And please don't really go around like...Neil Young. That would be a waste.(I really did like the column...I just thought "Whoa, bad poetry evening for Victor!")

I've just finished reading Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire.

I had a hard tme getting through Wicked. I don't care for his story telling style; He's a bit too developed for my shallow readingness. But this story, I really liked. There were a couple of things that could have been delved into a little more, and maybe I dug this more because the similarities between the Oz 10 years after Elphaba's death and our country are very much, almost beaten into you. But I enjoyed it. Enough that I might try Wicked again.

Anyone else read it yet?

It's in my to-read pile. Got it for Christmas. I'll plan on it after I finish the current book.

I was given Son of a Witch as a Christmas gift, but I haven't started reading it yet because I am still reading Wicked.

How 'bout now? Have you all read it now???

t impatient

I got Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister for Christmas. Does that count?

Not that I've read it. I zoomed through Freakonomics and am now taking my leisurely time with The Equation That Couldn't Be Solved.

I picked up this book at lunchtime for JZ: An Evening Of Long Goodbyes by Paul Murray.

If Wodehouse's Bertie Wooster were plopped into the 21st century, his adventures might resemble those of Charles Hythloday, the buffoonish hero of Murray's insouciant romp, shortlisted for the Whitbread. For three years, ever since his father died, 20-something Charles has been pottering around the family's crumbling seaside estate near Dublin, mixing himself gimlets and watching old movies. He sees himself as attempting to perfect sprezzatura, "the contemplative life of the country gentleman, in harmony with his status and history"; his formidable sister, Bel, and everyone else, however, view him as a shiftless drunkard, and Charles's own narration leaves little doubt whose judgment is more accurate. The reappearance of Charles's mother, who's been away at a clinic for alcoholics and is now determined to reform the rest of the family, means that his allowance is promptly cut off and he's required to get a job. It looks fun. Anybody read it?

How about this serial killer thriller with a rave staff review at Alexander Books? Birdman by Mo Hayder?

That Murray book looked so much fun that I went over to my public library's website and requested it!

Has anyone here read Fire and Hemlockby Diana Wynne Jones? If so, could anyone tell me what the heck happened?

:grumble, grumble. Stupid oblique references:

Sheryl, it's one of those much-debated mysteries. The best I can do is that since they can only be together No Where, that means they must be together Some Where, so it's a happy ending. No, this makes NO SENSE AT ALL. It's one of those books that is so great up to the last page that you forgive it anyway.