Bad luck in Bookland?

Bryson's book took me months to read and left me nervous about dust mites and the volcano in Wyoming that's 30,000 years' overdue for its next huge blow. FYI: It's going to be really big.
Perrotta's book had a good ending, but the characters were so twisted and tormented. I found myself worrying about mites and lava rather than reading it when I had time. But the story did poke at me, so that's not really bad luck.
I love Satrapi's Persepolis books. She has a new one and Dorothy sent me an interview with her at Salon. She likens Bush to the mullahs in Iran. She urges Americans to protect our democracy---"Every day, wake up with this idea that you have to defend your freedom." The writer, Michelle Goldberg, describes Satrapi's book this way:

"Embroideries is less explicitly political than the Persepolis books....In Embroideries, Satrapi confines herself to the dramas that happen inside, telling the romantic (or unromantic) tales of a group of female relatives and friends. Yet in the context of a regime determined to control women's sexuality, these stories are subversive."

Sounds g.o.o.d.