He ate and drank the precious Words--
His spirit grew robust--
He knew no more that he was poor,
Nor that his frame was Dust--

He danced along the dingy Days
And this Bequest of Wings
Was but a Book--What Liberty
A loosened spirit brings--

--Emily Dickinson

Booker Short List announced

The Children's Book by A. S. Byatt (Random House, Chatto and Windus)

Summertime by J. M. Coetzee (Random House, Harvill Secker)

The Quickening Maze by Adam Fould (Random House, Jonathan Cape)

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (HarperCollins, Fourth Estate)

The Glass Room by Simon Mawer (Little, Brown)

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (Little, Brown, Virago)

An interesting list. The only title I've read so far is the Byatt, which I loved to the point that it will be near the top of my year's favorites, if not at the very pinnacle. But Byatt herself often annoys me, and I would love for Mantel to win the prize. The only author on the list that I haven't read anything by in the past is Fould; I have The Quickening Maze on pre-order, though, and will no doubt have read The Truth About These Strange Times by then.

New books

There are so many good books being published this fall that I don't feel guilty for stockpiling them. My library hold list is so long that I've had to deactivate most of it, and I've pre-ordered so many books that I'm sure the mail carrier will be cursing my name (if she isn't already).

From the stacks on top:

Saplings. Noel Streatfeild and Hostages to Fortune. Elizabeth Cambridge. These are Persephones and I have found I have no willpower when it comes to Persphones.

Marcel Proust's Search for Lost Time: A Reader's Guide to The Remembrance of Things Past. Patrick Alexander. This is a review copy that I don't remember requesting, but am very happy to have. Maybe I'll use this as a crutch and take up where I left off in Proust two-three years back.

The Lost Dog. Michelle de Kretser. I won this in a drawing at kiss a cloud. Thank you, Claire!

The Good Thief. Hannah Tinti and The Graveyard Book. Neil Gaiman. These were given to me by my almost-sister-in-law, who travels a lot and buys a lot of books. I recommended she look in to getting an e-reader--not that I mind at all getting hand-me-downs.

Naive. Super. Erlend Loe. A mention at The Millions made me order this one.

The Year of the Hare. Arto Paasilinna. Dovegreyreader made me do it.

Frost at Morning. Richmal Crompton. I fell in love with Crompton after reading Family Roundabout at the beach. I suspect I'll be attempting to get some of her other books through ILL.

The Man on a Donkey. H.F.M. Prescott. I've heard this makes an excellent follow-up to Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, which I've pre-ordered won't get my hands on until next month.

Columbine. Dave Cullen. Was tired of waiting for this one to become available at the library, so ordered it when my son needed a Toni Morrison for class to bump us up into free shipping territory.

And facing out:

The Pattern in the Carpet. Margaret Drabble. I've been reading Drabble for more than 30 years now.

A Gate at the Stairs. Lorrie Moore. The book I've been most anticipating all year! I'm almost afraid to start it since my expectations are so high.

Homer and Langley. E.L. Doctorow. I've been reading Doctorow almost as long as Drabble, but not nearly as much. It would make a good project to go back and read all the ones I've missed. But first: this one.

Couldn't keep to the schedule

So, yesterday I finished Infinite Jest: yay, Yorick, er, me! And, like so many others, I immediately turned back and reread the first section of the book, and then spent much time in the forums at Infinite Summer and at the Howling Fantods reading about Wallace's first draft. I googled infinite jest + karamazov and located Timothy Jacobs' "The Brothers Incandenza," which I've printed out, but have yet to read, because I wasted way too much time looking for a couple Pemulis scenes in the last third of the text when what I was after was to be found in the endnotes.* Not that any rereading helped me get any closer to a conclusive answer as to what happened to--well, you know. I know which theory I don't favor, but that's about it.

And for those who care, I handled the rest of the Randy Lenz sections okay, but I'd rather not think about garbage disposals for awhile.

Definitely going on my best of the year list and one I will read again.

*Duh

Smoky and Shadow recommend. . .

repeated smacks on the nose as the most efficient way of teaching a new dog her place in the great scheme of things.

Someone please tell me it's okay to skip the Randy Lenz sections in Infinite Jest because after that trashbag scene I don't think I can stomach him another time.

Claudius recommends. . .

Mary Gaitskill's "The Lost Cat." (Grab a cup of coffee first; it's long.)

Via Lisa of Mappa Mundi