<p>I second “The Kite Runner.” Best fiction book I’ve read in years, and it reads like non-fiction. </p>
<p>One book I just can’t seem to finish is “Reading Lolita in Tehran.” I’m just slog, slog, slogging through it and will probably quit at 2/3rds through. The subject matter is interesting but the author’s style is so dull. </p>
<p>Enjoyed “The Tipping Point.”</p>
<p>Just finished “The Polysyllabic Spree” by Nick Hornby. It’s a bunch of his monthly columns from Believer Magazine that detail what he bought, what he read and what he liked that month. Highly recommend it to book lovers, especially those with a compulsion to buy more books than they can ever read. This guy loves books. Quote: “Books are, let’s face it, better than everything else. If we played Cultural Fantasy Boxing League and made books go 15 rounds in the ring against the best that any other art form had to offer, then books would win pretty much every time.”</p>
<p>S just sent me a paperback copy of “The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay” after going to a Michael Chabon reading in SF last week. He put a Post-it on it that said it was the book Chabon actually read from. Apparently, he set it down on a stack of two others and S grabbed it and had him sign it to me then bought it. Very cool, since Chabon’s my favorite author. I tried to read it when it first came out but stopped half way through because the whole comics thing wasn’t working for me, but now I will go back and try again now that my name’s in it – and a little doodle by Chabon that S said I would understand if I made it to the end. :)</p>
<p>I liked “Reading Lolita”, though not to the extent of not being able to put it down.</p>
<p>I also enjoyed “Polysyllabic”. I liked when he mentioned obscure books I had read (like I was getting points or something–LOL). And even more so, I liked how many other books it made me want to read. And Hornby is such an entertaining writer!</p>
<p>For book lovers, try John Dunning, The Bookman’s Wake, The Bookman’s Promise, The Sign of the Book. He is a book collector and seller as well as a writer. His books are written around that theme.</p>
<p>garland, not only did The Polysyllabic Spree make me want to read more, it made me feel great about how many books I’ve bought this year that are still sitting unread on the nightstand. The unfortunate thing about Hornby’s book is that now H is going to read it and he already buys WAY too many books! (he justifies his compulsion by saying that at least he doesn’t golf like my dad and brothers).</p>
<p>Anybody read any Jonathan Letham books? I think he’s next up for me.</p>
<p>Enjoyingthis, I was going to attempt to e-mail you and ask the name of your recently released novel, but you declined to make contacting you available in your profile. If you would e-mail me the title (see my profile), I’d be very happy to look for it my local Barnes and Noble. Congratuations, by the way, on writing a novel that has been so well received! I love a good novel!</p>
<p>I just have to resurrect this thread. I am currently entranced with Quincunx by Palliser, which I cannot believe I missed when it came out. It’s absolutely wonderful.</p>
<p>I can’t wait to finish it, but I already know I don’t want it to stop…AARGH!</p>
<p>Momof2inca – “Motherless Brooklyn” by Lethem is great! My ladies’ book club read it. I warned them it would be quirky, which it was, but they all loved it, and it’s hard to find a book that happens with.</p>
<p>Our book group just finished She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan and it prompted one of the best and deepest discussions we have every had. It is a funny, poetic endearing autobiographical account of the life and transition of Boylan who was and is a professor at Colby college. The tale of James becoming Jenny is not only a fascinating view into identity and sense of self and gender. It is also an amazing view of how both a marriage evolves and a friendship. Boylan’s long-time close friend is Richard Russo (author of Empire Falls, etc.) and the view into how they negotiated this transition offers valuable insight into the geography of intimacy and male friendship. It was definitely a high marks read for our group.</p>
<p>Odyssey, I hope you’re right. I would love a sequel to Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. I think my most favorite recent book was The Historian. My husband and I are now getting ready to read John Berendt’s The City of Falling Angels; D already read it and loved it.</p>
<p>SA: I liked his last one–In the garden of Good and evil, so will definitely look for that one.</p>
<p>Wyogal: read the Quincunx when it first came out and loved it. I’m a sucker for anything like long Victorian novels (favorite is Eliot, and of course Dickens) so good new ones of the type are always welcome by me!</p>
<p>For novel lovers, I am happily working my way through a new book by Jane Smiley which I found by accident called “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Novel”. It’s about novels, what makes them tick, what makes them good, plus ideas on how to write one, info on how Smiley writes, and short reviews of 100 novels which represent (quirkily) the history of the genre. I recommend it highly!!!</p>
<p>All right all you readers, anyone else doing [url=<a href=“http://www.nanowrimo.org%5DNaNoWriMo%5B/url”>www.nanowrimo.org]NaNoWriMo[/url</a>] this year? National Novel Writing Month starts on Nov. 1 – I’m back for my fourth year and I’d love to share the pain and glaringly bad prose with anyone else who’s taking a stab at it.</p>
<p>Mootmom, I’m going to be doing it, though I’m breaking one of the “commandments.” I’m going to use the month to do a lot of work on a novel I’ve already begun.</p>
<p>Mootmom, it sounds like fun, but I’m going to be travelling and packing for the first part of November…won’t it be too late to join up mid-month?</p>
<p>overseas, you can join any time you like! You might want to sign up now, and then just track in when you’re finally writing. Last year I stopped writing on Nov. 2 and didn’t start again until Nov. 11, and I still crossed the mighty finish line by Nov. 30. I know folks who’ve written 30K words in the last weekend, which is totally nuts but what they hey. The real secret is to NOT REREAD what you write, just push forward. It’s all about the wordcount.</p>
<p>Anyone who’s signed in at the NaNoWriMo site is welcome to ping/PM/friend me there. My NaNo-name is the same as my CC-name.</p>
<p>I’m think…ing about it… Like SA, I’m in the middle of one, but I don’t think I;d want to use it; I’d rather not try to rush it like that. I could do something else, but I’d have to do only that, not the other.</p>
<p>Good luck to those of you doing NaNiWriMo. I’m not participating this year, but I have always loved the challenge. (Dead line coming for novel under contract.) </p>
<p>Recent read: How I Paid For College. A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship, and Musical Theater by Marc Acito</p>