So. I'm a seasonal reader. It's not that I only read in winter or anything, but I only read certain books at certain times of the year. For instance, I started Helprin's Winter's Tale last Christmas, had to put it aside for school, and have been waiting for it to start snowing ever since [it was a looooong summer].
Right now I'm reading The Brothers Karamazov and having a marvelous time. I hadn't read Russian literature since probably sophomore year of college, at which time I read a bunch of crazy Russians while sick for a few weeks and very feverish. It was kind of interesting, I'm not going to lie. The murder in Crime and Punishment seems SO much more reasonable when you're feverish.
ANYWAY, I'm reading the Brothers K, and it has turned out to be the perfect fall book [i.e. it is preferable if you can wear a sweater while reading it. Also, a cigar doesn't hurt.]. But when we had a 92 degree day out of the blue two weekends ago, it simply wouldn't do. I wanted to go read by the river in Old Town, but I needed a new book... and Katie to the rescue.
Katie: An Impertinent Fairy Tale is my all-time favorite read-in-one-afternoon-make-you-smile-and-wish-you-were-clever book. The main characters are a four beautiful, different sisters (Clovelly, Dawn, Octavia, and of course Katie [aren't those names perfection of some sort?]) and their mother. But mostly Katie, who I love in part because she has green eyes [why do green eyes ALWAYS have to go with villains?]. I don't want to say anything else, except oh yeah, the family is very "friendly" and has a "reputation" and all that...and you still want to be them. B.J. Chute is far too clever, and the whole thing is a beautiful, unselfconscious, artful masterpiece. And seriously, I want to be them.
Well, to be honest, the murder in Crime and Punishment is realistic any way you look at it. I mean, who, on their first go-around, doesn't feel like THEY have suddenly killed Lizaveta?
ReplyDeleteBut amen on the sweaters.