By Its Cover 1

This time I am making myself post my book choice *before* reading it.

The book of the week is Acting the Giddy Goat:
Cover Art

I picked it out because it is a trade paper back (sorry, it’s true… that’s why it won this week). I really prefer holding TPB’s, since I usually read lying in bed, and if I can get that format I choose it.
The rules I’m setting myself for this task go something like this:
1. It must be an author I’ve never heard of. Since I’ve been listening to CBC book reviews and the Arts Tonight and Writers and Company, and reading voraciously for two decades, this turns out to be a fairly difficult rule to follow. Good thing I’ve got a library to work with!
2. I’m not allowed to read the first page before I decide to pick it out.
3. I *am* allowed to read reviews etc. even on the flaps of the cover.

A first glance makes me suspect that the fellow on the front cover mightbe Dionysus, but I’m guessing. I presume that, were my education in something more classical, I would know better. Feel free to chastise me for my ignorance. It has three very good reviews on the back, one from an author I have heard of. It is referred to as a “huge glorious symphony of a novel” and a “genuine novel of ideas”. Apparently the author is also a musician, English teacher, and songwriter. It is enticing, and modern, and (I suspect) deeply intellectual. This copy of the book has been languishing unread since August of 2003, which makes me sad.

So, I’m reading it. I’ll let you know how it goes in a week.

seonaid

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2 responses to “By Its Cover 1”

  1. The fellow on the cover looks like Atlas to me. If I’d only had the title, I would have thought Pan, of course. I think Pan was descended from Atlas, so maybe there’s a connection there. Or maybe it’s just a statue.