November 28, 2008

It's not Doris Lessing's fault

I am now reading The Diaries of Jane Somers, by Doris Lessing, and liking it completely. I’d always thought Margaret Atwood was the most all-over-the-shop writer ever, until I started reading Doris Lessing– range for the sake of range, it’s amazing. And so it’s not Doris Lessing’s fault that as soon as my orders came in at the library, I put her aside temporarily. It’s just that I’ve been reading quite a lot of weighty books of late, and they made The Big Rumpus by Ayun Halliday look pretty irresistible once I’d brought it home with me. I used to read Ayun Halliday in Bust when I was little (i.e. 20) and the book is contagiously energetic and as entertaining as her columns. I also like Ayun Halliday because it doesn’t occur to her it mightn’t be possible to have a baby but not a car.