LEISURELY THOUGHTS
from Howard
31 December 2005. Ah, how fast the December thirty-firsts come.
The other day, I was glancing over the New York Times' "100 Notable Books of 2005" and found it sadly notable that a long-anticipated John Irving novel came out in 2005 and was not listed as a notable book. It is notable in its unnotable-ness, even among the die-hard John Irving fans. The John Irving readers than emailed me were mostly lacking enthusiasm, if they even finished reading it. Paige in New Jersey felt like a "failure" because she couldn't get through it. Elke, our friend on the stormy German North Sea, gave me the only "thumbs-up" on Until I Find You, and even she predicts that John Irving will write no more novels because he has nothing left to say. So where does that leave us? Are the John Irvingophiles heading into their "Post-Irving" phase, where we have read everything John Irving has written and will just go back and re-read Owen Meany every couple years while we search for a substitute? Or will he surprise us with another fine novel, the unanticipated one?
Reading Until I Find You fried my brain for a while, but it may be on the mend. I'm proud of myself for just finishing The Tin Drum by Günther Grass, the man John Irving calls the world's greatest living novelist. Tin Drum is another book that is not easy but is a worthwhile and rewarding investment of time. Grass and Irving styles are similar, and Irving still has an amazing talent. I still relish every page of his writing, I can still get comfortably lost in the words of John Irving. But it seems to me that all those pages need to add up to something more than mere self-indulgence.
There has been much talk over the years about the influence of The Tin Drum on the creation of A Prayer for Owen Meany, in particular the similarities between The Tin Drum's main character Oskar Matzerath and the character Owen Meany. It's been so many years since I've read Owen Meany that I need to refresh my memory. I'll start my theoretical Post-Irving period by re-reading Owen Meany sometime in the year that starts tomorrow. What the heck!
Have a wonderful 2006, all you needahand browsers. Keep in touch, okay?
08 December 2005. On this, the day twenty-five years after the murder of John Lennon, I've been reading a lot of tributes to John Lennon the musician, the Beatle. I think he was a very talented musician and songwriter, certainly my favorite Beatle, but what I've been dwelling on is remembering John Lennon the political leader and activist and how much we have missed out on, socially and politically, by not having him with us over the last twenty-five years. Imagine what he would have had to say about the bush-Blair Iraq war, for instance. Imagine what protests he would have been leading. Imagine what responses he would have had to the outrages of the right-wingers who dare to call themselves pro-life and Christian and compassionate and are none of those things. I would love to hear what he would have to say in 2005 about demented fools like Ann Coulter who have large numbers of people who take them seriously. The response to these oppressive loudmouths too often has been silence. It's time to start booing (yes, UConn!). Thanks, John, for the good memories and for caring.
22 November 2005. I was on the plane to Indianapolis last Friday, reading a short Kurt Vonnegut book (that Elke sent me for my birthday) which kept referring to Indianapolis. I had forgotten until then that Kurt Vonnegut was from Indianapolis.
We were on our way to my niece Michelle's wedding. Friday night, we attended the "rehearsal dinner", which was held at the Rathskeller restaurant, located in the Athenaeum Building in downtown Indianapolis. The Athenaeum is a beautiful, big old building. We were interested enough in the building itself to read a brochure about it and were amazed to discover that the building was designed by, guess who? -- Kurt Vonnegut's grandfather! So it was a Vonnegut day, and who could complain about that?
Michelle and Josh's wedding was fun and beautiful, casual and funky. My sister Nancy and her husband Dave were there from North Carolina. Their son, my nephew Jeff, who lives in Seattle, was there with his wife Cris and Jeff and Cris's five-month-old son Lucas. I got to hold Lucas, a sweet baby, during the wedding ceremony and found myself wishing that my extended family were not so far-flung. Maybe you can relate.
03 November 2005. The book critics from TIME magazine have, for some reason, come up with a "100 Best Novels" list. It's a highly dubious list (e.g., no John Irving novels, yet that sterile Ian McEwan book Atonement is included), but in case you haven't seen it, here's the link: TIME's 100 Best Novels.
28 October 2005. OK, I did it. After ignoring all of my previous high school class reunions (and that is more than I care to admit), I returned to face people and situations that I still sometimes have nightmares about, and the reunion has left me with this advice for all of you: Go to your class reunions! It may be one of the most therapeutic things you can do for yourself. OK, skip the 5-year one and the 10-year one, when most people, from what I hear, still fall into the high school roles and are still trying to impress everybody else. Maybe wait til you're as old as I am, when by then you'll look better than most of them do (if you're taking care of yourself!), when most of them are close to retirement and yet you are still able to dance to "Boogie Wonderland". You'll be surprised how much nicer people are than when they were 18. Avoid the people that only want to talk about their grandchildren. Talk to the ones who still have a sparkle in their eyes, the ones who still have their own lives and are glad to see you. They might be the ones that you may have never worked up the nerve to talk to at 18. For some people, high school was the peak of their lives and then it was all downhill from there. Maybe for some of us, there was nowhere to go but up. All of you are there in one room: the prom queen who lost her figure at least 30 years ago, the football player who was never the same after Vietnam, the disappointments and the startling successes. The school yearbook pictures were from just one moment in time, but the shared experiences, for better or worse, are still somewhere in who we became.
19 October 2005. We went to a Cirque du Soleil show the other night. It was Tom's birthday (he's 24 now), and he loves Cirque du Soleil -- the DVDs, the CDs, the t-shirts -- but had never been to one of their live shows. The traveling tent show, this one called Corteo, has been here in Minneapolis for a month or so. Good entertainment -- part circus, part acrobatics, part drama, part music.
I've been into passive entertainment lately. One night, I even found myself watching old re-runs of Green Acres and Hogan's Heroes on television (I never watch any current TV shows, just an occasional re-run on cable). I think Until I Find You fried my brain a little. I've started reading several books since then and can't stick with any of them. Maybe it's because I haven't quite resolved Until I Find You in my mind. I just don't know the purpose of all that effort. I get occasional emails from other loyal John Irving fans who are still struggling to get through that book. What bums me out is that I have the feeling that John Irving will never write another novel and that this is his final say.
Tomorrow, I'm flying back "home" to New Jersey for the weekend. Jersey always clears my head a little -- we'll see if that happens this time. Get this: I have signed up for my high-school class reunion. This will be the first one I've gone to. And I've had good reason, of course, for never going before -- I HATED high school. So why am I going now? Don't know. If I can figure it out, I'll let you know. Maybe I'm just making some peace with my past or going through a nostalgia thing (hence: Hogan's Heroes). I'll let you know what it's like, especially all of you who were scarred by high school, which is probably most people.
05 October 2005. Some slime-bag hacker brought down the Message Board, so if you're looking for it, it's out there in Cyber Heaven somewhere. The Message Board's best days were back in 2001 anyway, when people were still reading Fourth Hand and weren't shy about posting a message. Having the Message Board go away might force me to re-think the site and come up with some new ideas... one of these days.
Autumn is sort of hitting Minnesota suddenly after an absolutely beautiful summer and September. We went to the first two Vikings home games, and, let me tell you, this team is bad so far (I still say that Daunte Culpepper needs to see a psychiatrist) -- what else is new? bush is still flying to Louisiana for photo-opportunities and is making bad Supreme Court nominations. His new nominee, Harriet Miers, once said that george w. bush is the "smartest person" she had ever met. That comment in itself should say something about her mental capabilities and be reason in itself for senators to vote against confirming her as a Supreme Court justice.
My sister Joan is in New York as I write this, for another of her theater trips. This time, she will be seeing Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Wicked, and The Odd Couple (with Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane). Go for it, Joan! Elke, over there on the North Sea, is recommending the new Salman Rushdie book, Shalimar the Clown (who cares what New York Times reviewers say?).
19 September 2005. We were in Amsterdam for ten days, and, unbelievably, we had beautiful weather every day. We love Amsterdam under all conditions, but our expectations for the weather are usually low (Think: Seattle). What a nice bonus.
I did finish the new Irving novel while there and am still trying to figure out how to describe it to other people. Finishing it is an accomplishment. I'll probably post some of my opinions on the Message Board instead of boring you with them here. I of course love reading anything by John Irving, and it's been too long between Irving books, but I must say that Until I Find You won't break into my Top Five John Irving Novels List (i.e., 1: Garp; 2: Widow for One Year; 3: Owen Meany; 4: Cider House Rules; 5: Son of the Circus [You know how I love making lists]).
I couldn't help but notice that the new John Irving book has made a much bigger splash in Amsterdam than it has here. Everywhere -- at the tram stops, in the bookstore windows -- was the face of John Irving on posters advertising the new Irving novel (in Dutch, of course). There is a special connection between John Irving and Amsterdam. I finished reading Until I Find You on a Saturday night; the next morning, I attended services at Oude Kerk, which plays a part in Until I Find You. The services were in Dutch, so I understood almost none of the spoken words, but the pipe organ spoke my language.
25 August 2005. Jerry and I are heading to Amsterdam in a couple hours -- our annual Dutch getaway. We'll also be making a short trip up to northern Germany to visit Elke, my needahand friend. We'll be back here in Minneapolis on 5 September.
I'm still reading the new Irving, so I'll be lugging that big book in my back pack to Europe (and finishing it, fittingly enough, in Amsterdam). Elke, who dutifully read Until I Find You a month ago, has since been reading some upper mid-western U.S. writers -- two Twin Cities writers, Garrison Keillor (Love Me), and D. Garcia-Wahl (Ashes of Mid Autumn). She also has just read a book, Population: 485, by Michael Perry, who lives in Wisconsin an hour or two from Minneapolis. Mr. Perry was kind enough to send autographed copies of his book to Elke, Joan, and me. It is, of course, nice to have people send us books, but Elke is the first of the three of us to read this one, and she is raving about it. If I ever finish Until I Find You, I'll try Michael Perry next.
First, though, I need to finish packing. :-)
25 July 2005. Elke, my German Mama friend on the North Sea, has finished Until I Find You and says that it is a very good book, the critics be damned. Only a John Irving fan can say whether this book measures up to his others. We are a special breed, remember (Or are we psychopaths?).
Joan, my outspoken sister, was appalled that I am only one-fourth of the way into reading this book. She was expecting that I would be like the Harry Potter fans of the last week, staying up nights reading the new release from my favorite author. Wrong. The Harry Potter fans can't wait to see how their new book ends. I know John Irving books well enough to know how Until I Find You will end. For me, the best part of experiencing this new book is reading each page, finding the Irving-isms, floating through the Dickens-like prose. I will come to the end soon enough. I am noting, so far, similarities to Garp and Widow for One Year, my two favorite John Irving novels. So far, it is good.
Incidentally, speaking of Joan, Paige in New Jersey, noting our reading lists, wrote to me this week to ask: "Hi Howard; I was wondering why your sister is not reading 'Until I Find You'? Is she less Irving-obsessed than the rest of us? I thought EVERYONE was reading it! Paige" Joan, an increasingly normal person, likes but not love John Irving. Maybe she'll read this book one day, or maybe she won't.
Books or no books, the hot summer of '05 is going fast. Find a way to remember it.
14 July 2005 (Bastille Day, of course). This may seem like a lame analogy. Last December, the movie The Phantom of the Opera, based on the ultra-successful Broadway musical, was released. I think it was a good film adaptation (But what do I know?). The New York Times movie reviewer, however, hated it. After reading his review, though, you realize that the main reason he hated it was because he hated the stage version. My question: Why have someone review the film adaptation of a stage musical when the reviewer hated the stage musical to begin with? Wouldn't a person who liked the show be a better judge of whether the movie version was acceptable?
Until I Find You, the new John Irving novel, was reviewed this past Tuesday by New York Times reviewer Michiko Kakutani (whoever that is -- obviously not a John Irving fan ["the annoying Hotel New Hampshire"??]), not a positive review -- maybe even annoying. It's much easier to write a review that is full of criticism than it is to write one full of praise, you know. John Irving is not for everybody, and it will be up to the John Irving readers whether this newest book measures up to his best work. I do know that I have gotten emails over the last couple years from people everywhere saying, We need a new John Irving book. After the long wait, here it is, let's hope we all enjoy it.
Elke is heading out for her summer sail on the North Sea with her husband Peter. Luckily, her copy of Until I Find You arrived in her mailbox before she left (Her only comment on the book so far: John Irving should have shaved for the cover photo!). Here, on the other side of the ocean, It will probably take me most of the summer to wade through the 820 pages (200 pages longer than Son of the Circus!), but I plan on savoring the experience. Maybe I can give up weight-lifting at the gym the rest of the summer and just carry this book around instead.
05 July 2005. Back from a fun vacation in Tokyo. This was my first time anywhere in Asia (I almost saw Vietnam in 1968, but that's a whole 'nother story). We stayed in the Shinjuku section of Tokyo (think of the movie Lost in Translation) -- a very contemporary area, with skyscrapers, zillions of people, neon everywhere, good food. We also saw some of the tourist sites elsewhere in the city (Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples, the palace where Bush the First threw up on the Emperor, etc.) and had a side trip to the ancient capital of Kyoto (a dirty word to bush the second).
On the eleven-hour plane trips and while awake nights trying to recuperate from jet lag, I read Faulkner's As I Lay Dying (along with the Oprah Book Club) and Gilead, this year's Pulitzer Prize winner by Marilynne Robinson (Not quite sure why it won, but Pulitzer choices tend to be mystifying). Just finishing up Go Tell It On The Mountain, James Baldwin's first novel (1953) -- an excellent book.
John Irving's Until I Find You is to be released in the U.S. a week from today.
28 June 2005. On our way to Tokyo. Back on the 4th of July.
23 June 2005. My sister and I took a driving trip two or three weeks ago to Missouri, specifically to visit the Truman historical sites and Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri. Joan has been a U.S. history buff, especially Presidential trivia, since she was about five years old and has wanted to visit the Truman sites for a long time. For my part, I wouldn't normally drive six or seven hours for a Presidential site. Harry Truman was a good President, though (of course, most Presidents look good in retrospect, compared to our current "leader"), and I have wanted to visit Independence since reading the 1992 David McCullough book, Truman (an excellent book!). We spent three days in the Independence/Kansas City area of Missouri and ventured into Kansas far enough to say that we'd been in Kansas. The Truman stuff was cool, but the trip mostly left us with the feeling that "America's Heartland" is in trouble. The cities and towns seem to be dying -- it felt like Grapes of Wrath at times. Topeka, Kansas (the state capital), has to be the most bleak and desolate city that I've seen anytime lately. What happened to the economy? I kept thinking of the premise of the current Thomas Frank book, What's the Matter With Kansas? (a book that I'll get around to one of these days) -- that these states are voting against their own self-interests. I hope our impressions were wrong. It was good to hang out with Joan, though. We had Sirius Radio in our rented Mustang and kept the dial on a Broadway station the whole time. The lesson is, if you happen to be traveling through Kansas, try to have Ethel Merman on the radio.
Speaking of David McCullough, I am currently reading his new book, 1776, a good read so far (but not as good as Truman), mostly about George Washington and the state of the American Revolution in 1776. Before that, I read the new Nick Hornby novel, A Long Way Down, which I totally enjoyed even though it is rather inconsequential and, as my friend Elke would say, "not very subtle". Nick Hornby will probably never write a book again as good as High Fidelity was, but I still like his writing style and sense of humor. I have several more books that I hope to finish before July 12, the day that the new John Irving book comes out.
Jon, my son, had a great time in Budapest, by the way. I saw all of his 1,100 (!) photos the other night. Jerry and I fly out of here on Tuesday in a different direction that we usually go -- this time to Tokyo, Japan, for five days. Amsterdam in late summer.
21 May 2005. Joan, my sister, yelled at me the other day for my lack of comments here since 18 March, so I'm back. My unintentional, self-imposed sabbatical from these Leisurely Thoughts is over.
I still have an intense work schedule, but I'm starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel. In addition, I have been working on a writing project, which I started in March, and the writing process is taking a lot more time than just the time in front of the computer. It's constantly distracting me mentally from whatever else I am doing.
Any news since 18 March?.. Well, Jerry and I spent a week in Anguilla (British West Indies) at the end of April lounging on a beach and drinking red wine. It was a good break. Most of the time since we've been back in Minneapolis, it's been raining. It's been like Seattle without the good coffee. Meanwhile, my son Tom just graduated from St. Paul College a couple days ago (congrats, Tom!). His older brother, my other son Jon, is currently on a ten-day trip to Budapest, Hungary, and he'll undoubtedly know Budapest inside-out by the time he leaves there. Joan, my sister whose reading habits you know so well, went to New York City in April for several days by herself. She saw three plays while there (!): The Glass Menagerie, starring Jessica Lange; Julius Caesar, starring Denzel Washington; and Doubts. And, speaking of Broadway show, Jerry and I went to see The Lion King on its touring visit here to Minneapolis, the city where it had its pre-Broadway premiere several years ago. You can laugh if you want, but I do love The Lion King.
I've been doing plenty of reading, especially on the Anguilla vacation, and have been counting down the days until the release in July of the new John Irving novel, Until I Find You. By the way, Elke found this John Irving interview on the web. You might find it interesting: http://www.powells.com/authors/irving.html
18 March 2005. February, March and early April are my peak work times. I spend a lot of 12-hour days at my office. By the time I get home, my brain is mushy, and, if I am going to read a few chapters of a book before falling asleep, I need to make sure I don't get "over-taxed"; in other words, it wouldn't be a good time of year to re-attempt Ulysses. I've been in a non-fiction phase lately anyway: it seems to fit my mind better than literary fiction right now (Information, not style).
The book I just finished is 102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers, by Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn, and I recommend it. This is a brand-new book about 11 September 2001 from a different angle: from inside the World Trade Center, a story of survival based on hundreds of interviews with people who were in those buildings on that morning. The book is structured in narrative form, novel-like, and is highly informative, objective and well-written. I found it to be captivating -- sad and horrifying but inspiring -- one of those books you don't want to put aside.
Before that, a celebrity bio, of sorts: Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Fariña, and Richard Fariña, by David Hajdu. I'm destined to have part of myself stuck back in the 60s era forever, and what enticed me about this particular book was my reading of Bob Dylan's memoirs (Chronicles, Volume One) a couple months ago, a book that I loved but that left me wanting to know more about the early Dylan years in Greenwich Village and then later after his split with Joan Baez. Positively 4th Street helped me fill in the blanks that Dylan's book intentionally leaves.
What's most surprising to me about Bob Dylan, especially in Chronicles, is how mainstream his thinking often was at a time when people thought of him as a protest songwriter/singer and how aware he was of mainstream pop culture. Who would have guessed that his favorite song was "Moon River" or that he might be a sort of fan of Frank Sinatra, Jr.?
In that same era, the early 60s, nobody could have been more pop mainstream than Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee, but I've also become interested in their story, which was complex and fascinating in its own way. What initiated my interest was, first of all, seeing the recent movie Beyond the Sea (starring Kevin Spacey as Bobby Darin), a movie that I liked a lot and most movie critics didn't like. Then Sandra Dee died last month, after living a fairly reclusive life following her movie career's abrupt end. So now I am reading Dream Lovers: The Magnificent Shattered Lives of Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee by Their Son (don't you love these long titles?) a 1994 (difficult-to-find) book by Dodd Darin. So far, it's holding my interest... and it's a book that my work-damaged brain cells can handle.
27 February 2005. Tonight is Oscar night, so of course I have to weigh in here with my annual opinions. One thing different for me this year is that, of the Best Picture nominees, I don't have any film that I am rooting against. I do have to admit that I haven't seen Ray yet but plan on seeing it this afternoon (I'll let you know if it changes my mind about any of my choices).
The Best Picture nominees are The Aviator, Finding Neverland, Million Dollar Baby, Sideways, and Ray. Assuming that I will like Ray (which I think I will), I like all of the nominees. The big money is on The Aviator or Million Dollar Baby to win, which is fine with me, but the movie I enjoyed the most this year was Sideways, and, if I were an Academy voter, that's the one I would vote for. It's just a small movie but is beautifully written, filmed, and acted -- and is thoroughly lovable.
My other choices: For Best Actor, Leonardo DiCaprio in The Aviator (although Jamie Foxx is practically a shoo-in for Ray); Best Actress, Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby; Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Thomas Haden Church in Sideways; Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Cate Blanchett in The Aviator; and Best Director, Martin Scorsese for The Aviator.
And I didn't mean to ignore Finding Neverland. Johnny Depp is great!
I'll be watching with Jerry and with Tom, both of whom are pulling for Million Dollar Baby. Enjoy the show. Go to the movies more often!
[Later note: Ray is a terrific movie, and Jamie Foxx deserved his Oscar!]
25 February 2005 (following a post-football silence) (although I do have to say how upset I am that the Vikings traded Randy Moss).
I tend to read the John Grisham books as they come out, for a couple of reasons. Even though most of his recent novels have been bland, silly, and lazy, I liked some of his early ones (e.g., The Firm, A Time to Kill, and The Chamber), and I keep hoping for a retreat from Grisham the Corporation back to Grisham Who Made An Effort. Another reason I still read Grisham is that everybody else still reads Grisham, and keeping up to date makes for some good conversation. There are some books that you might not particularly want to read, but you don't want to feel left out (The DaVinci Code, for instance). (I'd rather have everybody else reading what I'm reading, but oh well)... (I'm having another parentheses binge).
I do have to say that I liked Grisham's newest book, The Broker, more than I have liked any of his last five or six annual attempts. This one is different than the usual Grisham novel. It doesn't take place in Memphis or Mississippi or New Orleans. It mostly takes place in Italy instead of a muggy Southern courtroom and is closer to being a "spy thriller" than a legal drama. The story is engrossing (and you might even learn how to speak Italian) but at the same time classic Grisham: Why, for instance, do all his main characters only drink "hot, strong" coffee -- Why can't just once somebody ask for Half & Half?... And why do they have to always "devour" their sandwich? -- Can't somebody just nibble?
I'm not serious, of course. There is probably something comforting about some predictability in the style of a writer you like. At least he is stretching his limits a little bit in The Broker, some would say successfully -- Others would say, Go back to what you know. Let's see what he does next: further travelogues or back to the muggy courtroom?
30 January 2005. Hey, if you're going to fantasize about future news headlines, use some imagination, dream a little.
Three feature stories I would love to see in my lifetime:
1) The total collapse of Wal*Mart Corporation.
2) The trial and conviction of george w bush as a war criminal.
3) The Philadelphia Eagles winning a Super Bowl.
You're thinking that I've gone too far. The Philadelphia Eagles winning a Super Bowl? That team of bad luck and choking coaching staffs? But yo! I grew up in the shadow of Philly, in the wilds of South Jersey, and I know that Eagles fans everywhere deserve this reward after all the years of loyalty and disappointment. And here it is 2005, it's been 24 years since the Eagles have even been in the Super Bowl -- until now. The Eagles are in the Super Bowl next Sunday. That's the good news. The bad news is that they are facing the New England Patriots. BUT -- it could happen. If the Patriots can somehow find a way to lose, the Eagles will win the Super Bowl. Yes! And, if the Eagles can win a Super Bowl, who knows what other big stories are possible??.. :-)
18 January 2005. I can be fairly annoying in January, partly because I've developed a habit of asking friends which book was their favorite of the books that they read during the previous year. Some of them actually tell me (see the list below!), but too many people can't think of any books that they read ("When would I have time to read?!!" -- like I was asking them to neglect their children or their television). But I'm from New Jersey, remember, so when would I start caring if I annoyed people? Besides, I'm a "list guy", like the main character in that great Nick Hornby book, High Fidelity. So, here goes.
You might now and then check in with my LIST (on the "What We're Reading" section of this web site) of the books that I've been reading, or with Joan's list, or Elke's. I'll start with us.
My favorite this year, surprisingly for this fiction reader, is a non-fiction book that I loved, that I hated to put down, that I hated to see end -- Bob Dylan's memoirs, Chronicles Volume One. Bring on Volume Two, Mr. Zimmerman!
My sister Joan, as you know, is a diehard Jack Kerouac fan and has been reading as many of his works as she can find (and dreams of going On the Road). She picks Kerouac's Lonesome Traveler. That book was released several months after Joan was born, in 1960.
Elke, over there on the frosty shores of northern Germany, selects The Plot Against America by Philip Roth, a book that incidentally was my runner-up choice.
Other favorites, read in 2004 (I always enjoy seeing the variety of books that people read):
-- Jerry, my other half: Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
-- Kate, our friend: Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
-- Grietje, our friend in Germany (and Elke's next-door neighbor): An Unfinished Life by Robert Dallek
-- Barb, in my book group: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
-- Lisa, in my book group: Atonement by Ian McEwan
-- John, in my book group: The Man in My Basement by Walter Mosley
-- My co-worker Michael (the Poet): Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut.
-- D. Garcia-Wahl, friend of Michael (the Poet) and author of the novel, Ashes of Mid-Autumn: Rosy Crucifixion by Henry Miller
-- Eric, in San Francisco: Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre
-- Steve, in Seattle: Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan
-- Casino, in Seattle: Knights of Avalon: Seaplanes of Catalina Island
FICTION AWARD WINNERS IN 2004 (whatever that means):
National Book Award: The News From Paraguay by Lily Tuck
Pulitzer Prize: The Known World by Edward P. Jones (a book that I didn't like)
Booker Prize: The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst (which I just finished and liked a lot)
I hope you find some time to read a book in 2005. Enjoy! :-)
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