I don't know why, but I really can't stand McCarthy. I've tried again and again, and the man is so imprecise with his language. I want to like him, because I li

I don't know why, but I really can't stand McCarthy. I've tried again and again, and the man is so imprecise with his language. I want to like him, because I like interpretations of his work by, say, the Coen Brothers, but I'll read a few pages of his book and just not be able to take it anymore. No, my favorite book is a novel called Adverbs, and it's by Daniel Handler, who wrote the kid's Series of Unfortunate Events. I've read it far too many times and I still love it, though now I spend a few months between reading it. And it's just incredibly beautiful. It's a collection of 17 short stories that are all interrelated, and it's playful with language to a fault. It's tough reading the first few times, but it's so worth grasping, because it does stuff I've never seen in other books. So I don't think it's the best book ever written, but it's enjoyable and it's in love with words, and far too few people have heard it.