Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog. So I did throw this one across the room when I finished it. It was so fucking French. Did you read The Little Prince for French class? Anyway, parts of it I liked. I genuinely liked the protagonists. But the tone struck me as false. As pretentious. As exactly what Renée would have hated. Plus, I'm sentimental. And O. Henry plot twists drive me insane.

David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest

David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest. This took me six months to read and I'm still in too much anger or grief to write about it. So exasperating.
update:
So, I loved this book. Even though it took 300 pages to really follow it, even though it was discursive to the point of madness, and even though sometimes I felt like I was swimming in a septic tank of misery. There were times when it was dull, not for the sake of dullness, but to make a point about dullness. But description dragged me in and won me over. Ennet House was perfect to the last detail - hysterical in its maddening triviality and the tiny miseries of living with other people. I loved Hal, and Mario, and Don Gately. I loved the stupid jokes, and I especially loved the words and their ridiculous use. I knew, knew, that the story could not possibly gather up all the threads and tie them off. Even more unlikely that there could be some kind of personal conclusion or completion, much less happiness. It's not like I wasn't warned. Still, I wanted to throw the book across the room when I finished it.

Abraham Verghese, Cutting for Stone

Abraham Verghese, Cutting for Stone. Twins, surgeons, nuns, unrequited love, and revolution from India to Ethiopia to New York and back again. It's overblown and dramatic, but who cares? I can't remember the last time I stayed up all night to finish a story.

Roddy Doyle, The Snapper

Roddy Doyle, The Snapper. It's the Rabittes, before The Van. Jimmy Sr is as obscene and soft-hearted as ever. It's the details and the dialogue that make this family so hilarious and right on.

Paul Davies, How to Build a Time Machine

Paul Davies, How to Build a Time Machine. Not quite the practical guide I was hoping for - but a nice little book about wormholes and such. Good pictures, funny text, everything you want in an armchair time-travel treatise. The printing of the book itself was very strange - sans serif with gray highlighting, a strange page layout, and a barcode-like motif around the page numbers - I couldn't figure it out and it was visually annoying.

Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms

Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms. More post-finals relaxation.

Terry Pratchett, Equal Rites and Carpe Jugulum

Terry Pratchett, Equal Rites and Carpe Jugulum. Fighting gender stereotyping in the practice of magic and unconventional vampire battling. Granny Weatherwax reminds me of a few formidable women I know, though they don't have broomsticks (even ones that need jump starting). More school break fun. I haven't yet found a Discworld story that doesn't make me giggle at least once. So be careful if you read these in public or while drinking milk.

John Gardner, Grendel

John Gardner, Grendel. Grendel's story- angry and absurd, with perfect pitch and cadence. And liking and understanding the monster only makes him more terrifying: isn't a despairing and articulate devourer infinitely more horrifying than a mindless voracious beast?