Comments on Read for Pleasure: Elaine Dundy: The Dud Avocado

Thank you for experimenting. This kind of thing ma...

2008-08-14T12:48:00.000-04:00

Thank you for experimenting. This kind of thing makes me feel so inept. I'm glad to know there's a fix.

You're not inept! It's Yahoo's fault for being a bit weird (as it so often is).

Maybe the villain is French, the hero is a lawyer,...

2008-08-13T19:01:00.000-04:00

Maybe the villain is French, the hero is a lawyer, and the villain keeps calling him an avocado?

You just made my day. I remember driving my parents crazy with "Bonjour M. Avocat!" and other silly avocado/avocat/lawyer jokes.

I see Google always translates avocat as lawyer. I tried a few colloquial variations on J'ai un goût pour les avocats, et ces avocats ci sont

Any suggestions? They meet over the avocado bin at...

2008-08-13T16:58:00.000-04:00
Any suggestions? They meet over the avocado bin at the grocer's?

Maybe the villain is French, the hero is a lawyer, and the villain keeps calling him an avocado? Bit of a stretch, but some authors make mistakes when they try to include words in foreign languages.

Maybe we need Tumperkin to help us out. She's an expert in incorporating hummus into romances, so perhaps

I don't think I've read a romance which included a...

2008-08-13T14:21:00.000-04:00
I don't think I've read a romance which included any references to avocado.

I must admit I've only reviewed two borderline-romance avocado novels. Dud Avocado has a happy ending, and Solomon vs Lord is a legal/mystery romantic comedy. But no straight-up romance.

Can you believe that in all the TMT posts there is...

2008-08-12T18:36:00.000-04:00
Can you believe that in all the TMT posts there is not one reference to "avocado"? What an unfortunate gap in romance scholarship

I missed this post earlier. I wonder if it's because some of the earlier posts kept popping back up to the top of the list I get via a Yahoo feed?

Anyway, I am utterly shocked and horrified by the omission you have identified and will humbly

Ha, you tease. But thanks for giving me a reason t...

2008-07-31T19:30:00.000-04:00
Ha, you tease. But thanks for giving me a reason to google "avocado"--it inspired me to buy one today.

I think you've found the secret to creating internet buzz: post the same thing in a million places and readers will get the impression "everyone" is talking about it. Or is that merely the secret to spam?

h3vuj7i!

*laughs*Um - yes - that would be it.

2008-07-31T19:02:00.000-04:00
*laughs*

Um - yes - that would be it.

Recently? Because I'm starting to suspect it was ...

2008-07-30T18:39:00.000-04:00
Recently? Because I'm starting to suspect it was I:

The Dud Avocado is a predecessor to chick lit; it’s also a post-War travel narrative, and it involves a romance.

Was it SBTB then? Or DA? I'm sure it was somewhe...

2008-07-30T18:29:00.000-04:00
Was it SBTB then? Or DA? I'm sure it was somewhere. Mentioned as a precursor of chicklit.

Hmm, I can't find it there. (Can you believe that...

2008-07-30T17:38:00.000-04:00
Hmm, I can't find it there. (Can you believe that in all the TMT posts there is not one reference to "avocado"? What an unfortunate gap in romance scholarship.)

I must have I missed it--I've mainly seen it discussed by the newsprint/online reviewers (e.g. Maud Newton, Terry Teachout, Max Magee). There was a spate of publicity when the NYRB edition came out last year, and then

I saw this reccied somewhere - TMT?

2008-07-30T16:57:00.000-04:00
I saw this reccied somewhere - TMT?