A Brief Post

My first-year students are going crazy as they do at this end point in the semester. "How do you expect us to finish our research paper and then a week later write an essay for a final exam?"

It's a difficult transition from high school to college, no doubt. I find it exceedingly stressful, dealing with their angst. "Welcome to college, folks."

And so, stress in hand, I'm on to another P.D. James novel. I've picked up An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, a Cordelia Gray mystery. The only problem is, I want to buy a complete set of all her books, so what am I doing with one from the library? No, I don't want a Kindle or a Nook version. Nice paperbacks are fine, though I'd love vintage hardcovers. I'm so happy that I haven't read many of her books. I have read her most recent novels, The Murder Room, The Private Patient, and The Lighthouse, but it's her earlier works I've missed.

I finished The Perfect Reader; a strange read for me. I should have tossed it out after 75 pages, but out of inertia, I kept reading. And, you know, the final third of the book was quite worthwhile. But don't you read it, the first two-thirds are not worth the trouble. Pouncey does not create a heroine that anyone can sympathize with. I felt no empathy for her whatsoever until the last third of the book, which I consider a major failing. I'm sorry I bothered you with it. How did it get published????