feel like you are watching a movie or sometimes you are actually with them!
and i like the story itself given that i am not used to reading stuff like this i mean you can't find a book as bold as this in Saudi Arabia! given that it talks about how a Scottish girls get into prostitution and get involve in gangs' deals to save her friend i don't want to ruin the book for you ;)
P.S. the books have some straight vocabularies :)

Book 1


The Way of the Owl By Frank Rivers
5/5

The book connects conflicts we face in our lives and the right way to react to them with nature. It shows what a wise owl would do in different situations and how a fledgling(beginner)acts irrationally. When reading the book, you'll start thinking of problems you faced and how you reacted in the wrong or right way. It's the kind of book that makes think "I must get back to it later"

I liked that you can quote so much of the book. However, there are some parts that are so deep i couldn't understand XD. He also used so many SAT words ,so I had to check them in the dictionary, which is good! because it added words to my vocabulary.I loved the book even more when I discovered that it's Psychology/Business type of book.

One of the quotes I liked,
"By seeing things only in black and white, we miss the fantastic range of color available to us. In effect, we go blind." - The Way of the Owl

عزازيل
يوسف زيدان

4-5
جدًا ممتازة, رواية أنصح الكل بقراتهاومتحسفة أني توي أقراها صح بالبداية عجزت أجمع وش السالفة بس بالأخير كل شي وضح. + اكتشفت إني ما أعرف شي عن المسيحية,عندكم اقتراحات كتب عنها


http://dft.ba/-1qND

Week 1


Daniel Tammet

Read on Jan 09, 2012
5/5 stars

Born On A Blue Day is a memoir of an autistic person, Daniel Tammet, who is a genius with numbers, facts and languages. The well-written book sets off with a glimpse of how his unique brain works. It then describes the different phases of his life, and how he overcame the feeling of being odd managing to learn how to communicate and socially interact with other people accepting his differences. It was really an interesting and inspiring book that I've enjoyed every page of it.
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Week 1 (I'm a little bit behind I know)

Name of the book: The Bell Jar
Author:Sylvia Plath
Rating: 4/5

Review:
The book was good in general but I won't recommend it to anyone, yet If someone was planning on reading it I'd encourage him and ask for his review.
The book talks about the life of a young girl -that I think every girl can relate to her somehow-.
It's enjoyable and not boring.

زغازيغ
by أحمد خالد توفيق
3/5


كتاب يصلُح كتحلية بعد عشاءٍ من الكتب الدسمة, أول كتاب أقرأه للدكتور أحمد و بالتأكيد لن يكون الأخير.

في ساعة نحس
غابريل غارسيا ماركيز
2/5

دي كانت ساعة نحس لما قرأت الكتاب دا .. نهايته عبيطة

Aftershock: Reshaping the World Economy After the Crisis

4/5
This book talks in details about some of the reasons of the credit crisis of 2008/9 and how big banks with the deregulated policies , with the open purses of Governments helped in escalating the crisis
Generally the books talks about how the economy of the world is so entwined with each other, how we can avoid a future bubble and its bust and how the A’s (America, Britain, EU) should embrace the success of the BEE’s (Brazil, China, India). Just as Britain embraced the rise of America before, America should do the same as China rises peacefully. This book had tons of detailed economic data which was easy to comprehend.
Majority of the arguments and suggestions are simple and not easy to disagree with. I enjoyed reading the book because of its story-like narrative, its interviews with people with all over the world, with the American Circuit board printer to the South African fruit picker to the Indian car parts manufacturer.

Keep Calm and Carry on
Rating: 3/5
Andrews Mcmeel Publishing


The reason behind reading this book is that I was so eager to know the history of the title and why it is so famous!
Honestly, I liked the story behind it!
The component of this book is quotes by very well known Economists, Philosophers, and others
If you like to read quotes you will like this book.
To me, It was fair :)
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The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins
4/5

as a huge fan of anything set in a post-apocalyptic world, I really loved the book. Along with the brilliant illustration of government's over control and the ultra violence. Solid characters too.
The only downside is using too much melodrama, at least for my taste.

4/5

It was a good book, I enjoyed the story pretty much the whole way through.

=0) Laylah

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


I had high hopes for this book. At the very least I figured, even if I might not find the storyline interesting, the writing would still be interesting enough to grasp my attention.

I was wrong.

This was, dare I say it, one of the worst books I have read in a while. And I have somewhat low standards. I was flipping each page and moaning enough to probably have annoyed my friend a few times over. The plot was mundane, the writing cliched, and the writer assumes the reader is an idiot. Gabrielle Zevin didn't even attempt to create another world. Nothing in the story was original.

In short, I am disappointed. Tis a shame, the concept was promising.



View all my reviews

Woah, I'm behind...