It’s the end of the semester, and I swore off SDMB until all my work is in. But I finished my book a couple days ago, so…
Little Nemo, I really enjoyed Thank You for Smoking. I almost certainly wouldn’t have picked it up on my own because I usually assume that quasi-political satire is going to either be tendentiously irritating or full of jokes that I won’t get. But this was clever and FUNNY, and a great change from thinking about, oh, say, Miklos Radnoti’s sense of his mission as a poet, or the relationship between modernism and primitivism in William H. Johnson’s paintings. Just to pick the first things that come to mind. 
And I’m glad you didn’t send me those Gardner Dozois collections–I read them every year.
Krisfer–I’m so glad that you liked Master and Commander. (Enough to start Post Captain! I done good, I think. IMHO, the books just get better and better as the characters build up more history among themselves. And they go cool places, like Peru. And they get arrested a lot. And there’s a bear suit involved at one point, too. And more operations. Thanks for your email, too. (I had thought you were a he, for some reason.)
I had to skip past what I think was a discussion of Daughter of the Forest because I want to read it!
I’m glad you liked it, Yersina, and equally glad I didn’t send you a book you already had. For the record, other novels that were being considered were The Devil’s Tower by Mark Sumner, The Empire of Fear by Brian Stableford, The Harvest by Robert Charles Wilson, and The World on Blood by Jonathan Nasaw; all of which were rejected for being too SF or fantasy. Other non-SF possiblities were Kahawa by Donald Westlake and A Dangerous Fortune by Ken Follett, but in the end I decided to go with my first instinct and send Buckley’s book. I enjoyed its mix of bitterness and cynicism with humor and a happy ending. I can’t imagine why it was never optioned for a movie.
That said, don’t judge Buckley by this novel. I’ve read other works he did both before and after Thank You for Smoking, and that book unfortunately appears to be his personal apogee.
I know this is a hard-core bump, and I’m sorry for that…
But not nearly as sorry as the fact that I didn’t get the notice from the post office about the book Krisfer the Cat was nice enough to ship to me insured. My mother picked up the notice, and she gave it to me too late. Sigh.
And as sorry as I am about that, I am also sorry that I didn’t get Bibliocat’s books to her sooner. Please, if you got them, let me know. I sent them about three weeks ago, and I just want to know if I should throw good books behind bad.
Again, I am a jerk. I know I got corrected when I said that before, but really.
Glad to see so many people enjoying so many books!
Yes, bristlesage I did get your books. Thanks so much. I’ve been meaning to come and dig up this thread, but I just haven’t had a chance. I have read Poisonwood Bible, but have a pregnant friend who is now on bedrest who hasn’t read it so I will pass it on to her, if that’s okay. That is the whole point of this, isn’t it?
The others I have not read, so that’s great. The Plague looks good. I like that they are smallish paperbacks. I can take them to the pool with me and read while my kids are having their swimming lessons. I don’t like taking new hardbacks to the pool.
Bristlesage, I am relieved to see that you are okay. I was a tad concerned when I got the books back.
That book has since been sent on to another person, however I haven’t heard from him nor have I got the book back. So I hope alls well with my book and the reciever is just lazy.
Yep, but haven’t read it yet. Got it over a month ago. Sorry for my delay. And, thanks!
Oh, good, this all makes me feel a little better. Sorry to worry you, Krisfer, and glad the books are at least handy, BiblioCat.