Joanna, reading A Spot of Bother
1. Why did you choose this book?
I really liked Mark Haddon’s other book, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Then a friend recommended this one to me when we were discussing books with gay characters.
2. Do you like it?
I like it. In the first 40 pages or so, I wasn’t sure that it was going to catch my interest, but then it picked up and I suddenly felt invested in the story. It sometimes makes me cringe, kind of like a TV drama, when the characters aren’t understanding each other and conflicts are piling up. But the relationships are more realistic than in a TV drama, so that’s a relief!
3. What are your favorite books?
Life of Pi (Yann Martel), Interpreter of Maladies (Jhumpa Lahiri), Zeitoun (Dave Eggers), Native Speaker (Chang-rae Lee), The Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath)….
4. Do you judge books by their covers?
Not usually, because I find out about them online, and can only see a little thumbnail image of the cover anyway.
5. What did you have for breakfast?
Cereal—three types mixed together. I still haven’t found one cereal that I like on its own.
WORD on the street, Monday 4/12 (NYC: on the W between Broadway and 39th Ave.)
Randy, reading The Age of Wonder
1. Why did you choose this book?
I read a review somewhere, maybe Salon.
2. Do you like it?
Very much.
3. What are your favorite books?
Do you want types of books or titles? That would take a long time.
Either is great.
Mostly straight literature. But lately I’ve been getting into nonfiction, like this one, historical science. But Russian lit was always my biggest thing.
Ok now a title.
Since I read it when I was 16, and I read it again all the time, Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky).
4. Do you judge books by their covers?
I try not to but I definitely do, even it’s subconsciously. Especially if I know nothing about it, then the cover can make a big difference.
5. What did you have for breakfast?
Pop-tarts. Why, are you finding a correlation between breakfast and reading habits?
Not really. What kind of pop-tarts?
Brown sugar cinnamon. Pop-tarts and coffee.
Vintage & Anchor Books 
This is one very weird but also very compelling book. It’s certainly not your standard read. It was well written, had likeable characters, a good scene where a man tries to cut of eczema on his side with a pair of scissors.