I am more than ready to succumb to the charms of anything floral, especially the voluptuous specimens portrayed in botanical art.
As in the myths, she must be ready to outwit tyrants, behead monsters, charm cannibal tribes.
So where are we almost a year later, now that Sittenfeld's second novel is out, called of all things "The Man Of My Dreams" and featuring a cartoonish frog on the cover with a crown on its head, ready to be kissed into Prince Charming?
If you read only the first half of Geoff Dyer's new novel — Jeff without death, West without East, decadence without denial — you might come away from it feeling something like Laura, Jeff's paramour for the long sweltering week in Venice: charmed, willingly seduced, and ready to resume your life unchanged, with no hard feelings about the fact that the encounter didn't add up to something more.
If you read only the first half of Geoff Dyer's new novel Jeff without death, West without East, decadence without denial you might come away from it feeling something like Laura, Jeff's paramour for the long sweltering week in Venice: charmed, willingly seduced, and ready to resume your life unchanged, with no hard feelings about the fact that the encounter didn't add up to something more.
That's testament to Cardboard Citizens as a company, because they do this very well, and it's testament to the cast for being open enough, ready enough and skilled enough to charm the whole room and respond to every idea.
They do have charm, with their gnarled, elbowed branches seemingly ready to reach out for a hug.
Characters appear and charm us, only to vanish before we're ready to let them go.
Charming people walk into a room full of people ready to spend time talking to others; they don't stand against the wall waiting for the moment when they can escape.
And the humor can be corny, although the sheer charm of Mr. Neshyba-Hodges wins us over, so we are ready to forgive him that third pratfall, and the fourth too.
