RED (Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner) - July 25/13

It feels weird to even be writing about this because it's so short - Paul Moses embarks on a killing spree after a new CIA director orders his death - but it's certainly quite entertaining and extremely brutal. A quick, brisk read. (One that I wish hadn't ended quite so abruptly, admittedly.) *** out of ****

THE 25TH HOUR (David Benioff) - July 25/13

It's kind of interesting how closely this book resembles the Spike Lee movie. Elements I was sure were invented for the film are here, including that long rant by Monty about the different races in New York City. But the book, though it's short, feels overlong, as Benioff pads out the narrative with needless digressions and overly descriptive passages. Still, I can't deny that I was captivated for much of this and I even got choked up a few times (eg Monty's speech to Jakob about his dog and his imagined life if he were to run away). *** out of ****

MADAME BOVARY (Gustave Flaubert) - July 23/13

Blaaaargh! This is definitely right down there with Anna Karenina and Jane Eyre as far as unreadable old books go. It's really quite astonishing how boring this stupid thing is. If you took all the interesting stuff and updated the flowery language, you might have a decent 20-page short story. But as it is, it's suffused with SO much stuff that nobody cares about, that it becomes impossible not to glaze over entire passages. My god, I was so bored reading this debacle of a book. no stars out of ****

CARRIE (Stephen King) - July 15/13

Though its story is extremely familiar at this point, Carrie is still able to pack a fairly potent punch. But King's weird style - the narrative is continually interrupted with news reports, interviews, court transcripts, etc - kinda wreaks havoc on the book's momentum, yet I have to admit I was pretty much enthralled all the way through. *** out of ****

THE SISTERS BROTHERS (Patrick deWitt) - July 13/13

This enjoyable yet slightly overlong book certainly had me in rapt attention for much of its first half, with the quirky nature of the characters and the episodic structure suiting each other quite well. (I especially enjoyed the bit wherein Eli attempted to order something "light" for dinner, much to the confusion of both a waiter and a cook.) But the book kinda lost me a little with the stretch involving Eli and Charlie's shenanigans with a gold-seeking scheme. I just didn't care that much about this and deWitt spends a lot of time developing these two new characters (there's a whole chapter devoted to the childhood of one of the guys). The book finally picks up as Eli gets revenge by murdering the Commodore, and I liked the ending, so yeah, it's good but uneven. *** out of ****

GROWING PAINS (N.H. Kleinbaum) - July 6/13

Another example of something I read just so I can get rid of it. This is basically five episodes of the TV show transformed into one long story. It kind of works and I did remember bits and pieces of it (Mike's cheating shoe!) but yeah, it's for kids. ** out of ****

EVERYTHING IS PERFECT WHEN YOU'RE A LIAR (Kelly Oxford) - July 6/13

This is very similar to the Jenny Lawson book in that it features many, many stories in which Oxford is impossibly quirky and sitcom-like, to the extent where it's impossible to care about her exploits. But I think this book is slightly better than Lawson's, if only for the surprisingly touching and down-to-earth chapter where Oxford works at an old folks home. And I have to admit I did chuckle a few times. (My favorite: Oxford describing her husband's reaction to a lap dance: "His head reemerges from the top of her breasts, like a horrified baby being born.") **1/2 out of ****

NOS4A2 (Joe Hill) - July 1/13

I'm also a little conflicted about this one. There's a lot of stuff here that I absolutely loved, stuff that ranks right up there with Stephen King's work (Hill invites the comparison by including King references like Shawshank and Pennywise), but the narrative is sloppy and overlong. The book itself is just much, much longer than it should be. Certain stretches seem to go on forever, and the climax is, as a result, not as exciting as it probably should've been. The final stretch, though, did get me a little choked up, which I wasn't expecting (all the kids are alive!) So yeah, it's a good book that could've been great had it been edited a little more judiciously. *** out of ****