On Thu, 26 Feb 2009, Max Sawicky wrote:
> I've got to get me some more Nicholson Baker.
You know most of his other stuff is fiction, yes? And even most of the non-fiction is about fiction.
My favorite by a long shot (really it's the only novel by him I like at all, but I liked it a lot) is his first novel, _Mezzanine_. The entire novel takes place in man's daydreaming mind as he is taking the escalator to the mezzanine level, returning from lunch. It's basically nothing ruminations and tangents about experiences we all have. In that way, you might say it's as different from a normal novel as _Human Smoke_ seems to be from a normal history book. But I'm not sure they have anything else in common. I did enjoy it though, and some of off-beat arguments stick with me decades later.
IME, people are either charmed by this novel or it drives them straight up the wall, and you'll know which one you are if you read the first 5 or 10 pages in the store.
Michael