These books are still in progress, and are the kind of book to read when you’re almost too busy to read. The first is a novel about a couple in their sixties sheltering in place during the Covid pandemic in Manhattan. The second is a page-turning biography of Cicero. (I wonder if that phrase “page-turning biography of Cicero” has ever been used before!)

I am halfway through  Jay McInerney’s See You in the Next Life, the fourth novel in a tetralogy about an upper-class Manhattan couple, Russell Calloway, the charming owner and editor of an independent publishing house, and his intelligent wife Corinne, the director of a large food charity. 

Set during the Covid pandemic, the novel begins in the spring of 2020 when Italy was locked down but Covid cases were still rare in New York.  No one knows much about the virus, and Russell and Corinne attend their friends’ thirty-fifth wedding anniversary party. Corinne is apprehensive about the crowd, but Russell is not concerned.

Soon the ramifications for the business world are clear: Russell must postpone the publication of books and cancel book tours or move them to Zoom. And Corinne’s food charity depends on donations from restaurants, so when the governor orders the restaurants to close, she must use emergency funds. And then she catches Covid. The anniversary party had been what would later be called “a super-spreader event.”

Really a sad book, not as light as it seems as first, but I recommend starting with the second or third book before reading this new one. The second in the series, The Good Life, is the best 9/11 novel I’ve read, and a good introduction to Russell and Corinne. I also recommend the third book, Bright, Precious Days. (I have yet to read the first, Brightness Falls.) You can read See You on the Other Side as a stand-alone, but I was glad I already knew the characters.

 Josiah Osgood’s Lawless Republic:  The Rise of Cicero and the Decline of Rome is a page-turning biography with an irresistible gossipy tone. For instance, Chapter 5, “Poison Is Detected,” is the story of Cicero’s fascinating murder investigation and court case. Cicero defended Cluentius, a wealthy man accused of poisoning three men, including his stepfather, who died, and his stepfather’s son, who survived.

Here’s an example of Osgood’s lively style and brillaint grasp of details: “For the Romans, poisoning was the most deceitful crime.  It reminded them how vulnerable they were. The cup of wine your spouse handed you might have toxin mixed in.  Or the medicines administered by your own doctor. …  If a poisoner were sly enough. they would never be caught at all.”

This is an entertaining biography, even if you know nothing about Cicero, the famous Roman orator, gossipy letter writer, and down-to-earth philosopher.

And I hope you’ve all been reading entertaining books and enjoying the mild spring days.