ROSEMARY'S BABY (Ira Levin) - March 29/11

Wow! What a captivating, thoroughly readable, and surprisingly suspenseful book. Ira Levin does a superb job of establishing the various characters and the situation, and even though I basically knew where everything was going, Levin still managed to have me on the edge of my seat at a few pivotal points. The book almost feels like the template for stories of this ilk, as it contains all of the elements that one might've predicted - including the friend who tries to warn her and the friendly doctor who turns out not to be so friendly. And although I had a little difficulty swallowing the fact that Rosemary's husband would've put her wife through all that just for some fame, Rosemary's Baby is as entertaining a book as I can easily recall. (The ending seems a little ludicrous, though, as Rosemary goes from shock to acceptance in just a few pages.) **** out of ****

SWAMPLANDIA! (Karen Russell) - March 27/11

This horrible, utterly boring book started out well enough, but eventually becomes as interminable a read as I can easily imagine. The latter half, which is devoted primarily to Ava's astoundingly dull trip through the swamps of Florida, seems to have been written in a stream-of-consciousness style by Russell, which ensures that it's chock full of long, absurdly descriptive passages that are sure to frustrate and infuriate most readers. There are a few fairly decent stretches here - ie the flashback into the death of a Depression-era figure who is memorably carried off by buzzards - but really, this is exactly the kind of book I dread encountering. (And it doesn't surprise me that it's been compared to Conrad, as the swamp stuff is just as unreadable and obnoxious as anything in Heart of Darkness.) * out of ****

ZOMBIE SPACESHIP WASTELAND (Patton Oswalt) - March 20/11

This incredibly uneven work from my favorite comedian did come off as a disappointment, as Oswalt has peppered the book with a number of pretentious and all-too-surreal chapters that really just did nothing for me (ie the greeting cards). However, Oswalt has also include several admittedly engrossing stretches - with the highlight his ill-fated stint at a comedy club in Surrey. The autobiographical stuff was as entertaining and funny as I might've hoped; I just wish he had jettisoned some of the more overtly weird stuff. **1/2 out of ****

STARTER FOR TEN (David Nicholls) - March 19/11

Another great book from David Nicholls. Nicholls has this amazing ability to wring authentic laughs out of authentic-sounding dialogue, so much so that I found myself stifling laughter on the subway. The characters are all incredibly vivid, and though it does seem fairly obvious that Brian is going to end up with Rebecca, the manner by which he does so is actually quite well done and not as hackneyed as I might've feared. The climactic trivia battle is incredibly exhilarating, as is the realization that Brian has answered before the question has been asked. A breezy, thoroughly entertaining novel. ***1/2 out of ****

I WANT TO GO HOME! (Gordon Korman) - March 14/11

I'm starting to get the impression that Gordon Korman is somewhat bottom of the barrel as far as young adult writers go. Korman offers up an aggressively repetitive storyline - kid tries to escape camp, fails, tries again, etc - and is utterly unable to transform any of the characters into compelling, authentic figures. Even young kids would find this overlong and pointless. * out of ****

JANE EYRE (Charlotte Bronte) - March 12/11

Well, I tried. Jane Eyre isn't as bad as some other so-called classics I've tried to read, but boy oh boy, it just goes on and on. Bronte offers up some of the most flowery prose I've ever read, and her characters speak in a manner that's nothing short of absurd. I was determined to finish this one, but I eventually just got to the point where my eyes were glazing over whole paragraphs, so I just gave up on page 192. No rating.