I just finished reading Mystic River. The novel has better detail about Boston, and greater depth of character for the detective character, than the movie. Lehane is mostly known as a genre writer (mystery) but this is a step up– sure, there’s a murder, and a mystery, but the characterization moves it into literary territory.
Next up are the books Megan brought back from the NEBA conference, where she represented theHarvard Bookstore (not that Harvard). As I read them (or fail to) I’ll provide opinions, which I’m sure you’re all just dying to hear.
On food, The Kitchen Detective, by Christopher Kimball (of Cook’s Illustrated), and Are You Really Going to Eat That? Adventures of a Culinary Thrill Seeker by Robb Walsh. I’ve been a big fan of Cook’s Illustrated ever since they ran an article about the gruelling and hazardous search for a perfect creme brulee, which placed their journalists in danger of exploding kitchen torches and exploding coronary arteries, but I’m more intrigued by the one about thrill-seeking. As I read them I’ll let you know.
On politics, Inventing a Nation: Washington, Adams, and Jefferson, by Vidal. I don’t much like his fiction, and find his politics shrill, but he’s still an excellent scholar.
I’ve already flipped through The Metrosexual Guide to Style, which is basically the same as Paisley Goes with Nothing and all the other bullshit slightly-humorous how-to guides that explain what your deficient social upbringing failed to teach you. Is it so bad that we need books to teach us that clothes look best when they fit right, that one should not talk with one’s mouth open, and that paying attention to others makes them like us more? Hint: the word “metrosexual,” like the word “quirkyalone,” denotes a marketing demographic turned religion, and anything claiming to champoin it should be avoided.
I like the look of Wild East, a collection of stories by hot new post-Soviet authors. Megan brought advance galley proofs of Waterborne a novel set during the building of the Hoover dam, the new Goya bio by Evan Connell, and a humorous, possibly nonfiction, book called Join Me, about a guy who accidentally starts a cult of some sort. I hear the new Goya bio is great, but I’m probably going to pass on all three of those, although I’m not sure I can articulate my reasons.
Secretly Ironic 
1. People do indeed need books telling them what and what not to wear. Simply look around on public transit. Just last week I saw a woman wearing a tatty chiffon skirt and sandals (with un-pumiced feet, natch). That was also the morning that it snowed, so she had accessorized it with a parka that appeared to belong to a Slavic teamster. No offense to same, it merely did not “pop.” So my new book is called “What the Hell Were You Thinking When You Left the House?,” and it can be found at Barnes & Noble counters everywhere.
2. Gore Vidal? Really, how middlebrow. 😛
LikeLike