This collection of short stories feels more like Atwood published her “idea journal” for public consumption. I read one review that suggested that, despite its short length, it may be better enjoyed in short spurts which I did not consider until it was too late. In the few instances I found myself enjoying a story it would inevitably end a few sentences later, as is the nature of short stories. The longer poems were probably the most enjoyable because they felt the most complete as […]
About Last Night to Zombieland
I bought The Big Bad Book of Bill Murray for our annual White Elephant gift exchange this past Christmas but when someone who lived out of town opened it I panicked that I wouldn’t be able to borrow it and stole it on my turn. While that may not be the intended spirit of a gift exchange it was probably in the spirit of Bill Murray. Robert Schnakenberg is clearly a Bill Murray super-fan; his resulting encyclopedia is colorful and entertaining but its format limits […]
I’m beginning to fear Maria Semple was a One Hit Wonder
I loved Semple’s Where’d You Go Bernadette but was disappointed by This One is Mine; My feelings for Semple’s third novel, Today Will Be Different, falls squarely in the middle. “Today will be different. Today I will be present. Today, anyone I speak to, I will look them in the eye and listen deeply. Today I’ll play a board game with Timby. I’ll initiate sex with Joe. Today I will take pride in my appearance. I’ll shower, get dressed in proper clothes, and change into yoga clothes only for […]
“Every lover is, in his heart, a madman, and, in his head, a minstrel.”
I have never been a big fantasy fan but CBR (and, specifically, Badkittyuno) have led me to try new things to mixed results. Neil Gaiman has been a welcome addition to my author’s list beginning with last year’s American Gods– probably my favorite book from the CBR8 read. Stardust is Gaiman’s fairy tail for adults and it’s a pretty successful attempt. This was an increasingly rare instance when I saw the movie (granted, forever ago) before reading the novel and while they have similarities they are also […]
Finally brought this one out of the freezer
The Zookeeper’s Wife has been on my To Read list (and physically in my house) for about 4 years. Its place on my bookshelves predates my CBR membership! After a few false starts I finally made my way through this one… *Trigger Warning if you love animals more than people* I have read countless books on World War II, both fiction and non fiction, but none of them wrecked me like Ackerman’s The Zookeeper’s Wife. Antonina and Jan Zabinski ran the Warsaw Zoo in the 1930s; they had an […]
Troubled Short Stories about Troubled Romances
Paris for One, the titular story for Jojo Moyes collection of short stories, is both the longest and best story in the bunch. Paris for One is more novella length and tells the story of Nell, an English girl, who impulsively buys a weekend getaway to Paris for herself and her loser boyfriend. The loser boyfriend bails on the trip and Nell is left stranded in one of the most romantic cities in the world. The front desk woman at her hotel sends Nell to a […]
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