Smut (Not the Fifty Shades type). . .

This is the first book I've taken out and read from my new local library, which is quite nice and airy with a decent selection and no shortage of titles that I want to read.  However there is no drop-off box to return books after hours!  This seems to be fairly common, at least with all the branches I've seen so far in the U.K. I'm guessing it harkens back to IRA days but it is a bit frustrating and inconvenient as my nearest branch isn't open on the weekends and has no late nights.

Oh well, back to the book.  I've been a huge fan of Alan Bennett and his Yorkshire humour for years and especially appreciate his talent as a playwright.  Smut: Two Unseemly Stories was entertaining but not his best work.  I did enjoy the first novella, "The Greening of Mrs. Donaldson".  It's the story of a recent (but not grieving) widow, who in order to supplement her income takes in two student lodgers and a job at the university's medical faculty posing as different patients to aid the students not only in their diagnostic skills but also their bedside manner.  She turns out to have quite the acting talent and ability to catch not only the students off guard, but their attentive professor, Dr Ballantyne. Meanwhile, her two lodgers behind on the rent offer in lieu of money to stage a performance of a rather more sexual nature with rather unexpected results.  Jane Donaldson is a typical Bennett character of a certain age - tougher and wiser than she first comes across, able to view the world with a witty and cynical eye, and most importantly is someone who by the end of the story can completely surprise herself and be rather chuffed at the outcome.
"The Shielding of Mrs. Forbes" is about a mother coming to terms with her son's marriage to a woman she deems beneath him, while the new Mrs. Forbes realises that her husband isn't all he was cracked up to be. It was a little too pat and predictable for my tastes, but I think I might have warmed up to it had I listened to the audio version, which is read by Bennett himself.  I have a LOT of Alan Bennett on CD - his fabulous Talking Head series, many of his plays adapted for radio by the BBC, and other writings of his that are read by him.  They are performed by the cream of British acting and Bennett himself can absolutely nail his characterizations with his dry delivery.  I'll probably add this someday to my collection.