false 21 92 77 true 5801722 read 0 true 2592868 currently-reading 15 true 2592867 to-read http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75669023 to: American Gods (Paperback) by Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman is dishy, talented and prolific. He's a lot like Stephen King, only handsomer and less creepy.

American Gods is the fastest and smoothest 600 pages I think I've ever read. I love that this is commentary on American culture that never really talks at all about the American populace. Smoke and mirrors at its best. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/67311774 to: Swimming (Hardcover) by Nicola Keegan
What a fantastic book! It's not that often that you find a really fresh voice - Nicola Keegan is just that. I wish this book had gone on and on. Although both the plot and the characters were great, I think I could read this author write about any subject matter at all and love it. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/80929722 The Shadow of the Wind (Paperback) by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79488397 to: Labor Days: An Anthology of Fiction About Work (Paperback) by David Gates
A fun read - I skipped a couple, read most, and was reminded of books I've loved and introduced to authors I'd like to pursue. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book/recommendation/682839 Julia made a comment on Mark's recommendation of The Shadow of the Wind to Julia: Thanks! It's now on my list...

]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73365370 to: Then We Came to the End (Paperback) by Joshua Ferris
Interesting style - mostly this book is written in the second person plural, which enhances the idea of the characters being just so many hamsters in the Habitrail. Unfortunately, this also diminished my interest in them as individuals. By the end of the book I was still having a little bit of trouble remembering who was who. Whom?

Otherwise, an amusing look at life in the office. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78129112 to: The Office of Desire (Hardcover) by Martha Moody
This book has it all! Religious fanaticism, odd sexual pairings, death, betrayal, amputation... Somehow Martha Moody manages to make all of these elements seem pretty reasonable despite them all happening to a mere 6 people in the course of about a year. Told from the perspectives of two of the characters. Fun read. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77724619 The Gum Thief: A Novel (Paperback) by Douglas Coupland
Leave it to Douglas Copeland to write from the heart of the zeitgeist. His characters are so eerily real and devastatingly unhappy that I was ready to down a few thousand vodka tonics myself. He skillfully pulls us all back from the brink without giving in to a pat and happy ending. A good book for misery-inducing November. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73365297 to: Personal Days: A Novel (Paperback) by Ed Park
Richard Russo, who is one of my very favorite authors, recommended this book in some interview or other, so of course I was determined to love it. Which serves as a reminder that taste is a strange and subjective thing.

This book is divided into three parts - the first is the blog I would like to write about my office if I worked in soulless corporate America (which thankfully I do not). The second is slightly more story-driven, with longer entries, for lack of a better word. This section features a Byzantine outline formula that I was completely unable to fathom. The last section is a rambling email from one character to another. I found my interest waning as the book moved from one style of narrative to another. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77223889 Every Little Thing in the World (Hardcover) by Nina de Gramont
bookshelves: to-read
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