Instead

I still get a few offers of review copies from publishers. One that I wholeheartedly accepted (a while ago now) was Canongate's offer of The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson.  I haven't got round to it yet, but the review in today's Guardian Review section makes it a likely candidate for next new read (when I've finished my current comfort re-reads of Bob Dylan Chronicles and Francine Prose's Reading Like a Writer).  This is the best use of 'instead' that I've read in a long, long time:

"This is at once a redemptive love story, gothic horror, historical epic and tale of addiction, and Davidson would need a dab hand to chisel a balanced work from his twisting mix of genres. Instead, he has produced a colourful, sentimental and lopsided pageturner; it may be as unreal as Marianne Engel's [the novel's heroine] bestial carvings, but if you've the stomach for grisly detail and the patience to sit through icky prose, you'll find The Gargoyle a splendidly compulsive novel."

"Instead" now becomes my new favourite deadpan word.

Comments

[Sammy]

I just discovered a new resource for buying books. It's on facebook, which makes it harder to trust since there is no one else selling things on facebook, but this site, Arga, chooses one book a day to discount. Today they have The Art of Racing in the Rain which I've heard good things about, but hadn't considered buying till I saw it here for 14 bucks:
http://apps.new.facebook.com/argashopping/daily-deal

check it out if you're interested.

[catherine adams]

I am so glad I did not delete you from my favorites list those months ago when you went missing. Delete is what I was about to do when I found you back again.I am so pleased. I don't know why I was so engaged by your diary--I am a 68-year-old who does not write but once expected to become a writer, who reads but not so much as she would like. I do have a creative business, however, designing and selling apparel for women. Perhaps that is the connection. In any event, hello again. Don't go away, please and thank you.