Or should that be Ma Phillips?
Awh, bless her. On reading this gem of a book, you can see how she has well-deserved all the grinning plaudits the book has drawn. It is, quite simply, a delight. Gods Behaving Badly is currently - as at 13 August 2007 - 122nd bestseller on Amazon.co.uk. That's not bad going our chuck! And its a thrill to see her book on the shelves and promoted in bookshops and think: I know her!! (well, I know its only in the blog-kinda 'know' way, but given the exchanges we've shared I think I can claim some level of 'knowing').
Anyway!
It's well-written (god, you would/wouldn't be surprised at the appalling numbers of poorly expressed prose out there). It has a well-driven plot. It has characters you care about (even, or especially, the horrid ones: Daniel Craig living it up as the arrogant but beauteous Apollo? Bring that casting on).
It has well-constructed settings (I felt I could visualise the house of the Gods and other places without excessive tell-the-reader everything descriptions). And best of all it makes fine use of all those half-remembered Greek Gods and Goddesses. By the end I was cheering Artemis and the gang, grinning at the lovely Neil and Alice's adventure and wondering how utterly brilliant a filmed version would be.
It's a joy to read, and not just because of Hermes...
4 comments:
Hermes is a big part of it, though right? (Heehee, I jest... kinda ;)) It's wonderful - gets better as it goes on, too.
Thanks for the great review! :-) Maybe I should have gone the whole hog and given Hermes a Scottish accent...
And yes: you do know me.
Marie: awh, shucks! Ta!
After all that we've nattered about over the net - not least of which all those Rosby scenarios we starred in - it kinda seemed a reasonable assumption. But I tell you, I was so thrilled at seeing your book out I've been photographing it everywhere I see it!!
I see it as a TV series myself. Who would be ideal in the cast? I see Ken Branagh (or Robert Duncan) as Apollo, Kris Marshall as Neil, Shirley Henderson as Alice, Keira Knightly as Artemis, Catherine Zeta Jones as Aphrodite (or possibly Aishwarya Rai). And yeah, David Tennant would be a good Hermes, though Ewan Mcgregor or Eddie Izzard might be even better. Maggie Smith as Hera, Anthony Hopkins or Ian McKellen as Zeus.
Better ideas?
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