City Travel Guides > Books > Literature and Fiction

Average Rating:

.Death of a Salesman (Penguin Plays)
City Travel Guides > Books > Literature and Fiction
by: Arthur Miller

October 06, 1998
This classic play by Arthur Miller (1915-2005) examines human failure, high expectations, and the dark side of the American Dream. Willie Loman is an aging salesman whose figures have fallen to the point where he no longer makes a real living. Not only is his job in jeopardy; so is his family and self-worth. Loman reacts by deluding himself, living in the past, and by holding his sons to unrealistic expectations. Miller does a superb job in presenting a broken man sliding downwards. Such occurs in the sordid race of materialism and corporate success - one that leaves many broken souls in its path. Willie needs to face reality, and mend himself and his struggling family (and his family should help him too), but Miller's powerful script doesn't ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on Death of a Salesman (Penguin Plays)

Used Price: $2.69

Average Rating:

.The Friday Night Knitting Club
City Travel Guides > Books > Literature and Fiction
by: Kate Jacobs

January 02, 2008
Ugly first--
The whole time I was reading this, I had a real sense of being manipulated by the author. There were just too many stereotypes and character interactions that stretched credibility to the breaking point. For example--is there any chance at all that you wouldn't recognize your very best high school friend 15 year later, no matter what physical transformation she'd undergone? I saw a distant acquaintance in line at the market after almost 25 years and knew her within seconds! And how is it that Georgia still had money problems after saying early on that she had enough to send her daughter to Harvard and then being paid $30,000 plus for Cat's two dresses AFTER that? There's more, but those were the worst.

Bad--
Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on The Friday Night Knitting Club

Used Price: $2.34

Average Rating:

.The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
City Travel Guides > Books > Literature and Fiction
by: Sherman Alexie

September 12, 2007
I am very upset this book is being recommended for children-I bought it for my son because of the "glowing reviews". I read it after he did and was appalled to find the "f"word in the book and lots of talk of masturbating!!! I will throw it in the trash just to be sure no other child gets his hands on it!
>>See More Reviews & Details on The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Used Price: $9.49

Average Rating:

.Invisible Man
City Travel Guides > Books > Literature and Fiction
by: Ralph Ellison

March 14, 1995
"The Invisible Man" is a classic novel which uses the first person narrator, the invisible man, to move the reader through various types of racism, dishonesty, and deceptiveness which a black man in the 1950's would encounter. The more the invisible man is used by others, the more invisible he becomes and the less self-identity he possesses. He allows himself, unwittingly, to be used by others, both black and white, for their own purposes. He gains nothing from dealing with these characters and actually loses more and more of his self-worth, thus creating his invisibility as a person. It is only when he begins to realize that he must define his own self-worth and not allow others to dictate to him or define his identity that his "invisibility" begins to ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on Invisible Man

Used Price: $4.95

Average Rating:

.All Quiet on the Western Front
City Travel Guides > Books > Literature and Fiction
by: Erich Maria Remarque

March 12, 1987
Thank you for your timely shipping. This book was for a reading assignment, and it was a great book. I did not really want to read it, but it was an exciting and very informative book. I enjoyed it so much I got an A+ on my report!!!
>>See More Reviews & Details on All Quiet on the Western Front

Used Price: $1.44

Average Rating:

.The Yiddish Policemen's Union: A Novel (P.S.)
City Travel Guides > Books > Literature and Fiction
by: Michael Chabon

April 29, 2008
I thought at the end there would be some great insightful, philosophical meaning to this book. I kept reading it even though it took five weeks because I don't speak Yiddish and there was no plot to follow. At the end, and this is a spoiler, all that happens is nothing. It was probably the worst book I have ever stubbornly stuck through. I really like this author, and you can tell he expended a ton of energy and time researching and writing this long novel, but in the end it was all wasted. It just isn't that good and is completely uninteresting. I wait anxiously for his next book.
>>See More Reviews & Details on The Yiddish Policemen's Union: A Novel (P.S.)

Used Price: $6.89

Average Rating:

.Me Talk Pretty One Day
City Travel Guides > Books > Literature and Fiction
by: David Sedaris

June 05, 2001
This book is laugh out loud funny. It got me through a long day of air traveling. Me Talk Pretty One Day is almost like a collection of short stories put together in one book because it doesn't follow the beginning-middle-end format. Each chapter is more or less a chapter in David's life. Either way, the things written in this book will make you loud so laugh others will stare and ask what's in it. I read it in one day, and might read it again if I need a good laugh.
>>See More Reviews & Details on Me Talk Pretty One Day

Used Price: $1.49

Average Rating:

.The Time Traveler's Wife
City Travel Guides > Books > Literature and Fiction
by: Audrey Niffenegger

May 27, 2004
I'm not sure what to say about this book. It's multi-layered and leveled--and so are my feelings about it. I would say for about the first 400 pages or so, I considered this novel something analogous to an old pair of comfortable shoes. I enjoyed it once I picked it up and got into it but it was rarely anything to which I looked forward....and it was always around and comfortable to go back to but certainly nothing flashy or exciting. That being said, the last hundred pages are terrific and you can't turn the pages fast enough. What impressed me the most is that the author did not, at the end, go for the cheap emotional fall out. It would have been very easy to manipulate the last pages into a tearjerker but it was handled in a very dignified way. To say more would ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on The Time Traveler's Wife

Used Price: $0.69

Average Rating:

.Run: A Novel (P.S.)
City Travel Guides > Books > Literature and Fiction
by: Ann Patchett

July 29, 2008
Ann Patchett is a wondrous writer, capable of small miracles of grace that come seemingly from nowhere, illuminating her characters and bringing joy to the reader. Even though RUN, her latest novel, may have flaws, how can I give it less than five stars for the joy it gave me throughout? The joy that kept me reading from one magic moment to the next. The joy, even more, that would make me put the book aside, the better to savor the anticipation of what might lie ahead.

As she had done in her first novel, THE PATRON SAINT OF LIARS, Patchett begins with a prologue that is half miracle, half folklore. This concerns a rosewood statue of the Virgin Mary that has been in the family for generations, passed down from mother to daughter. Two stories are told about its ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on Run: A Novel (P.S.)

Used Price: $6.95

Average Rating:

.8 Sandpiper Way (Cedar Cove, Book 8)
City Travel Guides > Books > Literature and Fiction
by: Debbie Macomber

September 01, 2008
Ann Patchett is a wondrous writer, capable of small miracles of grace that come seemingly from nowhere, illuminating her characters and bringing joy to the reader. Even though RUN, her latest novel, may have flaws, how can I give it less than five stars for the joy it gave me throughout? The joy that kept me reading from one magic moment to the next. The joy, even more, that would make me put the book aside, the better to savor the anticipation of what might lie ahead.

As she had done in her first novel, THE PATRON SAINT OF LIARS, Patchett begins with a prologue that is half miracle, half folklore. This concerns a rosewood statue of the Virgin Mary that has been in the family for generations, passed down from mother to daughter. Two stories are told about its ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on 8 Sandpiper Way (Cedar Cove, Book 8)

Used Price: