The good thing about this kerfuffle? It got me to check in with this thread, which I haven't read often for reasons that escape me.

Yeah, me too. (That and a slow workday.) I've actually started reading fiction again just recently, having finished my exam and thus gaining some free time. Just finished The God of Small Things, and I'm now about halfway through The Blind Assassin. Following will be Gould's Book of Fish (A Novel in Twelve Fish), Life of Pi and Dirt Music. It's a good mix, I feel. After that I might hit the library. Or just get into some Doctor Who.

Yeah, Billytea, that was Herriot.

I couldn't remember whether it was him or Siegfried, though I figured James. Loved those books as a teenager, read them over and over again. (I felt the postwar stuff started to lose some of the distinctive charm, unfortunately.)

just out of curiosity, was it the fast increase in # of posts, knowing there was a kerfuffle, or someone suggesting it - that brought not normal readers back to this thread?

I am always interested when posters that don't normally post in a thread appear when there is a kerfuffle. I've certainly done it, mostly from bad motivation, but that is me.

Maybe lots of people lurk here?

Right now, I've only got one book going on right now: Gravity's Rainbow. I just can't keep another one in my head. It's hard, because I'm used to having two or three going on, and reading whichever based on my mood that day. The Pynchon requires so much concentration that starting another book would be actively harmful to my reading.

Has anyone else who is used to multi-booking had that happen to them? Which books?

just out of curiosity, was it the fast increase in # of posts, knowing there was a kerfuffle, or someone suggesting it - that brought not normal readers back to this thread?

For me, the kerfuffle got mentioned, which reminded me we had a literary thread. Plus, rubbernecking, it's true.

Plus, rubbernecking, it's true.

t'aint nothin wrong with that. PLUS added a new voice in the thread. good times.

just out of curiosity, was it the fast increase in # of posts, knowing there was a kerfuffle, or someone suggesting it - that brought not normal readers back to this thread?

I lurk most of the time, because I tend read many more plays than books. And it was and has been a discussion that I have opinions on.

I was reading St. Burl's Obiturary and Lies My Teacher Told Me at the same time and had to put the fiction away while I read the non-fiction. So much stuff to unlearn and relearn, and I just didn't have time to get back to the fiction.

I read a lot more than I post, but I post more than lurkers. And I agree with you about the Herriot books,bt. (I probably still remember more about a cow's insides than is strictly healthy for an urban dweller.) Look who I'm talking to...never mind Multiple books: Yeah...and I still do it with IJ. Silly chick books, for palate-cleansing...a little lightweight Crip Lit. Cause it just can't be "Jest" all the time. My brain hurts, sometimes.

Maybe lots of people lurk here?

I'm sure that lots of people lurk for the book recs.