Ocean City Free Public Library Book Blog

What a sad little novel this was. Set in current day England, the novel is split into 4 different perspectives - best friends Dara and Abigail, Abigail's boyfriend Sean, and Dara's father Cameron. The narrative deftly weaves together all four characters, though each individual has to deal with their respective personal triumphs and tragedies (e.g. Sean's struggle to abandon his years-long dissertation on Keats, Abigail's infidelity, etc). The prose is tight, but incredibly moving and emotional.

As a major fan of the film, I decided to give the novel a whirl. Goldman's book is designed to appear as an abridged version of a much larger satiric work by S. Morgenstern, a Florinese (fictitious) writer. I'm not going to lie - I actually believed all of this at first, so color me naive. The story is about murder, magic, torture, friendship, fencing, monsters and above all else, true love. Through various twists and turns, Princess Buttercup is about to marry the evil Prince Humperdinck, though her heart belongs to Westley. Add a bunch of wacky and wonderful characters to the mix and you have a fabulous story for the ages. Goldman also was in charge of writing the screenplay to the film, so the bulk of the book made the leap onto the big screen, including choice bits of dialogue, which is awesome. "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

The story of a man growing younger rather than older, Greer's novel is both heartbreaking and kind of boring. The novel centers on Max as he struggles to accept his strange aging situation when, all the while, he longs for the love and desire of Alice. As he ages, Max has 3 chances to be in Alice's life, though each opportunity is brief and rife with roadblocks. It was an ok read...or maybe I'm just having an off week. Plus, I'm pretty sure there's some movie with Brad Pitt coming out that's basically a rip off of the book.

At the risk of sounding vapid, whoa, this book is a total downer... Winner of, like, a zillion awards (including the Pulitzer!), The Road is a post-apocalyptic tale about a man and his son as they wander around the United States trying to survive from cannibals and the elements fueled by canned goods and their fierce love for each other. The themes of love, God, morality and mortality all tie in together into one seamless piece. McCarthy's work is dark and his imagery is brutal at times (lots of dead bodies everywhere), but it's still an oddly beautiful book. Depressing as all hell, but a powerfully moving read.

(Before I give my schpiel with this book, let me just say that if you ever get a chance to go see David Sedaris read, you should definitely jump at the opportunity. I've seen him about 4 times now and every time is absolutely hysterical. His voice is what really sells his materials and makes his material go from amusing to laugh out loud. As a side note, the 2 times I've met him afterwards during his book-signing, I totally made a jack ass out of myself and I also think he might have hit on my boyfriend too.) Anyway, this is Sedaris' 6th book and contains the same witty vignettes and wily anecdotes about his life in France, his family, and ever-so-patient boyfriend Hugh. The title refers to the longest story in the book in which Sedaris travels to Tokyo in an effort to quit smoking. The great thing about all of David Sedaris' stuff is that it's all so relatable and quirky in a "yeah, you know you're right!" kind of way. Whether it's trying to keep ...

Fans of the E! show "Chelsea Lately" will undoubtedly love Handler's newest book for its bitter sarcasm, witty dialogue and humorous anecdotes. Handler spends the bulk of her book insulting and offending people, though I personally like that kind of thing. The book is more of a memoir (though in this day and age, who knows how to separate fact from mostly-fact) but a lot of the stories are more compelling than you would think. Handler is also kind of sweet when it comes to depicting her family. Sweet in a smart-ass kind of way. Overall, a pretty fast and amusing read.

Boy, this was a meaty read - full of violence, sex, mystery, love, murder, betrayal, war...the list goes on. Spanning 3 decades, Pillars explores life in the middle ages in England as the small town of Kingsbridge struggles to build a grand cathedral. For a book this size, there are a few main characters - Prior Philip, who must navigate corrupt waters to get his cathedral built, Tom Builder and his stepson Jack, who are master masons, and Aliena, a steely and independent woman. Does the cathedral get built? You'll have to read to find out... The book is close to 1,000 pages long, but it's worth the time. You can see why Oprah selected it for her book club.Follett, who usually writers thrillers, does a pretty good job with this one. My only complaint is the fact that his characters live to be like 60 or 70. I'm pretty sure in 1142 AD, you were lucky if you made it to 40.