THE STRUGGLE (L.J. Smith) - December 12/09

Well, this series is no Twilight, that's for sure. It's basically entertaining and all, but I think the main problem here is that the connection between Elena and Stefan is simply not as compelling and palpable as the connection between Bella and Edward. Smith, a far weaker writer than Stephenie Meyer, is simply unable to really get inside any of the characters' heads, with the lack of real momentum exacerbating the book's problems. I'll keep reading in the hopes it gets better, though. **1/2 out of ****

THE BOOK THIEF (Markus Zusak) - December 9/09

This incredibly long-winded book admittedly paints an extremely vivid picture of a small German town during WWII, and certainly features a number of compelling characters (especially Leisel and her adoptive father). But Zusak's decision to tell the story from Death's point of view proves distracting and gimmicky, and, in the final analysis, doesn't really add anything positive to the narrative. Likewise, Zusak tends to get bogged down in tangents that test the reader's patience (ie that story that Max wrote for Leisel), which ultimately ensures that the book feels about twice as long as necessary and effectively dulls the impact of the surprisingly downbeat finale. **1/2 out of ****

ACE OF CAKES (Duff and Willie Goldman) - December 1/09

Well, this took a lot longer to read than I thought it would (I thought I'd just breeze through it in an hour or so). This is an almost ridiculously exhaustive (yet oddly superficial) look behind the scenes of Ace of Cakes, and as such, it's basically pretty interesting and undoubtedly quite informative. But Duff's super-positive approach ensures that the book often feels like an advertisement for the series - ie there's nothing negative here. And it would've been nice to get some real nitty-gritty info on the show (ie how much are the cakes?) For fans only. **1/2 out of ****