A Cineaste’s Bookshelf
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REVIEW: THE ECLIPTIC by Benjamin Wood
Author Benjamin Wood seems to find his stories among the desperately brilliant and talented, who can’t seem to get a handle on their own intelligence. In The Bellwether Revivals, his characters get themselves into trouble because Cambridge somehow isn’t intellectually stimulating enough. Wood’s characters are continually grappling with the anxiety of influence, paralyzing themselves entirely.… Read More »
Weekly wrap-up: April 29
This April marks the 175th anniversary of the publication of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Murders of the Rue Morgue. It was the first of the three stories to feature C. Auguste Dupin, the first literary detective. Later writers, including Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, would cite Poe and Dupin as their inspiration. Fitting, as it is… Read More »
Be still a moment and this mystery explore: Crimes from Pushkin Vertigo
Pushkin Vertigo, a section of Pushkin Press, has dedicated itself to identifying masterful, classic foreign mysteries and bringing them to a new audience. Carefully chosen and given gorgeous cover designs, even the most dedicated crime reader will find something new. (Read about the other Pushkin Vertigo classics I loved) THE TOKYO ZODIAC MURDERS The Tokyo… Read More »
REVIEW: THE WITCH OF LIME STREET by David Jaher
The noble dead, the Lost Generation as Gertrude Stein called them. An entire swath of the population was killed in WWI, followed by the deadly Spanish Influenza epidemic of 1918. Death was everywhere. And in the midst of all the mourning, some wise people sought hope. Theosophists and Spiritualists sought to prove that there was merely a thin veil between this world and the next, and those who were willing to listen could speak to the spirits from beyond.Read More »
ACCENT: RARE OBJECTS by Kathleen Tessaro
Forgery, fake, reproduction, refurbished or genuine — and can you prove provenance? In the antiquities market, the veracity of an item is paramount. And being able to prove its story brings more value. Maeve Fanning, an Irish redhead in early 1930s Boston, remakes herself into blond socialite in order to land a job in a… Read More »
REVIEW: QUEEN OF THE NIGHT by Alexander Chee
I thoroughly enjoy a novel that wanders a bit, particularly historical adventures like The Count of Monte Cristo or The Three Musketeers. I am also a sucker for stories of intrigue told from the secret garden at a masked ball or a hidden rooftop in Paris. It’s fantastical but delightful. The Queen of Night has all the… Read More »
Books for an equinox season
Like a rider at the top of a roller coaster’s first hill, our planet sits on the pinnacle of light and darkness, before plunging headlong into the next season. Summer is on its way, but before it arrives, we have a moment to look out over what awaits. RHETORIC & POETRY Is there anything more stereotypically… Read More »
REVIEW: JANE STEELE by Lyndsay Faye
In this highly imaginative adventure, the heroine is no meek governess left to wander the moors. Though she shares some unfortunate circumstances with Jane Eyre — ones she freely acknowledges to the reader — Jane Steele is a fierce, violent and stubborn. And she is a murderer. One assumes had she met a crazed, homicidal… Read More »
For the Brontes
THE MADWOMAN UPSTAIRS by Catherine Lowell For someone like me — obsessed with Gothic literature, wrote their masters thesis on the “madwoman in the attic” in film and makes jokes about being “gaslit” — this book was serious fun. The spunky narrator, Samantha Whipple, has just been admitted to Oxford to study English literature. She… Read More »
REVIEW: SPEAKERS OF THE DEAD by J. Aaron Sanders
In the muddy, soot-blackened days of early Manhattan, a tiny cabal of scientists pushes for the advancement of medicine and anatomical understanding. A smaller group runs a dangerous underground business in procuring dead bodies. And the general public is disgusted by them all. Walt Whitman, cub reporter for the Aurora newspaper is both friend to the… Read More »
Book Blogger Appreciation Week - Day 4
I am terrible about being consistent in my connections to other bloggers. I get overwhelmed with the amount of amazing stuff out there and feel lost. I am once again going to resolve to leave thoughtful comments on others’ blogs. I always wish I received more comments on my posts so I need to “be… Read More »
Book Blogger Appreciation Week - Day 3
Confession: I am terrible about taking advice from others, especially in the realm of books. I am really, really picky and over the years I’ve learned that people don’t get my taste. Or so I assume. There is now a very, very short list of people I think truly know what I will like. But… Read More »
Book Blogger Appreciation Week: Day 1
Introduce myself… Well, I’m a Sherlock Holmes fanatic (although I am not a member of the Baker Street Irregulars, I play the grand game anyway), a certified cryptozoologist, a crossword puzzle and word game player, I have a Edgar Allan Poe lunchbox that I use everyday, and I read. A lot. I’ve been writing reviews… Read More »
REVIEW: SOPHIA by Anita Anand
At the end of the Victorian era, the women’s suffrage movement had an unexpected supporter. Sophia Duleep Singh was the daughter of the latest deposed Maharajah of Lahore, in India. As a teenager we was forced to give up his throne to the far-reaching British Empire. In part to prevent an uprising and in part… Read More »
Tales from Arabia
RIVER OF INK by Paul M. M. Cooper An historical fable, full of rich exoticism, this book uses the tradition of epic saga and brilliant storyteller — like Scherazade. Asanka is the royal poet of a kingdom in Sri Lanka. As the book opens his king is awaiting the arrival of an invading army. He… Read More »