I thought I was done with summer books for the year, and onto autumn reads. Hence, my dark academia binge. Luckily for me, I read Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo just in time, when the last dog days of summer were still upon us, even as school bells were ringing in the distance. May I … Continue reading The Necessary Discomfort of the Southern Gothic — But Make it Personal: Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo
Content warning: child abuse, ritual sacrifice This novella was not quite what I was expecting. It tells the story of seventeen-year-old Silvie, who, along with her parents, is accompanying a group of university students and their professor on a 2-week "experimental archaeology" camp to reenact Iron Age life in northern England. Silvie is not a … Continue reading Heat, Haunting, and Heartbreak: Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss
I often dream about water. Floods, rains, storms at sea, currents of water bearing me away. Sometimes I struggle to keep my head above its surface. Occasionally I fly or sail above it. But more often than not, my dreams are watery. Susanna Clarke's long-anticipated second novel, Piranesi, fantastically combines these two elements. It has … Continue reading Uncannily Peaceful: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Well, it's that time of year again. The time when I reread Sylvia Townsend Warner's Lolly Willowes. It's a book I always associate with autumn, although the story cycles through all of the seasons, and describes them in glorious and unpredictable ways. But there is something earthy and eerie and (quite literally) witchy about Lolly … Continue reading The Wild and the Witchy: Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
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