A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore, 2009. Good novel, but disturbing. Good writer, main character a 20 year old US mid-westerner who meets a troubling boy friend, an aggravating employer. Race and terrorism sneak in. One of the characters puts her kids library books in the oven to kill the germs. What a concept!

Started reading Curtains: Adventures of an Undertaker-in-Training by Tom Jokinen, 2010, and really like it. Had to take it back to the library so I have ordered my own copy. What really happens to our bodies when we die? I will be finding out. The crematorium was an education already.

Also started P.D. James’ non-fiction book written this year Talking About Detective Fiction. It’s very interesting.