I hurriedly catch up on some reviews

People of the Book *** 1/2
by Geraldine Brooks
Interesting little mystery about discovery of the Sarajevo Haggadah, apparently based on a true story. Nice parable about the reverence people have for the written word with interesting paleographic tidbits spread throughout. As a novel, it's so-so.

Angel ***
by Elizabeth Taylor
Story of a pushy, officious, and utterly humorless Edwardian lady novelist. Eponymous writer cranks out lurid historical romances, but is herself frigid in every way except toward animals, particularly cats, on which she projects the kind of fawning love she cannot seem to flog out of her fellow humans. What's most interesting about the novel is the way other characters respond to Angel, who elicits everything from dog-like devotion to pity. Interesting for its satiric touches and solid style, but the cipher-like quality of Angel herself left me feeling fairly cold about the whole experience. Maybe that's the point.

The Price of Salt ***
by Patricia Highsmith
A story of lesbian love from the 1950s remarkable for its ***SPOILER*** happy ending. The women in this novel are, refreshingly, not immersed in "lesbian culture," do not seem psychologically troubled, are not interested in wearing flannel shirts and butch haircuts, and seem to have relatively normal relationships with men. What reminds us that we are not in the 21st Century is the private detective hired by an ex-husband, who hopes to use "sexual deviation" estrange her completely from their daughter. Not that that couldn't happen now.

The Stand ***1/2
by Stephen King
Apparently this book was much thinner when it was first published in 1978; this is the 1989 version to which King restored many passages that the editor threw out. Readers would do well to remember they're reading a book conceived in 1978 because otherwise some of the references seem anachronistic.

Anyhoo, you've read this story before--human race is nearly wiped out by super plague and survivors have to rebuild a Better World in the face of Evil--but King is so good at creating compelling characters that it's still worth a read.

Sidebar note: I'm sure legions of English students have written about King's use of the "magical negro" in several of his novels, and "The Stand" features Mother Abagail, who gets messages from God. She's a figure much like Dick Halloran in "The Shining" or John Coffey in "The Green Mile." These characters are benevolent, wise, and intelligent underdogs--perhaps the type of characters a nerdy English major like King would love. But I find it somewhat disturbing that ***SPOILER*** these characters are uniformly sacrificed in the cause of saving the white characters. Just sayin'.

Pedra Canga ****
by Tereza Albues
Reviewed this Brazilian novel of magical realism for my friends at Belletrista.com.