This book was an impulse purchase on a long airport layover a few years ago. I’d heard good things about China Miéville and wanted to give him a shot, and I figured a quick kids’ book read would be a good place to start, and then — classic me — I let it sit on the shelf for nearly two years before getting to it. Un Lun Dun has a lot going for it. The protagonists, Zanna and Deeba, pre-teen girls and best friends, have […]
Earth below us, drifting, falling
I had yet to read any Paul Auster when I saw 4 3 2 1 on the 2017 Man Booker shortlist, and I didn’t jump on it right away, mostly because of its sheer size, this brick of a book at 1,070 pages. I don’t read a lot of long books because I’m not a fast reader and can be easily distracted, so I figured this was a pass, but then I read a synopsis and found myself intrigued by the structural conceit of telling […]
“These are the frail, imperfect ways of ordinary human beings in the teeth of a great epidemic”
I finished reading this book a week ago today, and I’m still not sure how to write about it. I found it deeply moving, but it may still be too soon to put my thoughts and feelings into words, and anything I write here can only scratch the surface. Jonny Steinberg has packed so much into the 326 pages of Three-Letter Plague (published in the U.S. under the title Sizwe’s Test). He writes about his own literal and figurative journey to try to learn how […]
She remembers when the word “friend” could draw blood
This was one of those books that I noticed on the shelf and pretty much decided to buy before I even picked it up. The cover is designed like a video rental jacket from the 80’s, front to back, right down to the “Be Kind, Rewind” sticker, and it’s like I had no choice. I still remember in fourth grade when the one liquor store in town started renting VCRs and movies on VHS, and just looking at this book brought back the sights and […]
I just need to focus on me right now
Over the last three months, I’ve been trying to get my life in order, throwing out the things I don’t want/like/need, part middle-aged decluttering and part long-term strategy to go on offense against depression. I’ve already given up alcohol, caffeine, and sweets. My next target: mindless phone use. So when Lollygagger mentioned How to Break Up with Your Phone in a Pajiba comment, I knew it was going to the top of my BUY IT NOW list. She reviewed it here on CBR the day […]
Charleth Dickenth thtarring Daffy Duck
I was really looking forward to reading Hard Times when I pulled it off the shelf. I’m a Dickens fan. A Tale of Two Cities is one of my all-time favorites, and Bleak House is right up there, too. And I have to say this was the most Dickensian novel that Dickens ever Dickensed. Unfortunately, that’s not a good thing. It lacked a lot of my favorite things about Dickens. There wasn’t much of a mystery. There weren’t many great lines. And there weren’t any […]