The fifth sentence from page 56.
That’s how folks are honoring National Book Week on Facebook — grabbing the book closest at hand and posting that random phrase.
I thought I would go one step further and talk up one of my favorite books. Not my ‘desert island book’ — A Prayer for Owen Meany, which I have lauded here before — but a book by Mario Puzo that did not achieve the commercial success of the Godfather saga.
I have read and re-read The Fourth K countless times since its 1990 publication. Although it was a commercial failure, Puzo called it his “most ambitious novel.” I would argue it is his most imaginative.
The novel follows the Presidency of Francis Xavier Kennedy, the fictional nephew of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Ted Kennedy. On an Easter Sunday at the end of his first term of office, the Pope is assassinated and Kennedy’s daughter is taken hostage and murdered. Soon after, a nuclear device is discovered in midtown Manhattan.
The crises have a fundamental effect on the President’s approach to governing, and impact his decision to seek re-election. But many question his ability to lead after his daughter’s death and attempt to invoke the 25th Amendment.
It’s an exciting, edge-of-your-seat read, and I think it would make an incredible film.
But it’s National Book Week, so I’ll say it — the book would be better.
Broadway Harry
Potted Potter, the parody of the seven Harry Potter books now on Broadway, was tailor-made for kids.
It’s only 70-minutes long, is super high energy, and even features a quidditch match with audience participation.
No wonder I liked it so much.
Brits Dan Clarkson and Jeff Turner, who also wrote the show, bring all the characters to life with minimal props, costumes and staging. The humor is decidedly British as well, but Potter lovers — and the family and friends who they drag along — will find it easy to translate.
Obviously some plot points are skipped in such a short synopsis, but the ones that made the cut are treated with high hilarity. Favorites include Lord Voldemort, the dragons from book four, and the bigger-than-life quidditch snitch.
Dan and Jeff cracked up a few times during the show, but the reason was pretty obvious –
They are as wild about Harry as the audience.
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Posted in Books, Broadway, Comedy, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Life
Tagged audience participation, books, British humor, Broadway, comedy, commentary, costume, Dan Clarkson, dragons, entertainment, golden snitch, Harry Potter books, Humor, Jeff Turner, life, Lord Voldemort, Manhattan, New York City, parody, Potted Potter, props, quidditch, staging, two-man show, wild about Harry