"Wise Children"

Hi, everyone. At the last meeting I mentioned a book that I had just read and loved. The book is Wise Children by Angela Carter. She is a British author who, based on some quick research, is enough of a phenomenon to have other books written about her influence on English literature. Anyway, this book was given to me by a British woman I met on vacation over the holidays. It's about two sisters in their 70s looking back over their lives. They are "theater people" from a family of Shakespearean actors. The book references about every Shakespeare play written (I'm determined to read it again and try to figure out all the references) and is a wonderful comedic book. By the end of the book you realize that she has actually written a modern farce in Shakespearean style. It is a thoroughly entertaining and well-written book. I just bought another of her books (the only one I could find at a bookstore in Charlotte) and will post a review once I've read it.

I also just finished Christopher Moore's latest book Fool that tells the story of King Lear through the character of the Fool (what is it about Shakespeare and me lately?). Remember Rozencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead? Where that play spoofed Hamlet through two minor characters, this one takes on Lear. If you're familiar with Moore, you'll know that this is over-the-top comedy as are all of his prior novels. This one is entertaining, but not quite up to some of his earlier works. For anyone wants a laugh-out-loud author who writes about subjects all over the board (vampires, ecology, death, aliens, nuns, etc.), Moore is a wonderful find. But be forewarned, nothing is sacred and the language and subject matter can be potentially offensive. If you are a Monty Python fan you'd probably enjoy Moore, even though he is even more outrageous. But for pure escape reading, he's one of my favorite authors.

Am I in Kansas yet?

Am I an official Chick-Lits blogger? I thought I had contributed in February - must be blogging in outer space! Anne McC