Fridays are now book days

To organize this blog a little bit Fridays will be the day I post my book reviews of what I have read over the past week, plus any other related book news I find of interest.

Right now my to read pile is at the absolutely lowest it has been for a while because I have finally decided to commit to read Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle (Quicksilver, The Confusion, & The System of the World). To understand what this means, you have to have read one of his books. He writes long and very dense novels, and each one of these 5 pound doorstops is about 1000 pages long. There is no rushing a Stephenson book, and I have been putting it off because it means for a month it will be all I read. Think of all the other books I will be missing!!

Before I get there I have a few other books to finish first. Currently I am reading Christopher Moore's Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, a irreverent look at those lost 33 years between Christ's birth until he began his ministry. Probably not recommended for any uptight people, but I am only on chapter 3 so far. Moore is a humor writer I try to keep up with and this is one of the few I have not read yet.

Next will be The Risk of Infidelity Index by a completely different Christopher Moore - Guess how I found it? Anyway I liked the bright cover, had good feelings for the name, and it is a crime novel - totally worth the risk.

Then I have Insect Dreams: The Half Life Of Gregor Samsa by Marc Estrin. I found this after reading the Sittenfeld book American Wife. I was researching how much of that book was true to life for Laura Bush when I came across a web-site that listed real people portrayed as fictional characters in a novel. This book has several, including people who have interested me enough in the past to read their biographies. That was enough for me to pick it up.

I have the non-fiction book The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow. It was in my library's new book section and I liked the title and the subject. In fact on Amazon you can buy it on a three book deal with two other great books I have read in the last few months.

Last and not least I have been listening to The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz on CD as I have been working on Gunnar's room remodel. I liked the title and it met one of my criteria of reading more foreign authors. I am on the fourth CD so far.