I liked the blurring of worlds between the literary and our own and the many and varied sections in Spec Ops, but ultimately it was the dual love stories of Jane and Edward and Thursday and Landen that gave the book its heart and pushed me over the edge.

I spent a couple of hours tonight reading Rudyard Kipling poems looking for the perfect epigraph for Ashes of a Black Frost and I believe I’ve found it. If it still sounds good to me tomorrow then I’ll feel confident, and if by a week I can’t imagine anything else then I’ll know for sure.

As cool as it might have been to have JRR as ones grandfather, the pressure of trying to live up to that genius would be seemingly insurmountable. Still, Simon Tolkien sounds like he has a healthy view on this and is carving out his own path with nary an elf or hobbit in sight.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/simon-tolkien/jrr-tolkiens-grandson-in_b_550097.html

I’m about three-quarters of the way through and definitely intrigued with the book while also feeling a bit at arm’s length to the central conceit of literary fiction brought to life. It’s exceptionally clever with sly little winks woven throughout, but for all of that I haven’t entirely bought in. Conceptually I love that Fforde’s created a world where literature is revered much the way we do sports. Intellectually it feels “right” but emotionally it just hasn’t got me. That said, I do like the main character Thursday Next and the vampire and werewolf hunter Stoker (a nice homage to Bram Stoker of Dracula fame).

Still rainy here.

It’s raining here in New York which turns everything very, very gray. I went out early to my nearby bodega and grabbed a toasted bagel egg sandwich for breakfast and am now puttering about the apartment doing some spring cleaning. I got in a great writing jag yesterday at the library and may venture out again depending on how hard it’s raining this afternoon.

I started reading the Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde last night. I’m intrigued, but I wouldn’t say I’m fully engaged with the story yet. So far it’s reading like an alternate history that may or may not have a pay off. It could be that’s simply background to the real focus which may in fact be the main character, Thursday Next. I do like the idea of the Crimea War still going on 150 years later though its apparent peripheral nature makes me wonder why. I definitely like the genetically modified pets including wingless dodos brought back from extinction. As with almost any book, however, it is significantly more interesting than television so I plan to enjoy my rainy Sunday with what I hope is going to be a very good book.

The current ones I have are no good for running. Every time I think I’ve healed and start to run again they flare up and I’m hobbled for weeks.