II/I/MMIV

Apologies for the no-post day yesterday. A combination of massive hangover and unfinished business required my attention. Last week one of my bartenders (my view towards bars and bartenders is akin to a religious person's view of church and ministers) loaned me a novel called Dogrun by Arthur Nersesian. Not bad--lots of references to the Lower East Side--for that matter, to lower Manhattan in general, some of which I caught and some which I didn't.

The plot was interesting enough to carry me along--the protagonist, a 29 year-old woman, Mary Bellanova, deals with the death of her live-in boyfriend by seeking to find out more about his mysterious life, while dealing with a day-to-day existence that includes temp jobs, the party scene, "art," and a mystery figure--Joey, an older man who was her neighbor when she was a young child.

I wish that the author's name had been unknown to me, because I couldn't help but read the book in a critical vein. Was Nersesian able to "get" the woman's character down? I think I'll have to read some contemporary fiction by a woman author to make the comparison, but there were a couple of things I noticed that I might otherwise have not considered had I not been looking...

Would I recommend reading it? Sure, it's pretty short, the author has good technique, and the plot is good enough to carry you along. If anyone HAS looked at this, by all means feel free to comment. And, what was it that I noticed that made me think Nersesian did ok with his portrait of Mary Bellanova and her friends, but not quite extraordianary? I'd be happy to discuss it...

BTW--the Roman Numerals in the title reflect that it's Super Droll Day. I'll try to limit posts out of respect for those who want to watch the game or the ads, and, yeah, I'll be doing the same later on (watching the ads, that is). Despite the fact that Panthers QB Jake Delhomme is a local boy, I don't really care who wins, to be honest--besides, there are some Louisiana folks on the other side of the ball, too (Faulk and Reed, to name two). I'm pretty lousy with predictions, but for those who want to know, I'd guess a score of Patriots 34, Panthers 17.

I'll have a couple of other things to bark about in a minute...