The Nerding Librarian

This novel was ok, but I felt a little let down - I was expecting much better from an author shortlisted for the Booker, although maybe my expectations were part of the problem.

It started off well, and the concept of the dystopian society she creates is intriguing and a bit frightening. Some of the events and ideas, like the contraceptive coils, make you think about where society may be heading. Overall, Hall writes well, but I found myself a little bored with her descriptions. There are scenes where she definitely suffers from telling-instead-of-showing-syndrome. I just couldn't really bring myself to care very much about the protagonist, Sister, or really any of the other characters.

The ending was pretty anti-climactic, and felt like a cop-out - you'll see what I mean when you get there. Overall it wasn't very powerful, which is something I would expect from a dystopian novel like this. I anticipated something really thought-provoking that would have me lying awake the next three nights thinking about it, but this one just didn't do it. It starts off strong, but loses is punch along the way.

This novel is a fascinating exploration of the ways in which the mind can work, distort, and deteriorate. At the outset, this seems to be a fairly simple story of estranged sisters reuniting in their old age. While I could tell from reading the jacket that the real story would probably come in the possible scandal or heartbreak of their estrangement, I wasn't expecting the instability of the narrator.

It's the little things that tip you off gradually to what is happening here. Once you realize that Adams is using the classic technique of the unreliable narrator, it's impossible not to look beneath the surface of everything that she sees and remembers for the truth. It's also amazing how easily you can understand or sympathize with Ginny's logic, as twisted as it is - almost frightening once you realize how easily a mind can warp the truth.

The novel is a little slow to start out, but the story really picks up fairly soon. The descriptions of the moths and the processes that come with studying them may seem a little tedious, but I think they are necessary to completely immerse the reader in Ginny's mind - especially at the end of the novel. Adams includes little details in all the right places.

This is definitely a novel worth reading. Adams does a fantastic job of mapping the way Ginny's mind works, and also of manipulating the story. It's fascinating to see things from Ginny's point of view, all the while trying to figure out what's truly happening outside of her comfort zone and under the surface. This really is an impressive first novel - Adams certainly did her research, and knows what she's doing when it comes to her narrative.

*Review of ARC

If you're looking for something fun to read that will hold your attention, you've come to the right place...or rather, right book. No, it's not exactly a great literary work of historical fiction, but reading isn't just about literary value, it's about entertainment as well.

Willig has taken some liberties with dates and names (as she explains in the historical notes at the end of the novel), and the main characters are fictional. Despite that, it still remains fairly historically accurate, although the heroine and her companions do some things that ladies of the time would very likely not have done. If you can look past that and just enjoy the book, you'll have a lot of fun with this one.

The novel has elements of a number of genres - romance, adventure, and mystery, to name a few - so there's more or less something for everyone. I knew the whole time I was reading it how predictable it was, but Willig actually surprised me in the end by proving me wrong with a twist or two.

Even though I know it was a little bit silly, and not exactly serious, I can't wait to read the next book in the series. It will definitely provide a nice break from reading the heavy, academic stuff (enjoyable though it is) that comes with being an English major.

This book is definitely what it promises in being a historical take on Bridget Jones's Diary, and not much more, so don't expect a great literary work.

That said, this was a quick read, and a lot of fun. The characters don't have great amounts of depth, and it's fairly predictable, but I found myself laughing out loud a couple of times. The ending was a bit odd and unresolved in some ways, and I was a little disappointed with it - it felt like Mullany got tired of her characters and wrote it off as quickly as she could. I'd recommend this for a historical fiction fan looking for a beach or fluff read, because fluff (admittedly, enjoyable fluff) is exactly what you'll find.

At the outset, I really enjoyed this book. I was sucked into the premise, and I could see that it had a lot of potential to be an incredible book. But somewhere along the way, Edwards dropped the ball.

For me, the most disconcerting thing about this novel was the characterization. After nearly an entire book filled with page after page of these characters' thoughts, emotions, inner struggles, etc., you would think the characters themselves would be leaping off the page at you. But about 3/4 of the way through the book, I suddenly realized I didn't know Norah at all. The young wife from the beginning transformed into this assured, powerful woman so suddenly that her character just didn't make sense. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I didn't really know any of the characters. Although you spend so much time inside the heads of these characters, all the little details don't quite add up into a believable whole.

The premise and the plot were very well-conceived, although it could move a bit slowly at times. I can see that Edwards is creating a study on the way lies can form and break relationships and lives, and there are some beautiful passages and some great truths to be found here. But after finishing it, my first though of ..."Eh. That wasn't bad," told me that Edwards could have done something more with this novel.

After reading Pamela Aiden's "Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman" trilogy a few months ago, I found this to be merely a much simpler version. Grange doesn't go much beyond the events we already know of from the original novel, and Darcy himself doesn't seem to have much depth at all. He switches from being determined to stop thinking about Elizabeth to suddenly proposing without almost any explanation at all. His feelings flip flop too quickly throughout the novel with no basis. Overall, I knew exactly what was going to happen - there were no surprises. Nothing happens to Darcy that we don't already know about to some degree.

The book was enjoyable for the story itself, and of course I found myself smiling when Elizabeth finally accepted. The glimpses of their life after marriage were cute too. If you really want an in-depth look at Darcy, I recommend the Pamela Aiden trilogy. Although it can be a little far-fetched a times, she adds a slew of new characters for Darcy to interact with, and really shows the way his mind works.

I had finally read Bel Canto last year, and I really wished I'd read it sooner. It was such an amazing work, and although I haven't gotten around to reading anything else by her yet, I got the chance to read this one pretty soon after it came out. I expected something if not as good as Bel Canto, at least comparable, but I was disappointed.

It was a relatively quick read, but I found myself finishing the book just for the sake of finishing it. There was something about the pacing that bothered me that I can't quite put my finger on, and I think that Patchett is capable of showing human connections that run much deeper than they did in this novel. As another reviewer stated, it felt as though she was only scratching the surface of these characters - they didn't have nearly as much depth as they were capable of having.

Overall, the story was an interesting one, and it has a lot of potential to be a great novel - it just doesn't quite get there.