I'm eagerly waiting for a few hot new books due to come out this month. First, I want to get my hands on Jeffrey Eugenides' The Marriage Plot, which is sure to be a philosophical and lyrical take on this very old theme of novels and stories in general. And second, enormous as it apparently is, I'm dying to read Murakami's latest novel, 1Q84. Both books are at the forefront of what I think of when I think of cutting-edge contemporary fiction, and they're very much in keeping with the sorts of things I'm usually reading. (Read more »)