Bonus

Sometime after the holidays I saw an aged hardbound book at the library's sale: Scott-King's Modern Europe by Evelyn Waugh. I didn't buy it then and predictably kicked myself. A month later, it was still there and I bought it to my measurable glee. I read it this evning as my infirmity waned and while my wife chatted on the phon I read the slim tome in a few hours. It delineates the political adjustments and equivocation which gripped the continent in the postwar years. I was impressed, especially in the aftermath of curling up with the Oxford Illustrated History if English Literature Friday night. It was a placid two hours, leaping from the Victorians to the present (of the publication date, anyway). I was struck that scholar for the world war II period found Waugh lacking in humor and wit. What? Who is this person? Did they never read Scoop, Vile Bodies or the Loved One?

I will be reading the Mutis and Pynchon tomorrow.