There is this new, nonsensically funny novel you can read about in a fake corporate website, also nonsensical. They say the writer is an incorporated entity, heh. Just make sure you buy this kind of humor before buying the book by checking the site. This novel is many things, but the most striking feature is its nonsensical humor. Anyway, the plotlines are zigzagging here and there with many surprises, until finally the novel ends with a new surprise. Oof. You can't help wondering about the strange fate of the heroine.

It’s 1978. Miranda’s mother is practicing to be a contestant on "The $20,000 Pyramid." On the TV game show you have to guess groups of things. Miranda starts to think in groups like, Thinks That Smell, Things That Sneak Up on You, Things You Push Away, and Things That Make No Sense. In this last group fit: her friend Sal, who lives in the same New York City apartment building with her, suddenly doesn’t want to walk to school with her or have anything to do with her, the crazy guy on the corner who suddenly jumps out on the street and starts kicking, and the strange notes. Why she is getting notes tucked into her books and pockets that predict what will happen to her in the future? Then the predictions start coming true.

What the hell WAS that? I'll tell you what, it was BAD, that's what it was!!

Goddammit. I hate it when I get all snobby about reading a popular book and hold myself from them until I have to read them for book club and then I get all remorseful because I loved the stupid thing and find myself sitting in a puddle of tears in the corner.

Virginia Woolf is making me laugh and shudder at the same time.

This is really a great little book.

This is a book completely unlike anything I've ever read. Though labeled a novel it is not that in any traditional sense. The rhythm of the book is reflected in its title. It is lyrical and poignant, with the narrator's husband at the edge of the narrative. It recalled an experimental film I saw in a class years ago, Jonas Mekas' Lost, Lost, Lost. Hardwick speaks a great deal about faithless lovers, long gone housekeepers and their failed loves, while keeping her own primary relationship at a distance.

Eh. Too Jodi-Picoult-ish. And a shame, because I loved "The Double Bind" and "Skeletons at the Feast" mightily.

There's much to like in this book, even though the narratives weren't blended quite skillfully enough to make it a seamless read. But there's a lot of good stuff here, a number of interesting prisms Ravé views the Jewish diaspora through -- language, religious myth, survivor guilt and anger, pride of place -- and it's all done with grace and insight. Even if it didn't hang together perfectly, and I suspect this is two novellas in one novel, I enjoyed the whole process quite a bit and will definitely keep my eye out for her next.

These stories, perfectly encapsulated: I misread a line as "Her life was a corner room where a piano was allowed." rather than "Her room was..." and it made perfect sense. Careful, lonely, intimate. Deeply interior without being claustrophobic. Not *quite* as intensely precise as some short story writers, uncovering an emotional awareness that's more a cold ache than a sharp breath-taking.

The title of this book is calling to me. It begs to be read in the middle of the night.

For NYRB Book Club discussion, this has been on my TBR awhile.

Another side of Brunetti is revealed at the end of this book, brought about by his frustrations at obtaining justice. I love these characters.

Whew. Another wild ride. Engrossing, despite the fact that Lisbeth and Mikael never really are together, and hampered by scattered chunks of clunky writing. Do we really need to know every damn thing LIsbeth buys at IKEA? Really? Still, waiting for #3.

Eh. An "Alienist" wannabe without the, uh, be. Purty cover, though.

Great prose and storytelling by Rudolfo Anaya. About a six year old boy named Antonio who lives with his family in New Mexico - on the llano. Ultima is a curandera who comes to live with the family. Magical story. Love it and re-read it from time to time.

A novel of North Vietnam by Bao Ninh. A beautiful book about his writing, lost youth, and a great love story. Gives you an insight into the North Vietnamese people. I'll be looking for more of his books.

This book, by Sanyika Shakur, aka Monster Kody Scott is a t.r.i.p. into a growing sub-culture of violence on the streets. Set in South Central LA, it takes you through his life as a gang member. This young man is a good writer with a story to tell. It shocked me, made me sad, but it got to me. I'm glad I've got it in my library.

I love Langston Hughes...and I love this book. If you want books that you can refer to again and again for a refreshing insight into an Everyman for black Americans, this is it. Set in Harlem in the 40's? I laughed, I was sorrowful, and thoroughly entertained. ALSO read Simple Speaks His Mind. These stories were first composed for a weekly column in the Chicago Defender and then collected in Simple Speaks His Mind. One of my all-time favorites.