NicolaW
Enjoyed the accounts of SAS selection and the Everest climb.
The Compound Effect
dunno how I stumbled upon this book but I must have been in need of a boost...
How to Stubbornly Refuse to Make Yourself Miserable About Anything: Yes, Anything
I like stubbornly refusing to do things so this book appealed to me. Undoubtedly one of the better books of its kind (in my opinion) and I will be attempting to incorporate some of the strategies it contains into my everyday life. This book is blissfully devoid of psychobabble and centres around the notion that it is our irrational thinking that causes us to become psychologically unsettled. The book contains exercises to follow to help analyse and (hopefully) eradicate your own irrational beliefs. In a typically irrational move, I haven't yet tried them...
Interesting, particularly concerning marketing techniques but I probably would have been better off reading dedicated marketing psychology books or a much shorter magazine article. A great deal of padding around the cue/ habit/reward cycle.
Where's the 4.5 star rating when I need it? This book was a real pleasure to read.
As the one star rating says: I didn't like it. Having said that it did pick up a little for me around p.1100, perhaps because I could finally see the end.Quasi-religious crap about as deep as, as, as.... something shallow. I'm so glad I read the extended version in which the characters have been expanded. I particularly liked the dog Kojak.
I had my own reasons outside the book for finishing and without these it's difficult to say whether I would have bothered to crawl, bleeding and broken, to the end. I should really give Mr King the benefit of the doubt though - 1300+ pages carrying an unwilling reader...
Distant Star
An engrossing, tense and disturbing read. I was sad that I lacked the background to appreciate fully the deeper subtleties.
Got this book as a Christmas present and had a fun couple of hours counting how many of the books I'd already read (111 although my counting got worse the more I drank so I can't be absolutely sure of that).I've no intention of using this to shape my future reading but I have joined the group and started a new bookshelf for these books. If I happen to read something that coincides with the books this list contains then I'll mark them off.
This book is seriously flawed in my opinion, but Ellen's review here sums it up so I shalln't bother to reiterate.
Every man is an island. It's a dog-eat-dog world. Can you step into the same river twice? If you consider these things and throw in a bit of Bear Grylls then you have the gist of the book. From about mid-way the film and the book part company, if my memory serves me correctly.
I have no idea how I acquired this book but I almost certainly would never have bought it in a book shop. It reads ok although it tends to get somewhat repetitive. It's a basic and simple story and I've just noticed today that it's a YA/crossover book which would account perhaps for that. As the rating says "ok". Just that.
Short but beautiful.
A real page-turner - particularly the last third of the book. Despite speeding on to the end I was sorry to leave Troy.
There was nothing wrong with this book that I can put my finger on but I just couldn't help but feel disappointed at the end and sad that I could have spent my time reading 400+ pages of something more enjoyable.
I liked this book but I do think it fell apart a little towards the end. I do love the way that Murakami writes though.
Currently reading
Red Alert
In Defence of Dogs: Why Dogs Need Our Understanding
Homage to Catalonia
Story of a Secret State: My Report to the World (Penguin Paperback Classics)
The Half Brother
