Recent reads

Pledged : the secret life of sororities, by Alexandra Robbins. Oh. So that's what all that nonsense back at college was about. I sort of observed it from what might be called an anthropological distance -- all the identical hairstyles, synchronized socializing, and earsplitting screeching-in-unison at two in the morning. Oh well. None of them would have gone out on a date with me, anyway.

Strapped : why America's 20 and 30-somethings can't get ahead, by Tamara Draut. Pablo the Electronically Absent would no doubt enjoy this book. It makes many of the same observations that he's been wont to make: that financial adolescence now stretches well into the thirties for the average adult nowadays, and that the economic and political systems are more stacked against this demographic than at any time in history. Draut backs up these assertions with both anecdotal and statistical evidence, but unfortunately the solutions she offers are not likely to be enacted, given the strong incentives that both politicians and businesses have to continue abusing young adults. After all, the soon-to-be-retiring Baby Boomers are where the votes and influence reside. Who cares about the well-being of a bunch of people who have no political contributions to offer and are too busy to vote?

The Red House Mystery, by A.A. Milne. The author of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories tries his hand at a murder mystery. Parts of it are mildly witty, but other parts are so veddy veddy British that they seem almost like a parody of the English Country House Murder Mystery. This is one of those novels in which characters say things like "Right-O!" and "Ripping!" while sipping tea on the croquet court. Or in the wood-paneled library (with requisite dead body) or the inevitable secret passage. There's some reason to think that the author was aware of this. The most egregrious character is explicitly intended as a kind of dimwitted Watson-analogue, to which the brilliant amateur detective must explain all his deductions for the benefit of the reader. It finally comes off as neither fish nor fowl, neither serious enough to be satisfying as a detective story nor satirical enough to be satisfying as parody.