Another fine grey Irish thriller from Black: the pseudonym of John Banville.

Yes. Well what can you say? Never dull. I don’t have any problem with Oprah re-inventing herself from the promiscuous and pregnant young molested teenager that she was. Good for her. Of course later on she becomes a teensy bit of a monster, but she uses her power largely for good, and without her there is no Obama. The way she conquers the white middle class wives of Chicago changes the whole racial attitude in America. A fascinating tale of the rise and rise of an extraordinary female. And who cares if she is gay or Steadman’s gay, or if anyone is gay… It’s really none of our business.

Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin and The Race of a Lifetime. Very readable, nicely written recent history, fascinating for its portrayal of the major characters in a vital election. Hilary and the strange blood bond between the Clintons is enthralling, Obama nothing short of a great hero, and the off-hand choice of the quite appalling Beauty Pageant Queen Palin shows what a weak and arrogant leader McCain would have made. America can breathe again….

Spoken of as her greatest work – but not by me. An old lady, Dame Lettie, is badgered by phone calls reminding her that she must die. Indeed she must –she is brutally and unexpectedly and shockingly bludgeoned to death about two thirds of the way through the book. These phone calls spread alarm and panic and disquiet amongst the beautifully drawn generation of elderly people who were once the smart set of London. Now confined by the constraints of age they await the truth of the message of the phone calls: “You are going to die.” Unfortunately we never learn who is making these phone calls or why, so that the end is terribly unsatisfactory. Perhaps rather like our own lives…

It seems so artificial. Contrived theatre. Intellectual farce from the middle class. Noel, a self re-invented working class boy, writing for “Noel” the darling of Broadway. The interesting bits for me are the actual physical violence between the lovers, which seems real, drunk, and written from somewhere true and honest but Coward is always trying to create a glittering carapace of golden wit behind which he can perhaps hide.