Two Books

Crome Yellow - Aldous Huxley

This book is one of the two assigned for my Modern British Literature class and I read it in bits and pieces over the past week. The plot follows a group of upper-class British intellectuals who stay at the home, the titular Crome Yellow, of Henry Wimbush. Primarily, the reader follows Denis Stone, a young twentysomething poet who happens to be desperately in love with Wimbush's niece, but is too shy to do much about it. Huxley, at this point in his career, was a pointed satirist, and that's pretty much what you're getting here. The book pokes fun at the intellectuals throughout and the humour holds up surprisingly well. However, the most interesting part of the book comes from the dialogue of a character called Mr. Scogan, who details his plans for a "Rational State". Huxley, of course, would pen Brave New World eleven years later and it's quite interesting to see many of the ideas taking shape in this book. The book is a pretty quick read (the cheap Dover edition clocks in at 174 pages) so if this kind of genre happens to be your thing, it might be a good weekend read.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon

Haddon's novel has been one of those "buzz" books over the past few months that I seem to see everyone reading. So, when I saw it at the bookstore for 30% off, I decided I'd give it a try. This book follows autistic teenager Christopher Boone, who finds his neighbour's dog murdered and sets out on a quest to find the culprit. Notable for the fact that it's written in first person from the point of view of an autistic individual, Haddon does a fantastic job of communicating what life is like for the autistic (the author bio notes that he spent a number of years working with autistic children). Christopher is an extremely enjoyable character and the book makes for an entertaining read. Another good book for a weekend, I managed to polish this one off in about two hours. Recommended.