I should have realized what I was getting into. I started reading Game Of Thrones just before the HBO series began. I’ve read each of the books in the series at least twice. My husband bought me Fire and Blood for Christmas and it had been a long time since I had read anything by GRRM, so I dove right in. Firstly, let me say that I am always impressed by the world-building that is done by fantasy authors. I can’t fathom the amount of time […]
It’s a terrible life.
Set during the first half of the 20th century both in a town near the desert and in different places all over the jungle of Northern Peru, Vargas Llosa interweaves the lives of a native woman, who was raised in a convent, a musician, who builds the brothel called the Green House, a heartless and brutal criminal, who cares only about himself, and four friends, who are always up to no good. First of all, reading this book is hard work. You have to give […]
Setup to be an Epic Romance that Just Didn’t Do it For Me
Apparently this book is a little divisive among my circle of friends: some loved it, some really didn’t. And unfortunately I am falling on the side of it not really being for me. Which is not to say I don’t love epic romances (The Song of Achilles is one of my absolute favourite books, after all!), but the story here wasn’t selling me beyond the initial concept. It’s a shame really, I found the premise to be so intriguing, but the overall experience quite lackluster […]
In Which Jane Kicks Efficient Ass, Especially the Undead Variety
Yes, we might be living in the darkest timeline—or the dumbest, hard to tell. But be glad that you’re not our girl Jane, who contends with cruel racism and incompetence while also decapitating hungry “shamblers,” the reanimated corpses of the Gettysburg fallen and any poor soul bitten thereafter. Some years ago, the paddy wagon plucked Jane McKeene from her home at Rose Hill plantation so that she might learn the finer points of combat and decorum at Miss Preston’s, Baltimore’s finest school for Negro girls. […]