Heroic Day-to-day Life

"Sometimes living day-to-day can be heroic, as it is in this subtle, gentle book... a quietly wonderful delight." -O Magazine

The main character/narrator of The Pleasure of My Company, who has yet to be named, is the most interesting character I've ever read about or heard of. He seems to have a lot of not-too-serious mental conditions, like social anxiety and awkwardness. He describes his obsession with numbers in a way that shows but doesn't tell that he is obsessive compulsive. He overthinks anything involving numbers so much, he loses a romantic opportunity with the young, beautiful, recently heart-broken actress who lives upstairs, Philipa. After she complains about the lighting being too bright and "not dim enough, not sexy enough" the main character goes and gets a lower watt bulb, and of course he has to change all of the other light bulbs in his small apartment to match the ones in the bedroom. After a while, the intoxicated and exhausted Philipa falls asleep. Being an honorable man, the main character helps her back into her own apartment. I love the description of his thought process during the whole scene, especially his miles and miles of thought in just a few moments.