LANDSCAPE WITH TRAVELLER: The Pillow Book of...

LANDSCAPE WITH TRAVELLER: The Pillow Book of Francis Reeves by Barry Gifford (Vintage: $10; 142 pp.). Gifford’s off-beat, picaresque novel takes the form of a series of journal entries modeled after the celebrated diary of Sei Shonagon. Chatty, cheerful and bisexual, Francis Reeves sums up his Zen-influenced philosophy when he remarks, “Most of what goes on in the world is of little interest to me and I am most certainly of very little interest to anybody but myself, and even then I hardly matter. Which, the way I see it, is as it should be.” Despite the disclaimer, his colorful adventures are both interesting and amusing. This light-hearted story by the author of “Wild at Heart” offers agreeable summer reading.