CELL (Stephen King) - April 30/11

This readable but disappointing book from King almost comes off as a parody of his past work, as what starts out as a routine zombie story morphs into something involving mind-reading, levitation, and other mind tricks that have formed the backbone of so many King books. There are some very exciting stretches here - the explosion at the fair, for example - but King bogs the book down with elements that just aren't terribly interesting. (Did the zombies really need a malevolent leader?) The ambiguous ending is a little frustrating, and in the end, Cell does feel like it's at least 100 pages too long. **1/2 out of ****

SOMETHING BORROWED (Emily Giffin) - April 23/11

Ah, that's just what I needed after the miserable Tiger's Wife. This breezy, mindless, and thoroughly readable romantic comedy doesn't offer up any great shakes in terms of originality, but it's well written and the characters are certainly quite likable. Giffin sometimes goes a little overboard in terms of backstory and flashbacks, but otherwise, I was happy to just sit and read about the love triangle between Darcy, Dex, and Rachel. *** out of ****

THE TIGER'S WIFE (Tea Obreht) - April 21/11

Jesus Christ, what an ordeal. Though technically well written - who cares, though? - The Tiger's Wife is an absolutely interminable novel that just limps along from chapter to chapter without even a hint of momentum. The wafer-thin protagonist remains hopelessly underdeveloped from start to finish, as Obreht instead emphasizes a series of dull, incredibly stupid short stories that aren't interesting in the least. Every single paragraph in this infuriating book is overwritten to an almost absurd degree; Obreht needs to learn about flow and readability. What an ordeal. 1/2* out of ****

SON OF INTERFLUX (Gordon Korman) - April 11/11

Gordon Korman's success continues to baffle me. He's improved as a writer here, but man oh man, the book is just deathly dull. I can't believe how long it took me to read it. There's no momentum, no interesting characters, and it just goes on and on. And it's not even remotely funny, either. Sheesh. Two more of these suckers to get through... * out of ****

SON OF ROSEMARY (Ira Levin) - April 3/11

Wow. What a disappointment. It's hard to believe this was even written by the same man, as the book primarily comes off as a tedious slog that's been suffused with barely-developed and wholly uninteresting characters. Levin spends far too much time describing Andy and his opulent environment, and Rosemary hardly seems like the same character. (After spending more than two decades in a coma, it seems a little odd that she'd immediately bounce back into her life without a word of complaint.) I kind of liked the ending, in which Rosemary either dreamed the entire thing or Andy reversed time to give her another chance, but it's too little too late. ** out of ****

WATER FOR ELEPHANTS (Sara Gruen) - April 1/11

This slightly overlong yet thoroughly entertaining book certainly held my attention from start to finish, although some of the descriptions of the mistreatment of animals were hard to take. Likewise, Gruen occasionally goes a little overboard in describing the ins and outs of the circus life. But I enjoyed the love triangle and I was relieved that Jacob and Marlena got together in the end. (I feared that Marlena would get killed or something.) The climactic stampede is extremely well done and very exciting, and I liked that last little twist (Jacob joins the circus once more). ***1/2 out of ****