MikeDI

Who would have thought that a book about mosquitoes, bees, eels and the like would be so informative? I really liked the author's style, factual bur framed in humor. All the creatures highlighted use physics to some degree in their lives. A very pleasant surprise.

Okay, I apologize! What was I thinking? A few illustraations would help? They did but it is still quite boring. I consider my classics experiment at an end. Too many other ENJOYABLE books out there. If I say I'm reading some old classic, feel free to start throwing tomatoes. The illustrations were quite good though!

Just started. 

I had to share that I have restarted my goal of reading classics. However, rather than just picking some random book that I happen to own, I'm reading ones I think I'd actually enjoy. First up is Dante's Inferno. NO not the dumb Dan Brown repetitive story (have you noticed all the stories (with who most people really think is Tom Hanks) are actually all the same? They all involve Hanks (see even I don't recall the Professor's name) and some beautiful girl running together around Europe with solving some mystery connected with the catholic church. Only the girls and the locations change so Brown can show off his world knowledge. NO, I'm talking the real book by Dante. I'd started it in the past but never got very far. But after finding this illustrated edition by Fall River Press at Barnes and Noble (Oops, should I have said that? Will Amazon now hunt me down and kick me off the site?) I am certain it will be much more enjoyable and less taxing on the mind trying to picture all of these evils. 

A very generous two stars for this travesty of science. This 'new' history is the author's own plea pf 'I am the greatest' and I know a lot of very important peopl. WHO CARES! When he developed it into a preachy birds are dinosaurs rant, followed by an explnation of Darwin's Theory, I'd had enough. 

So far I've learned that the author has lots of famous friends, thinks he is the greatest and loves tyrannosaurs. Is there a report on dinosaurs anywhere in here? I want my money back!

I plan on a push after Christmas to finish this by New Years. 

This was a cute retelling of the Alice in Wonderland story. Kind of a fractured fairy tales for kids. I'm hoping this will please my granddaughter as it puts any girl of that age into the story. It's quite easy for them to imagine being Abby or one of her three friends. The addition of the clueless Alice was a cute touch. I especially liked that rivals Abby and Penny discovered one another. A classic gal pals (hopefully I can say that) story.

This is a 3rd to 6th Grade book; Reading Level 4; just right, I believe, for my granddaughter, Zoe. I mean, who doesn't like Alice in Wonderland? I previously gave her Alice in Wonderland but never heard if she read it. Maybe this will spur her on to the original classic. After I read it first.

As I previously mentioned, I got this book for my grandson, Jake, a big fan of Timothy Failure books. I'm a big fan of Craig Robinson, so I figured, Why not? I think Jake the Fake is funnier than Timothy Bottom books which I found boring. This is a Middle School book! If you have a middle schooler, I recommend it for the comedy.

I'm on page 46 of Jake the Fake Keeps It Real: I got this book for my grandson Jake because of the title and because it reminded me of one of his favorite books, the Timmy Failure series which he loves. But when I got home i noticed one of the authors names was Craig Robinson. I thought could this be the actor Crqig Robinson from The Office? He's one of my all time favorite actors. I found out now it is, it is! So I'm reading it before I send it to my Jake. So far, I find it a lot funnier than Timothy Failure.

I've slowed way down due to the Author's obnoxious tone. He's so full of himself. May now not finish it before the end of November. Not a problem since I have no interest in the December pick for the club. Am engrossed in much better reads.

Will read the November selection.

Yeah, I know I said I would not post here anymore but I wanted you all to know I've kept at reading Elizabeth's stuff. How did I not know about this author before? I'm still trying to wrap my arms around the fact that for a couple of years anyway, her and I were alive at the same time.  

I recently finished Enchanted April (it's a novel of hers but it was easy to imagine her as a character in it.) No one hardly comments on reviews on Goodreads (I think they're all hung up on their own shit), so I thought to post it here where I recall there were some people who liked Elizabeth. 

MY review:

Okay this is undoubtedly my favorite read of 2018.
Now I can watch the movie!!!! YAY!
Ms von Arnim was probably the best writer of her day, bar none, as her works are just as readable today in 2018 as they were in the late 1890's. As I've tried to read the so called classics of the early 1900s, I've found the writing of most lacking . . . dated actually. 
Ms von Arnim is a marvelous character developer and produces characters the reader embraces. I loved every one of the characters in this book.
As my previous reads of her works were those in which she was the main character, I was surprised this was a novel and not necessarily based on her. Or was it? Truth be told I thought the character of Scrap bore a resemblance to the person I've come to know as Elizabeth.

PS: I did watch the movie the same night and found it pretty true to the book. All of the actors were well cast and they mirrored how I pictured them. Some things were changed slightly as the book is mainly switching heads to get their thoughts and I know that's hard to show on screen. Plus, I thought the scenery (So much a part of the book) was lacking. Frankly, I'm surprised Hollywood tackled this at all. It's fairly recent (2011) so I'm surprised they didn't try to update the plot with terrorists or super powers. Thankfully they left it in the 1920s. I recommend the book (first of course) and the movie.

No longer putting reviews on Booklikes. Back to Goodreads.