I haven't posted in a while, so in an effort to get more regular about that, I'm going to share edited and annotated versions of some of the reading lists I curate on LibraryThing. Making reading lists is one of my fave things to do, next to reading itself. I enjoy books with a strong … Continue reading Around the World in Horror Reading List
Time to catch up on recent reads that I can recommend. My first book of February is a brand-new offering from a recent favorite writer of mine, Ben H. Winters. I really admire his niche of combining noir detective stories with speculative scenarios. I've read his trilogy set just before a meteor is about to … Continue reading Reading in February
I have three short books by women with enticing covers to share with you today. My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite: This was a quick read with short chapters, set in Lagos by a Nigerian author, with underlying themes of loyalty to family, abuse, and the shallowness of men who "only want a … Continue reading Recent Reading
About two years ago, I discovered Valancourt Books, which reissues out-of-print horror, generally from the 1970s and early 1980s, in really attractive slim trade paperbacks. My latest read from them was Elizabeth by Ken Greenhall (originally published under the pseudonym Jessica Hamilton). What a disturbing little book about a 14-year-girl who seems to be a complete sociopath … Continue reading Golden Ages of Horror: Reading Elizabeth
My first read of 2019 fit the bill: light and easy. Passing Strange by Ellen Klages is a lovely love story with a backdrop of San Francisco in the 1940s. Excellent cast of women characters.
This year is the two-hundredth anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, and today is also Mary Shelley's birthday. So let's celebrate this great novel and author with ten facts about Frankenstein. Mary Shelley's lover (later husband), the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, was friends with the poet Lord Byron (who both were not nearly as badass … Continue reading Happy birthday, Mary Shelley and Frankenstein!
I am reading a lot of books in the "Angry Women" category this year, which seems appropriate for the year of #metoo. My latest read, Red Clocks by Leni Zumas, takes place in an alternate United States (or in the near future?), when a Personhood Amendment to the Constitution has made abortion and in vitro fertilization illegal. It … Continue reading Recommended Reading: Red Clocks
“I have lived with that anger, on that anger, beneath that anger, on top of that anger ... for most of my life.” – Audre Lord “Once upon a time / I had enough anger in me to crack crystal” – Kiki Petrosino “Out of the ash / I rise with my red hair / … Continue reading Reading angry women
Good morning. Lately, I have been attracted to stories about disasters, both real and imagined. I am currently reading Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson, about the disastrous Galveston hurricane of 1900, and learning a lot about hurricanes in the process. Recently, I have watched the films Everest (2015), about the tragic expedition of 1996, and … Continue reading Disaster
My favorite read this month was The Power by Naomi Alderman, which I gave five stars. It posits what if a power awakens in women, an innate ability to generate electric power, so that they can defend themselves and hurt other people, so that they, in just a few years, become more powerful than men? I found … Continue reading Reading May 2018: The Power and more
