I think I've managed to solidify my opinion of this series a bit more. I don't particularly care for the writing. The dialogue is a bit stilted, and the prose is pretty formulaic--it seems like ten pages can't go by without Joscelin bowing with crossed vambraces. Still, like the first one, the plot is quite intricately laid out, and I find myself really wanting to know what's going to happen. I've also found several of the minor characters to be very enjoyable. Anyway, it's enough that I'm going to finish out the series, but I doubt I'll reread it any time soon.

Started: 2005-03-22 | Finished: 2005-04-03

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I blew through this one even faster than Mr. Midshipman Hornblower. Like the first one, this installment of the Hornblower series is a fun read, full of action and presented in a clean, straightforward style. Where Midshipman was more a collection of short stories, though, Lieutenant is a cohesive novel. I do hope the rest of this series continues to be this good.

Started: 2005-03-20 | Finished: 2005-03-21

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I'm not entirely sure that I liked this book, but for some reason I couldn't put it down. The paperback edition is 928 pages--long, no doubt--but the plot is so sprawling that it requires such a thick book to hold it. I found the plot and characters and ideas interesting, but the writing seemed a bit too fond of fantasy clich

Started: 2005-03-07 | Finished: 2005-03-19

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I've often considered it a tragedy of my life that I'm so fascinated by boats and the ocean, given that I get so violently seasick immediately upon setting foot aboard a boat of any size in even the calmest waters. This book, thick with nautical terms and high adventure, almost makes me want to sail bad enough to try getting over my seasickness. (Almost. I still know better.) The book is organized in ten chapters, each an action-filled episode in the early career of Horatio Hornblower. There are ten other books in the series, which documents Hornblower's rise from his beginnings as a young and inexperienced midshipman to his eventual position as admiral. Fortunately for me, I received all eleven as a Christmas present. I'm looking forward to reading all about Mr. Hornblower's illustrious career.

Started: 2005-03-01 | Finished: 2005-03-05

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Gabriel García Márquez is one of the most amazing prose writers ever, though, having won the Nobel Prize he hardly needs me to say so. 100 Years of Solitude became one of my all-time favorite books as soon as I read it. This book is a much smaller, simpler story, but every bit as rich in language and color. In terms of plot, surprisingly little happens--though in so few pages there isn't room for much--but it's not really that kind of story. Rather, it's an examination of the culture of a small town in Colombia, and in that way it works very well. García Márquez paints such a clear picture of the town that by the end of the book we feel almost as though we lived there ourselves.

Started: 2005-02-15 | Finished: 2005-02-28

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It seems like there has been a lot of popular interest in the Greek-American experience in the wake of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It's an interesting phenomenon. Whether that has anything to do with the popularity and high acclaim won by Middlesex I couldn't say. I can say that I enjoyed it, though. The first word that comes to mind when I try to think of how to describe Middlesex is "epic." It's not a bad choice, really, as the book is spans three generations of the Stephanides family. The fact that the narrator and main character is named for the Greek muse of epic poetry is also a nice touch. On the one hand the book is an explanation of the family history that produced Calliope Stephanides. Beneath that, though it's also a look at the history of America as experienced by an immigrant family. The scope of the story could have been pretty overwhelming, but the narration provides a sense of intimacy that manages to hold it together. On the other hand, that very closeness also creates a curious sense of distance from the other characters. My one complaint is that I wish the author would have chosen a tense and stuck with it; the constant switching from present tense to past and back again was very jarring.

Started: 2005-01-11 | Finished: 2005-02-08

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I'm sure by now that everyone has either read this book or been told about it by a friend. But if you're reading this review, I guess you want my opinion. So here it is: If you're into fast-paced books about conspiracies and secret societies with lots of action, and you don't much care about good writing or the Christian religion getting trashed then you'd probably enjoy this book. On the other hand, if you prefer your novels to be written by someone with a good narrative voice and strong characterization, or if you find overly sensationalist books distasteful, you may want to avoid this one. If you do decide to read The Da Vinci Code, though, just keep in mind that it's a work of fiction.

Started: 2005-01-01 | Finished: 2005-01-05

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I'm not quite sure what to say about this book, mostly because I'm not quite sure I completely understood it. I've always had trouble with stream-of-consciousness writing, and most of the story is told in that style. In general, I found the text very difficult, nearly opaque. In fact, if not for Barron's BookNotes, I probably would never have made it through the first section. I did make it, though, and underneath the words I got a sense of a story that I found compelling, even if I didn't completely follow it. I'm not sure I could tell you what happened in that story--in fact, I'm pretty sure not much happened at all--but something about the characters and their circumstances evoked some pretty strong feelings in me. I think I'll have to come back to it again some time.

Started: 2004-12-20 | Finished: 2004-12-28

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If you're a fan of Orson Scott Card, this collection is worth your time. Consisting of nearly all of Card's short stories (notably missing are those stories already released in other collections), it is great for seeing how Card's work progressed over his career. I can't say that I liked every story--especially those where his politics or taste in literature come out--but some of them were particularly moving.

Started: 2004-11-15 | Finished: 2004-12-19

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It's a little hard to describe The Time Traveler's Wife. It is, obviously, a story about time travel. One of the two main characters, Henry, is a time traveler. It's a little different from your average science fiction story, though. You see, he can't control when he disappears, nor can he control when or where he goes. The other main character, Clare, is Henry's wife, who is not a time traveler. Clare first meets Henry in 1971; she is six, but he is in his thirties. Henry first meets Clare in 1991; she is twenty and he is twenty-eight. Is that confusing enough for you? The Time Traveler's Wife is the often confusing, very disjointed, quite circular, but exceptionally beautiful story of the love between Henry and Clare, and the way their lives intertwine and shape each other. Much like other time travel stories, it investigates questions of predestination, free will, and the nature of time. But above all that, it is a highly character-driven story about the unique relationship that develops between the main characters. I'm not sure what I could say to really capture the feeling of the book, but if my reaction is any measure of the story's quality then let me tell you this: it's one of the only books--possibly the only book--I've ever read that has made me cry.

Started: 2004-11-04 | Finished: 2004-11-10

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