Friday, May 21, 2010

Book-y stuff

Hello! I missed you!

Anyway, while I wasn't flogging (FREUDIAN SLIP! I MEANT BLOGGING!), I managed to read two books, A WEEK IN DECEMBER by Sebastian Faulks and THE TOWERS OF TREBIZOND by Rose Macaulay. Liked them both very much. A WEEK is kind of a sprawling satire/soap opera set in contemporary London, and kids there's a drunk character at the end who does the best job of clearly explaining why our global economies are collapsing than any single thing I've heard or read. NOT KIDDING.

TOWERS is pure quirk. It's all Thomas Merton meets Monty Python--daffy British humor with the underpinnings of tough real questions about religion and faith. It's not a book everyone would like, but I kind of adored it.

Meanwhile I've spent the morning trolling local libraries for Austen pastiches. WHO KNEW THERE WERE SO VERY, VERY MANY? Including pastiches where familiar characters (think Jane Fairfax) are vampires?

I SO missed the vampire boat . . .

7 comments:

Lisa B. said...

We all--except for a very few--missed the vampire boat, poor us! Who knew that there would be a vampire Third Wave (first wave: Bram Stoker; second wave: Anne Rice)? Pretty soon, we'll all be vampires, but we won't know it or admit it. Just like feminism.

LucindaF said...

You have been reading your little eyeballs out.

I'm pretty sure I'm not a vampire cuz I don't sparkle in the sun.

And also, there's the whole blood thing. Not for me.

link2literacy said...

Excuse me, but where are you? Some references make me think you are somewhere in Austenland - as in Great Britain, but I think you are actually hanging out in a library or book store. I think I better re-read.

I did read the vampire version of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. The funniest part was the 1 or 2-line bio posted by Ms. Austen's co-author.

When I saw SENSE AND SENSIBILITIY AND SEAMONSTERS, I wasn't tempted.

link2literacy said...

This just in: LITTLE VAMPIRE WOMEN by Alcott and L. Matisse (I think) was just reviewed by my friend and colleague on her KISS THE BOOK blog. She said it is MUCH better that P&P& ZOMBIES because the "co-author" has done a better job of writing the re-weaving of vampire details.

Sooooooo - what do you think?

Louise Plummer said...

LITTLE VAMPIRE WOMEN? Louisa May Alcott is rolling in her grave.

Donna Tagliaferri said...

You are back!! Thank goodness. I believe my cousin is not speaking to me....I told her I wasn't going to play any more...no more political contention. It's been done, and frankly it is quite boring. Everyone has acquiesced that there is no real answer. So why bother?
Any way I may need a new cousin, I only have the two, I simply cannot fall below the cousin line...discuss

Bob the Woodworker said...

I need to know why global economies are collapsing, so I need to read A Week in December. Why is it so appropriate that the person who can explain the economic collapse is drunk?