Thursday, February 17, 2011

Opening Sentence of the Day: Bech: A Book



"Dear John,
Well, if you must commit the artistic indecency of writing about a writer, better I suppose about me that about you."

-- Bech: A Book by John Updike.

This is from the fictitious forward by Henry Bech, hero of Updike's novel-in-short-stories.  The stories, published between 1965 and 1970, tell of the exploits of an American novelist.  This is the first of a trilogy, followed by Bech is Back and Bech at Bay.

So far, this isn't like anything else I've read by Updike.  Bech seems more like a Saul Bellow hero.  I am enjoying the book tremendously.