This one was an even quicker read than the previous three Hornblower books, or it would have been if I'd had more time to read it. Hornblower During the Crisis is a collection of two short stories and an unfinished fragment of the novel Forester was writing when he died. Reading that part was a little frustrating, as it ended far too soon, but fortunately the initial action of the story had been completed, so I wasn't left hanging as much as I could have been.

Started: 7/10/2005 | Finished: 7/18/2005

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Tim Burton's new interpretation of Roald Dahl's novel was really good for what it was. What it was was a very funny and visually interesting film. Freddie Highmore was perfect as Charlie Bucket, and Deep Roy made for a hilarious group of Oompa-Loompas. (He played all of them.) What it was not was a movie that matched my feeling of what Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is. It just didn't feel like the story I grew up with. But, hey, that's only my opinion, and I will grant that my image of the story was influenced very heavily by the original film.

Viewed: 7/15/2005 | Released: 7/9/2005 | Score: B

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I'm a little torn on how to rate this one. The problem is that, in any of it's incarnations, War of the Worlds is not a very good story. It's essentially all about an idea, so, as Juliette so aptly pointed out to me, it winds up playing like a disaster movie and suffers from all of the problems intrinsic to that genre. Still, as short as it was on plot, it was still very successful at maintaining a high energy level and feeling of suspense. I even managed not to hate Tom Cruise very much, which is a pretty huge accomplishment in and of itself. I suppose I will grudgingly give it a third star as a very good example of a film type I don't particularly care for.

Viewed: 6/30/2005 | Released: 6/22/2005 | Score: B

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