I just bought 2666 by Roberto Bolaño today at Borders. I read one of his novels in spanish a few years ago and I heard this one is pretty epic (900pg). Bought it at Borders on Gessner and Westheimer, they/re have a 30% - 50% closing sale if anyone is interested.
I have to say I was wondering something along these lines recently, though I can't pick one or the other in the poll because it's really somewhere in between. I had never read any John Grisham books until a few days ago, and I have to say... it's incredible how watered-down his writing is. There are no big/obscure words, no semi-colons, and poor punctuation abounds. The characters are one-dimensional, and every character seems to have an identical sense of humor. It's pretty clear that he's writing down to an audience that doesn't read much. That kind of reading I don't think has much value... you need high-quality literature that stretches your mind.
