The Ice House
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010A body has been found in the ice house on the grounds of Streech Grange, and the citizens of Streech Village are eager for that witch, Phoebe Maybury, to finally get what’s been coming to her. Phoebe’s husband disappeared ten years earlier, and despite no body being found, it’s common knowledge in the village that [...]
Persephone Arisen
Saturday, April 17th, 2010My good friend Rachel shared an article about Persephone Books some time ago, and I was captivated by the notion of a publishing house dedicated to reviving forgotten modern classics by women. I asked Bookish Dark’s London correspondent, the redoubtable Bearby, if he could send me a sampling of their works. Good soul that he [...]
A Crack in the Edge of the World
Sunday, March 14th, 2010When I picked up A Crack in the Edge of the World, I hesitated over including it in my science book challenge list, thinking it might be more of a sociological work, a survey of witness reports and survivors’ accounts. Silly me, it must have been too long since I read Simon Winchester, because I [...]
Doubt: A History
Sunday, February 28th, 2010The only thing such doubters really need, that believers have, is a sense that people like themselves have always been around, that they are part of a grand history. In Doubt: A History, Jennifer Michael Hecht sets out to provide just such a historical context for religious doubters of all stripes. She seeks to trace [...]
The Robber Bride
Saturday, February 6th, 2010From the outside, Tony, Charis, and Roz appear to be old college friends who reunite for the occasional ladies’ luncheon. In reality, they’re a survivors’ support group: they are wounded veterans of the interminable War of the Sexes, tattered survivors of a thermonuclear device named Zenia. They cling to one another as veterans of any [...]
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
Saturday, January 23rd, 2010Flavia de Luce is a brilliant 11-year-old with a talent for annoying her older sisters and a gift for chemistry (the latter frequently put into service of the former.) She lives a rather circumscribed life at Buckshaw, the stately house that is the ancestral home of the de Luce family. Her father is a recluse [...]
RIP Challenge Results
Sunday, November 8th, 2009Blood Price–Tanya Huff I watched the entire run of “Blood Ties”, the television show based on Tanya Huff’s Vicki Nelson novels. (Note: I freely admit that I have abysmal standards when it comes to vampire TV shows: if it’s got fangs, I’m probably there.) I enjoyed “Blood Ties” for what it was, and liked the [...]
Teagarden Mysteries
Saturday, August 22nd, 2009One of the best things about vacationing at Ramona’s house is how much reading I get done. She’s always got a book or two set aside for me to read while I’m there, and we spend long stretches comfortably settled in with our cups of tea, reading our separate books together. I know some people [...]
Input, Output
Monday, December 22nd, 2008I’ve been motivated much more by knitting than by reading lately–perhaps it’s the winter nesting instinct, perhaps it’s just that I’ve been using lunch hours for knitting with a co-worker. I finished Neal Stephenson’s Anathem back in November, and found I had little to say about it once it was over. I enjoyed it very [...]
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
Sunday, October 26th, 2008Last year I finally made my way through The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. I actually wrote the majority of this post shortly after reading it, and then sat on it for months and months and months. I always feel reluctant to talk about Rand, because she is one of those figures that evokes a strong [...]
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