Does it shock you if I admit that I haven't read a book from beginning to end in a good 9 months?

With that admission made, does it surprise you that I read one in all its 300-page-glory this afternoon?

Paul Auster's "The Brooklyn Follies" was a funny, sad, witty, sharp, everything you're looking for in a novel, page-turner that leaves you longing for more long after the last paragraph has been read. You regret that it is over because such a fine book can't possibly come to an end.

Auster is brilliant and I am happy to have discovered him now, albeit a few years late. I'm planning to read his "New York trilogy" next.

Set against the backdrop of the 2000 election and finishing on the glorious morning of September 11th (just before our world changed forever), this is a book about everything that is good in America. Even now, with a dreadful administration besmirching America's reputation in the world, Auster reminds his readers that there is another America. A warm, open, forgiving America. The one I fell in love with all those years ago and I'm relieved it still exists.

This is a book about human folly, about human strengths and weaknesses. About love, death, illness and tragedy. It is a tale of an America where the Democrats keep losing elections because, sadly, not everyone is a Paul Auster or a character in a Paul Auster book. "The Brooklyn Follies" is a wise, inspiring and tremendously funny read. I can't even describe how good it was. It is an optimistic book, hopeful that the lives we live are not meaningless even if we're not famous or powerful. The biggest cynic would have a hard time dismissing this book because a compassionate Auster is so compelling with his message that life is worth living.

If you read one book this year, do it like me, and read this one. And if it doesn't make you want to go to New York to soak up the atmosphere of that unique city then there is something very wrong with you. In fact, it may mean that you're not living. That the blood in your veins has long stopped carrying oxygen. My liberal heart was revived in a few fascinating hours today. I owe it to Paul Auster and I shall read every line he's ever written.

To quote the author: One should never underestimate the power of books.