I like the Wizards books, I do. The scenes involving them are always a good time in making fun of bureaucracy and tradition and old white men. They are also usually very silly. But I have yet to love one of the Wizard books. It’s just so hard for them to have an emotional through line like so many of Pratchett’s other books do. Like, this book wasn’t really about anything. Sure, on the surface it’s the Wizards flouncing off accidentally to Not Australia (aka […]
Just as good as you remember
I think it’s been twenty years or more since I last read this book. I remember this book being an absolutely pivotal one in my childhood, opening wide the doors of fantasy to a little girl who had never seen herself in the hero’s role before. This was still a few years before Hermione Granger would forever change my world, but Meg Murray, Mrs Which, Mrs Who, and Mrs Whatsit (and even Aunt Beast!) were pivotal in my development as a reader. It was also […]
So how do the robots eat or drink anyway? HOW DO THEY KISS WITH NO MOUTHS.
It says something about this series that this heart-wrenching volume of storytelling is a relief after the last one. Oy, that last one was rough. But this was one was more bittersweet than bitter. Something that I have always appreciated about this series is its tone. Like real life, everything isn’t all bad or all good all the time. Real life is messy, and you can feel many things at once. Real life has hills and valleys, and flat plains. One of the reasons I […]
Scared, Potter?
When some people hear the genre “Young Adult Fiction,” they may assume literary fluff, sugar-coated stories lacking any real substance. Well-written young adult fiction is anything but, and explores themes that are relevant not only to adolescents, but speaks to the general human condition. As such, I’ve decided to delve deeper into the genre starting with one of my favorite authors, Rainbow Rowell. Her books Eleanor and Park and Fangirl are lovely, bittersweet odes to growing up, friendship, love and developing into the person you’re meant to […]