Sweet sweat

For all you writers and readers out there, I just read a really good book The Book of Joe by Jonathan Tropper. The hero is an author who writes a story about his small town. He becomes rich and famous but is pretty much universally despised and hated back home because of the way he has characterised them. His father doesn't speak to him and his brother thinks he's a waste of space.

When his father has a stroke, he returns to face his past and his future.

It's snappily written (the blurb recommends it to Nick Hornby fans and I'd concur with that). Here's a quote that appealed to me but there are lots of good lines and interesting thoughts. Maybe you'll put it on your holiday reading list.

"I've never forgiven myself for the head games I played with her during her years in New York, wooing her whenever I felt her slipping away and then pulling back the minute I felt secure again. I allowed her unwavering belief in us to sustain me even at times when I didn't share it, leading her along with promises, both spoken and implied but never fulfilled. By the time I finally began to understand how badly I'd been using her, I had used her up completely."