Book Review
Yes, I Read War & Peace! Look, it’s not classy, but I gotta take my victory lap. I read War & Peace, all one-thousand two-hundred and twenty-four pages of the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation. The project did require two months and I did return the book
Book Review
I encountered the work of Peter S. Beagle for the first time recently. Yes, I’ve never even read The Last Unicorn. Am I a Fake Fantasy Fan? Indubitably. I have seen the animated film, which is weird and yet touching and yet baffling. I know that Peter S. Beagle
Book Review
At last, at last, at long last: I have concluded my read of the 2025 Hugo Best Novel nominees. It got…a little bit easier here at the end. There were some weird mushrooms and freaky beasts. But there were also unexpected challenges. The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
Book Review
I Have Been Obliterated By 1 Million Words of Power In September I set off on an epic journey which I only barely survived. This journey was a walk from beginning to end through the three (sometimes four) volumes of Tad Williams’ Memory, Sorrow, & Thorn series. I chose to
Book Review
One thing long-time readers of the blog will know about me is that I’m incapable of starting a book series at the beginning. Another thing about me is that I am really good at avoiding touchstone pieces of media. The films of Martin Scorsese? Never seen’em. Super
Book Review
There are a lot of valid critiques of Western gender norms and the ideologies which venerate binarism and “traditional” sex roles. Many have taken to science fiction to air these critiques in various formats and frames. What Benjamin Rosenbaum asks with his book The Unraveling, is what if you had
Book Review
Because there are many SFF novellas at the library. Artificial Condition by Martha Wells Par for the course for me, I pulled down a random Murderbot book from the library shelf and started reading the series there. My goal was to prepare myself for the upcoming AppleTV+ series. You might
Book Review
Last year I read Jo Walton’s Among Others, a lovely book about a Welsh teen’s magical coming-of-age in the wake of her twin sister’s death. I thought that book was quietly bold, so I looked into Walton’s other work and marked My Real Children
Book Review
I’m trying something new this year to take my mind off the horrors: I’m going to read all the 2025 Best Novel Hugo nominees. Probably not in time for the actual awards ceremony, but you never know. How hard can it be to read six books by August…
Book Review
Last week, I reported on P. Djèlí Clark’s Ring Shout and The Haunting of Tram 015, as well as (sigh) Catherynne M. Valente’s Speak Easy. But they are not my only recent fantasy checkouts. Wonders of the Invisible World by Patricia McKillip Another barrier between me and Speak
Book Review
With a newly minted library card in hand, I’m excitedly exploring the stacks of my local with a mind to dare. For the last year or so, I’ve been in a between-residences limbo which denied me the comfort of a local library to call my own. This
Book Review
Big news in weird decisions by me: I’ve started reading a lengthy novel series by picking up a random installment in the middle. That series is The Vorkosigan Saga, and that installment is Mirror Dance. Now, in my defense, I didn’t go in entirely unprepared. I had previously