blind_book_date epitome of incomprehensibility At Dorval library, before Valentine's Day, they did a thing where books were wrapped in brown packages, with only the language and (maybe?) the genre listed on the package. Actually, I don't remember if they had genre. Gender genre gander. Not that big a deal in some respects. I got The Islanders by Christopher Priest, genred (inside) as SF, which stands for sci-fi or fantasy. I'm not done reading it - I renewed it, so I have another week and a half - but I'm at least four-fifths through it, and I still can't tell what exactly it is. It's sort of imaginary travel fiction, with embedded stories. There's a murder, or something that might be a murder, an unrelated and gruesome description of death by poisonous stinging insects, a recurring theme of glass, witty descriptions of politics and sexual mores, and this impossible sort of "temporal vortex" that lies in the atmosphere of the world of the Dream Archipelago. It's a bit like Paul Glennon's The Dodecahedron, but it's more like an archipelago than a twelve-sided shape. It's also written in the form of an alphabetical travel guide to the various islands. I doubt it's allegorical, but one of the first islands is called "Annadac" which sounds suspiciously like Canada, phonemes rearranged. The world is like that of the present (there exists large cities, though mostly on the continent above the islands, and small-i internet). Apparently Priest also wrote a book called Dream Archipelago, which I'm interested to read now. Given that there are so many open ends, I'm eager to read more about that world, if indeed it's set in the same world. Genre: fantasy travel dictionary horror humour mystery adventure literary romance. Anyway, each book had a little paper inside to rate your date as "No chemistry," "Has potential," or "Love at first read" (I'm paraphrasing a bit.) I returned the sheet to a box in the library; it was entered into a draw for a certificate for a fancy dinner for two. I didn't win it, but I'm happy with my blind date. I probably wouldn't have noticed up this book otherwise. I also like how British writers write "whilst" instead of "while." It sounds far more whilst-y. 140226 ... e_o_i "Noticed up" indeed. I'm all for the malleability of prepositions (to me, "make love with" sounds better than "make love to") but not for tacking on unnecessary ones. Tacking up. Taking up. I'm taking up noticing up. What the heck, it's kind of fun. 140228 ... e_o_i Finally did this again this year! I got The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant. Unfortunately I had no chance to actually READ it, but I noted it down for later. 230423 what's it to you? who go blather from