From the library

It's easy to see why Peter LaSalle never published a novel after Strange Sunlight and why that found its publisher in Texas Monthly Press. Set in Austin in the early 'eighties, this is not at all atmospheric and gets many social observations completely wrong. The protagonist is an unpleasant person and the plot is unpleasant also (just my opinion). It's funny to see Habitant soup mentioned, though (yellow split pea, of course). Was Habitant always a subsidiary of Campbell? The most interesting part of the E. Lynn Harris memoir is that he writes about being one of the early contingents of students integrating the college in "white" Fayetteville. And the title, "What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted," is keeping that song on the mental jukebox. The E. Lynn Harris website highlights this part of his life experience. The song is not by the Tempts, but by Jimmy Ruffin solo. After the Dibdin, we remembered Magdalen Nabb. There's an entire site devoted to mysteries set in Italy (though written in English). This one was Property of Blood. I liked it that Larry McMurtry remembers the physical properties of every book he's read. He has really managed to live out a reader's fantasy.