Tuesday, June 09, 2009

What is Sophie Gee reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Sophie Gee, author of the acclaimed novel The Scandal of the Season and an assistant professor in the Department of English at Princeton.

The first paragraph from her entry:
I’ve got a few books on the go right now. First of all, I’m re-reading The Time Traveler’s Wife because the new novel I’m writing is a love story about a woman who discovers that she can walk into the past. One of the things I like about Niffenegger’s book is her perception that the fantasy of returning to the past is about recovering experiences that we already know, that are already familiar. There’s something comforting about the time-travel fantasy; it’s about finding yourself, again and again. The emotions of memory are sadnesses and happinesses that we already know; the book is really about how this exists alongside the experience of the unknown.[read on]
Read an excerpt from The Scandal of the Season and learn more about the novel at Sophie Gee's website.

Among the praise for The Scandal of the Season:
"Gee writes with scholarly confidence, underpinning the racy intrigue of her account with a real understanding of the characters and their world."
The New Yorker

"A clever and inviting piece of critical biography masquerading as a light comedy of manners."
New York Times Book Review

"A seduction reminiscent of Dangerous Liaisons, with the crackling historical mystery of An Instance of the Fingerpost. The Scandal of the Season captures the breezy poetic romance of Shakespeare in Love, recast to star Alexander Pope."
—Ian Caldwell, coauthor of The Rule of Four
The Page 99 Test: The Scandal of the Season.

Writers Read: Sophie Gee.

--Marshal Zeringue