Have you ever wondered where some of our nursery rhymes came from, or what they really mean? Some of them seem to be about pure nonsense, but there is more to them than meets the eye. After all, “nursery rhymes are full of sex, death, and cruelty” (xv). The author makes a point that this is “not meant to be a scholarly exercise” (187), it’s more like a “Hey, did you know that…?” Like any good conspiracy artist, Roberts can find meaning anywhere, and sometimes […]
What does it say about a book when the Intro is the best part?
I… don’t know what to say about this. It’s an anthology of short stories by Sarah Totton. While I don’t love them, they’re… good? I can’t tell. They’re kind of weird. I said this to faintingviolet, and her response was: “You were expecting not weird?” I was expecting weird, considering where I bought the book, but I suppose I was expecting a different kind of weird. I think my favorite part of the whole book is the Introduction by Forrest Aguirre. His prose is […]
A nice predictable ride
And now starts my Cannonball goal of reading books that I already have in my house! And I happen to have a bunch of Pride and Prejudice “sequels.” For those of you who don’t know, Pride and Prejudice “sequels” are all just fanfictions that happened to get published. (Thanks, expired copyright and fair use!) This was a nice light read. I blew through it in about 3 hours. There were no big surprises (especially for a reader of fanfiction), but there were also no big […]
“Welcome to fucking Wonderland” or, Adventures in Mathmagic Land
Our adventures take place in a slightly dystopian future, where some people can tap into extra parts in their brains and gain X-men-like powers. The people who have strong powers are called Greater-Thans, because they can access more than 10% of their brains at once. Your “integration” level is the percentage of your brain you can use. Normal people can only access 10% or less, so they are called Fractions, for a fraction of 10% (which doesn’t make sense to me, but whatever.) Powers include […]
Spoiler Alert: Contains no jousting atop vampiric stallions
We begin with a Page of Contents (there is no table involved) in which there is a brief synopsis of what is to come. The dilemma – do I read this and spoil the surprise? Methinks I shall skip it for now, so I might be appropriately delighted when events unfold forthwith. This book is not a book – it is a tale that is being told, a story that could be conveyed to a small, squirming child at bedtime to calm them and […]
A dream turned into a tedious nightmare
So, this. This was not an enjoyable book. It is the story of author George Sand, born Aurore Dupin. I have not read anything by this historic author, and now I have the feeling that I never will, due to the fact that I dislike her so much due to this telling of her life. If this book was meant to endear the character to me, it failed. I was not sympathetic to the character. She came across as selfish, bitchy, and boring. […]