- Ancient Child, The by N. Scott Momaday (1990)
[6/10]
"In The Ancient Child, Momaday again presents writing of the same caliber that won him the Pulitzer prize. Although Momaday demonstrates beautiful exposition, the text addresses problems relevant only to Native Americans."
- Bridges of Madison County, The by Robert James Waller (1992)
[5/10]
"Waller creates some of the best romantic writing I have seen, unfortunately the story line of the book ends long before he ran out of words."
- Cradle and All by James Patterson (1980)
[5/10]
"I looked around the Internet and found that Patterson has some very popular and successful books. Rather than trying to find this one (which I bought for five cents at a local library sale), go read one of his bestsellers."
- Dancing Naked by Robert Hodgson Van Wagoner (1999)
[7/10]
"Van Wagoner so successfully portrays both the history of Terry's emotional state and his interaction with the other characters in the present, that he has created a psychological novel that resonates as deeply as Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment yet deals with modern issues such as the effects of generational prejudice."
- Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, The by Chris Fuhrman (1994)
[7/10]
"Fuhrman does an excellent job at recalling the emotional states and physical feelings of first love. He also uses the racial tensions of the 1970s to good effect to show that racial politics affected even eight graders' relationships with their schoolmates."
- Density of Souls, A by Christopher Rice (2000)
[5/10]
"Even though I had some problems with the construction of A Density of Souls, I found the plot reasonably well formed for a first novel. The story keeps you reading because you find the characters interesting although ultimately underdeveloped."
- Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk (1996)
[4/10]
"The story in Fight Club drug on too long without continuing to develop the story beyond escalating the severity of the 'mayhem.'"
- Flight to Canada by Ishmael Reed (1976)
[6/10]
"Reed questions the modern myths of freedom for all men -- implying that the civil rights movement is far from finished. He seems to point out that people are the same today as they were in previous eras. In spite of new technologies, we still tolerate slavery and oppression."
- Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco (1989)
[7/10]
"Often the text gets bogged down by relevant but unnecessarily long historical discourses. Also, Eco writes almost no physical action. His characters make great mental gyrations that only at the end bring about some real danger."
- Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk (1999)
[5/10]
"As the story starts out, you may experience some surprises, but since every page deals with shocking situations, the stimulus quickly wears down and the horrible quickly becomes mundane."
- Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel (1994)
[6/10]
"Esquivel uses cooking as an extended metaphor throughout her story. The recipes and their preparation fit in with the story and have some obvious (and many more understated) meanings."
- Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, The by Sherman Alexie (1993)
[6/10]
"Alexie uses graceful images and often poetic prose to describe reservation life."
- Miracle Life of Edgar Mint, The by Brady Udall (2001)
[9/10]
"If you met Edgar Mint in real life, you probably could not prevent yourself from saying, 'Oh, poor Edgar.' Edgar's life sucks."
- Novel, The by James A. Michener (1991)
[6/10]
"Michener provides an interesting and detailed description of the publishing business from the points of view of fictional characters who are pivotal in bringing books to life: the writer, the editor, the critic, and the reader."
- Old Gringo, The by Carlos Fuentes (1985)
[8/10]
"There is a power evident in the text, and the search for the meaning is part of the enjoyment."
- Papa Married a Mormon by John D. Fitzgerald (1955)
[7/10]
"Fitzgerald relates a touching story about how his father and mother met, married, and started a family in a frontier town of rural Utah."
- Riptide by Marion Smith (1999)
[4/10]
"Smith creates vivid scenes filled with emotional power, but her scenes repeat the same character and plot development without moving into new territory. You can also see Smith's agenda driving the characters' dialog into contrived paths that never get around to answering the real question: What should we do with a heightened awareness of abuse?"
- Road to Wellville, The by T. Coraghessan Boyle (1993)
[7/10]
"Boyle presents the life of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg -- inventor of peanut butter and the corn flake -- at the height of his career and as the director of a famous sanitarium for biological living."
- Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk (1999)
[6/10]
"I found this the most enjoyable of the Palahniuk novels I have read. The plot keeps taking unexpected turns, and Palahniuk avoids overusing his tendency to repeat key phrases throughout the book."
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1961)
[9/10]
"Clearly, the Pulitzer committee thought enough of Harper Lee's book to give it top honors in 1961, but I think some of the social issues from the 1960s that pushed Mockingbird to the top of the list don't have as much relevance today."
- Uncle Will and the Fitzgerald Curse by John D. Fitzgerald (1961)
[6/10]
"You get a pretty clear picture of life in a frontier mining town, and you care about what happens to Will, even though the successes in his life come way too easily."
- Volcano Lover, The: A Romance by Susan Sontag (1992)
[5/10]
"Good steady writing. Steady in the sense of very little variation -- in tone, pace, or style."
- Walk to Remember, A by Nicholas Sparks (1999)
[5/10]
"Some stories tug at your heartstrings. Others, like Nicholas Sparks's A Walk to Remember try so hard to tug at your heart that you can't help but grow annoyed at the attempt."
- Was: A Novel by Geoff Ryman (1992)
[7/10]
"Ryman retells the story of Dorothy Gael from L. Frank Baum's Oz stories, but Ryman takes a completely opposite perspective -- that one should escape from 'home', people only find happiness in childhood fantasy, and we spend our entire lives trying to overcome the tragic day when someone crushed our fantasies."
Average score: 6.17
