In one of those cases of odd internet synchronicity, I have seen many unrelated people on the internet talking lately about the similarity between YA fiction as currently constituted and the three-volume novels of the Victorian era. And can I just say, I am FOR THIS. I’d have been for it if I’d lived in Victorian times, and I am for it now. I have formerly griped about how everything in YA is trilogies, but I have now decided to withdraw that complaint and substitute a life policy of not starting unfinished YA trilogies, and I think that will solve…
25 CommentsReading the End Posts
It’s time for podcast once again! (Sorry we’re late, technical difficulties.) We discuss secondary characters, which gives me the chance to praise Diana Wynne Jones. We review Kate Atkinson’s new novel A God in Ruins (we received copies from the publisher for review consideration), and we preview some books we’re excited for this summer. You can listen to the podcast in the embedded player below or download the file directly to take with you on the go. Episode 40 1:32 – Secondary characters 17:09 – Kate Atkinson’s A God in Ruins 32:22 – Summer book preview! The books we mentioned in the summer book…
Leave a CommentI bought One Hundred Years of Solitude as a treat for myself right before I went to live in England for a year, and it was like if I had bought myself a bag full of delicious Reese’s peanut butter cups for a plane snack and then when I got on the plane I discovered it was just lumps of jicama inside the wrappers. (I hate jicama so much, I can’t even tell you. It makes my skin crawl just to think about it.) So I will never be won by a plethora of reviews comparing any book to Gabriel…
10 CommentsIn a review of a novel by Mussolini, Dorothy Parker wrote: If only I had a private income, I would drop everything right now, and devote the scant remainder of my days to teasing the Dictator of All Italy…Indeed, my dream-life is largely made up of scenes in which I say to him, “Oh, Il Duce yourself, you big stiff,” and thus leave him crushed to a pulp. And this is just how I feel about Jonathan Franzen. Not because he is a fascist or in any way a danger to America. Just because I find him extremely annoying, and…
9 CommentsOnward with my Africa reading project! David van Reybrouck’s Congo: The Epic History of a People, translated from Dutch by Sam Garrett and published by Ecco, has received widespread critical acclaim, and very very well deserved too. If you happen to know anybody in the market for an enormously long history of a failed state, may I recommend pointing them towards Reybrouck? Congo reads nearly like a novel, and Reybrouck heavily privileges African voices in telling the story of the country’s modern history. It’s an excellent, excellent book. So let’s get to it. Here’s the Democratic Republic of Congo: I know, I know. It’s very confusing that there are…
26 CommentsThe winner of my Greensleeves giveaway is Jill, from Rhapsody in Books! Congratulations, Jill! However, everyone else should order themselves a copy of Greensleeves anyway. It’s such a good book, and I am tired of being one of like five people who loves it, when the correct situation would be for literally everyone everywhere to love it. GET ON IT book blogging world!
4 CommentsSooooo remember when I said that I was concerned that Poison wasn’t going to work out for me? Poison…didn’t work out for me. By rough synopsis, Poison should have worked flawlessly for me. It’s a dark retelling of the “Snow White” story (if you’re thinking, That story doesn’t need to be retold dark; it was dark when we got here, I feel you) that deals with the complicated relationship between Snow White and her stepmother and the expectations men have of women. Except it doesn’t really deal with those things, at least not in any way that’s convincing or surprising. It looks like it’s…
7 CommentsNote: I received an e-galley of this book from the publisher for review consideration. My first experiment with Ana’s beloved Frances Hardinge was a mixed bag. A Face Like Glass started slow and continued very strange before getting abruptly very exciting towards the end. But Cuckoo Song looked more my speed from the word go, a story about Britain in World War I, about sisters, and about a changeling. (British authors and cuckoos, have you noticed? They can’t resist them! The cuckoo has infilitrated the British subconscious and hatched its eggs there.) Triss wakes up one day scrambling to recover her…
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