I've not posted in a few days because I haven't finished anything recently. I'm working on Gain and getting towards the end of it. There's two story threads going throughout, one about a woman in modern-day Illinois with ovarian cancer and how she and her family are dealing with it, the other (and generally more interesting to me) about the rise of a large multinational corporation from a small company in the early 1800's.

One reason I've avoided really reviewing books I read is that I never know how much is too much to give away. When I start a book sometimes I like to know next to nothing about it. If I haven't heard of the author, I'm more likely to base a purchase on whether the first paragraph or two grabs me than I am from reading the blurb on the back. I guess in some cases writing style influences me more than specific genre. I bought a couple of books by Haynes Johnson recently purely based on hearing him speak on NPR. They're both about American politics which generally doesn't interest me at all, but I'm looking forward to reading them.
posted by Kristin Buxton at 10:29 AM