I checked Freakonomics (by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner) out of the library last week and read it in an evening. It's mostly a sampler of surprising results that have come from applied economics techniques to aspects of everyday life. I've seen the most press about the one showing that legalizing abortion has led to a lower crime rate. It's a quick interesting read, but I wanted more.

Jasper Fforde's The Well of Lost Plots is the third Thursday Next book. It had very funny bits throughout, but overall wasn't as good as the first two. I've been assured that book four gets better again. In this one Thursday takes refuge in an unpublished book and does work for Jurisfiction.

Lord Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter is one of the books I'd bought last time I was at Borderlands Books in SF. I think I had heard of it mostly based on Neil Gaiman's recommendation (I'd read his introduction to it somewhere). I liked the story, but something about his writing style tripped me up occasionally and made it take awhile to get through.

Last night I started The Cats Pajamas, a book of short stories by James Morrow. Short stories sometimes frustrate me, but Morrow's generally hold my interest very well. Paul Di Filippo and Greg Egan both have this talent as well.

My train reading this week is Iain M. Banks' Excession.
posted by kristin at 11:10 AM

Last week I had a moment of weakness. I ordered Night Shade Book's special grab bag. $100 for 10 hardcover books. They arrived today. One book I had in paperback already. One I'd ordered from them previously. (This two will be either gifted to friends or sold to Powells). Other than that 8 books I know little to nothing about.

Leviathan 4: Cities edited by Forrest Aguirrre
Move Under Ground by Nick Mamatas
The Course of the Heart by M. John Harrison (the one I'd already bought)
Red World of Polaris by Clark Ashton Smith
The State of the Art by Iain M. Banks (the one I've read)
Giants from Eternity by Manly Wade Wellman
Viator by Lucius Shepard
The Banquet of the Lords of Night & Other Stories by Liz Williams
A New Universal History of Infamy by Rhys Hughes
Swiftly: Stories that Never Were and Might No Be by Adam Roberts
posted by kristin at 10:35 PM

I was actually amazed that I didn't finish The Polysyllabic Spree with a huge list of books I needed to get. Most of the ones that sounded interesting I already own. I made note of at least one book that I'll need to check out though.

Robert Shea's Saracen: The Holy War finishes the story. It's not really a series since the first book just ends and the second takes up right where it left off. Worth reading. It makes me want to learn more about the Crusades. Especially from the viewpoint of the non-Christians. (Good thing I have a book called The Crusades Through Arab Eyes waiting for me at home.)

Yesterday I finished off Herman Hesse's Siddhartha. I probably should have read it about a decade ago. Not bad, but not really compelling either.
posted by kristin at 1:14 PM

I checked Nick Hornby's The Polysyllabic Spree out of the library today. On the second page I'm already afraid this may hit a bit too close to home.

I don't want anyone writing in to point out that I spend too much money on books, many of which I will never read. I know that already. I certainly intend to read all of them, more or less. My intentions are good. Anyway, it's my money. And I'll be you do it too.

See?
posted by kristin at 10:44 PM

Thurday night I finished Paco Underhill's Why We Buy. It's less a sociology book on the role of consumerism in society, than a series of ideas for stores on how to make people spend more money. Some of the tricks he suggests are fascinating though, and I'll have to keep an eye out for some of them when I'm out shopping. Somewhat interesting, but I wouldn't really recommend it unless you're trying to sell thing.

Friday on the way to Denver I finished two books. Mark Salzman's Lying Awake and Martin Amis' Time's Arrow. I didn't like Lying Awake as well as the other books of his I've read. It was well-written, but the inner life of a nun just isn't something I can relate to very well. Time's Arrow probably could have been shorter, but was an interesting away to approach the Holocaust. The books follows a life backwards through time.

Last night I finished off Robert Shea's The Saracen: Land of the Infidel. I quite enjoyed reading it, much like his Shike series. Like the Shike books, this is the first volume of a two volume set, so I'll have to read the second half soon. The Saracen is set in 13th century Italy and is the tale of an Islamic warrior undercover in the court of Pope Urban (to simplify greatly).
posted by kristin at 3:02 PM

I ignored the first time this meme hit me (sorry, Neva). So I guess I'll answer it now that Keith hit me too. (Though I'm going to combine the two versions a bit.)

Total number of books I've owned:

Currently: 2737. I'm not sure how many more I've had and then sold or given away.

Last book I bought:

The Moosewood Cookbook (because it was 50 cents)

Currently Reading:

Why We Buy by Paco Underhill

Last book I finished:

Overtime by Tom Holt (definitely not the one to start with if you want to read his stuff)

Five books I'd take to a deserted island:
The Illuminatus Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea
Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Dhalgren by Samuel Delaney
The Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz

Three people I'd like to infect with this scourge:
Dave
Karissa
Rob
posted by kristin at 2:43 AM

Overtime is by no means Tom Holt's best book, but it made for mildly entertaining train reading this week.
posted by kristin at 10:31 AM