**As I have been reading the last two novels in the Captain Alatriste Series by Arturo Pérez-Reverte and really want to write more about them — I thought it worthwhile to revisit two earlier posts (one from 2008 — almost ten years ago! ) that provide both reviews of the earlier books and details on […]
Reviews of the Captain Alatriste Series by Arturo Perez-Reverte Read More »
I have just finished reading Signs Preceding the End of the World, by Mexican author Yuri Herrera and it is an amazing and haunting work. A young woman Makina is given a note from her mother to take to the older brother who has disappeared into the North. Along the way, Makina encounters a series
Of Border Crossings and Mythic Journeys : Yuri Herrera Read More »
“In the end, he thought, a neat labyrinth or an untidy maze was a simple place. You reached its heart and were devoured by the beast, or you reached its heart, and the spot was bare and pulseless. Maybe the beast and the blankness were the same. Maybe it was the emptiness that had teeth
An Early Review of Maze of Blood by Marly Youmans Read More »
As I am participating in a scary-supernatural book reading event, I thought I would lead off with this older but excellent novel, Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo — which I have now re-read for the third time because it never fails to make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. This is
The Dreaming Dead: Juan Rulfo Read More »
"Many Siberian fairy tales tell of the deadly clash between criminals and representatives of the government, of the risks people run every day with dignity and honesty, of the good fortune of those who in the end have got the loot and stayed alive, and of the 'good memory' that is preserved of those who
The Dark Fairy Tale World of the Siberian Urkas Read More »
Marly Youmans' Thaliad offers a healing balm to the swath of nihilistic post-apocalyptic fiction for young adults. Told in free verse reminiscent of heroic epics (Homer meets Gerald Manley Hopkins), Thaliad recounts the aftermath of a fiery apocalypse and the perlious journey of a band of children led by a girl whose prophetic visions
Marly Youmans and Clive Hicks-Jenkins Collaboration: Thaliad Read More »
"Do you have any books the faculty doesn't particularly recommend? Flannery O'Connor's commonsense advice on the practice of making writing a habit: "I'm a full-time believer in writing habits, pedestrian as it all may sound. You may be able to do without them if you have genius but most of us only have talent and
Flannery O’Connor: Writing Habits Read More »
I have just finished a conference where we read and discussed in great depth Emile Zola's novel, Au Bonheur Des Dames (The Ladies Delight.) The novel, set in the late 1860's, centers on the invention of the department store (based on the historical store Bon Marché in Paris). The owner Mouret — a scoundrel and
The Splendor Of Shopping: Emile Zola and Au Bonheur Des Dames (The Ladies’ Delight) Read More »
I am swooning over these gorgeous illustrations from the Czech children's book The Forest Story," written in 1929 by Josef Kozisek and handsomely illustrated by Rudolf Mates. I would so have loved as a child to receive such a gem of of a book. (Via Will Schoenfeld's amazing 50 Watts, a website dedicated to sharing
A Forest Story And The Lush Illustrations of Rudolf Mates Read More »
Ok…trust me…don't even wait for the reviews which will be lavish and praising (including my own when it comes). Go out now and buy this book, or order this book, or get that someone who owes you something to give you this book in exchange for the debt. I have been waiting for over a
The Tiger’s Wife and Shopping in the Renaissance Read More »
