This month is about finishing off books. I needed a few psychological ‘wins’ and moving titles from my Goodreads ‘currently reading’ to ‘read’ list usually provides a nice mood boost. (Tell me I’m not alone here.) This required my having to re-borrow these Twin Peaks titles (twice!) from the library, but I got there in the end.
I didn’t notice the reoccurrence of Boulègue’s name until I came to write this post. He edited Fan Phenomena: Twin Peaks along with Marisa C. Hayes and authored Twin Peaks: Unwrapping the Plastic. They are quite different texts – Fan Phenomena is a collection of ten short essays of varying quality from different contributors, and Unwrapping the Plastic is a more substantial critical analysis and – for me – was the more satisfying read, but acknowledge that might not be the same case for someone else.
Unwrapping the Plastic was published just as the third series of Twin Peaks was announced it was going into production and – now it’s been released – this makes it all the more fascinating a read. Certain theories (by anyone) were always going to flourish or be downright negated as the new series played out. This would fall in line with Lynch’s overall anti ‘let’s wrap things up in a neat bow’ approach to artistry.
I had one particular ‘oooh, that’s GOOD’ moment when Boulègue makes a particular point about the character of Dale Cooper in the original series. Following that point (no spoilers), his emergence as Dougie in series three makes a great deal more sense, especially as Dougie was problematic for a lot of fans.
I might add that I originally had an agenda-of-sorts when I borrowed these books. As I’m sorta-kinda scouting about for PhD ideas, I wanted to see what has already been ‘done’ on the Twin Peaks world and lore. The answer: a lot. Fact is, a lot has gone on in the gothic space, what I want to focus on, and unless I come up with something wildly original I don’t think I could examine Twin Peaks or any number of other popular culture texts, like Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Speaking of vampires, in a nice segue, the last book I’ll mention is Sherlock Holmes and the Vampires of London by Sylvain Cordurie and Laci. I picked it up at the library. I’m still fresh to the world of graphic novels, so I’m not sure about it yet… although I have one thought which probably puts me squarely in the Old Person Set: the font is tiny. My eyes get tired and I can only manage a few pages at a time. I tell myself this is a good thing as then I can appreciate the illustrations better!
What are you reading this month? Note: I don’t add all the books I read here in these digests. The rest appear over at Goodreads, if you want to follow me there too.
