I went to raid the library today, and discovered that the New York Library not only doesn't have most of the books on my list, but the ones it does have are... drumroll... the Sherlock Holmes crossovers. As my sister says, WTF, mate. I don't want to confuse the process by reading those first, so they'll get to sit on my coffee table for a few days, leering at the other books in my room and scaring them.

Today's notecards (man, I can barely read my own scribbles when I'm going fast):

Phantom cult; frequent references to the "magic" or the "passion" or the "beauty" and gag me with a spoon. Fans as rabidly frothing as anime fans. All books given either a 5 or a 0 star review as some point out they suck and others argue that the "purity & beauty" outweigh the suck. Discuss degradation of LeRoux over time/cultural diffusion/popular culture & artistic interpretation vs. original version/themes & mutation via public opinion. Consider pithy quip/hilarious and/or insightful comparison, deformity of Erik = paralleled by deformity of text over time, pat self on back and bask in ego (man I kill me).