Sethe, a former slave, is raising her last child left in the lonely, two story house at 124. Well, they aren’t completely alone. There is the spiteful spirit that bedevils the house, scaring away Sethe’s two sons and turning her mother-in-law infirm. The arrival of Paul D, another former slave that worked on the same farm as Seth, brings a short period of relief from the haunting. Until a few days later, when a young woman shows up on their porch, with no memory, who […]
Bad in Baltimore – A Fitting Name
Full disclosure: I’ve written a novel set in Baltimore. When I found this one I was a little excited to see how someone else would see Baltimore. It was fun seeing references to street names I knew and places I could kinda guess the locations of. I played “what place were they actually thinking of when they talked about this place”. That was nice. I really wanted to like this book. There were some problems with pacing and some plot devices that I was uncomfortable […]
On Genius
I am very grateful to Cannonballer Mathildehoeg for sending me On Beauty as part of the holiday book exchange. I’ve been wanting to read more of Zadie Smith’s work since reviewing White Teeth a couple of Cannonballs ago. Everything about Smith’s work is so superbly done, so sublime, that I feel ridiculous trying to review it. I’m no writer and have no aspirations to be a writer; I am a grateful reader who simply doesn’t have the words or facility of expression to do justice […]
If Schroedinger opened Pandora’s box…
What happens when what you’ve always known yourself to be is locked away from you? What happens when a secret that’s been a secret for hundreds of years suddenly isn’t a secret anymore? (A word of warning, regarding secrets: Here there be spoilers for the first two books in the series. I’m sorry. I can’t discuss this one without discussing them, at least a little bit.) Ex-libriomancer Isaac Vaino doesn’t have an answer for the second thing at the beginning of Jim Hines’ Unbound, because he’s […]
When Elizabethan London is more interesting than the witches and vampires who inhabit it
Part fantasy, part historical fiction, Shadow of Night is the second book in the All Soul’s trilogy (and you really need to have read A Discovery of Witches first to get what is going on). As a tale about witches and vampires, there isn’t a lot of action or back story on the whole witch/vampire/daemon culture. But this book was full of day to day details of life in 16th century Europe, which was a surprising highlight for me. Shadow begins where Discovery left off, […]
The Start of the Finish
Etiquette & Espionage, Gail Carriger’s first installment of her YA series set in the universe of the Parasol Protectorate, is an absolute delight. The events take place before Soulless, and can be thoroughly enjoyed without having read the other series. I read Soulless a few years ago, and am ashamed to admit that I don’t remember much, just the basics that werewolves and vampires are out in society, and that vampires are fabulous (which is not the main point of the book, but certain things […]
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