"...and I have more faith in a shadow than in the church." - Ferdinand Magellan

I finished Nicole Krauss’ The History of Love on my lunch break; in fact, I was ten minutes late coming back, despite knowing I was on Virtual Ref at two, because I HAD to finish it.
I liked it.
I liked its two protagonists, Alma and Leo.
I liked its complexity, and the uncertainty of its plot, and the uncertainty of its characters.
I liked the subplots, and the minor characters, who despite not being heavily involved in the story are developed perfectly, lightly yet completely.
I liked how…unresolved...the entire book is, and yet, when you are finished, you take a deep breath and sigh, "Ah!"

I liked it enough to recommend it to people, and I liked it enough to plan on buying it, and I definitely liked it enough to reread it. In fact, I imagine it will be even better upon a second rereading, that its complexity will be better revealed to the enlightened reader, and its dark history and plot twists better illuminated.

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The library’s new popular book order came in over the weekend.
There are almost a dozen books that were on my list that have arrived.
These are the four I am taking home:
Intuition - Allegra Goodman
A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon (looks like a fast read)
The Emperor’s Children - Claire Messud (if I hate this, it came come right back)
Consider the Lobster - David Foster Wallace (I can hang onto this and dip into it over the next few weeks, one essay at a time)

It pains me to leave behind Lost and Eat, Love, Pray and What Came Before He Shot Her and The Inheritance of Loss and Special Topics in Calamity Physics but it also makes me happy to know they will be there waiting for me when I need another good book to read.

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Gina is reading The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf which is the third time in as many weeks that I have encountered the title. I just requested it from the library, along with The Echo Maker.

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Thanks to Lazy Cow (and I mean that sincerely, rather than my usual, “Oh, great, now I have eleventy gazillion *more* books to read, thanks, LC!”), I am currently enjoying The Heart of Darkness, delivered in installments (42 total) to my email inbox each morning. DailyLit is the greatest idea! I plan on “reading” Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle next.

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Yesterday evening when I went to B&N to exchange my journal, I was waiting in the cash register line and overheard the woman in front of me bemoaning to the clerk (a woman I know by sight, with whom I share reading tastes) the lack of any decent books. They agreed that Water for Elephants was wonderful, and mentioned that Chris Bohjalian has a new book in advance-reader copies. Since I had just spent forty-five minutes wandering the story mentally piling up purchases, I couldn’t help myself but spoke up and asked if she’d read Broken for You. The clerk peremptorily called the back of the store and made them bring her a copy, which the woman promptly purchased, and thereafter followed a lovely fifteen minutes with two simpatico readers, comparing notes and books and want-to-reads. It was as refreshing to my soul as I imagine a church service is to more spiritually-inclined people.