Largely right out of the book
931750
Great movie.  Perhaps a bit TOO good, but I'm willing to let that slide. :-D  Just wondering where those large rams for the dwarves came from.  They kind of just appear when needed.  Magic rams?  Anyway, it's a fantastic movie, largely right out of the book.
3235878
Yep, the final Harry Potter book.  I have my usual complaints.  I really wish there was a summary of the other books.  I'm not a super fan, so I don't remember every single person that is mentioned.

This book is immensely readable, and at times quite fun.  However, it moves away from the average Harry Potter book and concentrates on Harry's final quest - and it's really not that exciting.  Part of the luster that was the Harry Potter series' appeal was the school, the learning process of the young adults, the new mystical powers or abilities that appear, the new enemies that emerge, and much more.  This book dwells on the search of Voldermert for Harry Potter, the clues left behind by Dumbledore, and the final battle.  All in all, it wasn't really captivating, as in half the book, they are pretty much camping or attending a wedding or something like that.

Somewhat of a spoiler - the ending was pretty much what I expected, so it wasn't that great.
478546
I wanted to have a queer-positive book as an addition to my children's library, but this book left a little to be desired. The first three-quarters of the book feature the two princes going on a quest together and in the process they realize that they are actually interested in each other, not in the princess. Fine. Great! It is fine up until the last 1/4 of the book, which is basically the two main characters sitting around being schmoopy at each other. I don't want my kids to spend a lot of time focusing on romance and romantic love while they are so young; I rarely let them watch Disney movies for this reason as well. I wouldn't want to read them a story about a heterosexual couple where there are pages of dialogue like "____ is my sun and my wind and my stars", either. I'm toying with the idea of just using an exacto knife to remove the last page or two and continuing to read them the rest of the story.
3387294
As other have stated, the first 40% of the book is about the author's religion. The like 25% are transcripts from his YouTube. 100%-65%= maybe about 35% of the book is about the author leaving his job to sell on Amazon. With the title that it has, this is not what I expected out of the book
1264743
I liked this book quite a bit until about 2/3 of the way through reading it.  It seemed as though the author was in a hurry to finish the book and skipped over important parts of the story. The ending felt very rushed, and sections of the dialogue at the end were confusing and awkward.
314136
I read the book on Saturday in one fell swoop, and although end products seldom live up to the hype, I had hoped that&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Harry-Potter-and-the-Deathly-Hallows-Book-7/dp/0545010225/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7)</a>&nbsp;would be one of the exceptions. It was not. Despite the fact that I enjoyed the HP series very much and the world building is fascinating, comparisons to C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien's works, among others, also seem overexuberant and exaggerated.

Parts of&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Harry-Potter-and-the-Deathly-Hallows-Book-7/dp/0545010225/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7)</a>&nbsp;were exciting and touching, but at the very least, the middle one third to one half could have been removed and not much would have changed. The story and plot didn't move forward and, thus, we were left with a meandering and plodding chunk of book. In fact, I had the lowering feeling as I read that Ms Rowling was attempting to reprise Sam and Frodo's journey to Mount Doom from The Lord of the Rings. However, though the middle of the book was dreary, the last portion seemed rushed. Many of the creatures and characters brought up in the other books got but a cursory mention - and primarily at the very end.

I admit to needing tissues for at least 2 spots, and some of the questions that were raised in previous books were answered, but not all. Much has been made of the epilogue, which was interesting in its way, but that raised yet more questions - and not just of the characters but of the Muggle and Wizarding world.

Overall, what was a highly anticipated read became almost an exercise in futility.
4817690
The majority of the book is a drama not a mystery.
2351293
The book is a quick, easy read when you want to unplug and not think about anything but relaxation.  There are recipes scattered throughout the book, mostly at the end of each chapter, which were a surprise, but I felt odd that they weren't diet related considering the main character Was on a quest for weight loss.
2323566
This is an OK book from someone who I can imagine to be an excellent author. Rushkoff doesn't really shine in this book because he constrains himself to a ten-commandment format that restraints his rhetorical skills. The book really shines in its final moments, when Rushkoff makes a plea with readers to approach programming as a skill that they *must* obtain. His protreptic is beautiful, but it doesn't really fit with the remainder of the work, which is a now-dated overview of the biases of digital media. I look forward to reading Rushkoff's other works. -Ryan Mease
3592815
This book was good, and it's probably about worth of second-hand purchase price.

It happens that I got this in order to take a break from a book that has been an extremely heavy slog that I have been trying to read through.

"Out-of-Sorts" does not take any more than 3 or 4 hours to read. And the chapters are microscopically short. I count exactly 41 chapters in 185 pages of prose. (4.7 pages per chapter, give or take. )

This tale is, in essence,  an updating of Ebenezer Scrooge.

 Verdict: Recommended.
4077387
I'm about a third of the way through the book, although I have peaked ahead. I think it's ironic that everyone's talking about the Monica episode, and that's maybe 5 percent of the book. Of course, that's probably a big selling point, and Simon & Schuster must be thrilled. "Living History," however, is not the least bit prurient; I had to shake my head when I read one "reviewer" here say the book was filled with sex. There's no sex whatsoever (just Hillary dealing with the fallout from her husband's betrayal), and Hillary does talk about the issues she cares about. I do wish there were more anecdotes in the book, though. That's how you get a closer look at someone's character, and Hillary remains an enigma in many ways.
1450992
I really liked the first half of this book - Annika, living in France, is drawn into an online community for authors.  Since she spends her days working and her nights caring for her obnoxious invalid husband, she's especially vulnerable to the attention and validation she receives on the website.  She spends more and more time there and eventually forms a bond with Seebee, a charming, if sex-crazed, drunk.  He's living in England and he has relationship problems of his own.  The update of "Strangers on a Train" for the internet age was interesting and both characters were well-crafted, especially Annika.  She kept making worse and worse decisions, but her personality and past made it all make sense.

Unfortunately, as the book progressed, it became more and more implausible.  At this point, I will be discussing some specific details from the second half of the book.  They aren't really spoilers, but you may not want to read if you're sensitive to things like that.  It didn't ring true at all that all the main players from the web site - some of them middle-class Americans - were able to travel to England at the drop of a hat.  Have the authors checked plane ticket prices recently?  I understand it is a mystery classic to gather all the main players in one place (and what better place than an isolated English country house?), but if you choose a specific set-up for your novel, you can't just abandon it for the d&eacute;nouement from an entirely different book.

I agree with another reviewer that the identity of the actual villain was telegraphed explicitly - this removed some of the pleasure from the book.  I was also really taken aback by the way Sebastian, a gay character, was portrayed - it just seemed kind of hateful.  He was described as having a lisp and then his dialogue made the lisp explicit.  It felt unnecessary.

The first half of this book was a high three star, maybe even four star book.  But as it became increasingly remote from reality, I enjoyed it less and less.
4806102
Let me say straight off that I pretty much enjoyed the book. As I started I thought I was indeed reading on the "excellencies of Jesus" (as the title states and as the book had a praise/devotional touch to it). Being a C.S. Lewis fan I enjoyed Wilson quoting him at several spots. Though I am not as much an N.T. Wright fan I did enjoy Wilson's quoting of him as well.

But somewhere around the middle of Chapter 3 the tone changed from devotional to catechism (of a fairly standard Reformed sort). Not to say this switch was bad as far as information conveyed, only that is came unexpectedly and sucked some of the en(JOY)ment out of the reading.

The switch came when Wilson launched an out-of-the-blue and what I think was an ill-advised critique of T.D. Jakes' position regarding the Trinity. Up to this point Wilson was writing on the orthodox Christian understanding of the Trinity (all well and good) when he apparently needed to demonstrate what a non-orthodox position looked like. Well, he could have simply discussed "modalism" (Jakes' supposed position) and left Jakes out of it.  But Wilson brings Jakes into the discussion and spends needless paragraphs recounting how supposedly Jakes has recanted (or not). What's the point?

After this "incident" the book becomes nothing more than a fairly well-written Sunday School basic theology text. I suppose any reader could quibble with some of Wilson's assertions, but let's sum up the quibbles by saying this: those who are not of the Reformed persuasion will find nothing overly objectionable, those of the Reformed persuasion might find Wilson not dogmatic enough.

Summary: 3 stars (thought I was reading a devotion, turned into a Sunday School lesson; attack on T.D. Jakes unnecessary, distracting, and strange)

(NOTE: book was provided at no cost for review purposes.)
3707888
The book was rewarding only during the mid section.  The ending was a surprise, but only because it whisked by unexpectedly without much importance.  I think I'll reread "Presumed Innocent" before I buy another Turow novel.  The paperback is 817 pages, quite a time investment for a book I don't think I'd read again.
3081389
Middle of the road book.  Some info was ok, rest was ok
3479146
If you enjoy reading just half a book, you  will enjoy this.  I don't.  The story ends right in the middle, no resolution, no whodunnit, it just stops.
2052139
The first 70% of the book is full of time and descriptive holes. It jumps from one event to another not very smoothly. It seems like a reviewer has cut out parts of it, to quickly skip to the final part. The remaining 30% of the book is well written, the story stabilizes and the Author takes time to build up the momentum. Noteworthy is how in the remaining 30% is where things that are said and done carry a big amount of Japanese Tradition.

It might be that the author voluntarily quickly skipped thru events (like the Mizuage of Hana). This might be due to some previous writing on the same subject in previous books. (I haven't read other books of this author, but I've seen that she already wrote on Geishas and Mizuage). This might have compelled her to not spend too much time describing those events, assuming that her readers already gain that knowledge or trying to avoid to repeat herself.

Altough the above, i still recommend this reading since some of the events have actually happened and the final part of the book is able to gain back the reader's attention.