Personal ramblings about place in fiction

As I've mentioned a couple of times before, I've been reading a lot of gay fiction lately. I've recently read two gay romances featuring characters who are from River Falls, the town I live in.

The first I read, Physical Therapy by Z.A. Maxfield, is actually the second in the series. It's a sweet romance and a tear-jerker, and the protagonist has a dark and unhappy past. I was rather surprised, at first, when I read that he was from River Falls, but I figured that everyone has to be from somewhere, so why not? But there are many references throughout the story about River Falls, because Jordan hasn't really left his past behind. It is very bizarre seeing your town repeatedly described as tiny and unpleasant. It is actually neither. I realize that the town is seen through the prism of Jordan's unhappy past, but still I found the whole experience quite...weird.

I have just finished the first novel in the series, St. Nacho's. Half the book actually takes place in River Falls, so I was a bit apprehensive about reading it. But it wasn't quite as unnerving as Physical Therapy, as it turned out. Because the town was described in enough detail that it clearly wasn't River Falls. Certain landmarks were mentioned, like the swing bridge and Veterans Park, but otherwise it was just not the town I live in. It's sort of like when I was watching The Fellowship of the Ring and they got Legolas wrong--after I'd seen it a couple of times, I accepted that there was a character in the film who happened to have the same name as a character in the books, but he wasn't the same character. After that, I was able to enjoy the movie. Likewise a town that has the same name as mine, but obviously isn't my town, is actually less unnerving than reading about a town that might have been mine.

Nook Update

Last weekend, after owning my Nook about a month and a half, I noticed that the case had cracked just beneath the right page-forward button. I started using the left button instead, and by the next day it had cracked, too. Consulting B&N's support forums, I found that this is a common problem. I called Barnes & Noble, and they agreed to replace the Nook. It arrived today, I downloaded my books again, and am on my way. Stuff like this is annoying, but Barnes & Noble is doing customer service right. And I still love the Nook.

Murder with Mirrors

This is a 1985 TV movie of an Agatha Christie mystery, starring Bette Davis and Helen Hayes. The production values are so-so, the acting is fakey, and the script pretty bad. For instance, someone drives into a metal gate and the car explodes into a fireball. It's really a shame how many bad films have been made out of Christie novels, but this is by no means the worst I've seen.