Levent Rize'de - Mustafa Orakçı itibaren Timaş Çocuk içinde LIT biçim

Leo Silva doleosilva — At age 43, and after about 25 years of abusing his body with tobacco, alcohol, and overeating, the author did something completely unplanned and largely unexpected. He started to bike and to run. Since that time he has lost about 100 lbs and completed 40+ marathons! In the first part of this autobiographical/philosophical book Bingham relates his failures and inabilities as an athlete during his school years. Though he had high hopes and great determination, he was, sadly, largely without ability. The aplomb and humor with which he recounts those early years though is, and don't say this often or lightly, laugh out loud funny! I hardly ever laugh out loud when I read books, no matter how funny they are. I had to interrupt my reading to share several quotes with whoever was close enough to lend me an ear. Did I mention that this book was engaging enough that I completed it in one sitting? Well, I did. Later in the book Bingham recounts his early running experiences and realizes when he starts to run in organized races and that he is competitive...not competitive in the sense that he wins anything, but that he is competitive inwardly and outwardly with the people he finds himself with in the middle to the back of the pack, whether it's a 5K or a marathon. While non-runners will probably enjoy the early section of this book the most, runners will be better prepared to understand what he is getting at in the later chapters when he shares his thoughts and philosophy on running. Bingham is a gem...full of humor, self deprecation, and having the ability to relate to the ordinary runner and person. You know...the person who runs in the middle to the back of the pack. I highly recommend this book to runners everywhere. You don't have to be fast, but you do have to have experienced at least some running, including an organized race or two to get the full scope of this book. FYI - I started running during the winter of 2007 when I was 47, and I ran my first race, a 5K, that spring. Since then I've run 5K, 10K, and half-marathon races. Like Bingham I'm not especially fast, but I was there. So as someone who also took up racing in my middle ages, I understand completely what Bingham is getting at in this book...though I have to admit that my ambitions as a runner don't come close to his. So I say, run on, man! 4 stars overall.

Julia Briosca pounya038a — There was a good story in there somewhere. It just got bogged down by the rambling, repetitive explanations of economics and the inner workings of speculative markets. I thought most of the characters were developed well with the exception of Big Sister Nor, which is kind of funny since she's the character that holds all the story lines together. I'm not sure how this is considered a book for 12-17 year olds. If I'd read/listened to this book at that age, I would have quit pretty quickly. I get that the majority of characters are young teens, but the intricacies of the plot and the before mentioned economic and investment lessons would have lost my attention. Which isn't to say that I won't try more Doctorow. I've heard good things about his other books, but this one just didn't gel well. Too many side notes that seemed to go on forever, tearing me out of the story as a whole. It's hard to get into a story that has five or six plot lines with entirely different sets of characters as it is. Throw in long, rambling, repetitive tangents and things are going to fall apart in places.

A A _10 — Significantly better than "Everything is Illuminated"

Henri Maze mazehenrib3d6 — Despite the fact that this book was overall rather slow to read, occasionally cumbersome in its use of language, and rather depressing, I enjoyed it. However, I must admit that I read it in pieces, rather than straight through, so that may have made it more bearable. I enjoyed the depth to which Hardy developed his characters, and all the intricacies (and dysfunctions) which he managed to describe within human relationships. All in all, not a bad read for a classic, but it is definitely not a book to read if you are depressed or suffering from relationship problems.