Bill Bryson's African Diary was a really fast read, but an enjoyable bite-sized nugget of Bryson. The profits are all going to CARE, a charity that does work in Africa, so if you buy it instead of reading it from the library like I did you'll be giving them some support.

James Gleick's Faster looks at the speedup of just about everything in modern life. Oddly his short little chapters made it hard for me to read fast. It was interesting, but I think Chaos showed off his writing better.
posted by kristin at 11:02 AM

An astute reader (wow, I actually have astute readers!?) pointed out I'd only mentioned 3 books in my last post, rather than the promised 4. The fourth, which I forgot about was Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. It wasn't bad, but perhaps it wasn't that memorable. It really isn't a detective novel in the usual sense, though there is a detective. Very light reading.
posted by kristin at 11:34 AM

Four books finished since my last post.

Nicholson Baker's Checkpoint was something I picked up both because of all of the hype but more importantly because I tend to quite like Baker's books. It was a short book, read in one sitting. It feels like it should have been just one long chunk in the middle of a longer book. Whether you get offended by the content probably solely rests on who you're voting for in November, so I won't go into that part at all. I'm guessing most of the outraged people won't even read the thing though.

Eat, Drink and Be Healthy by Walter Willett is an overview of some of the current scientific thinking on diet, nutrition, exercise, etc. There wasn't anything too shocking to me, but it wasn't a bad reminder of things I've heard over and over.

Philip K. Dick's Time out of Joint was an interesting contrast to Checkpoint in a way, though discussed a very different sort of government conspiracy. PKD's book was far subtler and not so overtly political, but overall better written. (Baker's book felt like it was rushed through publication and could have used some more polishing). I have a feeling I'll be catching up on the rest of PKD's books over the next few years.
posted by kristin at 10:17 AM

Just wanted to point out a current sale at Powells.com for all of you as addicted to Vintage books as I am. Buy 2 (new), get 1 free.
posted by kristin at 3:08 PM

Two books read since the last post. Angelica by Sharon Shinn and The Story of Libraries by Fred Lerner. For a change both were from the list.

Angelica wasn't as good as her earlier books in the same universe. (Start with Archangel). At the beginning the dialogue seemed really wooden, but I got over that and got hooked on the story. They're a cross between fantasy (seemingly), science fiction, and romance, but don't let that third element scare you off. The people who recommended her originally to me were all men.

The Story of Libraries is exactly that. A history of different types of libraries throughout history. Unfortunately it's pretty dry even for someone interested in the subject like I am.

posted by kristin at 12:58 PM

I've been not reading so much lately, but I did sit on the train the other day and read volume 9 (the conclusion) of Jeff Smith's Bone straight through. I definitely don't want to give away the ending, but I'll mention that I was left just the slightest bit disappointed, though I enjoyed reading it. It looks like there's a one-volume edition of all 9 parts coming out soon. For those of you who haven't read any of them, go get it.

I'm not quite as obsessed with Bone as the friend who recommended them to me (she hands them to guys after the first date or so and if they don't like it she doesn't bother going out them again), but I would indeed recommend them all.

posted by kristin at 3:59 PM