I love The Other Boleyn Girl thus far and might not sleep tonight until I finish it. I started it last night, read half of it, fell asleep with it in my hands, and woke up with it next to me. Then I read it for 20 indulgent minutes after I woke up, and I really had to force myself to stop. I would like to savor it, but it's just too delicious.

Thank you for the suggestion. I will officially "review" it at some time but it is exactly the type of book I am looking for.

I also read The History of Love a few days ago and didn't have this sort of reaction to it. Some of you may hate me for that.

Ok, awesome. Tons of suggestions, and they will definetly get me going. I'm calling it the 2007 book list, although it will obviously start as soon as I get my next book. I tried to mix up the order a bit from the order that people commented in, and I'll add more if you think of 'em. My master plan is to take a bunch of books to the used book store, sell back what I can, and then get at least one book, maybe two, off of the list to start with. Then I'll go from there.

I broke the list down into four categories:
- Books I will read and would love for you to read with me.
- Books I have already read but that others suggested
- Books by authors of books I have already read... I'll eventually read these, too, but new authors get priority here.
- Books that were suggested, but that are in French. Since this site is in English, I'll read in English. But maybe I'll sneak a French book in there without letting you know about it.

I'll post a permanent version of the list on the Bookworm part of the site, but here it is for now:

Books to be read:

The History of Love - Nichole Krauss
The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint - Brady Udall
City of Darkness, City of Light - Marge Pierce
A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer
What I Loved - Siri Hustvedt
The Devil in the White City - Erik Larson
March - Gerladine Brooks
The Every Boy - Dana Adam Shapiro
The Adventures of Kavelier and Clay - Michel Chabon
Freakonomics - Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Leguin
The Lathe of Heaven - Ursula K. Leguin
Bel Canto - Ann Patchett
The Other Bolyn Girl - Philippa Gregory
The Highest Tide - Jim Lynch
The History of Love - Nicole Krauss
Hypocrite in a Poufy White Dress - Susan Jane Gilman
Please Stop Laughing at Me - Jodee Blanco
Wicked - Gregory Maguire
A Woman on the Edge of Time - Marge Pierce
Feed - MT Anderson

Suggested Books that I have already read:

*The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime - Marc Haddon
The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - Dave Eggers
*Any Human Heart - William Boyd
*Oracle Night - Paul Auster
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami
The Hungry Tide - Amitav Ghosh

* means I loved the book with a burning passion

Suggested books by authors whose books I have already read, but that I will one day read:

A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby
On Beauty - Zadie Smith
Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami
Blink - Malcolm Gladwell
The Shadow Lines - Amitav Ghosh
The Calcutta Syndrome - Amitav Ghosh

French books suggested:

La Malédiction d'Edgar - Marc Dugain
L'Empreinte de l'ange - Nancy Huston

Uh-oh.

Also. I am very sick - I get dizzy when I stand up, have the body aches, and have had three fevers. This is NOT the way I want to travel (leaving in 36 hours).

I just went crazy and totally re-organized my bookshelves. I have two of them, and they were overflowing. Overflowing onto the floor in the bedroom, onto the chimney, onto my desk. Since college, I have been a borderline freakishly organized type, and this lack of finesse to my bookshelf techniques was just not working for me.

I began by trying to move my crappy Ikea bookshelf in order to make room for my Senegalese chairs. My Senegalese chairs? Awesome. My Ikea bookshelf? Crappy. Dude, every time I tried to push it, it just leaned from wherever I was pushing... holy shitty bookcase, Batman! So I ended up pulling almost all the books off and lifting the damn thing.

Once all my books were on the floor, I began considering organization styles. I've known that I needed a change. So I made the judgement call: I would begin doubling up.

Now I have two, double-layered fiction shelves on my main Ikea bookshelf. Of course I had to put my faves out on the front (Auster, Boyd, Doyle, Atwood, Coetzee) and hide a few embarrassing pieces of literature (Da Vinci Code, anyone?). I got to thinking about how I should collect some books to sell at the secondhand shop soon -- I've got enough crap that I'm willing to part with that I think I could get 15 euros or more for.

It's interesting, too, to make a mental inventory of the things I am obviously interested in, judging by my books: tons of fiction, cooking (they just took over the entire fireplace), languages, linguistics, travel, knitting, nutrition, gluten-freeness, alternative health, Africa, world events, and political theory (surprising). Probably in that order.

Books that need to be reviewed on Odessa Books:

- The Dying Animal by Philip Roth
- In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
- The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber
- The Sea by John Banville
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
- Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Ok, that's a good starting list.

Books I am thinking of taking home with me on Thursday to read:

- La Casa de los espiritus by Isabel Allende
- Child's Play by David Malouf
- Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
- The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (with TheKnitters permission)

I shouldn't bring any books at all, because as soon as I go back I am booking it to Borders. It's just obligatory. So I should only bring one, maybe two for the plane. Otherwise, I'm just adding more weight to my bag.

The amazing thing, though? Remember that REALLY expensive bracelet The Boy bought me? The one that was the first gift he had given me in four years? The one that I totally loved but was a little loose? And that I lost?

I FOUND IT!!!!!

Well goodness. Today just flew right on by now, didn't it?

You know what I hate? I hate when I find a book I love. Normally, this is a good thing, but I'm learning to find it more and more bittersweet.

When I find a great book, I bring it everywhere with me, and I actually look forward to my train rides because that makes for non-guilty reading time. I really let myself go and dive in, full force, into whatever the story is. Today, for example, I almost missed my stop because I was so deep in the world of Wolvogs and Pigoons. (Shout out to Margaret Atwood, yo!)

Inevitably, I cannot control my reading binges and I obsessively open the book every chance I get. It's amazing how much time I spend just waiting around. That time, normally such a dull and drab part of my life, turns into a Potential Reading Party, if the book inspires that kind of attitude. Good books do that to me.

Regardless, I always finish the book way too fast. Today, I couldn't help myself: I did that whole I've-only-got-two-chapters left thing, and finished it up without remembering to savor. When I shut the book after reading the last page, I actually whimpered.

Oh, the emptiness I felt when I was done!

So what now? I have to work tomorrow and I only have my New Yorker to accompany me on the train. And that's ok, but it pales in comparison to the last two days. This is weird, but I sort of miss the characters from the book already.

Tomorrow, directly from work, I am going to the library.

I started Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assasin the day before yesterday at midnight, and it's so good that I might just finish all 637 pages before midnight tonight. I liked this quote so much that I'm noting it here. The narrator is an old woman, looking back on her life:

This book is full of good ones like that. Although, I would now argue that words are no longer silent. Each letter makes a sharp, annoying clack on the keyboard. Even blank spaces are noisy... on my keyboard they're the loudest of them all.

Today is my day off from everything. I plan on making full use of it by sitting in a cafe on this crisp September afternoon, drinking a warm caramel tea, and finishing my book.

Later this evening, I will continue comparing presidential candidates online. I'm not inundated with lots and lots of cheesy television ads or morning talk show interviews, so I actually have to go seek out this information. It's so much better this way. Really.

Paul Auster and I are like two peas in a pod.

I just finished reading Moon Palace, after having read pretty much back-to-back all of his other books besides The Book of Illusions (yet to be found in paperback in English around these parts). Every one of his books has had its impact on me. Every single one of them I have finished far too quickly, wishing as I shut the final page that I had savoured it more. But every one of them was so damn good that I just couldn't stop myself from reading.

The creepy thing is that I have all these weird geographical connections to the characters in his books. Auster lived in Paris for awhile, so it's natural that some of his characters head off to Paris. Groovy. Auster often mentions suburban Chicago, where I spent nine years of my childhood. No problem. Several of his characters are connected in some way to Northfield, MN, a town with a population around 1 - but where I have spent more time doing useless things than I care to mention. Lastly, today, in Moon Palace, the book ends at Lake Powell in Utah, where my four-week, super-intense, 100% wilderness hiking expedition ended six summers ago. The ending, however, is an entirely new beginning for the main character in Moon Palace.

Six summers ago would be the summer after I graduated high school, before I ever set foot along the edges of the Pacific ocean. That would be sometime after I had decided to move far away from my adolesence in Michigan, and towards one of the unknown edges of the world. Little did I know where I would eventually find myself. So I guess, in a way, Lake Powell was a new beginning for me too.

I'll take the opportunity to let you know it's one helluva stinky lake.

Holy shit this book was great. I read I Capture the Castle in 24 hours off and on, whipped it out during a lecture instead of listening, and walked down the (busy) street reading during those final pages.

Crapola. This book kicked ass.

Excellent prose, surprise twist, and above all, fabulous character development. I was so attached to the narrator by the end that I was actually noticing my heartbeat speeding up at certain intense moments. I LOVE when that happens when I am reading. Surprisingly, the person who recommended it did not leave his or her name, so I suppose that shall remain a mystery. I thank you profusely nonetheless.

Dodie Smith, the book's author, also wrote 101 Dalmatians which most likely earned her a fair amount of fame. I might just go and read it now, although I'd be surprised if I prefered it over I Capture the Castle. I truly found it to be a beautiful, beautiful book. I had never even heard of it before, what a pleasant surprise.

Did anyone else read it? Lovely stuff.

So here it is. The first book list post.

So.

Yes.

How many of you actually read Jeanette Winterson's Written on the Body as part of the book "assignment"? I'm only asking out of curiosity, you don't really have to answer that.

I read it really quickly. I couldn't seem to put it down. It's a short book and I wanted to know what happened at the end. So much so that I actually walked home reading it as I walked through the busy streets. I didn't run into anybody, no worries.

But I feel I can't discuss this book without your help. I know I am supposed to have something semi-intelligent to say, but I'll just be honest with you all and admit that I don't.

Instead, I have two questions. Maybe I'll be able to offer something, anything, once we take it from here:

1. Was the narrator male or female?
2. What happened at the end?

I liked it. I just am still wondering what the hell that was I read, exactly.

I have started I Capture the Castle, which we swill save for two weeks from now. That is to say, April 30. I am already excited about it - the first chapter already has me hooked. Stay tuned.

Alright everybody, it's time for liftoff. We can now begin the bookclub after my successful purchase of Jeanette Winterson's Written on the Body - the first of the books on our alphabetically backwards list.

For those of you wondering what I'm talking about, have a peek at the book list and book club set up here.

As I said before, the books will be given an ample two-week reading time so that nobody feels a horrible amount of pressure and so that everyone can read another book or two (or in my case a bunch of really boring plays) on the side. Plus, after buying the book today, I am happy to say that it is not disturbingly long (no "War and Peace"-types allowed), so two weeks should be plenty of time. Then again, the beauty of an informal online book club is that even if you don't read the book, nobody has to know.

So how does Wednesday, April 16 sound for a due date? That's a full moon. I think that just sold me on it. On that day I'll set up a post bringing up a discussion topic or two, maybe a thought or three on the books, and your comments will be what makes the whole thing interesting. I hope this works. If not, I'll just read all the books on that list while stewing in my stony solitary silence.

I want to have everybody that reads this site over to my house for a party. If I provide the champers and the olives, would you all come over?

It would be my way of thanking you for participating in the Odessa Book List. Who knows, it might still grow. For those of you that don't know what I am talking about, I asked friends and visitors to recommend 3-5 books a few days ago. Not necessarily books of mindblowing genius, not even necessarily favorites, just a few recommended books.

And I got a big ole long list. I would always groove on it being longer, so add in a few (if you haven't already) in the comments to this post. I'll fit in the book where I can - if we haven't gotten to that part of the alphabet yet, all will be dandy. If not, it will just get added to the end.

Here's what I propose: I made a master list of all the books recommended as of March 10. I put it in reverse alphabetical order, because I like to do things just a wee bit differently. I'm going to give myself two weeks to read each book - figuring that is more than enough time per book - and I would groove on it if some of you read with me. It's like an online book club, but you're not required to join and you're not required to read and you're not required to go to meetings or to participate in the silly discussion. There will be no awkward silences. And you don't have to feel bad if you go to the meeting without having read the book, 'cause nobody will really even know you're there. On the flipside, if you are reading, you can say what you think about the book, get input from others, yada yada yada. There won't be any veggies and dip, but besides that it will be more or less the same thing as a real book club. Just with less responsibilities.

I'm going to start with number one and work my way forward - or backward, as the case may be. I'll announce the book in the corner box on the dailies page - just because it seems like a handy way to do things. And also because I might have a bit of a difficult time locating some of these books, I'll need a place to mention if we are/I am skipping a book until further notice. It's up to you: you can follow along, or not. Easy.

The reading will start next week - as soon as I have time to bring a copy of the book list to the bookstore and library to see what I can gather. For now, have a peek at the list thus far (in reverse alphabetical order by author's name of course).

1. Written on the Body - Jeanette Winterson
2. I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith
3. Fermat's Enigma - Simon Singh
4. Cracking India - Bapsi Sidhwa
5. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
6. The Reader - Bernhard Schlink
7. Memoirs of an Invisible Man - H.F. Saint
8. Blindness - Jose Saramago
9. Jitterbug Perfume - Tom Robbins
10. Choke - Chuck Palahniuk
11. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles - Haruki Murakami
12. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
13. Basque History of the World - Mark Kurlansky
14. Shutterbabe - Deborah Copaken Kogan
15. The Long Walk - Stephen King
16. Sometimes A Great Notion - Ken Kesey
17. The Trial - Kafka
18. Jesus' Son - Denis Johnson
19. Glass Bead Game - Hesse
20. Tumble Home - Amy Hempel
21. Stones from the River - Ursula Hegi
22. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
23. Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
24. Drown - Junot Diaz
25. Feast of Snakes - Crews
26. Godric - Frederick Buechner

The following books were taken off the list because I have already read them. But they came recommended by others (not necessarily by me along with them, though):

Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris
The Westing Game - Ellen Raskin
Fountainhead - Ayn Rand
A Wrinkle in Time - Madeline L'Engle
The Red Tent - Anita Diamant
The Secret Garden - Francis Hodgson Burnett

In honor of the development of my recent bookworms' page, I would like to ask my regular readers - and those just now visiting for the first time (hey there, hi there, how ya doin') - to give me some book input.

If you had to name your top 3-5 books, what would they be? Even just your top 3-5 books recently...not necessarily your top 3-5 EVER.

And then I am going to pick at least one, from every selection mentioned by each contributor, to read. Because I'm thirsty for books like that.

My personal selection would go like this... (although this is just due to recent inflluences). I like books that don't take me two weeks to read. I like books that stay with me forever. And I like books that use big words from time to time. That said, I also like cheesy books like The Poisonwood Bible. And sometimes I dig a good epic novel like Roots.

Right now I am looking for enjoyable reading. I am also starting The Name of the Rose right now, which doesn't look so enjoyable. But everybody kept on talking about it, I figured why not?

Still, here's my personal selection (although this could change depending on the day):

1. The Color Purple - Alice Walker (a classic - read it in a day and have read it at least five times since. Probably my favorite book.)
2. Any Human Heart - William Boyd (lighthearted and fun, interesting mix of history, art, literature. Very easy reading but not dumbed down or anything)
3. The Woman Who Walked Into Doors - Roddy Doyle ('cause I just read it last month and I am still thinking about it. It's been haunting me.)
4. A Brave New World - Aldous Huxley ('cause I read it in high school, thought it spoke to me, and think of it every time I sit down in a movie theater today - eight years later)
5. Roots - Alex Haley (it's a good one. It just is)

There you go. On my list for this month are William Borrough's Naked Lunch, Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five (can you believe I haven't read it yet?) and Paul Auster's (I'm on a Paul Auster kick) The Music of Change (couldn't find it on Amazon.com). Otherwise, I have four plays to read in French ("Ruy Blas," "La guerre de Troie n'aura pas lieu," "Antigone" and "La machine infernale") as well as a few linguistics books (starting with "Alice au pays du langage"). And then I am sort of half-reading a few Spanish books - the "simplified" reading books for people at my level of Spanish. It's rather difficult, but I learned that reading is one of the best ways to improve language comprehension outside of the classroom. That, and, you know, living in Spain.

Some of the books you suggest might have to go on my Amazon wishlist, because English books are not impossible to get here, but they are a little bit more limited in selection. Books get shipped to my parents' house - it's just easier that way. Feel free to show me some love.

Otherwise, just show your love by contributing a few ideas of your favorite books. It might take me all year, if I get enough recommendations. But I promise I'll read them all eventually.

I know this is a dangerous proposition. What can I say? I live on the edge.

Bill Bryson wrote an excellent, funny book called I'm a Stranger Here Myself, all about America and the new meaning it took on for him upon his return after 20 years in Britain.

The introductory excerpt spoke to me, made me giggle, and dropped a bit of nostalgia my way:

I just finished A Confederacy of Dunces - the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by John Kennedy Toole. And everybody raved about it, left and right, up and down. They said that I would just laugh out loud when reading it on the bus, and have trouble containing my giggles in the metro.

But no, you know, I really didn't like the book.

That sucks. What am I missing? What was so funny?

That is certainly a lot of ice cream to eat in 12 minutes. Somebody else ate 274 pelmeni (Russian meat dumplings) in six. To find out why somebody would want to do such a thing, check out The Wide World of Competitive Eating, courtesy of the IHT. Is it just my own "morbid curiosity" that finds this so fascinating? It's like a car accident: I don't want to see it, but I just can't look away. Now all I have are visions in my head.