On The Nightstand

This edition of On The Nightstand is brought to you by the Tooele Public Library, which makes the Logan Library look like the Library of Congress.

I have just finished reading The Sultan's Seal by Jenny White, which reminded me why I don't usually read modern novels. No modern novel, you see, is complete without a lesbian love scene, not even a mystery novel. Thankfully this one didn't get terribly explicit (I'm looking at you, Norman Mailer). Setting aside the theme of lesbian love, the plot was sufficiently convoluted for my taste. I hate novels where the plot is pretty much transparent, which is why I don't generally read fantasy novels of the dragons-and-elves type (although I will read my brother-in-law's, because he isn't afraid to kill off characters halfway through the book that in weaker books would survive to the end and get the princess).

Next up is Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy In America. This is a re-read for me; I first read it waaaaaay back in college, when I used to ride my dinosaur to Sociology class. It is a real classic and a joy to read. Tocqueville has a way of writing that's just like that "clarity" of taste you get from eating well-made food.