The Sibyl in her Grave

This is a very clever mystery written in the P.G. Woodehouse vein. Very arch and clever but almost exhaustingly so. I had a little trouble differentiating the characters but that didn't seem to matter much. So even though the plot was very ornate and the dialogue very arch, it was still a fun read.

SLAM

Nick Hornby apparently decided to write a young adult novel. I found it in the Teen Room at the library. It's about a skateboarder who gets a girl pregnant and has to deal with it. He writes well, you like the characters and as far as I could tell he resisted moralizing. There are some goofy bits and I don't know if an actual teenager would like it but it's OK, slight, yet OK.

A Severed Head (not mine)

Not sure why I picked up Iris Murdoch. But it was one I hadn't read and I was nostalgic for my excitement when I first read the Word Child or The Sea the Sea. The cover promised me a Terrifying Tangle of Erotic Impulses. Perhaps they were in 1961 but at this point it was more of just an improbable tangle.  Part of the whole premise is suspending belief that the main character would act so passively in a situation where his wife decides to be run off with his best friend. It is trying a bit too hard to be brazen and modern and ultimately rings untrue. Not her best.
Apparently a critic at the time said about it:  'With less philosophising and more shagging than Murdoch's other books, it is a joy to see this wonderful writer let her hair (and her knickers) down. '
Pull 'em back up I say!

The Return of the Chain Reader?

There is a reason this is called the Chain Reader not the Chain Blogger. I have still been reading  nothing of any merit that requires any mention. I read mostly genre fiction I think and, of that, mostly cozy mysteries. I read Hazel Holt who writes mysteries but also is the biographer of Barbara Pym. I vaguely remember reading some Patricia Moyes, some 40's women authors like Elizabeth Taylor (no, not that one!). I read Emma Donoghue's Room which despite it's grim premise I quite enjoyed. And I read Freedom.

Yes he can write. And yes, it was very juicy and engrossing. But it didn't change my life. It reminded me a lot of that Joseph Heller book Something Happened that I read way back in high school. That awkward sense of TMI (Too Much Information!) prevailed.

As a statement of our times I much prefer the slimmer Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan. Freedom had every possible theme crammed into it: Title Nine, violence against woman, politics, the environment, 9/11. If you mention 9/11 in a book does that make it about 9/11? If one of the characters works in a coal company does that make it about the environment? Does all this introduction of weighty themes make the story more than just a book about some interesting characters? In the end maybe I am reacting to the reviews of the book as being about all these big themes and maybe Franzen's pretensions were smaller? I don't know at this point.

All I know is I prefer O'Nan's approach which was simpler--tell the small story about a sad cast of characters in a closing down Red Lobster in a strip mall in the middle of nowhere and it becomes universal. Freedom had so much weighing it down that it never went beyond what it was to me. A big heavy book. But maybe that's all he meant it to be.

The Chain Reader and Jonathan Franzen

Well if you bought your copy by now you'll know that it was dedicated to me. The secret's out. A smooth move on Mr. Franzen's John's part (I actually call him Jon (his friends don't pronounce the 'h"), he knew I was not crazy about The Corrections (too uncomfortable) and I think in recognition of my ability to make or break a book with my blog he rather touchingly dedicated it to me.

Of course I am fiercely ethical and my praise can not be bought so he should have known better. But you can't blame the guy for trying. He lost Oprah the last time with a strategical misstep, now he's wisened up a bit. I am immune to flattery however and will give an honest review once I get past that first title page.

Frankly I am a bit embarressed and dismayed by all the inevitable attention. Hmm....I wonder why the talk shows haven't called me yet....let me just go check that my ringer isn't turned off....

It's Summer and There's Homework?

Oh... I think they mean working on the home which I've been doing a lot of. Working on the homes to be more exact. Buying one and selling one. No time to read anything of note except a lot of home decor magazines and books and some genre fiction. The Chain Reader hopes to return to full literary capacity in the Fall.

My Mysterious Descent

When the going gets tough I turn to either something I've read before or to genre fiction. I remember one long summer in Mexico lying in the hammock in my cream colored caftan near the pool eating oranges and Maria biscuits and reading an Agatha Christie a day. Since it is summer I decided to recreate the experience---oh well at least the Agatha Christie part of it and I have been reading Agatha Christie and Patricia Moyes, who I tend to like a little better, at a pretty much one-a-day rate. I may have already read them but can never tell the difference and they just wash over me until the end and then I can pick up the next one.
What I'm saying here is: don't expect me to read Buddenbrooks this summer vacation.