FRANNY AND ZOOEY (J.D. Salinger) - November 30/14

Ummm WTF? I really, really hated this. I didn't mind the first part, Franny, but the Zooey portion is nothing short of interminable. So much descriptive nonsense about religion and other irrelevant topics drowns out the interesting stuff (ie Salinger's expected dislike of phonies and artificiality. But geez, what a slog! * out of ****

THE CHILDREN ACT (Ian McEwan) - November 26/14

This extremely slight yet quite readable novel from McEwan basically held my interest throughout, although the author does devote some time to side stories that did nothing for me (eg a fellow judge relates a long story about one of his cases). But I found Fiona's story quite interesting and her relationships with both her husband and the young man she saves are interesting. *** out of ****

LIFE OF PI (Yann Martel) - November 22/14

Another super overlong read. The first hundred pages, I thought, were kind of interminable, as Pi explores the different religions. (Very much a who-cares sort of vibe.) The character's initial exploits on the raft with the tiger are interesting, but the book just goes on and on and on. By the time Pi and Richard Parker arrived on that weird island, I had stopped caring. The last little bit, in which we learn the entire tale was a lie to cover up the horrific things that actually occurred, was pretty decent, admittedly. ** out of ****

DELIVERANCE (James Dickey) - November 7/14

I enjoyed the beginning and ending sections of this book, but the middle...man oh man. It's just so descriptive and uninvolving that I was glazing wholesale over most of it. It certainly didn't surprise me to learn that Dickey is a poet, as the author goes out of his way to infuse sentences with a flowery feel. It's just dull and exhausting (and rarely tense or suspenseful). ** out of ****