life is too short to read bad books

Ask You a Question Month is drawing to a close. (In a few days, Ask Me a Question Month will be beginning. Stay tuned for details.) But it's not over yet! Has a book ever changed your life? If so, how? If not, what has?

ETA: Another interesting followup to the "Marry Him" article here.

Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon

This is the second book I've read by Chabon, and the first was The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. I liked this one well. It was much more lighthearted than the other (which could be why the other won the awards?) and I thought it was great fun. If you like swashbuckling tales, you'll enjoy it. Three stars.

I'm definitely planning to read Summerland and Yiddish Policemen's Union by this author as well.

Old Country Variation

Is your body craving meeeeat, to combat the chill of winter? Look no further.

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Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson

This book is an unusual love story. It's fairly short, but packs a punch. It's written in the first person, with a narrator whose gender and name we never learn. The narrator's beloved is a married woman. The prose is amazing, the plot twists impossible to foresee, the ending leaves you with restless yearnings. I really enjoyed this book and I'm sure I'll read it again many times. I can't think of another love story like it. Five stars. If you were an English major, you should read it. If you enjoy portrayals of love unfettered by considerations of sexual orientation, you should read it. And you should also read it if you like really good prose.

(Also, any book that makes you wake in the middle of the night and talk to your sweetie about it because you're still thinking it over has to be pretty good.)