I read a fair amount over the past few months. I've been trying to read things that will be helpful for the novel I'm writing now, so it's sort of a bizarre collection of books with dead narrators (changed my mind about that), books with characters driving around (to make myself feel better about a scene I was afraid might be plotless), and a lot of just really fine prose. I loath it when writers say they don't read while they're working. First of all, everyone could stand to have their style influenced by, for example, Joan Didion or Vladimir Nabokov. Or both. Second of all, then when to you read? I'm always working, and that's true of every serious writer I know.

The Trouble Boy by Tom Dolby

This book is snappy and fun, and ultimately winds up meaning a lot more than that. It's a great read, and then some.

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

So much of this incredible book struck me so close to home. There were whole paragraphs that felt like they could be about my marriage. It's a heartbreaking marvel.

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

I love a good book about a horrible child.

Small Island by Andrea Levy

It does exactly what a fine, historical novel is supposed to do. Immerse you completely in its world. It's terrific.

Death of an Ordinary Man by Glen Duncan

I read this book because I was contemplating a dead narrator in my new novel. I've changed my mind, but I'm glad I had a chance to read this.

On Beauty by Zadie Smith

I read this book on a SF-NY flight and I must have sold a dozen copies, I was engrossed and enjoying it so obviously.

Intuition by Allegra Goodman

The science details were so perfect in this book. I feel like now I actually know what life in a medical lab is like.

Arthur and George by Julian Barnes

The writing in this novel is magnificent. The only thing I wish is that the actual crime could be solved in a more satisfactory way. But that's what happens when you're dealing with true stories.

The Awakening by Kate Chopin

I reread this for my book because it deals essentially with the same themes. I'm probably not going to go with the desperate ending, however.

Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons

I wanted to reread this because it's short, and I am desperately hoping Winter's End will be, too. It wasn't particularly helpful -- to unique a narrator -- but it's a fabulous novel.

Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie

Another person whose style I aspire to emulate.

The World According to Garp by John Irving

I reread this because it had a writer for a main character, and it even includes the writer's work. Man, this book is a great read.

Bicycle Days by John Burnham Schwartz

He's a terrific writer -- lovely prose style. Makes me want to visit Japan.

Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

This book was absurd and marvelous. And the section about the daughter's death laid me out.

The Soloist by Mark Salzman

He made me feel like I was a musician, like I understood for the first time the complicated relationship a real musician has to music.

The Living End by Stanley Elkin

So anyone who reads this knows I don't usually go for this kind of thing. But I actually enjoyed it immensely.

Play it as it Lays by Joan Didion

No one writes misery as well as Didion. I can't say I enjoyed this book. I was too busy feeling like the world was a hollow thankless place. She's the best.

Atonement by Ian McKuin

I reread this because no one constructs a propulsive plot like McKuin. The suspense in the beginning is so intense I almost couldn't keep going.

We spent the first part of this summer in a marvelous part of Maine, in the world's filthiest house. The place was crawling with bugs, so every novel I read ended up being splotched with the guts of a thousand mosquitos. And let's not even talk about the time I ended up brushing my teeth with a cockroach on my toothbrush. Anyway, I still managed to read some books I enjoyed, and others that I wondered what the big hoo hah was about.

Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel
There's no doubt that Ms. Mantel is an incredible writer, and for a long time I just loved this novel. Right near the end, though, I started dreading the arrival of those damned ghosts.

Enduring Love by Ian McEwan
He may be one of my favorite contemporary novelists. And I'm just going to go and be trite and rave about that opening sequence. It's a marvel.

Blue Diary by Alice Hoffman
What's with all the novelists named Alice? Is it, like, a requirement that if you're named Alice you consider a literary career?

Heir to the Glimmering World by Cynthia Ozick
This book would have been astonishing if it had busted out a bit. It wanted to have a bigger canvas. I'm not quite sure why it ended up being stuck in a house.

The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi
Lord, these people's lives are miserable.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
I enjoyed this. I didn't expect to, but I really did.

The Ornithologist's Guide to Life by Ann Hood
The author's tragic loss of her daughter feels laced through these stories. I'm not sure if I'm imposing that on them myself or not, but I couldn't help but feel it.

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
Interesting. Ben Marcus has an entire collection of short stories called "The Age of Wire and String." I wonder if this book is an "homage?" Except that Ben doesn't appear in the acknowledgment page. Perhaps just a strange symmetry.

Inheritance by Lan Samantha Chang
This is a good old-fashioned, page-turning family saga. A little too much time is crammed into the last 50 pages of the book, but that's typical for the genre.

The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham
A marvelous book full of loathsome characters.

Some Hope: A Trilogy by Edward St. Aubyn
The first of these novellas is so good, so incredible, that I thought I was reading the best book I'd ever read. Then it sort of degenerates into a drug book. You know; love of the heroin needle, blah blah blah. But it's worth reading for the sake of the first novella.

The Master by Colm Toibin
Toibin is a marvel, but the problem with writing a novel about a great novelist is that someone like James didn't do a whole lot of living. He did a whole lot of not living, if you know what I mean. He observed, but he didn't participate.

Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld
Cute.

Lots of good novels these past couple of months. And, wonder of wonders, two works of nonfiction.

Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson

I decided to reread this because I kept insisting to people that I thought it was so much better than Gilead, but then I realized that I couldn't actually recall much of it. I was right.

The Body of Jonah Boyd by David Leavitt

This was a fun read. He's a terrific writer and I enjoyed this book tremendously.

Lost in the Forest by Sue Miller

Sue Miller is one of my role models. She concentrates on similar themes – family, love, loss. And tries to do so without being either trite or maudlin.

The Provincial Lady in America by E.M. Delafield

I read this long ago (in college) and found it delightful then. I reread it because I was lucky enough to be compared to her in the New Yorker. A very flattering comparison.

The New Confessions by William Boyd

One of the things I love about Boyd is that he writes about a character's whole life. He doesn't shy away from taking on decades and decades. You can immerse yourself in his novels, knowing you'll get the entire story.

Frangipani by Célestine Hitiura Vaite

I enjoyed reading about Tahiti, a place I knew almost nothing about.

Inconsolable: How I threw my Mental Health Out With the Diapers by Marrit Ingman

I love a bitter, angry mom. Especially if she's funny.

Josie and Jack by Kelly Braffet

Delightfully creepy and weird.

Saturday by Ian McEwan

He's such a confidant and masterful writer, even when his stories tumble to a plot-filled close. I kept stopping and reminding myself to watch what he did and try to emulate it.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

(picnic, lightning) my God. I read this in high school (of course). And cannot believe I didn't reread it until now. There really is no one like him.

Fraud by David Rakoff

I embarrassed myself on a plane by bursting out laughing over and over again. My seat-mates thought I was crazy.

Rape: A Love Story by Joyce Carol Oates

Again, to be in the hands of a such a master is a totally different experience. She's just so confident, so assured.

Pearl by Mary Gordon

Well, this left me entirely cold. I'd be interested to know what other Jews thought of it. The portrayal of the Jewish converts to Catholicism was downright bizarre.

The Failures of Integration: How Race and Class Are Undermining the American Dream by Sheryll Cashin

After reading this book I felt like I had to sell my house and move to a more integrated neighborhood. Thank God my kids go to an integrated school. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

I'm starting a new novel (have I said that before), and I'm reading for inspiration. I'm also reading stuff that comes across my night stand, but mostly, I'm reading for inspiration.

Little Children by Tom Perrotta.

Yes, I read this before, not too long ago. But I suddenly had this
horrible fear that my novel was too much like this, so I had to reread
it. I'm fine. Thank god.

Back When We Were Grownups by Anne Tyler.

I've also read this before, but you can never read Anne Tyler often
enough. I think this one is particularly charming. And it says
remarkable things about grief.

Train by Pete Dexter.

This book has the single best description I've ever read in my life in
it. A man's thighs likened to children hiding in a pair of curtains.
The writing is just out of this world.

Symptomatic by Danzy Senna.

Intense and interesting novel about the meaning of race.

Celestial Navigation by Anne Tyler.

This one broke my heart.

The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler.

I know, I know. What's with all the Anne Tyler? She's just such an
inspiration to me…she reminds me that you can write simply but
beautifully. She takes as her subject families and women, and does it
without ever being treacly.

Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler.

I don't need to say anything more about her, do I?

My Life as a Fake by Peter Carey.

I love Peter Carey. I wished I had more of every one of these characters.

Plays Well with Others by Allan Gurganus.

This book is so funny, and he's a master of word play.

Fat Girl by Judith Moore.

Oh my God. I spent ten minutes staring at my thighs after reading this
book. Staring at them, and groaning in horror.

Baker Towers by Jennifer Haigh.

Well, it didn't do this book any favors to read it along with so much
Anne Tyler.

Living Out Loud by Anna Quindlen

I'm reading her to try to figure out this column-writing business,
both on a technical level, and on an emotional level. Maybe I'll learn
how to construct a column that will not result in me being burned at
the stake. Or maybe not.

Perfect Madness by Judith Warner.

When something rings true, and rings true to a specific class of
women, everyone has to just rip it to shreds. I thought much of this
book was dead on. I fear the call to action is too simple, however.
Still, who doesn't want better child care?

I'm having to recreate things a bit here, because I finally hired a cleaning service. They are amazing -- in truth, I think they have OCD, which is a fine, fine thing in a cleaning service -- but when they organized my bookshelves, they put away the pile of books I read these past couple of months. As their organizing principle was a little unorthodox, I've had to remember what I read instead of just looking at the handy-dandy pile. What, you ask, was this principle of theirs? Height. They organized the books by height. Did you know that the paperbacks of Nick Hornby's About a Boy and Wallace Stegner's Spectator Bird are the same size? You do now.

The Inner Circle by T.C. Boyle
Boyle is an amazing writer and this book is mesmerizing in many ways. Subject and author seem a perfect match. Whole lotta sex in this book.

Elizabeth Costello by J. M. Coetzee
If you're ever wondering what to do with all those old speeches once you're tired of giving them...

Best American Essays 2004 edited by Louis Menand
I love essays. They are fun to read, often weird, and usually can be relied on to make me cry.

Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood by Jennifer Traig
This memoir is very funny, often pee-in-your-pants funny. And then it sometimes strikes too close to home. Like when I was reading it and glanced up to see two-year-old Abraham laboriously lining up his trucks in neat little rows. And then he washes his hands, over and over again. No, I'm only kidding about that, but he does hold them up when they're dirty and say, "Hand!" with this little stricken look on his face, like he's horrified by the filth.

The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
I loved this book. It's just the kind of novel I enjoy, sprawling and kind of formless, with a plot that creeps up on you. And the writing is terrific.

The Best American Short Stories 2002 edited by Sue Miller
I don't know what possessed me to suddenly reread these old stories, but I love Sue Miller. And there are some terrific stories in here, notably, my husband's.

Loud and Clear by Anna Quindlan
I'm reading her to learn how to write a column. She's really a master of the form.

The Virgin's Knot by Holly Payne
I met Holly at a party and she is incredibly sweet. Reading her novel is like a trip to Turkey.

The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis
God, I love this book. It's the best suspense novel I've read in years, and it's about chess. I don't even know how to play chess! I wouldn't talk to anyone while I was immersed in this.

The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing
I will reread this book every month -- until I go into menopause. Then I will put it away, with a little prayer to Lessing for having saved us from a similar fate. Thank God it's short. Even looking at the cover gives me a little shiver of horror.

P.S. by Helen Schulman
This is a nice novel, and I liked it very much, but I saw the movie first, and the movie is exactly, precisely faithful. So it was a little bizarre to read the book. I'm not going to make that mistake again. Book first. Movie after.

A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews
This is a good novel; there's nothing wrong with it. The writing was really clean and spare. The story is well constructed. It's my own fault I couldn't get into it.

Sanctuary by William Faulkner
Yes, Goddamnit. I've never read Faulkner. I know. I am a Philistine. What can I say? I started with an easy one, and it was pretty terrific. But I'm such a moron that it took me ages to figure out the whole rape with a corncob thing. I had to be knocked over the head with it, basically.

I'm feeling very sassy about my reading over the past two months. Not only have I read some fabulous books, but I've read writers I should have read ages ago.

The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard
This woman is a remarkable writer on a sentence level. But you know what? The best sentences in the world can't save a book whose main characters are cardboard cutouts from a 1940s melodrama.

Independent People by Halldur Laxness
Admit it, you've never heard of him. And yet, he won the Nobel Prize. This is a great book to start with, despite the fact that on more than one occasion I felt the need to shriek, "Bjartur, they are just sheep for crying out fucking loud!"

Caucasia by Danzy Senna
This is a marvelous, fast read. Great meshing of politics and, well, prose. If you know what I mean.

The Getting Place by Susan Straight
Susan Straight is such a pitch perfect writer. It's amazing to me how she manages to create perfect worlds in just a very few sentences.

A Changed Man by Francine Prose
This should have been a breakout book for Ms. Prose. Sigh.

The News From Paraguay by Lily Tuck
This is a fine historical novel, and I enjoyed it. I'm just not sure I get why it won the National Book Award. I mean, I thought, for example, that this next book was better.

The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates
I almost didn't buy this terrific book, because, well, she's got so many. Where do you start? A clerk in one of my favorite bookstores, Diesel Books in Oakland, made me get it, and I could not stop reading. I stayed up for two nights in a row, incurring my husband's wrath.

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
The writing is lovely in this novel, and it certainly rewards the reader. I still like Housekeeping much more.

Pink Pill by Helena Echlin
You can't buy this yet, because it's not yet published, but when it is you should. It's great - fun and well-written. And yes, I do know the author. So what?

I went off for two weeks in the woods and finished a first draft of my next (and maybe last) murder mystery in the Juliet Applebaum series. I took along a lot of dead Russians to read, because I was in Washington State where it rains all the time, and I figured rainy, cold days curled up in front of a wood stove just cry out for Russians. They're down at the bottom of the log. I also read some Chekhov. Finally.

Searching for Caleb by Anne Tyler
I read this as I finished the final rewrites for my book that is now called Love and Other Impossible Pursuits. Anne Tyler is a perfect role model for me as a writer. High aspirations are good for a person. I liked this book very much, despite the fact that the main character is a fortune-teller. I usually hate free spirits, and I was afraid she'd be one. But she was significantly less of a twit than I had feared.

The Photograph by Penelope Lively
She's got excellent style, does Ms. Lively. And I liked this book. I sort of wish it had been about more, though. It started with this nice premise, a man who finds a photograph of his dead wife holding another man's hand, and then it seemed like she just wasn't sure what to do with it.

She is Me by Cathleen Schine
The next time I get grief for writing an unsympathetic main character, I'm going to point my critics to this book.

Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
I love Kate Atkinson. I really do. In a perfect world she would be able to call this book a mystery without having her literary credentials trashed. But the world isn't perfect, now, is it?

Highwire Moon by Susan Straight
Damn it, I was going to write this book! I mean, I had a plot sitting in the back of my head that was exactly this - woman comes to America, gives birth, gets picked up by the INS and cannot get back to her baby. I can't believe it. Well, Ms. Straight did it better than I could have, I expect.

The Follow by Linda Spalding
Okay, so I know Linda. But I still loved this book. Seriously. I'm not just bullshitting to keep from embarrassing myself in front of a friend. I can believe what that NUT JOB Birute Galdikas is doing in Borneo. She's got to be stopped. I worked myself up into such a rage over this that I called Linda to holler my fury. She, of course, had put all this out of her mind years ago.

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
I'm reading this again because it's important to the next novel I'm going to write. I won't say anything more. Also, I'll say this: the main character is such a goddamn wet blanket! Still, love the gothic romances. I used to read them compulsively when I was in Junior High School. I wish more of them were written this well.

Liars and Saints by Maile Meloy
I liked this book very much, although as often happens with family sagas, I sort of resented being dragged out of one character's point of view and into her child's, and then into that of the next generation.

An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison
Perhaps my interest in the subject matter of this book has more to do with my own issues than with anything else, but I found it very fascinating. The writing was alternately beautiful and then sort of clunky but I was rapt by this woman's story. She has very serious manic-depressive disorder. I'm mildly bipolar from a family where the Lithium river runs wide and deep. So it had personal resonance.

Touched With Fire by Kay Redfied Jamison
So of course the next thing I did was read this. I actually sort of skimmed it, dropping into sections and reading them. She goes a little too in depth into various chapters to hold my interest for long. However, it's incredibly comforting for someone like me to read this book. I've always felt like such a literary fraud. I didn't spend my life longing to write, I didn't do an MFA. But, now that I realize that I'm bipolar just like William Blake, Lord Byron, Emily Dickenson, Virginia Woolf, Victor Hugo, Nikolai Gogol, Henry James, Mary Shelley and a whole lot more, I feel like maybe I do come by my writing aspirations naturally, after all.

Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev
This is part of my Nabokov plan of self-improvement. This book was a delight. Funny and tragic. And wouldn't Vlad be enraged by my one line, rather trite, capsulation of the novel?

The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol
All right, I know it's not a novel, it's just a short story, but I read the accompanying Nabokov lecture, and I just loved this story so much I had to put it in here. It was so incredibly sad and awful.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
This translation is remarkable. I'm just so sad that Pevear and Voloshonsky had to deal with the horror of not selling well after being selected by Oprah. I think it sold upwards of three hundred thousand copies, which is only a failure if you expected to move a million units. Otherwise, the idea that three hundred thousand people immersed themselves in this complicated novel is sort of wonderful. Tolstoy is my kind of writer, ornate and histrionic, but with a sharp sense of humor and irony. What, however, was with all the awful Levin sections? I mean, do we really need that much postulating on various farming techniques and ideologies? I have to admit I started skipping those.

I'm updating early because I'm sick in bed and don't want to work on my novel right now. So there's not too much to report. Highlight was the Roth, I guess. If the paranoid panic it inspired can be described as a highlight.

The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
As someone who honestly believes that it's entirely possible that the entire American nation could rise up and put the Jews in concentration camps (Really, I do. Witness the Japanese internment camps. Witness the rhetoric surrounding AIDS. Witness the anti-semitism in Europe), this novel had me up half the night. I was basically packing my family's suitcases. It's a chilling novel, marvelous although not perfect. He's a brilliant writer, but even the geniuses among us could use the benefit of some editorial guidance.

The Little Girls by Elizabeth Bowen
Dated but languidly lovely.

Like Life by Lorrie Moore
Lorrie Moore is an inspiration to me. I begin my work day by reading one of her short stories. Her prose is pitch-perfect. Funny, tragic. Beautiful.

The Town That Forgot How to Breathe by Kenneth J. Harvey
This book was, I don't know. Weird, I guess. I sort of liked it. I wanted it to like it. I did. I did like it. I really did. Why didn't I pick it up and read it with more excitement?

Father's Day by Philip Galanas
Philip and I used to work together at a big fancy-pants law firm in New York. I love that we both abandoned the world of billable hours for lounging in our pjs and writing all day! This is a great read.

The Good People of New York by Thisbe Nissen
She's a really good writer, Ms. Nissen, but I just wanted to stick with the first point of view character.

Dream of the Blue Room by Michelle Richmond
MacAdam Cage makes such gorgeous books, and Michelle is a lovely woman. I enjoyed this book tremendously, although I feel pretty desperate about the environmental situation in China. Man it's a hellish nightmare there now.

The Position by Meg Wolitzer
I like Meg Wolitzer a lot, and I liked this book very much. I feel a certain kinship with her as a writer, although maybe that's presumptuous of me.

Graceland by Chris Abani
I finished this book feeling so completely hopeless about Nigeria. I'm overwhelmed with admiration for Abani, who not only survived incredible travails, but manages to have such a sense of humor.

I can’t even remember how long it’s been since I’ve updated this book log. I’ve been busy. I’ve been juggling two books, and now the teleplay to the Mommy Track TV series, which may or may not happen on Lifetime. I’m also in a fit of semiconstant panic about the election. My current horror is that the moron “anarchists” will play right into Karl Rove’s hands by engaging in violent demonstrations during the Republican Convention. Nothing will send swing voters over to Bush’s camp like the image of some idiot tossing a Molotov cocktail through a New York City storefront.

Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett
Reading this book was a strange experience in many ways. Amanda’s death was, and still is fresh in my mind, and reading about such raw grief was hard. There were other things...how, well, psycho, Lucy Grealy seemed through Ann’s eyes. The symbiotic intensity of the relationship, how much it seemed like one person gnawing another’s limbs and the other proudly, happily extending her arm to be chewed. Anyway. Worth the read, definitely.

Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy
Well, of course I had to read this next. I’m not sure she was quite as brilliant a writer as others (and she herself) seemed to think. There’s so much missing from this story, but it’s pretty incredible nonetheless. Harsh and compelling as all hell. I read it in like a day.

The Magician’s Assistant by Ann Patchett
Now, this novel I just loved. Loved. I can’t really explain why, but I was completely swept up in it. I promise I’m done with this Ann Patchett/Lucy Grealy tear, by the way, though I did read this horrible article by Lucy Grealy’s sister in the Guardian that just made me feel sorry for everyone. It seemed so gratuitously mean, and that clearly the person she is angry at is her sister. In any case, none of this is any of our business and should be fought out in a living room somewhere, with slammed doors and bitter, recriminatory emails, not in the pages of major newspapers.

Picturing Will by Ann Beattie
I read this book because I am writing a novel about a little boy named William, and freaked out when I saw this. It’s pretty good. I hope I don’t suffer horribly by comparison.

Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
He is just so awesome. Everyone should read Graham Greene. I can’t believe it took me until now to read this book.

Crossing California by Adam Langer
I got not one, not two, but THREE free copies of this book. I guess Riverhead is really pushing it hard. I liked it. It was funny, especially the Jewish rock band guy.

Goodbye Without Leaving by Laurie Colwin
She’s a wonderful writer, and it’s tragic that she died so young.

Country of Origin by Don Lee
This is a pretty good novel, although if the writer gave me one more descriptive sentence about the main character I was going to track him down and tattoo “show, don’t tell” onto his ass.

Riven Rock by T.C. Boyle
I love the sense of period in this novel. The insane character was fabulous, but I wished for a bit more with the female characters.

The Seventh Beggar by Pearl Abraham
I adored her first novel, and this one left me a little confused. I’m not so much into the whole mysticism thing. But she’s a terrific writer.

What Was She Thinking by Zoe Heller
Excellent unreliable, nasty-as-hell narrator. I enjoyed this novel tremendously, although I really didn’t feel the attraction for the young boy, and I think it’s possible to get that across. My kids had this 15 year old babysitter once who was absolutely beautiful, and had I been a totally different person with no scruples, and no marriage...which is to say, I’d never do anything, but I understand that the attraction exists, and I think there must be a way to describe it. Now someone will probably report me to the Department of Social Services.

Gone by Helena Echlin
Helena is a lovely writer, and I liked this book very much. My three year old and Helena became fast friends at a party last month.

Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif
This book is appallingly bad, and the Booker people are out of their collective minds. I mean, good GOD. What are they thinking, putting this tripe on their short list? With the overblown metaphors and the ludicrous political diatribes? Will someone please let me know if I write like this so that I can become an underwear saleswoman?

The Bigamist’s Daughter by Alice McDermott
She may be one of my favorite writers ever. This isn’t Charming Billy, and the ending isn’t quite as satisfying as you’ll want it to be, but it’s still a marvelous book, and after Map of Love I needed something to cleanse my palette of the lingering horror.

Jack by A.M. Homes
This is a great novel for young adults. It’s got a fairly typical Y.A. narrator of a certain familiar kind (you know, more honest and “real” than the adults around him), and the prose is accessible. I'm going to make Sophie read it.

The Tenants of Moonbloom by Edward Lewis Wallant
I loved this novel. I loved it, and I was rooting for Moonbloom so damn hard. Man, you just despair for the world sometimes, and for the tiny efforts of one small man.

Life with Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
This is actually three novels in one, and no one should read three Jeeves novels in a stretch because they are all the same. They’re terrific, and very funny, but ultimately, the joke is exactly the same: Jeeves is smarter than his dopey boss and solves the problem, and his dopey boss agrees to stop wearing some hideous piece of clothing of which Jeeves does not approve. I mean, they are funny. Really funny, sometimes. But not all at once.

Hello to the Cannibals by Richard Bausch
I hereby declare a moratorium on men of a certain age writing from the point of view of young women. I will not allow it anymore, because those of us who are women (even if the fact that we are approaching our fortieth birthday with terrifying inexorability precludes us from calling ourselves young) find too many embarrassing mistakes, the kind of things that make us fling a novel across the room in frustration. Plus--enough with the shifting time periods. Unless they are really and truly related, all they do is distract from one another. Will someone please remind me of this if I ever convince anyone to buy The Bloom Girls?

In Babylon by Marcel Moring
This novel is very, very European. By which I mean, if I were smarter and more sophisticated, I probably would have loved it.

The past couple of months have been pretty exciting reading-wise. I went off to MacDowell where I wrote the first hundred pages of a novel in two weeks (more or less in Morse Code, but still), and my inspirations are on this list.

The Translator by John Crowley
I loved this book even though it has none of Crowley's trademark other-world stuff. Okay, maybe it does. A tiny bit.

What I loved by Siri Hustvedt
This book was a good read, but somehow I wanted a little more. I don't know. Emotionally, maybe?

Love Invents Us by Amy Bloom
She's amazing, this woman. AMAZING. And she was married, at one time, to one of my favorite professors in college.

Use Me by Elissa Schappell
She writes so honestly, especially about mothering. I can't wait to read her next book.

Love in the Asylum by Lisa Carey
Lisa is still one of my favorites, and I haven't met her, we've just exchanged emails, so I get to keep my unbiased status.

An Invisible Sign of My Own by Aimee Bender
She's a beautiful writer, on a sentence level, and I know I could never do what she does. I needed a bit less distance, though.

Now is the Time to Open Your Heart by Alice Walker
I read this book because I interviewed Alice Walker, one of my favorite writers when I was in college, for the Commonwealth Club. I still haven't heard the show on NPR. If you do, let me know if I sound like a blithering idiot.

Natasha by David Bezmozgis
Expect great things from this fabulous young writer.

The Blindfold by Siri Hustvedt
Okay, so this is a good SHORT STORY COLLECTION but it is NOT a novel, and I really and truly resent being told that it is. As a novelist who spends a tremendous amount of time and energy worrying about the arc of her story and plot, it really pisses me off when publishers try to sell collections as novels. It does the author a disservice and makes a good book seem less well done.

The Path of Minor Planets by Andrew Sean Greer
Another marvel by Andrew Sean Greer. (My buddy and accomplice on the SF strip club scene. I'll reveal more later).

Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by Z.Z. Packer
One of my favorites this month. This woman's descriptions are tremendous. Exciting, vibrant. Everything good writing should be.

The Mermaids Singing by Lisa Carey
She's so much fun to read, and I think we actually are not dissimilar writers. At least I hope to be as good.

The Country of the Young by Lisa Carey
My favorite of Lisa's books.

Little Children by Tom Perrotta
I liked this book quite a bit, but you know what? He didn't get the female character right. He doesn't know what we talk about to one another. He doesn't get it. Alas.

Property by Valerie Martin
A wonderful novel. Truly. I love a juicily loathsome main character.

Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris
I was positively peeing in my pants I was laughing so hard.

The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
I'm so happy for Karen that this book is going to catapult her to a mainstream audience. This wonderful writer deserves it. I still love Sister Noon the best, though.

The Known World by Edward P. Jones
Okay, so the Pulitzer people were absolutely correct. This book is marvelous. MARVELOUS.

I have a cold and I'm grumpy, so forgive me if that comes out in this month's write-up. I'm off for two weeks at the MacDowell Colony so I will have many many novels to write about in a couple of months and will be in much better spirits.

A Life's Work: On Becoming a Mother by Rachel Cusk
The writing is beautiful, the book is totally me, and I loved every minute of it. I was screaming, "Amen! Amen!" until right near the end. And then she lost me. She can't leave the house for more than an hour without calling to make sure the baby is okay? Oy. That's the guilt talking, sweetie. If you weren't feeling so awful about your ambivalence, you'd be fine about leaving. Just go!

The Song of Names by Norman Lebrecht
I liked this novel. All the music stuff was quite interesting, and Philistine that I am I did learn quite a bit. The "mystery" part didn't do much for me, though.

Sleep Toward Heaven by Amanda Eyre Ward
A lovely novel by a Readerville writer

Old School by Tobias Wolfe
I enjoyed this tremendously, despite the fact that he beat me out for the Northern California Book Prize. I'm kidding. Not about enjoying it. Wolfe is a remarkable writer. His sentences are often quite simply perfect. Simple. And perfect.

Green for Danger by Christianna Brand
I read this old classic to learn about plot construction. The plot was awful. A bunch of people thrown in a room, essentially. And the "story" consisted of musing about who done it. Boring. Very very boring.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
This novel about Afghanistan is devastating. It boggles the mind how that country has just turned to dust and blown away. Horrifying. I couldn't put the book down.

The Liberated Bride by A.B. Yehoshua
The problem with reading a novel translated from a language you know is that you keep untranslating it. Anyway, this book is very good. Remarkable insights into contemporary Israeli society. And the most loathsome main character I've come across in a good long while. I hated him.

Shosha by Isaac Bashevis Singer
I know I was supposed to be swept up in this novel. I was not supposed to find it tedious.

Family History by Dani Shapiro
Shapiro is the kind of writer I think I could aspire to be. She writes very well, with strong plots. She'll never win the Pulitzer Prize, but her books are well-constructed and her sentences are fine, sometimes even lovely. So this is my goal.

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
I love Virginia Woolf so desperately. She's my favorite writer, and I can't quite believe it, since I so loath stream of consciousness, or the very idea of S of c.

The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer
This book is delightful, beautifully written, and John Updike thinks Andy is a better writer than Nabokov and every bit as good as Proust. So there.

Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros
This book was good, but I find the victim thing a little much sometimes.

Colors Insulting to Nature by Cintra Wilson
Man, this book was funny. Vivid seems almost an understatement.

Embalming Mom: Essays in Life by Janet Burroway
This woman is one of the best writers out there and it is a CRIME that she is not better known. Go buy this book. If you can only buy one book, buy hers, not mine.

Apprentice to the Flower Poet Z by Debra Weinstein
This was a fun, light read. Zippy and cute.

Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje
This writer deserves a Nobel Prize. This book is lovely.

Letters to a Fiction Writer edited by Frederick Busch
Some of these are interesting, especially the ones not meant for the collection. I liked Janet Burroway's and Tobias Wolfe's. Most were pretty tiresome, though.

Madras on Rainy Days by Samina Ali
You know how much of a sucker I am for novels about this part of the world. So I loved this. It also helped me escape from a loathsome Club Med vacation.

So I'm on this campaign of self-improvement. I'm reading Lectures on Literature by Vladimir Nabokov, and the novels about which he writes. The idea is that since I've never studied literature, and have always been a voracious and passionate, but hardly critical, reader, this will teach me how to "read like a writer." That last sentence is meant to be read in a loud and pompous voice. But I'm also reading plenty of other stuff, otherwise I'd go mad!

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
This is a truly marvelous novel by a young Brit. It's six interlocking tales, kind of spiraling in and out of one another.

Blue Shoe by Anne LaMott
There's a bit in this book where the mother is horrified that her son has only just mentioned a massive homework assignment late the night before it's due. He says something like, "Oh chill out. It's not a big deal. Where do we keep our cheesecloth and dowels?" I laughed at that for a good five minutes.

The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler
This novel traces an entire marriage - and entire lifetime. Beautiful. But my god. Depressing as hell.

The Lucky Ones by Rachel Cusk
These short stories are lovely, but I have a bone to pick. This is not a novel. Just because a group of short stories happen to share some characters you cannot just call them a novel. Novels have an overarching plot - a narrative. A theme and a thematic structure. STOP CALLING SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS NOVELS. Goddamn it.

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Yes, I'll admit it. I have not read this before, and I only read it because Vlad assigned it. But holy shit. The way he built these characters one layer at a time.

Mansfied Park by Jane Austen
I'm very grateful to Vlad for starting me with something I've read before and loved. I learned a tremendous amount about how to construct a sentence - how to bury irony, for example - from reading this novel under his tutelage. I still loath Fanny Price, though. Little milksop.

The Wife by Meg Wolitzer
This novel is about the wife of a famous writer. Hmm. I wonder why I bought it. It was tremendous fun to read, but I didn't like the ending. I thought the dramatic surprise sold the novel short.

The Fall of Rome by Martha Southgate
A lovely novel about complicated, sad and lonely people.

American Woman by Susan Choi
This book is remarkable. Beautifully written and devastating. I think it might be a Pulitzer finalist... or, dare I say, winner.

Brick Lane by Monica Ali
Terrific novel about a woman from Bangladesh brought to London and married off to a much older man.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
This book is fun, although a bit too long for a rather slender premise, but the translation is pretty awful. I slogged through it, though, mostly because we were on a truly horrible vacation - Club Med Ixtapa (what were we thinking???) - and it was the only book I had left.

Your Remind Me by Dan Chaon
Chaon is a terrific writer. Spare and elegant. I loved this book.

I'm about to set off on book tour (check out the schedule and come see me!), and wanted to get this posted before I left. Lots of very very different kinds of books this time.

Joshua Then and Now by Mordecai Richler
Once again I picked up a Richler for research purposes only to find myself absolutely enamored. I have one quibble, however. Why are men of this generation so damn obsessed with sex? Is it because they got so little of it when they were young?

Now You See It by Cornelia Nixon
She is a marvelous writer, and this story is devastating.

Charming Billy by Alice McDermott
This may be one of my favorite books. I read it again to see what I could steal from her.

St. Urbain's Horseman by Mordecai Richler
Another book for the Bloom Girls. As good as his others, better, certainly, than some.

The Light of Day by Graham Swift
This book didn't really work for me. I didn't care much about what happened to the characters.

The King of America by Samantha Gillison
She is a delectable writer, precise, lovely. Dare I say, luminous? Don't read the book if you like happy endings.

The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell
I howled my way through this essay collection.

A Few Short Notes On Tropical Butterflies by John Murray
Some of these stories are truly wonderful. Delightful and sort of creepy.

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
I loved this book. It was slow, and languid, and marvelous.

Any Human Heart by William Boyd
My favorite book this time around. A man's entire life. Brilliantly told.

The Semi-Attached Couple & The Semi-Detached House by Emily Eden
Anyone who, like me, is made miserable by the failure of Jane Austin to live forever, should read these charming novels.

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
I don't need to tell you that this is one of the best novels of all time.

Keeping Watch by Laurie R. King
A mystery writer at the top of her form.

The Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald
I can't believe I didn't read these until now. I feel like such an idiot.

Please let me explain my failure to update, as well as the paucity of books in the log. Abe, the baby, WON'T NURSE. I spend hours every day pumping milk for the little monster, and don't get me started on how much we've spent on lactation consultants.

Mazel by Rebecca Goldstein
You want to hear something depressing? This author won a MacArthur Genius Grant, and her book is published by a university press. That said, I loved The Mind/Body Problem, so I expected to love this, and didn't. I can't pin my finger on what's missing - it just seems a bit, well, dull.

The Gangster We Are All Looking for by le thi diem thuy
The author's name is spelled wrong because I can't figure out where any of the accents are on the keyboard. Sorry. Thuy can write, she really can, but she seems so disconnected from the emotion of the story that it's hard to enjoy this book.

Women About Town by Laura Jacobs
This book is small, and promises to be little more than "chick lit," but it ends up being oddly poignant. What's with the high heels on the cover, though? I've seen way too much of that, lately.

Men and Other Mammals by Jim Keeble
I would never have bothered with this novel, but a bookseller recommended it. It's okay.

Lucky Girls by Nell Freudenberger
Lord, did I want to hate this collection. The author is about eleven years old, she got a massive advance based on a single short story, and I wanted it to suck. Because that's how nice I am. It was marvelous. Truly.

Getting Mother's Body by Suzan-Lori Parks
This book was enjoyable, but given the buzz, I expected a whole lot more.

Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
Been there, done that. The first was enough.

Easter Island by Jennifer Vanderbes
She's a lovely writer, but the ending of the book seemed to kind of fizz out.

The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Letham
Well, this is the one. If you only read one book this year, read this one. It's devastating, brilliant, all those things the blurbs say it is.

And Now You Can Go by Vendela Vida
A lovely, slim book. Idiosyncratic, and touching.

How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer
This woman truly nails childhood. It made me so incredibly happy I am no longer a girl.

Your Mouth is Lovely by Nancy Richler
My father was wrong. This woman can write.

The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst
Okay, I'm not quite sure why this is such a huge hit. I liked it, I did. But "The Lovely Dog Bones?" I don't get it.

Midsummer by Marcelle Clements
A bookseller made me buy this in hardcover, and I'm a bit irritated with him.

It's been a while since I updated the book log, but since I had a baby about five weeks ago, I'm sure you'll forgive me.

The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West
This 1956 novel is delightful and entertaining. I wasn't quite as sucked in as I expected to be, but it was nonetheless fun to read.

The House in Paris by Elizabeth Bowen
You can see I've been on something of an old novel kick. This one is from 1935 and is really remarkable. Sad, and sweet, and beautifully written.

The Midwife's Tale by Gretchen Moran Laskas
Full disclosure - I know Gretchen, or at least we've met over the ether on Readerville. I truly enjoyed this glimpse into the lives of Appalachian women.

The Chateau by William Maxwell
Every single word in this long novel is perfectly placed. Maxwell is remarkable.

Only Yesterday by Frederick Lewis Allen
This is a nonfiction book about the 1920s that I read as research for my next novel. It was wildly entertaining, and I got tons of great stuff from it.

Hunger by Elise Blackwell
I enjoyed this book very much, but it's not a novel. It's barely a novella. It's really a lovely short story in a nice little package.

Shadow Without a Name by Ignacio Padilla
What does it say about me that I found it so difficult to remain engaged with this novel? It's interesting; the writing is wonderful. Perhaps it is because there are so few scenes - it's mostly description.

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
A bookseller recommended this to me as light reading for Vicodin-fogged postpartum days. It was perfect. Tremendously enjoyable, and just what I needed.

Angels Go Naked by Cornelia Nixon
Okay, once again, I must disclose my friendship with the author. You should read this book anyway. She's a wonderful writer.

The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
People are buying this book despite the blurb calling it "The Miss Marple of Botswana." That's a good thing. It's terrific. It isn't, however, a traditional murder mystery, but rather a series of vignettes.

Wintering by Kate Moses
This book is fabulous. By the end, I felt such an incredible kinship with Sylvia Plath - as a mother, really, more than as a writer.

The Book of Dead Birds by Gayle Brandeis
Okay, once again. I know the author. But still. A delightful, poignant novel.

Little Big by John Crowley
This is a HUGE fairy story. I loved it.

Great Neck by Jay Cantor
This was my Hawaii beach reading, and it's a nice thick tome. I like to bring a big book with me on vacation. All I do is read, so I'd rather bring one or two huge books than schlep a suitcase full. There are some hysterically funny lines in this book, and he does a great job of showing us this world.

Desirable Daughters by Bharati Mukherjee
Yes, once again. I know the author. And this is part of my India mania. She's a wonderful writer, and I feel like the veil has been lifted a bit on Bengali culture.

Sorry it has been so long since my last update. I've been desperately trying both to finish Murder Plays House, and to get a good start on my next literary novel, The Bloom Girls, before March 31. Why, you ask? Because Abraham Wolf Waldman Chabon is due to make his appearance on that date via scheduled c-section. Think of me at 7:30 AM, California time.

This month I did a lot of preparatory reading for The Bloom Girls which is set in Montreal in the 1920s. Thus, my recommendations might seem a bit strange to some of you.

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler
Not my favorite of his novels, but nonetheless an entertaining read.

The Rise of David Levinsky by Abraham Cahan
This novel was wonderful, but it's of a very particular kind. It's a tale of business -- the garment business to be exact.

Solomon Gursky Was Here by Mordecai Richler
This is my favorite Richler novel. It's delightfully crazy, wonderfully written. Fun and frightening and an altogether great read.

The Folded Leaf by William Maxwell
Maxwell is a fine writer, one of the best I've read. So confident, so assured. Of an entirely different world than contemporary novelists, many of whom, even if they write beautifully, seem to suffer from a kind of tentativeness. This novel is particularly compelling.

So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell
This is a masterpiece. Truly. It should be read by everyone.

Time Will Darken it by William Maxwell
Probably the slowest of the three, but still lovely.

A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul
Okay, I'll be honest. I'd never read Naipaul before he won the Nobel. If all his work is like this book Øm searing and at the same time full of a remarkable empathy - then those Swedes certainly knew what they were doing.

A Death In The Family by James Agee
This had me weeping. Lovely, beautiful period novel.

Blood of Victory by Alan Furst
Another terrific read by the absolute master of the rueful spy novel.

The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri
This book was both painful and enchanting. One of my favorite of the many many novels by Anglo-Indians I've read in the past couple of years.

The Little Friend by Donna Tartt
There is no doubt that this writer is the real thing. Her evocations of the old women -- the aunties -- in this novel were tremendous. But it's quite clear that one day, in the middle of writing the book, she got up, went to work, and suddenly decided to just type the words, "The End," at the bottom of the page.

The Bones In The Attic by Robert Barnard
I read this because he's supposed to be a master of plot. Enough said.

My Father Dancing by Bliss Broyard
This writer has clearly inherited her father's talent.

The Main by Trevanian
This is commercial fiction??? Every serious novelist should strive for this kind of layered and nuanced detail. I can't believe I've never read him before.

Stories From a Montreal Childhood by Shulamis Yellin
This book was terrifically useful for my research, and the prologue is a hoot and a half. Note to self, never refer to own work as "a classic."

The Seduction of Water by Carol Goodman
This woman can clearly write, but mystery plotting is not her strong suit.

Montreal of Yesterday by Israel Medres
Another terrific research tool, and another note to self. Never let your own daughter be your translator.

Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s by Frederick Lewis Allen
This is a history of the 1920s, written in the early 1930s! It's a great read, and a wonderful tool for my research.

Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow
I reread this, my favorite of his novels, to give myself an example of historical fiction at its best.

The Street by Mordecai Richler
This little book of essays brings Jewish Montreal of the 1930s to life.

I have been a reading machine lately. Comes from having my husband abandon me for what felt like six years, but was really only a couple of months. His tour schedule was brutal...and I'm counting on all of you to make my months of HELL worthwhile by buying his new novel, Summerland. Go on. Get it for your kids for the holidays. You won't be sorry.

Wonder When You'll Miss Me by Amanda Davis
This wonderful book by my lovely friend Amanda is a fabulous read. I take that back. It's a MUST read. You won't understand this until you read it - but I'll bet I'm not the only one with her very own mean, fat girl talking to her when no one else is around.

Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald
The parts that I loved about this book are amazing. Even the parts I didn't love are gorgeously written. I just wish there had been more about Austerlitz, and a bit less about architecture.

Child of My Heart by Alice McDermott
Well, it's no Charming Billy, but since that's one of the best contemporary novels I've ever read, it seems unfair to hold her to that standard, even if it is her own. The main character was a bit too good to be true, but the writing was pure McDermott - spare and lovely.

Three Apples Fell From Heaven by Micheline Aharonian Marcom
The story of what the Turks did to the Armenians is truly horrifying - it's almost trite and ridiculous even to say that about the brutal massacre of a million people.

Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles
I'm not usually a civil war aficionado, but this book was a fast enjoyable read. What a miserable and depressing time to live through. And what's with the author bio description saying Jiles is a "dual citizen" with U.S. and Canada? Um, call me crazy, but I think that's a ploy to be considered for Canadian and Commonwealth book prizes. Guess what? If you were born in the U.S. and you live in the U.S., your dual citizenship doesn't mean anything. Plus, my father had to renounce his Canadian citizenship to become American. So gimme a break.

You Are Not a Stranger Here by Adam Haslett
Oh my GOD this young man knows bi-polar disorder like no one else I've ever read. His descriptions of mania and depression are so spot-on it's almost hard to believe. Now, don't you want to know why I know that he knows whereof he writes?

Right as Rain by George P. Pelecanos
As far as I know, Pelecanos came out of nowhere to become the hugest mystery writer around. Seven books it took him to "hit," so I guess there is hope for me, yet. He's a terrific writer, and (as far as I know) does an amazing job of writing an African-American character. Grim and scary, though. Not for the faint of heart. And icky icky crack house bathroom scene. Worse than the maggot-infested toilet I used once in India.

Circling the Drain by Amanda Davis
This is my friend Amanda's wonderful story collection. The last is my favorite, which is lucky because that's what she used as a beginning for her novel!

In a Dry Season by Peter Robinson
I read this novel because I needed some plot inspiration. He's a good and entertaining writer, but not quite the plotting genius I had hoped.

Sweet Dream Baby by Sterling Watson
Okay, full disclosure. This is another Sourcebooks writer. You know, the publisher of my new literary novel, Daughter's Keeper. Still and all, you can believe when I tell you this book is lovely, with a spot-on child's voice.

A Little Death by Laura Wilson
Spoiler alert!!! Aren't we done with incest yet? Not to belittled the sufferers. But I'm so tired of it as a literary device.

His Mother's Son by Cai Emmons
Every parent's fear is that their child will grow up bad. This book does a lovely job of describing that.

Marriage: A Duet by Anne Taylor Fleming
This was on of my favorite books of this list. She's a stupendous writer. If infidelity scares you as much as it does me, you should read this. And if it doesn't, you should read it, too, to see why it should.

The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio by Terry Ryan
What a delightful memoir! Now that is a good mother.

The White by Deborah Larsen
I was really looking forward to this book, and the truth was it was very good. But I wished for more story, and less poetry.

The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber
This was an entertaining novel, but ahem. It's pornography. Really good porn. But still, you should be prepared. And honestly, does he really think that woman is attractive? Peeling lips? No breasts? Rashy rashy skin? Feh.

I think I was grumpy for the past couple of months. I read a lot, but there were so few books that I found absolutely satisfying. Let's hope I cheer up soon.

A Citizen of the Country by Sarah Smith
This book was a wonderfully enjoyable, but I find it frustrating that the author made comprehension of the book so dependent on having read the prior books in the series.

The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason
This is another of those first novel mega advances. It's beautifully written (if a little 'lyrical') but it suffers from the problems of its genre. The plot is kind of nowhere.

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
It's a pleasure to watch an expert at work. This book is fabulous, and I'm not even an opera buff.

They Came Like Swallows by William Maxwell
All those 'lyrical' young writers should be force-fed a diet of William Maxwell. Genius without excess.

Mr. Maybe by Jane Green
One word. Pornography. And poorly written porn, at that. Feh.

The Elusive Embrace by Daniel Mendelsohn
Okay, he's my friend, but even if he weren't I would be blown away by the originality, the creativity, the verve of this book.

Life After Death by Carol Muske-Dukes
This was a good enough read, but I ended up a little dissatisfied at the end.

The Frog King by Adam Davies
A boy Brigit Jones, with a thesaurus.

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Thank God this book is back in print. It's absolutely delightful.

Kingdom of Shadows by Alan Furst
Furst is definitely the master of this genre. Remarkable. I love the kind of languid pace of this thriller. And I mean that in the best possible way.

Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls
This book was completely fun, although I kind of wished for a happy ending with the sea creature.

The Last Noel by Michael Malone
This writer is an inspiration - a man who was a 'mystery writer' who has successfully crossed genres.

Almost by Elizabeth Benedict
I sort of wished for more of a disclosure - a mystery solved or something - in this book. I know that's shallow of me, but there it is.

White Oleander by Janet Fitch
A little too fraught for me, but a good read.

In the River Sweet by Patricia Henley
The relationships, the people, in this book felt absolutely and completely real.

The Hatbox Baby by Carrie Brown
This is a great idea, a wonderful sense of place and time, and an ultimately unsatisfying novel.

Blessings by Anna Quindlen
There's no doubt that this author can write, but I wished for more with this book.

The Grave Maurice by Martha Grimes
Why oh why did I buy this book in hardcover?

An Italian Affair by Laura Fraser
I loved this book, and I usually have zero patience for things like novels written in the second person.

I've been terribly derelict in my book log duties, and I'm afraid I won't even remember everything I've read. But I'll do my best.

When We Were Grownups by Anne Tyler
I didn't expect to find this particular character very compelling. She wasn't someone I would normally identify with. But Tyler's writing is so remarkable she just kind of sweeps you up with her. I will say that there's one male character I just absolutely didn't buy.

The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen L. Carter
The mystery here isn't very good, and neither is it much of a thriller, but the window into the universe of wealthy African-American society was interesting, and I enjoyed the book for that reason.

The Dive From Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer
I loved this book so much that I actually accosted a complete stranger in the bookstore and made her buy it.

The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall
Udall can write wonderfully well, but something about Edgar's story left me a little cold.

Florence, A Delicate Case by David Leavitt
I read this right before we went to Florence, and it was a delightful window into that particularly gorgeous little city.

As the Romans Do: An American Family's Italian Odyssey by Alan Epstein
This book is awful. Truly. The author must have mentioned his "frequent" appearances on Oprah at least thirty times. Wretched. Truly.

The Hero's Walk by Anita Rau Badami
I thought I was done with my India phase, but I managed to read another. I liked it okay -- although it wasn't the best of that particular genre.

Lying Awake by Mark Salzman
He's a wonderful writer, but this is, ultimately, a book about a nun. Great if you're Catholic. Or just love nuns.

The Rotters' Club by Jonathan Coe
Coe read with Michael in Italy, and had way way more fans that he did. I decided I had to read something he wrote. It was tremendous fun.

Homestead by Rosina Lippi
I didn't even know this part of Germany existed, and the author did an amazing job of creating the world. I wish we had gotten to spend more time with each individual character, though.

How To Be Good by Nick Hornby
This is as much fun as everything Hornby writes. I was ready to KILL that David.

No Heroes by Chris Offutt
I can't believe poor Offutt had to go back to Appalachia -- but he sure wrote an amazing book about it.

Three Junes by Julia Glass
This wonderful book is a perfect little gem. The writing is beautiful, the story is compelling. The only thing I wish is that we didn't skip through time so quickly. It could have been twice as long for me.

Man and Boy by Tony Parsons
I read this book in one sitting. I'm incredibly excited to have the same publisher.

Speak Memory by Vladimir Nabokov
I think this book is perfect. I've never read prose like this. I can't imagine having that kind of magical gift.

I have been gobbling books the past two months. I've read some amazing ones...and thankfully no dogs.

The Emigrants by W.G. Sebald
It is an utter catastrophe that this man died so young. He is a great writer...and I mean great. As in people will be reading him in 200 years.

Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
Somehow we ended up recei