Many thanks for these...uh...musings about "Sacre Bleu," which I have not included because quoting is not working this morning. Especially thanks for that quote from Henri, which as you suspect was one of the high points of the novel for me. Clearly, I have an indentification thang going with artists like Toulouse-Lautrec and the Turquoise Bee and Hokusai, all of whom celebrated the "floating world" of brothels and the women who make them possible.
Chris obviously feels the same way, and his character of Henri is one of the most delightful I've ever encountered in literature. He's funny, irreverent, drunk as a skunk most of the time, raunchy, and just oozes talent and brilliance from every pore. I had wanted to include some quotes and some of the dialog from the book in my mini- review, but my copy of the book is already making the rounds among the other members of my family. I can hear the chuckles from here. :-) Thanks also for the clips of Chris talking. He's one of those rare writers who can talk in person nearly as well as he writes. I've seen him a couple of times at book signings, and used to have online conversations with him on his website back when he did more of that, and he is just a tremendous guy. He's also a complete journeyman when it comes to writing...no sitting around "waiting for inspiration" for him...he just writes, every day, until the book is finished. Good luck on your journeys, and I hope you have time to jot down a few impressions of the places your Road Trip takes you. It would be good to hear about them.
