“Mom, after someone dies and becomes a ghost, do they become a kid again?” My four-year-old asked me this just a day after I finished reading Atkinson’s book, Life After Life. “Well, some people believe that. It’s called reincarnation.” I told him, wondering if his earlier comment about how I should wear a certain necklace “the next time I got married” was related to this conversation. While I’m not sure Life After Life is about reincarnation, parallel universes, or a hybrid of both, it nonetheless […]
For a terrifying moment I thought he was going to hug me, but fortunately we both remembered we were English just in time.
Wait, hang on a second. [Looks up how many PC Peter Grant novels there are so far.] [Discovers Ben Aaronovitch wrote a few serials for “Doctor Who,” in the late Eighties. Light bulb.] [Discovers that although the book jackets say “PC Peter Grant Series,” whoever edited Wikipedia last prefers to refer to them as the “Rivers of London Series.” Huh, makes sense. Also: spoilerish.] [Discovers there are 6 “Rivers of London” novels so far, and what’s this, now? 9 spin-off graphic novels? And 4 companion […]
Next time, more history less theory, please
Funny story: a number of years ago I read Blackout by Connie Willis, one of my favorite authors. I really love Connie Willis, even though there have been some disappointments (Remake is way too obvious and Promised Land. . .I don’t even want to talk about it). But when she’s on, I’m nuts for her writing. Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog, which are curiously tied together by a time-travel theme and some shared characters, are two of my favorite contemporary novels, in spite of them being very […]
Birds got to fly, fish got to swim, fools and policemen got to rush in.
THREE CHEERS FOR SNARKY BRITISH URBAN FANTASY. I didn’t know I was looking for this series, the PC Peter Grant series. I actually had it checked out from the library and let the loan expire the first time around… thanks, The Devourers, for taking so long to slog through that I had to wait to get Midnight Riot back again before I could dive into this world! I love this world, this miraculously sarcastic world where a newly-minted London police constable with a probably lateral […]
Is it possible to outthink yourself?
When I was reading Dark Matter, I said to a friend who was worried that I was bored (long story, irrelevant to this review), “no way, because I love my book right now! It’s got car chases, and alternate universes, and multiplicity, and science, and action, and adventure!” I’m not kidding, I had a total blast reading this book, and couldn’t wait to get back to it every time I had to put it down. It’s not life-altering literary fiction. But they can’t all be. […]
Everything she has is secondhand.
I succumbed and read The Girl on the Train! Why the hell didn’t any of you warn me that it would be impossible not to take it way too personally? J’accuse! (Just kidding; I like to stay unspoiled and wouldn’t have listened to you anyway.) What’s funny is that I listen to the “My Favorite Murder” podcast, and I’ve listened to their promo for the movie a whole bunch of times, in which the script goes “devasted by her recent divorce…” blah blah blah blah. […]
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