The Human Stain, by Philip Roth.

I became interested in this book when I saw a semi-review of it over at Atrios' place. I can't find the original post, so no link.

It tells two different stories and while a compelling read, just didn't do it for me. The two stories are about one man, a black man who passes himself off as white, forsakes his family and becomes a respected Classics Teacher at a small New England University. There is an incident in which he uses the word "spooks" in regard to two students who have never come to class. Unfortunately for him, and unbeknowest to him, the two students happen to be black, hear about the comment, and he eventually resigns in the malestrom that follows.

The other story is his relationship with an illiterate janitor at the university where he used to teach and the scandal that generates, even though neither one of them are married. Here, Mr. Roth tries to recreate what he considers the hysteria of 1998, the year Clinton was impeached.

Either one of these stories would have been compelling in their own right, and Roth tries to weave them together, unsuccesfully. But, it is a well written book and the characters are compelling, especially the main character, Coleman Silk. If you are a Roth Fan, you probably have already read it. If you have never read Roth there surely must be something better to start with, and then come back to The Human Stain.

Pattern Recognition, by William Gibson

I still have no idea what to think about this book. It is set post 9/11 and the main character, Cayce Pollard, lost her father (or did she?) in the WTC disaster. Cayce is sensitive to logos/advertising and has a freakish ability to tell whether or not a logo will work. The funniest part of the book was her reaction to seeing a Tommy Hilfiger display in a London department store.