Elliott Baker's 'A Fine Madness'

Here is a good book for reading period. Nearly always funny, A Fine Madness relates the adventures of a talented and amoral poet, one Sampson Shillitoe, who is undergoing psychoanalysis to remove his writer's block. The novel maintains a high comic tone, and certain passages are classic, both in conception and execution.

However, with a book like this, one wonders if it is worth reading in hard cover, or waiting a few months for the paperback edition. In this case, it is probably best to wait. A Fine Madness is diverting but not absorbing, and those who remember Gully Jimson will be disappointed with Sampson Shillitoe. The harried student who cannot wait is in luck, though--because this novel won the $10,000 Putnam Prize, it is offered by the publishers with a money back guarantee. If you are disappointed, you can always take it back.