extremely loud &incredibly close

a book by jonathan safran foer.

i am so pleased with my new book purchase! its so good i cant stop reading it; which is incredibly convenient because i've needed entertainment while sitting in a empty apartment last friday and now sitting in my boyfriend's parents house; blaaahhh. nothing worse when you're not even in your own home to do nothing. at least then you're familiar with what to do to keep yourself occupied. but this book is so good.
i must admit i have a talent for picking out really good reads; i have friends that always want to bring me to the book store with them to help them pick out a book, like i'm some sort of expert or something.i'm really not, and its really easy to find a good book. heres how, according to me:

first you must not mind wandering around a bookstore. i've come to learn that i have better luck just going to the "literature" section rather than a specific genere. but thats me, i suppose if you absolutely know that you love mysteries or that your favorite author is danielle steel or whoever this doesnt really apply to you. but i dont have a favorite author, nor do i have a favorite genere, and i'm guessing those people who have asked for my guidence in a bookstore have the that same problem.

so anyway, i like to look through "literature" i then browse through the books stopping to look at anything that has an interesting cover or an interesting title. these are the first things to grab me. i then read the back of the book, i also read the reviews on the cover aswell. i do this because if it says things like "bitterly funny i laughed through the whole thing" blah blah, i think thats pretty important because i too want to laugh through the whole thing. but if the reviews dont say anything that makes me go "wow" or invoke a type of emotion i wouldnt mind experiencing through a book then i put it down.
after reading the back covers and the reviews i go to the first page. the first page is also very important for me because if i struggle through the first page than i dont want to even bother. if i find the writing style smooth and moves at a good pace and captures me then i'll def be sold. and thats all i do. so obviously the cover and the title dont neccessarily have to be fantastic, but if someone doesnt even know where to begin, like me-i never know what i'm looking for when i walk in, then its a good place to start because then you wont be overwhelmed by all those books.

like this book here, i just happened to be walking by and it was on the top of a stack of books on a table display. a bold red spine, bold red title and a drawing of a boy chasing a flock of birds. it caught my eye. the back synopsos wasnt terribly interesting but the reviews said "dazzling" "heartbreaking" and "beautiful" which sounded better so after reading the first page i couldnt even possibly put it back. heres a little clip:

"...another good thing is i could train my anus to talk when i farted. if i wanted to be extremely hilarious, i'd train it to say "wasn't me!" every time i made an incredibly bad fart. and if i made an incredibly bad fart in the hall of mirrors, which is in versailles, which is outside of paris, which is in france, obviously, my anus would say "ce n'étaispas moi!" "

how could anyone say no to that! and it hasnt disappointed yet!!it really is "beautiful" just as the independant on sunday says.