false 49 4 4 true 5662450 read 0 true 34866 currently-reading 0 true 34865 to-read 2 false 35651 classic 1 false 35660 goodstuff http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74499734 Totally Killer: A Novel (Paperback) by Greg Olear
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/180593 to: The Wishbones (Paperback) by Tom Perrotta
bookshelves: goodstuff
Given to me by a good friend. The plot: a guy who's too old to be living with his parents accidentally proposes to his long-time girlfriend and faces a crisis. He also happens to play guitar in a wedding band. Tom Perotta's writing is great as always. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/174373 to: The Color of Water 10th Anniversary Edition (Paperback) by James McBride
bookshelves: classic
James McBride, son of a white mother and a black father, investigates his mother's heritage and his own upbringing in 1960s America in an effort to better understand himself. Well-written and inspiring. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/180470 to: Midnight's Children (Paperback) by Salman Rushdie
bookshelves: classic
The best of Salman Rushie's novels, in my opinion. Sort of autobiographical, and sort of the story of Indian independence (and partition). The fifth paragraph is one of my favorites in English literature:

One Kashmiri morning in the early spring of 1915, my grandfather Aadam Aziz hit his nose against a frost-hardened tussock of earth while attempting to pray. Three drops of blood plopped out of his left nostril, hardened instantly in the brittle air and lay before his eyes on the prayer-mat, transformed into rubies. Lurching back until he knelt with his head once more upright, he found that the tears which had sprung to his eyes had solidified, too; and at that moment, as he brushed diamonds contemptuously from his lashes, he resolved never again to kiss earth for any god or man. This decision, however, made a hole in him, a vacancy in a vital inner chamber, leaving him vulnerable to women and history. Unaware of this at first, despite his recently completed medical training, he stood up, rolled the prayer-mat into a thick cheroot, and holding it under his right arm surveyed the valley through clear, diamond-free eyes. ]]>