Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl was an awful, awful person. He was wildly antisemitic, racist, and so disagreeable one of his wives called him “Roald the Rotten.” He’s a classic case of “separate the artist from the art,” because his whimsical, captivating (but always with a dark side) books seem to bely his … [Read more]
Public Secrets by Nora Roberts
After being rescued from her abusive mother, Emma goes on to live a charmed life with her father and his wife - at least until a tragedy befalls the whole family. This is an older Nora, and one I picked up because the premise reminded me of those family saga/career girl dramas from the 80s that I … [Read more]
Fathers and Children by Ivan Turgenev
Turgenev’s Fathers and Children comes from that lush mid-19th century literary period in Russian literature that also includes the authors Gogol (Dead Souls) and my favorite, Goncharov (Oblomov, in which we spend 500 pages with the world’s laziest man). There are more famous authors in this period, … [Read more]
Cleansed by Sarah Kane
CW: mental illness, drug use, suicide, bodily mutilation I read this play because a friend of mine issued an open casting call for auditions. This is not the first Sarah Kane play that this theater has put on in the last few years, so I wanted to see why there was such a focus on this playwright. … [Read more]
The Magic Cap. by Mirelle Messier
It was a picture book kind of day and Edelweiss was very obliging with the future publications being available. One due late May/early April 2023 was The Magic Cap. This fairytale (possible retelling, but modern tones) is about two siblings who lived in a cottage next to the woods. This was long … [Read more]
American Gods: Author’s Preferred Text by Neil Gaiman
I watched the first season American Gods on Starz back in the day, and I really enjoyed it but never bothered with the rest of the series once I heard that the show runner and several stars were out of the project. I’ve had the novel on my shelf ever since, but its length (500+ pages) was a little … [Read more]
