While everyone else is fixated on the meteorological prognostications of Punxsutawney Phil and his rodent brethren today, my memory strays to the unparalleled Bill Murray film Groundhog Day. The always-reliable Murray is at his cantankerously charming best playing a local weatherman who wakes up day after day, doomed to relive the day before. In his case, tomorrow never comes.
Last year, our blogger Paul Goat Allen introduced a fun list of Groundhog Day reads—books that you’ve read many times, and still can’t get enough of. A devoted science fiction and fantasy reader, Paul’s entries unsurprisingly included Dune and Treason, among others. This year, I’m adding my own addition, and I hope you’ll share some Groundhog Day books of your own.
My pick:
With such melancholy subject matter, it’s a bit surprising that I keep finding myself drawn to Iris Murdoch’s The Sea, The Sea . When a theater director retires to a seaside cottage, he quickly embroils himself in a real-life drama of Shakespearean proportions. As he single-mindedly pursues a married former flame, without regard for propriety or common sense, you both empathize and despise his single-minded mission.
Please add your Groundhog Day reads to the comments below, and share on Twitter, using #groundhogdaybook as well!
A free sample excerpt from The Sea, The Sea is available for download on the product page now.
NOOK owners: go to shop and search for “Iris Murdoch” to download her many award-winning novels.
