Today's selection is not historical. It's not recent. It's not even in print. But it's creepy as hell.
Small World straddles the line between horror and sci-fi. How can you not love this cover blurb: "For [cougar/socialite] Dolly, it was lust for revenge...for [eccentric, emotionally stunted inventor] Roger, it was just lust."
But, truthfully, the language here is several grades above that of He Who Must Not Be Named (the writer she is always, and unfairly, compared to - guess who). It's taut, rhythmic, and stays in your head long after you put it down. And it's a thrilling, fast-paced story, full of vivid details, by turns hilarious and deeply disturbing.
Best of all, her female characters are living, breathing, 3-dimensional people with complexities and belivable thoughts and behaviors - unlike those of a Certain Writer to Whom I Will Not Unfairly Compare Her. And I don't think it's because of her gender; after all, female authors are just as capable of writing shallow stereotypes of women as male authors are. "Tabby" is just a plain good writer.
I read it for the first time in the seventh grade, and still have my copy; it bears the marks and stains and folds of many moves between dorm rooms and apartments, many hospital stays, many car trips and plane rides, beign carried in backpacks and shoulder bags and suitcases. I've mailed it to friends as gifts, and imagined my enemies into some of the character roles. What higher recommendation can there be?
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