The book fairies just keep dumping things on my desk this week. Some of it bad, but most of it good. As the backlist buyer, I don’t get all the interesting new books. I usually end up with maps of Albuquerque. So I don’t know what’s changed, but I am getting all this good stuff.

The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devestating Plague of All Time by John Kelly (reviewed by Kakutani today and the WaPo last week).
The Rabbi’s Cat by Joann Sfar, which I know nothing about, but looks interesting. He’s a French artist apparently.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro—ooooh! is all I have to say.
Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times ed. by Kevin Smokler. This is a collection of original essays on literature. Includes work by Tom Bissell, Meghan Daum, ELizabeth Spiers. Looks very interesting.
Bangkok Tattoo by John Burdett. Now I haven’t read Burdett’s first book Bangkok 8, so I might have to read it first since Tattoo involves the same character from the first book.
Nice Big American Baby by Judy Budnitz. This is getting great reviews from good sources.
The Poet’s Guide to Life: The Wisdom of Rilke ed. and trans. by Ulrich Baer. Random House sent this to me and at first I thought it would be more of a gift book. But having flipped through it, there’s some meaty stuff in there.
Small Island by Andrea Levy. This was a Booker Nominees and Orange Prize winner for 2004.
The Position by Meg Wolitzer. I’ve been hearing good things about Wolitzer for a while. Probably should check her out.

There’s more, but this is the really good stuff. Where do I start? I’ve finished The Archivist and need to start something else.

Oh, Perseus sent me a galley of Whores: An Oral History of Perry Farrell and Jane’s Addiction by Brendan Mullen if anyone wants it.