50 book challenge. Book 18.
Jun. 5th, 2007 09:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deliriumcrowWhen we were at Convergence we went to Powell's Book Store. I got lost and could not find the entrance. Seriously. It's that big. I went with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
blackavar, who, on leaving, handed me a rather large pile of books. I said I'd send them back, but he insisted that he already had the lot of them, so ... public thanking is in order. :) One was a Kipling that I shall get to in due time (I've read bits of it, but nowhere even close to all) and the rest were a series by Jasper Fforde. The two F's are intentional.
The first in the series is called the Eyre Affair. This was suggested mainly, I think, due to the fact that I snatched up a copy of Wide Sargasso Sea *very* quickly on the way to the coffee. Which was how we ended up there in the first place, but I digress. I read it, and it was every bit as fabulous as he claimed. It's sort of hard to explain fully without giving away very large parts of the plot, but ....
There's a woman called Thursday Next, and she works in the literary branch of the English Special Ops. There are several other Very Odd Branches, and some of those are explained. it becomes possible to go into books, and to take out characters, which causes many interesting problems, murders, explosions, and assorted fun things, as well as dealing with the People's Republic of Wales. It also explains rather nicely exactly who wrote Shakespeare's plays. Oh, and there's a love story, and I swear there's a sideways reference to the Charge of the Light Brigade.
Obviously, this is not in our world. It's a clever paralell of 1985, written by a lit geek for lit geeks, and I'm quite certain I didn't catch half the references it gave. It is, however, very, very funny. And, coming down from Sargasso, it was a pleasant diversion from the depression that book leaves. And there are punctuation jokes.
In short, read it. It's quick, and you won't regret it. So far, the second in the series is proving to be much the same, and I've already been laughing far too loudly. At a goth joke in the first chapter. Heart the books.
blackavar, who, on leaving, handed me a rather large pile of books. I said I'd send them back, but he insisted that he already had the lot of them, so ... public thanking is in order. :) One was a Kipling that I shall get to in due time (I've read bits of it, but nowhere even close to all) and the rest were a series by Jasper Fforde. The two F's are intentional.The first in the series is called the Eyre Affair. This was suggested mainly, I think, due to the fact that I snatched up a copy of Wide Sargasso Sea *very* quickly on the way to the coffee. Which was how we ended up there in the first place, but I digress. I read it, and it was every bit as fabulous as he claimed. It's sort of hard to explain fully without giving away very large parts of the plot, but ....
There's a woman called Thursday Next, and she works in the literary branch of the English Special Ops. There are several other Very Odd Branches, and some of those are explained. it becomes possible to go into books, and to take out characters, which causes many interesting problems, murders, explosions, and assorted fun things, as well as dealing with the People's Republic of Wales. It also explains rather nicely exactly who wrote Shakespeare's plays. Oh, and there's a love story, and I swear there's a sideways reference to the Charge of the Light Brigade.
Obviously, this is not in our world. It's a clever paralell of 1985, written by a lit geek for lit geeks, and I'm quite certain I didn't catch half the references it gave. It is, however, very, very funny. And, coming down from Sargasso, it was a pleasant diversion from the depression that book leaves. And there are punctuation jokes.
In short, read it. It's quick, and you won't regret it. So far, the second in the series is proving to be much the same, and I've already been laughing far too loudly. At a goth joke in the first chapter. Heart the books.
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Date: 2007-06-06 05:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-06 06:02 am (UTC)*hug*
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Date: 2007-06-24 01:27 pm (UTC)The punctuation jokes are bloody brilliant. I mean really, for a spelling and grammar Nazi (at least to a reasonable degree I hope ...) seeing things *intentionally* done like that is just painfully amusing. Especially when he has a perfectly good, if illogical,reason for it.
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Date: 2007-06-06 10:20 am (UTC)I admit, I will go net door and buy some geek goodies too. I can't resist. Retail therapy is one of my weaknesses.
( Pardon previous non logged in entry )
Date: 2007-06-06 10:22 am (UTC)I admit, I will go next door and buy some geek goodies too. I can't resist. Retail therapy is one of my weaknesses.
Re: ( Pardon previous non logged in entry )
Date: 2007-06-08 04:50 am (UTC)Re: ( Pardon previous non logged in entry )
Date: 2007-06-08 06:20 am (UTC)Still I purchased a rather alrger pile of books today. It's going to take me a while to get through them all. Personally, I blame you. :)
Re: ( Pardon previous non logged in entry )
Date: 2007-06-09 08:01 pm (UTC)Soneone asked me yesterday how I survive without a television. Umm, books? He seemed *far* too floored by that response.