I've been on a Gaiman kick lately, and have read Anansi Boys, Good Omens, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book in the last year, and I would love to see American Gods turn up as a selection. I've heard it's his best.

I'm a loser and have plenty of free time, but I agree—there's no reason why this selection couldn't have been announced a week ago so we could have started hunting it down.

Maybe a less read Vonnegut? How about Timequake, which I don't hear many people talk about, though which I believe stands among his best.

Yeah. What the fucks an egret?

Great Pick
It's been on my "Need to Read Soon" list for a long time now, and now I'll bump it up to the top of the list.

Is there really much to talk about there, other than just quoting favorite, funny lines?

Isn't anyone going to mention
the perfectly rendered description of the bearded stripper's performance? Goddam that's some great writing.

I'd never heard of it before the AVC announcement either, and I'm always looking for mentions of interesting books.

Well, remember, Chick was being groomed to be the world's greatest grifter and thief—he had so much potential—but Arty made some phone calls and hired some college kids and put a stop to that.

That first scene was a romanticized remberance of Oly's describing Al's romanticized version of the story. It was supposed to be funny, wasn't it?—horrific events told in a cheerful tone. I laughed, anyway. Even if you fell for it, the second chapter immediately turns very dark and lets you know that the future is…

So Donna sees Lick as a Diana Moon Glampers?

"Our gawking at the Binewskis' emotional horror-show is the same phenomenon as the "norms" watching Crystal Lil decapitate a chicken with her teeth. "

Wasn't it about power for the doctor, too? She was a pawn in Arty's wresting the last bit of power and dignity from his father, but why did Al like being the doctor? Because he liked to be independent of conformist, classical training? Because he liked having people rely on him? Because information and knowledge…

Ha. Good points. Oly is such a subserviant personality that even though she's right in the mix, the fact that she accepts nearly everything, no matter how horrible, without comment or criticism causes her voice to be almost absent through many of the flashbacks. By distanced, I didn't mean physically out of the…

Well, he did spare Oly didn't he? She said something reached inside of her, she felt a moment of recognition, and then it backed off. Am I reading that right? Omnipotent Chick saved Oly (and of-virgin-born Miranda).

Well, Oly originally wanted to have Miranda to serve as a tribute to Arty, to serve him, but then she realized the baby was much too special for that (something Oly never realized about herself?)

Yes. I thought Dunn did a nice job of showing how much the characters' personalities and actions as they got older were affected by the family dynamic from when they were younger.

I have pretty much stopped recommending books to people. I'd say the most common reaction to the books I recommend (some of them recognized as classics, 1984, Slaughterhouse 5, etc.) is "That was too weird."

I wouldn't go so far as to call it a cop out—it makes sense based on what came before. Still, I thought the big, fiery climax was too much. For all of the shocks and jaw-droppers in this book, it somehow managed to weave them into the world gracefully and the mood of the book was far quieter than it could have been.…

Arty was a master manipulator. Everyone was attracted to his cult of personality and wanted to be used by him. Wasn't that the entire point of the book? I find the parents' behavior as well as Oly's, Chick's, and all the Arturans to be completely believable. It happens every day in real life. It's depressing that…