Two years ago, my sister loaned me issues of a comic she’d gotten into, Saga. “It’s really, really good. You’re going to love it.” I agreed, mostly to get her to stop talking about it. One thing led to another, and somehow, I kept putting it off. The Chancellor read several issues and agreed with my sister. And still…I kept forgetting to read it. But then, she came over last weekend, and I decided that I needed to give her back her comics, but I’d […]
The dangerous song of Orpheus
I think Fables and Reflections just might be my favorite Sandman book yet. It contains a series of vignettes that are not technically related but all somehow develop Dream’s/Morpheus’s character and complexity. I’m eager to continue the rest of the series, especially if Gaiman goes forward in several different directions at once. I’d like to talk about two of my favorite stories or episodes in this collection: “The Song of Orpheus” and “Ramadan.” Both involve a retelling of mythology in a way that seems new […]
Barbie’s return
Now that I’ve made it through several volumes of the Sandman series, I am beginning to understand the volumes that I like and those that I just don’t as much. I’m learning that I really, really enjoy the “disconnected” stories that make the collection feel like a collection of short stories more than I do when the volume is linked together by a series of building episodes. A Game of You featured a continuous story that “connects” Dream/Morpheus’s narrative, but it’s not my favorite in […]
A disappointing disconnect for me
This review fills me with the sads, you guys. When I first heard about this book, I was so.very.excited. Girls kicking ass and taking names at summer camp? Yes. Girls who are unconventional in appearance and a team with no cattiness? Yes. Girls who are empowered and unashamed of their very beings? Yes. And yet. And yet… The first volume finds us at Miss Qiunzilla Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for hard-core-lady-types, where counselor Jen’s cabin solemnly swears they are up to no good at […]
A rich, unexpected novel from Willa Cather
As you all know by now, I’ve been on a Willa Cather binge. If you’ve only read My Ántonia, keep going. She’s really a terrific writer and there’s more than just the Great Plains to be found in her writing. One of Ours is one such out-of-the-box example. Cather is interested in a global and national identity, as well as a local one. This novel plumbs the richness to be found in the individual. Claude Wheeler is a farmer’s son with restless ambitions about becoming […]
A betrayal or an act of love?
Last week, I was taking a road trip up to Milwaukee, and I also had some indexing and sorting of teaching documents to complete. So last week’s library trip entailed some audiobook acquisitions. I’m trying to get back into that routine, since my commute will be starting in less than two weeks. I’ve been wanting to read Toni Morrison’s newest novels for a while, so A Mercy seemed like a good place to start. Plus, Morrison herself reads the audiobook. I was sold. A Mercy […]
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