The Last September--Elizabeth Bowen

I'm trying to read more fiction of a challenging variety. Great(er) Books than usual mysteries, romance, and light fiction and non-fiction.

So when the paperback stacks at LPL included some Elizabeth Bowen, I picked it up.

Overall, this was just an okay read--it takes place in Ireland in 1920, right before the Irish militias drove the well-to-do British landowners out. The setting is a house party given by Sir Richard Naylor and his wife, who represent old school colonialism. They are the guardians of Lois, a young girl of 19 or 20 who is aware that change is forthcoming. In between, the same things that always happen at house parties happen--someone hogs the raspberries, people write indiscriminate letters, try to get engaged, wander around playing croquet, blah, blah. Bowen does a really cool job of showing the insulation of her characters, but breaking it up with details of the turmoil that's boiling around the party, like having the news that a cache of guns was dug up nearby being mentioned at lunch, and the dance that the younger girls attend with the British Army officers in the area. It piques my curiosity about Irish history, but it makes a dull book.

This book was made into a movie about 10 years ago that was well-received, and is available on Netflix.

Meanwhile, any suggestions for February's book? I was trying to read The Human Stain for a while, but gave up due to the overwrought, breathless pace of Roth's writing--it reminded me of Portnoy's Complaint, and not in a good way.

In Which Kerry Leaves The House

I'd like to report an instance in which I left the house and did something fun. Yes, such an occasion is so rare it must be reported in the blog. Saturday night I saw Lyle Lovett, John Hiatt, Joe Ely, and Guy Clark in concert down at the Palace Theater. They're doing a tour in which each plays a song of his choice in a round robin. Great show, and it only cost $10. Well, $10 before the ridiculous extra fees for the privilege of puchasing a ticket online.

Random Complaints Department

How the hell can I purchase a box of 120 Dum Dum lollipops and not get 1 cherry lollipop? Instead I got tons of stawberry (ugh, I hate fake strawberry flavor!) and banana. Banana, people. Why? How? Oh, the puzzlement.

In Which Kerry Reads The Newspaper, And Becomes Irritated: Part 2

Today's NYTimes Vows Column: It's good to know that even if you're a jackass to a girl for 18 years, she'll eventually break down and marry you.

Between this article on a new embryo bank and today's story on "reproductive tourism," The Washington Post has managed to give ammo two weeks running for my belief that human beings are just interchangable commodities being degraded in ever more exciting ways.

And this story is great because yeah, what is cheerleading for anyway?