I’ve read Gillian Flynn’s body of work in reverse. I first became aware of her when everyone was reading Gone Girl, so I jumped on the bandwagon and tore through that novel like the suspenseful page-turner that it is. Next I read Dark Places, and in some ways I liked it even more, with its dark, In Cold Blood feel, though at times I felt like Flynn piled on the disfunction a bit too heavily. “How much more can this family go through?” I remember […]
Delightfully poignant
Twenty-sixth book reviewed as part of the 130 Challenge. Well of course, Oscar Wilde doesn’t need a stamp of approval. But I feel compelled to talk about his work because I don’t want anyone to miss the pleasure of reading him. And the best thing is that most of his work is available on project Gutenberg. The first book by him that I read, was The Picture of Dorian Gray. The book shook me so much that I couldn’t complete it. It was real and it changed my perspective on […]
“The Glory of Living” A play script Vangie13 cbr #49
by Rebecca Gilman “They did. Because they’re of that type. It’s just a thing that happens to a type. And it woulda kept happenin’ forever.” The Present. Rural deep South. Imagine a triangle, with the points being Murfreesboro, TN; Atlanta, GA; and Birmingham AL. Poverty. Poor education. Nothing to do. Lisa is 15. Her mother is a prostitute and she entertains her clients behind a sheet in the living room of the trailer house where she lives with her kids. Lisa has literally seen it […]
“Hush” A play script Vangie13 cbr #48
by April de Angelis “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” — Macbeth Act 5, Scene 5” Hush is set on a dismal beach a year after Jo has mysteriously disappeared. It is about the effects that the disappearance is having on those she left behind. Or else it’s about socialism and the failure […]
“Waiting for Godot”: Vangie13 cbr #45
by Samuel Beckett I read a lot of scripts for my job. It’s time for season selection/design, so it’s time to read scripts. It’s been cutting into my CBR review time. And then I realized: I’m still reading stories. Here’s one of those stories. “Well? Shall we go?” Act I Two men, Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo), meet by a leafless tree near an empty road. They have a conversation that reveals they are waiting there for a man named Godot. They’re uncertain if they’ve […]
Exit, pursued by a wampa.
This second jaunt into Ian Doescher’s Shakespeare/Star Wars hybrid imaginary universe, entitled William Shakespeare’s The Empire Striketh Back, only solidifies my opinion that these adaptations are more than gags and novelties to be gifted to nerdy friends (although they can be used for that purpose as well). I purposely use the word ‘adaptation’ here because Doescher’s attention to detail and his thoughtful approach to both the story and to Shakespeare’s forms and techniques clearly illustrate that although the results for us as readers may be fun […]