Back to School

Today is my daughter's first day of Kindergarten (tears all around), so I find myself with a little time on my hands. I'm tapering off of a brutally hot Brooklyn summer and am in the middle of a book that I happen to love. It's Jonathan Franzen's 'Freedom'. I'm only halfway through, and I'm having a hard time putting it down for any length of time. That's always a good sign. I tend to have a thirty page limit in which a book will either make it or break it for me.

I had a hard time warming up to Jonathan after he spurned Oprah. I love Oprah. There, I said it. I'm not ashamed. If she chooses to champion authors like Steinbeck, Faulkner and Hemingway, then I would think that Franzen might be able to check his pride at the door and join the club. Needless to say, it took me years to pick up 'The Corrections', but once I did, I was hooked immediately. I have to say, no one does fucked up families like Franzen. I think he might be the real deal. I think 'Freedom' might even be the better novel. Read them both if you get a chance. They're well worth it.