Maybe?

 I vaguely remember reading a review of Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead when it came out (in the Times?) and thinking "maybe" - it's about a wedding on a Maine island, both things I find interesting - and then I think never doing anything about it, probably because I was thinking unless I am really excited about something, I need to stop growing my list of books to read. However, I just read a New York Times op-ed ["The Wedding Effect" - What is it about friends getting hitched that leaves us so unhinged?] of hers that I don't think is incredibly original or insightful (or, honestly, fairly original or insightful - or at all) but was well-written, more like an essay than an op-ed, so now I kind of want to read the book. Both copies at Harvard have wait-lists, though, and I don't want to request to be added to the list.  I might already on it, for one thing, and I am too lazy to log into my account and look. Also because I really need to chill on ordering books for a bit: I've got a stack to be read at home (not to mention several stacks to "review") and I'm moving in a month, so probably the fewer books I have to drag around the better...  Still, at some point I think I'd like to give Ms. Shipstead's work a shot.

New York Times - The Ten Best Books of 2010

As printed December 12th, they are:
[Fiction]
Freedom, Jonathan Franzen - on my list, haven't read yet
The New Yorker Stories, Ann Beattie - probably
Room, Emma Donoghue - SO amazing
Selected Stories, William Trevor - eh
A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan - meh
[Non-Fiction]
Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet, Jennifer Homans - have been considering
Cleopatra: A Life, Stacy Schiff - on my list, haven't read yet
The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, Siddhartha Mukherjee - maybe when mom's better
Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954-1981) With Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes, Stephen Sondheim - no interest, really
The Warmth of Other Suns: the Epic Story of America's Great Migration, Isabel Wilkerson - on the list, waiting for it to be available

Additionally, the "100 Notable Books of 2010" have a bunch I read, have been meaning to read, or now want to read!

Novels Can Be Serious Business...

...I am taking this article as justification for all the reading of, and thinking/writing about, novels that I do.
"Next Big Thing In Literature: Knowing They Know That You Know," New York Times 3/31/10. Patricia Cohen

see also "Can 'Neuro Lit Crit' Save the Humanities?" NYT blog 4/5/10

Also all the procrastination I do.