Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides

I'm not sure how I feel about this book.  It was good, an interesting story, but somehow despite that, I had a hard time finishing it. The author goes off on a lot of tangents and seems to relish the occasional absurdly artistic sidenote.  I'm sure that's what won it the Pulitzer prize, but I hated that stuff. It brought the momentum of the actual story to a screeching halt for some random bits that sounded cool, but were nearly irrelevant.  Cut all that crap out, and I'm sure I would have liked it a lot better.  Also, as a scientist, I wanted much more explicit description of what exactly was going on during sex scenes and examinations.  Maybe the author just assumes you'll go to the internet and check it out yourself, but that seems like his research is incomplete or he never truly understood what he was writing about to begin with.  Either way, it comes off weak and shy of hard details.
To sum it up:  Story is good, pacing is slow, too many artsy forays thrown in

Visitors - Orson Scott Card (The Pathfinder series, Bk 3)

I love Orson Scott Card. I think he might be my favorite author. He is beautifully articulate. His ideas are so complex they are sexy, yet he presents them in a way in which nearly anyone could understand.  This book wraps up the Pathfinder series and has an excellent ending.  As time jumpers, where, or more exactly, when, do you end a book? Do they go on and on forever? Card ends with a very nice, "I'll jump ahead to sometime and settle there." Indicating the continued use of the time manipulating powers and leaving it open, but with a plan so you still feel satisfied that you know how it will end.
My favorite part was how he resolved the time continuum conundrum:  Do you go back in time and change the future? Or is the present this way because you already changed the past?  Card's answer: Both.  And of all the time things I've read, that's my favorite.
I highly recommend this series to anyone with a brain, who likes to use it.

Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism - Temple Grandin

I was completely unprepared for the impact this book would have on my life. I have never had so many personal revelations from reading a book.  If you would like to understand me, read this book.

American Gods - Neil Gaiman

Well, I wasn't really sure what to expect here. Just out of nowhere, Neil Gaiman blew up. I'd never heard of the guy a year ago, then suddenly he's everywhere. I'd also heard that American Gods was being made into something, tv show? series? I'm not sure, but I knew of it and thought I should read it before it gets ruined into a show.
My opinion is that it is a good book, but perhaps not worth all the hype over it. The idea is fantastic, the characters are a little weird (though I believe that to be on purpose, it didn't rub me as the right kind of weird), but the pacing is good.
Overall, I would say: Eh. Perhaps a let down based on the hype, not that it was a bad book. I think I would have liked it more if I'd not heard anything about it beforehand.

The Beautiful and Damned - F. Scott Fitzgerald

This is another book that could be titled, "Why Everyone Needs a Job". It was more in line with Steinbeck's useless, pointlessly meandering characters than those of the other Fitzgerald book I've read, The Great Gatsby. That's really why I picked up this book; I really enjoyed Gatsby. However, this was a huge let down in comparison.  Lame, useless, the characters never did anything....it was just boring.
I don't recommend this book to anyone.

How We Do It: How the Science of Sex can make You a Better Lover - Judy Dutton

Totally read this book. Lots of info without being boring. I liked the author's use of snide remarks to keep it amusing, yet on task. It has helpful ideas, regardless of where you are in your journey.
The only complaint I have is I wanted more on kinky stuff, but I imagine that section was not limited by the author's interest, but rather a dearth of available studies to reference.

Forgotten Tales of Indiana - Keven McQueen

This is a compilation of just a stack of weird stories about strange circumstances and eccentrics. Other than the first chapter, it's not a coherent narrative, and while the stories are interesting, they don't flow at all, nor are they long enough to pull you in, only a paragraph or so.  I read this straight through and some of the changes in stories were jarring.
I would recommend this more for bathroom reading, that's how short some tales were.