Book completed

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Miss Mapp, by E.F. Benson. This book is delicious social satire throughout. In the first chapters we meet Elizabeth Mapp, who thinks poorly of everyone and delights in social manipulation. We also meet her somewhat more pleasant social rival Diva Plaistow, who thwarts some of Mapp's schemes, often quite accidentally. Then we shift our attention largely to Major Flint and Captain Puffin, who live near enough to Mapp that she always knows when they're sleeping or awake. These two best friends also loath each other. They play golf together all morning and drink together most evenings, and their bickering far surpasses anything the women could get up to. Most of the story involves the fallout from the night when Flint drunkenly challenges Puffin to a duel and regrets it thoroughly by morning; Mapp gradually manages to twist it all to her great advantage.