I've had three books open this month, and none of them fits the usual M.O. First, there was Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own," which took a while to get through because it requires more thought than can be conjured on the subway. But I read at night, during Thanksgiving vacation, and during lunch breaks at work. I made a lot of notes, which I'll share with you soon, but I'm afraid I don't have enough free moments today to do so.
The second book I can't yet reveal because it's actually a gift for someone, but I wanted to give it a gander before i put it in the mail. This book I've been seriously skimming. I definitely think the recipient will appreciate it more than I can without a thorough study. I'm enjoying the book, and it moves pretty fast, but it's a bit like reading Shakespeare because of the language. Plus it's not set up like a "normal" novel ... it's got an inventive style/format. I'm not done with it yet, but I hope to be in the next day or two so I can send it off.
The third book I'm almost done with is David Sedaris's "Holidays on Ice." A customer recommended it very highly to me the other day, so I pounced on it at The Strand, where I also picked up two other Sedaris books and a bunch of other lovelies like "Lolita" and "The Alienist." I have made it quite quickly through the small volume of six essays, but so far the first one has been the only really enjoyable one. Sedaris recounts his days as a Macy's elf, and I can relate, having worked retail. I only have one left, and so far the rest have been (and I hate to say it) kind of boring. It's my first Sedaris, and I'm confident the non-Christmas variety are much more engaging. But for $1, I guess I can't complain. Plus when I finish it this afternoon, I can say I only "wasted" three sittings on it.
