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Page-Burner: A Semi-Regular Guessing Game

July 25, 2008 "We" haven't played in a while, and I'm reading so many books simultaneously right now that the time seems right. Which of the following books am I not able to put down? The first correct guess (it could be anyone!) wins a five-book grab bag of July/August hardcover releases (you might get The Story of Edgar Sawtelle or you might get the new Elizabeth Lowell or The Last Fish Tale by Mark Kurlansky, but I promise you won't get any self-help or celebrity bios). Once everyone has guessed, I'll give the answer...and then ask you to email your snailmail address to me at thereadingwriter at aol dot com.

Am I eagerly turning the pages of:

The House on Fortune Street by Margot Livesey -- this book's plot and characters don't hit you until about one-third of the way through, and then you're hooked. Livesey says: "The House on Fortune Street began when a depressed ghost writer moved into the house next door in London. Something about this young man's struggles—eventually his parents had to come and take him home—made me think again about questions of luck and love and damage. Growing up, I was convinced that being an adult would solve all my problems. I was shocked to discover that early misfortune was no guarantee of later good luck. Yet some people do seem mysteriously lucky, or mysteriously unscathed. It made me think: What happens if two women, each with a difficult childhood, become friends and how will that friendship accommodate the ups and downs of romantic love?"

Or:

Daniel Silva's Moscow Rules -- Silva's Gabriel Allon is back, but has he still got it? Publishers Weekly and Library Journal reviews couldn't have disagreed more. PW said: "Obvious good guys and bad guys, coupled with a straightforward plot in which Allon and Elena owe their lives to a lucky chance at the climax, make this one of the less satisfying entries in the series," while LJ said: "... a tense and exciting conclusion. Some long-running series get tired; Silva's just improves with each new book. Highly recommended." Which is it??

Or am I reading:

Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen -- The Barnes & Noble review opens with "If Charlotte Perkins Gilman of "The Yellow Wall-Paper" fame had collaborated with Philip K. Dick to rewrite Jack Finney’s The Body Snatchers, the hallucinatory result might remind you of Rivka Galchen’s debut novel, Atmospheric Disturbances." Who could resist? This is a story about a man who believes his wife has been replaced by an impostor, and as Ron Charles said in the Washington Post review: "This sounds weird, of course, and it is—deliciously so—but on another level, it's common: After all, lots of people eventually conclude that their spouse isn't the person they once married."

So which one is it, dear readers? I look forward to your guesses; I especially like your reasons for your guesses. Whether you participate or not, I wish you happy weekend reading...

Posted by Bethanne Patrick on July 25, 2008 | Comments (7)