Last night I watched the movie Three Thousand Years of Longing, starring Tilda Swinton as Alithea, a solitary-but-contented "narratologist," and Idris Elba as the Djinn she inadvertently releases from a bottle bought in an Istanbul shop. Because she's a scholar of stories, Alithea resists falling for the pitfalls inherent in stories of wishes while the … Continue reading Longing Against the Facts of History: ‘The Marriage Portrait’ by Maggie O’Farrell
fairy tales
A Strange Paradise Indeed: Review of ‘What Strange Paradise’ by Omar El Akkad
A little boy washed up on an alien shore. A teenage girl lonely and unloved in a house on a hill. Can she save him from monsters? Such is the premise, in one sense, of Omar El Akkad's second novel, What Strange Paradise. It has fairy tale bones—children in dangerous situations, helping each other, facing … Continue reading A Strange Paradise Indeed: Review of ‘What Strange Paradise’ by Omar El Akkad
Notions, January 2021 Edition
This is the time of year I realize just how much dark time we still have to go. Work is busy. The outside is dark and dreary. And I mostly want to just curl up with a book. Alas. While we wait for spring, here are some of the fun, interesting, and/or gorgeous things I've … Continue reading Notions, January 2021 Edition
The Night is Dark and Full of Wonders: The Winternight Trilogy
Every once in a while a book or —even better—a series of books comes along to take you out of yourself. Such a series is the Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden. At first glance, the structure of these books, particularly the first one, The Bear and the Nightingale, feels familiar. Vasilisa "Vasya" Petrovna runs wild … Continue reading The Night is Dark and Full of Wonders: The Winternight Trilogy
The Wheelhouse Project: Retellings of Myths and Fairy Tales — ‘Till We Have Faces’ & ‘Circe’
So far, entries into the Wheelhouse Project have focused on Nancy Pearl's Four Doorways to reading. But the actual "wheelhouse" refers to attributes of a book that make it highly likely I will pick it up. This week we focus on "retellings of myths and fairy tales, bonus points for feminism, anti-racism, and/or realistic depictions … Continue reading The Wheelhouse Project: Retellings of Myths and Fairy Tales — ‘Till We Have Faces’ & ‘Circe’
Dogs, Coffee, & Books 