I recently finished a few books. Three from favorite authors that I had anticipated for a while.

You Don't Love Me Yet
by Jonathan Lethem

This has been marked as a lightweight book by most everyone, and that's about right. It was enjoyable enough, but a bit silly and not something I would recommend if I was trying to convince someone to read Lethem. My fanboy status prevented me from waiting for the paperback, but that is probably a good move.




After Dark
by Haruki Murakami

This work has also been a bit diminished as a relatively minor work, but while minor in scope it's very well executed. I think this would actually work OK as an introduction to Murakami.






The Yiddish Policemen's Union
by Michael Chabon

It took a while to get into this, but it's a pretty big improvement over The Final Solution. Much bigger in scope, certainly with its alternative history setting (The Jewish settlement in Alaska is due to be disbanded just as an unlikely murder case is open to investigation). Well done...for a bit I thought the scheming was going to run over the story, but I enjoyed everything by the time it wrapped up.




A Disorder Peculiar to The Country
by Ken Kalfus

I picked this book up a bunch of months ago. I'm not really sure why I bought it, as I've avoided most of the topical material related to the Library of Congress subject heading "September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001 -Fiction". This is engaging and well done-intense but thoughtful. Kalfus puts a married couple in the context of the date to the extent that the wife hopes the husband is dead in the tower and the husband hopes the wife is aboard the downed flight. They are both alive on the next day and the book chronicles the escalation of their bitterness over their divorce. I'm not sure how widely read this book has been. I don't know anyone who's read it, but people should read it. (in paperback now). In part, so that I can find out what others think of the ending...