Okay. I have finished The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan. This early book represents his wonderful descriptive powers. The settings are beautifully evocative. The use of sound imagery and small vignettes in the line of sight combine to make this a richly set story you can step right into.

Maybe it is age (mine) or a generally jaded sensibility, but I could not engage with the characters' emotions at all. It is a powerful and shocking story and I should have been intrigued and appalled but I was not. It may be just me.

The book presages a lot of the very popular erotic fiction of today. There's eroticism and a little dom/sub action in the direction of which we seem to be moving but it lacks the empathetic viewpoint of some of the best of today's writing. Maybe that's what's missing.

In the long process of reading Ulysses. On page [141] [143] (depending on the edition) there is this intriguing reference:

'J. J. O'Molloy said not without regret:
"-And yet he died without having entered the land of promise..."
...Gone with the wind. Hosts at Mullaghmast and Tara of the Kings.'

(See Margaret Mitchell and Ernest Dowson)

Though slow going, this is a treasure trove of historical and literary references of both before and after.

I would be interested in hearing your thoughts and also about what you're reading.

Kerry