Richard Yates: Revolutionary Road (Movie Tie-in Edition)
Well-crafted, smooth to read, though not particularly uplifting. (*****)
Jeffrey Archer: A Prisoner of Birth
Highly enjoyable. Archer's answer to "The Count of Monte Cristo." It stands up to the best of Archer's work, including "Kane and Abel." A must read for anyone who loves capers and great escapes. (*****)
Jerry Lewis: Dean and Me (A Love Story)
A touching, funny, and educational book--if by education you mean 20th century American pop culture history. I gained a great respect for the duo (*****)
Nicholas Sparks: Dear John
The single-greatest Nicholas Sparks book. Congratulations my friend, you've topped "The Notebook." (*****)
Sandburg, Carl Lincoln: Abe Lincoln Grows Up
Very informative... shares details of the time plus the day-to-day life of the young President-to-be. (****)
Bill O'Reilly: A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity
As close to a memoir as O'Reilly's going to give us--it's opinionated, insightful, and entertaining. Some great stuff on courage and finding your purpose. (****)
Harlan Coben: Hold Tight
solid work. thriller weaves together all characters as is the Coben staple. this is one of his top 5 non-Bolitar novels. (****)
Jeffrey Archer: False Impression
A solid book... takes place on 9/11 and the weeks following and involves a crooked bank president and a priceless Van Gogh. Wasn't up to Jeffrey Archer's usual standard. (****)
Tim Kurkjian: Is This a Great Game, or What?
Great story snippets... sloppy spelling... very enjoyable. A perfect primer for baseball season. (****)
Nick Hornby: How to Be Good
A clever and interesting book on the struggle to be good without God. (****)
Joyce Carol Oates: Wild Nights!: Stories About the Last Days of Poe, Dickinson, Twain, James, and Hemingway (P.S.)
The book has many amusing highs, but drags in a couple of areas. Oates impressed me in my first exposure to her work. She effectively captures the voice of each writer in these fictional accounts of their last days. (****)
David Baldacci: The Collectors
A brilliant follow-up to Baldacci's first book in "The Camel Club" series. Involves a casino caper plus mysterious deaths in and around the Library of Congress. A real winner. (****)
Eric Clapton: Clapton: The Autobiography
Rock legend walk ons, rocky times with people & substances, then fidelity & sobriety in mind & body. (***)
John Kennedy Toole: A Confederacy of Dunces
I know it won the Pulitzer and everything, but I was not terribly impressed. (***)
Ian McEwan: Amsterdam: A Novel
A good character study... two friends at the pinnacles of music and media stumble and grow increasingly paranoid. (***)
Maureen McCormick: Here's the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice
I'll never feel the same while watching "The Brady Bunch" again. Yes, there were stories of Brady hook-ups, but more surprising were McCormick's struggles to find wholeness and healing. She's very transparent here. (***)
David Baldacci: The Camel Club
A good start to Baldacci's Camel Club series. It didn't wow me, but I did enjoy it. For my money, Baldacci's "Wish You Well" is still his best. (***)
James Patterson: Double Cross
Patterson's second in the Alex Cross relaunch (now that the nursery rhyme naming is over). Cross teams up with his detective girlfriend and his buddy Sampson to bring down the DC Audience Killer and his old nemesis Kyle Craig. Pales in comparison to the work David Baldacci is doing. Why does every thriller seem to have a warehouse capture scene? (**)
Robert J. Randisi: Hey There (You with the Gun in Your Hand)
From the series "Rat Pack Mysteries" -- I picked it up fresh off the "Dean & Me" bio and my new fascination with Dean Martin. Problem was, the book wasn't very good... though I suppose it was well researched (taking place in 1961 Vegas). (*)
Stieg Larsson: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Really terrific. Corporate intrigue, mystery, rural Swedish, character-generated plot focused on the secrets of a family and the disappearance of one of its members. (****)
Julie Powell: Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously
Powell is a gifted writer with a winning concept. (****)
Joni Eareckson Tada: The God I Love
A wonderful journey through Joni's early childhood, her accident, and her work with the disabled. A challenge to dig deeper in our faith. (*****)
Melissa Gilbert: Prairie Tale: A Memoir
Interesting and well-written, if not inspiring. (***)
Dick Francis & Felix Francis: Dead Heat
Better than the first pairings of Felix Francis and his father, Dick. A solid tale, if not as good as the best of the first Francis. (***)
Rick Bragg: The Prince of Frogtown
A tender account of Bragg's search for the father he never knew as he stumbles about with a son of his own. Beautiful, poignant, memorable. (*****)
Pat Conroy: South of Broad
Fantastic prose, though the plot read a bit like a 1970s-Erich Segal drama. (****)
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