One-line summary: a familiar wizard coming-of-age story, leading to a simple, heavy-handed moral: don’t be afraid of death. I didn’t realize until the end how old this book is — published in 1968. That changed my opinion from “derivative” to “foundational” for the fantasy genre of magical educations. But the moral still fell with the force of … Continue reading
Monthly Archives: November 2015
Book review: Let’s Discuss Diabetes with Owls, by David Sedaris
What I appreciate most about Sedaris is his willingness to tell uncomfortable stories about himself. Stories that are not at all flattering to him, but tell very real human truths. One of my favorite things: the way Sedaris says “homosexual,” when imitating a homophobic character. What made me laugh out loud: That’s when I learned … Continue reading
Book reaction: Career of Evil, by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling)
I finished this book four days after it was released, spending every waking moment away from work reading it. Here is my emotional reaction, recorded the same night I finished it (full of spoilers!): *** I just finished Career of Evil and OH THE FEELINGS, THE FEELINGS I HAVE. THAT WAS NOT HOW I EXPECTED … Continue reading
Book review: H is for Homicide, by Sue Grafton
Kinsey, you and your inappropriate sympathy and empathy for sociopathic criminals have finally gone too far. From his first appearance, Raymond terrified me. Not due to his tics (though the first one was pretty creepily described and used to contribute to the suspense of the scene), but how easily and casually he abducted at gunpoint this … Continue reading
Book review: Lila, by Marilynne Robinson
Here’s the mark of a good book and audiobook: when you repeatedly finish your commute home and just sit in the car for half an hour and more, listening to what comes next. Even more impressive, it’s not an action-packed story, nor one loaded with suspense. It’s a quiet tale of one woman’s life, hard-knock flashbacks mixed with … Continue reading
HERO, unaccomplished, because campaigns of hatred and fear-mongering still work in 2015
Civil rights laws — especially civil right protections for minorities — do not belong on ballots. Like the title character in Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, sometimes I struggle with the notion of a democracy. How can you trust people to decide when there are outcomes like this one, governed by spite and misinformation? There are surely treatises on that … Continue reading
