MICRO (Michael Crichton and Richard Preston) - December 16/11

This occasionally clunky yet entertaining book certainly contains all the touchstones of classic Crichton, as the storyline deftly blends science with hair-raising action. In that regard, Micro certainly succeeds - as the book contains several engrossing action sequences, including an encounter with an angry wasp and a number of genuinely surprising character deaths (including one person I assumed was the central protagonist!) It's not the best thing Crichton's ever done, but given the circumstances, Micro is probably better than one could've reasonably expected. *** out of ****

DAMNED (Chuck Palahniuk) - December 5/11

Okay, that's it. I think I'm finally done with Chuck Palahniuk. This boring, utterly unreadable novel is packed with descriptive passages that are almost uniformly meaningless, and I found myself quickly scanning paragraphs just because they were so torturous. There is absolutely no narrative momentum in this thunderously dull book, as Chuck spends far too much time dwelling on things of a gross and "shocking" nature. What the hell is the point of all this? What a colossal waste of time. * out of ****