Gorging on The Skin of a Lion

One of the best things to do on a holiday Monday? Read a novel in one day. I have not had the luxury to do this very often - though, as a kid I did it all the time. But this week, after the obligatory turkey feed, I decided to dig into some good fiction for dessert. I was only about 30 pages into Michael Ondaatje's In The Skin of a Lion but I was already quite intrigued. His books can be difficult; time narratives usually shift and he makes you "work for it", but in a really good way. The writing is dense, rich, poetic and you have to give yourself over to the magic of it, rather than say, "people don't really talk that way". It's the sort of novel that really benefits from reading in one sitting, as the story washes over you, and the resonance of character, time and place remains long after you finish that last page.

If you find yourself with a long stretch of a day, I'd highly recommend doing this - reading a great book lasts a lot longer than the tight pants and sleepiness of the Thanksgiving Feast.