Sunday, November 25, 2007

As my brain rots...

I really am going to have to take a break that involves reading a more serious novel at some point. Somehow, reading for teaching doesn't help. I learned when I was consulting that if I don't read seriously for too long, I start feeling weird, literally as if my brain needs flossing.

One of my friends has been recommending Jasper Fforde for a while, and I got him to read on the elliptical. I started with the first one, The Eyre Affair. As you can tell, loaded with literary allusions, seeing as it's about a female literary detective who tracks down forgers, scammers, and literary characters come to life. Kind of a sci-fi meets female James Bond meets Haroun and the Sea of Stories meets romance. It's pretty good, but moving a bit slowly mid-book as it seeks to entangle you in the terribly clever intricacies of its plot. I don't know if I'll keep going on the series.

But I also happened upon some Sherlock Holmes stories. I've read a lot of these Doyle followers, and these are decidedly the best I've ever found. Donald Thomas is the author, and he's written many books, including a couple of Holmeses.

2 comments:

jodi said...

i know what you mean about the brain rotting feeling..... I like your use of the term "floss." That's exactly what my brain reads. It's working constantly, and yet, it's all muck-- it's not getting its usually, fiber-rific diet of good history, critical theory, and the occassional good bit of literature.

and, there, I mixed my metaphors. oops.

reading to teach is definitely not the same. reading to write is sometimes not the same, either (it depends).

Heidi said...

Reading to write also definitely not the same. If it were, I would have the most plaque-free brain around at the moment.