Lately my life has been a lot of travel, on planes, trains, and in a station wagon that is so beat up I am pretty sure it's not going to pass...
Continue »
This is an entertaining and highly readable story about life at Yale in the 80s, but its real brilliance is in making the narrator, Danny, both so likable and so astonishingly selfish.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(2 of 8 readers found this comment helpful)
Set in Scotland, this gripping police procedural features a fascinating central character: Orla McLeod, an undercover agent haunted by the memory of her murdered father and brother. When a case goes horribly wrong, she has to choose between vengeance for the dead and a promise to the living--the nine-year-old boy she's sworn to protect. This thriller is riveting, and the author never dumbs things down--it requires the reader's full attention.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(0 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)
This intense and disturbing novel shows glimpses of the life of Iris Vegan, an impoverished literature student, as she seeks to make sense of a bizarre employer's strangely sinister requests, a photographer's power over her image, a German novella's compelling force, and a lover's hidden brutality. A brief but powerful book, The Blindfold haunts the reader long after it's over.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(0 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)
This is a delightful and surprisingly suspenseful story about the Braithwaite family, who would rather buy violins than new winter coats. I couldn't put the book down until I knew whether financial difficulties would force them to move from the remarkable neighborhood of Morningside Heights, a Manhattan community perfectly suited to their way of life, to the purgatory of the generic, pedestrian-unfriendly suburbs. In some ways this is an old-fashioned story, focusing on money, marriage and maintaining a way of life in the face of changing circumstances, but it was also very much set in the present, with believable and highly sympathetic characters.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(0 of 2 readers found this comment helpful)
I laughed out loud so many times while reading this book, yet what impressed me most is that Jacobs took his quest so seriously, and that he treated the believers he met with respect and humanity. As an agnostic, it would have been easy for him to go for the cheap laugh, but he actually tried to become a better person (or at least act like one, which may be half the battle.) This was a truly fascinating read (and I think the author's wife might qualify for sainthood.)
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(7 of 11 readers found this comment helpful)
Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.
Customer Comments
Erin Golsen has commented on (10) products.
Joe College by Tom Perrotta
Erin Golsen, July 8, 2008
This is an entertaining and highly readable story about life at Yale in the 80s, but its real brilliance is in making the narrator, Danny, both so likable and so astonishingly selfish.(2 of 8 readers found this comment helpful)
No Good Deed by Manda Scott
Erin Golsen, July 7, 2008
Set in Scotland, this gripping police procedural features a fascinating central character: Orla McLeod, an undercover agent haunted by the memory of her murdered father and brother. When a case goes horribly wrong, she has to choose between vengeance for the dead and a promise to the living--the nine-year-old boy she's sworn to protect. This thriller is riveting, and the author never dumbs things down--it requires the reader's full attention.(0 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)
The Blindfold by Siri Hustvedt
Erin Golsen, July 7, 2008
This intense and disturbing novel shows glimpses of the life of Iris Vegan, an impoverished literature student, as she seeks to make sense of a bizarre employer's strangely sinister requests, a photographer's power over her image, a German novella's compelling force, and a lover's hidden brutality. A brief but powerful book, The Blindfold haunts the reader long after it's over.(0 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)
Morningside Heights by Cheryl Mendelson
Erin Golsen, March 2, 2008
This is a delightful and surprisingly suspenseful story about the Braithwaite family, who would rather buy violins than new winter coats. I couldn't put the book down until I knew whether financial difficulties would force them to move from the remarkable neighborhood of Morningside Heights, a Manhattan community perfectly suited to their way of life, to the purgatory of the generic, pedestrian-unfriendly suburbs. In some ways this is an old-fashioned story, focusing on money, marriage and maintaining a way of life in the face of changing circumstances, but it was also very much set in the present, with believable and highly sympathetic characters.(0 of 2 readers found this comment helpful)
The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A. J. Jacobs
Erin Golsen, November 24, 2007
I laughed out loud so many times while reading this book, yet what impressed me most is that Jacobs took his quest so seriously, and that he treated the believers he met with respect and humanity. As an agnostic, it would have been easy for him to go for the cheap laugh, but he actually tried to become a better person (or at least act like one, which may be half the battle.) This was a truly fascinating read (and I think the author's wife might qualify for sainthood.)(7 of 11 readers found this comment helpful)