Classic!

So, the other day I happened upon an Entertainment Weekly list of the "new classic" books -- the 100 best reads from 1983 to 2008.

So, as with any "have you read it" list, I've got to give this one a go.

Have Read:
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)
9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)
11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)
13. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)
15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)
16. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)
17. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (1988)
20. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding (1998)
21. On Writing, Stephen King (2000)
25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)
27. Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)
29. Bel Canto, Anne Patchett (2001)
30. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson (2004)
33. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)
34. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)
36. Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)
40. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000)
41. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)
48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998)
50. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)
53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)
60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
65. The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993)
72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)
79. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
82. Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002)
83. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994)
87. The Ruins, Scott Smith (2006)
88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)
99. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)
100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)

34 ain't bad.

Definitely Want to Read:
4. The Liars' Club, Mary Karr (1995)
7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)
24. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)
26. Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)
28. Naked, David Sedaris (1997)
37. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)
49. Clockers, Richard Price (1992)
55. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (2006)
67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
69. Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)
70. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004)
74. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)
77. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
78. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
85. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2004)

How 'bout you?

L.A. Story

Josh and I headed down to L.A. for a long weekend recently. We stayed at his very hospitable Grandma Elaine's in Brentwood (neighbor to the stars!), visited a museum and an observatory, ran around UCLA and down to the beach, lazed about reading, and, to my delight, had the obligatory star sighting.

All in all, it was quite a successful visit, even if the sun didn't come out enough for us to swimsuit up and get tans, and even if we didn't spy Conan. That wily bastard! ;)