Wow, tough morning. I'm going to leave the kerfuffle to the kerfufflers and say that I am also insanely jealous of Jilli. I don't suppose you could convince Gaiman to cut his speaker fee in half...no, wait...more than that...so our school could afford to bring him in to speak? No? Ah well.
That man really must dislike speaking engagements. His fee is $50K for one night. Plus first class airfare. We have a generously funded speakers series fund that has brought in such amazing people as Tony Kushner and Amy Tan, but there is no way in hell we can afford him. We tried, though.
t dreamy sigh
Powell's used to have (may still) a 1st edition of Moby Dick with the pages uncut that I'd visit every once in a while.
Ha! Powell's has a 1st edition of
The Dark Carnival
by Bradbury in the rare books room. I go say hi to it every time I'm there. Some day it will come home with me.
That would be Billy Budd. Which, regardless of whether or not Melville intended half -- or even any -- of what scholars have read into it since, justifies Melville's existence all by itself.
Until I had an intensive Melville class with a good professor in college, I never got the big deal about Billy Budd, but just having it pointed out that Captain Vere has predecided Billy's fate from the moment of the incident changes the story so much.
Bartelby the Scrivener I always got, but that's because I was an absurdist/existentialist fan from a very young age, and Herman was ahead of the curve with that one.
I won't spoil you, but I will say that Dr. Seuss
I think you mean Theodore Geisel, good sir.
I think I choose to acknowledge the Great Man's chosen
nom de plume
as his constant moniker as He Himself obviously desired.
Speak thus to me again, varlet, and you shall face me on the field of battle!
That man really must dislike speaking engagements. His fee is $50K for one night. Plus first class airfare
I suspect it's more that he has NO free time, and the high fee is to keep his schedule as clear as it possibly can be.
It's a mixture of Stardust and Coraline, so of course I'm going to find it perfect.
Hm. Now I am worried. Because I was somewhat underwhelmed by both those books, although I liked them okay. I prefer
American Gods
and
Anansi Boys,
or even
Neverwhere.
I'm hot-and-lukewarm when it comes to Gaiman.
I suspect it's more that he has NO free time, and the high fee is to keep his schedule as clear as it possibly can be.
Yep, that's what I figured. I still cried and cried. The speaker series coordinator dangled a very shiny bauble in front of me and then snatched it away.
