Coe & Ishiguro

I just re-read The Rotter's Club by Jonathan Coe. Its one of only a few books I can ever recall re-reading. I know I've read Donna Tartt's The Secret History a few times. And a few James Crumley novels (the earlier ones) I've read twice.

I got the follow up to The Rotter's Club, The Closed Circle, when it came out in August but only recently got around to starting it. And when I did, I couldn't figure out what was going on. The copy of The Rotter's Club I read I gave to someone to read - and as a result I can't find the notes I made on the book. There's a short summary of The Rotter's Club at the back of The Closed Circle but even when I reread it, I was still a bit lost. So I re-read The Rotter's Club.

And it was great fun to re-read it. I read it much faster this time around but got much more out of it. I took notes. And I saw a lot of hints at what's to come.

When I started The Closed Circle again, I realized that my confusion had more to do with Coe's style and structure at the start of the book than my not remembering enough of the first book (it turns out, I remember most all of it).

I'm also reading something called Underground by Russell James. English noir kind of thing. Its okay, sort of interesting.

I just got my copy of Ian McEwan's new novel Saturday from Amazon.co.uk. And having seen images of the American dust jacket and comparing them to the UK dust jacket, I think I like the American one better. And that almost never happens. I think I'll read it after The Closed Circle.

I'm waiting for my copy of the new Kazuo Ishiguro novel to arrive from Amazon.co.uk. I read several great reviews of it in a short period of time and got caught up in the moment and ordered it. I confess that I have never read The Remains of the Day - only saw the movie. And I skipped The Unconsoled. And I ended up not liking When We Were Orphans very much. And I haven't read his first two books. But still, I think I am a big fan of the Ishiguro brand. And that explains why I had to have this book.