The sage of Baltimore, H.L. Mencken, held monogamy to be comfortable, laudable and sanitary. This is the sort of no-frills domesticity that would appeal to Macon Leary, also from "Bawl-mer" and the main attraction of Anne Tyler's tenth novel. After his wife leaves him, Leary reduces homemaking to an antic science. A percolator and an electric corn popper hooked up to a clock radio allow him to wake up to brewed coffee and popped corn. Bed making is eliminated by stitching a sleeping bag from a sheet. To save time and kilowatts, the laundry is thrown into the bathtub and stomped...
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