I was discussing Optima with kyte on Mono after this post, and she pointed out that its major downside these days is an increasingly strong association with M&S. Shame, because I rather like it. I have admittedly seen it used to set bad SF (or at least fantasy; the one springing to mind is the execrable War of Powers), but then it was also used in at least one edition of a Hitch-Hiker novel IIRC so it's not all bad.

This week I read a novel set in a rather nice serif font I hadn't seen before, which Identifont pegged for me as Dante, and whose italics impressed me in particular (I keep thinking it's a shame Identifont doesn't show italics). The novel itself wasn't outstanding, but the font made it a pleasure to read nonetheless.