What was really irritating was the whole scavenger hunt thing, which just made the mother look like a bitch.
It totally did! It made no sense except as a device to keep the daughter there.
I am not having sex with Spike! But I'm starting to think that you might be.
Buffy ,'Dirty Girls'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
lisah - Mar 04, 2009 12:34:02 pm PST #8534 of 28431
Punishingly Intricate
Ginger - Mar 04, 2009 12:48:58 pm PST #8535 of 28431
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
The daughter wanted to stay and sort things out anyway. I think she would have leapt on the thinnest of reasons and would have jumped at any research project to distract herself. She could have found a clue in the house earlier. There could have been some piece of information needed or they'd lose the house.
It is a first novel. I'd give the author another chance, but better editing would have improved this one. I think the basic stuff was there.
dcp - Mar 04, 2009 2:39:25 pm PST #8536 of 28431
The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.
Any stand-out historical non-fic
Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America is very good.
And I'll repeat my rec for Three Cups of Tea
Calli - Mar 04, 2009 4:04:44 pm PST #8537 of 28431
I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul—Calvin and Hobbs
Any stand-out historical non-fic
The Ghost Map, by Steven Johnson, is very good. It's about a cholera epidemic in London during the 1800s, and how figuring out the source and transmission pretty much gave rise to modern epidemiology. It's also the story of the partnership of Reverend Henry Whitehead and Dr. John Snow, who worked together to figure things out.
Strix - Mar 04, 2009 4:15:55 pm PST #8538 of 28431
A dress should be tight enough to show you're a woman but loose enough to flee from zombies. — Ginger
The Ghost Map sounds intriguing. And I read Three Cups of Tea and quite liked it.
The woman who wrote Reading Lolita in Tehran has come out with a memoir I want to read. I really liked RLiT.
Amy - Mar 04, 2009 4:16:54 pm PST #8539 of 28431
Because books.
I have The Ghost Map on my wishlist! And when I was working in the bookstore, so many people were asking for Three Cups of Tea. We could barely keep it in. It looks really good.
Jesse - Mar 04, 2009 4:17:31 pm PST #8540 of 28431
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
That's funny -- Three Cups of Tea was just recommended to me, and when I said I hadn't heard of it, the recommender assured me that I would see it everywhere.
Kathy A - Mar 04, 2009 4:17:58 pm PST #8541 of 28431
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil
I've got Stephen Johnson's new book, The Invention of Air, on top of my To Be Read pile. He's going to be on Colbert tonight--should be pretty interesting!
beth b - Mar 04, 2009 4:36:42 pm PST #8542 of 28431
oh joy! Oh Rapture ! I have a brain!
Three Cups of tea is that book that everyone in this area is reading/ having book discussion for, etc.There is even a children's book out.
Ginger - Mar 04, 2009 4:49:13 pm PST #8543 of 28431
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
I was also going to recommend The Ghost Map, which was excellent until the last chapter, in which the author tries to draw cosmic meaning about urban living from the story.