"Gather ye rose-buds while ye may." Robert Herrick

"Gather ye rose-buds while ye may." Robert Herrick

Hello Friends!

Friends, Romans, countrymen...y'all. Foodies, gardeners, artists and collectors - let's gather together to share and possibly learn a thing or two in the mix.

Donna Baker

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Forgettable


Just finished this book.  I really wanted to like it.  I read a Kirkus Review of it to see if I was missing something.  I can review it in one word.  Forgettable.  I wish I had my $25.00 back. Only thing good about it is the packaging.  Colorless is what the book is.  Just quoting Voltaire doesn't make one a philosopher.  I doubt I'll read anything else by Murakami.  Wish I could have gotten something from it because I rarely read fiction and am wading into it again.  I just finished The Goldfinch and found it just okay (would like my money back on that one too).  Couldn't finish The Paris Wife.  So, I hope my next book, The Alchemist, will be a good read.

7 comments:

Amanda Summer said...

I've not read this book, but really enjoyed The Alchemist. Hope you have a better experience with that :))

helen tilston said...

The cover looks inviting and artistic. Thanks for the heads-up. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho I liked as I have all of his books. I saw his latest and Adultery and am tempted to boy it.
Enjoy your read.
Helen

Terra said...

I appreciate your honest opinions and they may help me avoid some of these books. I've been thinking of reading Goldfinch and haven't decided yet. For great fiction I recently read 5 Jane Austen; wow, she is truly a gifted writer.

RachelD said...

Oh, Donna, I love your refreshing honesty and am glad for the reviews. I'm a mostly fiction person, and always have been---but on the recommendation of a reader, am about to read Tuchman's Guns of August and the one on Stilwell---both of which won Pulitzers.

That prize gave me hope for Goldfinch, for I Just; Don't. Get. Tartt's message. She was protégé of a GREAT and dear friend---two of them in fact, who encouraged and praised and went into raptures over the work, but I'm simply mystified, as much as I'm gratified and elated by the winning of the Pulitzer by a fellow Mississippi woman. That's a magnificent accomplishment, but now I'm torn---perhaps a borrow from the library for my NOOK (so spoiled to adjusting the print to my liking and not turning pages).

Wow. That was some faint prase, indeed, but I just can't find where those two ten-year-spans went--those Romans a clefs simply lose me. There's just so much ascerbic I can absorb.

I'm about to read the Outlander series, for we've enjoyed the first four installments on TV. Historical fiction, yes. Bodice rippers, no.

r

Debbie Nolan said...

Dear Donna - thanks for giving me heads up. I hate to waste my valuable time on something that is dull and senseless - let me know about the Alchemist. Thanks to for stopping by my garden for a visit. Have a great day.

zooperson said...

The Alchemist is excellent. The author was interviewed by Oprah in her current month magazine -- which isn't near as good as it used to be, but few things are. I am sure it is difficult to produce excellence month after month after month.

jinxxxygirl said...

I haven't read any of the books you've mentioned but i do love fiction....its an odd day for me to read something that is not fiction.... Right now i'am in the middle of a huge trilogy book by John Saul... BrainChild, Nathaniel, The God Project...all of them good reads..... i hope you find a good one! Hugs! deb