Some novels recently read in their entirety or in part...
Quartet in Autumn
Barbara Pym
The blurb on the cover states: "Written with the wit and style of a twentieth-century Jane Austen." Certainly this quiet 1977 novel about four lonely and aging co-workers is witty, in a very Brit stiff-upper-lip manner. But Ms. Pym seems not to like any of her protagonists, and the most one can muster for any of them is pity, rather than empathy, let alone admiration. At least with Austen there is usually one character to like per novel.
Spook Street
Mick Herron
Another Slough House comic thriller. Solid entertainment.
The Alien Years
Robert Silverberg
I quite liked his Dying Inside, and Tower of Glass was decent if predictable sci-fi. So it was a no-brainer that I would grab a used paperback copy of The Alien Years, which is– good guess!– about an alien invasion. I love alien invasion stories, but I gave up at page 60 of this 488-page snoozer. Dated and perfunctory.
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