Got this from Quality Paperback Club today. I've wanted to read this since I saw it reviewed in People Magazine. TBR This is promised to fanclub when I'm through with it. From the dust jacket:

Daniel Pecan Cambridge, 30, 35, 38, 27, depending on how he feels that day, is a young man whose life is rich and full, provided he never leaves his Santa Monca apartment. After all, outside there are 8-inch-high curbs and there's always the horrible chance he might see a gas station attendant wearing a blue hat. So, except for the occasional trip to Rite Aid to admire the California girl Zandy and to buy earplugs because they're on sale, he stays home alot. And a good thing too, or he would have never been falsely implicated in a murder, never almost seduced Philipa, never done the impossible task of jogging around the block with Brian, never ironed his pillows, and he might never have won the Most Average American essay contest.

I didn't like this book for the first 100 pages. I thought the main character was a annoying with his quirks, and I didn't see a plot line in the story. However it eventually picked up the pace and turned out to be a cute story, and I really like the ending. I also noticed that I share quite a few of the same quirks as the main character, and that worries me......read the book and you'll see why. This is off to fanclub in Hawaii on Thursday 11/6. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Woohoo! This came in the mail today from another BookCrosser, thanks for sharing! This is promised to allysther when I finish.

I was so afraid this book would bomb...my expectations were high because it is Steve Martin, and I was afraid his writing might not live up. However, I *loved* it. I did not find the main character annoying at all, as tamugrad02 did in the beginning. Perhaps this is because I have OCD myself, and was able to totally relate to his idiosyncracies. His need for control, his compulsive habits, his obsessive thoughts. All of these I am very sympathetic to. I am especially fond of his chapstick habit. :) But the way he is able to gradually open himself to the world around him, the way he makes it fit him, the way he comes to fit it...it is truly touching. Too bad it isn't this easy to change for most sufferers but instead involves intense therapy and medication ... and lucky for me I'm not so bad ... I can cross the street!

Taking to today's meetup for allysther.

Yea! Thank you fanclub. TBR and returned to the table next month.

Just finished this book. Wow, what a wonderful story. It took me almost 20 minutes to finish the last five pages, as I slowed to savor the final words. I do not have OCD, but I come from a family of "quirky" people. As my cousin explained to me earlier this year "You always had a lot of (self imposed) rules to live by." Was it strange that her comment gave me comfort?

From the book: "...as motley as we were, I suspected there was a unifying thread that ran through us all. It was a by-product of the instinct that made each one of us pick up the Tepperton's entry form and sit home alone in our rooms writing our essays. That quality was decency. But it had not really been earned. It was a trait that nebbishes acquire by default because of our inability to act upon the world with a force greater than a nudge."

Thank you for sharing this book!

Rounded up at the TOC-Bookcrossing meet up. Thank you!

I actually feel like crying- So many books, so little time. Actually, I'll just buy the t-shirt. I *heart* Steve Martin.