I watched it for a little while (I like to watch things on tv)

I am now three chapters into Patricia Highsmith's "The Price of Salt" and it's pretty great. It has all the period details of "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and more, and it doesn't bother explaining them. In that way it's like jumping into a pool without knowing how deep it is. (I don't know, maybe they didn't paint the depths on the side of the pool.)

Maddeningly, though, maddeningly, Patricia Highsmith named her protagonist Therese Belivet. I'm not a fan of the name "Therese." I don't have a problem with the name being an iamb; some of my favorite friend's names are iambic. But wow, "Therese" is iambic to the point of absurdity. It's because it seems truncated, almost like the speaker was murdered before getting to the A which rightfully belongs at the end of the name. "Let's name her 'Theres-'" STRANGULATION DEATH

(Clearly the speaker would have to be strangled because stabbing could result in an "AHH!" which would still finish the name: TheresAHH. Oh, comical!)

There is a WFMU volunteer named "Thérèse," which is pronounced teh-REZZ. But the protaganist of our novel has neither aigus nor graves in her name. (Italicizing foreign words, Edgar Allen Poe-style!) Sometimes our protagonist is called "Terry," which is arguably worse than "Therese."

Sweet Jesus, I've got another 220 pages of dealing with this woman's name. On the plus side, the dj on WFMU played "Satellite of Love" while I was driving to work and that made me completely giddy. Recapture the giddiness, reject the Therese. That's today's advice.