Epinions Recent Reviews for jsgoddess

What a difference a day makes

Sun, 7 Oct 2007 13:11:33 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jsgoddess - When I finished this book on Friday I would have given it 4 stars, and happily. Then a day passed, and then I sat down to write this review and realized that I'm annoyed with this book and its author. Early in the fantasy novel...

Patrick Rothfuss - The Name of the Wind: Eating crow, book-flavored crow

Tue, 2 Oct 2007 13:33:19 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jsgoddess - If you had asked me 3/4 of the way through this book if I liked it, I would have said yes, but with a big caveat: I hate framing stories, and this book's framing story is more intrusive than most. Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind is a...

The dreaded "It's good, but..."

Tue, 9 Jan 2007 17:52:15 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jsgoddess - Amongst the canon of books written in English are more than a handful that might be good books, might even be great books, but are books I don't want to read. Frankly, I very rarely read anything I don't want to read. Life is too short. But I was...

My psychic powers say don't buy this book!

Wed, 1 Nov 2006 14:58:34 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author jsgoddess - Despite how it may seem, I'm actually a pretty forgiving reader. I'll suspend my disbelief about ghosties and ghoulies, I'll accept that your characters can do magic or are so smart that they would make Einstein slash his wrists in despair. I'll go...

It's my duty as a reader to sample as much peril as I can

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 15:33:05 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jsgoddess - Once again, my mostly random book browsing has led me to a weird little read that is only in the Epinions database if I go spelunking through little-traversed nooks and crannies. I can never decide if I'm happy or disturbed that so much of my reading is...

Beguiled by this unusual fantasy novel

Mon, 23 Oct 2006 00:42:21 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jsgoddess - Someone got me started reading Lois McMaster Bujold a few months ago, and I can't decide if I love or hate that person. Oh sure, they introduced me to my current favorite author. But they have also stolen quite a few hours of sleep from me, and have...

East of the Sun and West of Ohio

Sun, 22 Oct 2006 23:36:59 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jsgoddess - The weather in Ohio turned cold at the end of last week, and it was appropriate that I ended up reading Edith Pattou's East, which is set in a world of polar bears, ice palaces, and glaciers. It had me huddled under the electric blankie. Rose...

Hey, you with the face!

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 17:33:30 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author jsgoddess - At the end of Shadows
on the Wall, the previous book in Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's YA "York Trilogy," nothing had come to any conclusion. There were many plot points completely unresolved, turning this,...

This girl's best friend is ice cream, but dogs are nice too

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 15:39:47 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jsgoddess - It can be hard to judge a book when you read it as I read Elizabeth Young's A Girl's Best Friend. You see, it became my book of choice for repeated visits to hospital waiting rooms, stretched out over the course of a few months. Hospital...

Only the shadow knows

Wed, 13 Sep 2006 16:31:37 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jsgoddess - I get into moods where I want to read something very direct and clear. That generally steers me toward the Young Adult or Children's sections of the local library, where I find some of today's best authors. Yes, I do believe that many of the best...

Brilliant light makes for dark shadows indeed

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 13:57:13 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jsgoddess - I'm going to have to ask you all to stand back while I get a little over-enthusiastic. For me, getting over-enthusiastic usually involves a lot of flailing of limbs and the occasional barked shin or stubbed toe from an uncoordinated dance of joy...

Getting reacquainted with old friends

Wed, 31 May 2006 21:21:26 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jsgoddess - I used to be a big fan of Martha Grimes. Then something happened. The series began to weigh on me. The desolation, the children, the pain. I had read each new installment with increasing dismay, until I finally couldn't take any more. The years...

Big, fat black clouds settling on my mood

Sun, 7 May 2006 18:18:17 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jsgoddess - 2006 hasn't been kind to me, and when I'm feeling terribly put upon and sorry for myself, I like nothing better than to read books where people get murdered. I should probably seek therapy. There's a reason certain mystery series are called "cozy."...

Every time you read this book, God kills a kitten!

Sun, 7 May 2006 00:24:22 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author jsgoddess - The problem I have with reviewing a book this bad is that some of you, and you know who you are, will be curious. "It can't be that bad," you'll say, as you log into your library system to put it on hold. (I refuse to believe anyone would be silly...

Warming up to Winter House

Fri, 31 Mar 2006 16:09:52 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jsgoddess - I have psychic powers. Usually, I'll give a book about 20 pages to hook me. There are times when I'll be more generous, and definitely times when I'll be less, but generally 20 pages does it. And Carol O'Connell's Winter House had lost me,...

This old grouse

Sat, 11 Mar 2006 13:51:47 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author jsgoddess - A couple of weeks ago, I was stuck in a hospital waiting room with a little old lady who had the foulest mouth I've ever heard. She cursed and cursed and cursed and cursed and we all squirmed and ducked our heads and looked away. Today, I was stuck...

Coincidence? I think so!

Tue, 7 Mar 2006 15:58:43 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jsgoddess - "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."--Ralph Waldo Emerson Emerson has saved my bacon with his little quote. I spent the entirety of m
y
last review whining about overuse of coincidence...

Coincidence? I think not!

Sun, 5 Mar 2006 14:08:21 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jsgoddess - I'm an understanding person. No really. Stop laughing. I recognize that a mystery series is pretty hard to sustain, that eventually you'll end up with some form of Jessica Fletcher-itis, where the main character is a harbinger of death and destruction...

These grapes are surprisingly sweet

Wed, 8 Feb 2006 20:07:38 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jsgoddess - My brain is broken. I'm not sure when the big break came, but it was some days before Christmas. I've been walking around in a daze ever since, and I can't even blame a sugar high or Christmas stress. Or alcohol. Death by the Glass by Nadia...

Weird stone, great book

Fri, 18 Nov 2005 16:39:29 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jsgoddess - Someone could get famous if they could explain why certain books become cultural touchstones while others of equal or greater quality disappear into the mists of time. Once that's figured out, perhaps they could determine how to give Alan Garner's...

Ragwitch--what a doll!

Fri, 28 Oct 2005 13:35:13 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jsgoddess - It can be unwise to learn too much about a favorite author. Inadvertently, you may learn that your favorite mystery writer is a puppy-kicker, or your favorite science fiction writer is into Britney Spears. But all of that pales next to finding that...

A shadow of Nix's best work

Thu, 22 Sep 2005 16:10:05 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jsgoddess - I can hardly believe it's been four years since I read and reviewed Garth Nix's brilliant fantasy Sa
briel.
That book may not have changed the world, but it changed the way I read, and what I expect of, modern fantasy...

One may be the loneliest number, but three is no walk in the park

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 17:01:20 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jsgoddess - I don't know what switch there is in my head that turns "the book I'm reading" into "the book I'm going to review." I review only 1 in 50, or maybe fewer, books that I read. Even when I want to review more, it's as if I can't unless the book conforms...

My wish: A better book

Wed, 14 Sep 2005 12:35:05 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author jsgoddess - My husband likes to pick out books for me as gifts, and he's normally eerily good at finding things I had vowed I would eventually find for myself, things like Cornelia Funke's Inkheart, or Christopher Paolini's Eragon. I don't always like...

If you start the series here, you'll regret it. You'll regret it!

Thu, 18 Aug 2005 11:34:08 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jsgoddess - So you take some good advice and you read a book. It's a good book. It's a very good book indeed. And you learn that there are other books that come later and you snatch them all up and you read them in a frenzy and then you sit and wait for the next...