I LOVE YOU, BETH COOPER (Larry Doyle) - May 29/09

This exceedingly brisk little book improves substantially as it progresses, once Doyle drops his overly detail-oriented sensibilities in favor of an irresistibly captivating look at one geek's long (and incredibly eventful) graduation night. Doyle eventually peppers the book with plenty of relatable truths, and transforms it into an unexpectedly authentic look at teenagers. The characters are just so vivid, it becomes increasingly impossible not to embrace their admittedly over-the-top escapades. My only real gripe with the book is that we never really find out what happens with Denis and Beth, as Doyle offers up an awfully vague post-script ("Denis didn't see Beth Cooper again until late August, a week before he had intended to leave for school...") Meaning... What, exactly? Denis decided not to go to Northwestern? He stayed in his small town and abandoned his dream of becoming a doctor to be with Beth? Frustratingly open-ended. But yeah, the book is otherwise right up there with Perrotta's work. ***1/2 out of ****

CRITICAL MASS (Whitley Strieber) - May 26/09

Ah, if only someone else had written this book. Critical Mass features a premise that should've added up to an enthralling reading experience - Las Vegas is blown up by a crazy Muslim who threatens to blow up more cities unless the President performs a sacred Islamic ritual in front of the whole world - but Strieber bogs the narrative down with a number of almost unreasonably pointless digressions. His lackluster writing style ensures that the book possesses a start-and-stop feel that grows increasingly annoying, and although the climax is admittedly quite well done (the Jack Bauer-esque hero must stop a miniature plane with a nuke strapped to it from taking off), Critical Mass is simply too uneven to consistently hold one's attention (ie reading the book began to feel like a chore). ** out of ****

LAURA RIDER'S MASTERPIECE (Jane Hamilton) - May 19/09

This intriguing yet uneven novel (Laura decides to cut off sex with her husband permanently? Really?) is extremely well written and while it was initially refreshing to read something more literary than my usual fare, I eventually did find that my eyes were starting to glaze over some of the more flowery paragraphs. Still, Hamilton does a superb job of transforming the three central characters into incredibly vivid figures - even if the story they're trapped within isn't always entirely plausible. **1/2 out of ****

WHY WE SUCK (Denis Leary) - May 14/09

Though it has its moments, Why We Suck ultimately comes off as an entirely needless vanity project in which Denis Leary essentially freewheels his way through a variety of topics. There's never a point at which one doesn't get the impression that he's just making this all up as he goes along, as there's a stream-of-consciousness sort of vibe that persists from start to finish and is exacerbated by the crazy long (and punctuation-less) sentences. And it's kind of irritating to note that he's espousing all these opinions of how to behave - ie it's important to spank your children - that you just know he doesn't follow himself. ** out of ****

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE (Anne Rice) - May 11/09

Oh, the humanity. I started this one last fall and I just finished it this afternoon. Quite possibly the worst book I've ever read, Interview with the Vampire is filled with seemingly endless paragraphs that are bogged down with some of the most ridiculously flowery descriptions I've ever read. There's no plot here! It's just an endless series of descriptions. It got to the point where I was only vaguely aware of what I was reading, as my eyes would glaze over entire pages. And although there were admittedly a couple of fairly decent segments - Louis is buried alive, Louis avenges the death of two friends by burning an entire building full of vampires, etc - the book is predominantly a pretentious, unreadable piece of work that's almost entirely devoid of positive attributes. Seriously, how did Anne Rice think any of this was entertaining? And where does she get off wasting my time like this? Good lord. no stars out of ****

ANGELS & DEMONS (Dan Brown) - May 7/09

Much like The Da Vinci Code, I read the bulk of this over the last few days in preparation for the new movie (which I saw this morning). The book is, for the most part, an exciting and fast-paced thriller that's admittedly a little longer than one might've liked. But Robert Langdon is a seriously compelling character; I can't help but wonder why Brown separated him from Vittoria in the sequel, however. ***1/2 out of ****