Monday at low ebb.

For some reason I am at low ebb this morning; my apologies. So: A short post, and the fervent hope that the holiday-shortened week does good things for all of us. It is my sincere hope that none of you have to travel too far, or get up to go shopping at 4 a.m. on Black Friday. Word is that Wal-Mart has been doing some planning to try and cut down on, you know, their workers getting trampled, so at least that's good news.

It's odd that I'm not really feeling like writing about books, because I read some great books over the weekend. One of my favorites was Audrey Niffeneggers's new novel Her Fearful Symmetry, which I loved.* If this helps at all, this is the description of it that I just wrote for Nancy Pearl's and my forthcoming book, Now Read This III: A Guide to Mainstream Fiction**:

"When Elspeth Noblin dies, she leaves her London flat and her entire estate to her nieces, identical twins Julia and Valentina Poole, who, at twenty-one, are still living with their parents in a Chicago suburb. There is one stipulation, however; they must agree to live together in the flat for one year before selling it, and their parents (including their mother Edie, Elspeth’s identical twin sister) are not allowed to enter the flat if they visit. The more dominant of the pair, Julia, decides the flat is just the thing they have been waiting for, and the pair travels to London and moves in, discovering as their downstairs neighbor their aunt Elspeth’s boyfriend Robert, while their upstairs neighbor is a man suffering from OCD. They are not the only residents of the house; Elspeth, too, makes her residence there (as a ghost, and one who “works out” so that she can contact the living through various means) with plans of her own."

What I didn't mention much there is that the book is set in London, so every time Niffenegger had one of her characters do anything London-y, it made me heartsick for London. "Oh, they're going on the Tube!" "They're eating at a Pret!" (Pret a Manger are these great chain coffee/deli restaurants they have all over in London; nearly every morning when we were there we went to one--I know, we're creatures of habit, even on vacation--and had chocolate-filled croissants and bananas and coffee. Yum.)

All of the above doesn't really begin to do this book justice. It's weird and haunted and I love the way it ends, and I'm not going to say anymore about it, because if you do decide to read it, you should really go into it fresh. Suffice it to say, I really enjoy Audrey Niffenegger. I like that her books are kind of magical and sort of romantic but they're definitely not sweet. What I don't like is that one of the blurbs on the back of her book is from Jodi Picoult, which I don't understand at all. But I have to remember that Jodi Picoult's name doesn't activate most people's gag reflexes the way it sets off mine.

*If you'll remember, I was very fond of her novel The Time Traveler's Wife, as well.

**You like how I just slip my advertising in there? Dreadfully unsubtle but that's the way advertising is sometimes.

Comments

[Beth]

I told you you'd beat me ;) I'm a little more than halfway through, and I am very much loving it so far. Love, love loving it. It always takes me a little while to get through fiction, but it's so far making me very happy.

Glad to hear you loved it.

[Citizen Reader]

Beth,
We may have to communicate outside of comments when you finish. I have some questions about the ending for you. I'm glad you're liking it so far.

[Beth]

sounds good to me. i'm hoping to finish it today or tomorrow. feel free to email me or to message me on fb :)

[lesbrarian]

Since I rarely agree with Nancy Pearl, and since the laws of the universe prevent you and me from liking the same fiction, this will be a very useful book for me: If I am tempted to read a novel, but you two have endorsed it, I will know to stay away.

An outside observer might think that I am being mean-spirited and snarky. I'm not. Really I'm not. I just think it's funny how our fiction reading tastes are so different.

I've started a list of fiction writers and books we like in common. Here is my list:

1. The Bookshop, by Penelope Fitzgerald.

[Tripp]

I would like to read this one, mostly because I love the cover. I am not that interested in the Time Traveler's wife, but I just love the spooky stories.

[Citizen Reader]

Lesbrarian,
I LOVE the idea of a fiction list we can both stand. Talk about a list of "Sure Bets"! If they can make it past both of us there's got to be something universally pleasing about them.

Nancy and I have widely divergent tastes too, interestingly enough, so I hope we've covered a lot of angles in the new Now Read This III.

p.s. You never lose any points by being mean-spirited OR snarky here at CR. That's the sort of thing that makes me love you!

Tripp,
I would love to hear what you think of this one. I think guys might be able to read it--but maybe not. Either way I think you should give it a try. It's not really a typical ghost story, though; so I wonder if you'll find it spooky. And yes--the cover is one of its best features. And again, it makes sense from one particular story in the book. I love it when it appears cover designers have actually read the book.

[Venta]

My favorite example of a cover designer who might not have had read the book: Chris Crutcher's Whale Talk. The kid on the cover was white while the main character was African American. Sigh...

P.S. If I knew how emoticons worked, there would have been hearts after Crutcher's name. Talk about a YA writer who not only understands kids, but truly respects them.

[Beth]

Finished HFS last night and 100% loved it. It has literally haunted me since I put it down. I had to lie there and think about if for a good long while before I could get up and do anything else. It broke my heart to put it down.

[Bookie]

Oooo...looks good. Sounds like a perfect holiday weekend read. One question, why does mention of a ghost make any book more appealing??

[Beth]

bookie, i was telling cr that We Have Always Lived In the Castle by Shirley Jackson is very similar in tone to HFS but half the size. it doesn't involve a ghost, but it does involve two sisters, family secrets and a Victorian house, so i'd recommend that one very highly for holiday weekend reading as well (i read it over Halloween weekend this year). and yes, ghosts always make things more insteresting, don't they?

[Citizen Reader]

Bookie,
If you can't tell, Beth and I really enjoyed this one. Let us know through the comments here if you read it; we've been chatting over the ending on email because we don't want to give anything away, but we have questions!

And Beth, thanks for suggesting the Shirley Jackson. I'm not a real ghost story fancier, usually, so I'm glad someone else out there has further reading ideas!