This is the new MHCommon Book Section introduction page. This is doorway into which we keep the cobwebbed lists of all we've read over the last couple of years. Each book is entered and a small review (of sorts) is added...actually, that is not quite true; when I begin a new book I put a small comment about it in the Currently Reading column on the Home Page. This initial entry is made up of what few pages I've read from the book mixed with what I've seen on the net, the introduction, cover copy, or overheard from strangers in lines at the cinema. When the book is finished, I clean up the review, add or remove the fat and stick it in the Just Finished section (as well as into the book list pages). With the write-ups I don't get into discussions of thematics or characterization, I rarely use the opaque words of Lit-Crit (there are so many schools of thought that to even try to take a stand would inevitably lead to hoards of idiots emailing me with complaints); I'll sometimes give a small description of what the book was about and whether I liked it or not. On the very odd occasion I may run off at the mouth about something remotely related to the book that is important to me and (Leah assures me) only me. Thats it. Let it be known that if anyone else wishes to add a review of a book they have read feel free to email it here (hey Q66 this includes you!). I'll add another page for reader reviews and...hey, who knows?

As usual with this site there are many links included in each review. Wherever possible there is a link to an excerpt from the book, a link to a site about the author and various related links to the review (links open in a new window). I have attempted to make browsing the books easier by adding new search methods. You can browse as per usual or if you wish you can search the book alphabetically by book author or by title. I've also added two new pages; the Nightstand (bedside reading) and The Stack (newly purchased with intent to read). This was a bit of a time waster but I found that it made things easier when I went looking for a particular book.

• Browse leisurely through the Books
• Browse the Book Titles aplhabetically
• Browse the Authors alphabetically
• Browse my Nightstand
• Browse The Stack

Welcome to the book section. A mixture of reviews, beefs and lists. I considered separating them into topics (non-fiction, fiction, et al) but since that isn't how I read them I listed them as is. This year has been a good year for books. I'd been eagerly awaiting new books by Zadie Smith (Autograph Man), Chuck Palahniuk (Lullaby), Dave Eggers (You Shall Know Our Velocity) and Dan Fante (Spitting Off Tall Buildings) and now that I've got them all and have finished reading them I can say that it was worth the wait (in gold). I was surprised to read that the critics were unsatisfied with Smith's book, I found the book more controlled than White Teeth which in my opinion had a poorly resolved ending. The critics have been a lot more friendly to Palahniuk whose book saw a return to the brilliance of his earlier works. Frankly I was disappointed with his last endeavor, Choke, which seemed to lack the balance between the 'facts' and story needed for his style of 'dangerous writing' to coalesce into a believable story. Suspension of belief is needed to enjoy any book, especially so for Chuck's, but a foundation of reality has to be fabricated for his work to shine and in this Choke failed. The reviews for Eggers is mixed and extreme; personally I'm enjoying the book even with the copy-editing mistakes. He is a good writer, there's no denying it. There are some really strong passages in this book that I happily reread a couple of times but in general it's not a masterpiece (and neither was A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, no matter who told you heard otherwise).

Enjoy,
Paul