(Once in a while, I take a new book with me to lunch and give it a half an hour or so to grab my attention. Lunch Date is my judgment on that speed-dating experience.)
Who's your date today? One Day, a novel by David Nicholls.Where'd you go? The Continental, a Greek restaurant in the U District.
What'd you eat? The gyro platter with fries and salad ($8.95).
How was the food? Good! I really love a nice, affordable Greek diner-y restaurant, and the fries were fresh-cut, the cucumber sauce was delicious, and the whole place felt modest and clean. It was a fine lunch experience.
What does your date say about itself? It's a novel about a man and a woman who have sex and then become very good friends, but they secretly love each other. The novel spans 20 years, and each chapter takes place on June 15th (the first one is June 15th, 1988 and it continues from there.) Nick Hornby calls it "Big, absorbing, smart, fantastically readable."
Is there a representative quote? "The room was a manifesto, and with a sigh Dexter recognized her as one of those girls who used 'bourgeois' as a term of abuse. He could understand why 'fascist' might have negative connotations, but he liked the word 'bourgeois' and all that it implied. Security, travel, nice food, good manners, ambition; what was he meant to be apologising for?...The problem with these fiercely individualistic girls was that they were all exactly the same."
Will you two end up in bed together? Yes! I'm a sucker for a good literary romance every once in a while. (A blurb on this book compares it to The Time Traveler's Wife, and that's not exactly right. It's more like Claire Marvel, I think, though lighter in tone.) I was so deeply entertained while reading this on the bus back to the office that I almost forgot to get off at my stop. There's nothing wrong with a good, page-turny love story every now and again, and assuming that Nicholls doesn't cock up the ending, this looks like a great one.