SPARTACUS (T.L. Mancour) - August 31/13

I liked the premise of this one - a race of androids attempts to join the federation to escape from their human creators - but as usual, the story has been overwritten and padded-out to a progressively uncomfortable degree. This one is rife with debate scenes, for example. There's some exciting stuff here - one of the androids plots to blow up the Enterprise - but on the whole it's just double the length it should be. ** out of ****

THE GRIEF OF OTHERS (Leah Hager Cohen) - August 26/13

While I can definitely see why Tom Perrotta wrote a blurb for this - the book's portrait of a crumbling family feels very Perrottaesque - The Grief of Others can't quite live up to its potential. There are plenty of captivating stretches here and the characters are very richly drawn, but Cohen overwrites the proceedings to an almost mind-numbing degree. So much of the book is devoted to backstory-building, overly descriptive passages that I eventually began to lose interest. The characters drown beneath the prose, if that makes sense. The book could (and should) have been edited down considerably. I liked it, but I wanted to love it. **1/2 out of ****

FIVE GO ADVENTURING AGAIN (Enid Blyton) - August 22/13

More of the same, really. It's basically readable, although it's often a little too obvious that this has been geared toward small children. The identity of the villain is laughably obvious, yet the final stretch is admittedly quite suspenseful. A passable read. **1/2 out of ****

A STUDIED DEATH (Betsy Struthers) - August 19/13

I've obviously had this for a long time, and although it's basically readable, this book isn't really worth reading. Struthers allows most of the novel to feel like a second-rate Law and Order riff, while the portrayal of the killer is almost comically bad. It's not the worst thing ever, I guess. ** out of ****

THE SPECTACULAR NOW (Tim Tharp) - August 17/13

This extremely readable novel isn't exactly what I expected; I thought I'd be getting a typical story about an unlikely friendship/romance between teens, which I did get, but it's mostly about the alcoholism of the main character. I sort of saw the story ending one of two ways: either he cleans up his act and lives happily ever after, or he breaks up with her for her own good. I got the latter, but I just didn't find it satisfying. It doesn't help that Tharp ends the book on an ambiguous note; he breaks up with Aimee and gets spectacularly drunk and the book ends. I wanted to find out what happened to both characters and I found it a little frustrating that it was so open. I enjoyed the book otherwise, though, so at least there's that. *** out of ****

JOYLAND (Stephen King) - August 14/13

This weird little book basically tells the coming of age story of a 21-year-old who encounters a killer and falls in love one summer while working at an amusement park. It's basically readable although it really felt much longer than its 283 pages, as the majority of the book is devoted to the freewheeling exploits of the main character. Things heat up towards the end with an exciting confrontation with the killer, but still, I wouldn't say I was remotely engrossed at any point. **1/2 out of ****

THE BFG (Roald Dahl) - August 10/13

This cute yet kinda interminable book captured my attention in spurts but the whole thing felt overlong and too geared towards children. The final stretch was quite entertaining, as the BFG helps British soldiers capture nine human-eating giants, but yeah, overall I wouldn't say I really enjoyed this all that much. ** out of ****

LOVE THE ONE YOU'RE WITH (Emily Giffin) - August 2/13

This is pretty much exactly the sort of book one dreads encountering when the label "chick lit" is thrown around. There's really no story here; the narrative follows the protagonist as she's forced to reevaluate her marriage after a chance encounter with an ex. But Giffin's less-than-subtle sensibilities make it awfully difficult to care about her choice, and the book often feels much, much longer than necessary (ie there are so many descriptive flashbacks here!) ** out of ****