I was going to review Kelly Corrigan’s memoir The Middle Place, but then I realized that there is no particular value in reviewing things in the order you read them, especially when you are devouring a series like a wascally wabbit devours carrots, and each review you write that is not dedicated to the series in question is going to put you further and further behind on reviews. So here we are. My contention that Kelly Corrigan is mistaken in her book’s central claim will have to wait. Speaking of sound effects, Kage Baker’s books are now giving me the…
22 CommentsReading the End Posts
Remember when I said I love y’all? And one of the things I said was that y’all have offered me books just because I said I really wanted to read them? Well, Poppy Shakespeare is one of those. raidergirl at an adventure in reading reviewed it a while ago, and I had a moan over the fact that my library hadn’t got it and wouldn’t order it (my library has a function where you can ask it to order books but they have never, ever listened to one of my suggestions; meanwhile a good friend of mine says they order…
44 CommentsI was enjoying Righteous well enough for the first half of the book, though I did recognize that I might be burning out on Christian culture. I feel I am ready to move on and tackle some of the zillions of recommendations y’all gave me for fantasy books (y’all rock, by the way, thanks for those). And then, oh dear, then I got to the chapter about black churches, and it ruined the rest of the book for me. The chapter is hella condescending and stereotype-y: But these days, it’s not pimps but preachers who slip into custom-made three-piece suits…
15 CommentsNote: Edwidge Danticat has the best name in all the land. I shall say it as often as possible in this review because it is a superb name. Edwidge Danticat. Breath, Eyes, Memory is a goes-off-to-live-with book. (Written by Edwidge Danticat.) I love a goes-off-to-live-with book, although now that I am a grown-up, such books are increasingly likely to involve severe trauma at the original home or the place where the character goes off to live. Sophie (the protagonist invented by Edwidge Danticat) has spent all of her twelve years with her Tante Atie, but suddenly she must leave her…
27 CommentsWhy does everyone always get raped in fantasy books? That’s what I want to know. I was all excited to read Daughter of the Blood, which Memory and Ana both said was wonderful, but see, if I had just glanced at Amazon and seen the plot synopsis that said “Sexual violence pervades [this book]”, I would have known in advance that it is not for me. As it was I was doggedly determined to finish it, and I got all through, and nothing got resolved because it’s the first in a series, and, and, and I am sad. I really…
48 Comments
Review: In the Garden of Iden, Kage Baker
Embarrassing confessions can be good for the soul, so here’s one of mine. Sometimes when I read a book by a new author, and I really really like it, and then I go to the library and see there’s a whole shelf of books by that author – sometimes, when that happens, I get a little internal sound effect of a deep, serious voice going “So it begins.” Well, okay, always. Every time that happens, I get the sound effect. And it doesn’t always work out. Sometimes the author breaks my heart. Sometimes I accidentally read the best book first…
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