pickA marvelous, timeless fairy tale. As much about personal choice as the reverence for story telling. I think if you go in looking for only the A to B plot or main pairing you'll spend a lot of time frustrated, but if you let the story take you wherever it chooses to, you'll have a splendid time.
Too damn early in the morning face!
Kudos, Kate Beaton, you nailed it.
If the closet had been big enough, I have no doubt I would have! π
Ah, romanticizing the past, a common past time.
Writing your name on every book's card gets less fun after the first few.
Points will be deducted for all tired tropes concerning librarians. π
My MLIS is gibbering at me: but, but Library of Congress!
Okay, only MOST university libraries use LC and only MOST of public libraries use DDC...but I don't like it. ππΌββοΈ
Never seen a car crash described in such eerily poetic terms before.
For all of its goofy moments, Night Vale can deliver good ghost stories.
pickI didn't want it to end! Very happy to realize there are 12 novels featuring this character for me to sink my teeth into. Tone and length really lent to reading these short stories aloud. Very much into the 'little old lady is a lot sharper than you think' trope, and as much as the humble village life is overplayed, it's satisfying to see a mystery-solving protagonist grounded in life experience, rather than just uncanny observational skills.
so-soPathos and dry humour employed in the expression of the immigrant and first generation experience, slamming up against a wall of racial and class/economic privilege, seems to be Charles Yu's stock in trade. So does experimental writing styles. I'm basing this off of having only read Interior Chinatown before this one, but they do share some similarities.
Such satisfying descriptions.
Do we classify that as floral innuendo or floral booty call?
A presumptuous theatre-goer, for certain!
Wholesome after dinner activities. π
"People who can't stop doing stupid things because of their stupid hearts." ?
Time machine use as distillation of the human condition. Damn.
Trying to decide if this would be better or worse than the real thing...
"...the strangeness of experience is no greater or less than intuitive notions of how things should be..."
What is reality and what is speculative fiction? How close do the two get in books these days?...?
Overly familiar, verbose stranger telling ghoulish stories while you try and paint the scenery?
The correct response in two words!
I'm getting 'Quint, from Jaws' vibes...
so-soDamn. Points were made, but the strongest impressions I come away with are messy and sad. This book had (not entirely original) things to say about early feminism, and there was character growth (though I'm always going to resent a stereotypically meek librarian protagonist), but the mystery pay off wasn't as satisfying as I'd hoped and the amount of poor choices made by all was truly staggering. Human beings are flawed, but this was just tragic.
pickA galvanizing series of essays that blur the line between memoir and think piece. The author is palpably a poet, in that I struggled to adapt to his gorgeously complex phrasing, but found it all the more affecting and informative for not coddling the reader. 1/?
Very much here for the 'librarian as cryptid' riff. π€π
panJust went back and read my review of the first book I read from Nell Stevens, (one of her memoirs), and my feelings on this book share some similarities.
1) I'm not sure what the goal was, other than recounting a factual, if miserable, moment in historical figures' lives, now with bonus ghost.
2) There were a number of moving parts that didn't necessarily add up to a satisfying reading experience. 1/?
Highly identify with Solange: some of my favourite memories involve not having the sense to come in out of the rain. π§οΈβΊοΈ
Pffft, a ghost and a doctor are bound to have differing perspectives on such matters. π
Poetic sensuality of descriptions, literal engaging of multiple senses, sounds, textures, smells, tastes, really helps to alleviate the creepy, voyeuristic tinge to ghost's perspective.
Clergymen, always the buzzkill at the pagan orgy. π
Looks like I'll be doing a lot of looking up of archaic words! MY kind of detecting. ?
Banting: "was a popular term for losing weight by excluding sugar from your diet. It was named after a Mr Banting." [Which I think refers to the Canadian doctor who helped discover insulin?!]. The things you learn by accident.
God reference aside, I appreciate a friend counseling another in 1932 not to diet, that her body is just as it should be.
Gotta assume this was not an actual pile o' flour.
Common vernacular lost to the passage of time....suppose it's like polenta? To the Google!
pickWhile I picked this up primarily for the focus on language, what really grabbed me was the effort the author went to to temper the black-and-white, moralizing interpretations and usage of words like cult and cult followers, detailing the dangers of those assumptions. 1/?
"The most important thing to remember is that if something is legitimate, it will stand up to scrutiny." ?
I'll just leave this here. In case anybody needs it.
Aaaaaand here's where I piss off everybody except my fellow atheists.
pickI think I respect this, rather than love it, for going in a different direction than I thought it would.
It's taken me too long to pick up a V.E. Schwab, and I'll definitely be looking into her other works now.
Gorgeous writing, I was absolutely spellbound.
The interweaving of art in the narrative, (creation and inspiration), the appreciation for food, New York and bookstore cat! 1/2
π= π
Always a favourite.
pickHere's hoping the Litsy people add this suggested title to their listings so I can change it to the right book...in the meantime, I'll just say it was a pleasant moment spent with a poem that's always felt exactly like it sounds: a quiet moment by the woods, in the snow, that ache to stay, all the sharper for plans and conditions not allowing it. I appreciate the palette the artist used to convey the dimming light of evening in a rural setting.
pickWhat a wonderful experience. Extraordinary art, the mix of incredible detail and adorable cartooniness which itself is a reflection of the text, the amount of facts packed in, sprinkled amongst such playful humour. 1/?
In the running for favourite author-artist photo so far encountered. Between this and Terry Pratchett, I'm starting to think hats are key. π©π€
Digitization efforts give me the warm fuzzies. Hurray for the preservation and indexing of information! π₯°
Okay, that did it, totally in love with this book. π₯°πΈ
I love how the book plays with its own format!
Learned a new phrase, which seems to suggest someone tested the rebound potential of a falling feline fatality. Thanks, I hate it. π¬
I don't know if it's a new favourite, if I could reread it with the same sense of wonder, but I'll always be glad I took the time to experience it fully the first time, and didn't rush through. 3h