rating: 2 of 5 stars
The plot of this book was entertaining, continuing to excite me about the direction of the “True Blood” series on HBO. However, Harris’ writing continues to leave much to be desired. A 300-page book simply should not use the phrase “that’s another word I learned from my Word-of-the-Day calendar” more than once, much less what was at least 6 times, and maybe up to a dozen by Harris in this book.



I also feel like she contradicts herself in her characterization of Sookie. On the one hand, you have the non-stop Word-of-the-Day references that make Sookie seem quite simple and relatively uneducated. On the other hand, Sookie immediately recognizes the bouncer at the bar as a goblin. C’mon…



I have to move on to a more well-written book next or I’ll lose my patience entirely with this box set.


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My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was definitely an entertaining read. I really liked Junot Diaz’ style. The story develops from the perspective of multiple different characters, and the writing is in a mix of English and Spanish (which I simply inferred the meanings of) that pulls you a little further into the world of the Dominican main characters. The biggest surprise and maybe even the overall point of the book, though, is that the book serves as a bit of history lesson about the Dominican Republic. I can certainly say that none of the historical elements discussed in this book were ever taught in my History classes.

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My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I’ve always liked Fareed Zakaria‘s columns in Newsweek a lot. He always offers a balanced look at America’s interaction with our globe-mates. I enjoyed this book a lot, especially the sections comparing America’s rise to power with Britain’s, and the entire chapters on both China and India. Some critics were down on this book because they say he doesn’t offer a solution to the Iraq issue. Well… if someone was able to come up with a nice easy fix there, don’t you think they’d already be a national superstar? Anyway, this book lays out the current status of our country’s place in the world nicely, and offers some definite insight into the things we can do to maintain our status as the global superpower, even during the “rise of the rest.”

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