Our October meeting was quite small, so I saved the book “Reading in the Dark,” by Seamus Deane for November’s meeting.

I read Tom Wolfe’s latest novel “Back to Blood.”  I have a review under Reviews on the right for book clubs.  I always enjoy reading a Wolfe novel because he is such a unique voice in the literary world.  I remember reading “Bonfire of the Vanities,” back in the 1980’s, and my boss at the time said he couldn’t finish it, that all people are not that evil.    I did finish the novel and read his subsequent works.

When I read a Wolfe novel, I don’t read for the characters, but for that moment in time that Wolfe deems relevant to our microcosm here in the US.  His characters lack dimension and I rarely find myself rooting for one, but he has a way of developing the story and pushing us along with it.  He shows us a few snapshots of the microcosm and interprets it as only Wolfe can do.

I’m not sure that this is a good pick for all book clubs.  There are two very in-depth reviews that may help at 1) http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2012/10/15/121015crbo_books_wood – this is an excellent review by James Wood; and 2) http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/books/review/back-to-blood-by-tom-wolfe.html?_r=0 from The New York Times.

If you’ve read “Back to Blood,” let me know what you thought.