April 10, 2008

the verdict, which is witches

Poll closed. Last night, on my way to dinner with my friend A (who might be the subject of my next "Words and We's" installment) I stopped at Borders and finally scooped up Son of a Witch. It didn't occur to me that I'd find it in fantasy/sci-fi so I scanned the general lit shelf from Debbie Macomber to Norman Mailer in a panic, finding nothing Maguire, muttering to myself, "Not even one stupid copy of Wicked?!" ... Of course when I discovered my error (my error? Debbie Macomber should be shelved in fantasy if you ask me), I had to dig through a freaking mountain of Broadway-cover-designed editions of Wicked.

Continuing with the L. Frank Baum motif I'm trying to keep going, I also picked up Witches Abroad by British author Terry Pratchett, with whom I am not acquainted, but hope that I'll love because it would be nice to get into someone of whose work there is just ... so much. It's been a long time since I've come across an author whose books I'd pounce on as soon as they came out in godforsaken hardcover. There is Nick Hornby - hilarious, accurate, sublime - but not prolific, exactly. I want MORE. I want this pile of books that seems never to end. Kind of like when I went to Goodwill with my godmother one day in my childhood and found a whole shelf of Choose Your Own Adventure books and bought them all and went through them like a worm. I want to discover a fun author with abundant works and recurring characters, and try as I might, I just can't get back into the Baby-Sitters Club. (I have, seriously, tried.)

A few years back I had horrible drive-thru coffee drinks (pink chai! ai!) with an acquaintance named Wendell, who so wanted me to stop reading Amy Tan and Anne Tyler novels that he gave me his copies of Neil Gaiman's Stardust and Terry Pratchett's The Color of Magic, both of which he happened to be carrying in his backpack. I fell asleep on Stardust and never even picked up the Pratchett, but if Witches Abroad rocks my weekend, I'll have to go find Wendell's book and maybe even drop him a line.

After an impulse grab (Milan Kundera's Identity, which in all honesty scared the crap out of me on a mere skim and so probably will never be picked up again), my gift card leftover is $11.93. Sweet.

2 comments:

NemesisVex said...

Your poll didn't include an option for The Rest is Noise by Alex Ross. I would have voted for that.

I read Stardust when it was published as an illustrated novel by DC Vertigo. I love The Sandman, but I didn't like this story. I watched the movie to see if it could be improved, and it was.

Oddly enough, one of the funniest books I've read was written by both Gaiman and Terry Pratchett -- Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch. Favorite quote: Do notte buye Betamacks.

damned_cat said...

Mmmm, I tried to read Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words and Songbook by Nick Hornby and felt ignorant and lost, and I really wish they came with a soundtrack CD for the musically benighted, like me. Oh, but I clicked a little further and found his iTunes playlist. OK, Alex Ross is on my next poll.

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