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Will Freeman may have discovered the key to dating success: If the simple fact that they were single mothers meant that gorgeous women -- women who would not ordinarily look twice at Will -- might not only be willing, but enthusiastic about dating him, then he was really onto something. Single mothers -- bright, attractive, available women -- thousands of them, were all over London. He just had to find them.

SPAT: Single Parents - Alone Together. It was a brilliant plan. And Will wasn't going to let the fact that he didn't have a child himself hold him back. A fictional two-year-old named Ned wouldn't be the first thing he'd invented. And it seems to go quite well at first, until he meets an actual twelve-year-old named Marcus, who is more than Will bargained for...

I have known some Nick Hornby readers, but I had never taken the plunge. The due diligence I had done seemed to confirm the reviews from friends: Hornby writes with such a charming wit that it is easy to overlook how alarmingly exposed he leaves the male perspective. Finally I decided to see for myself, though it wasn't by reading this book. I started with High Fidelity, which I enjoyed enough to want more Hornby in my life.

About A Boy tells the story of how a man -- who is not getting any younger -- finally starts to grow up. It is, however, less about his slow transition away from the shallow, playboy persona and more about the unexpected relationship with a young boy that makes the transition possible. (Man does that sound awkward.)

Will's latest scheme to meet women involves a fabricated story that he is a single father of baby Ned. Single mothers, he has decided, are the greatest untapped natural resource available to single men. On a date to the park with just such a single mother, Will has his chance meeting with Marcus -- the socially awkward young man whose poor conversation skills and even poorer fashion sense are the product of his parents' divorce. The woman who takes Marcus to the park -- and into Will's life -- is not Marcus's mother, she had...other plans.

Will knows more about what to wear, listen to, and talk about as a teenager than Marcus does. Seeing the opportunity to improve his social status at school, Marcus latches on to Will. While Will teaches Marcus about being a kid, Marcus teaches Will about the importance of family.

I can definitely see why some readers think that Nick Hornby offers a little too much "playbook" information from the man team. In About A Boy, as in High Fidelity, he writes very candidly about how (stereotypically) men feel in certain situations. Some men may feel like their secrets are betrayed, and some women may feel that they have been given the key to finally understanding their less-emotional (or even emotionless) counterparts. I don't think anything he writes leaves men that vulnerable at all, but they are certainly entitled to their opinions.

Regardless of the subject matter, Nick Hornby writes in a comfortable voice that I enjoy. His books are short and simple to read and there is enough humor in the right places to move the book along. I liked About A Boy, and my desire to read more Hornby has not been extinguished.

The only complaint that I have with About A Boy is that I would have preferred a little more development of Will's unwillingness to consider Marcus as his friend. I understand the arm's-length approach that Will uses for his interpersonal relationships, but Marcus could not have been seen as a threat to the personal sanctity of Will's carefree lifestyle. He would go out of his way to do nice things for Marcus, but on an inconsistent basis.

If you have seen the movie, which starred Hugh Grant as Will, here are a few thoughts on the differences. Hugh Grant is significantly more charming than Will is as he was written. The movie was clearly more upbeat as the book was written from a darker perspective. The young man who played Marcus in the movie was a very good casting choice.

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The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Set against the turbulent years of the Napoleonic era, Alexandre Dumas's thrilling adventure story is one of the most widely read romantic novels of all time. In it the dashing young hero, Edmond Dantès, is betrayed by his enemies and thrown into a secret dungeon in the Chateau d'If -- doomed to spend his life in a dank prison cell. The story of his long, intolerable years in captivity, his miraculous escape, and his carefully wrought revenge creates a dramatic tale of mystery and intrigue and paints a vision of France -- a dazzling, dueling, exuberant France -- that has become immortal.

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I thought that when I got home I would sit down at my desk and try to scratch out a story in Ticonderoga #2 about where music went when it got into the air. Some of it had gotten into Davy Ray, and he was humming that song as we returned to the pool and our parents.

Steve Martin's talent has always defied definition: a seasoned actor, a razor-sharp screenwriter, an acclaimed playwright, and, of course, the ingenious comedian who turned King Tut into a national craze. In this widely praised collection of humerous riffs, Martin shows he is a master of the written word.

From a wildley imaginative meditation on who Lolita would be at age fifty, to a send-up of the warning labels on medicine bottles, these pieces, many of which first appeared in The New Yorker, hilariously and intelligently skewer the topics at hand.

This is truly one of the most delightful books I have ever read. In a very uncharacteristic move, I have made a mental note to hang on to this book so I can go back to it periodically. Martin's writing is just plain funny. I am a tough customer when it comes to humor, but this book had me laughing out loud. Not that it was ever in question, but in this book you begin to see just how intelligent Steve Martin is. Some of the comedy I am sure was over my head, but there was plenty that was not. (Sometimes such intelligent writing may be a pitfall when it might make the book funny to a smaller number of people.)

Steve Martin writes with witty prose in a manner that is comfortable to read and easy to understand. Like many avid readers, I too have that hope in the back of my mind that one day I will be a published author so that I may tease the emotions of readers similar to how I like mine teased. I have read books before which I have visualized myself emulating in my own writing, but before this book I had never felt so strongly an appreciation for the author. This, for the most part, is how I wish I could write.

Pure Drivel is a series of short stories, which I normally avoid because I have had a few bad experiences. I had no problems and I have nothing bad to say about this book. I loved it and have had multiple conversations about it with a friend to whom I lent it. She loved it, too. The book is very light reading when you are in the mood for something quick and minimally involved. The writing is complex and the ideas are abstract, but that should not contradict the previous sentence. I am not ashamed to admit how embarrassingly out loud I laughed at this book.

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Every person is worth your time... If at first appearance a person seems dull, then look harder, look into him.

He'd rather be an idiot again. He'd had his whole life set up so that nobody's problem was his problem, and now everybody's problem was his problem, and he had no solutions for any of them.

The Michael L. Printz Award is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature. It is named for a Topeka, Kansas school librarian who was a long-time active member of the Young Adult Library Services Association. The award is sponsored by Booklist, a publication of the American Library Association.

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