sophronisba's reviews
2455 reviews

Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis by Jonathan Blitzer

informative medium-paced

4.25

Brutal and depressing, especially given *gestures broadly at everything*.

George IV: The Rebel Who Would Be King by Christopher Hibbert

informative slow-paced

3.75

Was this book well-researched and well-written? Yes. Did I learn a lot about George IV? Yes. Do I think that this man merited a 900-page biography? I DO NOT.

The Wedding People by Alison Espach

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I was so entertained by this novel that I can't really rate it lower than 4 stars but at the same time, Phoebe might be a little too rootable and the ending might be a little too pat. Happy endings all around can be fun and even soothing but these felt a bit too neat to work.

Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë

hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

I would not hire this woman to educate my children. The book itself is shapeless, wandering about in search of a plot, the writing is suffused with trite moralism, and the central romance just kind of happens. Not my cuppa.

Cue the Sun!: The Invention of Reality TV by Emily Nussbaum

informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

I picked this book up to read about Survivor and Big Brother but the parts that really entranced me were the early chapters on Queen for a Day and Candid Camera and The Dating Game, which I knew virtually nothing about.

Le Divorce by Diane Johnson

lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Well-written and witty. The main character isn't entirely rootable -- although she's young, and sometimes young people do dumb things -- but she isn't really supposed to be. The focus is lost a bit in the second half but overall, rereading this after a twenty-five year hiatus, I thought it held up pretty well.

(It's not chick lit. It's a comedy of manners.)

Every Valley: The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times that Made Handel's Messiah by Charles King

informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

This was a pleasant surprise, an account of the writing of Handel's Messiah from several viewpoints. Encompasses race, gender, and class issues while also telling an interesting story.

Shred Sisters by Betsy Lerner

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Eh. Well-written but by-the-numbers account of a "good" sister dealing with the continual fallout of the "bad" sister. It's essentially a retelling of the parable of the prodigal son from the brother's point of view. Didn't seem to have much new to say.

The Unruly Queen: The Life of Queen Caroline by Flora Fraser

informative sad

3.5

Was Caroline a lot? She was absolutely a lot. Was she still better than her husband, King George IV? Probably.

Kingmaker: Pamela Harriman's Astonishing Life of Power, Seduction, and Intrigue by Sonia Purnell

adventurous informative reflective

4.75

What an unexpected treat this book was. It's just this side of a hagiography, and I'm not entirely buying what Purnell is selling: I strongly suspect, for example, that you do not want Pamela Harriman as your stepmother. But so many juicy details and anecdotes and quotes -- it's hard to put the book down and impossible to resist its pleasures. In the end I could not disagree with Bill Clinton's appraisal of his longtime friend: “Was she calculating? . . . Yes, tell me someone in politics who isn’t. Was she ambitious? Yes, she was a child when she married the [soon to be] prime minister’s son and found a way to make herself useful during the war at some risk to herself. Did she have a good time living? Yes, she did. Good for her.”