It’s a terrible feeling to hear praise heaped upon a new book, read it yourself and…not get it. Your mind starts playing games with itself: Everyone else liked this book, what’s wrong with you? Do you just not understand it? Is that it, you idiot? You focus on the book a little harder, maybe if you squint at the freaking book, all of this praise will make sense. But still…it’s just not there for you. That was my experience with Kelly Link’s collection of short […]
I loved all these crazy birds
This is a deliciously weird book, and if people have love-it or hate-it reactions to it I could not be less surprised. There are often very pretentious and meta conversations among geeks regarding the differences that delineate (with very fluid, hazy borders) fantasy and science fiction. Sometimes, this happens because of “bad” sci-fi, that doesn’t actually explain its science very well, and gaps in the world building may as well be explained by magic. All the Birds in the Sky deliberately takes this idea and […]
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The Language of Spells is a serviceable lite-fantasy story that I breezed through very quickly, but lacks staying power. The main character, Gwen Harper, is from a family that demonstrates magical abilities — hexes, spells, card reading, and certain individual talents manifest themselves in Gwen, her mother, and her great aunt Iris (notably not her sister, Ruby.) When Gwen learns that recently deceased Iris has left her a house in her name, in a small town that her family had lived in but left when […]
Mothers and Daughters and Meh
Alice Hoffman is one of my favorite authors, so I was eager to tackle this one, and yet, meh. Two mothers, one who put her daughter up for adoption and has carried the secret with her (Lila), and one who is facing an unplanned pregnancy (Rae) have their lives interwoven through serendipitous means. This is a tale of tragedy, hope, and forgiveness, and how small missteps can irrevocably change the lives of our protagonists, and those around them. Magical realism is usually my jam, but […]
A new literary favorite
The Chancellor has been at me for years to read Isabel Allende, and finally, I caved in. He chose Zorro for February’s book club, and I thought I would start by first reading The House of the Spirits. It’s drawn a lot of comparisons to Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, which on the surface seems fair, but honestly, I think Allende’s is the superior novel. Full review can be found at my blog, The Universe Disturbed.
A great start to 2016
This read was a fascinating dive into magical realism, not a genre I frequent very often. The story flips between Mexico City 1988 and Mexico City 2009 from chapter to chapter and centers on a trio of friends. Meche, Sebastian, & Daniela, all fifteen, are the freaks of their high school. They’re on the poor side and not exactly conventionally attractive, but they enjoy each other’s company while longing to rise in social standing. Meche had always been told stories of magic by her grandmother, […]
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