These books are totally silly and totally fun.

This guy is not at all a bad writer, but I got sick of getting drawn into stories only to be cut off by clumsy endings. There are barely submerged feelings of rage in most of the male protagonists; the feeling of dread this creates propels you through the stories. Intriguing, but ultimately disappointing, it certainly does not live up to the hype.

A charming novel. Right when you think you can't take it anymore, that the narrator is silly, naive, and superficial, she laughs at herself, begs your indulgence, and charms you anew. It's fun to hear this story (young person in Paris, partying all night, visiting all the different cafes, falling in and out of love/lust, getting herself and others into trouble) from a woman's perspective.

Not a quick read, but ultimately rewarding. I didn't find it all that emotionally engaging or nuanced, but the atmosphere is so rich and the story is so imaginative that I found myself very much looking forward to the next time I'd be able to sit down with it.

Yes, this book is a bit gimmicky, and, yes, I'm particularly susceptible to emotional manipulation. But I really, really loved this book. "A snowball in the face is surely the perfect beginning to a lasting friendship."

Oh man, this author is the real deal. An extraordinarily moving work. "Big bursts are things like marriage or children, intimacies that keep you afloat, but these big bursts hold dangerous, unseen currents. Which is why you need the little bursts as well: a friendly clerk at Bradlee's, let's say, or the waitress at Dunkin' Donuts who knows how you like your coffee."

A solid and enjoyable mystery. The plot was tighter than that of the first book, but I also noticed that I wasn't turning pages at the same breakneck, stay-up-until-5-a.m. speed (though I did finish the sequel in a day and a half). I'm looking forward to the third one, and I remain exceptionally fond of the character Lisbeth Salander.

A fantastic, riveting, subtle work, beautifully written and conceived. "A strand of hair caught in the corner of her mouth and how appalling it was that he would not be the one who was allowed to free it."

A solid follow-up, it didn't disappoint at all, and the character of Jacob Black is wildly endearing. Part of me doesn't want to get to the final rejection, but I guess "love is not love which alters when it alteration finds."

Against the quiet, plodding backdrop of a small Irish town, emotions are powerfully stirred, often at odd, seemingly innocent moments. "And something was missing when so suddenly she whispered that love was a madness."

A disappointing, tedious novel. By the end I was skipping whole pages at a time.

A quick read. I liked the first few stories best, but it may be because the later ones seemed to reiterate the early ones. Reading "How," a story about a woman falling out of love, was an uncomfortable experience; the emotions were familiar. There is not a lot of range in this collection, and the tone and style got old. I'm curious about how her more recent collections compare.

Worth the read for "CivilWarLand in Bad Decline," "Isabelle," and "The 400-Pound CEO"--utterly original, horrifying, hilarious, and moving. The rest was forgettable.

I got this to read the story "Keith"; I saw the movie recently, which is based on this short story. To say I loved the movie is a gross understatement, so I was curious about the story, which is also good. "I haven't lied to you this far, and I'm not going to start now."