Hockey in the Background, Reading in the Foreground

You can probably imagine how happy it's making me to have hockey on TV in the background (the Bruins play tonight, but there are other games on this afternoon). I don't have to be watching for them to make me happy; I watched the Kings raise the banner, and then have gone on with my day, happily. The sounds of hockey are far better than the sounds of silence...

On to the point: last week, I mentioned being very excited about getting an advance copy of a new book, in Gail Carriger's new Finishing School series. It's called Etiquette & Espionage, and I'd like to thank the publisher, Little Brown/Hachette, for making the ARC available, so that I was able to read the book several weeks before its release. In fact, I gobbled it up! To quote the back cover:

It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to finishing school.

The Parasol Protectorate series is sci-fi/fantasy, and this series is young adult, set in the same version of the world (aka Victorian England with vampires, werewolves, and ghosts). According to a podcast with the author, it is in fact "about 22 years" before the Parasol Protectorate, and there are some intriguingly familiar characters--I won't spoil it, but it's fun to watch for. Certainly I think you could read FS1 without having read any of the PP, but it adds to the enjoyment if you have.

Speaking of enjoyment, the names! On the first page, our heroine Sophronia refers to Mrs. Barnaclegoose, and we're off. Wodehouse fans have a compatriot in Carriger, and it lends a nice air of the best sort of foolishness to this very enjoyable book.

And now I have to wait until November for the next in the series! Hard life, eh?