All those long waits on the N Judah for no forseeable reason have made SFist a big fan of our fine local bookstores and the reserve system from the San Francisco Public Library. After all, how will we recognize ourselves in missed connections, if not by a mention of the book we're reading?

Sfist DeWitt is reading The System of the World, the final book in Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle. The trilogy is likely a disappointment for people that expected another Snow Crash or a Cryptonomicon. DeWitt suspects Stephenson intentionally crafted an epic that caters to his hard-core fans, and that he shows courage, not grandiosity, by writing novels that will alienate the majority.

SFist Rita is reading America's Women: Four Hundred Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines by Gail Collins, the New York Times editorial page editor, which just came out in paper. It's a surprisingly engaging overview of American women's history, covering not only your 11th grade AP American History highlights and discussing how much things have changed, but also providing a lot of interesting information about U.S. women's everyday lives and how much things have stayed the same (you know, how pre-colonial women handled their periods, why spinning your own cloth is boring, how single moms got by). She's just about to start in on the Civil War.

Sfist Rita was the person who encouraged SFist Eve to read Borderlines, by Caroline Kraus, and we can't stop talking about it. We agree that this memoir about the author's intense and destructive relationship with a colleague at a pseudonymed Bay Area bookstore is not especially well-written or paced (check out the bizarre revelation in what is basically the epilogue to see what we mean). But that doesn't mean we weren't obsessed with this locally-set biographical work. In Rita's words: "I find myself thinking about it a lot, so I guess it must have been at least somewhat effectively written." In the end, both of us were left with more questions than answers about what truly went on in this tale of accidental lesbianism, self-mutilation, and the squandering of trust funds. We can't promise that you'll think it's good, but we do think you'll find it interesting.

After reading that, Eve has found herself midway through The Big Love by Sarah Dunn. At first look, this book is typical chick lit (not that there's anything wrong with that). As she reads on, things get more interesting, as we discover that the protagonist is an evangelical Christian who has suddenly found herself grappling with dating like the rest of us. The whole Sex and The City thing is pretty played out, so having the main character grappling with her faith as she downs the requisite chick-lit froofy drinks makes for an intriguing change.