Sunday, July 14, 2024

Completed and abandoned books, and one I'm still reading

Deb at Readerbuzz hosts The Sunday Salon.

Here's my rating system, which is totally subjective:

10 ~ Loved it!!  Couldn't put it down!!
9 ~ Excellent!
8 ~ Very Good
7 ~ Good
6 ~ Above Average
5 ~ Average
4 ~ Struggled to finish, but not worth it
3 ~ Annoying ~ a waste of time
2 ~ Poor
1 ~ Pitiful!
0 ~ Awful!!  Don't bother
* DNF ~ Did Not Finish ~ one I abandoned
* Nah ~ I don't recommend it
______________________________________________________________

Heartburn ~ by Nora Ephron, 1983, literary fiction, 252 pages (LP), 7/10

A Child's Treasury of Poems ~ edited by Mark Daniel, 1986, children's book, 153 pages, 9/10

Discover Your Genius: How to Think Like History's Ten Most Revolutionary Minds ~ by Michael J. Gelb, 2002, creative thinking, 356 pages (I'm still reading this one)

This book will help you unleash your own creativity.  With fascinating biographies of all ten geniuses, personal self-assessments, and practical exercises, this book is the key to unlocking the genius inside you!

  • Plato -- Deepening your love of wisdom

  • Filippo Brunelleschi -- Expanding your perspective

  • Christopher Columbus -- Strengthening your vision, optimism, and courage

  • Nicolaus Copernicus -- Reorganizing your vision of the world

  • Queen Elizabeth I -- Wielding your power with balance and effectiveness

  • William Shakespeare -- Cultivating your emotional intelligence

  • Thomas Jefferson -- Celebrating your freedom in the pursuit of happiness

  • Charles Darwin -- Developing your powers of observation and cultivating an open mind

  • Mahatma Gandhi -- Applying the principles of spiritual genius to harmonize spirit, mind, and body

  • Albert Einstein -- Unleashing your imagination and "combinatory play"

Death of a Dentist: A Hamish Macbeth Mystery (Book 13 of 13) ~ by M. C. Beaton, 1997, mystery (Scotland), 200 pages, 6/10

The Blue Cat and the River's Song
~ by Pamela Hayes Rehlen, 2008, historical fiction, 134 pages, DNF

        I didn't finish this one because it was from a cat's perspective, saying things like this:  "I was left in a town where the people disappeared, one by one, but the buildings mostly stayed the same.  Over the next decades the barns out in back of the big Main Street huses no longer stored hay" (p. 13).  Wait a minute!  How many DECADES do cats live?
        And these quotes:  "All through these years I didn't enter Zeruah's house, although I saw many families come and go ..." (p. 14).  "I can go through the motions of eating, but since I don't require food, it's a tiresome charade" (p. 18).  "I wonder what kind of a man this is who sees me clearly, but seems to find nothing unusual about me" (p. 19).  "I go through the backdoor by imagining it away and then I'm out in the cold and the dark" (p. 23).
        Okay, I caould see this is NOT the book for me, so I returned it to the library.

2 comments:

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz said...

I like the idea of seeing ways geniuses from the past have thought and done things. I hope you will share this one (if it is worthy) when you finish it.

A lot of libraries are embracing the new bookstore organization model in lieu of the old Dewey Decimal System model. It does seem to make it easier for people to find the kind of books they like.

Tina said...

I've never read the Hamish McBeth series but I have read most of Beaton's Agatha Raisin books.