STATE OF FEAR (Michael Crichton) - November 28/12

Michael Crichton is no stranger to throwing in a message into his stories, but I feel like he's gone too far this time. The book, which is at least 300 pages too long, contains a number of completely engrossing action sequences, including a fantastic moment in which two characters get stuck in a lightning simulator and another in which characters get trapped in a crevice in the ice. (And let's not forget about Bradley's fate at the hands of crazy cannibals.) But Crichton all too often bogs the book down with explanations and speeches about the environment, going so far as to include charts and footnotes! It's tolerable for a while, but there's a stretch of about 100 pages towards the end that's just so preachy that it becomes impossible not to glaze over most of this stuff. (And the climactic action, involving a possibly deadly tidal wave and men with guns, is consequently unable to pack the punch that Crichton has intended.) It's readable, basically, but awfully disappointing. Where's the abridged version? **1/2 out of ****

THE JAWS LOG (Carl Gottlieb) - November 16/12

This interesting but overlong book details the entire process of making Jaws, from preproduction to release. The problem is, the story behind Jaws is fairly well known at this point - ie Bruce simply didn't work properly - so there's not much here that's surprising or fresh. And Gottlieb's colloquial style is a little off-putting, admittedly, and he tends to dwell on less-than-compelling elements (eg the dinners during filming). I enjoyed reading about the post-production phase, including test screenings, but that aspect of the book was rushed and brief. **1/2 out of ****

MYRA BRECKINRIDGE (Gore Vidal) - November 13/12

I'm still not sure if there was something wrong with the Kindle edition I downloaded or if the book was supposed to consist solely of huge, unbroken paragraphs. Vidal's style is actually pretty obnoxious and always distracting, and the author bogs the book down with almost endless instances of speechifying, for lack of a better word. More than half the book is devoted to Myra's perspective on a wide variety of topics, most relating to feminism and the like. There are some pretty astonishingly vivid sequences - eg the rape of Rusty! - but generally speaking this isn't exactly what I'd classify as a brisk read (even though it's quite short). ** out of ****

THE LONGEST WAY HOME (Andrew McCarthy) - November 11/12

This entertaining but overlong travel book fares best when McCarthy focuses on his relationship with and impeding nuptials to "D" - who is, inexplicably, referred to as Dolores in the acknowledgements (ie why not call her Dolores all along?) McCarthy is a very good writer, certainly, and the book makes me want to never go mountain climbing, but I just couldn't work up much interest in his solo trips into remote yet similar locales. **1/2 out of ****

REUNION (Michael Jan Friedman) - November 7, 2012

This ST: TNG novel is actually one of the better ones I've read, even if it does take a while to get going. Friedman generally does a nice job of establishing all the new characters, and even though the story was yet another let's-figure-out-who-the-murder-is thing, it's done quite well and it's often pretty exciting (eg the exciting turbolift knife attack). I also enjoyed learning the true details of Jack Crusher's death, which was, I think, never explored on the show or in the movies. *** out of ****

DRACULA (Bram Stoker) - November 4/12

Oh, man. This is the opposite of that last book. It's just so boring and so pointless that I wound up skimming the last 50 pages or so. I'm not sure why Stoker felt that this seriously simple story needed such an epic length, but the book features so much padding that it quickly becomes an oppressive read. Page after page is devoted to the characters' planning and scheming, and there just reaches a point at which the reader wishes Stoker would just get on with it already. This is probably the most interminable novel I've read in ages, which is a shame, since there are a handful of good scenes here (including a compelling moment wherein Van Helsing and his fellow vampire hunters corner Dracula, who absconds by jumping out of a window). no stars out of ****