What I'm Reading

I recommend The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde, a British author. The novel is set in an alternate-reality 1985 in which time travel is possible, the Crimean War is still being fought, and Great Britain is essentially controlled by a shadowy corporation. Overlaid on this is a rather fun police procedural mystery with lots of literary gags. One element that is fun is this is a society in which literature is taken very seriously - there are fights over whether Shakespeare or Bacon wrote the Shakes plays; people name themselves after their favorite author (so much so that folk are referred to as "John Milton #16").

Last night I read a section describing an audience-participation production of Richard III. The audience has seen the play so many times, that people can recite it from memory. Members of the audience are chosen at random to play the parts - so many come in costume, in hopes of being chosen. Those not chosen are very involved in the play - e.g., they shout "When is the 'winter of our discontent' " as the actor playing Richard shuffles across the stage. On the whole very reminiscent of the "Rocky Horror" phenomenom popular in the U.S. during the 1970's.

The novel is a fairly brisk read, and is the first in a series (the second was recently published). I plan to reserve the second book at the library, and will watch for future books in the series.