Archive for May, 2011
Commonplace Quotations
Why do cats sleep so much? Perhaps they’ve been trusted with some major cosmic task, an essential law of physics – such as: if there are less than five million cats sleeping at any one time the world will stop spinning. So that when you look at them and think what a lazy, good-for-nothing animal, [...]
‘Far to Go’ by Alison Pick
Historical novels are usually a staple part of my reading diet, but one that has been rather neglected so far this year in favour of trying new things and branching out into different, unexplored areas of literature. This certainly hasn’t been a deliberate decision and in fact I hadn’t realised that I was reading fewer [...]
‘Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister’ by Gregory Maguire
Gregory Maguire is an author probably best known for his adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, . I’ve read the entire trilogy, with somewhat mixed results: Wicked itself I enjoyed and thought it was quite clever (although I imagine that musical is a bit less political and less bizarre than the novel, given how successful [...]
One Book, Two Book, Three Book, Four… and Five…
I don’t usually post at the weekend, but I’ve really enjoyed seeing this bookish list popping up all over my Google Reader, started by Simon from Stuck in a Book. I love a chance to be nosy and see what other people are reading and buying, so I thought I would join in too. Besides, [...]
‘American Ghosts and Old World Wonders’ by Angela Carter
Sometimes reading books can be a bit like following the clues to a treasure hunt, one book leading you on to find the next, and that’s exactly what happened to me with this book. Reading Bill Willingham’s Fables: Legends in Exile made me think about other fairy tale adaptations that I’ve enjoyed, which instantly put [...]
‘Fables: Legends in Exile’ by Bill Willingham
With the exception of the Asterix books which I’ve loved since I first borrowed them from the library as a child, my experience with graphic novels has been rather limited. By limited, I mean nil. Partly I think this is because I’ve always been a bit unsure of the concept: pictures are nice enough, but [...]
April Summary
Well, so much for my plans to be back on track with reviews by the beginning of May: April is well and truly over and I’m further behind than ever! There seems to have been so much going on in the real world this month, including three amazing burlesque shows, two entertaining theatre trips, two [...]