What: As I've previously mentioned, author Jenny McPhee has a knack for delightful and unexpected combinations of themes and topics. In the already-recommended No Ordinary Matter, the combination is soap operas + musicals + private detection + neurology. In her debut novel, The Center of Things, it is tabloid journalism + physics + noir film history + obituaries.
Representative quote: McPhee peppers the book with sly quotes from the nonexistent films of a fictional starlet. A sample:
"I'm so in love with you I wish you were dead." Nora Mars, The Downstairs Room, 1966
"Try everything once, then live to regret it." Nora Mars, Dark Blue, 1965
"Reality is something you rise above." Nora Mars, The Labyrinth, 1973
You might not like it if: You get bogged down by the quantity of quantum mechanics.
How to get it: Library or used book seller.
Connection to previous Wreckage: I mentioned The Center of Things during Personal Wreck Week (List #2). McPhee's second novel is No Ordinary Matter (Rec. #9).
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