running and reading

Ahh, Marathon Monday... the day that people all over the world confirm their suspicions that Boston really is just a baseball town full of lazy drunks. I think that sitting in a bar all day drinking Harpoon and watching the Sox may actually be the exact opposite of running 26 miles. There really is a ton of hometown support for the runners, as well as plenty of the same comments as every year: "I'm proud of myself if I drive that distance," "One time my sistah's friend ran it and his knees ah wicked facked up now, so I'm nevah doin' it," and the always-popular "Well, they grew up running from cheetahs!" made as the androgynous, inhumanly fast Kenyans fly across the finish line about three hours before any Americans.

Anyway, I'm way off topic. My whole purpose today is to beg you, kind reader and/or Neighborhooder, for your help. I'm in a reading slump. I haven't read anything that I've liked in ages. I've abandoned everything from chick lit to Hemingway halfway through because nothing is grabbing me and holding on. Right now I'm reading Prep, and while I do like it, I don't love it, and I miss loving what's waiting for me on my bedside table before I go to sleep. So I need suggestions. I have plenty of non-fiction to go through; I'm looking for fiction. (Speaking of non, though, I was just looking through this book that looks really neat, only to realize that it was written by a former Thompson Twin. How funny is that?)

I love knowing what people's favorite books are. It's so interesting to me, and it gives you some great ideas. I think for my 30th birthday I'm going to have a party and ask everyone who comes to bring me their favorite book of all time, thus enhancing my library and proving once and for all that I am the biggest dork of all time.

But that party is a year and a half away, and in the meantime, I need some good reads. Feel free to tell me about a book you've read recently that you liked, but also tell me some of your favorites of all time.

These are some of mine. And even these are all books that I read years ago, which is sad. Where's all the good stuff these days?

The World According to Garp by John Irving (you either love or hate John Irving; I'm obviously in the first camp)
She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb
Girl by Blake Nelson
Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck