Completely light. I think this book is considered "classic" because of Ovid's Metamorphosis, not because it has any independent value. Don't waste your time.

Mostly terrible self conscious fiction. The Western world knows nothing only the impoverished East has spiritual value. Read it before and it has been done better.

Well written. What I thought was a biorgraphy of Roger Williams was, in reality, an exploration of the Puritan concept of America and how Williams broke from that concept to create something unique for America.

Sometimes insightful but mostly a scatter of memory. Hard to tell when he was traveling alone and when he was with someone. Kaplan jumps between anywhere between '70's and the 21st century. At times his learning is heavy handed.

Enertaining, enlightening, but ultimately light.

All the known myths and stories from the Greek/Roman world, with the exception of a few from Homer and Virgil are contained in this lengthy poem to unending transformation.

Ovid's boast in the epilogue, "Thoughout all ages, if poets have vision to prophesy the truth, I shall live in my fame." is certainly true.

A note on this translation: I have only a smattering of Latin, but found this text to be far superior to the clunky Charles Martin translation, despite Bernard Knox's enthusiasm. The notes were especially helpful. The unnumbered notes are contained in the back of the book so a reader needs two bookmarks. Notes are for the convience of the reader, why put them at the back instead of the foot of the page? and unnumbered too?

Morton is excellent, yet again!

The book ended too soon, but while I was reading it I had an informed campanion that made me feel I was traveling at his elbow. Steeped in relevant conversational history that goes down before the reader knows it's history. He has sympathy for the people he meets and the places he seeks out. The book was written in 1968 but is a must for anyone traveling south of Rome today. Be warned it will want to make you go there.

Third in a wonderful series of police procedural mysteries set in modern Jeddah. The mysteries are interesting as crime fiction but also for the window they open on Saudi society. The main characters, Katya and Nayir remind me of Harriet Vane and Lord Wimsey.

In this story Katya tracks a decades long serial killer.

Challangingly dense, thought provoking and satisfying.

My tags are a good guide to the contents: American History, Biography and Philosophy. Most of the book spans the years from the Civil War to the outbreak of WW1, The development of American philosphical thought told through the biographies and interactions of O.W. Holmes, Dewey, Charles Pierce, Benjamin Pierce and a number of others.

Suprising readable and well constucted. Not sure I understood it all, but I learned much and enjoyed it. As a matter of fact, I wish it was longer.

Wonderful. Throws light into an oft neglected corner of Western history. Herrin's method of focusing on a single topic of Byzantine life and expanding out works well. Her approach is superior to the usual list of dynastic changes and lifeless list of imperial names. A good place to start for anyone interested in the topic. Make sure to read her introduction. One off note: She tries too hard to rehabilitate Byzantium's historical image.

Excellent. Insightful and readable if a bit prone to hyperbole.

The marine science and resultant wonder are the best parts of this over hyped first novel.

This is supposed to be told in the voice of an awkward 13 year old boy. The author crowds to the front on nearly every page. For example, in one set piece the narrator and friends call a 900 number to ask some basic sex questions, then 25 pages later the same narrator describes a retreating tide as a slow striptease. (?). End paper maps of the area described in the novel would have been helpful. A disappointment.

Evocative travel writing from a master. Starting in Dublin, Morton makes a roughly circular trip through Ireland. While Morton's writing and erudition charm the reader, the real fasination is Ireland as a new country. This was written shortly after independence and while Ireland had just become a Free State. Most of the country described here is now unrecognizable and Morton's books on Italy, particularly A Traveller in Italy, are better, but even a slight and dated Morton is better than a lot of contemporary travel writing.

Well written and well researched biography of Kit Carson, juxtaposed against the Navaho story with the coming of Manifest Destiny Americans in the wake of the Mexican War. Reads fast.

One problem. Sides, like all late 20th century authors and beyond, suffers from historical guilt and seems to place all evil squarely on the white side of the conflict and gloss over or justify any actions by the Navaho nation to big to be ignored. I think a more balanced approach would have served better. In a war that was cruel on both sides and where neither would compromise if it could be avoided. The Americans were more numerous, technologically advanced and better organized, so they won.

Subpar writing, even for a mystery. Filled with cliches. Just ok mystery. Don't botherr.

My Antonia is a wonderfully evocative novel of the early settlement of the Great Plains seen through the life of a well rounded, "living" character. A novel that will sweep the reader away while it lasts.

Marvelous read. This novel captures the small invisible nets of social convention that not only bind us to place and family but even when recognized, can still hold us motionless.

Most of the characters are well drawn and the author has a fine sense of motivation. One quibble: In order to create a muted dramatic finish Simonson stretches the story until it tears. I think it would have been more satisfying to end on the quiet note the novel begins with. Outstanding first novel.

Excellent.

This latest collection of essays by New Yorker staff writer John McPhee is also his most autobiographical.

I can't say I liked the subjects of all the essays. The one on lacrosse started to get a bit tiresome and McPhee writes more about geology than I like to read, but I always still with him because the man can write! If even a quarter of those blogging out there would stop long enough to read a good dose of McPhee's prose the world would be a better place.

A strange book. In parts a novel, a memior and a polemic. The book doesn't really succeed on any single level but the sheer amount of passion and raw information contained in this slim volume is to its credit.

Another excellent, thought provoking travel narrative from H.V. Morton. The only reason I didn't give it a higher rating is Rome, as magnificent as it is, gets a little weary after 400+ pages.

The novel details what happens to a poor, obscure contemporary Chinese village in the wake of a reported UFO sighting.

Interesting structure. The book is laid out as if it was a ringed binder containing interviews and reports of the central government's subsequent investigation of the sighting. Wry indictment of the new market, but still heavy handed communism in present day China.

A friend gave me this book after seeing the movie @ the Toronto Film Festival.

Morton is an excellent companion! Learning worn lightly. He conveys both a sense of wonder and history as if the reader were standing @ his elbow. The title is a little misleading, he covers only parts of northern Italy, but this he does well. I would urge anyone to read this before any more recent guides on a first trip to Italy.

Excellent, fast paced, accurate account of the battle of Lepanto. As usual, the subtitle is a bit overblown, but less than other books,

While this popular history was an excellent read, and I did enjoy it while learning something new, by the end it left me wanting something. Can't describe it better than that.

Unusual. A book that suprised me to the very end. That hasn't happened in a long time. Allegorical detective story where evil unmasked from goodness @ the end of a "normal" detective story is completely reversed when good is unmasked from an evil person.

The man who was Thursday is a Scotland Yard detective that infiltrates the grand European Council of Anachists. It is revealed, eventually, that all the members on the council are undercover policemen. There is order instead of anarchy and, Sunday, president of the council is the same man that sent the undercover detectives on their mission. There is only one anarchist character. There is much Christian allegory and the annotated edition by Martin Gardner, from Ignatius Press is helpful. Not sure I still understand it. A healthy challange.

Excellent read. Deserves its place on the 100 best nonfiction books, in English,of the 20th Century. Must be interested in literary research and maybe it flags a bit at the very end, but wonderful read.

Flawed, but good book. The Irish characters are somewhate stereotypical. Cars and phones seem too common for the class of people the action is set amongest and maybe Lehane set out to tell too many stories, but for all that the book is a good read and I cared about all the characters. I would love to see Lehane do a book about Danny's father, Thomas and maybe one about his younger brother Joe. The novel has a wonderful sense of place and makes some thoughtful and subtle comments on race. The coverage of the post WWI labor movement and radicalism are quite good and work well in the plot.

The internal workings, and funtionary names, of the Chinese Communist Party can be dizzying but Ziyang's very detailed account, from the General Secretary's seat, of the politics involved in China's turn toward a market economy makes interesting and timely reading. The fact that Ziyang composed the book in secret while under decades of house arrest and it was smuggled out for publication after his death, may overshadow and give some undue weight to his testimony.

Excellent evocation of small town life.

The story follows the lives of three doctors, and their families @ the turn of the 20th century in Moscow, ID. We experience the town, named Opportunity in the novel, grow and the characters react to change, time and each other.

Brink based her novel on historical incidents within her own family and the development of Moscow ID. This is the first in a trilogy of novels.

Not as good as the first one, Finding Nouf, but still...
Two engaging main characters that keep reminding me of the best Lord Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane mysteries. These are set in present day Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and the meliu of the novels adds much, but it is the two characters of Katya and Nayir that will drive me to read the next book. Some interesting comments on Saudi society and how Islam may be lived day to day.

Not one of Doig's best. A sequel, of sorts to "The Whistling Season" cented on the adventures, ten years later, of the main character, Morrie Morgan, in 1919 Butte, MT.

Readable but with a few plot holes and strains on the suspension of disbelief. The setting is the star. Good depiction of Butte, even the faint echo I grew up with.