Hello ladies and gentlemen. Back from San Fran, where I picked up a brand-new copy of Donna Tartt's latest book, The Little Friend.

Rachel, Word Freak is a great book. Alas, my new travel Scrabble kit is sitting unused in my closet. If you haven't read Holidays on Ice, do. Soon. This is one book that I can give to anyone on my holiday gift list, and guarantee that they will tell me later that they can't remember the last time they laughed out loud so much while reading a book. David Sedaris rules.

Books I'll be reading in San Fran?

The Raphael Affair the first "deliciously literate" book in a series of novels combining art, history and mystery. Meow.

Also on the docket is Word Freak, about crazy Scrabble Tournament players.

Best Book I Can't Believe I'd Never Heard of Till Now?

The Land of Laughs

I've been hearing some buzz lately about The Time Traveler's Wife. Carolyn, a multi-talented, multiple-blog owning woman in Chicago, has a nice review of the book here (scroll down a little, and check out her other reviews along the way!). I heard that the library school at Dominican is using this for its next book club pick. Getting close to making an amazon.co.jp purchase.

Okay, so I've jumped on the bandwagon, and then I left a book on the bandwagon, and then I got off the bandwagon but didn't take the book with me. BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS by Kurt Vonnegut has been released into the wild, thanks to R.'s inspirational BookCrossing postings.

It's that time of year again! No, I didn't receive more gingerbread pins (all ye lovers of rainonmyparade and its predecessor). I'm talking about our top three, five or 10 picks for best books of the year. Or lists about anything to do with books: worst books, funniest, I don't give a shit. The important thing, folks, is that you post a list about reading. I am compiling mine as I write this.

I will read the Snow Eagle trilogy ONLY if it is choose your own adventure. Oh my dear lord. Cap'n Wacky has pulled me in. Must. Cut. Book blog. Short.................

Maybe I won't have to read the CTA books if I can just find a BookCrossing book lying around somewhere. To increase my karmic chances of stumbling across a free book, I suppose I should start leaving some around myself.

Looking for a book that's fun to read? Then you've probably already gobbled up Sine Die, the CTA advertised book that we've (1) discussed (2) before (3). Oh, no! You need something else that's thrilling, irreverent, erotic, and violent, and it certainly should be far from boring (according to Matthew J. Levin, author of Sine Die).
Luckily, the CTA has another recommendation for you! Appearing now in el train advertising around town, introduce yourself to The Snow Eagle: The Riddle of the Stone Tablet - A Trilogy: Part 1 by Julie Casper. According to the site, it's an Indian-legend-adventure-mystery. The protagonists, brother and sister, are Charlize and Dakota Sanford. The site does not indicate which is the brother and which is the sister. I was able to glean this, though: the Sanford siblings must travel through a series of spooky valleys to find the secrects to set free their spirited-away parents. Oh, and there's a snow eagle! Also, there's a wolf.
The site also has some info on the upcoming sequels. The Snow Eagle: Escape Through the Kayawati: Part 2 will feature the siblings (get this) making their way through 6 new spooky valleys! Finally, The Snow Eagle: Quest for the Shattered Orb: Part 3 involves a vacation in the Caribbean that leads the family to (get this) the same spooky valleys.
I'm almost out of things to read, and I'm afraid that I might succumb to the nefarious CTA book advertisements. I might end up reading Sine Die or The Snow Eagle, as crazy (or spooky) (or thrilling, irreverent, erotic, and violent, and certainly far from boring) as that might sound. I guess someone has to take one for the Wrybrarian team.

No new books this weekend. I have been researching up a storm, not to mention recording a Christmas/Chanukah album. Expect to hear more about the research next summer. For now, I must remain mysterious. If you're interested in the Christmas album, though, just drop me a line and I will send you a free copy. All two songs.

It's time to catch up a little to what I've been reading recently. Following the polishing off of my birthday stack of books, I picked up Chesapeake by James Michener for $1 suggested donation at PetSmart. I had never read any Michener before, so I thought I should give it a $1 effort. Besides, it looked nice and thick to occupy my time on the el, and the subject matter appealed to me, seeing as how I've spent time almost every single summer of my life on the DelMarVa penninsula.
The book is divided into twelve different eras of American history, stretching back to pre-colonial times. Did I mention that this book was long? In fact, it took Michener almost 300 years to get from 1683 to 1978 (that's a joke, son). It started off pretty exciting, but then I realized Michener's ingenious plan: every story has the exact same plot as the previous era, only the protagonists are the children or grandchildren of the previous characters. Geez, how long does it take to abolish slavery, anyway? (That's another joke, son).
Being a bargain bin book, it was in ratty shape to start. By the time I finished lugging it on the el, it was well into disintegration, losing both the front and back covers. Then my puppy found it, and it now lives on only in my memory--and in the hundreds of tiny pieces of chewed-up paper under the couch.
So, it was pretty boring.

I went to my first BookCrossing meetup last night, and released both 079-1192838 and 542-1192896 into the not-so-wild arms of fellow readers. I also retrieved a gem I've been hoping to read for months.

And the winner of this year's coveted Bad Sex in Fiction award goes to...


"She picks up a Bugatti's momentum. You want her more at a Volkswagen's steady trot.

"Squeeze the maximum mileage out of your gallon of gas. But she's eating up the road with all cylinders blazing."

It's after two and I have yet to do any work today. I did, however, visit my new favorite used book store, where I got a hardcover copy of The Corrections, complete with the infamous O, for just $13.

J Mar, it seems to me that Book Crossing is for you!

Help. I need something good to read.

This blog is more interesting than mine.

Woke up at 4 am and tried to read Desmond Morris' Manwatching: a Field Guide to Human Behavior to put me back to sleep, but it was too interesting. In Manwatching, Morriss observes human behavior in all kinds of situations and analyzes body language, tone of voice and facial expressions. Unfortunately, Manwatching really is all about men. The only time women appear in the book--and I use the term loosely here; Morris refers to them as girls--is when engaged in sexual or maternal behavior. Anytime the political or business world is observed, it's the gestures of men Morris analyzes.

However, upon further research, I discovered the newly published and fully updated Peoplewatching, and I suspect this is also, or rather, moreso, worth a reading.