Scathing Book Reviews of “The Secret”, by Rhonda Byrne

The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne is a book I skimmed and put back down at the Bookstore. It’s got a catchy title, one that just begs you to open the faux leather copy and to pore through the faux parchment pages, but alas, I found nothing there that seemed to be new. The [...]

Scathing Book Reviews of A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, by Eckhart Tolle

A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purposeby Eckhart Tolle is yet another in a long line of “Success Literature”, – a book genre which has got to be an American original (don’t tell me if I’m wrong). The seeming promise of success literature to its readers is “Read the book, and your life [...]

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesiaby Elizabeth Gilbert explores the author’s journey across the world (and the self, natch) following a protracted divorce. Trying to find yourself is never easy, particularly if you have jet lag. From what these reviewers say, she seems to have [...]

Scathing Book Reviews of The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen

Only on force on earth could stop the power that is Oprah, and that force is… Jonathan Franzen? Yes, it’s true! The author of The Corrections caused Oprah to pause her Book Club selections in 2001, after a string of less than enthusiastic interviews about being in “The Club”, capped by the comment [...]

Scathing Book Reviews of The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

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 [...]