The fairy tale is such an underrated genre for adults. I think sometimes when we talk about fairy tales we forget just how twisted the genre was at the beginning, and that many of the original stories weren’t intended for children. This one isn’t quite so grotesque, and while there isn’t anything that would automatically rule it out as a book for children (sex, violence, the usual), it’s clear that Gaiman wrote this with an adult audience in mind. It all starts with Snow White, […]
Gillian Flynn is the M Night Shyamalan of Literature
Because boy does she love her plot twists, and throwing plot twists in the middle of her plot twists. I probably would have enjoyed this book more when it came out, or before I had read any of Flynn’s other stories. Or before Gone Girl, and anyone who hadn’t read her books could remain ignorant of this reputation. But I have read some of her other stories, and I know all about her love of plot twists. I wasn’t really on the lookout for the […]
Jane Austen Meets Fantastic Beasts
I basically fell in love with this book as soon as I saw its cover. As a kid, I had very well-worn copies of Dragonology and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them that are probably to blame for my love of fictional memoirs, histories, and the like from fantastical settings. As such, I was pretty stoked about this book, and committed to it from the start. Imagine my pleasant surprise when it exceeded even my own very biased expectations. Read the rest at Women […]
Endless Philosophizing Doesn’t Make a Story
On the surface, this story collection is full of things I love: fantastical beings lurking under familiar places. But as I started reading I found that these stories really weren’t for me. The common thread among the stories in this collection was fascinating, as almost every story contains some measure of supernatural force acting upon the characters. Cities we might think ourselves well acquainted with have become the breeding grounds of mysterious creatures. These inevitably collide with the humans that live there, resulting in strange […]