SING YOU HOME (Jodi Picoult) - June 30/11

Sing You Home follows Picoult's formula to an almost laughable extent, and yet I found that I quite enjoyed this book. It's actually quite unpredictable in its early stages - I never would have guessed that Zoe would turn gay, for example - and the characters are all extremely vivid and three dimensional. The shifting perspectives does tend to wreak havoc on the momentum, however, with the stuff from Max's point of view not faring nearly as well as Zoe and Vanessa's chapters. And the expected court case isn't nearly as interesting as the human stuff, with Picoult's decision to offer up several pages to the scientific background of homosexual tendencies proving rather disastrous. But I nevertheless found myself getting choked up at the ideal ending, which might be a little predictable but refreshingly allows every character to get what they wanted. *** out of ****

DELIRIUM (Lauren Oliver) - June 25/11

I'm pretty conflicted about this one. I think that for the most part, Delirium is a very entertaining novel that tells an inherently interesting story - although it's hard to swallow that any society would accept this "cure," but okay, whatever. The book is almost ridiculously overlong, though, as Oliver is simply too descriptive and flowery for her own good. The final 50 pages just fly by, though, as Lena and Alex attempt to make their escape. (This section was just gripping.) But I'm not sure how I feel about the ending, which features Alex seemingly sacrificing himself so that Lena can escape. What exactly is there in the Wilds for Lena without Alex? I'm hoping the next book will take care of this problem... (Alex isn't really dead?) *** out of ****

THE FIRST HUSBAND (Laura Dave) - June 19/11

This short and sweet book is incredibly entertaining and certainly feels like a step above most "chick lit" type novels. Dave does a superb job of establishing the central character and her admittedly idealized existence, with the unpredictable storyline heightening the entertainment value. (I honestly wasn't sure who Annie would end up with.) Dave is occasionally a little more descriptive and verbose than necessary, but that's a small complaint for an otherwise brisk read. *** out of ****

ROBOPOCALYPSE (Daniel H. Wilson) - June 16/11

Though I'm not a fan of the oral history style, I really enjoyed this book in parts - as Wilson has packed the novel with exciting, cinematic action sequences that are unbelievably gripping (the robots attack the convenience store, the robots that crawl into a human's bloodstream, etc). There are a few lulls - the stuff with the old Japanese guy, mostly - but otherwise this is a strong book that'll make one hell of a movie. *** out of ****

SIMULACRON-3 (Daniel F. Galouye) - June 11/11

I can see why this book is considered a landmark in the world of science fiction, as it certainly seems to have inspired everything from The Matrix to Avatar. But I just found it impossible to wholeheartedly get into the consistently confusing storyline, as Galouye immediately plunges the viewer into this off-kilter world without offering up much by way of explanation. The author also offers up page after page of relentless descriptions of scientific stuff that seemed utterly meaningless to me, and although the book did improve in its final stretch, I did find myself glazing over whole paragraphs and just racing to get through this thing. *1/2 out of ****

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN (Lionel Shriver) - June 8/11

This is one of the most frustratingly uneven books I've read in a long time. Shriver takes a relatively simple story and places it within the context of an absolutely epic framework, exploring the title character's life from birth right through to that fatal Thursday. As such, the book is filled with long, pointless stretches in which Shriver overdescribes and overexplains everything. It certainly doesn't help that Eva's decision to stay with Kevin the whole time doesn't make a lick of sense. By that same token, however, the characters all become incredibly vivid and developed, and the book's final stretch, detailing the shooting and its aftermath, is nothing short of riveting. I was especially shocked to discover that Kevin had killed the father and the poor, poor sister. It just seems weird that such a trashy premise has been given such a highfalutin treatment. *** out of ****