I just finished Grendel by John Gardner

And immediately I started reading it again. It's amazing.

I finished "Running With Scissors" by Augusten Burroughs, "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides and now I'm reading "Mystical Thinking", the new collection of short stories from Augusten Burroughs. I can't get enough Augusten!

Middlesex was a great book, btw. However, it had a creepy effect on me that took several days to wash away.

Totally. I read it about a year and a half ago, and while I thought it was well-written and an incredible story, it was one of the only books that I've purchased that I returned to Powell's for credit. I wanted to not read it again.

I'm re-reading Naked every night before I fall asleep, and I keep waking up Kelly laughing my butt off. During the day I'm still plodding through Valley of the Dolls. But with the auction phonecalling/faxing/errandrunningathon thing I've got going now, reading has been put on the backburner. :rolleyes: Bah.

Yeah. Wierd effect. I love books but I don't believe I've ever had one that I really liked, but wanted to just put it behind me. Strange, strange reaction.

And, I know I've said this before, but all of you David Sedaris lovers should read Running with Scissors or any of Augusten Burroughs' books. He's a much darker, more twisted but equally funny Sedaris.

Y'know, I bought Running With Scissors when it first came out after hearing Burroughs on NPR (I am, of course, a huge Sedaris fan). Somehow, it sank to the bottom of my "to read" pile.

Thanks to you, I'll be reading it this weekend.

Great thread.

I need something new to read. I keep meaning to read Part 1 of Simon Schama's History of Britain, but everytime I go to buy it, I lose interest.

Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrell is high in my list, but I'm waiting until I have lots of free time ~ that's a big book.

I loved every page. Some say the pacing is very slow until the last 300 hundred pages of the book, but I love a slow burn, so I was very, very pleased.

I'm re-reading Burger King Corp. v. Rudzewicz. It is not swanky at all. But last night I finished another Amelia Peabody mystery. It's not exactly literature, but it helps to cleanse the mental palate. Question -- is the DaVinci Code actually any good? Eco-esque or not so much?

I don't think I've mentioned that I've started On the Road. Goes without saying that it's fantastic. And if anyone happens to be in Iowa, the original manuscrpit, which is a 120 foot scroll of taped together pages that legend says he typed continuously in 20 days, is on display, unrolled, at the University of Iowa in DeMoines. The manuscript differs slightly in various passages from the eventual published version, and the last 5 or so pages are torn off, which a pencil note in Kerouc's handwriting on the back blames on a dog.