What’s that I see coming from the sky? Rain? Confetti? Bird poop? Why no! It’s the beginning of the reading BLIZZARD!!!! I see Samara has posted something too, but I haven’t read it yet and will for now ignore it, because I have something much more important to say. I have started my Wildcard pick. I bought this at the airport, coming back from my wonderful trip with Samara and Ursula. I absolutely hate flying post-911, but the only thing that makes it worthwhile (except for the potential frisk from the lovely TSA ladies) is the chance to buy a book, guilt-free, from the airport bookstand. Going to a normal bookstore, like Borders, I generally feel obligated to buy something literary, but at the airport, it’s a free-for-all and a great excuse to buy trashy novels. This is where I discovered Tom Robbins and Carl Hiassen after all. This time I opted for “Mirror Mirror” by Gregory Maguire. I’m haven’t infiltrated into literary circles enough to know whether this qualfies as trash or literature, but whatever.
The only other thing I’ve read by the esteemed Mr. Maguire is Wicked, which I thought was wicked brilliant. I used to be a little skeptical of authors who based their stories off of existing stories, and that is pretty much all this guy does. Wicked was based on the Wizard of Oz, Mirror Mirror is based on Snow White. But hey, let’s face it, there are about 7 plots in the world and we’re all basically working off the same ones, so why not be blatant about it, no?
Anyway, I’m on page 52 and not completely absorbed in it yet. And he uses a lot of big words. Now I’m an educated person. I at least have a bachelor’s degree. In my family, that is considered pretty low, but frankly I have no desire to get a master’s degree. Samara and Ursula (and even Jon) think they are all hot stuff, but I’d personally rather sit by the fire with a glass of organic, sulfite-free red wine and a good book than study for a master’s degree. Anyway, I digress (too much sulfite-free red wine tonight)…what was I talking about?
Oh yeah… big words. I was an english major and am a writer, but I am a copywriter. That means that I pride myself on writing words that people understand. Like real people. Like Sarah Fucking Palin. She’s got the right idea. Darnit and Hockey Mom are words that Joe Plumber understands. But Gregory Maguire is not Sarah Palin, so I am keeping a running tally of words to look up. I still think he’s brilliant, but it sometimes happens that I read an entire paragaph and have no idea what has just happened. Here’s a sampilng of words I don’t know:
Simony
crozier
infessura
infans Romanus
Nereids
ostler
Well, there are a lot of other ones too. Besides this one, I’ve also picked out my controversial pick for the Blizzard. It’s called “Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha, and Christ Unveiled” by Acharya S. I figure that if the author has only an initial as her last name, this has to be Real, True, Contoversy. I got this from Jon’s stash. Sweet.
Well, happy reading. I’m going to read Samara’s post now.
3 Comments
October 19, 2008 at 12:56 am
Wow, what a crozierly post! Let the blizzard begin! Mmm, blizzard. I wonder if Dairy Queen’s still open….
Given, their penchant for abstruse wordage, I think Maguire and Cormac McCarthy must belong to the same literary circle. Or maybe they’re just the same person.
October 19, 2008 at 2:09 am
Actually that’s so funny you mentioned Dairy Queen. I drove by DQ today and it was all boarded up. I almost took a picture so I could blog about how sad it was that summer was over and winter is coming. Though isn’t it ironic how they have the Blizzard and yet aren’t open in the winter. The world is just so strange sometimes.
October 19, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Yes, it’s a cruel world out there indeed. Now whenever you blog this fall and winter, you’ll be reminded of Dairy Queen….