Why do men have nipples?: hundreds of questions you'd only ask a doctor after your third martini - Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg

I think my expectations were a bit too high for this book. It would probably be better reading after the third martini. The book included IM conversations between the authors, which took some getting used to. I didn't learn as much as I would have liked and it wasn't quite as funny as I expected.

Illumination Night - Alice Hoffman (Regular Strength Book Club)

I think it helped that my expectations were low. I had read the library summary of the book and it sounded incredibly boring. The writing style bugged me but the story itself was okay. I liked Simon and the Giant, which I think was the intent. Definitely not a book I would have picked on my own.

Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger (Electric Bookaloo)

We selected this book based on the following:
1) It's a classic
2) None of us had read it
3) People should read classics.

The result:
1) I don't understand why it's a classic
2) I can see how it inspired both the style and content of many other novels
3) I don't understand why people love this book. It made my head hurt.

If You Want To Write - Brenda Ueland

This book came lowly recommended (from the blog of someone that I actually dislike quite a bit but love to hate). It met my expectations, somewhat like those wedding books where the author tells you all about her wedding and how perfect it was but very little about how to plan your own. It has that "yay me" feel to it and I didn't bother to finish it before it was due back at the library. To add to this, some twit had pencilled in exclamations of agreement in the margins. Bleah.

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers - Mary Roach

Since I generally read while eating, it took me a while to get through this book and my meals.

A respectful, informative, and often funny look at what happens to a body after the light goes out (and when that moment actually is). Not only did I learn a lot and enjoy the reading, it made me think about what I might want to do with my own body when I'm done with it. I highly recommend reading this book (unless you are really squeamish).

Bee Season: A Novel - Myla Goldberg

There are parts of this novel that I can't quite get out of my head. It's a fascinating view of a dysfunctional family, exploring the issues and perspectives of each member until you can see why they don't function properly but still don't see how to fix it. I had trouble putting it down but I still can't quite put my finger on why.