The British prime minister owed his career to him; the pope, his life. Even so, he was not the sort of fellow to shamelessly collect on an old debt. The truly powerful man, said Shamron, never had to ask for a favor. aka Gabriel Allon takes on Morocco. Aside from the typical concern for Gabriel […]
More from: reviews |
Review: Running Like a Girl
this may be the quintessential “don’t judge a book by its cover”, or, by its title. When I first stumbled on it, I disregarded it as probably patronizing. The “Bridget Jones-like writer” endorsement from The Washington Post didn’t really help matters. I was pleasantly surprised to be completely wrong. “You don’t run,” he corrected me. “But you’re […]
Review: Prisoners of Geography
Has been a while since I reviewed a book in a more in-depth fashion than on my Goodreads, but this one is really resonant. It was also bought on my first venture to the new Amazon Books store at the Time Warner Center. While I don’t love everything about the store and don’t frequently buy […]
Review: Daniel Silva’s The English Spy
AKA, Daniel Silva, you make me absolutely crazy but I love every word you write. Oddly, this is the first one in a few books where I’ve read the book as soon as it came out. Usually I save Allon for my December beach reading binge, but I couldn’t wait. A lot of that came […]
Review: Life on Foot by Nate Damm
It’s been a while since I read a walking book. I’m going to take a gander that the Saunter inspired it. I can safely say that the walk Nate Damm covered in his Life On Foot: A Walk Across America book is one I’ll never undertake. But I loved reading every word of it. […]
Confessions of a Designated Fat Taxi Driver?
aka a two-in-one review because I started and finished two books in the last three days Confessions of a New York Taxi Driver by Eugene Salomon and Jennifer Joyner’s Designated Fat Girl. Two very different subjects but the right level of reading depth I was in the mood for this weekend. I started with Joyner’s […]
Review: Bleachers
After Rake left they named it after him. Neely was gone by then, of course, long gone with no plans to return. Why he was returning now wasn’t completely clear, but deep in his soul he’d always known this day would come, the day somewhere out there in the future when he was called back. […]
2014 Year in Review: Bookworm Edition
I fully accept that I’ll never be as good as Liz at book reviews, but I want to do better in 2015 than I am in 2014 which is five finished reviews and 27/30 Tumblr drafts that were unfinished book reviews. So for 2015 I’m “stealing” Sally’s year end template and will keep that as […]
Review: The Hotel: A Week in the Life of the Plaza
An at one point travel and tourism blog with a look at a hospitality book. What is this world coming to? In truth, this book is equal parts tourism/hospitality and NYC history. The opening of the Plaza in October 1907 at a cost of $12.5m was AN EVENT with the likes of Mark Twain was […]
99 places to go
well at least that’s the challenge I saw upon reading Daniel Smith’s 100 Places You Will Never Visit, one of the titles I’ve finished in a recent reading marathon that is bringing my 2014 total toward respectability. I’ve been to one, and if I can get there on a whim (albeit with a tour group), […]
Review: Jeneration X
So I realized something sad when I started to read Jeneration X, Jen Lancaster’s 2012 “chapter” of her non-fiction series: I think I’ve outgrown it. This is equal parts sad and odd because a) I used to love her non fiction titles and b) I’m at least a decade younger than she is. At some […]
Review: This Ain’t No Holiday Inn
Yesterday, I was in Chelsea for lunch and I found myself thinking of the Chelsea and decided to find it. When I did, and posted the photo (and the one above), I remembered this unfinished review and blog post from earlier this year. Time to remove the “un”. “In 2001, he died of […]
Review: Hidden Treasures: What Museums Can’t or Won’t Show You by Harriet Baskas
Hidden museum treasures. I am such a nerd. Nerd. NERD. NERD. and I love it and wouldn’t change it for the world. Anyway, book #3 of this year: Hidden Treasures: What Museums Can’t or Won’t Show You by Harriet Baskas:
Review: Tinsel
Oh, and PS: I’d like to acknowledge the global economy, especially the credit and retail sectors, which fell apart between 2006 and 2008 and thereby made profligate Christmas shopping seem all the more interesting and a bit more inane. Here’s to you, capitalism Those were actually the very last two sentences Hank Stuever wrote in […]
Review: The English Girl by Daniel Silva
This book has nothing to do with travel, weight loss, or New York City. Why is it here? Because, this series was the tipping point in finally getting me to go to Israel. I wanted to see the places that Silva described so vividly. Shamron’s Tiberias. Gabriel’s place on Narkiss Street. … As an aside, […]
Review: Drop Dead Healthy
First off, I want to say I should get bonus points for “weight lifting” a hard cover, my first dead tree book in a while. I ducked into the library yesterday as much for AC as for a book, and saw A.J. Jacobs’ Drop Dead Healthy which had been on my wishlist since I transitioned […]
Iraq in my Shoe
Did I love this book? Did I hate it? In truth, I’m really not sure, but I finished it to make 22 books finished on the year. Progress! I think I might have gotten more from this book if I’d read/seen Gone with the Wind since comparing herself to Scarlett O’Hara was Berg’s favorite past […]
Review: Downtown: My Manhattan
I cannot count the number of times I’ve started and stopped reading Pete Hamill’s Downtown: My Manhattan. Not because I didn’t enjoy reading it, but because I never seemed to have the time to commit to it. I can’t even blame it all on library book expiration — at one point I’d mooched two copies […]
Where “God” was born?
I have an extremely conflicted relationship with organized religion and the concept of god, yet I am enamored with the Middle East. Mom and I went to Israel for my 30th birthday and it was magical and everything I thought. I was already planning my next trip while still there. When people were curious about […]
Tom Coughlin: Earn the Right to Win
Tom Coughlin signing his book at Barnes & Noble this blog has been mostly travel and weight loss journey with the occasional foray into sports. Today, is one of those forays because I just finished reading the best book I’ve read in a very long time. Tom Coughlin’s Earn the Right to Win. I don’t […]