JULIE & JULIA (Julie Powell) - July 27/09

Though it did improve towards the end, Julie & Julia is mostly a surprisingly tedious story about one woman's efforts at cooking her way through a Julia Child cookbook. Maybe it's because I'm not a "foodie," but there was exceedingly little within the book that I found compelling. As a result, my eyes glazed over long passages in which she described the process of cooking an elaborate meal. But even the stuff in which Powell talks about her various friends falls flat. There's just a pervading atmosphere of "who cares?" in the book. To be fair, there are a few highlights - her fixation on David Strathairn and the CBS news encounter - but really, this is the book equivalent of one of those documentaries that only the author's immediate family could admire. ** out of ****

THE COMFORT OF STRANGERS (Ian McEwan) - July 20/09

It's becoming increasingly apparent that Ian McEwan is as hit and miss an author as one could envision. The Comfort of Strangers falls under the "miss" category, as McEwan bogs the narrative down with egregiously descriptive passages that cause the reader to glaze over certain passages. This is hardly as problematic as the increasingly ludicrous twists within the storyline; after Colin is punched in the gut by Robert, why would the couple stay there? And why the heck would they return days later?? The violent conclusion doesn't make a lick of sense, and it's ultimately impossible not to wonder just what McEwan was smoking when he wrote this. *1/2 out of ****

PYGMY (Chuck Palahniuk) - July 12/09

Oh, Chuck. Your continued need to experiment and shock the reader has gone too far this time. Pygmy is flat-out unreadable. I made it up to page 21 before I realized that I was literally getting nothing out of the experience. I figured I'd finish it just for completists sake, but my eyes were glazing over whole paragraphs - as the narrative is virtually impossible to follow thanks to Chuck's use of broken English. I mean, it makes sense if you really concentrate and think about each sentence much longer than you ordinarily would, but why would I do this? I read books for the same reason I watch movies and television shows: for entertainment. Grow up, Chuck. No rating.

YOUNG HEARTS CRYING (Richard Yates) - July 11/09

This is a rewarding yet awfully trying book that essentially tracks the adulthood of two characters: semi-insane poet Michael and wealthy yet unfulfilled Lucy. Yates does a superb job of taking both characters and developing them into fully-formed figures. But it's hard to deny that the novel's inherently uneventful sensibilities ensures that long stretches of it can't help but come off as less than enthralling. Still, it's very well written and I'm certainly curious to check out more of Yates' work. **1/2 out of ****