Fractionals

I'm close to finishing Nobody's Perfect, and my brother, my mother, my father and my girlfriend have all taken cracks at it, with verying degrees of delight. I think the reason I've enjoyed it so much, and why Lane is such a good critic, is that he writes with such verve, humanity, clarity and taste that we long for him to be enchanted by the same things we like (I admit that one of my favorite stretches of the book is from T.S. Eliot to Thomas Pynchon). And when it comes to his profiles, who could not wish to be as incisively and as warmly summed up as Shackleton, Sturges, Keaton, and even obituaries are? Part of me wishes to see him try his hand at a more sustained examination of an individual, seeing as how his portraits are so clear and charming, but if he prefers the shorter form we will make do, as his talents certainly flourishes there.