Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter

What a treat! This has been one of those books that has been non-put-downable. I've followed H around DIY shops with my nose in a book, sat reading it in the car, been up late into the night, and lain in bed in the morning in order to finish it! With a touch of magic realism, a touch of humour, a touch of romance, a touch of travel ... it's been a great read, and I highly commend it!

It's a much longer book than Fear of Flying, but as you can see, it read it much more quickly ... and not even any tube journeys with it!

Fevvers is a woman with wings ... only a bird in a gilded cage ... Jack Walser is a journalist trying to find out if it's all a big con trick ... and when she goes off travelling with the circus, he goes too. Lots of interesting characters ... clowns, tiger tamers, a strong man, a prophetic pig, clever apes ... What's not to love?!

Fear of Flying by Erica Jong

Jewishness, psychoanalysis, sex. Those three words pretty much sum up this book. And boring. She writes better, I think, about "her" (the narrator's) past than present. Not really my cup of tea ... a bit too "so what?" Shame. I'd been quite looking forward to it ... before I realised what it was about! The prose style was fine, readable, but the storyline was a bit inconsequential. I would therefore disgree with John Updike's description of it: 'Unihibited, erotic, delicious ... a winner'. Apparently it was the "modern classic that changed the way we thought about sex". Hmmm. Nice cover, though.