Oh, I did quite like the poets, and you're right, I think they did laugh a bit, even if it was only behind their hands.

I started Doomsday Book enough to know what it's about. I'll pick it up again sometime soon when I'm in the proper mood and can appreciate it more. It's a delicate dance, those multi time thread stories . . .

It's like it's a favorite because I admire its beauty rather than because I adore its soul.


Yes, that's precisely put. Which is something I feel for more books than I'd like. I think in this case it's that I went in hoping to be emotionally swept up in the romance, and instead it felt quite coldly calculated -- the modern-day side, I mean.

Ah well. Still well done.