9 posts tagged “books 3 star”
I like discovering new authors I enjoy - and Jack DuBrul is definitely going on my list. My dad loaned me this book - saying it was particularly interesting considering the recent events in Indonesia. The book is fast-paced and extremely interesting. Our hero, Phillip Mercer, is a world-renowned geologist (who is also the hero of several other DuBrul novels) who is pulled into a top-secret project at the infamous Area 51. We have a secret Order who can somehow predict natural disasters and yet does nothing to stop them, a mysterious underground experiment gone wrong, and a doomsday event prediction that is eerily similar to the recent tsunami in Indian Ocean. Overall it was a suspenseful read ... and I'll be picking up a few more DuBrul novels for a great weekend read!
Stephen King-esque storyline about a small lakeside town with an unexplained eruption of violence from local teenagers. Dr. Claire Elliot, a newcomer to the town, is at the center of the controversy and soon discovers that this isn't a new thing for the town. There's a history of unexplained violence ... dating back several hundred years!
The love story feels a bit superfluous - did we really need it? And the ending is very rushed - but I still enjoyed the book. A fun & thrilling chronicle of murdering madness in a small town!
I enjoyed this story of Dr. Toby Harper ... even if it did remind me a bit too much of Harvest, one of Gerritsen's first books. Highly successful women doctors. Everyone turns against them. Their medical careers are going to be ruined. Yadda Yadda.
But, it's still a good story. Toby sees a series of weird elderly patients with unusual symptoms ... and in trying to get to the bottom of it, annoys some pretty powerful people - both at her hospital and at an elitist retirement community. We watch Toby investigating what's going on around her - see friends and family turn against her as she is falsely accused of abusing her alzheimers-suffering mother. What exactly is going on with this retirement community? Why have so many of their members met with death recently?
Only Dr. Toby Harper can find the truth ... but will it be in time?
I thought I had read all things Michael Crichton. But last weekend, my brother loaned me a bag of books and inside was A Case of Need.
One part of me loved it because it delved into the medical world - and that brought back so much. The funny things about working with other doctors/nurses and treating patients. The sad/shocking things. That part was really interesting - and showed Crichton's typical obsessive research tendancies (which I love - it makes it believable when the author has researched his topic thoroughly so that he can speak with correct terms, context, etc). This was Crichton's first novel ... and his researching skills have remained one of the reasons his books are usually so well written.
The other part of me was turned off from the book right from the start simply because of the topic: a pathologist is trying to find evidence to free a friend of his - a doctor who is accused of doing abortions illegally. He does actually do abortions ... and sometimes for people who are using it as a form of birth control. Married women trying to hide affairs. Ugh. Come on people ... don't be having sex if you can't handle the consequences. If you aren't mature enough to be a parent ... you aren't mature enough to be having sex. Crichton was a Harvard Medical School student when he was writing this (and it was originally published under a pseudonym) - and evidently it stirred up quite the controversy.
Abortion is and always will be a hot topic. But if you've ever worked in a hospital ... when you're talking about a persons body and their health ... you can see that it's not always a black and white issue. (I have a friend who is doing an OBGYN rotation in Memphis right now - and he wants them to start offering free sterlizations. He sees 20-30 pregnant teenagers a day. Potheads who are on their 6th and 7th child - whose babies are immediately taken into custody by the state. He's pretty down right now and is ready to move on to his next rotation where things might not seem in such a hopeless cycle.)
I still say that if what I wrote about here was a reality ... many of these issues wouldn't be issues anymore!!
Or ... maybe Stargate SG-1 could bring the Aschen here to sterilize those who seem incapable of mature and responsible actions! (cool wiki on stargate there!)
I much prefer Crichton's later novels. Loved The Andromeda Strain (I haven't seen the 1971 movie so I don't know if it's a good adaptation or not!), Timeline (the movie was a pretty good adaptation), Sphere (the movie was .... ok), Airframe (I think this is being turned into a film?), and Jurassic Park (amazing film and effects - great adaptation).
I give 8.4 a 3.0. This book is obviously about earthquakes. The New Madrid Faultline (NMSZ) - think Memphis - is infamous for the historical triad of earthquakes that happened in 1811-1812. It's present day, and one of our heroes, Elizabeth Holleran (seismologist), comes into some information that leads her to believe that it's probably going to happen again.
As she's on her way to Memphis, to tell the Big Earthquake Guys, the first earthquake hits (great & scary descriptions of what an earthquake IS exactly - how the earth is shifting) - at a 7.1 on the Richter scale.
Of course we have to go through the scene where all the politicians (and our other hero, John Atkins - geologist) don't believe Holleran's theory, dismiss her ... and we all know what happens next. The 8.4 earthquake hits, and this causes massive destruction all across the land. The fault line has doubled in size! Holleran reiterates her belief that the 7.1 and 8.4 earthquakes that strike along the NMSZ are just a precursor to the really big one.
The character development and the unnecessary romantic storyline are what garnered this a 3.0 and not a 5.0. Atkins and Holleran aren't very interesting characters - and I just never grew to like Atkins. He was kinda slow on figuring things out (ignoring classic earthquake signs, totally dismissing the Triad-Earthquake theory) - especially considering he's supposed to be 'an expert' in the field. Although, my mom pointed out that the main character of the book is the earthquake - not Atkins or Holleran. So, I guess if you look at it that way, the main character rocked my world.
My mom read this book 2 weeks before needing to go to Memphis for a conference ... it shook her up a bit. We live only three hours from Memphis, and it is a bit disturbing to hear of how far the destruction from an earthquake there would reach. In the 1811-1812 quakes, lakes formed in Tennessee, church bells rang in Boston, and the mighty Mississippi ran backward. Isn't the earth amazing?
I have started this review several times over the past week - and I just debate whether to give it a glowing, literary-masterpiece, oh wow type of review ... or to be honest and say that while yes, parts of it were excellent, there were also parts that were so incredibly boring and pointless (!) that I almost fell alseep. :zzz: I guess I'm going to go for the truth.
I read a lot. I've read really long books, really short books, really good books, and really bad books. I've read great literary novels, gripping mysteries, and more than my fair share of romances. I didn't read Anna Karenina because it's Oprah's latest book club pic - but her choosing it did move it up on my "To Read" list. I wonder if Oprah would have chosen it if she HAD read it. On her show, she called it one of the greatest love stories of all time? I'm not really getting that ...
It gets 3 stars simply because I did like the start of the love story between Kitty/Levin (though I would hardly term it one of the greatest love stories of all time). I enjoyed their first scenes together at the ice rink, and then at their house - his first proposal and subsequent rejection were so well written. Much later, when Levin sees Kitty in the carriage out in the country - and he realizes he could never stop loving her. When he writes out his proposal to her ...
"Wait a minute," he said, sitting down to the table. "I've long wanted to ask you one thing." He looked straight into her caressing, though frightened eyes. "Please, ask it." "Here," he said; and he wrote the initial letters, w, y, t, m, i, c, n, b, d, t, m, n, o, t. These letters meant, "When you told me it could never be, did that mean never, or then?"
There seemed no likelihood that she could make out this complicated sentence; but he looked at her as though his life depended on her understanding the words. She glanced at him seriously, then leaned her puckered brow on her hands and began to read. Once or twice she stole a look at him, as though asking him, "Is it what I think?" "I understand," she said, flushing a little. "What is this word?" he said, pointing to the n that stood for never. "It means NEVER," she said; "but that's not true!"
He quickly rubbed out what he had written, gave her the chalk, and stood up. She wrote, t, i, c, n, a, d. Dolly was completely comforted in the depression caused by her conversation with Alexey Alexandrovitch when she caught sight of the two figures: Kitty with the chalk in her hand, with a shy and happy smile looking upwards at Levin, and his handsome figure bending over the table with glowing eyes fastened one minute on the table and the next on her. He was suddenly radiant: he had understood. It meant, "Then I could not answer differently." He glanced at her questioningly, timidly. "Only then?" "Yes," her smile answered. "And n...and now?" he asked. "Well, read this. I'll tell you what I should like—should like so much!" she wrote the initial letters, i, y, c, f, a, f, w, h. This meant, "If you could forget and forgive what happened." He snatched the chalk with nervous, trembling fingers, and breaking it, wrote the initial letters of the following phrase, "I have nothing to forget and to forgive; I have never ceased to love you." She glanced at him with a smile that did not waver. "I understand," she said in a whisper. He sat down and wrote a long phrase. She understood it all, and without asking him, "Is it this?" took the chalk and at once answered. For a long while he could not understand what she had written, and often looked into her eyes. He was stupefied with happiness. He could not supply the word she had meant; but in her charming eyes, beaming with happiness, he saw all he needed to know. And he wrote three letters. But he had hardly finished writing when she read them over her arm, and herself finished and wrote the answer, "Yes."
Those were good scenes. It seemed to go downhill after that.
But Levin did tend to go on and on ... and on ... about rural politics - and I spaced out quite a few times during those scenes. 19th century Russian politics! Way too much unnecessary dialogue. I've read that many of Levin's speeches are going off about the author's own personal political leanings. (I can only imagine what Tolstoy must have been like at dinner parties. Sheesh.)
I completely detest the novel's title character - Anna. She is a selfish, co-dependent and egotistical drama queen. If I was Vronsky (or her husband Karenin) I would have dumped the girl after a few weeks in her company. Are we supposed to feel sorry for her? She has an affair, leaves her child to run about Europe with her lover, and then seems to not comprehend everyone not feeling the terrible state of her situation. You just want to tell her -- Get Over It. Take the divorce offered you and get over yourself.
Perhaps that is why when I was about a third of the way through the book, I didn't really feel like finishing it. I found no character that I really liked. The two main characters - Anna and Levin - I didn't have any strong desire to learn their fate. The title character annoyed me with her constant self-pity and disregard for others feelings and Levin was quite boring and too self-assured (and his somewhat shy/sweet behavior towards Kitty turns into boring conversation after they are finally married).
Oblonsky (Anna's brother) was probably the most likeable character - and he was a cheating husband!
I understand the point of the novel ... the themes ... but the characters used to bring about your understanding just don't quite do it for me.
There are scores of Pride & Prejudice continuations out there ... but most of them are poorly written and don't maintain the characters personalities as they were originally and wonderfully written by Jane Austen. Berdoll's Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife is an exception - she's obviously a P&P junkie (like so many of us are!). This book is a witty and intelligent continuation of the love story between our beloved Darcy and Elizabeth. We get to enjoy their wedding night (there were quite a few more sex-scenes than I originally thought - be prepared!), and their adjustment to married life at Pemberly and in London. We also get to see all of the other P&P characters -- Bingley and Jane (Berdoll's portayal of their marriage is pretty much in line with what I thought), the annoying and ridiculous Mrs. Bennett, Lady Catherine, the insipid Mr. Collins, and of course Lydia and the deceptive Wickham.
While not as satisfying as the original Pride & Prejudice ... it was a fun read and I enjoyed Berdoll's vision of the Darcy's future :)
I thought I had read all of Grishams novels, but then a friend loaned me a bag of books and The Partner was inside. I started to put it back in the bag, and then read the back synopsis and realized I hadn't read it! Somehow I missed it! Ah well -- better late than never. Somewhat reminiscient of The Firm, this book chronicles the story of young lawyer Patrick Lanigan. The story begins with Lanigan finally being found more than four years after faking his death & taking 90 million dollars from his law firm. The FBI wants him, his old law firm wants him, insurance companies want him .... they all want their money and of course, revenge! Unbelievable preparation & planning on the part of Lanigan carry the story along as they handle lawsuit after lawsuit, capital murder charges, divorce papers, oh -- and there's the little matter of Lanigan having no clue where the 90 million is! I think that's really what the title is ... The Partner. Not Lanigan, The Partner at his law firm ... but The Partner, as in Lanigans partner who is the one who is helping him make everything happen.
A disappointing ending -- but the last page of a book doesn't change the fact that the rest of the book was an interesting read. It's typical Grisham style - If you liked The Firm, you'll like this one.
My dad and I have fairly common tastes in reading material, so when he loaned me The Footprints of God with this recommendation, "Just keep an open mind. This one makes you think", I figured I would enjoy the book. Keep an open mind, indeed. The premise of the book is the creation of a quantum super-computer ... taking AI to the next level - perhaps a level we shouldn't be considering. While I didn't agree with much of the theological-speak in the book ... I don't have to agree with everything in a book to enjoy the story. That's what fiction is all about, right?
The powers behind the Trinity Project (the name of the research project developing the quantum super computers) force the main character, Dr. David Tennant, to flee for his life when he becomes aware of what Trinity might eventually accomplish - and the realization of what that might mean for the world. A computer who could think faster than the human brain .... decipher codes instantaneously .... if this computer was hooked up to the internet ... what could it be capable of?
All in all, a good book. At times the pace drags a bit, but I still read it in two sittings ..... it was a gripping thriller/sci-fi/techgeek book.
