SoCal Walker

Good info, but a lot of boring history and vegan evangelism

Revisado: 11-14-24

I liked the presentation of evidence about modern-day fasting and time-restricted eating, and it’s always fun to hear anecdotes of people who have improved their health by fasting. I’m not a history buff, so the first half of the book (maybe 3/4) which was mostly stories of fasting proponents in the 19th and early 20th centuries bored me. Also, the author is convinced that veganism is the One True Way. He lumps together all animal foods with sugar, flour, refined seed oils and other ultra-processed foods. I just don’t think the data support that, so that undermined his credibility for me.

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Better on audio than read visually

Revisado: 10-04-24

Usually I enjoy books more when I read them on paper, but in this case I liked the audio version better. I guess the Irish accent I can do in my head isn’t as good as the actor’s. Anyway it was an excellent novel, as Tana French’s novels always are.

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Nothing new or surprising here

Revisado: 05-08-23

Lots of cheerleading about how you should give up sugar. And grain flour. And also you should weight and measure your food, so that you don’t eat too much. And you should eat 4 times/day. She presents all this as if it’s totally different from anything you’ve heard before,

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Engrossing, funny, inspiring

Revisado: 05-30-15

I loved this book. The author isn't afraid to show herself in a negative light. She does heroin, she cheats on her husband, she idly considers sleeping with lots of different men. But she also writes so beautifully, and her description of this epic journey is so moving that I now find myself daydreaming incessantly about doing the same thing.

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Law & Order: Magic Victims Unit

Revisado: 07-26-12

This is a series of adult fantasy books (not 'adult' as in pornography; just 'adult' as in, the characters are adults, they have sex, there are curse words, there is some disturbingly violent imagery, etc.) It's sort of like . . . Law & Order SVU, but set in a world where there is magic.

The protagonist is a young woman with super-tough fighting skills and a big secret. (Which still isn't fully revealed by the end of Book 1, although there are many tantalizing hints.) She's the familiar "private eye"- type character, who works alone, but on the side of the law, and in cooperation with the police. (And she can beat up all the bad guys.)

I started this book once, listening just for 10-15 minutes here and there, but I couldn't get interested in it and eventually gave up and listened to something else. A few months later, I decided to try again. This time I only listened to the book on long walks, when I had half an hour or longer to listen all at once. That made a big difference, and I could follow the story much better. Once I got maybe halfway through, it became very interesting and I didn't want to stop listening. I'm definitely going to get the others in the series, and I expect them to be pretty easy to get into, now that I'm familiar with the "rules" of this fictional world.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Great for road trip with the kids.

Revisado: 07-26-12

Great books. Lots of fun, well written, original, unpredictable. We got it for the long drive to drop off my older son at scout camp. We all enjoyed it-- both my sons (ages 6 and 12) really got into the story, and so did mom and dad. We paused the playback from time to time to make guesses about what was going to happen and how it would end, but no one successfully predicted the ending. All in all, a big success and I'm glad there are 4 more in the series. Solves the problem of what books to get for the family vacation this summer.

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Still works for today's kids--even boys!

Revisado: 07-26-12

It's hard to find good audiobooks for kids 5-7 years old. Picture books don't work on audio, and most chapter books are still a little hard for them to follow. Pippi Longstocking was already a decades-old book when I read it as a child in the mid 1970's, but my six-year-old son seems to like it just fine. We listened to it in the car on a long family trip, and we all enjoyed it. Pippi's wacky adventures, super strength, defiance of social norms (she doesn't go to school!) and good heart (she protects the weak kids from the bullies) apparently have timeless appeal.

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esto le resultó útil a 11 personas

Cute and fun.

Revisado: 07-26-12

Classic Colbert. If you like the show, you'll recognize and appreciate Colbert's style of humor applied to this children's book.

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Not much mystery, but pleasant reading nonetheless

Revisado: 07-26-12

Still Life is a murder mystery of the "cozy village" type, in the tradition of Agatha Christie. It was enjoyable listening. The characters were interesting and fairly well developed; the dialogue was fresh; and I'd love to stay at the B&B run by Olivier and Gabril. The writing evoked Quebec very nicely-- the tension between the Francophone and Anglophone communities, the bilingualism, the food, the countryside . . . all in all, very enjoyable, and I'll probably listen to more of the books in this series.

My one criticism is that it was too easy to figure out who the killer was. The author telegraphed the answer so obviously, right from the beginning, that if you were paying attention, you couldn't miss it. Consequently, the book just didn't have the fun of a good intellectual puzzle. Because it was so obvious whodunnit, the listener had to be content with other puzzles, such as "How are they going to catch the killer?" and "Why did the killer do it?"

I'd recommend this book to people in the mood for a good "cozy" murder mystery, but NOT for fans of the genre who mostly enjoy the challenge of figuring it out.

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Good writing-- for adults only.

Revisado: 05-16-12

What made the experience of listening to The Last Werewolf the most enjoyable?

This was a genuinely well-written, serious adult novel. Dark, emotionally complex, often violent (not gratuitously so), but with a redemptive message. Sachs gives a gorgeous performance.

What other book might you compare The Last Werewolf to and why?

Maybe a Hemingway or Steinbeck novel, except that the main character is a werewolf.

What does Robin Sachs bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Sachs did a beautiful job. His resonant British baritone was perfect for the character of the werewolf. The only slightly off note was when he had to read dialogue by women. His falsetto was inevitably somewhat distracting and a bit annoying, especially with the American accent that he sometimes had to put on. Not his fault, certainly-- this guy's voice is just unavoidably male.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Perhaps . . . The triumph of love over cynicism and despair?

Any additional comments?

It's not for kids. I love fantasy books, and often read them with my 12-year-old son (even the dystopian novels). But I'm glad he didn't read this one. This is NOT a book for kids, or even adolescents. It's very emotionally and psychologically adult, very dark -- there's quite a bit of sex, which is graphic and completely unsentimental, and sometimes juxtaposed with brutal violence. So, don't read it with your kids.

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