All Souls' Day

Welcome to November here at The Party Never Stops.

Okay, so, I guess I should mention that the Boston Red Sox won the World Series a few days ago. Not that I care, but I am a New England native through and through, and so these things matter in some tangential way. So okay, a moment of jubilation. Go ahead... okay, that's enough. Stop please. Thank you.

I'm frankly far more interested in Sunday's upcoming NFL clash between the 7-0 New England Guys Who Love Their Country And Want to Stick It to King George and the 6-0 Indianapolis Sickly Little Ponies Who Can Barely Stand Up, Let Alone Walk. This is the first time in the 88-year history of the NFL that two teams have met with both having records of better than 5-0. Should be a great game, and a high scoring one. Alas, being here in sunny Lahore, land of chirping hoopoes and swooping fruit bats--both of which I see on a regular basis--I will not in fact be able to watch the game. I might stay up and follow it on my computer, but then again, it starts 2:15am Lahore time. So the alternative plan is to sleep, and read the recap later.

In other news, I just finished a great book, The Inquisitor by Catherine Jinks. Probably you've never heard of this person. I hadn't, till I came across her book by chance at one of the massive remaindered-book bazaars they have dotting this city. Jinks is Australian, and unless you live in Australia you may not realize what a lively and thriving literary scene they have, one which barely ripples against the US or UK. This is a shame, since there are some good books out there, more than just Peter Carey. Who is, admittedly, great.

The Inquisitor is set in 14th-century France and concerns the murder of, yes, an inquisitor of heretical depravity, whose body is found chopped into pieces and scattered, along with his bodyguards. Good-natured Father Bernard, himself an inquisitor but also a nice guy who shuns things like the rack and misogyny, is called upon to investigate the case, and winds up risking his neck in the process. It's a lively story with a good, rich historical setting and plenty of twists. It strikes me as a kind of low-rent Name of the Rose, but I can't be sure, since I never read The Name of the Rose. (Somebody told me the last line was in Latin; I checked, and sure enough it was. I was like, "Oy.")

Oh and The Book of Samson is out in paperback. Sorry about the relentless sales pitch, but it is after all what I do:

http://www.amazon.com/Book-Samson-David-Maine/dp/0312353383/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3/105-0087864-1923615?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193913091&sr=8-3