[quote SarahAndQuack]@Cluas - oh, interesting! That would certainly make better sense (esp. in light of Jonathan's musings about Stella's hair and the 'intricacies of my dear late father's part-Sephardic DNA').
I had visualised it as tortoiseshell like the cats, which are predominantly pale with reddish/dark blotches.
Thank you! I feel a great sense of all being right in the world. 
Absolutely agree about 'the blond' in that context. Blee.
And yes, I struggle with bits of Jonathan now, so try not to revisit him too much. I agree with whoever it was first suggested that books change as you age. It's funny - I didn't find him appealing at all when I first read the books aged about 16 (I thought Roger was clearly far more attractive, which is right on cue given Trapido later says he had the sort of delicate looks teenage girls go for). Then I thought Jonathan was great, and now I admit I skim past the sex bits.
I think Trapido has man issues in general (but in a nice, and relatable way). Noah in Noah's Ark is a bit of a dick on the whole, and I find it slightly suss how constantly she sends up her own attraction to Jewish men. I've got to admit that if she were a male writer writing like that about women, we would probably call it objectifying and possibly very slightly racist.
But there we go, I'm ruining my own favourite books! [/quote]
Glad to be of service. I really like Barbara Trapido, too, but she has some bizarre quirks, and absolutely to the Jewish man objectification thing -- and is weirdly drawn to depicting extremely passive, vaguely masochistic women who are often drawn to completely insufferable men (like Stella to the awful Izzy Tench and Katherine to Roger). I was always rather charmed by the Goldmans en masse when I first read Trapido, but my younger sister, to whom I lent my copy of Brother of the More Famous Jack, took against them all immediately, and claims Jane Goldman is one of the most annoying of all literary characters, followed by Katherine, whom she considers a miniskirted, knitting-obsessed Mary-Sue.
I've not reread anything other than BotMFJ and Travelling Hornplayer in years -- I should pull out Juggling from whatever corner it's hiding in.
To the people who are complaining about shit books -- try Barbara Trapido's Brother of the More Famous Jack. It's about an suburban eighteen year old falling in love with her philosophy professor's bohemian, chaotic family, and it's clever, funny, and brilliantly-characterised.