1 down 99 to go

Well, Lucky Jim is finished. Desperate for the thing to be finished, I skimmed over the last few pages, happily closed it and threw it, a little hard, away the other end of our overly huge couch. I needed it to be away from me. It was like a Morecombe and Wise sketch; funny 50 years ago, but just bemusing now.
Dixon, the nail-scrapingly painful hero, floundered through one slapstick situation to the next. One minute burning holes in bed clothes, the next fighting the absurdly named Bertrand like a teenage girl, then finally fainting on stage after drunkenly bumbling his way through a "Merrie England" lecture. After all of this, he somehow ended up with the prized job and the pretty girl. He didn't deserve the happy ending.
It was a story about questioning the status quo. This must be the reason it's included in the 100. Dixon represents a "new" man who fails miserably to fit in with the old-boy world of the university. The problem is he doesn't have any desire to be part of that world; it is like he was blindfolded and dropped into his life against his will. Grow a pair Dixon.
I did giggle at the lecture scene but Lucky Jim annoyed the crap out of me. I'm hopeful things will look up with book 99.

Next up: Scoop by Evelyn Waugh. Thanks to "Lost in Translation" the only thing I know is Evelyn is a man. Those were some funny parents.