intrigued, charmed, bored

I've never really had an interest in reading Eat, Pray, Love. Aside from the time my friend was reading it outside in a park and somehow its very zenny presence drew a hot firefighter to her. Seriously. Although likely because my friend is awesome, not because of what she was reading.... Nonetheless, no real interest in the story. But apparently there's a happy ending to be read out there. And somehow that appeals to me.

Also of note, did you read this story in Sunday's Journal? I know the charming tale of what oddities can be found in used books is, perhaps, the kind of story only a book nerd would like. But you're here, so you're exactly the kind of book nerd who will understand just how those quirky finds might reflect on real humanity.

Now, for something of a book review.... I think I've told you before about Beginner's Greek, a romance novel written by James Collins.

To be frank, it's a bit much. Basic story: Peter, like many of us, gets on airplanes and hopes to find himself sitting beside the love of his life. Like many of us, when the potential love-of-his-life does sit beside him, he's frozen. Impotent. Unable to follow through.

And that, really, is the best possible description of everything about Peter. The man is incapable of putting anything to action. He gets mad, he's frozen. Hurt, frozen. In love, frozen.

In fact, all the tragedy that follows from Peter and Holly's first meeting on the plane -- he loses her number, when he finds her again he is incapable of doing anything to be with her, etc. -- is a result of his total and complete impotence.

The book gets to be a pain in the ass, frankly. It's 441 pages with way too many characters, twisty stupid story lines, words you have to look up in the dictionary (and not in a good way that makes the story better, but in a pretentious tiresome way) and... blerg. I just didn't like it.

And I was offended by the Library Journal's review, "Jane Austen fans will feel right at home."

Sure. They will feel right at home. If they just finished reading Mansfield Park and wanted to irritated by the male version of Fanny Price.

(Question: If I really dislike the book, might I like the movie? For one, it'll be put on screen by the guys who wrote (500) Days of Summer. And I really, really loved that film.)