Here's a book that might be read by a few people, maybe more and possibly even an American president. It's Freedom - Jonathan Franzen's fourth novel, the follow-up to his monster hit The Corrections and the Readings Book of the Month for September 2010.

The book and its author have not wanted for publicity in the lead up to publication. Time magazine featured him on its front cover, which was a big deal as the last novelist to feature on the front cover was Stephen King in 2000.

The reviews of Freedom already in have been very strong. The New York Times said it was 'a masterpiece of American fiction', Salon said it was 'a complexly layered, richly imagined domestic tale', the Washington Post called it a 'brilliant, maddening novel' and the Guardian has called it 'the novel of the year, and the century'. And our very own Readings Carlton shop manager Robbie Egan says in his review of the book that it has 'been worth the nine-year wait'.

And here's a rather odd video/book trailer of Franzen talking about how odd it is to talk about novels in book trailers. Luckily the book is much better than the video.