I've gotten myself stuck (again) by trying to read more meaty books when my brain really just wants a good thriller and a cup of cocoa. Right now I'm tackling JG Ballard's 'Crash' as well as Vonnegut's 'Mother Night.' Neither are difficult to read, but both contain a lot more than what their words describe, if that makes sense. And so it's taking me ages to read them when it should only take a day.

How about you guys? What are you reading this season? I feel really out of the loop not working in a library. I don't really know what's new out there, except what I catch at reviews/reviewers online.

What are Crash and Mother Night about, Jen? Is Crash the same story as the movie of that name?

The two writing books I'm reading right now are The Contstant Art of Being a Writer, by N.M. Kelley (so far, it's okay) and Emotional Structure by Peter Dunne (fantastic). Emotional Structure is supposed to be only for screenwriters, but the beginning chapters would be good for writers of any genre. I'll let you know more when I finish them.

For fun, I just finished Arcangel by Sharon Shin, which I borrowed from Barb. It was very captivating, and like Barb said, though you know what's going to happen in the end, the journey there is worth the read. Right now I'm reading my new On Spec magazine and Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell - what can I say? It's a very strange book. The format is unlike anything I've read before. I like it though. I'll try to remember to let you know more when I've finished it.

And waiting in the wings, I have Saving Fish From Drowing by Amy Tan and Alice Monroe's new book, Too Much Happiness, plus about ten books at the library on hold. Fun!

I do know what you're talking about with books that are somehow thicker than the word count would imply. I haven't heard of either of those books but they sound interesting and it has been years since I read any Vonnegut.

I'm reading two writing books: Revision & Self-Editing by James Scott Bell for craft and The Forest for the Trees by Betsy Lerner for inspiration. I'm enjoying both of them.

I just read A Winters Tale by ? Helprin. Now that was a thick book both with word count and ideas. I enjoyed it very much but we read it for our book club and the people were distinctly divided between those who loved it and those who hated it.

For light stuff I read Robert B Parker's Spare Change and Mounting Fears by Stuart Woods and I'm looking forward to reading Stephen White's Dead Time: all of them are absorbing mind candy to procrastinate by for me. Plus I've been reading Jim Butcher's Dresden File books recently and loving them. In case you don't know they're urban fantasy about a wizard who solves supernatural crimes. Again, they're, for me, a lovely distraction.

And finally, I lucked out by finding a used copy of Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger who wrote Time Traveler's Wife that I'm looking forward to. Plus our next two books for my book club are The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and The Uncommon Reader by Allan Bennett. The Uncommon Reader came highly recommended and I plan to read it first, it is a novella but sounds like it is funny and interesting.

Don't know if that helps Jen, I think sometimes that my dream job would actually being paid to read books! This is sort of the top of the pile I have amassed that I'm sure I'll read some day!

_drools_ the books you described are all new to me, Barb (except for Audrey's and Winter's Tale--the latter you told me about in Surrey). I'm going to track them down.

Jen: I hear you on thinking books. They're great, obviously, but sometimes you just want munch down something salty/crunchy/delicious without a lot of tangible food value.

Right now I'm reading Echo In The Bone by Diana Gabaldon. I'm enjoying it very much, but don't have as much time to read as I would like/NEED.

I also just picked up Walter Mosley's This Year You Write Your Novel--not because I have a problem writing a novel in a year, but because I've been brainstorming some workshop ideas for a series for adults. I thought it would be informative, have good ideas for work, etc.--I was happily surprised to find it so much more. It's a complete DELIGHT. Very insightful, light and easy to read while being deeply affirming, inspirational and down-to-earth--how's that for a whole slew of adjectives that don't really give you any clue to content? ;-D

I just started it, so that's why my description is raving but not specific--but from almost the first page, I had that wonderful "this is just what I needed right now" feeling start to course through me. As some of you know, I've been writing poetry quite rigorously again and loving it--but with no desire or intention to stray from my sincere love, Fiction. I had wondered/worried that I was being indulgent and perhaps my time would be better spent on craft exercises more "specific" to fiction, but I feel poems are really helping me right now (and I derive a lot of pleasure from them)--imagine my delight (and piqued interest!) when right in the Intro, Mosley states, "The section [referring to an "exhaustive description of the elements of fiction"] will be capped off with a discussion of poetry and how important that discipline is to any writer."

Hmmmm, so I guess I'm pretty thrilled by this little find. Sorry to go on and on about it!

I've heard a bit about Cloud Atlas and I'll be very interested to hear your final impressions, Ang.

Do you really like the Dresden Files, Barb? I saw them go through the library a lot but I haven't picked one up. And Her Fearful Symmetry is one I'm really interested in reading!

Ev, I'm glad you went on and on about it, I'd never heard of the book and now I think I'll look into getting a copy. It sounds really interesting. I love it when a book is just EXACTLY what you need, at any given moment. That coincidence or whatever it is probably creates more fans than all kind of skilled writing. Heh. Hm. Er.

I did finally finish Mother Night. It's about a propagandist who was a spy for the American government but did his job so well that lots of Nazis adore him. However he doesn't care much for America or Nazis, he just loves his wife. They have a "country of two." He writes about his life in a typical Vonnegut way, insightful and depressing etc. I enjoyed it but it took a lot out of me. It isn't quite as enjoyable as Slaughterhouse Five (another Vonnegut novel referring to the second world war, but with sci fi elements) just because it stays closer to the subjects, I think, or at least looks at them with a more weary eye.

And Crash is the book that the movie is based on, Ang, but there are two movies: one about being phyically aroused by car crashes, and another more recent one about racism. I haven't seen the latter. This book is associated with the former. It sounds pretty strange, I know, and it is, but it's also interesting. The author has written a foreward basically saying that he meant it as a statement on humanity's love affair with machines and technology. I haven't read far so I can't say if it's "good," but it is a "classic."

I do like the Dresden Files. They're entertaining and I'm not very good at categorizing fiction but I think they're either thrillers or mysteries set in an alternate universe where wizards are fighting with the bad guys (assorted) but the general public is unaware and unbelieving. So Dresden gets called in when the supernatural impinge on the everyday. They are not particularily deep but neither are they fluff: good people do bad things, bad things happen to good people and they all end up facing the consequences of their choices. I don't know, the more I try to explain them, the more I feel mired. They are lovely escapist reading for me. I'll leave it at that.