Saturday, October 24, 2009

Help!


I am for some inane reason having trouble picking out and sticking with a book right now. Which, for those of you who know me (this is Jennie, not Sally) is very unlike me. I am seldom without something to read; however, I've always considered myself, if you will, a "moody" reader. I'm not a big fan of reading what other people want me to read, which is why I've never joined a bookclub. And while I love, love, love to recommend my favorites new and old to customers and friends, I immediately feel oppositional-defiant when someone makes a recommendation to me. (I know, I know, it's not one of my best qualities...) I much prefer to stalk the shelves, relying on my inner divining rod to lead me to the book that will feed my specific mood. Sometimes I'm more interested in the setting of a book; sometimes the plot type; sometimes the narration; sometimes the characters; sometimes it really is about the cover. You get the point, though--my mood is not always the same, which makes it a rather in-depth, time-consuming process to gauge my emotional state, troll the bookshelves, and dip my little toe into several options before deciding (committment, eeek!) on one.
My rambling, circuitous point is that my fail-safe method is, at the moment, failing me. I cannot seem to find the "right book." So I've decided to set aside my innate repulsion of recommendations and put this to you, oh loyal Broadway Books customers and blog readers: Do you think you know the book that will break my reader's block? I am (I think) open to being convinced.

2 comments:

  1. Try HOMER'S ODYSSEY about a blind cat, or ALL OVER CREATION by Ruth Ozeki

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  2. Hi Jennie, here are two books that I liked very much: The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill. If you enjoy a mystery set in an exotic place (exotic to us-Laos) with humor, irony and the supernatural, this is your book. The second is Telex from Cuba by Rachel Kushner. The story of what Americans and United Fruit was up to right before the revolution of 1959. Well written etc.

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