I've been reading some Ian McEwan novels simultaneously* and finished one today,
Sweet Tooth, rather appropriately on chocolatey Valentine's Day. (I no longer take valentine chocolate for granted, though, after listening to an
NPR story about
Askinosie Chocolate.)
Sweet Tooth is a spy novel, sort of, and not about chocolate at all.
(I'm also reading
On Chesil Beach.)
I was wanting to read
Atonement, having seen the movie again recently, but the library only has the audiobook,** Oddly enough,
Sweet Tooth relates to two other movies I've seen recently--the wacky
Spy, with Melissa McCarthy "running" her spy, Jude Law (and I wouldn't have known what "spy running" was in this novel if I hadn't seen that comic film) and
The Man Who Never Was, based on a
true story (and a book).
When I encountered the story of a body washed up on a beach in
Sweet Tooth, I thought, "Whoa!
The Man Who Never Was!" (And, really, I think my mind nearly
linked it the way I have linked the title to the IMDb entry, because I sort of dream electronically now. It's scary. I was updating my daughter's FAFSA in my dreams last night, I think....). And Ian McEwan was indeed referencing that case!
OK, there are way too many random
coincidii for my brain to handle today: all the Ian/Ewen/McEwan similarity, the sweet toothiness, even the beaches.***
*Because I need a book-in-progress for breaks at work and at home!
**And that doesn't work for those breaks.
***I have never seen
Beaches. But now I might have to, since IMDb tells me that Spaulding Gray was in it,
a man who most wonderfully was.
Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day, chocolate or no.
i want to thank you for a few weeks ago to introducing us to 'Being Mortal' by Atul Gawande which i finished yesterday. so informative and applicable to recent experiences in my life. Gracias !
ReplyDeleteI love love love Ian McEwan. Thank you for expanding my reading list with these other titles. Project = new poetry book?
ReplyDeleteAnd for me at least, the "You Might Also Like" at the end of your post had "Serpent's Tooth", "Sweet Escape" and "Random Coinciday". Everything links to everything in the end.
ReplyDeleteI read Sweet Tooth for my reading group awhile ago, but sadly have very little recollection of it.
I fear that might happen for me, too, Seana, but I continue to be moved by (the film version of) Atonement.
ReplyDeleteI liked both the book and the movie a lot, but with both I really disoriented when it leapt from the earlier time period into the later.
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