Lacking Natural Simplicity

Glory Lane, by Alan Dean Foster, copyright 1987; Ace, August 1987. Amusing in some respects, but one of Foster's lesser efforts.

The Surgeon's Mate, by Patrick O'Brian, copyright 1981; First published in 1980 by William Collins Sons & Co Ltd; W.W. Norton and Company, Inc, 1992. After facing the apparent diminution of the affections that have driven him for years, Stephen Maturin finds that they have not diminished, rather that they have been muted for a time, and is given the strongest possible evidence that his affections are returned in a measure greater than he could have hoped for, with the long-sought but previously unlikely outcome. Strongly recommended, but it's necessary to have read a number of other books in the series for the full effect, perhaps most importantly Post Captain.