The self-imposed weight of life precludes sustained thought on any single issue, and besides, some small creature will be tugging on my shirt sleeve within seconds. Here's what I have between the tugs-

Ford Madox Ford's The Good Soldier is vastly underrated, and I blame Hemingway for scathingly besmirching this man's character in A Moveable Feast. It may also have kept legions of prospective spouses from hooking up in the old sense, as this delivers the worst marriage has to offer from multiple angles. Victorian propriety does build up a mighty lust behind the cloak room door. Long live the unreliable narrator.

Dawn Powell's The Locusts Have No King had me playing the tune of underappreciated gem in my head until tedium kicked in near the end. That said, salty dialogue and scathing satire make this Dorothy Parker-snide for the long haul of a novel. Good enough to try again, which I'm doing in about four minutes with what big boys say is a better effort, The Golden Spur.

Richie Unterberger has written four thousand books about 60's rock, and god bless his diligence. He doesn't, however, make you need to check out his subjects' music, as the 19 "overlooked innovators" in his Urban Spacemen and Wayfaring Strangers are interesting stories told in workmanlike prose with dry critical detachment. Facts and judgment but no passion. This ain't the New York Times, so a little fanboy enthusiasm never hurt in the rock crit business. Still informative, though, so excuse me while I download the Bonzo Dog Band discography.
Kingsley Amis is not funny in Stanley and the Women, and his misogyny is not aggressive enough. Shockingly, there's not even enough booze.

Pete Dexter's Paper Trails is night table reading for those who look forward to bad dreams. And I'm not just talking about the Mrs. Dexter columns. He celebrates his "simple man" ethics a few too many times and tells too many stories of domestic violence unpunished, but the lean prose and comic timing kick most of the time. Amazingly, he didn't hurt his sizeable reputation with this one.

The Rolling Stones' Got Live if Ya Want It is a fucking monster, and King Louie and His Loose Diamond's Memphis Treet is still the record of the year.

This has been short-attention span theater.