Bruce's Book Reviews

I've been thinking about doing this for a while, but never made the time (until now). Here's an incomplete list of books I've read and what I thought of them. Ratings are on a five star system, five being a classic and 0 being a monstrous waste of time.

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Literature
Title Author Rating Comments
All's Quiet on the Western Front Erich Marie Remaracht ***** Probably the best war book ever written. It's a simple message--war sucks, especially if you're a foot soldier. But some simple messages are very powerful.
Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck ***** A classic tale of humanity.
Frankenstein Mary Shelly ***** If you've seen the movies, you'll be surprised by the book.
Dracula Bram Stoker **** Great Gothic horror. If it were a tad shorter, it would have been better.
The House of the Seven Gables Nathaniel Hawthorne * S - L - O - W ... even by the day's standards.
Ivanhoe Sir Walter Scott *** Sometimes great literature doesn't age well.
Candide Voltaire ***** I read this for a history class, and my professor ( Dr. James Schmiechen) called it "18th Century Monty Python." This sounded ludicrous, but it's accurate. Good stuff.
Murders in the Rue Morgue Edgar Allan Poe ** Great poet who should have stuck with shorter stuff.
The Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens *** I know this is a classic, so I should probably read it again. It just didn't overwhelm me the first time (ten years ago)
A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens **** Gee, they made the book just like the movie!
Darkness at Noon Arthur Koestler ***** Great depiction of the Communist purges. It's a little slow, and not for everyone, but I loved it.
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich Alexander Solzhenitsyn ****1/2 Almost as good as Darkness at Noon.
The Masters C.P. Snow **** A Higher Ed classic, tells the tale of backroom politics at an English university. I liked everything about this book except the end.
Night Thoughts of a Classical Physicist Russell McCormach *** A classical physicist is put out to pasture by Einstein's new-fangled theories. Good story, but too slow.
Goodbye Mr. Chips James Hilton ***** You can have your Mr. Holland's Opus; I'll take the original teacher's story. Even better than the movie.
Modern/Popular Fiction   |  back to the top
Title Author Rating Comments
The Firm John Grisham **** Very good popular fiction. Much, much, much better than the movie. Tom, you are no Mitch.
Primary Colors Anonymous (Joe Klein) **** Raises lots of interesting questions, most notably what do you do with a candidate (or President) who cares about the people, knows how to get things done, and can't keep his pants on. Good question.
Fatherland Robert Harris ***** I loved this book. It's a murder mystery set in 1963 Berlin; a Berlin where Hitler won the war. The mystery pulls the protagonist toward darker things, like what happened to the Jews. Good stuff.
Enigma Robert Harris **** Who knew cryptologists led such interesting lives? I liked this one.
Archangel Robert Harris *1/2 Someone is hiding Stalin's love child in northern Russia. Silly premise; sloppy delivery. Harris dropped tha ball here.
Jaws Peter Benchley **1/2 I only mention this book because it is one of the very rare cases when the movie is better than the book. Much better in this case.
Changing Places David Lodge ***1/2 Two professors (one from England one from California) switch places for a semester. Craziness ensues as their lives get tangled in every conceivable way. Nothing too deep, but fun and charming.
Small World David Lodge ** Follow-up to Changing Places. A little fun, but lacks the charm.
The Prince of West End Avenue Alan Isler *** A sometimes clever story that takes place in a retirement home. The resident theatre troop is putting on Hamlet, but cast members are dying or quitting, and there are a few secrets to be revealed.
The Jury Steve Martini ** Reminded me of a Micky Spillane book. Worked for a while, but eventually wore thin.
Book Club Books (Jeanne and I belong to a club that meets once a month)   |  back to the top
Title Author Rating Comments
The Giant's House Elizabeth McCracken *** Nice book about a very tall young man and the older woman who loves him.
A Widow for One Year John Irving 1/2 Irving has lost whatever he had. This book was bad.
The Dive at Clausen's Pier Ann Packer *** I enjoyed this book right to the end, when the author lost her mind. Much of the book takes place around Madison, though, which is kind of cool because I love Madison.
The Secret Life of Bees Sue Monk Kidd *1/2 An Oprah book. 'Nuff said.
Icebound Jerri Nielsen *** Heroic autobiography of a doctor fighting breast cancer in Antarctica (oh...she's the only doctor there). Good book.
The Red Tent Anita Diamant * I still can't believe I read this book. << shudders >>
Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein's Brain Michael Paterniti ***1/2 Believe it or not, a true story. The author hits the road with the keeper of Einstein's brain (or at least some mushy chunks of it). Quirkiness ensues. I liked it, but it could have been better.
House of Sand and Fog Andre Dumas ** Well written, but I didn't really like most of the characters and it's very depressing.
Conferates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War Tony Horwitz ****1/2 A look at how the South is still dealing with the Civil War. Great stuff that takes the author to most of the major battle sites of the Civil War. The hardcore reenactors (not the farbs) are the best part.
The Girl with the Pearl Earring Tracy Chevalier ***1/2 Good for a romance novel, especially one where the real romance is never consumated...oops... I guess that's a spoiler.
The Stardust Lounge Deborah Digges *** If you think your teenager has problems, wait until you meet Deb's. True story of a single mom's struggle to understand her juvenille delinquent.
Second Hand Michael Zadoorian ***1/2 I liked this book about a local slacker. Nothing earthshaking, but funny at times.
Middlesex Jeffrey Eugenides **** The best book about a hermaphrodite I've ever read. It was actually both funny and touching. The low speed chase to Canada was probably my favorite part (not really a spoiler).
Atonement Ian McEwan 0 This books was awful, perhaps the worst I've read. Agonizingly slow and an ending that insults the reader (if he or she is still awake).
How to Be Good Nick Hornsby * I like the movie versions of his books, so I expected to like this alot. I didn't. The story is about a very sour marriage, which takes some odd turns when the husband has an epiphany and decides to "be good". Unfortunately, there isn't one likable character in this book. Mush.
Wicked Gregory Maguire **1/2 Ever wonder why the Wicked Witch of the West was so Wicked? This book tells you why. Nice premise, but choppy delivery.
The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown **** Look up "page turner" in the dictionary and you will find a picture of this book. Interesting premise and real cliffhanger delivery, almost too much at times. It would have been better with just one or two respites from the frantic pace.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Mark Haddon **** Good book about an autistic boy who finds a dead dog, then embarks upon a mission to find its killer. Well told with good characters.
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America Barbara Ehrenreich * I've long known that it's hard to make ends meet with low wage jobs, so I was looking forward to this book. In a nutshell, the author went "under cover" and worked some lousy jobs and tried to make ends meet (then wrote about it). Not a bad idea if she weren't so whiny elitist. Ugh.
In the Lake of the Woods Tim O'Brien *** I liked this book, with all of its flaws. It's a dark tale about a woman who disappears and what may, or may not, have happened to her. It hops around quite a bit, and I wasn't convinced the characters behaved realistically, but it was well told.
Little Children Tom Perrotta * I didn't like this book very much. It was a quick and smooth read, but not one of the characters was likeable (and most were flat). Not only that, but they do all kinds of horrible things to those around them, all while whining about how rough they have it. This is *not* suburbia, but rather a very poor caricature of it.
Fantasy   |  back to the top
Title Author Rating Comments
The Lord of the Rings J.R.R. Tolkien ***** The yardstick stick by which all fantasy literature is measured. Great characters and a great story on an epic scale. A true classic by virtually any measure and definitely a must read.
The Hobbit J.R.R. Tolkien ***** A simple story, wonderfully told. Just a great book for all ages.
The Silmarillion J.R.R. Tolkien **** The mythology of a mythical land and Tolkien's life work. Long stretches of this are wonderful, but it wanders around quite a bit. Not worth it if you're not a Tolkien fan.
Farmer Giles of Ham and Smith of Wooton Major J.R.R. Tolkien **** Two unrelated stories to make a novel length book. Both are charming.
The Earthsea Cycle Ursula K. Leguin **** This series isn't really a classic, but it is one of my favorites. The first three books are outstanding, especially for younger readers. Leguin added a fourth (Tehanu) years later, which was just brutal, then followed up with the more respectable The Other Wind, and some short stories.
The Chronicles of Narnia C.S. Lewis ***** A children's classic. Great series that mixes fun with bigger topics without ever seeming heavy.
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever Stephen Donaldson *1/2 A leper is transported to a fantasy world where he is a savior (kind of). Interesting premise, but the delivery is dull.
The Belgeriad David Eddings *** Good fantasy with a bit of tongue in cheek humor. Some memorable characters, but it gets repititous after a while and it's ultimately predictable.
The Xanth Series Piers Anthony *** Cute, but went on far too long. The first three or four books are very good.
The Song of Ice and Fire George R.R. Martin ***** Epic fantasy at its very best. Martin's style focuses on somewhat gray characters to great effect, because you're often not sure who to root for. He is also merciless with his characters, so much so that you really don't know who will live to see the final pages. He still has three books to go!
Dune Series Frank Herbert *** Parts of this series are truly great, then others just fall way, way short.
The Sword of Shannara Trilogy Terry Brooks ** This is such a shameless ripoff of The Lord of the Rings, that it's hard to rate. Parts of it are entertaining though.
Apprentice Adept Trilogy Piers Anthony *** This series started out very good, but the second book was sloppier, then the third book kind of fell apart. Too bad.
Conan the Barbarian Robert E. Howard **** The original Conan stories, all but one were short stories, were great. Howard had a real knack for descriptive prose, and Conan was the original badass (nothing like Arnold's doltish brute). Many others have written Conan stories (L. Sprague DeCamp, Lin Carter, etc.), but they fall short as cheap imitations.
Watership Down Robert Adams ***** Yeah, it's the book about rabbits. But it remains one of my all-time favorites. Some great characters.
Animal Farm George Orwell ***** More political fantasy than anything else. Great communist allegory, told within a good story with good characters. They ought to make more of that.
The Wizard of Oz L. Frank Baum *** Baum paints a vivid picture of his very own world. More imaginative than good, though.
The Dracula Tape Fred Saberhagen ***1/2 Dracula tells his own story. Interesting and funny in a strange way.
The Dracula Files Fred Saberhagen * This time Saberhagen puts Sherlock Holmes on Dracula's tail. It's about as dopey as it sounds, and the ending is just ridiculous.
Science Fiction   |  back to the top
Title Author Rating Comments
Childhood's End Arthur C. Clarke **** Classic Sci-Fi.
Forever War Joe Haldeman **** Pulp-Sci-Fi. Haldeman tells the tale of warriors fighting a war through both space and time. It's strange to stop home every few hundred years to see what's changed. Perhaps a bit too existential in the end.
Earth Abides George Stewart ***** A super-flu wipes out most of mankind. Ish is one of the few survivors left to rebuild something of mankind. Jeanne thought this was too depressing, but I loved it.
Alas Babylon Pat Frank **** More depressing stuff that I liked. Takes place in post-apocalyptic Florida. A rural community struggles to survive after a nuclear war.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Jules Verne **** A classic, but it's a bit slow for today's reader. Nemo is a great character, and makes this book worth a read on his own.
Journey to the Center of the Earth Jules Verne *** Verne always has great ideas, but here none of the characters were very interesting.
The Time Machine H.G. Wells **** A classic, but dated.
Jurassic Park Michael Crichton ***** This book is outstanding at what it is. Crichton paints a vivid picture and keeps the reader on the edge of the seat for the entire ride.
The Andromeda Strain Michael Crichton **** First of Crichton's formula (technology gone wrong) books. This is a good one.
Timeline Michael Crichton *** Crichton's formula takes us to the Middle Ages with quantum physics gone amuck. It works, but just barely.
Sphere Michael Crichton * Crichton is a little off formula here, but it definitely doesn't work. Boring and implausible.
Calculating God Robert Sawyer *** An atheist meets an alien life form who believes God's existence can be deduced through logical deduction and evidence (a belief I share). Good idea, but sloppy follow through. I did like it, though.
History and Politics   |  back to the top
Title Author Rating Comments
John Adams David McCullough ***** Easily the best biography I've ever read. Told largely through correspondence with his wife and other friends, I finished feeling like I really knew what made Adams tick. A great man.
Benjamin Franklin Walter Isaacson **1/2 I read this shortly after John Adams, so I had high expectations. It fell way short. Interesting stuff about an interesting guy, but nothing very revealing about the man.
How the Irish Saved Civilization Thomas Cahill **** If not for a small number of Irish monks, much of what we learned from the Greeks and Romans would have been lost. Who knew? Cahill tells the tale.
No More Vietnams Richard Nixon *** Richard Nixon explains why Vietnam was necessary and not at all what the liberal media told you. Sure, Dick. Nonetheless, an interesting read.
Hardball Chris Matthews ***** Before he was a blowhard on MSNBC, Chris wrote this insightful book on how things really get done in Washington. Great stories about Reagan, Carter, and Lyndon Johnson.
Now, Let Me Tell You What I Really Think Chris Matthews **1/2 Interesting, but a bit self-congratulatory. He really needs a bit of humble pie.
Illiberal Education Dinesh D'Souza **** A very lucid attack on affirmative action and the politics of the Left in academia. I don't agree with a lot of what he says (though I do agree with his overall premise), but he makes a convincing argument.
The Closing of the American Mind Allan Bloom * Overrated and underthought.
Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot Al Franken ***** Funny and biting criticism of the Right's biggest blowhard.
Why Not Me? Al Franken *** Covers Al's fictional (and successful) run for the Presidency. Parts of this book are just hilarious, but it falls apart at the end.
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced View of the Right Al Franken ***** Humor mixed with a lot of critical thinking. It's hard to believe anyone can take the Right media (Hannity, O'Reilly, Coultier, etc.) seriously when they are such shameless liars. And that's not funny, it's sad.
Perestroika Mikhail Gorbachev **** Before the Eastern Bloc fell apart, Gorbachev had the courage to say we could all get along. It didn't really work out the way he planned, but this was a big step for its time.
All Too Human George Stephanopoulos *** An insider's look at the Clinton Presidency. It was a little like reading the sequel to Primary Colors
The Natural Joe Klein **** A somewhat balanced view of the Clinton presidency by the author of Primary Colors. It's impossible to defend Clinton's record with his zipper, but he was actually a very effective president who got things done for people in spite of the worst media treatment of any president in history (it must be their liberal bias).
Travel Books   |  back to the top
Title Author Rating Comments
Cut Stones and Crossroads Ronald Wright ****1/2 This is the first travel book I ever read, and one of the best. Wright conveys the flavor of Peru in all its ancient glory and squalor.
So Far from God: A Journey to Central America Patrick Marnham *** A travelogue through Central America in the early eighties. Insightful, but didn't really grab me the way Wright did.
A Walk in the Woods : Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail Bill Bryson ****1/2 My first Bryson book. Hilarious if you don't mind someone laughing at himself and others. Lots of good stuff about our vanishing forests, too.
Notes from a Small Island Bill Bryson **** Bryson takes a final tour of Great Britain before moving back to the States. I've only seen a relatively small piece of England, but he really seems to have captured the flavor of the place.
The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America Bill Bryson ***** Bryson's humor at its best. Bryson yearns for a simpler time, when Brylcreem signs were fun and towns were more than strip malls. He travels through most of the States to find what happened to the good old USA.
Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe Bill Bryson ***** Bryson backpacked Europe as a young man, and 20 years later he retraces most of his steps. Funny and informative as always.
In a Sunburned Country Bill Bryson **** I read this book shortly before I traveled to Australia myself, so this book holds a warm place in my heart for introducing me to the Land Down Under. Not as funny, as a whole, as a few others.
I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away Bill Bryson **** Not exactly a travel book, but a commentary on Americana. Funny stuff.
Around the Bloc : My Life in Moscow, Beijing, and Havana Stephanie Elizondo Griest ***1/2 Exactly what the title says. Interesting stuff through the eyes of a young (and often naive) woman.
The Living Great Lakes: Searching for the Heart of the Inland Seas Jerry Dennis **** Having grown up near the shores of Lake Michigan, Dennis became curious about these great inland seas. He decides to hop aboard an old sailing vessel and discover them. Good stuff, especially for those of us who know and love the Great Lakes.
Christian and Philosophy   |  back to the top
Title Author Rating Comments
Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis ***** A thinking man's search for truth and God through deduction. Great stuff.
The Four Loves C.S. Lewis **** All loves are not equal. Some are closer to God's love, others are more like it. Thought provoking with some of his very best prose.
The Screwtape Letters C.S. Lewis ***** My favorite Lewis book, it's actually a fictional account of a demon's attempts to corrupt an individual. Cleverly told through letters from a superior, Lewis clearly lays out the temptations of the human heart.
Miscellaneous   |  back to the top
Title Author Rating Comments
A Short History of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson ***** A science book for everyman. Exhaustive without being exhausting.
Naked Dave Sedaris ***1/2 Bizarre, funny, and semi-autobiographical humor.
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