Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Lauren Willig and George Orwell
I finished this book by Lauren Willig sometime back and I have to say it is well-written and a stroke of genius. My regret is that, because this book seems to be a part in a continuing saga of fictitious spies in Napoleon's era, I have no idea whether to read ahead or backwards. I think I am going to let it remain as a stand-alone novel for me for the time being.It has elements of mystery, comedy, romance in a chick-lit fashion, and English wittiness. Given that I seldom read mystery or crime unless masked in something else, like Ryu Murakami's In The Miso Soup for example, this serves to meet my need for non-romantic thrill in a book, without being a hard-core mystery thriller sort.
My George Orwell's Why I Write, collection of essays by the man himself, is an inspiring read. It makes you think about things, and you find a friend in him if you like writing. Unfortunately, the cat tore some pages of it, and I have yet to come around to fixing them together with scotch-tape, so, reading it came to an abrupt halt. I still find him to serious to be a novelist, though maybe I can hardly stomach very many serious writers, so it could be just me.
Labels: books