Posted on October 30, 2007 by scathingbookreviews
Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus by John Gray has a few insights into the male-female dynamic. Whether they are right, wrong or simplistic is open to question, but one thing that isn’t is that John Gray no longer uses the title PHD on his book covers. “Mars and Venus”made quite an impression [...]
Filed under: Relationships, Self-Help | Leave a Comment »
Posted on October 27, 2007 by scathingbookreviews
The Firmby John Grishamwas the publishing phenomenon of 1991. It served as the launching pad for Grisham’s long career, and for a great line by Gene Hackman in the movie adaptation: “The Firm frowns upon drinking at lunch. I’ll have a scotch and soda.”
However, these critical reviews of “The Firm” are a bit shaky :
I [...]
Filed under: Genre Fiction, Movie Tie-Ins, Mystery, Thriller | Leave a Comment »
Posted on October 23, 2007 by scathingbookreviews
Moby Dick is one of those books that everyone has heard about long before they ever read it. My first exposure was, believe it or not, an episode of “The U.S. of Archie” in which Archie and the Gang went a’ whaling with Herman Melville (Hey, it was the 1970s, what can I say.) Then, [...]
Filed under: American Classics, Authors of Note, Movie Tie-Ins | Leave a Comment »
Posted on October 19, 2007 by scathingbookreviews
The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, certainly made quite an impression on many book reviewers in 2007, but was a bit hard to find around the bookstore until Oprah Winfrey blessed/I mean chose it for her book club, coincidentally named “Oprah’s Book Club”. For the most part, readers enjoyed “The Road”. Or at least [...]
Filed under: Metaphysical, Oprah's Book Club, United States | Leave a Comment »
Posted on October 15, 2007 by scathingbookreviews
Patrick O’Brian’s series of 20 completed books about the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars has won wide renown, and for millions of readers, Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin are compelling characters. Despite Russell Crowe’s best efforts, the movie based on the series was quite good. But for these readers? They’re not quite [...]
Filed under: British, British Classic Literature, Historical, Movie Tie-Ins, Sea Adventures | Leave a Comment »
Posted on October 12, 2007 by scathingbookreviews
Harry Potter, that plucky boy wizard, may have conquered the publishing world and the multiplex, but there are still a few reader’s hearts that he has yet to win over. Here are a few critical reviews of Harry Potter that “go all Voldermort” on J.K. Rowling’s first book:
Harry Potter books are written by an [...]
Filed under: Authors of Note, British, Children, Fantasy, Science Fiction and Fantasy | Tagged: Harry Potter | Leave a Comment »
Posted on October 10, 2007 by scathingbookreviews
Who doesn’t like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain? Don’t tell Hal Holbrook but a few adults and apparently quite a few Junior High Schoolers foster some resentment. These critical reviews of Tom Sawyer can’t be whitewashed:
YUCK !YUCK! YUCK! – “It had no story, the charaters were lame, the plot was-yuck! and [...]
Filed under: American Classics, Authors of Note, Junior High & High School Assigned Reading | Tagged: American Calssics, Mark Twain | Leave a Comment »
Posted on October 9, 2007 by scathingbookreviews
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is one of those books that’s required reading in most American Junior Highs and High Schools. We read it and watched the Gregory Peck movie version as well, with Robert Duball as Boo Radley (!?!). A nice read, and the City of Chicago even made it the premiere [...]
Filed under: American Classics | Leave a Comment »
