AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS (Jules Verne) - March 31/13

I was actually kind of enjoying this one for a while - the narrative initially moves quickly and is full of quirky characters and occurrences - but as it progresses Verne bogs the story down with dull descriptions of the various places Fogg visits. Stripped of these utterly dull passages, the book probably would've fared a whole lot better. And although the story did improve in its final stretch - with the reveal that Fogg actually won the contest and his marriage to Aouda - I still can't quite recommend this bloated piece of work. ** out of ****

BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP (S.J. Watson) - March 17/13

This frustratingly overlong book certainly has a good premise - "Memento on crystal meth" - but Watson pads the narrative out to a degree that's nothing short of oppressive. The entire middle, maybe 200 pages or so, is so repetitive it's ridiculous, as Watson offers up the same stuff over and over and over again (ie she wakes up, reads her journal, realizes something, etc, etc). It basically feels like the entire book is one long, long setup for an admittedly decent twist (ie her husband is actually the man she was having an affair with and who attacked her), which is then followed by a laughable, Psycho-like stretch in which everything is clinically explained. I would've enjoyed this book had it been maybe 150 pages, tops. ** out of ****

SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE (Kurt Vonnegut) - March 9/13

It took me about 50 pages to get into this one, but after a certain point I really enjoyed it and got into the story. Billy Pilgrim isn't much of a character - maybe that's the point? - but it's difficult not to get drawn into his time-traveling exploits. It's all very cinematic, and Vonnegut does a nice job of jumping from the harsh realities of the war to the alien landscape in which Billy is being held captive. I didn't quite get the ending, but I'm curious now to check out more of Vonnegut's stuff. *** out of ****

TEN THOUSAND LOVERS (Edeet Ravel) - March 5/13

I basically enjoyed this one, although it feels as though it's been expanded from a novella or a long short story. Ravel does this weird (and fairly useless) thing where she breaks up the story with definitions of Hebrew words and expressions, which I kind of got annoyed with after a while, as it ruined the flow and momentum of the otherwise interesting story. And though I enjoyed the romance between Lily and Ami, the narrative is occasionally a little too heavy handed (ie there's some serious speechifying going on here). The final stretch is subsequently not as strong as everything leading up to it, and Ami's death, though tragic, didn't really affect me like I thought it would. (It was telegraphed awfully early, which doesn't help.) A decent yet uneven debut from Ravel. **1/2 out of ****

PERCHANCE TO DREAM (Howard Weinstein) - March 1/13

This middle-of-the-road TNG adventure is basically readable but overlong and kinda underwhelming. There's not much of a plot thrust here and there's virtually nothing at stake for the characters, but once again I enjoyed spending time with the Next Generation crew. **1/2 out of ****