By astonishing coincidence, I find myself needing to research fairy tales right in the middle of the Once Upon a Time Challenge (about which, if anyone is wondering, I have never forgotten at all but have kept it uppermost in my mind at all times). Max Lüthi has written a book that provides an insightful and very readable overview of the conventions of the European fairy tale. As a starting place for my research into fairy tales (I am going to research the crap out of fairy tales, y’all), I could hardly have picked a better book. Lüthi talks about…
32 CommentsReading the End Posts
Colin Singleton, who is growing out of being a child prodigy and becoming just a normal smart kid, has been dumped by no fewer than nineteen girls called Katherine, the first one when he was eight years old, and the last only very recently, the day that he graduated from high school. He and his friend Hassan decide to go on a road trip across the country, and Colin decides he is going to create a mathematical formula to determine the path and outcome of any romantic relationship. Pleasingly geeky premise, isn’t it? And if there are elements of the…
61 CommentsThe Sparrow is about many things I like to read about: encounters with alien cultures, close-knit groups of friends, Catholicism, colonization, sin and forgiveness and whether God has a plan. Basically, some people on earth in the nearish future discover that there are aliens not far from Earth, and they go on a Mission to meet the aliens and learn their languages and all about them. The book opens shortly after the last surviving member of the mission, Father Emilio Sandoz, has been returned to earth amidst much ado and scandal about the way the mission ended; and the narrative…
43 CommentsI read two books today, and am consequently behind on reviews. On the other hand, I am even behinder on reading about what y’all have been reading, and I have decided to give priority to that. So this is a quick post to say that I have arrived safely in my Impressive Academic Town and been installed, with groceries, in my third-floor apartment that turns out to be around the corner from a delicious Mediterranean place. I have attended an impressive graduation and discovered that when you attend the graduation of an Impressive University, you see impressive people receiving honorary…
31 CommentsSomeone I love: Joan Wyndham Someone I hate: Ernest Hemingway Combine them and you get: Elaine Dundy As you can imagine, I had a strange combination of feelings about The Dud Avocado. It’s a semi-autobiographical novel about a young expatriate American party girl and her relationship with an American man called Larry, whom she runs across in Paris. When she runs into Larry, she’s involved with a married Italian, but she immediately fancies herself in love with Larry and becomes involved in a theatre production that he’s directing. Along the way she has various romantic entanglements and – well, okay,…
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Immoderately gushing about Megan Whalen Turner
May I begin in justifying myself slightly for the fact that I have not read these books until now although my sister read and recommended them, like, a decade ago? When I really love a book, I want everyone who I think would like it to read it so that they can love it also. To this end, I will wheedle and cajole and sometimes manipulatively give the book to them as a gift so they will feel guilty for not reading it. It’s for their own good. In short, I cannot rest until the joy has been spread. I…
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