What is the last book you read, and your rating?

[sherif olabode]

The last book I read was out of Rushmore's shadow.

[Boypnet1]

A Wrinkle In Time by Madaleine L'Engle a very interesting book by this author.Really love the book

[Gravy]

So, I finished my reread of Feed, by Mira Grant, and silly me, I thought surely I wouldn't cry at it again (I mean, I knew what was coming).

Granted, my reaction wasn't as sever, but it still had me wiping my eyes pretty good. Still one of the most traumatic things I've ever read.

And of course a big ol' 4 out of 4.

[Redlegs]

The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas by Gertrude Stein, is, essentially, a complete fraud.

Stein has adopted a literary device, ostensibly to write about her friend and lover, Alice B Toklas, to write almost exclusively about herself in the third person. By the end of the book, you will know virtually nothing about Toklas (except her devoted servitude to Stein) and everything about Stein that she chooses to reveal. It enables Stein to declare that she is one of only three first class geniuses she has ever met - the others being Pablo Picasso and Alfred Whitehead. Sounds a bit like the dude currently occupying the White House!

This is nothing more than just a brag book, an opportunity for Stein to list and discuss all the famous painters (Picasso, Matisse, Renoir etc., etc.) and writers (Hemingway, Anderson, Ford etc., etc.) that she knows and whom she claims to be her very good friends. And for her to talk incessantly about her own talents for writing and the wonderful people who would publish and translate her work because they all loved her so dearly.

Stein's style of writing is simplistic and employs an unusual syntax that makes it hard to read and comprehend. Her quirky avoidance of capital letters for denoting nationality and her disapproval of commas are just ostentatious affectations. Her prose has all the emotion and excitement of a shopping list.

Combined with the numerous typographical errors in the text - the publishers (Stellar Classics) should really be ashamed of their quality control - this book was a total chore to read.

All in all, this is a self-indulgent, rambling offering about nothing much at all except the self-congratulatory adoration of Gertrude Stein herself.

2 stars out of 5 - give it a miss.

[Rosemary Wright]

I just finished reading 'And Then I Met Margaret' by Rob White. I rated it 4 out of 4 stars. It was interesting and enlightening.

[BnotAfraid]

That would be [amazon=]The Plum Tree by Ellen Marie Wiseman. [/amazon]

It was highly recommend to me, even them I as hesitant. I thought, "just another WWII story to break my heart"
However, being a committed bibliophile I pick up the book and hardly put it down!

This is not so much a story about WWII and the Nazi's, concentration camps, etc. as it the lives of ordinary people living in a small town, finding their normal every day lives smothered by a war that barely touched them.

There is suspense that will keep you ready 'til 3am, romance that will have you reaching for tissues and situations that will have you pondering, current events.

Highly recommend. My opinion is, schools ought to make it mandatory reading.

[treestand]

Titans by Leila Meacham. It’s a wonderful historical fiction work. It’s beautifully written with great drama. It was compared to Gone with the Wind; however, nothing will ever compare to that book for me! But is a great read. I rate it 5/5

[sherif olabode]

The last book l read was ''Then I meet magaret'' I really enjoyed it so I rate it 4/5

[HeatherTasker]

The last book I finished was The Martian by Andy Weir. I rate it 5/5. I loved the suspense and characters most. The author did a great job of developing both.

The funniest thing is, the morning I finished it, a short story I'd been looking for to show my son, "The Egg", showed up in my FB memories and it was written by Weir as well. I didn't even know who he was before!

[Sammy Rose]

"And Then I Met Margaret" by Rob White. 3 out of 4 stars. I really enjoyed this book, the way the stories were portrayed, and the life lessons learned through them. I found the writing style welcoming and the story kept me intrigued.

[Sophiablue17]

The last book I read was Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. I give it 5/5 stars. Loved it. Lots of suspense.

[Redlegs]

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell is something of a socialist manifesto, first published in Britain in 1914.

Set in the town of Mugsborough, some 200 miles from London, it is the tale of working class men and their continuing struggle against the capitalist system to eke out a subsistence existence for themselves and their families. Tressell takes us on a journey with a group of men, and their wives and children, who work as labourers and tradesmen in the building trade, mostly as painters and decorators, renovating the homes of mainly wealthy clients.

Their capitalist masters rail vigorously against these men, demanding ever increasing efficiency in the name of profit, and routinely cheating their clients by 'scamping' the work as far as they can get away with it.

As a collective group of wealthy businessmen, they scheme and contrive to cheat not only their employees and clients, but also the whole community through their absolute control of the town council and political processes. In a battle between Tories and Liberals, the Socialists are the common enemy.

Tressell has done a magnificent job in documenting the lives, language and attitudes of these down-trodden, starved and destitute men and their long-suffering families. He has captured their language and their social values, and documented the massive discrepancies that exist between the classes.

W see not only their daily struggles, but the occasional joys they manage to extract from their dismal lives through the occasional pint at the pub, a game of 'shove ha'penny' and the annual big day out, known as the 'Beano'.

In a novel that is bursting with anger and resentment, Tressell, surprisingly, reserves his most strident anger and frustration, not for the exploitative capitalist masters, but for the ignorance and inertia of the workers themselves, who seemingly refuse to use their own intelligence to see the 'system' for what it is and continue to accept that nothing can ever be done to adjust the social hierarchy.

Despite being a little 'preachy' at times, Tressell has done a marvelous job in introducing to popular literature the socialist cause that many others took up in the years that followed.

I gave this 4.5 stars out of 5.

[jaylperry]

The last book I read was From Drift to Shift, by Jody B. Miller.

I gave it 2 out of 4 stars, mostly due to sloppy editing and lack of focus.

[chrystalheart]

The Fire Within by Chris d'Lacey. Although this is targeted to a younger demographic, I found it inspiring. The creativity espoused by the protagionist with the assistance of young Lucy, Gadzooks and the local squirrels makes me feel more creative too. 4 out of 4 stars for an engaging read well targeted to its demographic.

[Joanna82]

Dan Brown's Origin. I highly recommend it if you love art and adventure. I give it a 5/5 rating.