STILL ME (Jojo Moyes) - June 28/19

Of course this book is way longer than it needed to be but I nevertheless enjoyed it quite a bit. I really found myself getting invested in Louisa's NYC based exploits, and her relationships with the various people around her (including Agnes and Josh, and of course Sam). *** out of ****

WHO IS MICHAEL OVITZ? (Michael Ovitz) - June 21/19

I certainly enjoyed this book in the first half, as Ovitz includes pretty interesting stories about the formation of CAA and the making of movies like Jurassic Park and Rain Man. But I completely lost interest in the self-aggrandizing second half in which Ovitz details his work with various corporations and conglomerates and spends so, so much time talking about his beefs with people I couldn't care less about. The guy is just so darn full of himself. *1/2 out of ****

LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE (Celeste Ng) - June 10/19

The middle of this really long book was pretty much amazing. I was completely enthralled and the characters all became incredibly vivid. This definitely reminded me a lot of Tom Perrotta's work. I think maybe the whole thing ran out of steam in its last 100 pages or so, but still, just for the midsection, I'd say this is one of the better books I've read as of late. **** out of ****

MAGIC (William Goldman) - June 3/19

This got off to a pretty disastrous start, as Goldman delivers a kaleidoscopic/impressionistic opening stretch that makes exceedingly little sense (ie there's nothing to connect to). But once he settles down and delivers a straightforward narrative, Magic becomes surprisingly compelling. Corky and Fats are certainly quite intriguing, and I definitely enjoyed the last-minute revelation that Fats was the one in control (and not vice versa). Good stuff. *** out of ****