The Zoo over Ambuscade Street

You should run, not walk, to go pick up the Irresponsible Captain Tylor TV Ultimate Edition. Now. It's quite possibly the nicest box set release we've seen in the US, and at less than $60, it's an absolute steal for the complete 26 (?) episode TV series, the soundtrack, a booklet full of interviews and other goodies, and a translated novella. See? It's well, well worth it, and pretty limited, so don't waste too much time.

Erik doesn't leave until this afternoon, and I'm already bored. Bored, bored, bored.

I started reading Faces Under Water over the weekend, and finished it a few hours later. It was good - exactly the sort of thing I was in the mood to read, but too short, and difficult to describe. It's one of those books that's more about the atmosphere than the story, and the plot feels like a series of semi-random events strung together loosely with wire. I really like the surreal feel of it, and will pick up the sequels...eventually.

I decided to launch into Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrell next, and am currently about two hundred (of almost eight hundred) pages in, so I feel qualified to put down some inital impressions.

It's very dry, very British, and very early nineteenth century. It reads like a classic from that era - originally serialized, author paid by the word, etc. I love it. It has footnotes, which makes me very, very happy. And not silly footnotes, but ones that feel (mostly) real.

It takes a bit to get started, but once certain characters are introduced, the story seems to progress much faster, and in unexpected directions. At the present I have no idea where the story is going, but I'm confirmed as along for the ride.

Now, the dilemma. I have three volumes of Boys Over Flowers waiting for me at home. Do I watch those (and send them back to Netflix tonigh, thereby continuing my Plan to Bait Netflix), or do I continue reading my book? I don't know.