I don't actually know German, so it probably doesn't say "A little night reading" at the top of this post.

The worst of the twin-related sleep deprivation is behind us, but I still haven't fixed my broken reading habit. Not really. I've made my way through a few books of short stories and the first ten pages or so of THE ECHO MAKER, but now when I have 45 minutes of free time--not enough to do any significant writing, but enough to do something--instead of picking up a book, I cycle through blogs and hope someone will send me new email.

I need a recommendation to get me moving again. Something with a really strong story, a brisk pace, non-one-dimensional characters, and great technique, but nothing flashy for the sake of flashiness (the incessantly alliterative first page of THE ECHO MAKER almost put me off the next nine pages), and nothing that grapples. Social issues, moral dilemmas--I don't care what it doesn't grapple with, as long as it doesn't. No grappling.

So?