I still use Angela Thirkell for comfort reading sometimes, but it's getting harder to overlook the racism and xenophobia. So it was strangely satisfying to find out that one of her sons, the writer Colin MacInnes, rejected all of that cozy English countryside, the-old-days-were-so-much-better stuff, and wrote books celebrating multi-cultural London and youth culture. "Absolute Beginners" is a period piece, and includes some language that wouldn't be used today, but I think his heart was in the right place.