ffor the love of fforde

I would that you'd excuse me my absence. I'm on something of a reading binge. A re-reading binge. A Ffordian, Thursday Nextish re-reading binge. I began with the latest release, The Woman Who Died A Lot, and then had trouble recalling the rest of the series (I suspect a mindworm) and the rest is the last week of my reading history.

First Among Sequels not pictured, and One of our Thursdays is Missing is missing, but you can read a review here.

This series is just delightfful. And so clever. The idea is that Thursday Next is a Literary Detective with SpecOps. They police things like counterfeit Shakespeare plays, bootleg copies of Dickens and stolen manuscripts. But it's when Thursday realises that she has the ability to actually enter books and interact with the characters within that it really gets interesting. The world Fforde has built is bonkers: it's an alternative world where the Crimean War is still ongoing, Wales is a socialist republic, people travel by airship or these ace Gravitubes (UK to Australia in about 45 minutes or so), cheese is a rare commodity - sometimes smuggled illegally across borders - and, best of all, people prize books and literature above most things.

Wouldn't you love a tv series based on these books? I know I would. Kind of Doctor Who meets Lost in Austen with a dash of Life on Mars via your local bookshop.

meredith music festival 2010

day one:
we are so hip we had to climb a tree to demonstrate to the masses. then we break a hip trying to get down while wearing masks and wellies.

little red. because i've been going to see them since way back when and they are still mega-nerds.

day two: i consider getting a massage, but it seems like a risky move.

the beautiful afternoon sun shines through the gums and pines...

terrible quality photo of neil finn as he invites anyone who can play guitar a bit to come up on stage and play a song with him and a young lad called matthew, who we predict will get so lucky post-show, is the winner.

day three:
i find who i have been looking for and the weekend is complete.

meredith. it was a gas.

a little distraction