The Literate Kitty

Somewhat curiously, a lot of people live and die for vampire books. (Okay, maybe-- hopefully --the reality isn’t quite as dramatic as life-and-death... but, still, you know the person I’m talking about, right? The one who will read anything, no matter how atrocious, so long as it features their favorite creature of the night?)  Such people can-- and invariably do , if you’re around them long enough --rhapsodize for hours about the “dreaminess” of vamps... from their perfect, alabaster skin (conveniently ignoring the reality of how it would feel to hug such marble-chilliness), to the romantic nature of their only-after-dark lifestyles ( seriously? as though a life lived primarily without ever seeing the sun sounds do-able?), to their overall beauty (because everyone knows that NO ONE is writing books about vamps who look anything like Bela Lugosi these days, pfft). Then, of course, there’s the whole issue of blood to deal with ( or not , as is generally the case with all but the...

After listening—with an enthusiastic ( could’ve been glazed ) look on my —to the first ( well, probably two-hundred-thirty-ninth ) person in my life as he/she proceeded to enlighten ( actually, annoy-the-crap-out-of ) me about the hilarity ( hello --inanity ) of the Three Stooges, I made a solemn vow to stop being so politic about the whole subject, and say what I really feel from the get-go in such situations (namely, that you’d have to hogtie me to a chair to get me to watch anything so mind-numbingly irritating). All of which has what to do with anything? Well, a couple of things, actually. First, you’ve been warned about the Stooges and me, okay? And second, I’m trying to illustrate just how subjective humor really is; what one person—or even millions of them—finds funny, won’t be the same for everyone. ( Really, if you love the Stooges, that’s fine. Just please don’t drag me into it, ‘kay? ) What I like best is clever, witty banter, dialogue that preferably comes with a little ...