April 1st Group Read

[Brian, just a child's imagination]

I hope everyone was able to get to their nearest 7-11 and purchase this book...



To start things off here's a little description...

Sheikh Khalid Bin Shareef has vowed never to get entangled with virgins. But innocent Maggie is too hard to resist—and he takes her…

The next morning she disappears. But Maggie is unfinished business, and he has her sent to his kingdom. There they discover the consequence of their night of passion.

Marriage is the only answer—but it must be one with no emotions, no expectations of love. Maggie will take her rightful place by the sheikh's side…and in his bed!

Sheik Ishmai has been compared to Steinbeck, Camus, Proust, Borges, Hemingway, Faulkner, Beckett, Disciple John, and Brown with the sparse, elegant language of Zerna Addis Sharp.

The opening paragraph...

See Sheikh Khalid. See Maggie. Jump, Sheikh, jump.

[Ben, uneasy in a position of power; a yorkshire pudding]

the unexpected babies series is so played out...

[Brian, just a child's imagination]

Ben wrote: "the unexpected babies series is so played out..."

yeah... but this baby was nearly two years old before he was discovered and the metaphorical cord cut.

[Christopher, Swanny]

Sheik Ishmai has been compared to Steinbeck, Camus, Proust, Borges, Hemingway, Faulkner, Beckett, Disciple John, and Brown with the sparse, elegant language of Zerna Addis Sharp.

Yes, because Ishmai's novel is reminiscent of that lost Hemingway classic, "To Take and Despoil".

[Shel, ad astra per aspera]

Seriously, that's a real book?

Not some Photoshop joke?

Who puts the words knocked up in a romance novel's title?

[Dan, deadpan man]

The guy's last name is Butt? Is that only because he puts out shit?

bad joke. my apologies.

[Maureen, mo-nemclature]

i think it's a great april fool. to list just a few clues: echoes is spelled wrong, the author's name is spelled in two different ways on the cover and the gloss, and i'm pretty sure harlequin would NEVER use times roman as a title font. :P

i have read dozens of these, and what's missing is the reference to the sheik's nose. inevitably, the hero's nose is sexier because it had been broken at some time in the past. also the phrase, "throbbing manhood".

i think the best one i ever read was one that was obviously written by a big fan of bloom county comic strip because it involved an artist of a similarly-themed comic strip called heartland, his long dead twin, and the woman that tortured them both coming back to claim her rights over him, after he fell and hurt his drawing arm in a horseback riding accident. how could tony, the mousy italian drawing assistant who has come to help the master finish his strips on time, ever hope to compete with the ghosts of the past? (i read it many times -- i really identified with tony. :P)

love,
oro

[Neil]

you wanna talk April Fool's clues? How about "She Kiss My Butt" er . . . Sheik Ishmai Butt?

[Martyn]

Neil wrote: "you wanna talk April Fool's clues? How about "She Kiss My Butt" er . . . Sheik Ishmai Butt?"

Yeah, I saw that too! That's almost Joycean!

[Shel, ad astra per aspera]

Christ, I can't believe I forgot what day it is.

Mea culpa - my son's birthday is in 4 days.

[Kerry, flame-haired janeite]

My sister missed being an April Fools baby by only a few hours! She'll be the big 40 tomorrow! We are throwing her a surprise birthday party on Saturday and whoa boy, is that stressful. . .

[Esther]

Wait...Shel, does that mean you have a little one born on the 5th?

[Shel, ad astra per aspera]

Yeah, my son Jackson - he's 7. Not quite so little any more...

[Esther]

You literally were there in the other room! My youngest turns 7 on April 5th as well. :)

[Brian, just a child's imagination]

no worries esther... this thread was just a silly april fool's attempt and no destiny was ever planned or intended for it. i was going to delete it but now feel bad because it turned into a family thread. the spoof book is about babies though so there is a connection, a tenuous connection. when i get to a computer i'll probably move it out of 'group reads' into the 'general' folder. then i'll talk about my kid... even though i didn't birth her... thank god.

[Jonathan, the skipper]

. . . so, when does the big sleep thread begin? i'm going to the library to look for it this afternoon . .. they didn't have it at my local . . .

[Jonathan, the skipper]

. . . picked up the big sleep today!!! . . . will try to finish huck finn tonight!

[Dan, deadpan man]

Jonathan wrote: " . . . picked up the big sleep today!!! . . . will try to finish huck finn tonight!"

I picked it up today too!

[Brian, just a child's imagination]

this thread is screwy... collecting all kinds of things...

on the way to work this morning the moon was in my face, all big and round and bright. the sun wasn't up yet. it was just me and the moon. i pulled over to the side of the road and just watched the moon. it watched me back. we now understand each other.

i didn't pick up the big sleep though i did sleep well last night... that's a rare thing.

[[deleted user]]

I went to three adult bookstores, but none of them had a copy of Wittgenstein's Mistress. I watched some movies instead and bought a copy of Forrest Hump.

Let me know when the Forrest Hump reading group is about to start.

[Shel, ad astra per aspera]

Speaking of adult bookstores and novels, I took a quiz on Facebook about which classic novel I am.

Though I picked the answers most amusing to me as I always do on these quizzes, I ended up being de Sade's Justine while every other friend I have over there ended up being Wuthering Heights or Master and the Margarita. This prompted all kinds of snarky remarks on the part of my friends.

There is a quiz epidemic currently circulating over there, no doubt about it.

[Jonathan, the skipper]

. . . i'd love to take that quiz, shel, send it my way! . . . i just know i'll be of mice and men . . .

[Shel, ad astra per aspera]

(Go to my profile and scroll down a bit, it's on the right.)