One Day, David Nicholls

Average Rating: 6.3
Menu: (Spiked) Hot Chocolate, Gorgonzola and spinach penne with chicken, Fundamiddles!

Jennifer: 4.0 - Read 1/2, tried book on tap, read synopsis, finally watched movie. It was boring. Things occurred without much meaning.

Tina: 6.0 - Took awhile to get into. Rooting for Emma; feel bad for her. Death out of left field right after getting good. Good story, somewhat memorable but not a great format.

Angie: 7.0 - Really liked it after getting into it. Reflective of life at the time. Disliked ending and had to re-read, very abrupt.

Rebecca: 7.0 - Read 1/2, skimmed rest. Hard to start but enjoyed once reading. Didn't understand parts. quick ending without much meaning. Could have been written much shorter.

Anne: 7.5 (via email)

This Beautiful Life, Helen Schulman

Average Rating: 5.6
Menu: PF Chang's Extravaganza! 


Angie: 6 - Really only read about 60% of the book and skimmed the rest.  Was more sexual than expected.  Relavant topic, but not well written.


Rebecca: 6 - Interesting story but could have been executed better.  Didn't like writing style.  Tried too hard to write "golden sentences" but didn't work well.


Dana: 5.5 - Character development was inconsistent making it difficult to grasp characters' personalities except for the youngest daughter.  Important topic for parents, but seemed like student writing.


Anne: 5 - Character development was poor.  Felt ending was not tied up and had too many loose ends.  Difficult to relate to characters over long term with lots of tangents and inconsistency in characters' actions and decisions.  Important topic, but didn't feel there was a concise message or lesson.  Not well written.


Tina: 5 - Intrigued by topic but was not well executed at all.  Storyline and character development felt very choppy and inconsistent.  Perhaps this is realistic to how people would react to such a difficult situation, but it did not make for a good story.


Jennifer: 6.5 - The book started our slowly and did not grab my attention.  It seemed semi unrealistic how the Daisy parents were acting before the incident and completely out of her life.    It did show though how easy it is just to forward 1 e-mail or message on and how it can spread so quickly.  It is important to watch what you write down because it might be sent off anywhere. 


Becky: 5.5 - Unfortunately, I kept waiting for it to get interesting.  I wanted more from it.  I liked the overall message of the book, just felt it could have been told in about 200 less pages.  I think it was the authors intent, but I liked the characters less as the book went on.  Perhaps its one that I will think of later....which usually indicates a good book.

Forever, Pete Hamill

Average Rating: 6.6
Menu: Artichoke Cheese Dip, "New York Style" pizza, "New York" Chocolate Cheesecake

Dana: N/A (pg. 25) - $33.50 due in library late fees since October.

Tina: 7.5 - Spans a long time. Interested in beginning and end, but middle was a little slow. Didn't get history of New York as much as expected.

Angie: 7.0 (pg. 400) - Liked it once he got to New York. Disturbed at beginning when in colony and slept with Mary. Want to finish.

Jennifer: 6.5 - Like first 100 and last 100 pages, middle was a bit painful. Annoyed that he was going to live forever. Thought he was an angry person - for killing so many people.

Becky: 5.0 (1/2 way) - Felt like it went on forever. Ready to learn about New York, but lost story of him and his character. Too many things happening.

Anne: 6.0 (pg. 418) - Excited about first 100 pages. Got confused with Pillars of the Earth. same thing over and over; war, people fight and die. Like a guy movie over and over. Sanitation made me nauseous. Not being able to leave Manhatten was weird.

Rebecca: 7.5 - Great concept, but could've been done better. Some parts were confusing, like how he got eternal life. Thought ending was good. Too many pieces of history were missing. Each part was pretty good, but didn't feel like there was a strong enough thread to keep it all together.

Foreign Babes in Beijing, by Rachel DeWoskin

Average Rating: 6.4
Menu: Help Ladies, I know there was a delicious salad and meat....but Jenny, please remind us of the details.

Anne: 6.0 - Not as good as the hype. Enjoyed learning about the culture and cultural differences.

Becky: 6.5 - Liked learning about the Chinese culture. Didn't get into the story. Didn't see the poetry in her writing.

Jenny: 6.5 - Didn't like as much as thought. Interesting observations by the author but not compelling, outrageous or funny.

Jennifer: 6.0 - Thrown off by the Chinese language. Liked the beginning and the end, lackluster in the middle. Somewhat repetitive.

Tina: 7.0 - Interesting. Can relate to some of the experiences. Thought she was not insightful for having spent so much time there.

Dana: 6.0 - Wasn't drawn into the book, nor did she warm up to the author

Rachel: N/A

Angie: 6.5 - Lost momentum after the beginning.

Rebecca: 6.5 - Thought it would be funnier and more gripping. Liked first and second fifths of the book, not the third or forth fifths and then liked the last fifth.

Band of Sisters, by Kirsten Holmstedt

Average Rating: 6.8
Menu: Curry Chicken, Greek Salad, Naan, Cupcakes from Cupcake
(Ethnic food from Iraq, plus dessert I couldn't get while I was there)

Rachel: 9.5 - Very much liked this book, especially the solid stories from each individual soldier. Eye opening! Found a couple of the stories more interesting than the others, like the one about the two soldiers dating at war.

Tina: 6.5 - Liked the idea of the stories and book but thought it was poorly written. Was bothered by the picture of the author in the back. Felt the book was too much about the author and felt she wrote in a jargon that was too condescending. Liked the individual stories but wanted to know more.

Sara: 5.5 (from Chicago) - Was excited to read this book; however, she didn't think it did well at describing the war. She also felt the author wrote in a condescending manner. Liked the stories of the women with children at home and how as a mother their maternal nature kicked in when taking care of their soldiers.

Rebecca: 5.5 - Glad the book exists and that we read it. The writing was poor - it took away from the stories. There wasn't good flow. Thought if it was told in the first person with footnotes it would have been a much better book. Wanted more personal views of their wartime experiences. Loved the pictures.

Anne: 7.0 - Liked the stories but thought the book was choppy. Better if it was written in the first person. Loved the pictures. Really enjoyed reading about the way soldiers train for war, then get tested in war - the real thing. She thought this was very intense. (which it is).

Dana: 6.0 - She felt the author asked each soldier the same set of questions. And, the author did a poor job (not the real expression used).

Becky: 7.5 - This book was exactly what I needed to read after being home from Iraq for 6 months. I wanted my friends to have other accounts of the war to build on instead of just mine. I needed them to understand me a little more instead of me being in my own world, adjusting. I also needed to relate to something, have something that was coming from the same vein as most of my thoughts these days.
I think the author should have stated in the beginning that this was a thesis - turned into book. Also, she should have stated that her thesis was that women should be allowed on the front lines. She doesn't state this until the end. I know its extremely hard to tell your story, especially since most don't understand your jargon, many don't want to hear it, and you don't feel it's interesting being just a soldier (most soldiers don't think of themselves as special, honorable, heroes - we went to war, like we were supposed to, like we were trained to do). I could write a book about this........perhaps.

Angie: Not finished enough to give good rating

The Good Soldier, by Ford Maddox Ford

Average Rating: 6.4

Sara: 8.5 - Character development spectacular. Beginning slow and confusing. Told like fireside story. By the end understood why it was so confusing at the beginning. Hard time deciding who was bad. Can look at it in different ways and come out with different answers. Wanted to know more.

Tina: 6.0 (pg. 163) - Confusing. Realized I like straight forward writing, don't need "golden sentences". Likes more journalistic writing. More like him thinking than straight forward. Thought narrator was stupid. Makes you realize how times have changed.

Rachel: N/A (through part 1) - Language hard, want to have read.

Dana: N/A (don't have book)

Anne: N/A (just finished The Glass Castle)

Rebecca: 7.0 (pg. 137) - Beginning confusing. Don't like randomness, but appreciate it (due to how I would tell the story). As well, his lack of realization reminds me of how I would look at the situation. If I would have known the story in advance, I think I would have enjoyed reading it more.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter, by Kim Edwards

Average Rating: 6.7

Tina: 6.5 - Liked idea of story, wanted to see what happened very surface level, does a mother "know"? Would she be different if Phoebe actually died? David probably did Caroline/Phoebe a favor.

Anne: 6.0 - Excited about concept by disappointed in direction it went. Premise of how a secret affects relationship, didn't like Rosemary story. David - bad father. Thought Paul was gay. Secret is what tore family apart.

Dana: 7.0 - Didn't like Norah's character, didn't like David or their marriage, was afraid of Al and thought he'd do something bad. Another Tangent. Great idea for story but marriage was a turn off.

Sara: 6.5 - Good premise, but thought it was shallow, didn't understand Norah's long term grief. Thought Caroline was made out as a hero but also made mistakes - selfish to take Phoebe. Al was weird.

Rebecca: 6.0 - Idea had potential but writer screwed it up. Went into too much background about David but could have taked more about other characters. Anti-climatic when Paul and Phoebe meet. While did Caroline contat Norah? Thanks that Norah/David coldn't have survived children anayway and it would not have been any better if they kept Phoebe.

Rachel: 7.0 - Beginning good, didn't stay as interesting. Character development weak, didn't explain their motivations. Didn't go more into twins of mother's intuition. No big moment.

Prep, by Curtis Sittenfeld

Average Rating: 6.2

Erika: 7.0 - Easy to read, liked to hear the stories of how she grew. Related to the things she went through.

Tina: 6.5 - Couldn't stop reading this book, but it annoyed the crap out of me! Insecruity consumed her - got very frustrated - parts made me laugh though. Ending was abrubt - ending wasn't satisfying.

Sara: 5.0 - Lee drove me nuts! I was angry how it ended. Her personality was frustrating. Didn't feel like Lee did not learn or grow - she wasn't open minded or caring.

Rebecca: 5.5 - I was addicted to the book, but Lee bugged me. She was completely self-loathing. She expected people to think the best of her even though she thought the worst of herself. She didn't try or care about things.

Dana: 6.5 - I thought Lee was very pathetic. She over analyzed everything.

Rachel: 7.0 - Being from a small private school, but not wealthy, I could relate a little bit. But Lee was way too passive aggressive. She was very hypocritical.

Anne: 8.0 - She was very immature. Her inner monologue made me laugh. She also always did the opposite of what she should have.

In the Lake of the Woods, by Tim O'Brien

Average Rating: 6.0

Becky: 7.5 - Liked mystery.

Molly: 7.0 - Got weird with no explanation - more background. Liked mystery. Thinks he killed her. Should of explained more of abortion past.

Tina: 7.0 - Wanted an ending. Forces you to be an outsider - didn't get.

Sara: 5.0 - Similar to Molly. More of love story than mystery. Not enough info.

Rebecca: 6.0 - Should have had more explanation. Knew end was open. Doesn't have a prediction. Apathetic. Not enough info.

Dija: 3.75 - Didn't like magical part. A lot of violence. Thinks he killed her.

Erika: 6.0 -Didn't like quote chapters. Knew of no ending. Either ran away together or he killed her.

Rachel: 6.5 - Liked hypotheses, but not quote chapters. Liked psychology parts. War out of proportion. He killed her, but lack of evidence.

Dana: 4.5 - Likes evidence parts. He was off beat and she deserved more. Convinced he killed her.

Anne: 6.0 - Didn't like evidence. Wanted it to be a great love story, but wasn't. Felt sorry for her for saving her happiness. Don't think they ran off.