The andromeda strain

So, yet another book by Michael Crichton. Guess what? I really like him. I swear I have learned more from him than all of my years of schooling. This book, The Andromeda Strain, is a classic. But I have to say, this is not one of my favorite books by him. Quite the contrary in fact, I think it may be my least favorite. For the sole reason it just seemed like he got tired of writing it and just ended it in the cleanest and quickest way possible. I believe he got sick of making up and researching obscure medical facts. Which I can't blame him for. I generally like the book, but, like I said, there were more serious medical and biological facts than I needed. In the final analysis Crichton writes a spellbinding novel with a seemingly real reality for all of his characters. So in concluion 8 pretzel bites.

TEE

Remember "The Lottery?"

We Have Always Lived in the Castle

This is a novel by Shirley Jackson, who's the woman who wrote that short story "The Lottery" that so many people seem to be assigned to read in school. This book is relatively short; only 146 pages. At the beginning of the novel, we are introduced to the narrator, Mary Katherine (a.k.a Merricat) who is 18 but seems much younger. She lives with her older sister, Constance, her invalid uncle, Julian, and her faithful cat, Jonas. The village people hate Merricat and Constance, and for the most part the pair hide out in their house. The rest of their family was murdered.

Parts of the story were intriguing, and one thing I liked about it was that it was a little vague in what time it was set. There was no fantasy element, yet everything in the story felt a bit fantastical. I also think Jackson did an excellent job with her characters; they felt complex. I enjoyed the book, but it didn't thoroughly grip me. There's was one point where I thought there was going to be a major twist, and then... there wasn't. There were also times when I felt as though something was being built up to, and then whatever it was wasn't as big as I'd expected. I give this book 7 pretzel bites.

KAY

Brooklyn, Brooklyn, take me in

The Brooklyn Follies

Hmm. Let's see. How can I sum up what this novel (by Paul Auster) is about? It's not really about just one thing. It's about broken families, forgery, almost dying, actually dying, classic literature, and escape. That's a pretty nice collection of topics. However, I will start by saying that I found the narrator irritating. He was easily my least favorite of all the characters in the entire book. Perhaps because of this, I liked the shorter stories of the past within the main story better than the main story itself. I never found myself bored of the book. In fact, it was something I was often in the mood to read, and I enjoyed it while I was reading. That being said, I think it lost a little steam towards the end, and honestly, it failed to make much of an impression on me. I think, in the end, it just didn't make me feel much of anything. 7 pretzel bites

KAY