The Door (1987), by Hungarian novelist Magda Szabo (1917-2007), is the story of a writer’s relationship with her older cleaning woman. The two women, a generation apart, develop an antagonistic or love/hate kind of friendship. Emerence, the cleaning woman, is a force to be reckoned with; she has strong views on politics and religion, and she is unafraid of authority. While she is known in the neighborhood for her hard work and generosity, she shows her employer, never named but referred to by neighbors as […]
Five minutes looking in his eyes, we all knew he was broken pretty bad
Reading an Anne Tyler book is like snuggling into your warm bed when it’s raining and you have nowhere to be. There are no Big Bads, no scary, suspenseful moments, and no dramatic confrontations. Her books feel like a snapshot of the characters’ lives, which are mostly very ordinary. I adore them. The Accidental Tourist is the story of Macon Leary, a middle-aged man who writes travel guides for businessmen (and since it was written in 1985, they are indeed guides for businessmen, not businesspeople). His son Ethan was […]
Science vs. Magic: Can’t We All Just Get Along?
Charlie Jane Anders’ new novel is about science, magic, and the need to work together for the sake of the world. Our two main characters are the embodiment of science and magic. Laurence is a gifted geek who, in 8th grade, figured out how to make a wristwatch time machine. It could only take you 2 seconds into the future, but still…. Patricia is a magic and nature geek who occasionally can talk to animals and once spoke with a tree. In adulthood, Laurence and […]
Genre Mix and Match
This is one of those books that defies categorization. It’s the messed-up, weirdo love child of sci-fi, fantasy, romance, and dystopian fiction. There’s no way around it; This book is weird. But in a good way. Mostly. And you should know in advance that there’s no way I can summarize it that will do it justice. The story follows two people, Patricia Delfine and Laurence Armstead, from childhood to adulthood. Their lives intertwine in interesting and important ways even though they’re the yang to each […]
Kickstarter kickstart: when fandom and real life collide
Disclaimer: I love fanfic. A lot. Disclaimer the second: I am Australian. Hopefully my spelling and vocab make sense. Many years ago, I watched an episode of Buffy and thought, “I wonder what other people thought about this?” From a simple Yahoo search (this was pre-Google) I found forums, then it was a quick descent (or ascent, depending on the showrunner) into fanfic. So imagine my joy when some big names in fandom announced they were starting up their own publishing company with the express purpose of promoting […]
Arrested Development, No Bluths. No, strike that, I refuse to be flippant about this gorgeous novel.
When I read Donna Tartt’s “The Secret History” over a decade ago, it stuck with me for quite some time. I think “The Goldfinch” is going to haunt me even longer. I don’t know how she does it, but Tartt’s writing style is, for me at least, the literary version of an earworm that has no burn factor. I could not stop thinking about this book every time I put it down. I kept bringing it up with people at work. My dreams were screwed up. […]
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