i've read the second jasper fforde, which i got out of addy's much praised serene centre book shop, and i liked it a lot more than the first. i had told denis i would send him kotzwinkle's the bear went over the mountain to sully his mailbox, but i think i'll send him both the ffordes instead, and perhaps a pratchett. (yen says a new pratchett is due out sometime this quarter, is that right?) i shall make it my career to send amusing and wonderfully lowbrow books to all my schoolgoing friends. in fact, i wonder why i just don't start a book club subscription service. join and receive one truly frivolous and inconsequential book a month to counteract the dead seriousness of graduate school and professional life. cultivating irresponsibility and frivolity is vital to happiness. mmhmm.