156/200

Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars Seeing as I hated Alice in Wonderland, I wasn't really feeling confident about this book. Yet for what it was, I thought it was pretty good. I didn't like Mr. Dobson, even though I get the impression you are supposed to like, or at least feel sorry, for him. I thought the whole relationship between him and Alice was creepy and I thought the book was far more interesting when it follows Alice as an adult. View all my reviews >>

155/200

Alice in Wonderland by Walt Disney Company

My rating: 1 of 5 stars I feel bad for even saying this, but I hated this story. Really hated it. And after reading the story about Lewis Carroll, it makes me hate it even more. View all my reviews >>

154/200

Fortunate Son: A Novel by Walter Mosley

My rating: 2 of 5 stars I basically finished this book thinking, what was the point? Was there even a point to this book? I didn't feel all that connected to the characters and I didn't really know why I was supposed to care about them. It was a relatively short book, and it seemed weird that so many huge chunks were just skipped over. For example, Lucky goes to prison, gets raped many times, and then gets out. Really?? Thomas almost seemed annoying because he was so positive despite all of the terrible things happening to him. I wouldn't recommend this book unless you are looking for an excuse to see all the wrong in the world. View all my reviews >>

153/200

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

My rating: 4 of 5 stars What a wonderful, heartbreaking book. The story of Sarah and her family is impossible. Truly impossible. It's horrible to believe that events similar to this really did happen. The companion present-day story is also compelling and really makes you want to find out what happens. I didn't feel much sympathy for the main character's husband, and considering the tone of the overall message, I was hoping for a bit of a happier ending. But maybe because of the tone of the message, a happy ending really can't be expected if such horrible things are capable of happening. View all my reviews >>

152/200

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

My rating: 4 of 5 stars I kept hearing great things about this book, but then I saw the movie previews and thought, "Yuck. I have no desire to read that." Long story short, I got off to a slow start but wound up loving the book. Without giving anything away, I always wanted to keep reading in order to see what was really happening. I was a little disappointed with the ending because I still wasn't 100% sure what really happened and I hate books that I actually have to interpret. But if you're willing to draw your own conclusions, I recommend giving it a go. *The book was FAR superior to the movie, but the movie did help clear a couple of things up for me. View all my reviews >>

151/200

The Condition by Jennifer Haigh

My rating: 2 of 5 stars This book claims to be the disintegrating of a family when the father realizes his daughter has a "condition" that causes her to remain small and physically immature. But what it really turns out to be is an excuse for the various family members to complain non-stop. I really didn't particularly like any of them. Instead of trying to improve on what they were complaining about, they just complained more. And the so-called condition really didn't seem integral to the book at all. View all my reviews >>

150/200

The Art of Racing in the Rain - x2

149/200

The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Useable Trim, Scraps, and Bones by Anthony Bourdain

My rating: 2 of 5 stars Anthony Bourdain is a lot of things for me. On one hand, he seems like a cool guy to hang out with...one that will cook you something fun while cursing good naturedly. On the other hand, "Tony" seems like an intimidating guy to hang out with...one that will drink you under the table, take you to a back alley somewhere, and drop the c-bomb casually in conversation. While I like his honesty, I felt like the book was a little ADD. I didn't really understand the point of each story or if they related to each other in any way. And a lot of the time he was talking about a food or chef that I had never heard of, so it really wasn't relevant to me. I think he's a fun guy though, if not ambitious for eating any part of any animal. My favorite part about him is that he realizes how lucky he is and isn't afraid to admit it. View all my reviews >>

148/200

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann

My rating: 3 of 5 stars I think I wanted to like this book more than I did. I love the way all of the stories intertwined. For some reason I just didn't feel all that connected with the characters. I thought their reactions to things were kind of unrealistic and I just didn't have as much of a vested interest in their lives as I would've liked. And whether it's the movie or this book, I just don't care that much about the tight rope walker, even though apparently most people do! View all my reviews >>

147/200

The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I gave this book 3 stars for what it is. I know a lot of people didn't like it and thought it was cheesy. I didn't love it, but I enjoyed reading it. I like the concept of living each day to the fullest and how your life can change that of others. If it makes you think a little more, than why not?

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146/200

Unaccustomed Earth: Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I hate short stories. I loved The Namesake. So what do I do? I really love Lahiri's writing. She made me enjoy the short story in this work, although I would have loved a novel. I liked how the second half was interrelated. As I was reading the last story, Hawaii was under a tsunami warning and all of a sudden I realized what was going to happen and I felt remarkably sad. I think that says a lot for a short story. But I am hoping (fingers crossed!) for another novel!

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145/200

Plum Island by Nelson DeMille


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Although a lot of people complained about the main character, I thought he was really the only thing that made the story interesting. I love the concept of a mystery on Plum Island, a biohazard zone that works with deadly viruses. However, it makes absolutely no sense that people would be able to take their own boats there and do random archaeological digs. I also didn't really understand why they made such a huge deal out of certain characters at the beginning of the book when they really didn't have anything to do with the rest of the story.Anyway, I was waiting for some great big twist, but it never really came. Instead it just dragged on and on to the point that I didn't even really care anymore. I won't be trying any more DeMille.

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144/200

1st to Die by James Patterson


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I really thought I would like this book. But I didn't. The book starts off with the lead character talking about suicide. As I was reading the book I was wondering how this made sense. Any way, while investigating a murder, detective Lindsey decides to turn to her friends, rather than her partner, for help. Yet she is madly in love with her partner, so that makes even less sense. I saw the "who-done-it" coming a mile away, but the other two large components at the end were so far fetched, unnecessary, and ridiculous, that it left me wondering how Patterson has been so successful.

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143/200

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I was intrigued when I started this book. It is the year 2060 and Emilio Sanchez just returned from a mission to another planet. Something terrible has happened and he is being investigated. Sounds good. But it takes a realllllllyyy long time to get there. On top of that, the ending is just plain ridiculous. I found many of the deaths to be very anticlimactic after how long it took to get there, and the whole reason for going to the other planet (music? seriously?) seemed so stupid to me. I thought it could've been something great for me, but it wasn't.

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142/200

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach


My rating: 1 of 5 stars
So you take an interesting topic (the human body) and combine it with a humorous author (or so I've heard) and what do you get? I dreadfully boring book that was a complete struggle to get through. The subject matter didn't bother me, I just found the whole thing sooo boring. Quite a disappointment.

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141/200

This Charming Man: A Novel by Marian Keyes


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
To be honest, I didn't really understand this book at first. I was reading this incredibly annoying story that sounded like, "Bought soup. Was lumpy. Ate cracker." I really still don't understand why Lola's part read that way. But anyway, after reading for quite a while, it was then that I realized the story was told from several different points of view. Once I realized what was going on (and once there was less narration by Lola) I really began to like it. Some of the material was really disturbing, but I liked it just like I like all Keyes.

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