“Having had a glass of rum the night before, he decided to order the same again. Actually he ordered two. They were very small glasses.” Poor Maigret is fighting a cold, or maybe even the flu, and it’s making him grumpy. Imagine, downing that rum instead of his beloved beer, he must be ill. The stuffy head and fevers are distracting him, making unraveling this murder case a little harder than it needed to be. He was finishing up with a young man who had beaten […]
Suddenly I wanted very much for the world not to end
Like just about EVERYONE I really liked Ready Player One. But the reviews here and elsewhere were less than glowing when it came to Ernest Cline’s latest, Armada. I figured I’d wait until it came out in paperback or I could borrow a copy or wait for the movie or whatever. At any rate, it wasn’t even on my radar until Audible sent me a reminder that it was available and it was narrated by Wil Wheaton. I so enjoyed Wheaton’s work on Ready Player One ( […]
…like the time when our dog stabbed me with a chicken in the finger
After reading “Benedict Cumberbatch is like Alan Rickman Benjamin Buttoning” by the inimitable Malin, I immediately ordered that book as well as this, Jenny Lawson’s first. I laughed, I cried, it became a part of me. I didn’t know anything about Ms. Lawson or her blog and twitter presence but that just didn’t matter, her voice is so unique and fresh. Besides, how can you not love a book with chapter titles such as “No One Ever Taught Me Couch Etiquette”, “Thanks For the Zombies, Jesus” and […]
Because all seven-year-olds deserve superheroes
Elsa is seven, almost eight, and there is an awful lot going on in her life. Her wacky old Granny is her best friend and sometime protector and champion because Elsa is different and is routinely bullied at school. They have their own secret language and a rich and detailed folklore between them. Her parents have been long separated, and her mother is expecting another child with her new partner George. They refer to the sibling-to-be as “halfie” since it will be Elsa’s half-brother or […]