More book blogging

WARNING: LONG POST!

Okay, I seem to have hit on something people like to comment on. Good. It's more fun when y'all give feedback. Hence, today I will revisit the issue to address some points brought up in yesterday's comments.

First, some commenters seemed to think I was criticizing people who read popular books. Not at all. That's how books get popular -- people read them. I don't have enough time or knowledge to find out about and analyze every book that comes out. I have to rely on the suggestions of others. I do that by listening to the general buzz, checking out bestseller lists, looking at the "also bought/viewed" selections on Amazon, reading book reviews, or just listening to friends' recommendations (more on that later). I find absolutely nothing wrong with this as a method of selecting reading material. I do think you're likely to miss out on some good stuff if you only use one source, but we all have to narrow our choices somehow.

Second, Vol Abroad talks about the fact that she often has more than one read going at once. I think most serious readers often do this. Which book do I read when? Well it often depends on the environment. If I were riding the tube (believe it or not, we don't have a tube here in Decatur), I figure I'd take the latest Robert Crais or Elmore Leonard rather than Public Choice III or the latest Haruki Murakami. While all these books would interest me (probably) and I'd like to read each, I figure Murakami would lose something in such a setting. Would it make me look "smarter" if I read Public Choice III while eating dinner at CiCi's Pizza? Yes. But I wouldn't get the same enjoyment (yes, I would enjoy that book) from it.

As an aside, this actually comes up fairly often with me. Being a single guy, I eat a lot of meals alone. I'll blog another day on which restaurants I will and will not go to alone, but I often end up as a party of one. Given my addiction to reading, I keep a "car book" in the car at all times for just such an occasion. Now choosing a car book is not as easy as one might think, but I'll blog on that some other time as well. By the way, science fiction does not make a good car book as that immediately marks you as the weird Trekie guy who probably lives with Mom and spends his weekends at SciFi or comic book cons. Now I like to think I don't care a whit for what others think, but there are limits. Besides, given my weirdo magnet, I really can't run the risk of attracting other SciFi types. Please, no angry comments from SciFi fans. I read some SciFi, I'm just not that taken with it. It seems like it's a hard genre to do well and if it's not done well, then it's just silly.

Sometimes the choice of reading material is not based on the concentration level required. Vol also seems to indicate that she sometimes has a trash book that she would not want to read in public. I, too, have been guilty of that. Though not as bad as the time I got caught at a summer job reading one of the Longarm books [Really, I found it in the boat dock shack where I was forced to sit 12 hours a day and there was absolutely nothing else to read, I promise!], I will admit that I sometimes read a book that I don't relish taking out in public. Unlike Vol, I'll fess up to an example. To shorten this as much as possible (really, I'm trying), about 6 months ago I found myself in possession of See Jane Date -- the story of a singleton female in the big city dealing with the shame and hardship of being unwed. This is a common theme in the "chick lit" genre, but some of them are well written and enjoyable. I read the book and it turned out to be about what I expected. Still, I wasn't eager to run around showing everyone that I was reading even more "girly books" (see the coffee shop post). Though I know "there's nothing wrong with that", I just didn't take that book out in public. So, yet again, I too am guilty of book snobbery. I don't like it, but it is true.

Melusina's comment really describes my utopia of reading habits. "I'll read what I want to read, whenever I want to read. And I'll read it in public if I have cause to." This is pretty much my philosophy for choosing reading material and locations for reading. I would, though, be a little dishonest if I didn't admit to having a little bit of the book snob in me. Confession is good for the soul, no?

Finally, I'll wrap this up with a brief mention of a couple of good book suggestions I've benefited from of late. Back when I first started blogging, Vol suggested that I read The Price of Loyalty. Though I don't have a good story about the book, as she does, I thought it was well worth my time and I do endorse the book. The other recommendation, though, flat knocked me out.

I heard a lot of positive buzz about The Time Traveler's Wife, the most compelling from my friend, and commenter, Ang, but I had been slow to read it. This was one of my QPB books from a while ago, but I got sidetracked by the wonderful thesaurus. Anyway, I finally read it and I was AMAZED! The highest praise I can give it: I stayed up until 2:00 a.m. this morning to finish it. Yes, my discussion of long run aggregate supply and the monetarist theory of inflation likely suffered a bit this morning, but it was worth it. Wow!

I'll probably do a full review later, but I have to share a couple of thoughts. This simply is a wonderful book. The writing may not be outstanding, but it just works. The premise is that Henry randomly drops in and out of time. Plus, he has this really odd and confusing habit of dropping in on Clare, his (future) wife, from the time she is 6 until she turns 18. This has the unusual consequence that from 6 to 18 she worships him as this "all knowing" grownup from the future, but when they finally do meet in real life the tables are turned. She knows all about him and he's never met her (all his visits were from when he's older). Yeah, you have to stop and think a minute. If you've ever read a SciFi time travel book you know that it's hard to pull off. Though I think I'm as critical as most any reader (don't get me started), I did not find a "time inconsistency" (no, not the macroeconomic policy version) anywhere in the story. There's still one little episode I'm not 100% sure about, but I'll have to go back and check it out again. Still, I was incredibly surprised that Audrey Niffenegger was able to make time travel work, apparently without a hitch.

Beyond just the technical aspects of time travel, she also wrote a pretty darned good story. I never lost interest in the characters and I didn't end up identifying more with Henry or Clare. Furthermore, if I weren't such a manly man, I'd have been bawling at the end. Seriously, folks, if you haven't done so, read this book now!

P.S. Speaking of manly men, a "little bird" told me not to knock men who knit as her daddy is a FINE knitter. I am casting no stones at Mr. G, I just don't think I'll be joining him on this one.
P.P.S. The coffee shop woman told me this morning she'd found a man who DOES, in fact, knit -- her hairdresser. Case closed!