I love Terry Pratchett’s books. They’ve got me through the first raw days after breakups, through long train and plane journeys away from people I love, through the gloom of having a cold at the beginning of spring when the world is bursting with light and colour. I love the eerie technology of the clacks in Going Postal, the blood and fire of Carpe Jugulum, the pain and anger and sweetness of the Tiffany Aching sequence, the terrible beauty of Lords and Ladies, and the […]
“A brain!” “A heart!” “A home!” “Da vote!”
It’s all too common for modern readers to look into the works of the past and see things that may or may not have been intended in the fullness of time. What we may see as a delicate, subtly woven metaphor to rail against some then-incumbent wrongdoing the author may have added as nothing more than a narrative flourish. How much exactly did L. Frank Baum intend to comment on women’s suffrage, transgender issues, and the monstrosity of the pun? I can’t safely say, given […]
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
“We are all subject to the fates. But we must act as if we are not, or die of despair.” I have heard SO MUCH about this book and its two sequels that initially I was disappointed when I started it because it didn’t really live up to my expectations right away. It takes a while to get going. By halfway through, however, I was hooked on Lyra and Iorek, an armored bear. Here’s a hint: if your story features armored bears, introduce them ASAP. […]
The Demonologist
I wanted to be scared. Or at the very least creeped out. It should be noted that I am a wimp. It doesn’t take much to terrify me, and any kind of story about the occult is usually enough to give me nightmares and make me afraid of the basement. Did I mention I’m 30? Obviously, this is embarrassing but its crucial to understanding that given the way the book is billed, I should have at least been a bit freaked out, but the Demonologist […]