Yesterday's poem by George Bilgere is about giving the characters in an important novel the day off by not reading it just now. I like the idea that they get to rest or play or whatever when the book is not being read.
The conception reminds me of the novelist Jasper Fforde. Ok, his name alone is attention-getting. On a flight across the country, I had plenty of time to see another passenger reading intently. I make a point of noting books that people read or mention, one of my best ways of finding out about good stuff. One of the best bookstores I have been to is The Elliott Bay Book Company. I never miss a chance to visit there. Their web site has good stuff, too. Since I live 2000 miles away, it is exciting to be in Seattle. That is where I found a CD of Boris Karloff reading Kipling's "Just So" stories - great voice, great words, fascinating vocabulary. That is where I found "Leaving the Saints" by Martha Beck right after finishing her book "Expecting Adam" about being pregnant and a Harvard grad student at the same time. (Click here to see an example of her fresh, well-put-together writing.)
When I went in after my flight and saw The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde as one of the staff recommendations, that was good enough for me. I didn't think twice, as I often don't. Here the book was recommended by professional booksellers, and good ones at that. And, it had kept a man locked on to it for several hours, not something I see everyday. Bought it and started reading. After a chapter or two, I realized I was in the company of another one of the great nuts, a writer with a truly spirited imagination, on the order of Christopher Moore and Tom Robbins.
Of course, there is a bad guy. You know what this rat, this worm, this fink, this louse does? Get this. Breaks into that beloved novel, "Jane Eyre", a mainstay of English lit and kidnaps an important character to be held for ransom. Spoils the story and if he isn't paid off, that beloved book will be permanently mutilated and never be the same. Turns out that a sharp, brave policewoman, first name Thursday, second name Next, was assigned the case and you can guess how things turned out in the end.
Fforde is Welsh, thus the odd spelling and the magic imagination. He has a whole series of "Thursday Next" stories and another series based on the "true" and more challenging versions of some well-known nursery tales. Many of his books are available on Kindle.
