Old boys of summer

Older women on the prowl are cougars so older guys sleeping with younger women would be, what, tomcats? Mountain lions? Bobcats?

Try losers. The NY Times has a terrific piece on older bachelors on the prowl in the Hamptons and the rules they set for themselves about dating and sleeping with the women with whom they share a house. Often times the ladies are in their mid-twenties and thirties and should know better but hey, it's a timeshare by the beach. The men in the article are so pathetic, so clueless that they don't even mention being happy or content. One great quote:

“I’m at the upper range of being able to pull this lifestyle off,” he conceded. He has a nagging sense of overstaying the party, he said. “You’re realizing you’re out there playing beer pong with people and every reference they make is to ‘Napoleon Dynamite.’ We’d be making ‘Caddyshack’ or ‘Animal House’ references.”

One Summer Jerk says he wants to sort this lifestyle out by the time he is 40. Good luck, pal, you better get started and soon. There may be pretty young girls looking to summer in the Hamptons each year, but a great house with a wonderful view won't mask that fact that you're old enough to be their father. Grow up, already. These ladies can smell a loser.

Rabbit Reads

Yup, I was in the same room as America's Man of Letters, my favorite writer, the man whose books make my shelves groan. I went to a reading at the Union Square Barnes & Noble with a decent crowd of around 120 people in tow. No signing so I brought one of his books for naught. Just a nice reading and a short Q&A afterwards. As this was a reading of his most reccent novel Terrorist, the questions were about 9/11. Being less than one mile from Ground Zero still weighs heavily in people's minds. It's easy to think that people who may hate the war on terror also dismiss the impact of the terror attacks from five years ago. Not so. It's still on people's minds.

The reading was pleasant. Updike read in his light, almost wheezy voice, and he was straining a bit to hear the questions from the audience. He still has an impish smile and he seems tickled at times that he has made a life of writing novels, short stories, reviews and poems. The B&N representative who introduced Updike mentioned a forthcoming novel in October and I believe she called it Due Consideration. I think I read that he called it a multiple-character book, much like the cast of dozens from the film Gosford Park. I wonder if it will be a small New Engand town teeming with affairs and troubled marriages. Can't wait.

I also finished Money by Martin Amis. A mad, howling and hysterical book. It's pure Brit Bellow, a crazy hero behaving poorly, showing no grace, will power, or reflection. Just pure, raw id. Imagine Herzog or Herderson the Rain King high on coke and whiskey in 1980s Manhattan. Absolutely terrific.

I am reading Very Good, Jeeves, my first venture into the land of Wodehouse. I am glad to discover Wodehouse later in life -- if I had picked up this book shortly after college, I doubt I would have relished it the way I am now.

On order from Amazon: Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis and Suite Francaise. Should be here in a few weeks.