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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