During this terrible time of dread and and turmoil, especially dread of hearing the telephone ring, insomnia has run rampant. Before the worst of all this began, "I Capture the Castle" had been perfect light reading, and very good for reading aloud, especially the incident of the bearskin coat. Either the Economist or something else mildly serious and mildly boring seemed to be better reading for utilitarian purposes and also less frivolous in the circumstances. Hating unfinished books, though, I took it up again and polished it off in no time. It rather tapers off toward the end. Too bad that I bet CCH (a) has read it, and (b) didn't enjoy it the first time around, particularly those last few chapters. It's so difficult to find entertaining books of the right sort for people who have read "everything." Most of the other writings of Dodie Smith appear to be out of print, with the exception of The 101 Dalmations and its sequel.