In my post last year about reading diversely, I forgot to mention another side effect of more diverse reading: gaining new areas of interest. Sri Lanka came onto my radar when I read the beautiful-covered On Sal Mal Lane last year, but it also left me uncertain about the particulars of the country’s civil wars. The difficulty is that when there are no hooks in your brain for new information to grab onto, you’re less willing to take in that information in the first place; and once you have taken it in, you’re less likely to retain it. (This is…
9 CommentsCategory: 3 Stars
I received an electronic copy of this book from the publisher, for review consideration. The venerable Jack Zipes, one of the shiniest scholars in fairy tale studies, has brought us a lovely treat, which is a new translation of the first edition of the Grimm Fairy Tales, decorated with wonderfully creepy illustrations by Andrea Dezsö. This edition includes stories that were later excised for reasons of provenance (Bluebeard was too French to keep in subsequent editions), incompleteness, repetitiveness, or family-unfriendly values. The Grimms make the following case for the inclusion of the sex-and-devils stories: Objections have been raised . .…
21 CommentsHow Freedom and Necessity was described to me by Anastasia: An epistolary novel set in Victorian times, with magic! What I pictured: Sorcery and Cecelia The primary topic of the first forty pages of Freedom and Necessity: Hegel, I swear to God. You know, the philosopher. And his concepts of idealism. So, yeah. Me and Freedom and Necessity got off to a bumpy start. Luckily, I was on the bus and had nothing else of interest for my eyes to rest on for the duration of the bus ride, which meant that perforce I read past the first 40 pages…
17 CommentsHere it is the middle of November, and I have to accept that I am never going to get full posts written on some of these books before the end of the year. So I am doing a small batch edition. First up, Max Brooks and Canaan White’s comic The Harlem Hellfighters, which I received from the publisher for review consideration, and am (eek!) reviewing rather belatedly. The Harlem Hellfighters were an all-black infantry regiment in World War I; they never lost a man through capture or gave up a foot of ground to the enemy. Rather touchingly, Max Brooks…
6 CommentsWhen I read non-speculative fiction, I like for there to be a Premise; for the book to be what they call high-concept. Like a girl was raised side by side with an ape, and here is what her life is like as an adult. Or a man’s personality completely changes following a traumatic brain injury. Or a British soldier assumes a secret identity to find his friend’s murderers. For me to pick up a book with a premise as quiet as Byrd‘s–a woman in her early thirties falls pregnant and gives the baby up for adoption–someone usually has to have…
11 CommentsNote: I received a copy of Horrorstör from the publisher, Quirk Books, for review consideration. I almost missed RIP once again this year! I always have the best of intentions about participating in R.I.P., but then I forget to read scary books, or I do read scary books but I forget to call them RIP reads or schedule them while RIP is running. Not this year! This year, I have squeaked one in under the wire! Horrorstör was acquired with the express intention of qualifying for Carl’s wondrous R.I.P. Challenge (now in its ninth year). Amy works at Orsk, an…
23 Comments