I finished Jasper Fforde's The Big Over Easy last night and it was very well done all the way to the perfect ending. I liked the mystery, the red herrings, the craziness and the chaos. Throughout the story Fforde held on to a pretty cool noir atmosphere and even though it is all a bit insane (Humpty Dumpty falls off the wall - in a bad way), you know that you are getting a nursery tale from the moment you pick it up so that's no surprise. I'm probably a tough person to review this book as I just love what Fforde does, in any story, and I read his stuff like a religion. If you need a break from some heavy nonfiction but don't want it to be a pointless break then this is certainly the book for you. He has a sequel due out this summer (The Fourth Bear) and I'm very much looking forward to that.
(Oh - and I've read the Publisher's Weekly review of the book and it is clear to me that the reviewer didn't even like the idea behind Fforde's new series, let alone the book itself before they even started reading it. I thought the mystery was quite well done, the plot easy to follow but with more than a few surprises and the characters were all fantastic. If you don't like the idea behind it, then don't review the damn thing, or at least review it realizing that the people who buy it are looking for this story and not expecting something else.)
Today brought my book of comics from Florida so there will much reading of Batman and Fables and Powers and Wonder Woman (and all that Infinite Crisis insanity that is rocking the JLA world) tonight. I'm mostly a DC girl although there is a bit of Marvel and some independents in there. I would buy more independent comics if I knew more about them - it's hard to tell from the tiny entries in Previews sometimes. I have a review of Dorothy hopefully in the next issue of Bookslut and I love that comic. I'm also a big Oni girl and look forward to the next round of titles from them.
If you live in the NY area there is a reception for the launch of the touring exhibition of Unembedded at the Redux Gallery on 116 East 16th St (12th Floor) on January 18th. I reviewed Unembedded in the current Bookslut and think it is one of the most important books to come out of the current "war". This is photojournalism at its best and I so wish I could be there to see the pictures up close and meet the photographers. Their work really impressed the hell out of me.
