Let it not be said that I do not take instruction. Proper Jenny – whom I’ve now met, hooray! – announced that all must read and adore Sarah Caudwell, and I hied me to PaperbackSwap posthaste to acquire said Caudwell’s four mystery novels, which were not available at my library. The books all match, and the covers were done by Edward Gorey, so if I was ever not going to like them, it wouldn’t be down to aesthetic considerations. However, I don’t think I was ever not going to like them. I have a sense that they are going to…
30 CommentsReading the End Posts
If you liked A Game of Thrones for its tight plotting and political machinations, you should like the sequels also. That is what I say. Martin’s writing does not make my heart sing, nor do his characters possess the depth and intricacy of, say, Chaim Potok’s. But my stars, the man can handle the plot. How his brain can contain all these plot strands is beyond me. I sometimes went slightly into character overload — the Dornishmen and the Iron Islands guys and particularly the gangs of scavengers were too many for me. When they get removed from their natural…
27 CommentsHere’s what’s happening, y’all. My sister has been in town, and I am moving house. I have been doing lots of cool, fun stuff with my sister. We went to see the coolest ever exhibit at the Museum of Arts and Design the other day, this thing about small worlds, which was so unbelievably beautiful. And we went a-picnicking on Governors Island on Sunday, wearing flapper dresses. Then also I am moving house. I’ve finally found a new apartment (yay!) in an area that looks like I’m going to like a lot, with roommates who seem terribly nice, and a…
57 CommentsMay I tell you a story about Athens? Please be aware that you can’t answer “no” to this question, because there is no chance at all of my not telling you this story about Athens. Once upon a time, there was an Athenian king called Pisistratus. Pisistratus was a pretty good king, but like many pretty good kings he had two not-so-goodish sons, Hippias and Hipparchus, who took charge of Athens after Pisistratus died. Hipparchus died (that’s a whole other story), and Hippias was an awful king, so this fellow Cleisthenes went trotting round to Sparta and asked them please…
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