Weird: wasn’t the Times one of the MANY places that savaged Absurdistan when it first published? The Pessl sounds exceedingly awful, though my experience with it mostly amounts to having an exasperated reader sit there for thirty minutes bitching about it and picking out the most annoying sentences to read out loud to me. (I was convinced.)

Yeah, I was thinking that too. Seemed like Absurdistan got pretty mixed reviews when it first came out, but more favorable notices have been cropping up lately. I thought Russian Debutante’s Handbook started strongly but kind of went off the deep end in the second half, with the zany Eastern Europe mobster plot—still some funny bits though.

absurdistan = everything is illuminated mach 2, amirite

mach 2 = supersonic?

though my experience with it mostly amounts to having an exasperated reader sit there for thirty minutes bitching about it and picking out the most annoying sentences to read out loud to me.

Ha, I did that to my wife this summer with The Diviners which I did not finish. (I was reading it to confirm that he is as bad a writer as I thought he was: yep, he is.)

Looks like Michiko hated it (surprise!)

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/25/books/25kaku.html?ex=1165035600&en=59e659dde2cf9ef8&ei=5070

Walter Kirn loved it

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/30/books/review/30kirn.html?ex=1165035600&en=21c4552d913d22e5&ei=5070

Special Topics in Calamity Physics is on the top of my pile of Books To Read Next. Should it be moved back? I’ve read/heard some mixed reviews.

After Infinite Jest, Molly, Special Topics is going to be really dissapointing.

Russian Debutante actually reminds me quite a bit of Kunkel’s Indecision in that regard, now that I think about it: quasi-realistic black-comedy of a young, ne’er-do-well urban slacker (NYC variety) leads to a zany picaresque in exotic locale, and somewhere along the line goes slightly off the rails.

Hooray, I haven’t read any of those. I had STICP in my hands (library order) but I put it back as I was too busy at the time to read it, and it didn’t scream out: READ ME READ ME.

Why have the goddam top 100 books been on-line for over a week now, but the paper copy doesn’t come out till this week or next. Ruins the “fun” of the NYT Book Review.

Point noted, Mr. Que. Thanks. I have to follow up IJ with a real doozy, I reckon.

I got my copy of STICP for free at a book publishing fair. I also got a free copy of “Winkie” (about the teddy bear terrorist). It was too precious and I couldn’t finish it.

Oh Molly, perhaps you are my sister? I am the libarian in training Mary from elsewhere, but thought I needed a new name to participate in this sandbox.

special topics sounds like the worst poop ever—college, life, ugh.

Is your real last name “dahl”? And we’re both librarians?!

It wasn’t that bad, the plot was pretty good, her style and sentence structure and use of figurative language got ultra annoying after awhile, though and it was about 200 pages too long.

Other than that. . .yeah it wasn’t that great.

Ha, no, I stole it from Roald :)

I see now! Sadly, I can claim no relation to Roald.

The only new book I want to read is the Max Brooks zombie one.

w/o consulting this year’s list, my sister requested the Patti Smith book. Anyone read the new John Hodgman? I figured it wd be a reasonable option for the bro-in-law.

patti smith book is the worst

or at least the 1st chapter and a half are lol

I don’t have to read it, only wrap it.

fair

Like I’ve done with most of her albums I put down the Patti after the first chapter too.

Alfred read for somebody’s sins but not mine

it was so ponderous!

i was all lol is this the real book

Ponderous Patti was her favorite Peanuts character growing up

makes sense when u think abt it

My wife and my dad — neither of whom had much interest in Patti Smith previously — both loved Just Kids.

(I haven’t read it.)

most people seem to have loved it!

Ha I got that book as an office secret santa gift (the Patti Smith one, along with Devil in the White City). Patti Smith is someone I have zero interest in, and I hate memoirs. But w/e I’ll give it a shot.

Probably because it’s one of those B&N buy-two-get-one-free deals.

man the 2006 fiction list was so much better than this years

what’s on this years?

‘

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/11/books/10-best-books-of-2011.html

the only one i have read is the stephen king novel, marvellous

fiction:

c. harbach—art of fielding

s. king—11/23/66

k. russell—swamplandia!

e. henderson—ten thousand saints

t. obreht—the tiger’s wife

xp lol shouldve just lynxd dat

Amanda Foreman’s book about English involvement in the Civil War is a fantastic read.

king is the only one i havent read yet although i probably will since im on vacation in a couple of hours (:DDDD). there was some discussion of the list in the noize board book thread but ‘art of fielding’ is an objectively bad book which sours the rest for me. although ‘ten thousand saints’ is quite nice if forgettable

but i think the 06 list is really good, ‘the emperor’s children’ in particular is really fine example of a book that captured something abt a time/place and its people... idk its also really elegant i think, and clear-eyed.

I refuse to buy into tea obreht mostly b/c I resent her

just got that swamplandia! novel.

‘art of fielding’ is an objectively bad book which sours the rest for me.

Details plz.

swamplandia is 80% of a great, eerie, setup, and 20% of a passingly adequate payoff

^tombstone of early 21st century literary fiction

haha yes

swamplandia is 80% of a great, eerie, setup, and 20% of a passingly adequate payoff

semi-gothic vibe of the beginning pages is what convinced me to buy it.

Karen Russell credits Katherine Dunn (Geek Love) w/ a lot of influence, but I think Swamplandia is a heap more ... humane? concerned with subjective emotional experience? kind-hearted? even though there are obviously a lot of comparisons b/w the two.

haha I’m planning on rereading Geek Love here in a few days

I requested Ten Thousand Saints on melcat (statewide interlibrary loan system) last week; hopefully I’ll be getting to that after I’m done with GL...

i liked swamplandia when i was reading it, and read it very quickly — but after i put it down, i never think about it. it wasn’t a very memorable book for me...

Swamplandia is on my list.

anyone read Marable’s Malcolm X?

Anyone read the new John Hodgman? I figured it wd be a reasonable option for the bro-in-law.

― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 15:25 (Yesterday)

this is a ‘lol str8 ppl’ zing right?

hodgman is gay no

i liked swamplandia when i was reading it, and read it very quickly — but after i put it down, i never think about it. it wasn’t a very memorable book for me...

interesting because, by contrast, i’ve had trouble getting into the “next book,” whatever that may be, after finishing marlon james’ great the book of night women.

first time I’ve heard of any of these books, but it’s been awhile since I was browsing new releases at the bookstore

totally hate Geek Love, gonna take a pass on anything inspired by that dreck

the book of night women

added to my list

hodgman is gay no

no, he’s a str8 nerd w/ human children, jeez can’t you TELL?

idk i got the impression he was gay via twitter

hanging out w/a bunch of dudes wearing bowties playing scrabble idk

i think he made a movie abt getting yr kids into nyc prep schools

which does seem p gay

bowties + Scrabble = Yalies chillin out

he was on Tom Scharpling’s radio show last year answering Star Wars trivia questions, but still str8

seattlest.com/2008/11/09/tragedy_strikes_at_the_john_hodgman.php

;_;

my friends, i stand corrected

thank god hes not white as well

hodgman book is pretty awesome, good gift for pretty much anyone imo

Details plz.

its just self-regarding and groan-worthy and has an utterly contemptible view of this world and the ppl in it? lots of bad, silly parts i guess i should quote but yknow im @ the laundromat just take my word for it

like the fact the nyt book review thinks this is the best work of fiction published in 2011 says a lot abt the ppl running the nyt book review, none of them complimentary