Short stories.

Another of his most interesting pop psychology books, this one about the power of instant decision making, and the need to trust that first impression, whether it be judging an art fake (which comes complete with provenance) or choosing cellists (preferably blindfold, or they are always men!) De Becker respectfully referenced.

The Values of the Worst Family The incomparable Hitchens takes on the impossible Clintons. Far more here than an objection to their style, or to Bill’s endless womanizing. Seen here, Clinton appears more of a serial female abuser that one had cared to think. Including a pair of possible rapes. Fine-tuned hatred, like a blow torch. Wouldn’t care to find Hitchens on your ass. Is it the whole story? It’s whole enough.

Interesting, rather finely written, historical novel, of a young man in 1785 given the task of digging up and destroying an ancient cemetery (les Innocents), finding himself, his love, his friends, almost death. It’s an almost Booker nom. We shall hear more from this chap.

A boy, called Michael, at the age of eight, leaves Sri Lanka, Ceylon, to voyage to a new life at an English boarding school. Readable.

He was the clear sensible voice explaining the void that was Wall Street. Now he explains the meaning of the imminent third world debt, Greece, Ireland, Spain. A house of cards ready to collapse. His precise and concise prose helps one through the unbelievable murky miasma of what began as a US Ponzi scheme, and which seems to have ruined the world, through teaching Wall Street Greed. Though in the Greeks case a well-deserved exception may be made. A people so corrupt and so entitled, well, not much of a chance they’ll change, so they’ll default… Timeo Danaos ut dona ferente.

Yay. I loved this. I felt very guilty about not loving his Booker winning novel, but this made me very happy indeed.  Not only is he very very funny, he is also wise, and gently provocative, milking sacred cows, exposing clichés and shabby and “correct” thinking. There’s a lifetime of wisdom in these occasional pieces. I can only recommend you buy three copies and give two to a friend. (I tried this for Christmas and Amazon is shockingly out of print.) And yes I will try his last novel again…

Sadly this book fails to catch fire. It’s supposed to be a thriller, a digital world thriller about a schizophrenic billionaire in Switzerland who has invented an algorithm which predicts and eventually controls the stock market bringing about a crash. But this H.G. Wells world of out of control machines controlling the financial future of Wall Street never quite rings true, it all reads like a film. The point about the novel is that it is still the best form of storytelling, since it gets inside the minds of the characters. Yes fine actors can imply what a character is thinking, and with music and close ups it is certainly possible to reveal much of the interior life of a character, but nothing is quite so good at telling us what a person thinks, and incidentally what the author thinks of what that person thinks, than the novel. So that when the characters are cardboard thin, and the emphasis is mainly on what happens next, then the experience of reading is thin, as here. In a real action novel, a detective or thriller for example, the best thing to do is to strip away all adjectives and keep only minimal scene description, and concentrate on short sentences that describe physical activity (see Thomas Perry who is brilliant at this). Harris is fatally wounded by his attempt to write a good book at the same time. Also he falls into a trap of his own cleverness, with technology, so we who do not share his cleverness, kinda skip the tech bits. I think The Ghost is a very good book (in the US The Ghost Writer) and not half a bad movie either, because it was about something, the appalling smugness and self centered behavior of Tony Blair, a man who seems but little to know himself let alone the appalling consequences of his actions, so that he is a tragic figure, a man who could have been Pitt, who turns into the pits. Some of Harris’ other books I found difficult to read. I did get through Pompeii, but I abandoned Lustrum. Of course he is a best seller, and this will be a big hit, so it doesn’t matter to him, but it matters to me, as some writers can pull off popularity and greatness and that is surely the goal. So sadly I think you can skip this.

Searching for the Real Sarah Palin A total pleasure. Everything you had ever suspected about the housewife superstar. Read and enjoy folks. I’d describe it as a guilty pleasure but since I have no religion I have no guilt. If only someone had done this job on the fledgling Bush think of the harm that could have been spared. No Iraq war, no Bush recession, no shrill voices demanding smaller government while bankrupting the country… Sarah Palin believes in God. It would be unkind to wonder whether God believes in Sarah Palin. People who believe they are chosen by God are worrying. It is one of the signs of madness. Joe McGinniss should be thanked for risking his life by living next door to this vindictive couple and their dysfunctional family. They could have been the Dysfunctional First Family. Not any more I trust. I laughed and cringed out loud. Enjoy!

Why Truman Capote (almost) wrote Answered Prayers A psychobiography of Truman Capote. This is a form of biography I was unaware of and I must say I like it. It makes a lot of sense, taking primal scenes from the life of the author and seeing how these themes work out in the pattern of their lives. Here his theme is to attempt to discover whatever made Capote so crazy as to turn round and bite all those rich and famous upper crust people in New York by exposing them in the incomplete fragments of Answered Prayers. His fancy Society friends dropped him overnight, and never spoke to him again, yet he must have anticipated this. Apparently not. There is much sense and sensibility about his relationship with Perry Smith, the gay one of the two killers of In Cold Blood. This book cost Capote years of effort and pain and work, at the end of which he had to attend the executions of his two protagonists, (at their request) which he bravely and painfully did. Watching two men who have become friends (and possibly lovers) hanged in front of your eyes, well you can see why the alcoholic drug laden path lay ahead, poor man. He was an incomparable talent. I happen to love Breakfast at Tiffany’s and take a great deal of guilty pleasure in Answered Prayers and I very much liked this short psychobiography in a series into which I shall dip further.

A wonderful mad cap dash through the incredible and hilarious and at times farcical life of this not very nice man. I really enjoyed it. He was a kind of Regency rock star and as Caroline Lamb said “Mad, bad and dangerous to know.” Buy it and read in amazement.