My current inability to finish novels: updated!

Regarding the three novels I was working on before:

I finished the Hiassen, since (as my Dad wrote in his comments on the book) it is quite a quick, fun read, and exactly what I need right now. The Jodi Picoult will have to wait for now--I am not ready to read about a tragic pseudo-suicide pact, or whatever the shocking truth shall turn out to be. And The Illuminatus! Trilogy holds me for a few chapters, and then reaches a point of ridiculous nonsense that I can't really follow, and so I put it down. This is not necessarily a downside; since the book is so complicated and confusing (intentionally so, I believe), it doesn't really matter that I'm lost when I pick it back up again. I'm finding it more entertaining in the small exchanges of characters, and I've decided to not worry so much about finding a real thread running through it beyond that of conspiracy and confusion. Which, occasionally, is enough.

I also just finished Look At Me by Jennifer Egan. I picked this book up off the street almost literally when it was put out in a "free!" box of stuff when someone down the street was moving, so I grabbed it. In my opinion, any free novel is worth saving--you never know, it might be brilliant. This one is certainly dramatic; it begins with a model whose face is destroyed in a car accident and then, thanks to modern medicine, beautifully reconstructed. However, she will (of course) never be the same. From there, the novel tackles the grand themes of truth and beauty rather poignantly and from a unique angle. I recommend it.

Carl Hiaasen, James Lee Burke, Hemingway, and Grisham

No, this is not some fantasy novelist team, although I do think the dinner table conversation would be fascinating.

From my Dad:

Just finished two crime/mystery novels, which I like for the escapism. The two I read were, however, very different from each other. Nature Girl, by Carl Hiaasen, features his usual assortment of goofy characters. His books combine suspense with political satire (centered on Florida, but applicable everywhere) and off-beat people. And there is always cosmic--not necessarily legal--justice in the end. His books are always fun. My favorite is Stormy Weather, but this one is hilarious.

On the other hand, Tin Roof Blowdown, by James Lee Burke, is Burke's usual gloomy, brooding meditation on the injustice suffered by the poor and powerless at the hands of the rich and powerful. So what else is new? Good question. And in this book, Burke sets garden-variety crime in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, and it gets really depressing. Also, in every one of the Dave Robicheaux books--he's the police detective hero--Dave's family is threatened by thugs. Don't you think he'd learn his lesson? Still the books are entertaining, even if this one over-reaches in what it tries to do. I would recommend Bayou Cadillac and In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead.

Also just finished Across the River and Into the Trees, by Ernest Hemingway, which is proof that a great writer can produce an awful novel. Set in post-World War II Italy, it features a 50-year-old American soldier, veteran of both world wars, with an incurable disease, and his 19-year-old Italian girl friend. As a father of a young woman, I have trouble with the age difference in the relationship, but beyond that, this novel is tedious and pretentious. It was a relief to finish it.

Now reading: The Appeal, a novel by John Grisham, about a civil suit against an evil chemical company on behalf of cancer victims, and Broken Government, John Dean's case for never again allowing government-hating right-wingers to take over and trash our three government branches. I heard Dean (yes, the Watergate guy) speak a few weeks ago. Wow.