Been reading some of this:
P.D. James: The Murder Room. so far so good. I like her spare voice and the rich inner voice that is her primary device for her main character, Adam Dalgliesh.
We're Just Like You, Only Prettier by a tarnished southern belle (her own description) and of course her name escapes me. Just like the jacket blurbs describe, I defy you to read this without much snorting and cackling. I also like it because it reminds me that I am, too, a Southerner. You know, I'm reading along going, yeah, uh-huh, yeah, what's yer point? duh. The writer is a North Carolina native so there ARE some differences. Cherce line? "As my Aunt Sudavee says, A bit dog hollers." gotta love it. Or, "The last thing a good ol' boy says before he dies: "Hey, ya'll! Watch this!" heh. I grew up with people like this. For one thing, for reasons that are just not clear to me, we always went to a neighborhood Southern Baptist church. Mind you we weren't Baptist. We weren't anything, come to think of it. Go figure. I bet you anything you care to name (and I'll win) that you just couldn't find a better theatre of the absurd than a Southern Baptist congregation in Miami in the early sixties.
What else?
Amy Tan: The Opposite of Fate. Autobiographical essays with her wonderful voice, of course. My friend Matteo called me up this morning to say that at last week's T.E.D. conference he was seated next to Amy T. at lunch. I shrieked, he cackled. Apparently Ms. Amy carries two small dogs around with her in a pouch. And is as wonderful in person as you'd think from her writing.
Don't you love the title of her book?