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Hawaii: A Novel
James A. Michener
Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2002
Fantastic Fictional Tour of Historical Hawaii
Mr. Michener's wonderful historical novel on the 50th state masterfully weaves together many smaller individual stories that allow the reader to appreciate this amazing and diverse island group. Hawaii was settled in waves, and book begins with the original human ...
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The Thanksgiving Door
Debby Atwell
Houghton Mifflin/Walter Lorraine Books, 2006
A happy story in a busy world
I purchased this book to read to my 2 neices ages 5 and 3. The 5 year old was able to read some of the words to and with me. They both enjoyed the story and ask their mother to read it to them on a regular basis. The story is a wonderful tale of sharing of company and ...
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Fire Along the Sky
Sara Donati
Dell, 2005
Read This Series
Do yourself a favor and read this series. It's great fun without the guilt because it's a love and adventure saga rolled inside a history lesson. I actually missed the characters when I finished the last book and I can only hope Sara Donati is hard at work on the next ...
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A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
Marina Lewycka
Penguin (Non-Classics), 2006
A Short History Of Tractors In Ukranian
This is a very funny book, and its evocation of life in the English Midlands is comically well-observed.
Underlying the humour though, is a story of tragedy and survival in a time of genocide.
The eighty-something father who is seduced by a thirty-something ...
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Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California
Frances Dinkelspiel
St. Martin's Press, 2008
Epic unknown history of California
Towers of Gold rediscovers Isaias Hellman, once justly celebrated as one of the most important businessmen in California's development, both in Los Angeles and San Francisco. There is hardly a major California economic development in a 50-year span with which Hellman ...
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The Forsaken: An American Tragedy in Stalin's Russia
Tim Tzouliadis
Penguin Press HC, The, 2008
Superb and affecting history
This is the type of history book that I always look for; filling in a blank spot in knowledge, well-written and affecting. You can read the greater detail in other reviews, but the high-level story is the totalitarian savagery of the Soviet Union on almost everyone it ...
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Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America
Firoozeh Dumas
Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2004
One of the best books I've read this year
Funny in Farsi is one of the best books I've read this year. I laughed until I cried, and while laughing, I learned a lot about the Iranian-American and immigrant experience. The author is talented at using humor to poke fun at herself, her family, Iran, and America, ...
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The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Pocket, 2004
Dark, meaningful, and dare I say sexy?
I think this is one of my favorites from high school English or whenever I read the thing, and I agree that it is a classic full of excellent imagery, strong characters, and of course all that symbolism we all love to hate.
But outside the annoying intellectual ...
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The Dream: A Memoir
Harry Bernstein
Ballantine Books, 2008
The Dream is a wonderfully told memoir.
Last year, I read Harry Bernstein's "The Invisible Wall" and could not put it down. I could not believe what a vivid memory Harry had of his youth in England - especially considering that he wrote it at age 95. His description and detail made the story come alive and ...
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The Lazarus Project
Aleksandar Hemon
Riverhead Hardcover, 2008
A surprise
I don't write reviews often, but I felt compelled to do so for this book . As said before, the Lazarus Averbuch affair is interwoven with a strange modern-day odyssey into various cities in Eastern Europe in search of answers. What's really special about this book and ...
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Bread Givers: A Novel
Anzia Yezierska
Persea Books, 2003
Awesome book
I read this book for a college English class many years ago. I just finished reading it again for about the 10th time. This book is just truely mesmorizing and captivating. You don't have to Jewish or an immigrant or a female struggling - this book is for anyone ...
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Small Island: A Novel
Andrea Levy
Picador, 2005
Bittersweet with funny moments
This is a part of British history that the UK is only admitting to, its something that happened in our lifetime only 60 years ago, how the non white immigrants from the New World were treated by the Mother country.
This story concentrates on two immigrants from ...
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The Scarlet Letter (Penguin Classics)
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Penguin Classics, 2002
A wonderful piece of literature, however
I completely agree with most HS students that this book should be optional reading for them because HS teachers should very well know that there are many different minds that need very different kinds of reading material and exposure to variety is not always a good ...
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My Antonia (Enriched Classics (Pocket))
Willa Cather
Pocket, 2004
Leaves You Wondering!
I started "My Antonia" just to find out what this literary classic was about. I soon found myself captivated by a development of characters and their relationships.
The story is seen through the eyes of Jim Burton, who begins the story as a ten year old orphan ...
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A Baker's Odyssey, includes DVD: Celebrating Time-Honored Recipes from America's Rich Immigrant Heritage
Greg Patent
Wiley, 2007
The Gold Standard
Golden baked goods never looked so good. What pushes this cookbook a head of the pack is the enclosed DVD. The author takes time to demonstrate some of the recipes enclosed in the book that some might find challenging. Starting with pie crust, he also includes, ...
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