A FOOLish Q&A
By the way, it being September (it IS??) the Virtual Book Club is now open for discussion of TO PLAY THE FOOL, the second in the Kate Martinelli novels. If you don’t know this book, it’s an extension of my BA thesis on the Fool, and features a holy fool who lives and works (if that’s the right verb) in San Francisco and Berkeley. Inspector Kate Martinelli, who at the time this was written was a pretty straight-laced lesbian, doesn’t quite know what to make of him.
Which is seems to me the correct response to encountering a Fool.
TO PLAY THE FOOL is a book that interests me still, twelve years after I wrote it. When people ask me what my favorite is among my own books, I never know how to answer that, but I will say that only two or three of them ended up as I had originally hoped they would, and FOOL is one of those. This is the book that, more than any other of my titles, impels people to say, “This is my favorite.†Which never fails to surprise me, because this is one quirky book: Lesbian cops? Communities of seminarians? Holy fools in a murder mystery? Perhaps it’s just that people who meet Brother Erasmus fall in love with him, in part because he challenges assumptions. As a Fool ought.
Anyway, if you’re interested, I’ve written an introductionfor the forum about the book.
And it being the first of the month, if you have any questions for LRK, ask ahead.
I have to confess, I had never read any of the martinellis before Art of Detection. I’m going to B&N later on today, and will look for FOOL and the other non-russ books. I was burned by some of the more modern detective novels; even though I’m no prude, I like the mystery, and am not really interested in reading all about the character’s sex life. *grin*
I guess I was also afraid I wouldn’t like them, and that would make me less of a fan. But lately I’ve realized that even books I don’t ‘like’ are beneficial to me, and that I was avoiding an awful lot by reading only books published at least 50 years ago.
Okay..lets see I have a question about a local place that I used to visit. I know this is not a brainy writer’s question, like so many of your fans are…me just a reg. fan who used to live in Monterey county. What happened to Roses of Yesterday Today and Forever? Bet you didn’t see that question coming..we used to visit and it was a place to swoon. I remember taking my sister there, and upon exiting the car, declared “This is what Heaven will smell like”. For most of you…this was a place near where Laurie lives. Imagine a commercial display rose garden in the midst of a Red Wood glen. I know they grew allot of their product in the valley. Have often wondered about this place. Off on holiday tomorrow. Will check back and see if this odd query made the grade!
Okay 2nd question thought of another more bookish one…have you ever read ‘A Town Like Alice’, by Nevil Shute? If you have, what did you think?