Customer Comments

lechatnoir has commented on (10) products.

When I Was a Child I Read Books: Essays by Marilynne Robinson

lechatnoir, January 12, 2013

One of the most intelligent books I've read in a long time about the current state of the world and how one person's religious belief informs her perspective on, well, pretty much everything. I am not a Calvinist, yet she presents Calvinism in a way that is compassionate and compelling, dispelling many myths and leading me to reconsider all I've learned and thought about it over the years. It is not just that, either- it is the depth and breadth of her thought on literature, science, economics and so much more. This one's a keeper.

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Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver

lechatnoir, January 12, 2013

For me, this is Kingsolver's best book to date. I live in the region where the story takes place, and she captures it beautifully, its hardships as well as its moments of beauty. I also love the way she interweaves environmental concerns and personal stories. If I didn't have so many books in my to-read pile, I'd read this again in a heartbeat.

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Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

lechatnoir, August 4, 2012

I actually listened to this book during my daily 3-mile walks, rather than read it in traditional book form, but all the same, it got to the point where I simply could not tear myself away from it. I was adding time to my walks, listening to it while working around the house, and generally not getting a lot of other things done just so that I could listen longer! Calliope's story is original, compelling and brilliantly narrated against a cultural backdrop that is in many ways foreign to me, yet utterly familiar in the depth of its humanity. An absolute must-read.

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The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

lechatnoir, January 1, 2011

This book completely captured my mind and my heart. It was the first time in a long time I encountered a book I simply could not put down, passing up sleep and meals just to keep turning those pages. I could identify with the settings and characters 110 per cent, and the love story was a lot more compelling and a lot less saccharine than most I've read in recent times. No, the plot is not always entirely plausible, but it is so well-written that I was more than happy to suspend belief.

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The Elegance of the Hedgehog [Chinese] by Muriel Barbery

lechatnoir, January 2, 2010

This is easily the best book I have read this year, and definitely in contention for best of the decade. I am a voracious reader, and generally jump from one book to the next within minutes, not to mention I usually have at least 2 going at a time. This one captivated me so much that I abandoned the second book, and needed a couple of days to "recover" from the beauty of this one before I was ready to move on! On a scale from 1 to 5, a 10!

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