Author: Geoff W

Reading my way through life.
Books

Book 355: Jane Vows Vengeance (Jane Fairfax #3) – Michael Thomas Ford

Geoff W

Book three of the Jane Fairfax trilogy just didn’t live up to Jane Bites Back or Jane Goes Batty. That being said, there were some great moments, but overall it just wasn’t as light or as fun. As an end to the trilogy, it did a decent job wrapping everything up as it should and leaving enough room to keep going if Ford ever decides he wants to write more, but I doubt I’ll read more.

Rather than keeping the story in Upstate New York, Ford takes the traveling circus that is Jane Austen’s new life on the road. From Jane’s best friend, Lucy, to the future mother in law Miriam, everyone who is important either goes along or is named dropped at some point. Ford again introduces a cast of quirky minor characters, but this time they felt lightweight and fluffy. There wasn’t a lot of substance to many of them and I was left wanting.

Click here to continue reading.

Random

Bienvenidos a Madrid

Geoff W

2014 06-02 Madrid PostcardWhen this posts, I will be in the air on my way to Spain! Needless to say I am very excited and cannot wait to explore a new country. It has been almost six years since I was last out of the country, living there so not really traveling, and it’s been too long!

For the first week, we will be in Madrid. We have SO much planned from the national library and a  bus tour on the first day, to eating at one of the oldest continually run restaurants in the world, a rooftop walking tour and visiting the many museums and bull fighting ring!  I’m also VERY VERY excited about visiting the Don Quixote* and Sancho Panza statue on the postcard my sister sent me last summer and getting my picture taken there too!! I plan to start Don Quixote (Part 1 & Part 2) while I’m there to make it even more festive!

I’ve scheduled a few posts for when I’m gone, including an update on Monday (June 15) of where we go for our second week! So don’t worry if you don’t get an immediate response from me.

*I’m going to stick with the “x” version of Quixote as that is the way it is spelled in the title of the version I am reading. The postcard, and many other places have the “j” version, Quijote.

Books

Book 354: Jane Goes Batty (Jane Fairfax #2) – Michael Thomas Ford

Geoff W

When I finished this I did a little wiggle in my seat and clapped my hands. Some times I really do wonder about my sanity.

Having finished Jane Bites Back I immediately got a copy of the next two, this book and Jane Vows Vengeance from the library – YAY Kindle! I didn’t read this one quite as fast as the last one even though I was working from home, but it was just as well written and hilariously fun!

What I took out of this novel was how great Ford is at caricatures, not only of characters but of ideas and fads. I spoke about the Janeites and Brontëites in the last novel and how he brought those together, but he does it even better in this novel. There’s a giant love festival, don’t ask, and the culmination is a game between the two. Originally a softball match, it ultimately is a croquet match, fitting right, and the descriptions and tension are hilarious.

Click here to continue reading.

Books

Book 353: Jane Bites Back (Jane Fairfax #1) – Michael Thomas Ford

Geoff W

I would love to say this is the only vampire inspired fan fiction of Jane Austen I have on my shelf, but it’s not. I won this in a blog raffle from the Mount TBR Challenge back in 2013 hosted by Bev of My Reader’s Block. (I also have a copy of Jane and the Damned, and I’ll be damned if I remember where I got that. Get it? HA!) Regardless, I am familiar with this Michael Thomas Ford through his book, Last Summer, and I was excited to start this one! That being said, his humor and ability to write great characters continues through this novel.

This was such a delightful read! As much as I love the original novels and some times shake my head at the spin-offs and fan fiction novels, this might be one of the best I’ve read! Ford takes Austen-mania, the seemingly constant competitiveness of the Janeites and Brontëites and even the book blogger phenomena, to such an extreme that you can’t help but laugh throughout. (Spoilers ahead!)

Click here to continue reading.

Updates

May Recap 2015

Geoff W

2015 05-28 NPR ThanksI cannot get over how fast this month went. I say that every month, but I honestly have no idea how I have kept myself together in May! From being the midroll on Pop Culture Happy Hour early in the month (direct link) to planning for my rapidly approaching trip to Spain I’m just sort of sitting here looking back and I’m a bit overwhelmed.

I did make a decision on what I’ll be reading this summer and I’ve been inspired by Simon over at Savidge Reads, and my friend from undergrad Carlie who sent me the book section of Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. I think I may do a cull late in the summer before I move to another place in Boston. I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself, but that’s definitely a potential possibility.

Click here to continue reading.