4 Mini-Reviews in 4 Sentences

Since I finished 5 books in the read-a-thon, I am now really behind on my reviews. I have been having a difficult time keeping up with my reviews in the past several months, so I'm going to be VERY brief--I'm going to try to do each review in only 4 sentences. We'll see how this goes!! (I am going to write a "normal" review for My Antonia since I only read part of it during the read-a-thon, and it is one of my books for the Classics Challenge).

Matrimony by Joshua Henkin

Julian Wainwright is an aspiring writer who falls in love in college. As he matures into a full-fledged adult, his life does not take the path he imagined, but he learns the value of love, trust, friendship and family.

As many people have mentioned in their reviews, this was definitely a character-driven novel, which I really like. The story is fairly slow-paced, but an enjoyable read.

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Fire in the Blood by Irene Nemirovsky

Silvio is an older man who lives in a small French village, and is most content when he is completely alone in his small house with a bottle of wine. He tries not to remember the love from his youth, and what secrets surround that love--secrets only known to himself and one other.

I was disappointed in this novel, but maybe because I was reading it quickly during the read-a-thon. I felt no connection with any of the characters and though I was surprised to read the unexpected ending, I was a bit glad the novel was over.

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The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

A very short tale about how the Queen of England accidentally checks out a book from a travelling library and her life and habits change dramatically. Her advisers don't know what has gotten into her, and they don't think it's a good idea for the Queen to always have her nose in a book.

Though there are many great bookish quotes, I was also a bit disappointed in this book as well. Though I love reading myself, so I can understand what it is like to want to do nothing else but read, I did not really find this book to be amusing or thought-provoking. (Sorry)

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Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Tristran Thorn is a young man who will do anything to capture the heart of the beautiful Victoria Forester. When he and Victoria see a falling star one evening, Tristran makes a daring promise that he will go through the forbidden gap in the Wall to find the fallen star and bring it back, if Victoria in turn will give him a kiss and her hand.

Stardust has a bit of everything that makes a story fun to read and memorable--adventure, magic, betrayal, a hero and love. This is my first Gaiman book, and it will not be my last!

Whew--I did it! It is hard to be so brief because I have a lot more to say about several of these books. I think most of them have been reviewed about a million times though, so I probably don't have anything new to say!

All four books completed April 18-19, 2009

Number of pages: Matrimony-291; Fire in the Blood-138; The Uncommon Reader-120; Stardust-333