Inferno by Dan Brown (#11, Fiction)

I'm always going to like this book more than others do, or more than it deserves because I read it one week before going to Italy.  I had no idea it was about Italy, let alone took place in Florence and Venice--two of the three places I would be visiting just a week away. 

I certainly took a closer look above me as I crossed the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, and wowed my friends with my knowledge of the Doge Palace in Venice.  But, that said, this one wasn't your best Mr. Brown.

Upon quick reflection I was like, wow, solid wrap up there at the end.  But the more I thought about it and talked about it I realized that the entire "quest" was pointless.  No one died, the catastrophe was not averted, and basically everyone was running around for no reason. 

It's been a slow but continual decline in interest with each book, but I'm sure I'll jump on the bandwagon next time around anyway.

2 out of 5

Known to Evil by Walter Mosley (#14, Fiction)

My reading guilty pleasure is still the crime genre.  Give me a crime book and the chances are good that I will finish it in less than 48 hours.

I liked this author.  It's suspenseful and well thought out, but you're not waiting for that huge major plot twist that usually is a huge let down.  No let down here.  I got what I paid for with this book (free) and it was exactly what I wanted.

How do I even rate this?  Guilty pleasures should have a whole rating scale of their own.

Guilty pleasure: 3/5

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (#13, Nonfiction)

Did you know that the World's Fair in Chicago was a tribute to Christopher Columbus?  Nope, me either.  Or that Columbus Day became a holiday after the fair concluded? 

I learned many things about Chicago, architecture and psychopaths in this well researched (and possibly a bit fact heavy) historic book.

There is a 100 percent chance that I started doing a lot of skimming about 150 pages in, I can only tolerate so many facts about buildings and landscape.  But, I didn't skim the sections on creepy H.H. Holmes, and how he lured and murdered numerous young women in the late 19th century.

3.5/5

Half Broke Horses: A True-Life Novel by Jeannette Walls (#12, Fiction/Nonfiction blend)

I went into this one with very high expectations.  The Glass Castle continues to sit near the top of my "best of" nonfiction book list, but Half Broke Horses came up short.  The book had me hooked at the beginning--it is the story of Jeannette's grandmother's life in the wild, wild west.  The book is technically fiction, but all the stories are based off of Grandma Lily, and she certainly had many stories worth telling.  I don't know if it was the voice Walls wrote in, trying to capture her Grandmother's language quirks, or the piecemeal storytelling but I found myself flipping very quickly skimming through the second half to just get to the end.

2.5 out of 5.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy (#10, Fiction)

I've been hearing people recommend The Road for years.  I knew it was post-apocalyptic, but I did not know what else to expect.  I read another Cormac book years ago, so I had an idea of his writing style.  I wasn't completely blown away by the book like some people, but I found the topic, writing and imagery very intense and well-done.

4 out of 5.

Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay (#9, Fiction)

I seem to be on a bit of a WWII kick this year.  Two out of nine so far, and I have another sitting on my book shelf waiting to be picked up--it's all so uplifting...

I enjoyed this book, it was easy to read and fast.  I'm always a fan of learning something new via historical fiction, but it was no literary masterpiece.

2.5/5

Room by Emma Donoghue (#8, Fiction)

I liked this book.  It comes at a super messed up topic with a fresh and interesting take.  I'm not a huge fan of having the child as the narrator, but you get use to it and it's not as bad as it could be. I liked how the author was able to take this completely awful subject of kidnapping and rape and have it be the basis of the book, but never really talk about it.  This isn't a book about kidnapping, it's a book about the relationship between a mother and a child and how they deal with joining, or rejoining society after years of only having each other. 

3.5/5