Gail Paris - aNobii

Books (219)

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The Intere-
stings
- The Interestings (1)
- A Novel
- By Meg Wolitzer
- Finished on May 4, 2013
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- Glaciers (3)
- By Alexis M. Smith
- Finished on Apr 28, 2013
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Glaciers

Postcards from the past, the present and what might have been

Really a novella that could be called a day in the life of Isabelle (sometimes known as Belly or Bell, depending on chronology and the speaker). Isabelle was born in Alaska but now finds herself in Portland working in a library. She loves thrift shops, memories of childhood and her collegue Spoke. A ... (continue)

Really a novella that could be called a day in the life of Isabelle (sometimes known as Belly or Bell, depending on chronology and the speaker). Isabelle was born in Alaska but now finds herself in Portland working in a library. She loves thrift shops, memories of childhood and her collegue Spoke. A lovely dip into Isabelle's psyche and history with some interesting reflections on war, memories and love.

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— Apr 28, 2013 | Add your feedback
- A Thousand Pardons (2)
- A Novel
- By Jonathan Dee
- Finished on Apr 21, 2013
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A Thousand Pardons

So sorry for everything over and over

Jonathan Dee can write, so some of A Thousand Pardons is funny, reglective, well constructed like The Privileges. But,the story stalls. Helen, the mother, after loosing her status as suburban housewife when husband Ben implodes with a truly fabulous midlife crisis, becomes a crisis specialist in get ... (continue)

Jonathan Dee can write, so some of A Thousand Pardons is funny, reglective, well constructed like The Privileges. But,the story stalls. Helen, the mother, after loosing her status as suburban housewife when husband Ben implodes with a truly fabulous midlife crisis, becomes a crisis specialist in getting people to say they are sorry (hence the title). But there is not much else to it, her relationship witih her obnoxious teen daughter, her chance meeting with a movie star she knew as a child!!! So good airplane reading but not much else

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— Apr 21, 2013 | Add your feedback
- Life After Life (10)
- By Kate Atkinson
- Finished on Apr 17, 2013
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Life After Life

1 person find this helpful
Ground hog day for the literary set

! Ursulla is born on a snowy day in 1910. Or she is not. Atkinson gives us a variety of choices of what Ursulla"s life is or will be. Does she get married? Does she meet Hiltler? Does she die in the blitz? Or does she die at birth? Atkinson gets what must be a writer's dream: the do over - instead o ... (continue)

! Ursulla is born on a snowy day in 1910. Or she is not. Atkinson gives us a variety of choices of what Ursulla"s life is or will be. Does she get married? Does she meet Hiltler? Does she die in the blitz? Or does she die at birth? Atkinson gets what must be a writer's dream: the do over - instead of choosing a single path for our heroine, we get multiple possibilities. Only draw back is sometimes you want a particular tale to be the real one! Good read though!

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— Apr 17, 2013 | Add your feedback
- Some Hope (5)
- By Edward St. Aubyn
- Finished on Mar 27, 2013
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Some Hope

Daddy dearest (book 3)

Book 3 of the Patrick Melrose series, our hero is finally done with drugs and during a ghastly (but so well depicted) high society weekend in the country, gets some closure on his relationship with his horrible, thankfully deceased, father. Like walking into a prism of English society, so many chara ... (continue)

Book 3 of the Patrick Melrose series, our hero is finally done with drugs and during a ghastly (but so well depicted) high society weekend in the country, gets some closure on his relationship with his horrible, thankfully deceased, father. Like walking into a prism of English society, so many characters buzzing about being witty and so mean that you would swear you have been there and barefly lived through it. With an appearance of Princess Margaret that is cruelly delightful (in America she would have sued!).

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— Mar 27, 2013 | Add your feedback

- Bad News (2)
- By Edward St.Aubyn
- Finished on Mar 4, 2013
  
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Bad News

Patrick Melrose was suffering from an abusive horrible childhood when we left him in "Never Mind". Here he has grown up into a drug addicted, useless 22 year old binging through life. He is "bad news" and there is bad news (or maybe not). Good old Dad has died and Patrick goes to New York to collect ... (continue)

Patrick Melrose was suffering from an abusive horrible childhood when we left him in "Never Mind". Here he has grown up into a drug addicted, useless 22 year old binging through life. He is "bad news" and there is bad news (or maybe not). Good old Dad has died and Patrick goes to New York to collect the remains. While there he goes through a grocery list of drugs, shooting up in the Pierre Hotel and anywhere else he finds himself. I learned more about drug mixing than i needed to but St Aubyn remains a master with words ,and a delight to read even when the story is chilling. Hoping now that Patrick has hit bottom, will stop emilating his dispicable father and make it through.... On to book three!

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— Mar 4, 2013 | Add your feedback
- Wild (29)
- From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
- By Cheryl Strayed
- Finished on Mar 20, 2013
  
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Wild

Straying on the pacific rim with Cheryl Strayed

Heard a lot about this book before decided to read it. Wasnt sure that another climbing the mountain and finding oneself was for me. But i'm glad i did. Not that i now want to treck for 3 months virtually alone through snow and heat with little ir no money but glad Cheryl Strayed did! After loosing ... (continue)

Heard a lot about this book before decided to read it. Wasnt sure that another climbing the mountain and finding oneself was for me. But i'm glad i did. Not that i now want to treck for 3 months virtually alone through snow and heat with little ir no money but glad Cheryl Strayed did! After loosing her mother, Strayed truely did stray from the path but through this amazing trip she truly found her way. A treat to follow

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— Mar 21, 2013 | Add your feedback
- Never Mind (4)
- By Edward St. Aubyn
- Started on Feb 12, 2013
  
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Never Mind

And you thought your childhood was tough?

At least you are not Patrick Melrose! From the outside growing up in a small castle in the south of France in the 50s with his aristocratic English parents looks pretty good. But the reality for 5 year old Patrick is anything but good. The first of the five Melrose novels, St Aubyn takes us on a rid ... (continue)

At least you are not Patrick Melrose! From the outside growing up in a small castle in the south of France in the 50s with his aristocratic English parents looks pretty good. But the reality for 5 year old Patrick is anything but good. The first of the five Melrose novels, St Aubyn takes us on a ride to see how the other half really live and it is not a pretty picture. With loads of hilarious comments on life, class and bringing up children, St Aubyn is a real master of words in this dark dark world.

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— Feb 17, 2013 | Add your feedback
- The Darlings (3)
- By Cristina Alger
- Finished on Feb 11, 2013
  
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The Darlings

Madoff revisited

In the perfect world of park avenue, auctions and private clubs, the Darlings live a refined and perfect ife. Cars and the Hamptons. Paul marries his law school sweetheart and gets swept into this world where everyone plays and works hard. Scandals come and go but the fierce New Yorkers dodge the bu ... (continue)

In the perfect world of park avenue, auctions and private clubs, the Darlings live a refined and perfect ife. Cars and the Hamptons. Paul marries his law school sweetheart and gets swept into this world where everyone plays and works hard. Scandals come and go but the fierce New Yorkers dodge the bullets of a stock market crash that is the elelphant in the room as they go from party to party pretending that nothing has changed. Andnthen Morty kills himself and the Darlings world starts to crumble, skeletons come out of the closet and it is a dight for survival. Good Wall Street thriller in the line of Bonfire of the Vanities and the Privileges.

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— Feb 12, 2013 | Add your feedback
- The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared (161)
- By Jonas Jonasson
- Finished on Feb 3, 2013
  
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The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared

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Candide in the 20th century (or forrest gump meets world leaders if you prefer)

A 100 year old eternal optimist does not want to celebrate his birthday in the retirement home so, in keeping with his personal history, he decides it is time for a change. Allen climbs out of the window and goes on a wild adventure involving gangs and elephants and all kinds of crazy road trip adve ... (continue)

A 100 year old eternal optimist does not want to celebrate his birthday in the retirement home so, in keeping with his personal history, he decides it is time for a change. Allen climbs out of the window and goes on a wild adventure involving gangs and elephants and all kinds of crazy road trip adventures. Interspersed with the delightful story of Allen's very astonishing escapades as an explosive expert who helped Franco, Truman, Mao and by accident Stalin. Great fun and some good advice : skip politics and religion, they tend to get you in trouble.

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— Feb 3, 2013 | Add your feedback

- Me Before You (81)
- By Jojo Moyes
- Finished on Jan 24, 2013
  
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Me Before You

love story in a wheelchair...

what do you get when you mix rich boy in wheelchair with seemingly clueless and totally unsophisticated helper? well in France you get les intouchables - a comedy about an unlikely friendship between two men from different worlds and in England you get Me Before You - a love story between a girl wit ... (continue)

what do you get when you mix rich boy in wheelchair with seemingly clueless and totally unsophisticated helper? well in France you get les intouchables - a comedy about an unlikely friendship between two men from different worlds and in England you get Me Before You - a love story between a girl with no ambitions and a man who no longer has his... and a debate on euphanasia..good cry...

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— Jan 24, 2013 | Add your feedback
- The Fault in Our Stars (260)
- By John Green
- Finished on Jan 20, 2013
  
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The Fault in Our Stars

Time magazine book of the year?

Teen romance but between teens with cancer. Felt as it was supposed to be the best book of the year, had to try. Conclusion: a little predictable but loved the snarky attitudes of the teens, first love, Mom in parking lot (but not quite as much of a polly anna as you would think at first), Definite ... (continue)

Teen romance but between teens with cancer. Felt as it was supposed to be the best book of the year, had to try. Conclusion: a little predictable but loved the snarky attitudes of the teens, first love, Mom in parking lot (but not quite as much of a polly anna as you would think at first), Definitely a tear jerker. Nice to read a book that assumes you can follow some pretty complex thoughts and that allows the sick teens to be teens not angelic patients. Good read for a snowy day!!!!!

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— Jan 20, 2013 | Add your feedback
- La Vérité sur l’Affaire Harry Quebert (36)
- By Joël Dicker
- Finished on Jan 12, 2013
  
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La Vérité sur l’Affaire Harry Quebert

Who dunnit?

A classic who done it set in the us

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— Jan 14, 2013 | Add your feedback
- The Plague of Doves (17)
- By Louise Erdrich
- Finished on Dec 13, 2012
  
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The Plague of Doves

rough justice it is

how could I have missed Louise Erdrich all these years? How to describe: life in a town and a reservation in North Dakota that circles around a horrible incident: a lynching of 3 Native Americans for the murder of a family that they did not commit. But that's not the real story of this novel: the no ... (continue)

how could I have missed Louise Erdrich all these years? How to describe: life in a town and a reservation in North Dakota that circles around a horrible incident: a lynching of 3 Native Americans for the murder of a family that they did not commit. But that's not the real story of this novel: the novel delves into a community and Erdrich weaves a web that shows how everything is related: related to that lynching, to each other, to the history of this town at the end of the world appropriately called "Pluto". Reading Erdrich will remind you of Garcia Marquez but also Barbara Kingsolver - so full of pictures and emotion. I'm hesitating with diving into her latest "The Round House" which just won the National Book Award

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— Dec 13, 2012 | Add your feedback
- Paris: A Love Story (1)
- By Kati Marton
- Finished on Nov 20, 2012
  
  Finished (re-read) on Nov 20, 2012
  
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Paris: A Love Story

Kati Marton has had an extraordinary life. She was a journalist in Europe during the cold war, married Peter Jennings and then Richard Holbrooke and has been involved in world politics behind the doors for over 40 years. Fascinating part is her story about being a female journalist when Barabara Wal ... (continue)

Kati Marton has had an extraordinary life. She was a journalist in Europe during the cold war, married Peter Jennings and then Richard Holbrooke and has been involved in world politics behind the doors for over 40 years. Fascinating part is her story about being a female journalist when Barabara Walters was the only role model, trying to balance work and family and what she has seen. Less convinced by the "Paris love story" part (just convenient) - and there is a lot of name dropping, but that is the life she's led...

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— Dec 13, 2012 | Add your feedback