Fascinating man, fascinating life. And yet the book is still way too long. (12/2007)

Great book. High marks on several levels: the plot, the details, the writing. I especially enjoyed how Cruz would introduce a character and then tell us what that character's hustle was to make extra money in a communist society. (12/2007)

The author is so articulate that you can't help but feel a kinship with him, despite his disclosure of some terrible acts. As corny as it sounds, this story is proof of the humanity that lies within us all and that it can return to us after going dormant. Great book. (11/2007)

A great window into the Sahara. But it took me a long time to finish, especially for something so short. That may be because I'm spending less time on airplanes these days, or it may be a statement about the book. (11/2007)

As a parent, it pulls on your heart strings in a way no other story could. (9/2007)

Fiction needs to have some basis in reality, and I felt this book's link was somewhat tenuous. It is very funny, although it exploits our Western schadenfreude. (9/2007)

To quote Percy, I couldn't tell if I was a hundred miles ahead or a hundred miles behind ... either this book is way too subtle for me or it's a dud (circa 2007). (9/2007)

Our emotions and ideas are such a jumble of different influences. It was interesting to hear one voice (Holden's) that represented, quite purely, one of these influences ... the desire to only do things that are true and good and the active rejection of everything else. (8/2007)

While I was reading this, I thought this would be my first and last Bukowski novel. But at the end I realized that I understood Hank Chinaski a lot more than when I started. (8/2007)

There is a lot to like about the book, not the least of which is the sharp writing. I wish I could write only half as well. Very captivating, although the self-serving attitude of brokers is hardly a new or shocking revelation circa 2007. (7/2007)

You can only get introduced to this wild world one time, and that happened in Bangkok 8. A worthy effort, but it didn't really capture my imagination to the extent of the first one, mostly because we'd "been there, done that." Unlike Bangkok 8, however, it wasn't crippled by its ending. (7/2007)

An extraordinary book with such a common premise -- a man being pulled between good and evil. I think it is two things that make it really stand out: the setting, so different from my world, and the character of Jeremy Norstrand. Caputo's background as a foreign journalist makes for a realistic -- and very grim -- Africa. (7/2007)

The premise, "how the 1984 NBA draft changed everything", was oversold and I was disappointed. In actuality, this book is mostly a bunch of mini-biographies, tied together by the draft process. Of course, if it was marketed as such, I wouldn't have bought it. (7/2007)

Not really the book I was looking for. This is actually an autobiography that informs the mood of Istanbul during the 50s-70s. I was probably looking more for a history, which this book would complement. That said, the author's recall on his childhood is amazing, and I appreciated the journey by the time I got to the end. WARNING: Touchy-feely and lots of talk of internal struggles.

The movie scared me badly as a kid, so I felt compelled to read the book. At this point, I'm too old to be part of the target audience, but enjoyed it nonetheless. (6/2007)

The first 50 and last 50 pages were slow, but the 150 in between went very fast. I knew very little about the subject, so this was definitely worthwhile for me. Not academic-y, which was a big plus. (6/2007)

Definitely should have been a lighter read given the subject material. I know a lot more about pirates, but it took more effort than I anticipated. (5/2007)

Nonfiction that reads like fiction. Being 30, and knowing very little about the Strangler, I found it fascinating. (5/2007)

I thought I was reading a great book in the first 100 pages, but it degenerated. (4/2007)

Definitely written by an academic, but it gave me a great perspective on Paris. We visited for the first time in March and this was the best resource I could find for injecting the history into the sites we saw. (3/2007)