Amaryllis sillyramA

Ella Minnow Pea (Dunn)

This is one of the best books I’ve read. I’m going to read it again soon, even though there are other books I am anxious to get to.
You must read it too.

I wish I could say more about it but I’m afraid you’ll just have to read it and find out for yourself.

Speaking of which, the dedication page of Squids Will Be Squids
(Scieszka, Smith, Leach) reads:

For me to know

For you to find out

And that’s just a tiny sign of how entertaining a book it is. I got it for nephew M. for his third birthday last month. I figure he’ll grow into it.

C. is so great. And she has wonderful books, and we trust each other, and so we trade-lend books with each other. It’s a good arrangement, since I am not really allowed into bookstores any more.

Lately she has lent me the first few of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books. I never understood until now why so many people love them. They are really quite amazing and I can’t wait to read them all.

Also read lately:

No Touch Monkey! (Halliday) — omg, Ayun is coming to speak here next month! Yay!
The Calligrapher (Docx) — if you want to enjoy this book most fully, don’t read the back cover, and don’t read the front cover either.
Fluke — Christopher Moore, mm-mm-good. I keep hoping to run into him around here someday. Probably best not to — I’d end up speechless and embarrassed and barfing or crying or something. He just makes awesome books.
Little Children (Perrotta) — hrm. It’s a good book, but most of the children in it are dumb as rocks, which bothered me enough to distract from the story. But then my nieces and nephews are all brilliant, so I suppose I should give the poor characters a break.
Dry — more Augusten Burroughs. I’m glad I read the most recent of his books first. So I know he’s okay.
Pobby and Dingan (Rice) — recommended.
The Final Solution (Chabon) — and now I must read The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.

And currently reading:

Shopgirl — very different from the other Steve Martin book I’ve read (the pleasure of my company)
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (Shah) — really great so far, but just started.
Anything You Say Can and Will Be Used Against You (Drummond) — good stuff, but difficult to read at night what with the violence and all.

And next up:

Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life (Rosenthal) — Looks hilarious. I’ve only looked at the cover and the first few pages, but so far it makes me wish I’d come up with all of it.
Bel Canto (Patchett)
The Remains of the Day (Ishiguro)
Foul Matter (Grimes)
The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove (Moore)
The Partly Cloudy Patriot (Vowell) — I love Sarah Vowell!

Edit:
Finished Shop Girl this morning, couldn’t put it down. Steve Martin is a strange man. With a firm grasp on a certain — uncommon? — kind of cruelty.

I miss Douglas Adams and all the books he would have written. The other night when we had to go to the ER (M. messed up his hand when a piece of the new ceiling tried to fall on our heads – it’s getting better now) I brought Adams’s book Last Chance to See for in case there was a long wait. Even though I’m in the middle of other books. That one was right for the occasion. If you can call it an occasion. Such a great book.

I miss Primo Levi and I’m still mad at him. The Periodic Table is essential reading.

I’ve finished some more books recently but now I don’t know what they are. I’ll have to go home and look at the stack.

But wait! Here are a few (I cheated and looked at the in-progress list).
Blindness (Saramago) — a crazy book.
the pleasure of my company (Martin) — pat but good — I don’t have a big problem with happy endings. Now I’ve got to read Shopgirl.

And! A couple of Augusten Burroughs items. Magical Thinking, which was funny and great and which caused me to immediately seek his other stuff, and so Running with Scissors, which was funny and depressing as all get out. So glad my mom isn’t crazy.

Will hear the rest of Angels and Demons on the next drive to and from the Oregon coast. Lucky we are, we get to go there for Christmas.

also recently finished:
A Chimp in the Family (hrm)
You Shall Know Our Velocity! (Eggers)

and still in the middle of:
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them (Franken)

and have had for years, have started and need to pick back up:
Cryptonomicon (Stephenson)
Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)

finished recently:

Lullaby (Palahniuk) ~ omg, the gems, the gems.
Platform (Houellebecq) ~ this book kicked me right in the head.
Middlesex (Eugenides) ~ who knew it would be a historical-type book? Such a good book.
Lady into Fox (Garnett) ~ not at all like Ladyhawke.
Checkpoint (Baker) ~ after the first few pages I had no choice but to read this book.
A Box of Matches (Baker) ~ strange and beautiful.
The Kitchen Boy (Alexander) ~ I know it’s a good book if it can get me crying that hard in public.
some others that I can’t remember. I can’t remember lots of things, and so I like to write things down. Like right now I’m writing down books I’ve read. It will help me to not buy them again.

currently enjoying:

America the Book (Stewart et al.)
The Future Dictionary of America (McSweeney’s)
Blindness (Saramago)
the pleasure of my company (Martin)
McSweeney’s