Reviews and Comments

Heartwarming story that abounds with stereotypes.

Read this aloud with my daughter and we both enjoyed the humor. Chapters are often short, and that works here. Ally has one teacher and it felt like they were in 4th grade until late in the book when we found out it was 6th. Except for some of Albert's statements, this book could have been set in the 50s. The last chapters wrap up unresolved situations from the book in a too-neat bow. Overall rating from both of us - 3 stars.

Ray Bradbury is a master of short stories, and many of these have either a horror or soft science fiction aspect. The collection is framed by a description of the illustrated man, the tales appearing as moving images on his flesh. My version of this lacked The Fire Balloons and included The Illustrated Man as a final story in the book.

Most of these were published elsewhere, and included here with minor changes to the text. Some were great, some good, and some fair. I particularly enjoyed Zero Hour (obvious though it was) and The Rocket. My least favorite was The Illustrated Man, a poor way to close out this collection.

A quick read, like all of the series. In this episode, the Rat is tasked with cleaning up a corrupt banana republic - or was he? I forget the particular MacGuffin that started this one off. Less of the usual criminality, more of his moral code, and a clever way of ensuring things stay on the up-and-up for a while with his "dying wish".

Read this as an audio book, which is Highly Recommended! Cary Elwes voice is wonderful, and most of the sidebars from the book are read by the actors!

What you get here is a history of the shooting and anecdotes about the experience, along with reminisces and impacts. You get the story of Cary breaking his toe and also being knocked unconscious during the shoot. What you also get in the audio version is Cary Elwes impersonating Andre the Giant, Rob Reiner, Wallace Shawn, William Goldman and even Peter Falk.

Highly, highly recommended.

Scattered, which describes the music of Sleater Kinney at times also. First part memoir, second part album-by-album breakdown, third part memoir again. The chapters seem to get shorter and shorter as the book goes along. Not well written, and not as good as Linda Ronstadt's memoir, but better than Melissa Etheridge also. I rate it 2.5 stars, rounding up to 3 for her breadth of talent.

This is a comprehensive history of Autism and Asperger diagnoses, potential causes, and advocacy groups. It strays into anecdotes and side histories at times, though I found each of them very interesting. Chapters about American and Nazi eugenics and other attempts to "fix" these kids were uncomfortable; chapters delving into other historical connections were fascinating.

Overall, perhaps a little information dense, but highly recommended!

This opinionated encyclopedia is more of a coffee-table book than one you can read cover to cover. In it, the author collects second-hand information about the world's finest actor, Bill Murray. These include movies he was in, roles he turned down, actors, situations, and SNL sketch characters. My favorite sections were the "Adventures in Murrayland" pages, detailing some his real-life exploits. In general, the book reads like something from Wes Anderson (his frequent director) but with less fun (and less Owen Wilson). Recommended you flip through it at a bookstore only, then go read Wikipedia and watch some gosh-darn Bill Murray films. I recommend The Jungle Book.

Started reading this aloud with my daughter during Women's History Month, and it started off well. However, most of the 23 entries read like encyclopedia entries, or perhaps a middle school report. My middle schooler complained that she got lost in the words at times. Editing was a problem also, with several errors spotted over the course of the book. On the plus side, now she really wants to learn more about Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space.

Disclaimer - I haven't read any other "Women of Action" series books. Recommended as a reference, or source material for school reports. I can't think of any young adults that would enjoy reading this cover to cover.

I've now read 3 or 4 of Heinlein's "Future History" universe, and knowledge of this isn't required to enjoy this book. The main character is charismatic, rich, and driven, and aptly compared to Elon Musk - who says that Robert A. Heinlein's stories inspired his career.

This novel moves along at a good clip, with rapid dialog pushing the story quickly along. The reader, like some of the characters, feels bamboozled at points. Reaching the moon is wonderful, and the ending works very well for this book. Or is it a novella? Regardless, it's included (with many other Future History stories) in [b:The Past Through Tomorrow|121581|The Past Through Tomorrow (Future History, #1-21)|Robert A. Heinlein|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1325885616s/121581.jpg|49669]. Recommended.

This book was recommended by my wonderful wife, and it turned out to be a pretty good biography with a side of philosophy and two solid chapters of The Office. The latter was the least interesting to me, as I am not a fan of any incarnation of the show. It is quite curious how similar our upbringing was, with a significant divergence - I continued to be a geek, he was bitten by the showbiz bug and became a celebrity. Rainn's philosophy is quite interesting, and I had no prior knowledge of SoulPancake. The writing, while humorous, jumped around at times, and the later descriptions of acting just weren't my bundle of sticks. Highly recommended to fans of The Office.

The author was a very successful pitcher at the time this book was written, and unlike most autobiographies today, was also a decent writer. Chapters of this book read like newspaper columns (which some of them may have been), expounding on the pitchers views of managers, hitters, fielders, pitchers, and umpires. As much anecdotes as analysis, this easy-reading book remains relevant today. Recommended for baseball historians and true fans, probably over the head of anyone else.