Book Buzz

• Entertainment Weekly featured “The New Classics: Books: The 100 best reads from 1983 to 2008.” I’ve read over 20 books on the list, and I’m rather appalled at what they consider the best: #9 Cold Mountain, #34 The Lovely Bones, #96 The Da Vinci Code. All three books make my overrated list. I figure either the quality of writing has been dismal in the last 25 years or, more likely, the writers at Entertainment Weekly simply listed the 100 books they’ve actually read during that time.

• Sawtelle loving continues. I heard the author, David Wroblewski, interviewed on The Diane Rehm show last week, and USA Today featured an article on him this week. Wroblewski is a software designer and told Rehm he has no plans to quit his day job.

• Another book getting a lot of buzz is Bob Morris’s memoir Assisted Loving. Morris helps his widowed father reenter the dating scene while he is navigating it himself. He appeared on Fresh Air, and USA Today gave the book a positive review.

• I’ve been reentering the realm of genocide literature. For anyone who wants to follow my re-decent into sadness and despair, USA Today recommends Uwem Akpan’s short story collection about African tragedies called Say You’re One of Them.

• The newest book in the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series, Stop in the Name of Pants!, came out Tuesday. I can hardly wait to read it. The last one ended abruptly, so I hope this book is a tidge more satisfying.
  

Have an excellent holiday weekend.