The other day I saw Michael Chabon's The Wonder Boys, and having enjoyed the movie decided to read the book. It turned out excellent, so I checked him out (Wikipedia, etc) and then went back to our shelves to see what else we had by him.
I now have a copy of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (if I can find time to 650pp, however readable!)
More interestingly, nestled next to it I found a slim novella called The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke by Mark Chadbourn. I have been to see Dadd's extraordinary painting live (no reproductions do it justice - it's 3-D in oils) and it remains one of my favourite ever pictures. This novella comes with an Intro by Neil Gaiman, too. Looking forward to reading this one fast, and first.
If you don't know about Dadd, his madness, and his masterpiece, Bohemia Place has a good reproduction, some commentary, links to Queen's tribute, Dadd's complete poem, etc.
This biography page has some interesting stuff, including blaming his madness on smoking in Egypt. Some of the links are broken, but I didn't check them all, yet.
Then back to Chabon.
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