soc_puppet | (no subject)

Just finished reading the book Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn. The premise is that there's an island off the east coast of the US dedicated to the author of the phrase, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog". There's a statue to him and everything, including the phrase in tiled letters on a pedestal. Only the glue that holds the tiles in place has started wearing out, and now the letters have begun to fall down. In their infinite, uh, wisdom, the island council decides this is a sign from the author of the phrase himself that the fallen letters should henceforth go unused by anyone on the island over the age of seven, in both speech and writing.

It is a technical marvel of a book, and I would even say it's a good story, but it's probably not one I'll be re-reading any time soon. The atmosphere gets increasingly stressful as the book goes on, and even knowing the ending would be good didn't help for much. I still might get a secondhand copy for my dad to read, Scrabble aficionado that he is (since the copy I obtained is electronic and he is, in more than a few ways, something of a luddite).

As for me, I think I'll find a palate cleanser.