J squared is usually right

Derek Nikitas' The Long Division is awesome so far, I am glad that PDX has so many great libraries and librarians that help me find books I will love. I am a bit more than half way through and can all ready tell I need to log on to the library site and get his other book, Pyres, on reserve. You can read a cool interview with Nikitas here. I think it is awesome the blogger points out the scene where Nikitas is describing some roadside billboard messaging that was as equally significant for them as it was for me.

One of the interesting things about Nikitas' style that Sam and and I are really digging on is embedded in his prose. A great example would be the way he connects these two paragraphs:

" 'Sorry, those are the rules." The attendant offered her a smirk as she arranged some empty bottles on the desk. Jodie dropped the pen and hustled her purchases to the front of the counter instead, anxious to leave before anymore ugliness-"

"-dark, dirt-road shoulder seeped with oil. The powerlines [sic] moaned like the charge they carried was just too much. Each passing pair of headlights smeared her long shadow across the scrub grass."

This does not happen between every paragraph, or even every page for that matter, but the use of this style is impacting and I would like to learn more about it. I have done an Internet search with very little luck, any information someone has would be welcomed.

BUMMER

Adam Gopnik brought some things to light for me, but in the end, it was disappointing. As the discussion was based around Lincoln and Darwin there was of course an exchange about slavery. Gopnik goes into to rap up his thoughts on what would have happened if Lincoln had not been shot where he writes about there being no slavery in America and England anymore. He lost me there, that statement is just not true. So, I decided it was a good run, I learned a few things, and me and my grains of salt are moving on to Derek Nikitas' The Long Division.

Sam and I are excited about this book, as it was a library employee pick. The "staff picks" at the Hollywood branch have always been gold for us.

What are you reading?