The passage on the Shadow World is one of the most magical 10 pages I've ever read. ( )

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, was drawn in with the beautiful imagery and philosophy so like my own. So much of it was insightful and thought provoking, clever and well written. I was on a trajectory to give it a 5. When I love a book through and through and leave it slowly, savoring every last page... regretably leaving it with a sigh... that is a 5. I was heading that way... just waiting for the story to hit it's crescendo - and it didn't.

huh? what the hell kind of ending is THAT? I mean I'm down to the last few pages and ... huh?

I HIGHLY recommend this book. Very very well done. He is a masterful writer. I just don't get the end. Just seemed like a right turn into a field when the finish line was right there.... ( )

I guess I've read this book every six or seven years since I've owned it, which--to look at it--is at least twenty-five years ago. The cover is falling off, several pages are ripped. The back page has words (prasad, sacerdotal) that I wrote there when I still traveled everywhere with a dictionary, or wrote words down when I was momentarily without one. I remember the first time I read it, on an airplane, fellow travelers looking at me strangely as I guffawed out loud and couldn't stop laughing.

The only book I've read as often over the years is Richard Llewellyn's How Green Was My Valley. I guess you could say it is on my top 10 books of all time list.

One of my Christmas traditions is to peruse my book shelves and find books I think my children will like to read and give them as gifts. It confirms my reputation as a skinflint and gives me a great deal of pleasure as I think about what they might like. When my oldest son announced he was thinking about reading some novels (what!?), this book became the obvious choice. In the end, though, I couldn't part with the battered thing and I wanted to read it again. I ended up buying him his own copy.

There have been a handful of books in my life that have been life-changing for me. This book is among them. Read it. I think you will love it. ( )

It's about life. It's about fishing. No, it's about the life of a born fisherman. Not being a seasoned reviewer, I have not the words to adequately describe, let alone critique this book. I can say it's one of those books passed on to me by both, not just one, of my well read and eclectic brothers. One of those "you need to read this" things. I passed it around. it kept on going, never returning. I bought it again. same thing happened. My daughter bought for me for christmas. I'm keeping this one.

One of my all-time favorite books. Read it when I was in my 20s and absolutely loved it. ( )