I got the Boondocks book too, Vortex.

Also, an autographed Book Lust by Nancy Pearl.

Then I got two childen's books. Allison by Allen Say and The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Grey Bridge.

Then I bought for myself: James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator(HB), Iggie's House by Judy Blume (HB), Little House in the Big Woods, and Runaway Ralph - all kid's books.

and Tell Me Lies by Jennifer Crusie.

I also borrowed my parent's Satanic Verses.

Isn't the DaVinci Code the one Simon Le Bon ripped into on Simon's Book Club? His complaints were like reading someone complaining about Mary Sues when they first hit them.

Yep. That's it.

Everyone is a bit marvellous, yes.

And I agree with you, Hil. You wouldn't need to be half as marvellous as them to work out the clues. Some were glaringly obvious enough that I got impatient waiting for the plot to hand the clue to the character who was a specialist, so he could work out what my non-specialist self had.

Plus, I got the impression he was just plain lying about stuff.

I also borrowed my parent's Satanic Verses

I tried to read it. I figured any book that would piss off an entire religion to want to kill someone would be pretty juicy. I couldn't get past the first chapter. Then I thought how sad it was that the man would be in hiding for the rest of his life for a piece of crap. YSVMV

I love Salman Rushdie.

Somehow I forgot to finish The Satanic Verses. Got distracted.

I love Salman Rushdie.

I've never read anything else, what would you recommend?

I've never read anything else, what would you recommend?

Midnight's Children

I've never read anything else, what would you recommend?

if not Midnight's Children then Moor's Last Sigh.

Kat, Lyra's Oxford is just a short story, featuring Lyra and Pan, set in Oxford, after the events of the HDM books. It's fine for what it is, but it's really quite short, and I guess I'd been led to believe (by the fact that it's being marketed as a new book) that there would be more to it. Probably the best reason to buy it is the map of Oxford (helpful to me, since I seem to be reading a lot of books set in Oxford lately--just finished Connie Willis's To Say Nothing of the Dog, which I loved) which includes a few excerpts from a catalog that outfits adventurers: naphtha lamps and so on. Nice touch.

My holiday gifts to myself included the Firefly DVDs and a copy of The D'aulaire's Book of Greek Myths (yay!). I also intend to steal some of my dad's books at some point; my mom gave him Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, about growing up white and wild in southern Africa, and The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri's new novel. I gave him Peter Carey's The True History of the Kelly Gang, which I read in Australia and loved, and I gave my mom The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, continuing the theme of places-I-have-been.

Rushdie--I'd definitely go with Midnight's Children first, though I also really enjoyed The Satanic Verses.

Butbutbutbutbut - the footprints of an enormous hound! Cocaine and violins! Short monographs! Irene Adler!

I know, I know. I just never have gotten around to them.

Oh! I completely forgot one of the books I got as a prezzie: The Water Flowers by Edward Gorey. A first edition of it, because Pete knows how to pick presents for me.