Him Her Him Again The End of Him (Patricia Marx)

Hardcover & Audio Book

I started this book in the car, on CD. At first I thought that I might be having trouble with the reader who was nasal and bored and seemed unwilling to alter her tone between male and female speakers, but no. Once I picked up a hard copy it was almost -- not quite, but almost -- as horrid.

I either outright hated or had disdain for every single character. Was I supposed to identify with the enabling parents of a middle-aged slacker? Or with the boorish ladies' man who was the object of the narrator's obsession? Or with the narrator herself, the doormat of a decade+ affair with a married guy who, by the account given here, made no sense as an object of desire?

It was just tedious and packed with sections that seemed designed just to pad the text: so. many. LISTS. A painfully unfunny "comic" novel that obviously thought it was the height of cleverness.

D+

The Killer of Little Shepherds (Douglas Starr)

Hardcover

The subtitle -- A True Crime Story and the Birth of Forensic Science -- told me what it was about...but I had no idea what I was in for with this one.

The title character is Joseph Vacher, a former soldier, who killed and raped his way across the French countryside in the 1890s. For all those who are terrified of our "going to hell in a hand basket" society, it's a good reminder that there have always been terrible and terrifying people in the world.

Vacher may be the front-and-center hook of the book, but the real star is Alexandre Lacassagne and his colleagues. Their great strides in the field of forensics and criminology were remarkable. I was continually reading aloud passages to Gary as I was simply wowed by their vision and pioneering of new techniques and drive to standardize their methods for the good of all.

Amazing and exciting without sensationalism. A terrific book.

A-

Without Feathers (Woody Allen)

Paperback

I imagine that I felt, reading this book, much as I would feel if I time traveled to the Catskills in the '40s or Vaudeville in the '20s. I'd know that I'm supposed to be having a good time -- I would be witness to the fact that the people of that period are having a good time -- but I still wouldn't be able to muster a chuckle.

I'm definitely a fan of Woody Allen's early films. Love and Death is full of nutty little out-of-left-field one liners and I think that's what was the same vibe he was going for in this book. Instead, it reads like someone's collection of completed Mad Libs. Hey, I love me some Mad Libs -- but they're only funny to the people who came up with the non sequiturs...a kind of "had to be there" comedy. This felt like a nonsensical inside joke that just went on and on.

C-

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Stieg Larsson)

Hardcover

Requested and received for Christmas. Why? Because I just HAD to know what I'd been missing. Answer: absolutely nothing. Why is this a bestseller? And how the heck did I get suckered into being one of its buyers?

The characters are avatars , the "mystery" is pedestrian, the trivialities that do nothing to push the plot forward are mind-numbing, the prose is clumsy and full of cliches, and the physical heft of the book is unforgivable once one is aware of the dullness within.

For a while I tried blaming both the translation from Swedish to English and the fact that it was edited after the author's death...but that wore off pretty quickly. This is poorly written, poorly plotted trash. Absolutely one of the worst reads I've ever had.

F

Ordinary Thunderstorms (William Boyd)

Audiobook

I put this on my reading list because Stephen King said I should. OK, I cheated a bit by listening to rather than reading it, but it turned out to be an enjoyable in-the-car companion. I've had to eject many an audio book due to readers who use the wrong attitude or inflection when reading dialogue, but this was a good match of reader and material.

Ordinary Thunderstorms follows Adam Kindred, a recently divorced British scientist returning to England from the States for a new job. He is forced to go on the lam when he becomes the prime suspect in a murder that he witnessed. Although the story demanded some suspension of belief, I was impressed by the writing and plotting. The worst criticism that I can throw out is that Adam may have adapted a bit too quickly to his new life on the run and had a few too many lucky breaks, but he wasn't superhuman and his luck wasn't "buy a lottery ticket now" amazing.

In short: I was entertained but I'm surprised King went out of his way to praise it.

B-