Big Enough Umbrella

Another page-turner. Got a little confusing at the end.

From the old bookshelf, copyright 1943. I thought the letters supposedly written to a husband away at war were annoying.

None of the sequels to Irish Gold have been great. This one was readable, but I sure got tired of reading how beautiful, smart, talented, loving, rich, etc. the heroine is.

I kept thinking I was about to be engrossed in this book but somehow I just never was, and then the book was over and it was too late.

A re-read -- I first read this at least 10 years ago. Very absorbing story and meaningful on several levels.

The usual Crichton book -- fast paced, easy to read and hard to put down, and at the end you feel kind of let down because the big shock or twist you were waiting for falls short.

The author tried too hard to make it a "classic dark fairy tale." Definitely dark, but the whole thing felt forced, including one "humorous" chapter that I just rolled my eyes at.

The third book in this series was good, better than the second (Forever Odd). It still suffered from some over-writing, but the hero is so likable and well-drawn that it's OK.

Interesting book with a unique narrator. The book would have been amusing if the events weren't pretty sad.

I got involved in the lives of the two main characters, but got no satisfaction at the end of the book, or really any wrap-up of some side plots.

The pseudo-religious mystical apocalyptic made-for-cinema "thriller" genre should have had its beginning AND end with The Da Vinci Code. I found this book an annoying addition.

Finally! A recently-written engrossing book that reads like a literary classic. A great gothic novel of uncovering dark family secrets, full of English moors and mad relatives, crumbling mansions and maybe a ghost or two.

I think this is my favorite of Tyler's books so far. They're not the most exciting, but the characters are always delicious.

This was more credible than the chick lit I figured it would be. Good read.

I enjoyed the slow tale of two sisters, but it seemed pointless in many spots.

Crime and detectives, not my usual genre. It was shallow, but a quick fun read. I'll read more in the series, just for the escape.

This read like it had been churned out on an assembly line. I found it hard to buy the "big twist."

The historical mystery portion of this book bored me so much I skipped over those chapters. The remainder was tolerable but still not great.

Are we to believe from watching detective shows and reading detective books that SO many diabolical and drama-queen sociopathic murderers are running around out there?

Did the author really take this seriously while she was writing it? I didn't while I was reading it.

Fforde's British romances aren't thrilling or passionate, but they're warm, realistic, and full of heart.

Started slow but I became engrossed over halfway through. Supporting characters made the story.

I liked the way this story was broken into vignettes that showed the character's development over different eras of her life. Funny and sincere.

I didn't care for this. I didn't like the characters and I thought the writing was surprisingly crude in places.

I got quite caught up in this book. I was really rooting for the characters. I felt like the end missed something important that I can't quite put my finger on.

This one was really good. The portrayal of relationships -- friendship, marriage, and parent/child -- rang true, and the tension of current and past lives colliding was gripping.

I wasn't impressed. Seems like all the bestselling thriller writers use the same template and just stuff a random plot into it.

Hoffman is so well-reviewed I thought I'd give her another chance (after Here On Earth), but I didn't care for this one either. Again, I didn't like or believe the characters.

This was an absorbing story, with a believable heroine, and well-written. I only wish it had ceased to be depressing earlier than the last chapter or so.

Breezy, predictable romance -- short and with a sweetness to it.

Passable mystery, pretty standard. The large cast of characters got confusing.

The original classic Crichton. Exciting story that builds and builds but doesn't have a strong enough payoff at the end.

The story wasn't bad, but lost plausibility at the end and suffered from a lack of professional editing.

I should not have let this book's usual sci-fi classification put me off so long. The story transcended genre; it was more than sci-fi, a war story, or a coming-of-age novel. It was cerebral and multi-layered -- but at the same time it was a simple great story at the core.

Not many are better than Anne Tyler at writing real life. At the end of this novel I felt like the characters were a branch of my own family. I liked it despite the kind of futile feeling I was left with.

A re-read, in preparation to re-read Book 6 and then move on the grand finale. I think I enjoyed this book more the second time around. I thought the ellipsis (...) was overused to the point of annoyance... but you have to give the author credit for knowing how to spin an exciting tale that can easily pull off 830 pages.

Another re-read. Again, this book was better on the second read. My only complaint would be a lot of loose ends that will hopefully be tied up in the next book.

Brilliant conclusion to the most talked-about book series ever. It was a pretty awesome ride and while I'm sad it's over, I'm satisfied.

An overtly gimmicky mystery (coffee-themed). Pretty formulaic.

Much of this book was too crass and crude for my taste. I must say that the message and ending were very different than what I expected. I appreciated the refreshing take on an old theme.

An entertaining book in a unique voice. The young protagonist makes you root for him.

King can make you feel any emotion, bulls-eye. This book runs the whole gamut. It was interesting reading a serial novel without having to wait for the next installments. Great book, and the movie stayed very close.

I like the characters in this series, but even so they behave too stereotypically sometimes. The dialogue is stilted, too. This one was better than the last (Breaking Faith) but wasn't great.

Deliciously sinister and hard to put down, both because I was dying to find out what happened next and because the characters felt like friends. I don't require a perfectly clean ending, but this one disappointingly left some major things unexplained.

This book started out wickedly laugh-out-loud funny and dead-on, ala "Office Space," and it never quit being funny, but seamlessly added on a surprising depth of emotion. All through the second half it got better and wasn't merely hilarious, but also good. And the end was perfect, where you read the last line a few times over, smiling and satisfied.

Good psychological exploration of growing up, with the unique experience of being "a polio" at a rehabilitation hospital in Georgia in the 1950s.

This one plodded. The characters never came alive, and had the bad habit of thinking at least one rhetorical question in each paragraph. Didn't this book have an editor?

Rich and colorful story that was at turns fun and horrifying. Thought-provoking all the way, and left me thinking about it for a long time after I was finished.

Fascinating, and educational! Full of the things you always wondered about dead bodies but were afraid to ask. The author's sharp wit made me laugh out loud, but never offended me or disrespected the dead.

Great sequel to Ender's Game. This was very different and more complex than the first, but in the same way, it transcended a science fiction label and was just a great book.

This was supposed to be a novel of romantic suspense. There was some decent suspense at the beginning, but it was tedious and forced by the end, and the romance component was dull.

Practically required reading when I was an Adventist pre-teen, but quite dated now. It's preachy, but it was meant to be. It still gave some good insights, as well as goosebumps at the end of the book, which is also the end of the world.

The criminal investigation in this one was pretty thinly drawn. The characters and their complex relationships are what you'd better be reading for, or you'll be disappointed.

Really funny (I woke the baby up with my laughing) and not very deep. Quick read.

Dog psychology book that made enough sense to make me feel guilty about the way I treat my dog.

Read like a lame action movie. Two-dimensional and not believable.

Sequel to 2nd Chance, and I basically have the same complaint. Formulaic. Plus, I kept thinking, while reading, that the heroine thinks like a man would think a woman thinks. I think...