There and back again with imaginative challenges along the way
341204
Ex-nanny Amiah is back for another adventure. This time she's been magically shrunk to the size of her little Lidran friends, as what was intended to be a simple journey turns into a nightmare. To add to the complications, two of Amiah's former charges and their dog have managed to bridge the gap between worlds and join in the adventure. As if battling the planetary flora and fauna weren't enough, there's a nasty orc warrior on their trail. Non-stop action, plenty of quirky humor, some interesting new characters, and a surprising ending. Fun.
3550630
As having been to Florence a few times, I enjoyed following with the journey of various locations described by the characters in the book.  Felt like being there again.
1874512
Reading books that were written over 100 years ago presents unique challenges. In this case, it was a challenge to get through the first chapter!  Unfamiliar words, stilted dialogue, strange settings all cause one to roll ones eyes and think "do I really want to read this?"  Once I was able to get past those first pages and doubts, the rest of the book unfolded much more easily. The language became second nature rather than 100 years old and the effort it took to make that possible was all worth it.

The story goes from a mystery to an abstract Chase to an examination of mankind (I think).  As each character is unmasked they join forces in their search for greater understanding. That search remains just out of reach until everything is placed in front of them. Then, a nice quiet every day ending (I think)?
4728461
The main character has encountered a multitude of life challenges. This is a very interesting book.  Strong and inspiring conclusion.
3981821
Five stars may be too many for this early volume in the Annie Dillard canon. It makes demands on the reader that are similar to those faced by a teacher reading a gifted student's term paper: The book is dazzling but it's also disorienting, like a travel adventure without a map. Still, it's a book that changes how the reader sees the world, and for that it gets highest marks.

This is a fairly easy book to read but a tough one to get through. It is simultaneously nature study, personal diary, Scripture commentary, mystical theology, field observation manual, and blank-verse poem. Annie Dillard was just age 27 when she wrote Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, and it is very much a young writers book, poetic and enthusiastic. Such strengths are also weaknesses: at times the poetry can be a bit ornate, and the multitude of facts can be daunting. Still, there are significant rewards in this book, if the reader, like a seasoned traveler, is willing to follow the author wherever she goes.

How far will we be going? The word pilgrim in the title suggests a long-distance trek to a holy place. But when we start the first chapter, we find Dillard already at a creekside cabin in Virginia , where she will stay for a year. If were to join her as pilgrims, we seem to at the destination without even setting out. Notice, though, that she calls her cabin an anchorites hermitage. Studying and writing by night, silently watching by day, she is more hermit than pilgrim. For Dillard and her readers, the journey in this book won't be measured in miles. The road were on goes inward.

How strenuous is this going to be? Dillard answers this one with a story from Genesis, the one where Jacob wrestles with God on the bank of a stream. The contest goes on all night. Like Jacob, Dillard waits by a stream, and for one strenuous page after another, she wrestles with creation and its workings. We watch horrified as an outsized water bug liquefies a frog, as mother insects devour their freshly-laid eggs, as reindeer are driven mad by clouds of flies. This will not be an easy trip.

What will we see along the way? Before we can answer that, we have to confront a key fact about Creation: It may seem like an extravagant, intricate machine, set in motion and then left to run on its own; but it really resembles, once everything is examined carefully, a thought, a series of ideas made real. There is Mind behind what we see. Much of the book explores all the amazing stuff that there is in the world. Say what you will, the Creator loves variety and loves Pizzaz.

But whats the reward for finishing the journey? Death is what awaits us, of course; Life seems to require it, making room for whats next. So, what will we do when we get there, with all weve seen along the way of pizzaz but also of blood and destruction? Heres Dillard in the final chapter: I think that the dying pray at the last not please, but thank you, as a guest thanks his host at the door.
3419290
A beautiful and fascinating journey through the history of humanity's struggle to understand geologic time and biologic intricacy.  The challenge to expand our myopic vision of time and change is a continual one every age faces.  The audio version makes a great road trip read, the reader is very good.
593650
A fun adventure dusted with science and danger.
46707
I have traveled some of the territory that Mac and Jenny's journey covers in an air conditioned vehicle on a smooth road.  This some of the country's most rugged terrain. But if you read this book, you will live it on the challenging Oregon Trail of 1847 where the going is slow and scary and dusty behind a team of oxen.  With well-researched attention to detail, Theresa takes us on this journey and shows how her characters cope and grow under these difficult circumstances.
2813647
An amazing journey that takes me to many different places. Each listen seems new. A wonderful achievement.
3194152
Ran across this book when I was looking to take a break from Sci-fi books.  Since I am a bicycle commuter, I found the idea of bicycling across the largest country in the world very interesting.  Many assumptions I had were shattered as I read this book about traversing the USSR in the late 1980's.  This isn't a day by day account of the trip but rather more like a week by week account with some details on the daily struggles.  Much of the book is devoted to the author's interactions with the local populace in rural russia.  The reader comes away with a solid understanding of the county as well as the difficulties of traversing russia's land ocean.
1190422
Parts were exceptional but some stretched the imagination.  Left with the feeling that one wants to know what happens in the following years.
3868325
The separate stories each curiously unfinished in mesmerizing ways allow one's imagination to carry them on to a variety of conclusions.
3104832
Michael Crichton seems to have a fixation with authentic amusement parks.  That was the theme in JURASSIC PARK and we encounter it again in TIMELINE.  The wrinkle this time is that history is involved.  Through some complicated make-believe theories of physics involving quantum mechanics and black holes, it is possible to return in time to the middle ages.  This happens to some of the historians funded by a corporation, working at an archeological site in France, who know very little about the other enterprises of the corporation. There is a portrait of a genius company founder with zero social skills.  There is a compelling adventure story given with much imagination.  The book contains a bibliography of mostly historical references.
3208131
In a sort amount of time we get to learn quite a bit about the young mage and the veteran fighter who are traveling together.  There are also references to much deeper backstories to be revealed for both of these characters.  The descriptive writing style used for the book paints a vivid picture of the world these characters are inhabiting, with hints to a much larger world still to be explored.
2621463
Journey Without Maps is a non-fiction work filled with reflections, character sketches, and sometimes dreamlike images. It's not easy to compare it with any other book, for me; it's essentially a travel diary, an account of a rather irrational trek across Liberia that Green undertook in 1935, accompanied only by his cousin and the team of hired bearers who carried their hammocks, water filtration gear, etc. The book is fairly short and episodic, though it occasionally drifts into memories of England; even a couple of the author's dreams are included, nor do they seem out of place; the recounting is largely chronological, but it's always in limited detail--these are sketches--and much of what Greene recalls here is strange, perplexing, suggestive--these are, after all, a man's memories of far-away places, in a time before the Second World War. While the journey is occasionally dangerous, this is not a thriller: the danger comes mainly from local politics. For the most part, the journey is simply exhausting--especially near its end. The trek doesn't end up "proving" anything; it simply happened.

The treat here of course is Graham Greene's prose. It's a constant frustration to me (and surely others!) that his novels aren't offered yet on Kindle (except as audibles), so the chance to re-read, at very least, Journey Without Maps on my Kindle was a very welcome surprise--but, at the same time, it does remind us we can't yet enjoy The Comedians, Brighton Rock, etc., on Kindle. Still, this is English writing of the very finest sort, so straightforward and unembroidered, and yet of (somehow) such near-magical lucidity--if you've read Greene before, you will know what I mean; if you haven't, well, at least there is now this little bonbon available. I expect to read it many more times.
3049869
As short and simple and straight forward as this book presented itself, it was truly a challenge to read for a number of reasons. This was clearly Ms Sim's initial venture into the creative literary field. I say "creative" even though this is apparently an autobiography of the earlier portion of the author's life. The chronology of the story was at times inconsistent - not that it needed to be written exactly as the events depicted happened - but it did render a bit of unnecessary confusion in the following of the tale as her journey unfolded. There were a number of typos and the e-book format left a lot to be corrected in the way the paragraphs were laid out disjointedly; but one could follow the events and perspectives of the writer easily enough due to the captivating descriptions used and the luridness of the author's experiences. Her story seduced me deeper and deeper into wonderment and questions of how I would have handled the many temptations and side-tracks away from healthy living through intelligent choices she encountered on a daily basis.
At times I felt slightly guilty and uncomfortable reading such candid accounts of her addiction adventures with crack cocaine. It was awkward to be able to peer so closely inside what she was going through, as she battled herself and her conflicting values and beliefs about religion and God. Her family and friendship interpersonal relationships provided an enormous amount of fuel for the various crises she challenged herself to deal with throughout much of her journey into self-understanding. As a reader with little experience in the realms of conflict she faced throughout most of her earlier life, it was tremendously insightful for me to have exposure through her poignant and powerful words, as candid and blatantly honest as they were, to the pains of her developing awareness.
A book worthy of reading will take one on an adventure of absorption into the writer's world, whether real or imagined. In chapter after engrossing chapter of this book, I was totally there with the author through her struggles, her confusions, her eventual growth into empowerment. I definitely intend to follow this writer's journey into subsequent publication(s) as her story continues.
3077981
This story carries so many and varied situations that require the reader to think ahead as it is read. Great