March 11, 2007

Chang chang chang

It has been a joy to return to shorter novels. I enjoyed Middlemarch, but it wasn’t constructed for a reader like me. Slipping back into the fiction of my time is like putting on something that fits me perfectly, and maybe that means I just don’t want to work so hard for my reading pleasure, but it’s always nice when it comes easy. Particularly with books as great as those I’ve been reading lately. I am now reading Helpless by Barbara Gowdy, which is the first book by her I’ve ever read. And you’d think I would have read The White Bones considering I’ve got a publically-acknowledged thing for elephants, but the premise of the book has always made me keep my distance. Perhaps this new novel will pave my way toward it?

Note: Afterwards and Radiance reviewed favourably in The Globe this week.