I rarely ever give up on a book once I start reading, and in fact, I can’t remember the last time I did so. But I’m afraid that I’m giving up on a novel today. Surprisingly it’s a Stephen King novel, and I’ve liked most of his stuff in the past. The book I’ll be giving up is called Cell: A Novel.

The plot of the novel is intriguing: An event called "The Pulse" makes people using their cell phones go crazy and start killing each other. On that premise, the story follows a character named Clayton Riddell is in Boston. He’s an artist and just managed to sell his comic book series to a publisher. Clay happens to be in Boston when The Pulse hits and takes cover from the ensuing violence with a few others in the lobby of the hotel he’s been staying at (and that’s where I stopped reading).

My problem is with the characters. They are simply not believable and I have not really been given a reason to care about them. For example, Clay is supposed to be an artist, yet when he and a few other survivors are trying to figure out how many cell phone users are affected by the strange event, Clay says:

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I finally got around to reading Khaled Hosseini’s very popular A Thousand Splendid Suns (aff link), and very few books will keep me up reading late into the night (despite having to be up early the next morning), but this book did exactly that.

The novel starts off modestly enough, showing the difficult life of a girl named Mariam who lives in a small hut outside a village in Afghanistan. Mariam’s life is complicated by the fact that she was born an illegitimate daughter to the mistress of a wealthy businessman. After a family tragedy, Mariam is quickly married off to a man named Rasheed and the two move to Kabul. Needless to say, her life doesn’t get any easier.

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I managed to get ahold of an advance copy of the book The Miracles of Prato: A Novel (aff link) by Laurie Albanese and Laura Morowitz, and thought it would be fun to do a sort of "mini review". The book won’t be released until January 2009, so hopefully this review is far enough in advance for you to decide whether or not it should be on your new year reading list.

If I were to take an art history class, or even a class on basic Catholic theology, I’m sure The Miracles of Prato would fit right into the reading material of either class. Within the first three chapters, I was immediately given a lesson on life in an Italian convent during the Renaissance. The art lessons were sporadic throughout the novel, but admittedly much more interesting than the nuances of Catholic life.

Despite the novel’s penchant for "lecturing" about the above topics, it provides a backdrop for a clever story. A Catholic Monk, Fra. Filippo who works for a convent performing Mass, confession and other religious services, is also a painter who has several commissions, including one for the infamous Medici family. Filippo is a typical tragic character – caught between his religious devotion and the trappings of a hedonistic life that includes drinking and womanizing.

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Brad’s Note: One new feature I’ll be implementing on this site, starting with this post, is posting reviews of books I have recently read. While some books I review may have been out for a while, I will also try to review some new releases as well.

Before I start, I have to admit something: I was reluctant to read this book. Why? Probably because it was released when I was in my last year of college and I was completely engrossed in my classes at the time. Not much of an excuse, I know, but better late than never, right?

Also, I should point out that this post probably does not qualify as a review. It’s more of a few general thoughts about the book I had. I just don’t want to be too misleading in the title of this post.

The Road (aff link) written by Cormac McCarthy, is a Pulitzer Prize winning novel about a post-apocalyptic world where a man and his son are trying to get to the coast because the man thinks they have a better chance for survival there.

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Last week I finished reading Harry, Revised by blogger Mark Sarvas (from The Elegant Variation). Since I made a big deal about receiving the book on my front doorstep in this previous post, I thought it’s only fair that I write a few words about the novel.

First, I must say that in the beginning Harry Rent (the protagonist) is a very unlikeable character. Who goes to a diner and hits on Molly the waitress on the day of their dead wife’s funeral? Much of the stuff Harry does in the beginning of the novel is quite selfish and he comes off as very uncaring. Even when he tries to be a "good guy" by helping out the very overweight and unattractive Lucille (another waitress at the diner), he’s doing it merely to impress Molly. Of course, the reality of his plan is much different than what he conjures up in his overactive imagination.

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