ATONEMENT (Ian McEwan) - August 22/07

I had to breeze through this incredibly dense book in four days in preparation for a film festival screening, and although it was awfully long-winded at times, Atonement is clearly the work of an exceptional writer. Ian McEwan proves to have an undeniable gift for painting an incredibly vivid picture of a given time and place, even if he does occasionally go a little too far in describing things. Still, this is a sporadically riveting book that will probably make a great movie (I'll find out tomorrow morning). *** out of ****

LULLABIES FOR LITTLE CHILDREN (Heather O'Neill) - August 12/07

Though I found myself really hating this book for the first couple hundred of pages - it's just all so unpleasant - the introduction of a really sweet subplot involving Baby's relationship with a boy her own age (Xavier) certainly held my interest. But it's impossible to overlook the nastiness within the story - Baby has to deal with her junkie father, abusive pimp, and life as a prostitute - and O'Neill's writing is often far more flowery and descriptive than it needs to be. But the fact that I wound up liking it at all after the disastrous first few chapters is pretty remarkable. **1/2 out of ****

THE WOODS (Harlan Coben) - August 3/07

Another riveting page-turner from Coben. He spends much of the book with a lot of balls in the air, but manages to satisfactorily wrap everything up by the time the novel ends. And though I was occasionally a little confused about some of the details, that in no way hindered my enjoyment of what is otherwise a tight, fast-paced little book. *** out of ****