Zeno's Bar & Grill

Pull up a chair and pop open a Pacifico. It's time for Thirsty Thursday. Join us if you want, invite a friend, and/or come back next week when we'll have a new Special. Today’s theme…Read my mind.

What was the last book you read?

Kelly: Pattern Recognition by William Gibson. It was recommended to me by a woman in my book club and it was excellent. Kind of a techno-secular Da Vinci Code with better writing.

Melanie: Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz, which made me realize even incredibly popular writers can commit serious writing fouls. Very encouraging for an aspiring writer. I think Koontz is getting a little lazy, as his recent books aren’t nearly as good as his early ones.

Which periodicals to you receive?

Kelly: Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, The local weekly paper, Santa Barbara Magazine (it makes me simultaneously miss and hate Santa Barbara), C (a magazine about California society, it came free with my Santa Barbara subscription), Total 180, Mother Jones, Newsweek, and The Economist.

Melanie: New York Times, Local Newspaper, C Magazine, The New Yorker, Good Housekeeping, Better Homes and Gardens, Redbook, The Sun.

What are you reading now?

Kelly: One Day in the Life of Alexander Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Two women from my book club along with myself are secretly forming a splinter group and are reading this book. It is also the book pick for One Book One Chicago, a book club for all of Chicago and this time for its sister city Moscow as well.

Melanie: I need a book. I got Lipstick Jungle by Candace Bushnell from the library, but it’s so awful, I don’t think I’ll be able to get through it. Even the names of the characters and companies in this book are annoying. Splatch-Verner Publishing (Time-Warner)? Bonfire Magazine (Vanity Fair)? Nico O’Neilly? Bleah.