Margot Ghysels Ghysels itibaren Daryal, Respublika Severnaya Osetiya-Alaniya, Rusya
Basically a collection of editorials by an astrophysicist woven into a relatively coherent book. Tyson presents mind blowing astronomical facts including star birth, the complexity of gravity and the possibile means of space travel.
This book was ok. Some of the writing was beautiful. The descriptions of Wales were especially lovely and gave a real sense of place. Still, the story did not move me as much as I wanted. After a wonderful start, I felt the story really lagged. The introductions to the places and characters were great. The story is what fell flat for me. A small slice of ok pie-I enjoyed it, but was it worth the calories? I'm not sure.
Not really my taste, but wonderfully written and well illustrated. The author is very talented.
Meg Wolitzer's writing skirts the line between literary fiction and beach read. On one hand, she has a clever eye for human thought and folly that makes me look forward to her books. On the other hand, her plots are often novel and neatly wrapped up in a way that undermines whatever effort she puts into character building. The same praise and criticism applies to The Uncoupling. However, it does have a truly terrible climax (appropriate for a book with a lot of fail sex) that is so cheesy it belongs in YA. In fact, it was done recently in YA. Have you read Will Grayson, Will Grayson? It's sort of like the end of that book, but with adults. Adults are spontaneously emoting onstage at a high school play. Except they're doing it to break a magical spell that keeps them from having sex with each other. And this works.