No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

I really enjoyed this book. Probably just as much as I enjoyed the movie, as they are almost exactly the same thing. If you haven't seen the Cohen Brothers film yet (provided that you're interested), I highly recommend reading the book first. That way you'll have a better understanding of the story's central meaning. At any rate, it's short. It should only take you about an hour or two longer to read than it would to watch the film. What could it hurt?

"No Country" takes place in a small town of Texas circa 1980. A sociopath killer has just escaped from jail named Anton Chigurh (Sugar?/ No. Chigurh), and Sheriff Bell is loosing faith in his deteriorating county. One night Llewellyn Moss, a married hunter, stumbles upon a drug trade site in the middle of the country to find several dead bodies, a truck bed of cocaine, and one suitcase full of money. Moss decides to take the suitcase, which in turn sparks a main conflict: Anton Chigurh is linked to the money, and he wants it back. A bloody and thrilling chase ensues.

One of the things I enjoyed about this novel was McCarthy's deadpan, simplistic writing style. Much akin to Hemingway, McCarthy writes with as little detail as needed. Along the same lines, McCarthy creates realistic dialogue between his characters that would otherwise be considered repetitious and dull in most literature. Also to be noted: he does not use quotations or apostrophes ('cant' instead of "can't") in dialogue. While I didn't quite enjoy this element of his style, I was surprised to find it less distracting than anticipated.

The real protagonist, Sheriff Bell, is the deepest character of the book. He has his own monologue after every chapter to discuss. He talks about his family, his thoughts on the county, and the ugly evolution of mankind. Bell feels that the times are passing him with a darker breed of human that cannot be helped by his authority of the law. His message seems to be one of hopelessness. It's sad, but I could definitely sympathize with his thoughts.

"No Country" turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Before reading the book and after having seen the film, I was expecting just an entertaining and superficial thriller. McCarthy really surprised me. I look forward to delving into his award-winner "The Road" before summer ends.

Love the One You're With by Emily Giffin

I give this one a B- , the type of grade you would give to a student who wanted to do well in the class, but who didn't have enough motivation or interest in the material to produce good quality work. .

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First of all, the description of the book, as well as the first chapter, was a little misleading to me. I thought the story would be about a married woman whose former "true love" returns, then which causes her to betray her husband and rethink what true love really is. In a sense, this does occur in the book, just not in a way I'd expected..

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Former lover Leo appears in the first few pages, 10 years after leaving the protagonist Ellen. Right off the bat he seems like a slime ball of a bad-boy who wants Ellen and has no respect for the fact that she is married. For the next 90 or so pages Ellen explains her past and how she ended up where she is today: married to her best friend's brother Andy. I felt this setup was a bit long and boring. I wanted to hurry up and get into the real plot of the story already.

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Most of the novel is spent inside Ellen's head. She secretly lusting over Leo and their past, all the while wondering if she should call him or not. The core problem seems to be Ellen's rethinking of her current life and whether or not she likes it. On the one hand she has sweet, two-dimensional Andy. Perfect in most ways, yet not that exciting. With Andy she lives the prized life of Southern yuppydom without the need to work another day of her life.

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On the other hand there is Leo. Basically the complete opposite of Andy.

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I was dissapointed to find that while I liked Andy, there wasn't a very tangible connection between him and Ellen on the pages. He was definitely the better guy between him and Leo though, so I wasn't very conflicted with who I wanted Ellen to end up with. Not much even happens plot-wise. Leo is hardly in the book at all. Ellen sees him maybe three times total, sends him a few e-mails, and that's that. Pretty boring stuff. I sniffed the ending from 100 miles away, and even then it wasn't entirely believable.

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Giffin had a good idea with this book, but ruined it by spending too much time in Ellen's head instead of making anything happen. Also, the other characters in the story deserved way more development than they got. This book is definitely my least favorite of Giffin's four works. Something Borrowed and Something Blue are far better. I recommend reading those instead, especially for a good summer read.

Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen

"Lock and Key" is the first young adult (YA) novel I have read all year and I am happy to say that going back to my roots (I've always particularly enjoyed YA fiction, especially Sarah Dessen's) was a smart and satisfying move. Even though I am 22 years old and well out of my teenage/high school years, this novel spoke to me in a way I could still relate to. Who hasn't questioned the meaning of family and relationships or felt compelled to help someone who didn't want it? How about feeling like an outsider in a new and foreign place?

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This little gem, Dessen's eighth novel, tells the story of Ruby: A seventeen-year-old girl who has been raised by a neglectful mother for the past ten years, alone. When her mother finally leaves one day and doesn't return, Ruby is forced to live with her long lost sister Cora, who is wealthy, married, and trying to get pregnant.

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Despite her resistant attitude, Ruby is forced to switch schools, make friends with the cute boy-next-door Nate, and spend time with her brother-in-law Jamie, an overly-optimistic entrepreuner who happens to be my favorite character. Ruby's relationship with Nate unfolds as they commute to school together each day, providing the fundamental romance element in Dessen's story. We also learn that Nate has a dark secret, something that Ruby has trouble responding to throughout the novel.

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"Lock and Key" is both heart-warming and raw; unique and believable. Every character has his or her own quirks, adding humor and playfulness throughout the plot. Gervais is the obnoxious twelve-year-old whiz kid in high school; Harriet is Ruby's coffee-downing, control freak of an employer; and Olivia is Ruby's talkative and outspoken classmate at her new private school.

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As Ruby gets to know the new people in her life, she begins to reexamine the meaning of family, and rethink the one thing she's always desired most: Complete independence.

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What I love about this novel is the natural progression of Ruby's metamorphasis from troubled independent bad-girl, to mature young adult. Dessen has always had such a strong gift for creating genuine characters; I feel as if I could look up Ruby's name in a phone book and find her living still today.

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I recommend "Lock and Key" to teens and adults alike. In fact, just about every Sarah Dessen novel is well worth its cover price. I haven't met a person yet who doesn't absolutely love her books, regardless of age. Contrary to other current YA novels on today's market, "Lock and Key" -- along with Dessen's other books -- will undoubtedly become a timeless classic that I someday hope to share with my own children.

Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel

So here's the skinny on "Prozac Nation": It's long, depressing, lacks a specific plot, and is basically just a bunch of whining from a pretty fortunate kid.

People who have already read and hated this bestselling memoir would probably agree with the above statement. Right now they're nodding their heads, happy to have found that one more person has realized the ridiculousness in Wurtzel's memoir about "struggling" with "depression".

I, on the other hand, have chosen not to look at this very personal piece in such a negative light, though it would be easy to dimiss Wurtzel's problems for teenage angst, self-centeredness, and an overall unjustified disatisfaction with her many privileges.

Personally I do not have clinical depression, so I cannot likely understand how it feels or why it's so difficult to get out of. But Wurtzel's memoir tries to describe depression to her readers in a way that they can understand. By midway, it becomes very clear that she is depressed and that nothing can get her out of it except medication. It is unfair to label her as an immature whiner just because of the fact that it seems she has "so many things to be happy about." Wurtzel is obviously well aware of what she has and yet it isn't enough to fix it. I think this is the point of her depression.

Wurtzel begins her story at early childhood, detailing her relationship with her parents as well as their problems. Her family life was not as great as many, but also not as bad as others I have known about. Later she gets into drugs, gets into Harvard, and gets into boys -- or rather, they get into her (sorry, couldn't help myself). She goes to a regular therapist while struggling to keep up her grades and force herself out of bed each day. She even ends up finding an awesome journalist position in Texas, but it's not enough to make her happy.

This book is probably the closest I will ever get to understanding what it's like to live with real depression. To some degree Wurtzel's memoir is probably relatable to everyone, as we've all been depressed at one point or another. To others her experience may seem completely foreign, and to more it could be frighteningly dead on. In any case, if you're interested in hearing a first hand experience of living with depression, "Prozac Nation" will surely show you the way, whether you like it or not.