I know I promised some hot Jane Austen content. I planned for this focus because I'm currently working my way through a history of five female abstract impressionist painters that, while mesmerizing, is a 700-page beast of a book. But last weekend I took a break from the behemoth because a slim, YA fantasy needed … Continue reading The Wheelhouse Project – New Addition! – Tantalizing Taste Books
YA Fiction
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
Of Doors and Thresholds, Magic and Stories and Change
Very, very mild spoilers for The Ten Thousand Doors of January, The Starless Sea, and The Magicians. I have been thinking a lot about doors and thresholds. We pass through them all the time, entering and exiting buildings and rooms without thought. Metaphorically, doors represent beginnings or endings or changes, and thresholds represent the in-between … Continue reading Of Doors and Thresholds, Magic and Stories and Change
Weird Sisters: Atwood, Le Guin, Butler
How many other appreciators have lumped together the ineffable Margaret Atwood, Ursula Le Guin, and Octavia Butler? Combined they may be up there with poems to spring or love in terms of clichéd subjects. But I'm going to do it anyway because these three transcend easy comparison about "women writing speculative fiction." They are prophets … Continue reading Weird Sisters: Atwood, Le Guin, Butler
Magic and Change, Octavia Butler and J. K. Rowling
Friends, I am in a bisected emotional space, feeling contentment and frustration, happiness and sadness, fear and hope, grief and delight. I can conjure many reasons for this state but more important, I think, than understanding is sitting with it, soaking in it, letting it be what it is. Intriguingly, the universe has given me … Continue reading Magic and Change, Octavia Butler and J. K. Rowling
Bookish Comfort Food
I like to read before bed but I rarely read the primary book that I'm working on. Those books may be scary or disturbing, or challenging to read with a sleepy brain, or simply too much fun to put down and go the eff to sleep! So a few years ago I took to re-reading … Continue reading Bookish Comfort Food
Anne vs. Emily*
As a child, I was verbal, bookish, imaginative, romantic, and creative. (Also bossy.) When I cleaned the bathroom, I imagined myself as a tragic princess-type, a la Cinderella or Sara Crew. When I washed dishes I pretended it was hard, closeknit olden times and I was someone like Laura Ingalls or Jo March. These heroines … Continue reading Anne vs. Emily*
Summertime Slump
Into every reading life, a slump will come. Maybe you're just not in the mood for what's in the stack. Maybe the line-up of blockbuster movies and bingeable shows is too much to resist. Maybe there's simply a lot going on. Regardless of the reasons, dry spells are inevitable. My recent slump seemed like it … Continue reading Summertime Slump
Accidentally Complementary, or when the universe hands you a literary gift
Listening to: Garbage, Garbage. Drinking: Red table wine Sometimes chance gives you a cluster of works (books, songs, shows, movies, podcast) that create an intriguing juxtaposition or a complementary meshing. I first noticed this phenomenon in college, when classes chosen for schedule (or the texts assigned in them) created an unexpected, unintended harmony. When such a thing … Continue reading Accidentally Complementary, or when the universe hands you a literary gift
Dogs, Coffee, & Books 