Nineteen Minutes - Jodi Picoult

Jodi Picoult is always an emotion-evoking writer, and this one was no different. It was about a school shooting and the aftermath. Overall, it was a book that I couldn't put down. The only part that disappointed me was the "twist" at the end, when the girl admitted that she shot her boyfriend. It seemed unbelievable to me, even though Picoult had incorporated some (weak) attempts to make the boyfriend seem like a jerk. Also, the surprise "main character admits to murder on the stand without the knowledge of his or her lawyer" was something that Picoult had used in The Pact, so it was considerably less impressive than it was the first time. It was a good read, but not my favorite of her novels.

3.5/5 stars

The Return of the King - J.R.R Tolkien

Even though I read this epic series before, I did not remember the majority of this book. I enjoyed every minute of this book and this series, even though I was re-reading it. These books are classics, always worth a read.

5/5 stars

The Maltese Falcon - Dashiell Hammett

The back jacket of this book describes it as "one of the classics of both suspense literature and American writing," but, honestly, I didn't see it. The writing was not bad, but I didn't find it that suspensful. In fact, the only suspense was created in such a cliched manner that it fell flat when the ending wasn't spectactular. Hammett kept his reader in the dark completely, only revealing small bits and pieces at at time, and, somehow, it managed to be predictable. It's not that I didn't enjoy it, I guess I did, but I definitely didn't love it. It's a good thing that it was a quick read, or I wouldn't have enjoyed it at all.

2.5/5 stars

The Two Towers - J.R.R Tolkien

I had forgotten how much I loved this series. It has truly pulled me in to the wonderful story and the endearing characters. I think that Sam is probably my favorite character right now, but I love them all! I started the last one, The Return of the King, but I think I'll have to stop soon here...I forgot about my book club book, which needs to be read by the 16th! I thought about starting it right away, but I wanted to get into The Return of the King...I couldn't turn the opportunity up!

5/5 stars