Reviews and Comments

This is a decent and somewhat thoughtful read that's already a bit out of date. I was hoping for something more detailed and insightful but really read little that I hadn't already heard or thought of. Then again I'm geekier than the average reader perhaps and others may glean more from it than I did.

Wonderful collection of short stories from the Azores. Dances deftly between reality & fantasy, magical & mundane, life & death. Each story gets better and better. Makes me want to travel to the Azores even more than I did before reading this.

Rereading a classic from not only my childhood but my sister's and even my mothers. Fun to revisit but far more dated than I thought it would be.

what is there to say? a nice escapist romance novel. Just what my summer needed.

So far the weakest of the first three. It read like he was hurrying for a deadline and thought "what the heck, let's just throw this crap in here and there. They'll never know the difference or care since I'm already popular because of Hitchhikers Guide". Not sure I'm going to bother with any more of these. At least it was a quick read and I didn't waste a lot of time on it.

Just what I needed. A fun absurd romp across the universe and back again.

a fun romp. good beach read

I had hoped this book would be more insightful than it was. Nicely written and not a bad read overall. Just not very inspiring.

I'd recently been looking at the work of Francis Bacon and I came across someone saying this book had great insights into creativity. Well, it doesn't. There are a few minor gems in a couple of scattered paragraphs but not enough to give this any more stars. There are pages that are nearly verbatim repetition of other sections. Worthwhile if you're interested in Francis Bacon and his work but I beyond that I wouldn't recommend it.

starts off interestingly enough. setting is some (future) utopia/planned society. But then fizzles in the end. Book includes a reading guide in the back. Would be more interesting for middle/high school students perhaps. I was disappointed with the lack of examination of intriguing ideas that were touched on but not gone in to in more depth.

just finished rereading this. Hadn't read it since high school. I don't remember much liking it then and wondered if I'd missed something. I don't think so. For me it's basically one long monologue by a confused and depressed teenager with a weak ending. Glad I reread it though. Decent story telling with a unique voice.

quirky and kinda fun but nowhere near the quality of his Illuminatus Trilogy

a fun historical romp with a dash of romance of course. The scottish dialect is cumbersome and awkward at times but overall a fun read.

a quick read. A fable really. Enchantingly and terrifyingly written. Definitely makes me want to read more Steinbeck