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1mirrani
My first choice for my monthly reading challenge was The First American, about Ben Franklin... But then when that book wouldn't come to the library, I gave up and picked this book, which I already had in my collection. It wasn't exactly what I expected, but it was interesting to read.
The man with the gun spoke again: "There's your proof. He's not here. Now leave this train immediately."
This is an assassin who has come onto the president's train to kill him... and they let him look around, notice the man's not aboard and then let him walk off?! Never woulda happened now a days and I had to wonder if it would /really/ have happened back then too.
Children should expect one day to lose their parents, but parents should not have to lose their children after hey have weathered the vulnerabilities of youth and grown into healthy adults.
I just liked the line. The idea is a little over used, I guess, but 10 other people agreed with me and made the highlight too.
The beard was new. He had only recently grown it. People accustomed to his face from pictures were not used to the new look. It made him appear older and more serious.
I thought this was an interesting contrast. Today, no one can think of Lincoln without the beard. Don't know if that point was intentional, but it's what struck me as I was reading.
It seems that in Washington, the purpose of paperwork is to obscure reality.
Well THAT we know and love about Washington today, don't we. :p (36 other people agree, btw)
"This is called the negative," said Leery. "It's a reversed image. Black is white and white is black."
"That's what we're trying to stop," muttered Bennett.
This was predictable, but only after you read it. As I read it I thought, wow, that's kind of cool, talking about a photo negative as a representation of the country at the time... then I realized and kind of shrugged it off as not quite genius, but close.
When he was done, Bennett summarized what he had just heard: "So Huges is hurt, Joe is dead, and Portia is missing. I presume this is Joe's body you have here?"
I thought this was a very sloppy recap scene.
French knew that book buyers were often shy people who would rather read a printed word than exchange a spoken one.
Oh really? Saying something about your readers, are you? I suppose book NUTS are that way, but I don't know that I'd say all readers are this way. Of course, back in the day, maybe that was the case, and had more to do with the money it cost to get the book in the first place? Or the money it took to keep them? Then again, that's saying that people with money don't want to go out too much and hold parties at home to socialize... I guess I can't win either way.
There is a point in here were some seemingly needless killing takes place. I wasn't really happy with that. I mean are we supposed to see the assassin as someone bad? We already do. He's going after one of the most favorite presidents in history. Hello? He doesn't need to have more enemies among the readers, does he? Maybe I just didn't get out of the scene what I should have, so I don't believe it was needed... who knows.
At about 70% of the way through I made a note that you could really feel what it must have been like to live at the time that the civil war was going on. You understood some parts of what each side was fighting for, what it was like to be either white or black, a person in the city or a person in the country. It was all different and I won't give much away, though it's pretty much what you would expect if you sat and thought of it. There were also some parts that were reflections of what we were dealing with in the Obama era, or any era I guess, but the reflections of current politics were there too.
Either she was telling the truth, or she was an adept liar, thought Mazorca.
I really got tired of lines like this, even if they weren't too often used. Twice was too much, really.
With his pistol still in hand, Rook reached for the knob on Mazorca's door and gently tried to turn it. The thing refused to budge. The colonel took a step back, squared himself to the door, raised a leg, and kicked. The sole of his back boot crashed into the door, ripping its latch and flinging it open. His gun entered the room before he did, ready to fire upon anybody who wanted to put up a fight.
Sadly, this was the one note I made of a good description. It's okay, certainly not horrible, but after the good stuff I'd been reading recently, it felt kind of bland to have this come along 86% of the way through, for one paragraph.
The man with the gun spoke again: "There's your proof. He's not here. Now leave this train immediately."
This is an assassin who has come onto the president's train to kill him... and they let him look around, notice the man's not aboard and then let him walk off?! Never woulda happened now a days and I had to wonder if it would /really/ have happened back then too.
Children should expect one day to lose their parents, but parents should not have to lose their children after hey have weathered the vulnerabilities of youth and grown into healthy adults.
I just liked the line. The idea is a little over used, I guess, but 10 other people agreed with me and made the highlight too.
The beard was new. He had only recently grown it. People accustomed to his face from pictures were not used to the new look. It made him appear older and more serious.
I thought this was an interesting contrast. Today, no one can think of Lincoln without the beard. Don't know if that point was intentional, but it's what struck me as I was reading.
It seems that in Washington, the purpose of paperwork is to obscure reality.
Well THAT we know and love about Washington today, don't we. :p (36 other people agree, btw)
"This is called the negative," said Leery. "It's a reversed image. Black is white and white is black."
"That's what we're trying to stop," muttered Bennett.
This was predictable, but only after you read it. As I read it I thought, wow, that's kind of cool, talking about a photo negative as a representation of the country at the time... then I realized and kind of shrugged it off as not quite genius, but close.
When he was done, Bennett summarized what he had just heard: "So Huges is hurt, Joe is dead, and Portia is missing. I presume this is Joe's body you have here?"
I thought this was a very sloppy recap scene.
French knew that book buyers were often shy people who would rather read a printed word than exchange a spoken one.
Oh really? Saying something about your readers, are you? I suppose book NUTS are that way, but I don't know that I'd say all readers are this way. Of course, back in the day, maybe that was the case, and had more to do with the money it cost to get the book in the first place? Or the money it took to keep them? Then again, that's saying that people with money don't want to go out too much and hold parties at home to socialize... I guess I can't win either way.
There is a point in here were some seemingly needless killing takes place. I wasn't really happy with that. I mean are we supposed to see the assassin as someone bad? We already do. He's going after one of the most favorite presidents in history. Hello? He doesn't need to have more enemies among the readers, does he? Maybe I just didn't get out of the scene what I should have, so I don't believe it was needed... who knows.
At about 70% of the way through I made a note that you could really feel what it must have been like to live at the time that the civil war was going on. You understood some parts of what each side was fighting for, what it was like to be either white or black, a person in the city or a person in the country. It was all different and I won't give much away, though it's pretty much what you would expect if you sat and thought of it. There were also some parts that were reflections of what we were dealing with in the Obama era, or any era I guess, but the reflections of current politics were there too.
Either she was telling the truth, or she was an adept liar, thought Mazorca.
I really got tired of lines like this, even if they weren't too often used. Twice was too much, really.
With his pistol still in hand, Rook reached for the knob on Mazorca's door and gently tried to turn it. The thing refused to budge. The colonel took a step back, squared himself to the door, raised a leg, and kicked. The sole of his back boot crashed into the door, ripping its latch and flinging it open. His gun entered the room before he did, ready to fire upon anybody who wanted to put up a fight.
Sadly, this was the one note I made of a good description. It's okay, certainly not horrible, but after the good stuff I'd been reading recently, it felt kind of bland to have this come along 86% of the way through, for one paragraph.
2mirrani
I wasn't sure how I was going to review this book because I just don't have any feelings about it one way or the other, so in the end I just went with average. I don't feel this way about too many things I read, so I guess that's why it took me a while.
http://www.librarything.com/review/93541728
http://www.librarything.com/review/93541728
