Quickie...

...book review, you perv. One thing I managed to do in Malta (aside from drink something on the order of 67 Cokes-in-glass-bottles - deliciouser than Coke in a can) is read like...someone who reads things quickly. And a lot. I finished Atonement (loved, loved, loved - I take back everything I said about boring British white male authors), The Adventures of Augie March (genius writing, great characters, what a voice), The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (a romp - so much fun, so clever, I hope Chabon is a white British male so he can fit into my new crush category), and am about halfway through A Savage War of Peace, which so far is really lively, reads like a story rather than a re-telling. Oh, and the Gourevitch book, which of course was good but there's only so many times you can write, "and then this guy's family was all killed. He's trying to get by". Not to diminsh the stories of individual Rwandans, but it got repetitive. Plus I still can't remember my source who said Gourie (not a British white male, sucks for him) was way too "tutsis can do no wrong" but then again, he notes in the book that after the genocide and the fleeing of a substantial portion of the Hutu population, a lot of aid workers/groups started treating them like refugees when in fact they were the killers--don't get me started on aid workers, for what it's worth--so it would make sense that those types would think Vitchie is too pro-tutsi.

I have to say, I'm so far disappointed with Snow, mainly because I expected it to be a lot more - you know, silly me, win the Nobel Prize and I'd like your book to be engaging and original. It's quite slow, but well-written. Not that I've picked it up in two weeks.

One more thing - chill on the Harry Potter already. Or write me and tell me why anyone needed to read books 3-8 because it's the same plot over, and over, and over again. Oh look, the kinda-hero is the guy everyone thought was a dick! What a surprise! I actually was in Barnes & Noble on Sun with Bub and I flipped through the last few pages with a mind to start extorting small cash gifts out of people to not tell them the ending. It didn't work because on Monday all the Harry Potter fans were out of the office finishing the book and crying that it was over. Oh well. Silly Muggle that I am.

So, if Kakutani has been ticking you off lately (perhaps you are pissed and have declared jihad over the pre-release Harry review? Of course you have. And that's okay) and you want to take my word for it instead, go get Augie and Atonement. Kavalier and Clay is a bit of a heft, but I guarantee Atonement will just leave you breathless. I did hear that Saturday bites, though.