Spoiler...

I’ve read many great books in the last few months — and hopefully, I’ll get back to posting about them. But blogging just seems to flow when anger stirs the pot of ink, don’t you think? Yes, friends, I’ll spoil it now: this is another rant. Another rant about...

Deserves Another?...

Let’s be open here: I hate Charlie Kaufman.* Being John Malkovitch was inventive, but cruel, and I thought Adaptation was just one big raised middle finger to the audience. Do you think I’m stupid? Why yes, you do, and you just told me so. Jerk. And no, the whole “if...

A Sunny Pleasure Dome w...

This last weekend Jim and I attended his annual office party. This is a spectacular celebration, every year, and everyone gets dressed up and dances and eats and makes very merry indeed. This year the event was held in an old movie theater that has been converted into a bohemian-like...

The Raven King Draws Me...

Like everyone else in the entire universe, I read Susanna Clarke’s debut novel, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, with pleasure and mild exasperation. Set in a 19th century England where magic is a real, though neglected, art, JSAMN painted a nostalgic portrait of pre-industrial,...

Hardboiled or Slightly ...

Is what I asked myself. And when the fog had cleared, the old egg didn’t look too good. “Can’t make up your mind, huh?” I sneered. “Who’s your boyfriend now?” “Okey,” I mumbled. “You think I’m mixed up with them both,...

Puzzling Evidence...

David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas is the first book I’ve felt like blogging about in (seemingly) forever. Just, wow. I know this best-selling novel has won prize after prize. It feels almost ridiculous to pile on more love. Mitchell doesn’t need it. But the book is so...

Holmes, Sweet Holmes...

I’m on my semi-annual Sherlock Holmes binge. What? You think I ALWAYS read a ton of Arthur Conan Doyle and S.H. pastiche? Well, you’re right. But the current jag is becoming way over-the-top. It started innocently enough. I picked up a copy of editor Michael Kurland’s...

I Asked My Brain for An...

The other day I was sort of daydreaming, and I found myself thinking, “Well, hopefully, I will have read enough books.” And then, suddenly, I was aware of this subconscious train of thought that was quite amazing. It seems, I guess, that ever since I read A Portrait of the...

Fly, Little Butterfly!...

Last night I read A Fistful of Sky by Nina Kiriki Hoffman. Talk about a contrast to Veniss Underground. Going from hopeless, naseating despair to this sweet little coming-of-age tale was quite a leap. A Fistful of Sky is quite charming — the age old story of an ugly duckling...