Mrs Smith Reads

Gin-soaked, mildly European democratic-socialist popinjay and avid curator of esoteric ephemera. I work in the future. US passport, Netherlands resident, global citizen. My goal this year is to read authors from diverse backgrounds, especially women, and non-western writers, particularly speculative fiction, political analysis and historical memoirs. (Occasional cursing.)

Mrs Smith Reads's Reviews:

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Mary Poppins and Mary Poppins Comes Back [Boxed Set] by Dr PL Travers

November 30, 2018 by Mrs Smith Reads 3 Comments

[1/2 CANNONBALL!!!] [BINGO 4 & BINGO 5] After a steady stretch of some seriously challenging reading, I decided that to fill my final CBR10 Bingo square for “The Book Was Better,” I’d read something cheerful and pleasant. So, Mary Poppins and Mary Poppins Comes Back by PL Travers it was! They were a perfect choice. Since I had only ever seen the Julie Andrews movie from 1964, and had never read any of the books in the series, this seemed a perfect opportunity to read the source material before Mary Poppins Returns comes out in December 2018. The 1964 film—even factoring in the limited special effects abilities of the […]

11/30/2018 Mrs Smith Reads's CBR10 Review No:26 |

…to wound the autumnal city.

Dhalgren by Samuel R Delany

November 28, 2018 by Mrs Smith Reads 3 Comments

[BINGO 3] I’ve read Dhalgren so many times. Every time is different. Sometimes I devour it, blocking out everything else going on around me. Other times, I read it slowly, with long breaks, dipping in here and there, and savouring each section as I go, as if it was just a collection of stories. I’ve been reading it again in 2018, and not surprisingly, this time felt completely different. One thing is for sure about Dhalgren, it is regarded as Samuel R Delany’s masterpiece of science fiction, but from what I can tell, very few who read it actually like it. It’s weird, […]

11/28/2018 Mrs Smith Reads's CBR10 Review No:25 |

“Fear is Power”

Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward

November 28, 2018 by Mrs Smith Reads Leave a Comment

I did not like reading Fear by Bob Woodward, and I suspect that no one else has either. I can’t say that I learned anything new about the Trump presidency—though my worst fears were confirmed. Trump is not smart. He is not thoughtful. He has no human emotions beyond greed and contempt. Trump is lazy and vengeful. The only *facts* Trump knows are the ones he makes up in his head. Trump’s administration are frankly more evil than Trump himself. Despite their belief that they are “protecting” the nation from DJT’s stupidity and toddler-level understanding of government and legislation, they are only worsening […]

11/28/2018 Mrs Smith Reads's CBR10 Review No:24 |

Add Friday Black to your Black Friday shopping list!

Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

November 21, 2018 by Mrs Smith Reads Leave a Comment

[BINGO #2!] In this most holy month of guerrilla bargain shopping which begins with the Happy Holiday season of Black Fridays and Cyber Mondays, I couldn’t think of a better book to review than Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. Both Roxanne Gay and George Saunders are singing the praises of this fresh young author, and everyone should be reading this outstanding collection of short stories. Adjei-Brenyah’s tales whipsaw between dystopian near futures of shopping madness in “Friday Black,” where stores just pile up the dead bodies so shoppers can consume without disruption, to the boundary-pushing of legal justifications for *freedom* in the […]

11/21/2018 Mrs Smith Reads's CBR10 Review No:23 |

Sea Section seems like a perfectly reasonable name for a beach house.

Calypso by David Sedaris

November 14, 2018 by Mrs Smith Reads Leave a Comment

So I picked Calypso by David Sedaris as my “Brain Candy” square for CBR10 Bingo, which after reading it, seems like maybe not the best choice, because these short stories are a bit darker than usual. Sedaris’ sister Tiffany committed suicide in 2013, and this, his mother’s alcoholism, and a strange tumour growing on his side become the running topics in many of the stories in his first compilation in five years. Calypso is still hilariously funny, in exactly the ways you expect it to be. I’ve always had a soft spot for Sedaris and his entire family, mostly because they’re from North Carolina […]

11/14/2018 Mrs Smith Reads's CBR10 Review No:22 |

Love the guy, hated the book.

Between the Bridge and the River by Craig Ferguson

November 1, 2018 by Mrs Smith Reads Leave a Comment

OK, I’ll just say up front that if I had read Between the Bridge and the River when it came out in 2006, I’m pretty sure I would have loved it and written a rave review. Unfortunately reading it in 2018, I just didn’t have that reaction. I’ve always liked Craig Ferguson, and his sense of humour. He was my favourite part of “The Drew Carey Show,” and his most recent comedy special on Netflix, “Tickle Fight” made me laugh out loud. He’s a good guy, who’s been through some stuff and come out the better for it. Unfortunately, Ferguson’s first novel Between the […]

11/1/2018 Mrs Smith Reads's CBR10 Review No:21 |

An epic tale about the hopelessness of being The Other

Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley

October 30, 2018 by Mrs Smith Reads 2 Comments

[BINGO!] I’ve been mulling over this review of Frankenstein for a couple of weeks now and I have so many thoughts and feelings! I’ll first admit that I had never read Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus before this year, and truly believed that the gothic horror story was just the same as James Whale’s Frankenstein movie. And it is not. At all. The same. Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley wrote her epic tale about the hopelessness of being The Other, of the misery of the life unwanted, and uncared for. The monster is a miserable, loveless creature who terrifies anyone who encounters him, and this pushes him to become […]

10/30/2018 Mrs Smith Reads's CBR10 Review No:20 |

“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” ― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

October 9, 2018 by Mrs Smith Reads Leave a Comment

While I already knew of Alison Bechdel and had some idea of the what her first graphic novel is about, I genuinely wasn’t prepared for how much Fun Home would affect me emotionally. It was a roller coaster of feelings, beautifully told and illustrated. Bechdel is only slightly older than I am, so her memoir of growing up in the 70s and 80s had some very familiar echoes. Though our families were dysfunctional in completely different ways, the family dynamics, cultural and social norms which she describes in Fun Home very much reflect what growing up and coming of age was like for anyone who felt […]

10/9/2018 Mrs Smith Reads's CBR10 Review No:19 |

Classic on Not as Good as ChristieYup the cover is really nice. It seems a lot of reviewers weren't into this one.
Classic on See Into the Beast👍🏽
Scootsa1000 on “I wish his darkness lived outside of him, because you have to know it’s there to see it. Like all real monsters, he hides in plain sight.”I suggest the following plan of attack: have a few feel-good books ready for when you finish Sadie. I jumped right into the new Christina...
faintingviolet on “I wish his darkness lived outside of him, because you have to know it’s there to see it. Like all real monsters, he hides in plain sight.”My brother bought this for me for Christmas and I'm super excited it keeps getting positive reviews. I tried to read the articles about the...
Tracy on See Into the BeastJust popped by to say I also loved Vincent :-)