Read a whole bunch of stuff recently, including "The Native Star" (I liked it pretty well - it reminded me a bit of "The Hob's Bargain," in the sense of being very similar in structure to a romance novel but without the slavish devotion to repeating the tropes. My wife was annoyed with the protagonist. She went on to read "The Hidden Goddess," which I haven't yet, and apparently her annoyance did not abate) and "The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms" (Highly enjoyable so far; I'm about halfway through.) Also various short story collections, including Aimee Bender's "Willful Creatures," which had some awesome things in it.
"Zombie Spaceship Wasteland" is a surprisingly deep collection of randomness from Patton Oswalt, whom I mostly know from his stand-up comedy. He wanders from personal essays to almost lit-fic little short stories to - I swear - an epic poem dedicated to his old D&D character. Definitely worth a perusal; I bought it from the tail end of Borders and paid six bucks for it, but I'd have been happy to buy it for twelve or even fifteen.
However, what I came here to recommend is "Cocaine: An Unauthorized Biography." It's nonfiction, a history of the drug, and it's hilarious as well as informative. The author keeps wandering off on these tangents that have nothing in particular to do with the book but which are quite amusing, and the wry ultra-British tone keeps making me giggle.
