Hunters and Gatherers

The wacky manic collectors in this raunchy little novel, first published in Great Britain in 1991, collect all manner of things: bad jokes; unrelated bits of ency-clopedic minutiae; sounds, including sexual indelicacies and death rattles; imaginary beer cans; women's knickers; classic cars, and the men who collect classic cars. The narrator, Steve Geddes, is a writer doing a book on collectors, especially those with "unlikely, bizarre, or exceptionally useless collections." His research leads him to the Havergals, a wealthy, eccentric couple. They "collect people"; that is, she does the "collecting" while he watches-"a bout of troilism," as Geddes calls it. By accident, Geddes learns that reclusive "cult author" Thornton McCain may have written a book that Geddes hasn't heard of. Geddes the observer becomes both obsessed collector and, for the randy Havergals, object to be collected. An insightful delight from start to finish; recommended for all fiction collections.