The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
by Michael Chabon
read: 2004
Guardian 1000 Novels, Pulitzer Prize

I finished this one during an overnight layover at Heathrow Airport. Recommended for comic book fans.

Under the Net

Under the Net
by Iris Murdoch
read: 2020
Time 100 Novels, Modern Library #95

There's a lot going on in Under the Net. Of the other novels I've read, I'd liken it most to The Ginger Man, also the work of an Irish author. Like Sebastian in that novel, Jake Donaghue stumbles from place-to-place and action-to-action with little intent and often seemingly without agency. Donaghue is pompous, self-centered, and lazy, but not as destructive as Sebastian. He starts the novel with no residence, no job, a decaying relationship, and very little motivation to improve his situation. On paper, things aren't a lot better at the end of the novel, but he's obtained a fresh outlook on things, with some promise for the future. And a dog.