I've been a fan of Rainbow Rowell for a long time. She is one of my all-time favourite comfort-read authors, and Fangirl has long been my number one pick of her books (I wrote one of my first blog posts about it). However, these days the Simon Snow trilogy has elbowed its way to the … Continue reading In Which I Talk at Length About Rainbow Rowell’s Simon Snow Trilogy, and Eat Sour Cherry Scones
Keeping in line with my inadvertent summer theme of fantasy novels, I recently turned the last page on A Deadly Education, the first book in Naomi Novik's projected Scholomance trilogy. This has been by far my favourite Naomi Novik book—for me, neither Uprooted nor Spinning Silver lived up to their hype. But this one I … Continue reading A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik, Romanian folklore, and some thoughts about perfectionism
Merriam-Webster Dictionary I don’t know about you, but I love this idea. Certain moods call for certain books, and I for one always feel better after a bit of reading. But first of all, in case it bears mentioning: Nevertheless, in the spirit of bibliotherapy, may I present my extremely unqualified “prescriptions” for books to … Continue reading A Little Bit of Bibliotherapy
Photo by Amador Loureiro on Unsplash Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about language. Since I am an editor, writer, book reviewer, and library branch assistant, this might not shock you. But, specifically, I have been thinking about the way in which language shapes reality, and the unconscious choices that we make with our words, … Continue reading Language Matters
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
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