Apologies for the light posting–it’s been a busy week. I flew to Edmonton and back. It was what I call a ‘no coat trip’. It goes: apartment –> SkyTrain –> airport –> plane –> taxi –> hotel –> taxi –> client’s offices –> taxi –> airport –> SkyTrain –> apartment. I’m basically never outside for more than a minute, so I don’t bring a coat.
In any case, I’ve recently finished several books, so here are some quick reviews.
Under the Dome by Steven King – This was touted as a return to form after several lousy books, and I’d tend to agree. It’s a close cousin to “The Stand”, in that it’s a long (nearly 1100 pages), sprawling narrative with huge cast of characters. It’s typical King, so if you like his approach–one friend who’s new to King aptly called him “merciless”–then you’ll like this book. I actually listened to it as an audio book, expertly read by stage actor Raúl Esparza. Esparza’s use of character voices in his reading simplified the problem of keeping all the characters straight.
Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne – A meandering book about Byrne’s experiences of art, architecture and cycling through the cities of the world. It’s taken largely from his online journal, I gather. It’s moderately interesting if you’re into Byrne’s artwork and music, or like to travel.
The British Museum is Falling Down by David Lodge – A friend recommended this slim little novel to me as the funniest book she’d ever read. I can’t get behind that assessment, but it’s definitely in my top twenty. Written in 1965, it recounts the day in the life of a struggling Catholic academic. That doesn’t sound all that promising, but our hero, Arthur Appleby, is the mincing uncle to Adrian Mole and Arthur Dent. It’s a little strawberry tart of a book at 160 pages, but well worth it if you like dry British humour.
DarrenBarefoot.com 
“The British Museum is Falling Down”
.. Perhaps it is just what I associate with the British Museum (rightly or wrongly), but my first thought was something related to what would happen to the British Museum if all of the places from which artifacts had been ill-gotten demanded their artifacts back in unison.
It is surprisingly difficult to find good book recommendations on the internet. Any suggestions for web sites?
Try “City of Thieves” . Best book I have read in a long time.
The Guardian Book Blog is one of the best out there
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog
Also try Large Hearted Boy for daily links to interesting sites and his Authors “Book Notes” series is worth browsing
http://blog.largeheartedboy.com/
If you enjoyed “The British Museum is Falling Down”, you may want to try “Small World”. That was my favourite David Lodge book. (I’ve read them all and I have to say this is the first time I’ve run across a recommendation for one of his novels aside from my own….neat!)