This week we talk about some things that can go terribly, terribly wrong when an author tries to write a love story. Then we review Eleanor & Park (affiliate links: Amazon, B&N, Book Depository), a love story in which the author goes right every time. We were going to play a game as well, about lovers in fiction, but we talked about Eleanor and Park too long and too animatedly, and we ran out of time. We will do the lovers in fiction game another time. It’s a good one. You can listen to the podcast in the embedded player…
3 CommentsReading the End Posts
Just a notification for you, lovely bloggy friends: I’m moving and starting a new job within the next few weeks, so I will not be posting as much until probably after Thanksgiving. I’ll still be reading and commenting, but I just won’t be reading anything new. I am sticking to a strict diet of books I have read before, and I’m not going to lie: It will be overwhelmingly Elizabeth Peters. I’m reading Sunshine right now (still awesome), but then it’s going to be all mysteries and thrillers written by the lady who has read all the same trashy early-twentieth-century…
29 CommentsNote: We each received a copy of this ebook from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. This week we talk about what makes a good criminal in fiction before reviewing Donna Tartt’s new book The Goldfinch. We then play a game involving jailed authors. You can listen to the podcast in the embedded player below or download the file directly here to take with you on the go. Episode 11 Or if you wish, you can find us on iTunes (and if you enjoy the podcast, give us a good rating! We will appreciate it very…
9 CommentsThe beginning: A group of humans — including two who should not have ended up there, and seem to be (but are they?) furious about the mistake (if it is one) — gather on the planet Dameim to witness the passing of a star whose explosion many years ago destroyed an entire race of aliens. Focused closely on the logistics of such a large group, the three guardians stationed on the planet do not act decisively enough to prevent a murderous plan from being set in motion. Tiptree’s writing is admirably clear and entertaining, considering that so many of the…
12 CommentsUpon finishing the second volume of Brian K. Vaughn’s most recent series, Saga, I have decided to be excited about Vaughn. This could have happened sooner, except unfortunately Runaways was my introduction to him, and it is not great around race and it put me off him. But having read Y: The Last Man and Saga, I think that Vaughn’s writing is great, and I like that he creates comics with end-dates in mind, so I’ve decided to hop (at last!) on board the Brian K. Vaughn train. My favorite thing about Saga is the relative tininess of its stakes…
14 CommentsThis week we’re here to talk about — not Donna Tartt’s wonderful The Goldfinch, which we became too sick to finish, but instead about the comfort books we read while we were ill! (We’re sorry. We promise to review The Goldfinch next time.) We review one longtime comfort book for Gin Jenny (hopefully it will become a comfort book for Whiskey Jenny also in the future), Rumer Godden’s wonderful Listen to the Nightingale (affiliate links: Amazon, B&N, Book Depository), and as a nod to the existence of Halloween, we talk a little bit about scary stories we have enjoyed. You…
12 CommentsThe beginning: In Life after Life, a woman called Ursula takes out a gun to shoot Hitler. At once we are flashed back to the day of her birth, when she dies from having the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck. But Ursula is not a regular child. She gets to try again. The second time around, the doctor arrives in time to save her with a pair of surgical scissors, and she survives to live a regular life. Again and again throughout her childhood, Ursula dies, and dies, and dies again. Always she gets another try at life. She…
21 CommentsWhenever my family discusses which superheroes various NFL quarterbacks would be, everyone agrees that Drew Brees would be Captain America. I agree too, I guess, but it bums me out because Captain America is sort of (sorry! sorry! sorry! but he is) boring. And Drew Brees is not boring. In real life it is heartwarming, not dull, for someone to be all the time kind and good. Randon always says: “I think you should read some more Captain America comics. I think you’d like him if you read some of his comics.” And I say, “Mmmmmmmm, I don’t think so.”…
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