**Meeting at the usual place, the Shakespeare Hotel, 200 Devonshire Street, Surry Hills, on Thursday 13 August 2026, we will be discussing *The Standard Life of a Temporary Pantyhose Salesman* by Aldo Busi.** **It is a sprawling, semi-autobiographical picaresque novel, first published in Italian in 1985. It established Busi as one of Italy's most original and controversial contemporary writers.** **The novel follows Angelo Basarovi, a highly educated gay man in his thirties who is completing a university thesis while earning a living as a temporary pantyhose salesman. Angelo and the owner of the factory travel across Western Europe trying to sell hosiery, but the sales trips are really a framework for Angelo's observations on the people and institutions around him.** **Angelo reflects on his childhood, his homosexuality, class differences and the the search for authenticity in a conformist society.** **This is quite a long novel, at about 430 pages. Soft copies available from the usual places, including a pdf from Dale: email me at dalemills@cantab.net As this is a novel translated from the Italian, it may be a bit difficult to find hard copies through local libraries. Hard copies can be on the expensive side - at least from ebay and Amazon.** **As this is a novel** **translated from the Italian, it may be a bit difficult to find hard copies through local libraries. Hard copies can be on the expensive side.** **Some of us will be there from about 6.00pm onwards, but the meeting formally starts at 7.00pm. We will be meeting in one of the semi-private rooms upstairs. Look for the sign.**
