Away from grim

I just finished reading Even the Dogs by Jon McGregor. Grim. Hard to read. Fragmented. And well done. I really liked that the arc of the story was the discovery of one man's death, including the following police and coroner investigation and inquest. Interspersed with that were the voices of his friends and family, such as they were, mostly in drug induced states of panic, fear and loneliness.

This was a bit darker (okay, a LOT darker) than I usually read. Before that I read The Bell Jar, so now it's time for something lighter.

I have Zadie Smith's new one, a collection of her essays called Changing My Mind. The first few essays were a little dense and scholarly, we'll see how it goes on. I read On Beauty and loved it, she is a brilliant writer.

There are some people who write both fiction and non-fiction. Sometimes, maybe even often, I find that I prefer one or the other with a particular author. For example, Anne Lamott. I love her non-fiction (Traveling Mercies, Operating Instructions, Bird by Bird), and haven't loved her fiction so much.

Not sure if that will be true with Zadie Smith. If this one feels too dense, I will look for something lighter.