What is the last book you read, and your rating?

[Fran]

Last night I finished Lamb by Bonnie Nadzam
What to say about this book? It is difficult to come away from it without a creepy, unpleasant feeling. It is disturbing & it is immediately obvious why there have been comparisons to Lolita. A 50-something male, divorced and recently bereaved manipulates an 11 year old child (and it is important to remember this is a child) into travelling to a remote western US state with him. This is kidnapping despite the efforts made to dress it up as an adventurous road novel. The child is a bit of a loner & feeling excluded as many adolescent children do. She is from a mildly disfunctional but not entirely unloving family and is seduced by David Lamb's promise of a rural idyl with horses, mountains & freedom - a beguiling idylic childhood to a child reared in urban sprawl.
David Lamb, not entirely an unpleasant character, is clearly disfunctional and damaged. He has redeeming features but his treatment of the women in his life and his selfobsession and narcissism really annoyed me.
I liked the child, Tommy (why a boys name I wonder?), and as the book progressed I grew to care deeply for her and the more I like her the less I could tolerate David.
Rather like Lolita the reader has an unpleasant rather voyeuristic feeling reading this book but unlike Lolita the quality of the writing is not good enough compensation. I did not enjoy or even particularly like the book & I'd give it a 2/5*

[A24]

Last night I finished Lamb by Bonnie Nadzam
What to say about this book? It is difficult to come away from it without a creepy, unpleasant feeling. It is disturbing & it is immediately obvious why there have been comparisons to Lolita. A 50-something male, divorced and recently bereaved manipulates an 11 year old child (and it is important to remember this is a child) into travelling to a remote western US state with him. This is kidnapping despite the efforts made to dress it up as an adventurous road novel. The child is a bit of a loner & feeling excluded as many adolescent children do. She is from a mildly disfunctional but not entirely unloving family and is seduced by David Lamb's promise of a rural idyl with horses, mountains & freedom - a beguiling idylic childhood to a child reared in urban sprawl.
David Lamb, not entirely an unpleasant character, is clearly disfunctional and damaged. He has redeeming features but his treatment of the women in his life and his selfobsession and narcissism really annoyed me.
I liked the child, Tommy (why a boys name I wonder?), and as the book progressed I grew to care deeply for her and the more I like her the less I could tolerate David.
Rather like Lolita the reader has an unpleasant rather voyeuristic feeling reading this book but unlike Lolita the quality of the writing is not good enough compensation. I did not enjoy or even particularly like the book & I'd give it a 2/5*

It does sound rather creepy Fran!

[DATo]

Fran,

I have not read Lamb but I know the story reasonably well. David is a true sexual predator while with Humbert (Lolita) the accusation is open to question. Humbert never acts upon his obsession with Lolita but internalizes it while David does act upon the seduction of Tommy. Humbert, in fact, is ultimately an avenging angel in behalf of Lolita. It begs the question as to whether Nazdam was intentionally trying to play out what would have happened in the Nabokov novel had Lolita not been abducted from Humbert because up to the time of Lolita's abduction both stories were moving along parallel lines.

[adiagerdel]

The last book I read was Please Love Me by Keith Miller. I would rate at a three. To me this book was slow and not my taste. It seemed to take forever to read. It is based on a true life experience. Although it did make me think about my life and how I view things.

[Bighuey]

Zoe's Revenge by M.Y. Halidom. Fair story, kind of contrived. Its as the author was making it up as he went along. About a man who met a slutty girl and fell for for her in a big way.She treats him like crap cleans him out of all his money and runs off with this ugly no-account bum. He gets her pregnant and brings her back to the first guy, says Im done with her. You can have her back. The guy is tickled to get her back, as he is madly infatuated with her. She shows her true feelings, tells him she dosent love him, he's a dumb ass and she just wanted him for his money. She laughs at him for being so stupid, he goes off the deep end and strangles her. Him and a doctor friend cut her up in pieces and destroy them except for the bones. It starts to get really stupid here. They put the bones back together and make a complete skeleton, sell it to an artist who makes a lay model from it by covering it with clay and stuffing. The thing comes to life and chases her murderer all over the place from France to New York. The cops catch it a couple times, put it in jail but it beats the crap out of the cops and escapes. It haunts the guy and his girlfriend chasing them around and beats the crap out of a bunch of people and kills one guy. Dumb story, I was going to give up on it about a third into it, but its one of those you have to keep reading to find out what happens. Dont bother with this one, waste of time.

[llevine2934]

Enders game by Orson Scott Card. 5/5
I Loved everything about this book and I could have easily been a stand alone. It was constantly getting my attention.

[prisailurophile]

J.C. Peterson's Where's Sandra. Click here for my review: http://pressedupinabook.com/?p=2067

[B_elk123]

A New Hunger by Isaac Marion a prequel to Warm Bodies both are excellent and a give a meaningful look to why society may fall. I salivate waiting for the next installment.

[Bighuey]

I listened to an X Minus One audio of Robert Heinlein"s Green Hills of Earth. Moving story, this was a great adaptation of the story. Sad ending.

[Geneen Karstens]

I just finished Ian Rankin's latest Rebus book Standing in Another Man's Grave. John Rebus has retired from the police force but given a job working cold cases. He finds a series of missing girls beginning in 2002 and more every three years after. They all disappear along Hwy A29. The mother of one of the girls gets Rebus interested in solving these cases. It, of course gets Rebus into trouble with HQ because he's overstepping his bounds. However, protocols don't bother Rebus. He gets together with his former sidekick Siobhan Clarke to find the missing girls. Ian Rankin has a way of pulling you into the book and won't let you out until the very end. Really recommend this book to all mystery readers. Definitely 5

[Book Drifter]

I read Evelyn Waugh's Vile Bodies. I'd give it 3.5/5 stars for sheer drama and frippery!

[Jo Ledamun]

4 out of 5 for The Cuckoo's Calling by JK Rowling - a really enjoyable modern day detective story

[batessurveys]

The Talisman by Stephen King

On a scale of 1-10, I'd give it about an 8. It's one of my favorite books by him.

[kassie_2000]

Last book I read (before the book I'm currently reading) was Stephen King's "The Green Mile." Wolfed it down ^_^

[dhomespot]

I just finished Oiorpata by Richard Ferguson and gave it a 4/4 star rating. It was a good spy thriller that actually had me yelling and gasping out loud. I also finished Forsaken by B.J. Daniels this week. Also a good thriller and also romance, that kept my total interest.