True Grit by Charles Portis (5 stars)

This chick has grit. Lots of grit. Great read, loved her hard-nosed determination:

All I have heard out of you so far is talk. I know you can drink whiskey and I have seen you kill a gray rat. All the rest has been talk. They told me you had grit and that is why I came to you. I am not paying for talk

5 stars!

The Road by Cormac McCarthy (5 stars)

Post apocalyptic brilliance. Totally bleak, hopeless and uncompromising. The dialog adds to the sense of a world without hope - it is short, with both speakers seeing little point in conversation. Amazing book.

5 stars!

Update: I just saw a repeat of the 'First Tuesday of the Month Book Club' discussion of this book from April 07 on the ABC, and they loved it - called it a 'masterpiece'.  Jennifer Byrne said "he's got the Pulitzer Prize, next stop the Nobel".

I also just watched the movie, which captured the essence of the book really well.  As in the book, the ending felt like it was more hopeful than it should have been (unless of course the family were bad guys).

A Most Damnable Invention: Dynamite, Nitrates, and the Making of the Modern World by Stephen Bown (2.5 stars)

Fairly interesting, but a bit rambling.

2.5 stars.