Day 43

Books Left: 97
Current Book: The Postman Always Rings Twice by James Cain

From the book jacket: "The Postman Always Rings Twice, Cain's first novel--tried for obscenity in Boston, the inspiration for Camus's The Stranger--is the fever-pitched tale of a drifter who stumbles into a job, into an obsessional passion, and into a murder."

Okay, I totally could have read The Postman Always Rings Twice in one sitting, but I started it really late Thursday night, and had to put it down and go to sleep about 2:30 in the morning.  I picked it up again today and read the whole story in about an hour.  I loooooooved it.  I don't think that's enough "o"s to express how much I liked it. 

It starts in media res, which I've realized I like.  It also does that thing (I'm sure there's a term for it) where each chapter ends in the middle of some action, or with some big action just finished, so that you can't put it down.  You have to keep reading to see what happens next.  And I really liked the characters.  They were really well developed.  The three main characters are Frank Chambers, a drifter; Nick Papadakis, "the Greek"; and Cora Papadakis, Nick's wife.  Frank is, again, somewhat morally bankrupt.  Like I said, he's a drifter, and he falls in love with Cora.  Unlike Sebastian Dangerfield and his women though, Frank and Cora are actually in love.  You feel sorry for their situation (or I did, anyway).  Nick is an incredibly warm, welcoming person.  The type of person that sees the good in everybody, but not so much that he's a complete pushover.  He's my favorite character.  Cora reminds me of Maggie from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, but I'm not completely sure why.  I guess just because she's a strong female character who sticks up for herself and speaks her mind. 

Anyway, I suggest The Postman Always Rings Twice for a quick read.  Spoiler alert: there's no Postman.  And that's not really a spoiler.  The book it's in is a collection, and I've thought about reading some of Cain's other works, but I'm afraid they won't be as good and I'll be let down.

The next book on the list is The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles.  Another book I've never heard of before (so far the only one I had heard of was The Postman Always Rings Twice).  The library is closed tomorrow, so I might end up reading Double Indemnity, the next in the James Cain collection I have.