The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
I forgot to mention that part of my sluggishness at the race yesterday may have been due to the six hours of sleep I’d had the night before. Why? Because I was up til 1am devouring this book! Thank you guys so much for recommending it. I was trying to describe it to a friend today: “Well, it’s about comic books. But wait, no, it’s more about the guys who write this comic book. And they’re cousins, and they’re Jewish, and it’s all taking places in the 30’s and 40’s, so it’s also about WWII and Nazis and Hitler and families and radio serials and Orson Welles and Houdini and escapism and surrealism and love and madness… And Golems. Big mythological Jewish superhero thing made out of clay. Just trust me; it’s a really good book.”

You know, I’m kinda glad that I didn’t read the book before now. While you don’t have to know anything about comics to appreciate it, I felt like my recent forays into the world of superheroes (and Bryson’s memories of comics in Thunderbolt Kid) really put me in the right frame of mind. I just found it so fascinating. And now I really need to find some of those Escapist books…