Literature & Fiction Books - Page 2

The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century

Thomas L. Friedman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1174 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

It Is Your Responsibility as a Human Being to Read this Book and Make a Difference in The World 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Thomas Friedman brilliantly shows how the forces of globalization have connected the world in ways never possible before. The walls, ceilings, and even floors that once separated people, societies, and countries have been flattened out. Now, a single individual has more power than any other time in history.

We must make use of all these new possibilities to succeed in a world that is more competitive and more challenging than ever before.

You have to establish a competitive advantage that differentiates you from the rest of this world. If you don't, you can't survive.

This next 50 years are the most crucial time in the history of our time. We have the opportunity to end poverty, diseases, wars, ignorance, greed, and hunger.

If we don't succeed in creating a NEW world where people live in harmony with nature and with each other, we don't have a chance as a species.

It is your responsibility as a human being to be accountable for yourself and your world.

Editorial Review:

A New York Times Bestseller

The groundbreaking new book by Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist Thomas Friedman is a timely and essential update on globalization, its successes and discontents, powerfully illuminated by one of our most respected journalists.

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

Gregory Maguire

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Total reviews: 1526 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Following the traditions of Gabriel GarcÍa Marqu,z, John Gardner and J.R.R. Tolkien, Wicked is a richly woven tale that takes us to the other, darker side of the rainbow as novelist Gregory Maguire chronicles the Wicked Witch of the West's odyssey through the complex world of Oz -- where people call you wicked if you tell the truth.

Years before Dorothy and her dog crash-land, another little girl makes her presence known in Oz. This girl, Elphaba, is born with emerald-green skin -- no easy burden in a land as mean and poor as Oz, where superstition and magic are not strong enough to explain or to overcome the natural disasters of flood and famine. But Elphaba is smart, and by the time she enters the university in Shiz, she becomes a member of a charmed circle of Oz' most promising young citizens.

Elphaba's Oz is no utopia. The Wizard's secret police are everywhere. Animals -- those creatures with voices, souls and minds -- are threatened with exile. Young Elphaba, green and wild and misunderstood, is determined to protect the Animals -- even it means combating the mysterious Wizard, even if it means risking her single chance at romance. Even wiser in guilt and sorrow, she can find herself grateful when the world declares her a witch. And she can even make herself glad for that young girl from Kansas.

In Wicked, Gregory Maguire has taken the largely unknown world of Oz and populated it with the power of his own imagination. Fast-paced, fantastically real and supremely entertaining, this is a novel of vision and re-vision. Oz never will be the same again.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

John Boyne

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 104 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas MOVIE Review from The Massie Twins 4 out of 5 stars.
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The absolute high point of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is the attention to character development witnessed in every persona that appears onscreen. Thought-provoking and powerful, the backdrop of World War II, prison camps, and Nazis perfectly clash with the innocence of a child's mind and the injustice and compassion perceived through his eyes. At once painful, tear-jerking and deeply emotional, this is a film that cannot be easily forgotten.

Little Bruno (Asa Butterfield) and his family relocate to the countryside and out of Berlin during World War II. Bruno's father (David Thewlis) has just received a promotion to oversee a German concentration camp, much to the disapproval of his politically forthright parents, which takes the family away from friends and comfort. Bruno is initially upset, especially with boredom due to the lack of other children around the secluded house they move to, but he secretly wanders outside to investigate his surroundings.

Not far from the lonely home is the camp and its odd "farmers" who occasionally act as servants for the family. When Bruno works up the courage to travel to the gaunt resort, he meets Shmuel (Jack Scanlon) dressed in funny pajamas and looking glum. Soon the two consider themselves friends, even though they are separated by an electrified fence and can only meet in secrecy. Bruno brings food and games to play, but envisages himself as the unlucky one; he is tutored most of the day and trapped in a solitary fortress while Shmuel gets to roam freely (within the confines of the camp). Bruno's family life begins to falter when his mother (Vera Farmiga) discovers the true purpose of the camp and her husband's duties, and so he plots to join Shmuel in his search for his own missing father.

James Horner's preeminent score gives extra depth and resonance to outstanding performances and dire depictions of a catastrophic period. The film is told through the eyes of an innocent boy, giving a considerably unique approach to a Holocaust film. Based on the novel by John Boyne, the film never delves into actual atrocities, but instead focuses on the misinterpretations of a child's mind and the innocent interactions with both dutiful Nazis and suffering prisoners.

Every character is incredibly complex, from Jewish servant Pavel, who was once a doctor and now peels potatoes and serves drinks (Bruno can't understand why he'd give up his career), to Lieutenant Kotler, the intimidating German officer who shows no clemency to the Jews, yet carefully hides his own doubts about the orders he carries out. No supporting character is wasted, and each is perfectly portrayed by an incredibly talented cast.

Some aspects of the film's realism are questionable, from the use of servants to Schmuel's age to young Bruno's naïveté, but the message behind The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is nonetheless powerful and emotional. It's a difficult film to watch, but well paced and enlightening, despite the terribly bleak setting. The acting and character designs are simply phenomenal and unquestionably highlight this traumatizing World War II drama.

- Mike Massie

Editorial Review:

This work was set in Berlin, 1942. When Bruno returns home from school one day, he discovers that his belongings are being packed in crates. His father has received a promotion and the family must move from their home to a new house far far away, where there is no one to play with and nothing to do. A tall fence running alongside stretches as far as the eye can see and cuts him off from the strange people he can see in the distance. But, Bruno longs to be an explorer and decides that there must be more to this desolate new place than what meets the eye. While exploring his new environment, he meets another boy whose life and circumstances are very different to his own, and their meeting results in a friendship that has devastating consequences.

The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread (The Literacy Bridge - Large Print)

Kate DiCamillo

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 375 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Love, Forgiveness, and Bravery 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

The Tale of Despereaux
This is a tale of forgiveness, when forgiveness is hard; love, through all the storms in life, and light through all the darkness.

Despereaux, a small mouse with large ears, wasn't interested in nibbling on the large books in the castle, along with his sister. Instead, he began reading wonderful stories about princesses, knights in shining armor and happily-ever-after. Lured by music, Despereaux found himself in the presence of the Princess Pea and the King. When he first spotted the Princess Pea, he knew he was in Love. His mother, father, brother and the entire mouse council turned against him, for proclaiming his love for the princess.

Despereaux was measured for a noose, of red thread and taken to the dungeon. Never has a mouse survived the dungeon; not with all the hungry rats waiting for a tasty treat.

Love, forgiveness, bravery and a good story may save the life of Despereaux, but who will save the princess? She has been lured into the dungeon by a young girl, Miggery Sow, who wants to be a princess and a rat named Roscuro, who longs to live in the light.

You and your family will enjoy the tale of Despaureax. Parts of this story may be scary for younger children. There is also the mistreatment of the young Miggery Sow.

Jill Ammon Vanderwood
Through the Rug
Through The Rug: Follow That Dog (Through the Rug)
Stowaway: The San Francisco Adventures of Sara, the Pineapple Cat

Editorial Review:

Winner of the Newbery Medal 2004

This is the story of Despereaux Tilling, a mouse in love with music, stories, and a princess named Pea. It is also the story of a rat called Roscuro, who lives in darkness but covets a world filled with light. And it is the story of Miggery Sow, a slow-witted serving girl with a simple, impossible wish. These characters are about to embark on a journey that will lead them down into a horrible dungeon, up into a glittering castle, and ultimately, into each other's lives.

Dead To The World (Southern Vampire)

Charlaine Harris

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 148 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

WILD RIDE 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is a great story! Charlaine Harris has taken me on a wild ride with Sookie and her adventures. I am hooked!

Sookie and Bill are hot 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I really enjoy this series of books. They are a very interesting read. I like the twists and turns she makes. I like all the charcaters and the realm of what's really out there in the world.

the best so far....... 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

if you're a fan of the series, and especially a fan of Sookie and Eric, like I am, than this is the book for you. The storyline in book four starts fast and stays fast through the entire book. The plot introduces an interesting new "creature group" into the Sookie Stackhouse universe, that will certainly add a fun new dimension to the series. Readers see a whole new side to vampire Eric-one that makes me say "dump Bill, Sookie and stay with Eric" LOL. This southern gal gives this exciting, funny series two thumbs up-it just keeps getting better.

As always-HIGHLY recommended that you read this series in order.

5 stars!

Editorial Review:

One of the best-known and best writers of the new American mythology is Charlaine Harris. Dead to the World is the fourth novel in her Anthony Award-winning Southern Vampire Series It continues the story of psychic waitress Sookie Stackhouse, who has fallen out with her undead lover, Bill. Bill has no sooner departed for Peru, than Sookie finds the head vampire, Eric, running naked and terrified through the rural night. She helps Eric, and discovers that a coven of unscrupulous, astonishingly powerful witches are offering a huge reward for Eric. Sookie tries to hide Eric, as she finds herself caught in a war among witches, vampires, and werewolves.

Club Dead: A Southern Vampire Novel

Charlaine Harris

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Total reviews: 155 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

My favorite series book....thus far 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I've read the first 5 books, and Club Dead was my favorite. They are all wonderful, but in this book a new character, Alcide, is introduced. The books are very intertwined, but I find them all very entertaining!

Not bad 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

First I would like to say that the books in this series are fluff reading. Fun to read and then forget about. They don't have any depth at all. Nothing to ponder. No insight to the human condition. If you are looking for the Dune of vampires, this is not it.

That being said, I am disapointed that Sookie gets all slutty in this novel. If that trend continues, I will stop reading.

Editorial Review:

A New York Times Bestselling Author
An Anthony Award-winning Author

There's only one vampire Sookie Stackhouse is involved with (at least voluntarily) and that's Bill. But recently he's been a little distant - in another state, distant. His sinister and sexy boss has an idea where to look. But when Sookie finally finds Bill - caught in an act of serious betrayal - she's not sure whether to save him . . . or sharpen some stakes.

All Together Dead

Charlaine Harris

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Total reviews: 184 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Loved it! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Continuing Sookie Stackhouse's adventures with such an array of other-worldly creatures is an interesting idea all by itself, but the author has such an incredible imagination that I was more than deeply engrossed. Each time I move to the next book in her series, I find that I can't wait for the book to get here and then I sit down and read it all the way through as soon as it arrives. I can't wait for Book 8!

Editorial Review:

Louisiana cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse has her hands full dealing with every sort of undead and paranormal creature imaginable. And after being betrayed by her longtime vampire love, Sookie must not only deal with a new man in her life-the shapeshifter Quinn-but also contend with the long-planned vampire summit.

The summit is a tense situation. The vampire queen of Louisiana is in a precarious position, her power base weakened by hurricane damage to New Orleans. And there are some vamps who would like to finish what nature started. Soon, Sookie must decide what side she'll stand with. And her choice may mean the difference between survival and all-out catastrophe.

The Kite Runner

Khaled Hosseini

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Total reviews: 2521 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

“I sat on a bench near a willow tree and watched a pair of kites soaring in the sky. I thought about something Rahim Khan said just before he hung up, almost as an afterthought, ‘There is a way to be good again.’”

Now in paperback, one of the year’s international literary sensations -- a shattering story of betrayal and redemption set in war-torn Afghanistan.

Amir and Hassan are childhood friends in the alleys and orchards of Kabul in the sunny days before the invasion of the Soviet army and Afghanistan’s decent into fanaticism. Both motherless, they grow up as close as brothers, but their fates, they know, are to be different. Amir’s father is a wealthy merchant; Hassan’s father is his manservant. Amir belongs to the ruling caste of Pashtuns, Hassan to the despised Hazaras.

This fragile idyll is broken by the mounting ethnic, religious, and political tensions that begin to tear Afghanistan apart. An unspeakable assault on Hassan by a gang of local boys tears the friends apart; Amir has witnessed his friend’s torment, but is too afraid to intercede. Plunged into self-loathing, Amir conspires to have Hassan and his father turned out of the household.

When the Soviets invade Afghanistan, Amir and his father flee to San Francisco, leaving Hassan and his father to a pitiless fate. Only years later will Amir have an opportunity to redeem himself by returning to Afghanistan to begin to repay the debt long owed to the man who should have been his brother.

Compelling, heartrending, and etched with details of a history never before told in fiction, The Kite Runner is a story of the ways in which we’re damned by our moral failures, and of the extravagant cost of redemption.

Definitely Dead (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 6)

Charlaine Harris

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 150 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Definitely Dull 2 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This was such a bizarre entry in what has become one of my favorite mystery series. First of all, starting this book will be totally confusing for anyone who hasn't read "One Word Answer," a short Sookie Stackhouse story that Harris wrote for an anthology. How do I know? Because I hadn't read it by the time I began "Definitely Dead," and I was definitely confused. Sookie's cousin was murdered in New Orleans, and the Vampire Queen of Louisiana sent an emissary to visit Sookie in Bon Temps? When? Not in any of the previous books I'd read. I knew I couldn't be crazy, so I did some online research, found the short story, and was able to download it for free. Then the beginning of the book made sense to me. But how unfair is that to readers who either don't know about the story or have access to the internet? At least publish the short story in the paperback edition of "Definately Dead" so that readers aren't completely lost. Or include a note at the beginning of the book that directs readers to the anthology. Something, anything.

Second of all, the story involving Sookie's dead vampire cousin, the core of the book, doesn't really get rolling again until around page 130. Before then, the book is strictly filler, with unimportant subplots, one involving Jason and his werepanther girlfriend, the other about a missing child, who Sookie helps find. Those aren't spoilers, folks, because these side stories have NOTHING to do with the book's actual plot. So why are they even there? Who knows? Maybe Harris is setting things up for future entries, but that doesn't make for an involving reading experience this time around.

Thirdly, I wish Sookie would settle on a boyfriend. Bill, Eric, Sam, Quinn...On the one hand, I've always enjoyed Harris's ability to keep readers on their toes and defy expectations, but Sookie is starting to look like a right little pop tart. And was it really necessary for Harris to give us a plot twist that makes us detest and reevaluate a favorite character? Again, Harris likes to pull the rug out from under Sookie (and us, vicariously), but it seemed excessive and very mean-spirited. Harris hasn't seemed to know what to do with this character for a few books now, and it shows. Fourthly, when Sookie does make it to New Orleans and the book's real story actually begins, it turns out to be an uninteresting, overcomplicated one, with a plot element that was corny when Dumas used it in "The Three Musketeers."

Lastly, Harris throws us all a curve and gives us a hint about Sookie's family background that's completely inconsistent with the rest of the series, and made for a lot of backtracking. What, is Harris making this stuff up as she goes along? Sure sounds like it. Every writer should take a page out of JK Rowling's playbook and plan a series in advance. It goes a LONG way towards avoiding this kind of sloppy plotting. And if Sookie is a -- well, I don't want to give it away -- then it means she's not a normal woman in abnormal circumstances. Which means she's not us, the reader, and that's a shame.

And did it bother anyone else that Quinn took Sookie to see "The Producers?" Why couldn't Harris just say "the theater?" There have never been other references to present day movies or TV shows -- not that I remember -- and I found it very bizarre. Maybe I just don't see Sookie liking or getting that particular show. "Rent," yes -- "The Producers," no. Maybe it's just me.

All in all, if you're following Sookie's story, you're going to want to read this one as well, but prepare to put the book down, as I did, every few days. It's that dull.

Editorial Review:

The new Sookie Stackhouse novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Dead as a Doornail.

Spiked with a "frothy fusion of romance, mystery, and fantasy" (Publishers Weekly), this "deliciously fiendish...increasingly riotous series" (Dallas Morning News) sends the supernaturally gifted cocktail waitress to New Orleans, where she has to deal with the legacy of one of her own family and a host of potentially dangerous characters.

Dead as a Doornail

Charlaine Harris

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 157 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Dead As A Doornail 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I love Charlaine Harris's books about Sookie Stackhouse. Once I start one, I can't bear to put it down. Charlaine keeps you wanting to know what's going to happen next.

Sookie carries on with her "charmed existance" 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

If you are up to book 5, you've been bitten by the Sookie Stackhouse book and I don't have to tell you how riveting her life is. Charlaine Harris does it again -- and superbly: keeps you enthralled with an unlikely heroine, vampires, werewolves, and all sorts of creatures that you should know better than believe in.

In book 5, brother Jason is now a shifter himself (and still as dumb as dirt and more handsome than he deserves), a sniper is out hunting his shifter kind, and Sookie is (of course) caught in the middle -- with one romantic challenge after another.

Go ahead and read this one too: Work, kids, the grass, and tax day can just wait!

Editorial Review:

A New York Times Bestselling Author

Cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse has only a few close friends, which isn't surprising - not many people can appreciate Sookie's abilities as a mind reader. When she sees her brother Jason's eyes start to change, Sookie knows he's about to turn into a werepanther for the first time. But her concern for her brother becomes cold fear when a sniper targets the local changeling population - and Jason's new panther brethren suspect he may be the shooter.