Palomar: Normally I don't review something until I've finished it, and if I can't finish it, I just don't mention it, as the quality was clearly low enough that my comments would be inappropriate. That's one way I've managed to stay so cheery, with mostly positive reviews. But this book is different. First off, it's frigging HUGE. It's a $40 book, and I believe it gives value for money. Second off, the reason I'm not likely to finish this book has little to do with what I perceive to be its quality, and more to do with my interest in the subject matter. See, I just can't "get into it" even though I recognize some very neat aspects. There is an interweaving of ideas, plotlines, and lives that is fascinating to watch. But I can't bring myself to care about the characters. I feel like an peeping tom, watching the story from behind my curtains so I don't have to interact with the people. I don't identify with any of them, and I can't seem to get any closer. I finished roughly a third of the book and realized that, while I was getting along in reading it, I wasn't enjoying it. I was just slogging through, and once I put it down, I felt no urge to read any more. So I'll return it to the library, and maybe in a few years I'll try again. Who knows, maybe my tastes will have changed enough for me to enjoy it by then. But in the meantime, it gets a solid neutral from me.
JLA: Zatanna's Search: This was fun. Hubby liked it for the fishnet stockings, I think. I liked the Silver Age simplicity. It was all nostalgia, though it wasn't written like that. I was particularly intrigued by the Batman story. Overall, it was a fun jaunt through a number of books with a character (Zatanna) that has always been one of the coolest in the DCU. Worth a look.
Yossel by Joe Kubert: I came into reading this book with certain expectations. I expected, I think, another Fax From Sarajevo, another book that would introduce me to ideas and experiences that, as horrible as they may be, are different from what I already know about. I suppose I was projecting my expectations on it a little heavily, because it didn't meet them. It's not bad, indeed it is quite good, I just feel like it didn't add to my general knowledge. And, like any book written about that particular time and place, it was very hard to get through because of the subject matter. I think this would be an excellent introductory book to the events it covers (the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto and the Holocaust), but for a jaded old gal like me it was just a painful retread of what I already know. A very well done retread, yes, but a retread nonetheless. 
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