Thanks for the suggestion. I'll definitely check it out.

I'm thinking I'd like to read a book where the protagonist is depressed or detached. Any recommendations?

Well, the classic of detachment is, of course, Camus's The Stranger.

I thought the portrait of bipolar depression of one of the three characters (the one based on DFW) in The Marriage Plot was very well-handled.

For first-person narratives from the point-of-view and in the voice of a depressed character, it's my impression that almost any of Thomas Bernhard's novellas will serve. I've only read one, Wittgenstein’s Nephew: A Friendship, which is a one-hundred-page-long paragraph of internal ruminations by a character who shares the author’s name (and experiences) and is a sour, supercilious, arrogant misanthrope. This kind of long internal monologue of a disturbed and socially-alienated individual seems to be a form that Europeans particularly like. I guess its tradition is rooted in Notes from the Underground, which I do admire, but it is rarely something I enjoy. (Though I did like Bernhard's book more than the often-praised but extremely sour Houellebecq’s Elementary Particles.)

You could probably read the entire Suzanne Collins trilogy in a week or less. Fun and light.

I am currently reading and enjoying The Mote in God's Eye. It was one the NPR top 100 Sci-Fi/Fantasy. I got it on the Borders huge sale. It is about the first contact with aliens. I am a quarter of the way through and it has been awesome so far.

just started and finished Vonnegut's Mother Night in one or two sittings (had a great time reading it at the union by the fireplace overlooking the lake). It's the second Vonnegut I've read (S-5 being the other), and I have absolutely loved both books. I guess I don't read often enough, but it seems like every properly recommended book I read these days vaults into my top 5.

what's next? should I save the Vonnegut enjoyment/freshness for later or just tear through his work?

Cat's Cradle is my favorite Vonnegut book. You'll love it.

great book...I remember going through all of Niven and Pournelle's books in about six months back when I was in college.

agree with this. it's on par with Slaughterhouse Five.

1a. Slaughterhouse Five
1b. Cat's Cradle
3. The Sirens of Titan
4. Galapagos
5. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater or Breakfast of Champions

They seem to write better books together than apart although I love many Niven books. Niven just seems to have problems with endings when writing alone.

Inferno and The Legacy of Heorot along with Mote are the best imo.

11/22/1963

New novel by Stephen King. I'm disappointed yet again, and I suspect my reasons why will be the very reasons why fans will favor the book.

I loved the concept since I read about the book months ago:

I was hooked. I love stories about attempting to change the past, and I'm a big enough Mad Men nut that I'll check out anything that takes place in the 60s.

At least from the book's opening it seemed like it would be everything I wanted. But only a few pages in and King begins his usual wandering story, going so deep into his characters and world building that I felt first a deep longing, then a kind of betrayal that he was taking so long to get to the story. I'm now a little over a hundred pages in, and damn it all to hell, to King's credit the concept is so interesting that I'll probably finish and return with a full review.

I just want to give a +1 to The Legacy of Heorot and The Mote In God's Eye. Haven't read Inferno.

Not for the prose with is so so at best, but for the ideas behind the writing--which is the heart of science fiction. The genre that Legacy lives in was better done by Card with Speaker For The Dead imo, but still I good read.

I love Speaker for the Dead, so maybe I'll have to try Legacy right after Mote.

Everything starts coming together around page 550 from what I remember. Until then, just enjoy the journey and try to get to bent out of shape about remembering everything.

in other news, Shaq just released a book so I'll be reading that...

alternating between

A Visit from the Goon Squad

and

The Angel Esmeralda

short story/chapter awesomeness overload