There is very little about this little book that I didn't like!

The Odds: A Love Story
by Stewart O'Nan

It opens, “The final weekend of their marriage, hounded by insolvency, and, stupidly, half secretly, in the never distant past ruled by memory, infidelity, Art and Marion Fowler fled the country.”  Yeah, it’s a bit unwieldy, but it gives you the basics of the entire novella’s plot, which is this:

After decades of marriage, and deep into middle age, Art and Marion are at the end of their rope.  Both are out of work.  They’re about to loose the house.  The marriage is shaky.  The kids are out on their own, but the two of them are flat broke.  So they’ve decided to go for broke.  For their anniversary weekend, they’re heading across the border at Niagara Falls where they spent their honeymoon all those years ago.  They’ve got the Honeymoon Suite, and they’re hitting the casino.  They’re smuggling across the last few tens of thousands in cash they have left.  If they can double it, they can keep the house for a while longer.  If they can’t, they’ll loose it all.  And if so, they’ll return home and get divorced to protect what very little they may be able to salvage.

The novella tells the story of what happens that weekend, but also the story of Art and Marion’s lives together, their past indiscretions, and secrets or secret agendas one or the other may have.  Dispersed regularly throughout the book like chapter headings are statistics:

• Odds of a U.S. tourist visiting Niagara Falls: 1 in 195
• Odds of being killed in a bus accident: 1 in 436,212
• Odds of the sun coming up: 1 in 1
• Odds of a U.S. citizen filing for bankruptcy: 1 in 17
• Odds of the Cleveland Indians winning the World Series: 1 in 25,000

These statistics were a bit like a running commentary on the action, and also on the times in which we live.  (And I found myself wondering if any of them were true.)  In any case, I found them to be a delightful and often comic punctuation to the story.

I’ve never read Mr. O’Nan before, but his prose was a pleasure to read.  His characters had all the quirks and flaws of real people, and I got to know this couple and appreciate what they had together.  The spare story moved quickly, and like any story that builds up to a roll of the dice, it keeps you hanging on to the very last page.   I rooted for a happy ending.  Frankly, I was just hoping for resolution, because you never know with these things.  I left satisfied, and feeling like I’d just discovered a tiny gem of the new year.

Mailbox Monday: I can't think of an edition edition

So, last week was chock full of excitement between the Bay Area Festival of Science and the literary events.  Man, I was busy!  My two loves converged at the end of the week with a completely awesome panel discussion entitled The Science in Science Fiction held at the completely awesome Borderlands Books.  The panelists were Scott Sigler, Mira Grant, and Jeff Carlson.  I could try to describe to you at length, just how awesome these three were, but why don't I just post video of the whole thing later this week?  And folks, I got good video for once.

So, I haven't had a chance to write up my dead mules in Southern Literature follow up yet, but I did receive nice notes from both Hillary Jordan and Bookseller Bob from Books, Inc. subsequent to my post about our evening together last week.  Very, very nice.

There are a couple of cool lit events going on here in SF this week that I might try to hit.  Local author Peter Orner is at The Booksmith on Wednesday.  I just acquired a copy of his novel Love and Shame and Love that I'm looking forward to reading, so it would be great to hear him speak.  Also, Gregory Maguire is going to be at The Booksmith on Saturday night.  Perhaps it'll be less of a mob scene because it's a Saturday?  Anyway, we'll see if I make it to either event.  I've been pretty run down lately and really need to pace myself.  Tonight I will go straight home after work like a good girl.

You may have noticed that I'm trying to catch up on the book reviews I've been slacking off on for the past few months.  So, expect more of them this week.  In addition to the backlog, I did read The Time in Between, which goes on sale tomorrow and which Simon & Schuster has been promoting so heavily.  I wanted to jump right into Eco's The Prague Cemetery right after, but I was defeated on my first attempt by the staggering outpouring of pure hatred in the opening pages of the novel.  The character actually articulates the philosophy, "I hate, therefore I am."  It's funny, but very tough to take.  So I set it aside and got distracted by I YA novel which is the funniest thing I've read since I don't know when!  It was Libba Bray's Beauty Queens.  What a pleasure over a dreary weekend at home.  Of course, I finished it in a day, and launched back into the Eco.  God, it's tough going!  Will this man defeat me again?  I've never made it through one of his novels.  I've about a quarter of the way through The Prague Cemetery, and I've already read each page at least twice.  And on that note...

Out of Oz
by Gregory Maguire
Release date: November 1, 2011
Source: Finished hardback from publisher

As noted previously, I have only read the first book in this series.  I'm not sure yet if I'm prepared to catch up on the intervening books.  Perhaps going to hear Maguire speak will help me decide.

Hard Target
by Howard Gordon
Release date: January 3, 2011
Source: Paper galley from publisher

Howard Gordon has all sorts of television writing/producing cred, and this is his second novel, a follow-up to Gideon's War.  I have a galley of that one, too, but the book descriptions sound a little macho for my tastes. 

The Time in Between
by Maria Duenas
Release date: November 8, 2011
Source: Finished hardback from publisher

Yes, another copy.  Meanwhile, I read this last week and had a mixed response.  It's been a big bestseller in Europe.  It will be interesting to see if S&S can duplicate that success here. 

Beauty Queens
by Libba Bray
Release date: May 24, 2011
Source: Audiobook from Library

First, best cover ever, am I right?  This is an over-the-top high-concept comic novel about a planeload of teen beauty queens who crash onto a mysterious island.  I won't guarantee that this book is for everyone (humor is so subjective), but I had a blast listening to this!  I also noticed this morning that PW named it one of the top books of 2011.  Take that, Umberto Eco!

Ashes to Dust
by Yrsa Sigurdardottir
Release date: March 27, 2012
Source: Electronic galley from publisher

Wow, you don't see a name like that on a book cover every day.  I think I'll have a Guess How to Pronounce it Contest in my face-to-face book group, with a winner chosen by our Swedish member.  Anyway, I do not even remember what this novel is about, but I know that I was quite interested in reading it.

The Odds
by Stewart O'Nan
Release date: January 19, 2012
Source: Electronic galley from publisher

O'Nan is one of those authors that I hear nothing but good things about.  I know that he is a real favorite of my BFF, Jon.  This will be the first work of his that I've read, and I'm really looking forward to it!




Besides the titles above, there were about 125 books from the NCIBA show.  I haven't organized a list of them yet.


Books finished this week:

Why Read Moby Dick by Nathaniel Philbrick
The Time in Between by Maria Duenas
Beauty Queens by Libba Bray


Currently reading:

The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco


So, what books have you acquired this week?  What exciting (or not so exciting) books are you reading?  Have you successfully read an Eco novel?  Please let us know in the comments!