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JOANNE (joann) - , - Reviews

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1 Dead in Attic: After Katrina
1 Dead in Attic: After Katrina
Author: Chris Rose
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 35
Review Date: 3/13/2011
Helpful Score: 1


Chris Rose is a reporter for the Times-Picayune in Louisiana. He continued to write his column for the paper after Katrina devastated New Orleans.

How this man was able to survive and forgo his devastation and continue to see the good and the bad during this disaster is the most striking part of these vignettes about life in the aftermath.

The stories of refigerators that line the roads, appliances being sunk into potholes big enough to do that in, how some people didn't experience any devastation, how some holed up in their homes and didn't face it, how some brought major crime to the area, how some went out of their way to help others, even with just a smile or a touch.

I felt a poignant feeling reading this, as I was reading this as Japan became devastated by it's own horrific weather-related undoing. It makes you ponder what you would do in such a situation.

Cudos to Chris Rose and people like him who are working toward making Louisiana a community again, however slowly that happens.


102 Minutes: The Unforgettable Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers
Review Date: 1/16/2020


8:46 am, 9/11/01. That is when the first plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center. People were inside either getting ready to start their workday, working their workday, meeting, etc. Little was understood by those inside exactly what had happened. Their only thoughts were to try to get out of where they were and get out of the building.
There were also people in the South Tower who had no idea about what had happened just a short distance away.
9:03 am, 9/11/01. A second plane hits the South Tower of the World Trade Center. More people unaware from their offices of what had occurred.

This book gives names and instances to something that appeared to be a tragic movie, although it was not a movie. We come to know some of the people who survived and others who didn't.

Let us never forget all that were lost in this tragedy. Government, businesses, fire, police, etc all need to recall the devastation of this tragedy and work to remedy the issues that were faced in trying to save people on that day.


21 Tales
21 Tales
Author: Dave Zeltserman
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 2
Review Date: 1/20/2013


These are short stories of the noir genre. They are categorized in groups such as: The Weird, The Hardboiled, The Manny Vassey stories, the Brutal, etc.

These are pretty well-categorized and while this is not a genre that I often read, these were very readable stories.

I have to say that my favorites were the Manny Vassey stories. I really could have read many more of them beyond the three that were included.

Very descriptive wording by the author and the stories pull you in for the short time that you are involved. This is definitely an author I would give another opportunity to take up my time with his writing.


The Actual : A Novella
The Actual : A Novella
Author: Saul Bellow
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
 7
Review Date: 12/18/2006


In this dazzling work of fiction, Nobel laureate Saul Bellow writes comically and wisely about the tenacious claims of first love. Harry Treilman, an aging, astute businessman, has never belonged anywhere: not in the Chicago orphanage where he was sent by his mother, not in high school (too brainy), not even on the streets. AS for his human attachments, they are like everything else in his life, singular and irregular. But Harry's ovservational talents have not gone unnoticed by billionaire Sigmund Adletsky, who retains Harry as his advisor on human affairs. Soon the old man discovers behind Harry's stoic mask as intense foty-year passion for a twice-divorced interior designer, Amy Wustrin. At the exhumation and reburial of her husband, Harry is provided, thanks to Sigmund, the means, perhaps the final means, for discolsing feeling amassed over a lifetime.


After Birth
After Birth
Author: Elisa Albert
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3.3/5 Stars.
 2
Review Date: 1/18/2024


This is such an honest book about one woman's experience with birth and post-partum depression. Ari has had a C-section and feels as if she did not really give birth to her son Walker. She is feeling alone, as she really doesn't have anyone who seems to understand her feelings about that, formula feeding, not getting any sleep and caring for her child.
The book is a little hard to read, as we are reading it like ambling thoughts that come into your brain and there is a lot of that. But isn't that how we all are? Just sometimes hard to follow.


All God's Children: Inside the Dark and Violent World of Street Families
Review Date: 9/7/2010


There is a body of a young girl found on the train tracks in Oregon. She has been beaten and burned beyond recognition. It is found out that her name is Jessica and that she had been involved with a family living on the streets.
The street families have their own "laws" and if you do not abide by them, you pay the price.
This book was very well researched and you are quickly pulled into the street life and the different families that reside in Oregon. What is the hardest to realize is the violence of members who claim to be Wiccan and don't want anything to do with our "normal" society.
They have formed families and they turn on each other for their "laws" being broken, whether or not the "laws" were really broken or it was just implied that they were.
Be warned that this is an extremely violent group of people and if you have a weak stomach when it comes to this stuff, don't read the book.
I guess my biggest question is, what appeal is there to living on the streets and living by the code of the families? There were some very intelligent and well familied individuals involved in this book. Are kids really just looking for that kind of freedom? But where do they get the idea that this is the freedom, since the rules of the street families seem so much harsher than that of the normal world?
This was just sad and really makes you think about the roles that parents play and how hard it is being a parent and wanting the best for your children, when they believe that what they are seeking is much more important. Unfortunately, there are lots of influences upon a teenager and you hope for the best.


All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten:  Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things
Review Date: 5/18/2006


Most of what I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the sandpile at Sunday School. These are the things I learned:
Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life-learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
Be aware of wonder.


All the Light We Cannot See
All the Light We Cannot See
Author: Anthony Doerr
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
 287
Review Date: 5/12/2017


This novel had the best flowing language I have read in a very long time
Marie-Laure and Werner are two young individuals growing up in different cultures during WW II. Marie-Laure has a constant secret and Werner is an absolute genius with radios and hardware to fix radios.
War always has more than one side and this book is absolute evidence of that.
I was a little disappointed with the ending, but, it is what it is, it was not my work to create.


All The Rage
All The Rage
Author: Courtney Summers
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 8
Review Date: 8/23/2022


Romy is not well-liked at school. Her father was a drunk and it has melded into her life with the other citizens in town, including her classmates. She feels as if no one wants her alive at all.
She works as a waitress at Swan's and there is a boy there that she is becoming close to. He brings feelings back to her that she is really trying to forget about her past.
Her once best friend, Penny, becomes the one person that she tries to hate the most. She tries to separate herself from how much she and Penny were so close at one time.
There will be the annual Wake Lake party for the seniors of the high school and this is where all the rough stuff in the novel takes place.

I really liked how the author makes it easy for us to understand the duality of having been through Romy's situation and trying to make herself feel whole.


All These Wonders: True Stories About Facing the Unknown (The Moth Presents)
Review Date: 12/26/2020


All These Wonders edited by Catherine Burns


American Dirt
American Dirt
Author: Jeanine Cummins
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
 60
Review Date: 7/5/2022
Helpful Score: 1


Lydia is protecting her son in the bathroom of her home in Acapulco while 16 members of her family are being killed outside at the backyard barbecue. Her husband, Sebastian, had written a story about a crime boss and this was the payback.
Javier, the crime boss, had been visiting Lydia in her bookstore. She had no idea in the beginning that he was who he was. It was a shock to find out that he was the monster that she learned about from her husband.
Now there is a stake on her and her son Luca's head. She will have to escape and try to get to the United States, so that Javier will not get to her.

This was so riveting, Lydia's journey and her horror in trying to keep her 8 year old son safe.


America's Reluctant Prince: The Life of John F. Kennedy Jr.
America's Reluctant Prince: The Life of John F. Kennedy Jr.
Author: Steven M. Gillon
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
 1
Review Date: 8/22/2021


John F Kennedy, Jr. was forever encompassed by and surrounded by history. The world viewed him as either the little boy who saluted his slain father as a 3-year-old, or as a sex symbol.
He seems to have wanted to stay away from both of those images.


Amnesia Vs I
Amnesia Vs I
Author: Scott Hetkowski
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.2/5 Stars.
 7
Review Date: 3/17/2010
Helpful Score: 6


Really could not get into the characters in this book. Maybe it is just written with a younger generation in mind.


And Then You Die
And Then You Die
Author: Iris Johansen
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 386
Review Date: 9/8/2005


Very fast-paced reading. A little hard to keep up with, but good writing.


Angela's Ashes
Angela's Ashes
Author: Frank McCourt
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
 557
Review Date: 11/10/2005


Wonderful writing about a boyhood in impoverished Ireland. Had me so enthralled, I even dreamt about it.


An Anonymous Girl
An Anonymous Girl
Author: Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
 42
Review Date: 6/21/2023


Jessica is a twenty-something woman who works for a beauty company and will appear to you to do your makeup. She is doing that when one of the women gets a text from a Dr. Shields about a morality study. Jessica gets that information and appears at the right time to be included in this study.
She is in a room, alone, with a computer and is asked to answer some questions. The questions are very personal and intricate.
Jessica becomes involved in the study and meets Dr. Shields. Dr. Shields is very elegant and moneyed. Then the fun really gets started.


Apparitions (Apparitions, Bk 1)
Apparitions (Apparitions, Bk 1)
Author: Raven Bower
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 1
Review Date: 8/8/2010


Bailey Khane is an author of novels that tell the stories of young girls that are murdered heinously. What people do not know is that the novels are the real stories of these girls who appear to her as apparitions. Their spirits are wanting Bailey to find the murderer.

Andy Bennett is a private investigator who has read at least one of Bailey's books. The book in question is so accurate in the description of the murder of his sister, Erika, that he believes that Bailey had something to do with the crime.

Bailey lives alone in a cabin on a lake in White Sands, Michigan, and surrounds herself with silver and any other weapon, including a guard dog, Thor, against evil.

The real source of this carnage comes from a very unexpected source and that is really part of the real pull of this story.

This book is really for the reader of horror. Raven Bower does a really good job of creating a novel that keeps you reading and her use of language is top-rate. I hope that she continues writing in this genre. We need more women writing this kind of novel.


Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.
Author: Judy Blume
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 3
Review Date: 1/21/2024


Margaret is moving from New York to New Jersey. Her father grew up Jewish and her mother grew up Christian. Her parents are raising Margaret with no set religion, saying that she can make that choice as an adult.
Margaret starts making friends and attends 6th grade at her school. She becomes part of a secret club of four girls. She gets a new male teacher. She talks to God.

This is a really cute read about a young girl growing up and learning.


The Art of Mending
The Art of Mending
Author: Elizabeth Berg
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 81
Review Date: 3/1/2023


Sometimes things go on in a family that no one seems to know about. Things can happen and others in the family will never find out, until someone says something.
This is a book about that subject. It was done very well.


Attic Clowns
Attic Clowns
Author: Jeremy Shipp
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 2.5/5 Stars.
 1
Review Date: 4/22/2012


These are all short stories, 4 in all, that deal with clowns. There were really only a couple of them that made sense to me. The first short story, Giggles, grabs your attention quickly. That was the only one that did that. And it is my philosophy with short stories that if you are not grabbed by the first paragraph, the story is lost. Giggles was the best of the four.


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