Has anyone read "The Giver"?
596649
It's a great book.  Wonderful author.\nAccording to this article, the author doesn't plan any sequels.  I think it ends perfectly.\nBrave New World is another book about the concept of manufacturing and the controlling/ perfection of the human race.
626664
I look at amazon.com and there was only a few reviews that were negative. Did a web search and did not find any reviews which were more negative than the ones below found on Amazon.com\n\n\nReviewer: J. Constantine (Chicago, IL USA)\n     \nI am pretty surprised to read the multiple rave reviews on this book. I just finished it, and found it just ok. The facts of the story are interesting enough but I found the writing and telling of the story a bit too simple. There were some major events in these peoples' lives that were basically stated and not elaborated upon. And in several pages I found myself rereading a page to figure out which of the author's fathers was being described. I am sure that the incorrect names are used in two spots in the book. I don't need long, flowing descriptions of things. But if you are going to tell a story of this magnitude, it deserves a little more "fleshing out." I would have liked to have gotten some emotional reaction to it - ok, so his mother prefers not to discuss things. But how did these revelations affect the author? his family? I just wanted more - and if the author chooses not to reveal more, then explain why.\n\nReviewer: Elias Govea "Eli" (texas)\n\nThe Color of Water by James McBride tells two emotional stories. One of the stories is told by his mother, who is a Caucasian, and one by him, who is black. The mom talks about how hard it was growing up being Jewish. Worst of all her dad treated her harsh and sometimes even touching her sexually. Then she started her rebellious stage and started going out with black people even though he knew her dad would disapprove of it. This was the 1940's so this was dangerous for both of them. She talks about the many obstacles that she overcame in her like. For example, when her husband died leaving her with eight kids to attend to. Then she somehow found ambition to get all her kids to college. The son talks about the many challenges her mom had to overcome in order for him and his siblings to get a proper education. For example, when her second husband died leaving her with twelve kids to support she still manage to get all of them to college. This book seemed boring to me but if you are interested in how hard it is for a black person and a white person to fall in love and concur all the obstacles that came their way then you might be interested in it. This book is short but since it was boring to me, I found it to be very long. The book does not have hard language it is actually quite easy
901954
Yes, I read it and found it very interesting.  The reader should keep in mind, though, that the author does not claim to be anything but human, that is, he does not claim to be God made manifest in a human form like Moses, Jesus Christ, Mohammed, The Bab, and Baha'u'llah.  Therefore, his interpretation of what God is revealing to him is subject to error.  Only the Manifestations of God are perfect and flawless.  Even the highest saint is still human and subject to error.\n\nwww.bahai.org
231457
This book is Harper Lee's masterpiece. I like the symbolism it inculdes very much. Are you a good reader? Did you read the Da Vinci Code? Tell me what you think about it.
413839
Yes, its a great book and opens up all new ideas about life and religion.  It really makes you think. It was written by Neale Donald Walsh. One of my favourite things written in it was, 'No one will judge you ever, for why, and how, could God judge God's own creation and call it bad?'
619586
If you're weak minded and frail in spirit, DON'T read it.\n\nOtherwise, read it and enjoy!  It's a basic detective / mystery novel that makes use of the Holy Blood Holy Grail matter.  It's a work of fiction, but it might spark intrigue.
375558
I've read it like twice (I am a convert of 1.5 years)  But my favorite always happens to be D&C!  That I have read a million times.  I love section 132!  Everytime I read it I remember truely how much our heavenly Father loves us!  \n\nJust got married in the Manti Temple 2 weeks ago!
472855
I also want to know who has read that book
541954
It's ok. It's a fairly quick read, so you don't need to invest too much time in it, and it's fairly interesting. The ideas and characters come up every now and then in conversation, so it's good to have read if for background.\n\nBasically, it's kind of an indictment on the lives and characters of the rich.
440350
Reviews and Commentary\n(http://www.petehautman.com/invisibleinfo.html)  \n\nLIBRARY JOURNAL (starred review) \n\nSeventeen-year-old Dougie takes everything literally, lacks social graces and is a loner, except, perhaps, for his one friend, athletic and popular Andy Morrow. But readers know almost immediately that something tragic has happened in the recent past: ' Andy and I had some bad luck with fires when we were kids. We're more careful now.' Other students feel threatened by Dougie's disturbing behavior and react by targeting him with cruelty and violence, which only serves to escalate his descent into unreality, isolation, and obsession. The teen has been working for nearly three years on his model railroad set, using 22, 400 headless matches to build a bridge connecting portions of the 'Madham Line.' As his life deteriorates, this obsession and his nightly talks with Andy are the only things that keep him clinging to normalcy. He resists the help of his psychiatrist and hides his medication. Ultimately, he is forced to remember what actually happened on that fateful night. With its excellent plot development and unforgettable, heartbreaking protagonist, this is a compelling novel of mental illness. \n\n  \n\nHORN BOOK (starred review) \n\nGifted in math, and recognizably clever when constructing architectural models (he's building an elaborate railroad system in his basement), Doug reveals that it's human interaction he can't figure out. "I'm a quiet kid, pretty much invisible," he says in a precise, unemotional voice, as this unreliable narrator begins his story. Invisibility is Doug's rationale for explaining a range of rejection, from teacher irritation to peer scorn, particularly from pretty and popular Melissa Haverman, who is disgusted by what readers will recognize as Doug's stalker behavior. But Doug reports one near-perfect relationship, the one he has with his best friend, Andy. Gradually, however, that friendship is revealed to be not what it seems. There are secrets from their past that Doug won't discuss, and hints from their present life that skew his tale. Why is there a strange man in Andy's house? What fuels Doug's increasingly complex rendering of their intertwined initials? What medication is Doug refusing to take? Reading this psychological thriller is much like putting together one of Doug's railroad bridges: connections are being made, but the realities being built may be imitations of life rather than the real thing. The tension comes from entering Doug's private hell and learning what put him there. \n\n  \n\nPUBLISHERS WEEKLY (starred review) \n\nThe strength of Hautman's painfully sad novel is the wisecracking but clearly unreliable voice of its narrator, 17-year-old Douglas MacArthur Hanson who admits, "I'm not only disturbed, I'm obsessed." One of his passions is "Madham," a town he's building for his model railroad, complete with a 1:800 scale replica of the Golden Gate Bridge. He's also fixated on a pretty girl who clearly wants nothing to do with him. And he's overly reliant on his only friend, Andy Morrow, a fellow junior who is the popular and outgoing yang to Dougie's outcast and introverted yin. Hautman expertly teases out the truth about a tragic incident that occurred "at the Tuttle place" three years earlier, a mystery that propels the story to its horrific conclusion. Dougie is as mathematically gifted and socially inept as the autistic narrator of Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, but he also has a sophisticated wit. During a lapse in conversation at one of his $95-an-hour therapy sessions, he observes, "We stare at each other for about $1.40." His self-deprecating comments and wry observations make his spiral into self destruction all the more heartbreaking. (One measure of how sympathetically the aut
1083395
Yes, I read it. Excellent book. Jon Krakauer, right?\n\nPlease write your own poem.
805041
If so, then as some on here have suggested, let's pack it all in and throw the whole mess away. Having spent a good deal of my life studying the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures I certainly don't come to that conclusion. Instead I see story after story about losers (not winners), the least (not the greatest), the littlest (not the biggest), the dim-est (not the brightest), the foulest (not the most righteous), the f__k-ups (not the ones who get it right), being the ones who are deeply loved and greatly prized. It is not a collection of winner's stories. It is an anthology of humanity with all of its beauty and ugliness, and a God who seems to be remarkably like his/her creation. It is an image (sacrament) about how God has always been in and loving his creation - and that his creation has always been "in" its God. So the redemption stories in those Holy books are not about god leaving anyone out (including herself), but about how everyone was always in (all along).  Contrary to what the moralists and hell-lovers proclaim, God has not changed his mind since saying in Genesis 1:31 about her creation: "it is so good, so very good!"
1110036
It is a good book, perhaps co-authored with Henry Morris, Mr. Creation. I think it is worth of your time.\n\nIn the Beginning God created heavens and earth.\nGod gives you air to breathe and sunshine to enjoy.\nGod gives you water to drink and food to eat.\nGod gives you a wonderful body and sound mind, to live.\nGod loves you, and you are precious to Him.\nSon of God died on the Cross to save us from condemnation.\nJesus’ love is boundless and everlasting.\nWe have the hope of Heaven through Jesus.\nLife therefore has fantastic and glorious future!
624296
YES!!! "Biblical Mathematics"!!! \nAWESOME AND STAYS AWAY FROM NUMEROLOGY!!\n\nI had it but gave it to a minister who teaches College Physics. He was ecstatic! \n\nMine also came with a cassette so you could listen to it as well! \n\nHow awesome! God just brought that book to my mind today, making me feel as though I should get another one and read it again...and now you ask this? Hmmmmm
390424
I don't know yet. I have read it over, but not really studied it, and I am going to be watching a special about it tonight at 8pm EST on the National Geographic Channel. I do not make decisions about my faith until I know all the facts and have had ample time to think, pray, and do some soul searching. I suggest that any who are interested in gathering all the info necessary to make an informed decision watch the show and read the text.\n\n To the person above me still waiting for it's publication - you can read the text at the link below. Just click on the link, and to the right where it has the two download buttons, click the "download the entire English text as PDF."
133412
No. I think it's an interesting book, like the Qur'an or the Vedic texts, but to me it's just ancient literature with some limited ethical application today.\n\nI consider Emmanuel Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason" a much more relevant book nowadays in answering the question "how can I be a good person?"
661696
I've got the book, and haven't got round to reading it yet. I know what its about roughly though, didn't know pedophilia was a large plot point, but i knew sex was there a lot.\n\nSame can be said for the Anne Rice (Anne Roquelare) books, some call them smut, some call them art.\n\nGonna go read it now :)