Fiction: Thomas Pynchon's
Vineland -- I don't what book the blurb writers read, but this is not a funny book. It's deeply funny in parts -- it's a Pynchon book after all, but this is a largely sad book. The people in the book are routinely desolate and mean, and it reflects uncompromisingly on campus politics and so-called direct political action. I'm only halfway through, but Vineland has displaced V and Bleeding Edge to become my favorite Pynchon book. IMO, the best one he's written so far.
Non-Fiction: Paul Hewitt's
Conceptual Physics -- This is a 101 book, and I was afraid it would not amount to much, but it's been great so far for a reader such as myself, one who's been trying to read physics as a novice. I've read some books on Physics in the past, and I've found them very useful and eye-opening, but I still remain a novice. Yet I keep going back because it's a fascinating discipline.