I forgot to write a review of this. I was reading A Map of Home, and something about the family dynamic reminded me of Thursday’s Children – funny because it’s nothing at all alike – and I was suddenly possessed of an ardent desire to read Thursday’s Children again. I have loved Rumer Godden since I was a little, little girl (Daddy used to read us The Story of Holly and Ivy around the fire, when we were small and it was Christmas), and this may be my favorite of all Rumer Godden’s books. It is all about the Penny…
5 CommentsCategory: Favored authors
Surprised by Joy, C.S. Lewis
Published 2 Mar 2009
by
Gin Jenny
Surprised by Joy is the book C.S. Lewis wrote about his religious development. Searching for joy. He writes about being a kid, and finding joy in certain books he read – it is very C.S. Lewis, and at times it was really touching. C.S. Lewis is at his nonfiction best in this book – he’s not talking about the ways in which other Christians fail to measure up. He’s talking about himself, just himself only, and the changes he went through in himself that led him to his current beliefs. Look what he says people seemed to be saying, when…
Leave a CommentLove Lessons, Joan Wyndham
Published 18 Feb 2009
by
Gin Jenny
I just want to excerpt massive passages of this book. I almost didn’t get it out of the library, and when I did check it out, I almost didn’t read it. It’s this woman’s diaries from World War II – she was living in London during the Blitz, which you’d think would cause her to, you know, write about the Blitz, but she’s seventeen and mainly unsupervised, and largely what she’s writing about is all the men she’s running around with. I keep thinking “Oh, the author has done things so cleverly here, look at all the things she’s leaving…
7 CommentsSince I’ve just slagged off Neil Gaiman
Published 13 Jan 2009
by
Gin Jenny
Let’s have a bit of rejoicing for him! The Graveyard Book won the Newbery! Couldn’t have happened to a nicer book. I’m so pleased. Sometimes the Newbery books are shocking crap. The Graveyard Book is delightful. Everyone should recognize that Neil Gaiman is a genius. Everyone everywhere. There should be a rule. Hurrah!
2 CommentsThe Problem of Susan, Neil Gaiman
Published 13 Jan 2009
by
Gin Jenny
While I’m in a talking-about-C.S.-Lewis groove, I might as well review this short story. I reread it yesterday because I was thinking a lot about C.S. Lewis and Aslan and God, and leaving Susan behind when everyone heads into Aslan’s country. And here’s what I came out of it with: This story hurts my feelings. On C.S. Lewis’s behalf, my feelings are hurt by this story. The main body of the story isn’t the problem. I think the story is great actually. It’s essentially a young reporter interviewing a professor of children’s literature, who (it’s very strongly implied) is the…
226 CommentsOf Other Worlds, C.S. Lewis
Published 13 Jan 2009
by
Gin Jenny
You know how you complain about your family members sometimes, when you’re in a bad mood with them? And you’re all, My father’s this, my sister’s that, when you’re talking to your friends? And it’s okay for your friend to say things like “That does sound frustrating” or “She’s being unreasonable”, but if your friend ever says “Wow, your sister’s a bitch”, you get really really angry and tell your friend to mind her own damn business? That’s my exact relationship with C.S. Lewis. I can say bad things about him, but you had better not. Or if you do,…
10 CommentsSeason of Mists, Neil Gaiman
Published 13 Jan 2009
by
Gin Jenny
Aw, Season of Mists is great. I like it so much. It makes me nostalgic for Past Jenny, who was young and dumb and had yet to discover most of her now-favorite films and music and TV shows (including, of course, the other six volumes of Sandman). Oh, wow, that’s really, really true. I hadn’t discovered Joss Whedon yet, or The Office, or Doctor Who; I hadn’t yet seen any of my current five desert island DVDs (fifth series of Buffy, MirrorMask, Empire Records, Angels in America, and Before Sunrise); I didn’t know the Decembrists, the Shins, Neko Case –…
Leave a CommentYear of the Griffin, Diana Wynne Jones
Published 13 Jan 2009
by
Gin Jenny
I didn’t exactly mean to read this. I am still intending to read all of Shakespeare’s plays, which I had forgotten about until just now. I am in the middle of rereading the entire Sandman. I have a whole bunch of books out of the library about sexual ethics and other interesting things – art controversies, STDs, Bohemians – and instead of reading any of those things, I’ve been reading Diana Wynne Jones. Once I read The Dark Lord of Derkholm I yearned and yearned for Year of the Griffin and couldn’t concentrate on anything else. In Year of the…
1 CommentThe Dark Lord of Derkholm, Diana Wynne Jones
Published 13 Jan 2009
by
Gin Jenny
I love the hell out of this book. I read it to my sister when we were younger. It’s all about this world, and it’s a fantasy world, and a bad, wicked man called Mr. Chesney is using the entire world to give people from the real world tours. And so the entire world has to do what he says: the elves have to pretend to be wicked, and the wizards have to be Dark Lords and be defeated by the tour groups dozens of times every year; and the cities have to get sacked. And some wizards get tired…
2 CommentsDream Country, Neil Gaiman
Published 13 Jan 2009
by
Gin Jenny
Evidently the stress of writing a nice coherent plot in The Doll’s House proved temporarily too much for Neil Gaiman, and he took a break to write some single-issue self-contained stories. And these are some damn good stories. Except I don’t like “Façade”. I remember not liking it so um, I sort of skipped it this time. I know! I could read “24 Hours” but not “Façade”? I don’t know what’s wrong with me. No, actually, I know exactly why I did that. Lately I’ve been getting ready for bed around eight, then lying in bed reading for several hours. …
2 Comments