Before I begin a more enforced hibernation from blogging (during which time I will be able to participate only occasionally in blog discussions), I want to share something that readers of mystery fiction might enjoy.

I have consolidated reading recommendations from 16 sources (see the Notes section at the end of the list), and I have alphabetically listed each recommended author and title; the parenthetical citations indicate the source for each recommendation.

My review of this book appeared originally in another publication and is reprinted here:

Brooklyn Follies
By Paul Auster
Henry Holt and Company, $24.00, 304 pages
ISBN 0-8050-7714-6

Meet Nathan Glass. He is eager to tell you all about himself. But to hear Nathan tell it, he is—at least at the outset of this superbly comic novel—a cynical fifty-nine year old man who has returned to Brooklyn for only one reason: He is quietly waiting to drop dead.