#0023K: Still Life With Woodpecker by Tom Robbins

This book arrived at my door with my friend in it's hand. Or something to that effect. Still Life was my first venture into the world of Tom Robbins, and I have to say I enjoyed it. His writing style reminded me of a slightly more polished, slightly vulgar Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. That is to say, certain things were uncomfortable, but fluent enough to be amusing rather than offensive... though I feel he lacks the sort of bumbling charm that Vonnegut seems to keep in his pockets.
Still Life was nearly a fractured fairytale. Our main character happens to be a princess with a pet frog. She falls in love with a self-proclaimed outlaw who's got a passion for making things go "boom boom". And on and on, in that fashion for approximately 277 pages.
The description on the book cover calls it "sort of a love story that takes place inside a pack of Camel cigarettes." That sentence is likely the first thing you'll read from the tangible object of the book (aside from the title, of course), the first thing you'll forget about it, and the first thing to make sense once you've finished.
I find little use in trying to describe the narrative, as I think it should just be read, but let me give another thumbs up to the word play employed by Robbins. His wit is rather charming. At the moment, I feel like I'm making this novel out to be something less-than-desirable. Disregard any such notion. 4.5 stars

#0022K: In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

Driving from Connecticut down to North Carolina in the beginning of may, I heard an interview with Michael Pollan on the radio, which I found erudite and most engaging. Then, when I was in line to purchase books for the first session of summer school, I saw that it was 15% off and decided to purchase.
This book opens up a whole world of things we as comsumers hardly think about. The three main lessons are Eat food. Mostly plants. Not a lot. Seems like common sense, yeah? But then, before reading this, I felt like I was a healthy eater. While reading this, I was condemning myself for things that I had bought. The whole food industry is messed up and needs a resurfacing. I highly recommend this book to those who are health conscious and/or curious about the evolutionary history of food as a culture. We have things all wrong, and it is just a matter of time before we start moving in the right direction (which may be back in time!). 5 stars.

#0021K: The Meaning of Everything by Simon Winchester

I got this book waaaay back in September and just got around to reading it in the past month or so. It's about a subject I'm very interested in0 lexicography. More specifically, it was on the process of the conception, creation, and eventual publication of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Winchester writes in a most befitting style, making excellent use of his evident intellect and wide vocabulary, which I greatly appreciated. There's a certain charm to reading about a dictionary and needing a dictionary to further clarify some of the words used. I've got a list next to me as I write of words I learned thanks to The Meaning of Everything.
Winchester is also the author of another book on the OED titled The Professor and The Madman, which is not currently in my possession. I'd given it to my dad for Christmas a few years ago, and I hope to get my hands on it when he's done. The two men referenced by the title were discussed briefly in The Meaning of Everything.
Being a word nerd and hopeful future lexicographer, I give this 5 stars.

#0017A Firefly Lane - Kristen Hannah

Another book from the NYTimes Best Seller List. I try to go between that and by books that someone suggests. This is because I want to get to read things that I would not normally read. I think I should stick to things that I like.

Firefly Lane is about a thirty year long friendship between an over protected shy girl and a beautiful, can't wait to grow up wild child. This book just goes throughout their lives from the 70s to the 2000s. It's really hard trying to explain this book. One of the girls' mom is a druggie and keeps leaving her with her grandma and she's just kind of dumb. Some of the things that she does to her best friend is just awful.

It's good book if you like those "friendship" books. I don't necessarily like them, but it was okay. 3 stars.

#0020K: High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

Let me start by saying that I started this book because I wanted something sort of mindless that could be read in a day. I've had this book for awhile, and felt like I should have read it long ago. Truth be told, I probably shouldn't have read it at all & I certainly hope the movie was better.
Hornby's writing style is... nothing special. Easy enough to read, but easy enough to skim as well. The page layout even left something to be desired. There was a lot of empty space, possibly to make the book seem longer.
The story line was also nothing too great. Typical almost-middle-aged dude in a dead end job trying to make sense of love and previous romances. The only reason I finished this novel was because I was already 200 pages in.
2 stars. And that's being generous.

#0019K: The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

This book has been on my "to read" list for about a year now. It was much funnier than I anticipated and quite a pleasure to read. This was my second novel by Bulgakov, and I must say that his writing style is very easy-going, unlike the density found in most Russian novels.
The premise of The Master and Margarita centers around the devil coming to Moscow and stirring things up with his compatriots, one of which is a black cat named Behemoth. The devil, Woland, turns out to be a world-class prankster and sends many of the characters to the mental institution thanks to his tricks. The Master is a character that is met inside of the institution & Margarita is his former and future lover.
Intertwined in the main story is a story about Pontius Pilate. I can't really say much about that other than it is quite moving and worth the read.
4.33333 stars. I'll need to read this a few times. I have a feeling it will mean more and more each time. Highly recommnded.

#0016A The Chronicles of Shyra: The Stone of Time - Joe Naff

I haven't read a really fantasy book in awhile. I had to get used to different languages and reading about dragons on a normal basis. Not that that's bad at all. You always have to get into a different frame of mind when you read any fantasy or science fiction book.

Shyra is a young princess of Sorenia who on her birthday sets out on a coming of age adventure; which is really riding in a carriage to the next town of Breman. That is not an adventure at all. Little did Shyra know that their vacation...I mean "adventure" gets inturrupted by an army of analets that take her and her best friend Gaiden to Sorenia's enemy castle of Desia. The book follows Shyra and her friends as they are off to find the Desa stone that can control time itself and hopefully bring peace to the world of Darium.

I feel like I'm not explaining this book well. So much happens on each page. The book held my attention well and there is plenty of action in each chapter, but just a little predictable. Maybe I just figure stuff out well. 3.5 stars