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It takes a special book to hook me into reading it in one sitting. Maybe it's the timeliness to the current political and faith debate, maybe it's my affinity for The Scarlet Letter, or maybe Hillary Jordan is just that damn good. Whatever the maybe, this book grabs you and drops you into a completely realized world that is both terrifying and familiar. If you like books like The Handmaid's Tale, or The Scarlet Letter, or even the more current and YA focused The Hunger Games, this book is sure to grab your interest. In fact while the prose is sometimes thick yet beautiful, the protagonist, Hannah is so sheltered that she almost reads as a YA character, despite her being 26 at the start of the novel.
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(0 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)
This is a super interesting book - and a HUGE downer. Nevertheless, I have to give it five stars. There were times I just had to put the book down and read something a little less intense. I will admit that it's easy to get bogged down by Weisman's style. Though some of his thoughts are funny (in a scary way), there are times when the technical explanations are tough to get through. I would say this is both a good and bad book to read before bed. Good because, it doesn't take long to get tired of the technical, bad because it will seriously give you nightmares or ulcers. It remains, however, an important and interesting read.
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(2 of 4 readers found this comment helpful)
I have to say that it has been a long time since I've read a book through in one sitting. Truthfully though, this isn't a super long book.
I'm having a hard time describing what I loved about it. Malzieu weaves a strange tale like a Tim Burton/Roald Dahl/Shel Silverstein mash up with a hint of Neil Gaiman. Its written like a read-out-loud storybook, but it's for grown ups. There is a lot of sexual innuendo and adult themes, yet it's whimsical like something from childhood.
So I guess, I just have to say I loved it, and that's that. I don't think it would be for everyone, but if you normally like an unusual tale, this is an excellent book.
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(3 of 6 readers found this comment helpful)
I honestly can't see why people would really complain about this book. True, in many ways, it is very unlike The Historian. However, I find that rather refreshing. How boring is it (at least for me) to have an author continue to churn out the exact same storyline over and over and over again (ahem, Dan Brown, Patricia Cornwell)? I admire that Kostova takes years between novels, carefully and artfully researching her subject matter.
She must have delved so deep into the world of art, she either began painting herself or is incredibly intuitive. Kostova writes with a bright understanding of the world of art and history. To me, her research is one of the things that give her fiction such a fantastic tone.
I don't want to give anything away, since this book is as much a mystery as it is a story of love, betrayal, art, mental illness, and the lengths at which we will go to understand them all. It is a slow boiling read that traps your imagination and leaves you wishing for more. Though I would say not so much that you'd want more to the character's stories (the ending was well paced), just more of Kostova's writing in general.
If you're looking for a replica of The Historian, you'll not find it here. However, if you're looking to be plainly set in a wonderful, if not mundane world, where character development slightly outweigh fast moving plot lines, look no further. It's certainly worth the time.
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(6 of 10 readers found this comment helpful)
I found this book to be mostly enjoyable. I don't have an enormous interest in mental health alone, but instead how it is deeply rooted in our public health systems.
I believe Dr. Holland truly opens the door to her innermost thoughts of her time at Bellevue CPEP. She loves being a psychiatrist and that is plain in her writing. If you are interested in the underbelly of mental illness in one of the United States' biggest cities this is an excellent book to read. You will however, ...more I found this book to be mostly enjoyable. I don't have an enormous interest in mental health alone, but instead how it is deeply rooted in our public health systems.
I believe Dr. Holland truly opens the door to her innermost thoughts of her time at Bellevue CPEP. She loves being a psychiatrist and that is plain in her writing. If you are interested in the underbelly of mental illness in one of the United States' biggest cities this is an excellent book to read. You will however, need to be able to go along with some of her quick rundowns of patients symptoms. She often gets caught up in writing like a physician giving report out to another physician. If you've spent no time in the medical world, it may be difficult to follow in places.
In fact for me, she spends almost too much time going on about the details and mechanics of her job and not enough time on specific cases and or her own personal life outside of the quick tidbits pertaining to the story. She does however, spend a lot of time discussing her treatment of her patients and how her personal struggles play into how she acts and reacts to them. In this sense it is almost like reading her play-by-play with her psychotherapist. Unfortunately, I found this to be a little boring.
At the beginning I did not really like Dr. Holland. Her (writing) voice just rubbed me the wrong way. In many ways she's coarse and unrefined. She drills and plays with her patients to get the info she wants/needs. I know that this is a common thing to do in mental health, but reading it in such an exposed way sort of bothered me at first.
As her memoir went on, I warmed to her personality a bit, though I am relatively sure I would never want to A. be a patient of hers (for more than the reason I would have to be insane) and B. befriend her. Even by the end of the book when she has softened, I don't think I'd like her in person. That being said, I do not want to detract from all the good work she has done at Bellevue and am thankful that someone wants to do that job
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(3 of 6 readers found this comment helpful)
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MindyBuchanan has commented on (27) products.
When She Woke by Hillary Jordan
MindyBuchanan, October 2, 2011
It takes a special book to hook me into reading it in one sitting. Maybe it's the timeliness to the current political and faith debate, maybe it's my affinity for The Scarlet Letter, or maybe Hillary Jordan is just that damn good. Whatever the maybe, this book grabs you and drops you into a completely realized world that is both terrifying and familiar. If you like books like The Handmaid's Tale, or The Scarlet Letter, or even the more current and YA focused The Hunger Games, this book is sure to grab your interest. In fact while the prose is sometimes thick yet beautiful, the protagonist, Hannah is so sheltered that she almost reads as a YA character, despite her being 26 at the start of the novel.(0 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)
World Without Us by Alan Weisman
MindyBuchanan, July 15, 2010
This is a super interesting book - and a HUGE downer. Nevertheless, I have to give it five stars. There were times I just had to put the book down and read something a little less intense. I will admit that it's easy to get bogged down by Weisman's style. Though some of his thoughts are funny (in a scary way), there are times when the technical explanations are tough to get through. I would say this is both a good and bad book to read before bed. Good because, it doesn't take long to get tired of the technical, bad because it will seriously give you nightmares or ulcers. It remains, however, an important and interesting read.(2 of 4 readers found this comment helpful)
The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart (Borzoi Books) by Mathias Malzieu
MindyBuchanan, April 19, 2010
I have to say that it has been a long time since I've read a book through in one sitting. Truthfully though, this isn't a super long book.I'm having a hard time describing what I loved about it. Malzieu weaves a strange tale like a Tim Burton/Roald Dahl/Shel Silverstein mash up with a hint of Neil Gaiman. Its written like a read-out-loud storybook, but it's for grown ups. There is a lot of sexual innuendo and adult themes, yet it's whimsical like something from childhood.
So I guess, I just have to say I loved it, and that's that. I don't think it would be for everyone, but if you normally like an unusual tale, this is an excellent book.
(3 of 6 readers found this comment helpful)
The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova
MindyBuchanan, February 4, 2010
I honestly can't see why people would really complain about this book. True, in many ways, it is very unlike The Historian. However, I find that rather refreshing. How boring is it (at least for me) to have an author continue to churn out the exact same storyline over and over and over again (ahem, Dan Brown, Patricia Cornwell)? I admire that Kostova takes years between novels, carefully and artfully researching her subject matter.She must have delved so deep into the world of art, she either began painting herself or is incredibly intuitive. Kostova writes with a bright understanding of the world of art and history. To me, her research is one of the things that give her fiction such a fantastic tone.
I don't want to give anything away, since this book is as much a mystery as it is a story of love, betrayal, art, mental illness, and the lengths at which we will go to understand them all. It is a slow boiling read that traps your imagination and leaves you wishing for more. Though I would say not so much that you'd want more to the character's stories (the ending was well paced), just more of Kostova's writing in general.
If you're looking for a replica of The Historian, you'll not find it here. However, if you're looking to be plainly set in a wonderful, if not mundane world, where character development slightly outweigh fast moving plot lines, look no further. It's certainly worth the time.
(6 of 10 readers found this comment helpful)
Weekends at Bellevue by Julie Holland
MindyBuchanan, January 20, 2010
I found this book to be mostly enjoyable. I don't have an enormous interest in mental health alone, but instead how it is deeply rooted in our public health systems.I believe Dr. Holland truly opens the door to her innermost thoughts of her time at Bellevue CPEP. She loves being a psychiatrist and that is plain in her writing. If you are interested in the underbelly of mental illness in one of the United States' biggest cities this is an excellent book to read. You will however, ...more I found this book to be mostly enjoyable. I don't have an enormous interest in mental health alone, but instead how it is deeply rooted in our public health systems.
I believe Dr. Holland truly opens the door to her innermost thoughts of her time at Bellevue CPEP. She loves being a psychiatrist and that is plain in her writing. If you are interested in the underbelly of mental illness in one of the United States' biggest cities this is an excellent book to read. You will however, need to be able to go along with some of her quick rundowns of patients symptoms. She often gets caught up in writing like a physician giving report out to another physician. If you've spent no time in the medical world, it may be difficult to follow in places.
In fact for me, she spends almost too much time going on about the details and mechanics of her job and not enough time on specific cases and or her own personal life outside of the quick tidbits pertaining to the story. She does however, spend a lot of time discussing her treatment of her patients and how her personal struggles play into how she acts and reacts to them. In this sense it is almost like reading her play-by-play with her psychotherapist. Unfortunately, I found this to be a little boring.
At the beginning I did not really like Dr. Holland. Her (writing) voice just rubbed me the wrong way. In many ways she's coarse and unrefined. She drills and plays with her patients to get the info she wants/needs. I know that this is a common thing to do in mental health, but reading it in such an exposed way sort of bothered me at first.
As her memoir went on, I warmed to her personality a bit, though I am relatively sure I would never want to A. be a patient of hers (for more than the reason I would have to be insane) and B. befriend her. Even by the end of the book when she has softened, I don't think I'd like her in person. That being said, I do not want to detract from all the good work she has done at Bellevue and am thankful that someone wants to do that job
(3 of 6 readers found this comment helpful)
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