Monday

Ha, although this definitely isn't a BIG book ... finished reading Carol Anshaw's Lucky in the Corner last night, and really liked it. A lesbian couple, Nora and Jeanne, Nora's daughter, Fern, Fern's best friend Tracey, Fern's sometime boyfriend James, Nora's brother Harold (also known as Delores, who hosts canasta nights), Lucky the dog ... it sounds like a large cast of characters, and in a way it is, but they're all so sharply drawn they never run together. For me, this was a way more believable gay couple than in The Kids Are All Right, although there's at least one huge similarity. I mean, is there a lesbian = landscape designer trope I don't know about? Anyway. Lucky in the Corner is a great read, and I highly recommend it. Two strong thumbs up, for real.

On a completely different note, from the BBC History Magazine ... mugshots of Victorian criminals! Don't miss the guy at the end, one William Parsons, who set fire to his neighbor's barn. o_O