Book Acquired Recently: Nicholson Baker’s U and I

Baker, Nicholson. U and I: A True Story. 1991. New York: Vintage, 1992.

I am very excited to read this book. Nicholson Baker is one of my favorite writers because his prose flows like hot chocolate syrup, which makes his books virtually impossible to put down. I love his attention to detail and his obsession with book culture, which I share, and which leads to the best, most observant writing about literature in both its physical and intellectual manifestations that I have ever read. This book is about his love affair (well, intellectual love affair, but wouldn’t it be quintessentially Updikean if they had actually had a clandestine physical affair?) with John Updike, a writer who I also like when I’m not feeling guilty for liking him.

I went through a voracious period of reading Baker’s fiction last fall and winter, and have been getting to his nonfiction here and there. I bought this book to help me reach amazon.com’s $25.00 plateau for free shipping on a recent order (the other book in the order was Samuel R.Delany’s Starboard Wine, which is coming out later this summer). In other words, my book-buying addiction feeds my study of Baker’s book addiction. We addicts have to stick together!