As a Georgia resident (but not native), I thoroughly enjoyed Napolitano's exploration and examination of the lives in a tiny Georgia town, transformed by its most famous daughter, Flannery O'Connor. Napolitano does such a beautiful job of connecting the reader with Flannery and those highlighted individuals from her life, it has spurred me on to read Flannery O'Connor's works. I would highly recommend this book!

The Journal Keeper is a book for people who like to reflect while reading, whether it be on their own personal lives when something in Theroux's own experiences resonates or on the bigger picture of the world around us.

I earmarked a large number of pages so that I can go back and delve more deeply into interesting tidbits, stories, quotes.

It seems to be a great book for a writers' group or writing program. It inspired me to pick journaling back up. I really enjoyed reading this book!

For the first 20 pages of this book, I thought,"Oh, no, this book is going to be horrible. I can't believe I have to an ARC review on it!" But, the book got much better, and I enjoyed it!

The book has some central themes that are presented in an entertaining manner: the transition from a communist/socialist society to a capitalist society; the older generation's feelings about the end of their golden age; corrupt politics - presented in a fable/fairy tale style. Valeria, the crusty old woman, grows on you. The potter is a wonderful character. And Ibolya, the tavern owner, is quintessential in her role. In some ways, this book reminded me of Joanne Harris' Chocolat. The author has said he envisions this as the first book in a trilogy that will explore "how three generations of people were affected by the major shift in the late 1980s." After reading Valeria's Last Stand, I will look forward to reading the next two installments when they are published.

While some of what Cardello writes about is well-known and been written about before, there is enough updated material and personal, insider stories to keep this book interesting. This book seems to be a good introductory discussion for people interested in learning about the topic, but it isn't the kind of expose that will really shake things up among people already entrenched on opposite sides of the issue. As a parent of two small children, I found the chapter "Let Them Eat Cupcakes" quite entertaining.

I enjoyed this book. I thought it was well-written. I liked the main character, Under Officer Ali Shigiri, and I think that he really held the book together. As an American, I found it interesting to get a (fictional) look at the Pakistani military and political structure in the late 80s. I think the book, however, (and I could be totally wrong and am not trying to offend anyone) will mainly appeal to people like myself - post-graduate education, lived and traveled abroad, well-read, liberal. I wouldn't recommend it to my larger neighborhood bookclub, but I would recommend it to my smaller bookclub that reads extensively across all genres.

I really, really enjoyed this book. I read it in a day. I liked the main character, Harper. As a high school student, I could relate to her - stickler for the rules, control freak, feel like you're missing out on something when you're not with your friends. I would recommend this book to other high school age kids, and I even think adults that have kids would enjoy it. I don't really think it is a book club read. I don't think this is a spoiler, but I personally wish the book had ended differently. That is my only complaint.

I really wanted to enjoy this book. With descriptive language like this review's title, how can Saviano's "personal journey" be only average? Well, despite its interesting topic, it didn't really feel like this book recounted a personal journey. We learn almost nothing about Saviano in this book, and when he does insert himself in situations to describe it in a first-person voice, it feels disjointed. As a reader, I could have benefited from a glossary of terms, some maps, and a visual organizational chart of the Camorra families and their interconnectedness. It was very difficult to follow all of the detail. Overall, I can't recommend this book to anyone; maybe someone who already has a strong working knowledge of Naples' organized crime system and to whom the more recent information provided here would be an update?