Nicholas Sparks appeared twice on the 1 this past week — you can do better than that. Are we the only ones that think that Sparks is the Thomas Kincaid of books? Please put it down now and pick up Natalya’s recommendation from last week, The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz.
Things started looking up with Saul Bellow’s Ravelstein, which we noticed The Strand recommends, when we browsed the fiction tables on Monday before Natasha Wimmer and Edith Grossman talked to us about translation. Roberto Bolano’s 2666 is now out in English so head on over to your favorite bookstore and pick it up.
We saw a little mystery with The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith and an enormous volume of Charles Burns’s comic series Black Hole (which we recently recommended to Barack Obama).
John Berednt’s Southern gem Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was being read avidly by commuter on the platform at 42nd Street.
And finally, a woman was proudly reading Real Sex For Real Women by Dr. Laura Berman, which is about how “to combine the reality of everyday life with fantastic sex.” On another note, according to Amazon, one percent of people who buy this book also buy Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. We know, we promised but that’s just too good.
Keep up the reading ladies and gentlemen. If you’re in need of something new, head on over to Housing Works Bookstore and Cafe and support a good cause. We saw some good ones lining the stacks and donation bins last night at their annual Fall Book & Gin Mingle.