Book Buzz

• The New York Times Sunday Book Review had a plethora of interesting reviews this week (at least to me). I didn’t love The Jane Austen Book Club, so I passed over Karen Fowler’s Wit’s End at the library this week. The Times suggests you do the same.

• It gave a much better review to That Little Something, the newest collection of poetry by Charles Simic. It also likes the latest Donna Leon, The Girl of His Dreams. Notaconnoisseur is a big fan of Leon, and I trust her mystery recommendations.

• China continues to dominate even the literary news. The New York Times Magazine featured a large section on China this past Sunday. The three books it recommends? Foreign Babes in Beijing, 20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth, and Beijing: Portrait of a City.

• Kathy Freston appeared on Oprah this week promoting her all-natural lifestyle. Shockingly, her book Quantum Wellness is now #3 on Amazon (behind two other Oprah recommendations). I tried to follow Freston’s diet yesterday. It lasted until I had a Brownie Attack around 9 pm.
  

• For amusing book talk, check out PRI’s Studio 360. The show has recently featured incredibly humorous chapters from Jack Handey’s What I’d Say to the Martians: And Other Veiled Threats. I haven’t heard his voice since watching Saturday Night Live as a teen, and he can make me laugh and squirm at the same time. Last week, Billy Collins also read "Taking Off Emily Dickinson's Clothes."