More From My Dad

My Dad's an avid reader. What can I say? More from him:

I just finished The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood. [Ed: Jo recommended this one too! See below] A great book about life in an America fractured by nuclear accidents, pollution, and internal strife, and then taken over in a coup by religious fanatics. Wonderfully written, but very grim--be prepared to be depressed--although she does end it with a ray of hope for humanity. (Some time ago I read another of her post-apocalyptic books, Oryx and Crake (actually I listened to a recording of it while commuting), which is even more depressing but somewhat more plausible, because of her attention to certain details.)

Now reading Prague, by Arthur Phillips, about five twenty-something Americans among those who (apparently) flocked to eastern Europe after the fall of communism in the early 1990s, to take advantage of job opportunities in an exotic place. Despite the title, all the early action is in Budapest. I'm interested in the characters, but I think Phillips over-writes (as in the start of a chapter: "When the Monday sun hoisted its first yolk-yellow arc over an eastern hill of Budapest..." I think that's a sarcastic comment about air pollution, but I'm not sure). We'll see.