February was a quiet book-buying month, coming on the heels as it did of the heavy book acquisitions of January (and frankly, the month was filled with Winter and Knitting Olympics — who has time to hit the bookstores properly?). In fact, the only book that came to me was a birthday present from Rudi:

The Big Over Easy, by Jasper Fforde

From the book jacket: “Meet Detective Jack Spratt, family man and head of the Nursery Crimes Division, long suffering under the shadow of the flashy Detective Friedland Chymes with his astonishing number of published cases in Amazing Crime Stories. Spratt is fresh from a spectacular failure to see convicted three wily pigs for the murder of a certain wolf. the media and tide of public opinion are set squarely against him. Now, new trouble is brewing.”
Why this book? Because Rudi knows how much I loved Fforde’s earlier books, the Thursday Next series. Because Rudi and I have both met Fforde. Because Fforde got some of his inspiration for the aforementioned series from a Monty Python skit. Because Fforde is cleverer than almost anyone else out there but not so clever that you groan at his jokes or hate him for flaunting it.

But lest you think I neglected my reading for tv or knitting too much, I am pleased to report on where my bookmarks have been stuck in over the last two months (in no particular order): (more…)