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JoanP's avatar

" it seems like it’s actually Barack Obama’s reading list."

Well, of course it is! Barack's been a member of Seminary Co-op for donkey's years. Did his first book signing (for "Dreams for my Father") at their general interest bookstore, 57th Street Books, back when no one except Hyde Parkers knew who he was.

RE: genre fiction - Dorothy L. Sayers' "Gaudy Night" is the best mystery/detective novel ever. I re-read it so often that I've had to replace my copy more than once (okay, that's in part because paperbacks are not well-made, but that's a rant for another day).

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J.K. Burnett's avatar

Just finished The Night Agent last night and was totally satisfied by it, whereas I started Jack Ryan and somehow wandered off and never finished it, so I can totally relate to your experience.

My comfort books are the sort of fantasy books that get tagged with the label "extruded fantasy product." I mean, sometimes you want a thoughtful fantasy that explores all the ramifications of a carefully constructed and original fantasy world, but sometimes you just want to read about a party of brave adventurers of various sorts journeying across the landscape to either find or destroy the McGuffin and thereby save the world, or at least the kingdom (at least for now - somehow it always seems to need saving again).

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