Dear Reader,
I know you have heard enough from me on the topic of What to Read; especially right now, at the onset of whatever it is that 'Summer Reading" season is. (Lot of is, in that sentence....) And for me, it just happened to fall here, this great book. It happened to fall because I was at my online used book place and the Robot Overlords that run it suggested this book- now, let me clear: they suggest books to me every time I go there. Mr. Fox is the very first time I have taken their advice: why? Two things: the author was not an Old White Man, and the cover was just exactly what I want in a cover. In other words, I judged this book by its cover and I found it very good!
The cover is a treat, and I send along an image of it, so you can appreciate it, even if you end up with a different edition. Look at the pale celadon! The paper-doll type figures! What could be nicer than that? But, but, I don't want you to read it because of its cover, and I want you to read it because it is so good, so imaginative, so multivalent. And no, I don't want to tell you anything about it, because, isn't that why we open a book? To find a surprise?
However, I am willing to go out on a limb: anyone with a summer reading quota would be delighted with this book: Give it to all your friends & lovers, your book club pals & your sisters and your cousins and your aunts.
As for me, well, I am going to make a start on the books I hadn't read that are mentioned in Mr. Fox, in my usual non-robotic meta method for finding new titles:
In addition to that weighty and academic list, I think I will add Bluebeard's Egg, and White is for Witching, but don't expect a review too soon; I expect to take my sweet time reading all of that.