Everyone knows I’ve been consumed with baseball lately. How often do the Red Sox make it to the World Series? I am very nervous about tonight’s game in St. Louis. Ortiz at first base and Pedro batting? We’ll see. And I’ve been too busy at work doing work to post much. The holidays will be upon us and the other buyers and I have been picking the titles to feature. It took FOREVER. So, I’ve barely been reading. Still working on the Roth et al. But Scott of Conversational Reading (whom I’ve been meaning to add to the column on the left there) wrote a great review of Cloud Atlas for Flak magazine. Check that out. He also has a nice post on n + 1, a journal I keep meaning to buy. They provide some really interesting web only content too.
I promise I will try to come back with some interesting stuff this week. I am going to attend the Gorra-Wood event on Thursday. In fact, I purchased a micro-recorder yesterday for this. So hopefully I can post some excerpts. This assumes I get a lot of work done this week. I never knew one could be so behind. I don’t picture getting out from under this until January.

So it’s Alan Hollinghurst and The Line of Beauty. Cool. I have heard great things about this book. But now of course I have to struggle to get copies for my store as the publisher and most of the wholesalers are out. Dammit.

Not really. I am referring to the Booker prize (sorry, it’s the Man Booker prize. I just can’t say it. It sounds too silly) which will be awarded sometime tonight. Again, to remind us who the nominees are:
Achmat Dangor Bitter Fruit
Sarah Hall The Electric Michelangelo
Alan Hollinghurst The Line of Beauty
Colm Tóibín The Master
David Mitchell Cloud Atlas
Gerard Woodward I’ll go to Bed at Noon
I’ve been sitting here calculating how many hours ahead London (I just assume the ceremony is in London) is of Cambridge. But then again, I have no idea what time they are making the annoucement. So there we go. You’ll know when I know.

I am sure this will be covered by all, but I thought I might as well join the wagon train. The Booker shortlist was announced today. It’s like cheerleading tryouts! So who made the cut?

Achmat Dangor Bitter Fruit
David Mitchell Cloud Atlas (there’s a surprise)
Sarah Hall The Electric Michelangelo
Alan Hollinghurst The Line of Beauty
Colm Tóibín The Master
Gerard Woodward I’ll go to Bed at Noon

I’ve only read one of these. Looks like I have some books to add to my list. The winner will be announce on October 19th.

I got an email from my boss today saying that one of my favorite authors William Boyd had emailed her thanking us for the great sales on his new book Any Human Heart. She apparently replied and told him about the staff recommendation that I wrote for it when it came out in hardcover last year. How cool is that? Its nice to know that authors appreciate their readers. Everyone should check out his books though. I loved Any Human Heart, which is the ‘diary’ of Logan Mountstuart. We follow him from age 17 all the way to old age. Its fascinating as he goes through all the ups and downs that everyone experiences. I liked that there was no plot or even pinnacle in this book. Rather, it’s like a true autobiography, charting one’s course. Antother book of his to check out is An Ice Cream War. Also fabulous.

Aaron and I have been wanting to return to EVOO (here is the citysearch review) for a while now and last night we finally made it. I have never had a bad meal there. Their food is always fresh and delicious. We noticed at the bottom of the menu that they offer a Chef’s tasting menu of 7 courses and you can get it paired with wine. We asked the waitress about it and she said that it took a long time, but was worth it. We went for it. The portions of food and wine are smaller, but thank god, because its 7 courses. The first thing served was a pat&eacute which came with toasted thin bread slices, a very grainy mustard and pickle slices. Never having loved pat&eacute before, I was surprised at how good and flavorful it was especially with the mustard. Then the waitress plunked down this plate with veal on it. Now, I haven’t eaten veal since I was eight and learned where veal came from. Hypocritical I know, since I eat most other meat. But I was eight. Fuck off. The veal was very good. It had parsnip raviolis and nutty stuff and greens. They had cooked the meat until it was stew-like, making it tender and delicious. Next came a squash soup, which was spicy. Then a salad with frisee and what seemed like rabbit bacon and hazelnuts. Then they gave us an extra course of their special back-door pork which came with some apple butter on top. Next they brought us a small piece of lamb marinated with mint and rosemary. It also came with a polenta dumpling. At this point, I was getting sort of full, but I was determined to eat all the way through. After the lamb, they brought us a cheese course—Vermont cheddar with Guava jam. So delicious. The extra sharp cheddar complimented the guava beautifully. The served us a lovely port with the cheese. And finally they brought us each a portion of some sort of ginger cake with maple sauce that tasted like butterscotch. It was perfect. The whole meal was perfect. They served me things that I probably never would have ordered off the menu and I am so glad. Squash soup has always scared me, but it was pretty good–especially a little spicy. And I never got lamb until last night. I wish more people knew about EVOO. But at the same time, I love that it is not too trendy. It feels very comfortable and the atmosphere is definitely unpretentious.