Literary paper dolls. Has anyone had a better idea, ever? I'm a little bit late to this party, but starting in May 2019, The Paris Review writer Julia Berick partnered with illustrator Jenny Kroik to create: "what us bookworm-clotheshorse child-adults have always wanted: literary paper dolls." The first one in the series was my very … Continue reading Rereading Old Favourites: an Interlude (with Paper Dolls)
March is here. It came in like a race between the lion and the lamb…yesterday we alternated between glorious sun and blue sky, and wild squalling blizzards. Today is grey and cold; when I tried to let my cats out, they blinked in the frigid air, flicked their paws, and went back to bed. I … Continue reading Careful Attention: Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
I love the winter. It's an unpopular stance, I know. Especially since I'm not particularly into winter activities. But I love the snow, the way it blankets everything and muffles sound, creating a silent, insulated world that glitters in the light. I love curling up inside with a warm blanket and a mug of tea, … Continue reading Winter Reading Roundup: The Tove Jansson Edition
Perhaps you'll notice that I didn't do a "Best Books of 2020" roundup at the end of December. To be honest, I wasn't really feeling it. For one thing, most of my "best books" of the past year have already been rhapsodized about on this blog. For another thing, as the year wound to a … Continue reading Reading Ruts and Looking Forward
As I write this, the rain outside has turned to snow, the wood stove is glowing with warmth beside me, and I have a little striped cat stretched out on my lap in contentment. It is Christmas Eve day, and although in many ways this is a strange and sad holiday, I also have lots … Continue reading The Tall Tales Now that We Told by the Fire: Christmas Reads 2020
The lady herself: Muriel Spark in 1960. For a long time, Muriel Spark was a name in the back of my mind. I saw her books in used bookstores and thought, I should read those. I knew of the film adaptation of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, but I wasn't sure about it—not only … Continue reading Muriel Spark & Me
It's not very often that I will write a post about an "it" book of the season. But it's good to be flexible, ya know? And so today I am bringing you my thoughts about Black Sun, by Rebecca Roanhorse. I'll admit to having some mixed feelings when I heard about this book. Sure, it … Continue reading Between Earth and Sky #1: Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
Did you know that there's a whole world out there beyond Harper Collins and Penguin? (If you're reading this blog, chances are that you do.) But just in case, consider this post your friendly reminder that small press publishers are out there, getting books out into the world that are unusual, or subversive, or just … Continue reading Little Press Love
Fiction or non? The question reminds me of the days of yore (i. e., the 1980s—my childhood) when restaurants would ask you: smoking or non? But much like those questionably-defined sections in restaurants, where the smoke would drift indiscriminately around, the question in writing of fiction or non? is not always easy to define. Last … Continue reading Fiction or Non? (plus a writing prompt)
Today I read the teeniest-tiniest book. It's actually an essay, masquerading as a book. It's Ursula K. Le Guin's The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction, and it is, for some reason, quite offensively purple (my copy, that is). But let's not get distracted by the purple. Maybe you love purple. Maybe you even love purple … Continue reading a leaf a gourd a shell (The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction)
