I got it for humor, so it wasn't what I needed at the time: March 2020
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20 November 2022
I wanted books to just look at, several weeks back, now. So, I got it for humor, so it wasn't what I needed at the time: March 2020
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20 November 2022
I wanted books to just look at, several weeks back, now. So, of course, contrarian that I am, I ended up reading the other stuff. I didn't love everything, but the nonfction, poetry, and little snippets all seemed to me to hold up better than the fiction, the average of which is brought down by T.C.Boyle, whom I don't care for, and Thurber, who I begin to think must have been really unpleasant.
A good collection on an excellent idea. These last several years I've found myself enjoying older mysteries over newer ones, probably mostly due to thA good collection on an excellent idea. These last several years I've found myself enjoying older mysteries over newer ones, probably mostly due to the lower body count and the awfulness of the victims. I appreciate that reading fiction is helpful in building empathy, but I am reading for distraction from the cares of the day, so a simple puzzle is more relaxing. And too, I'm tired of the modern victims so often being pretty young women, which probably makes it easier to sell to Hollywood, but is annoying. There are a number of authors who center women, and those I like very much indeed. Anyway, enough "you young writers get off my yard." The glorious thing about the genre is that it contains multitudes: none of us is ever going to run out of really good reads. The two primary advantages of this collection lie in its ability to bring "forgotten" authors and works to our attention. Most of the writers here were unknown to me, and discovering their often astoundingly extensive backlist is such a gift. But wait, don't answer yet, because the other cool thing Medwar has done is include works which aren't actually stories. Old radio scripts are totally fresh pastures. He does a nice job with the author blurbs, too, it's helpful getting pen names and series references. And I really like the the warnings for offensive racist content. One expects to encounter objectionable attitudes, but being forewarned is helpful. I don't suppose anyone is going to really like all the stories, but they're a fair mix. Everyone is likely to find something new and delightful.
Read yet again for my 365 Kids Book challenge. You can see all the books on their own shelf. Even as I am trying to catch up on my backl22 August 2021
Read yet again for my 365 Kids Book challenge. You can see all the books on their own shelf. Even as I am trying to catch up on my backlog of reviews in order to clear the TBR shelves for monsters, murder, and suchlike for the two months of All Hallow's Read and Halloween Bingo, I walked out of my libraries yesterday with more books than I could carry into the house in one trip.
Despite the objections I have to it, I do keep coming back. And when I do I usually end up wandering off on a side trip through maps or wikipedia. Today I went down the rabbit hole of biofluorescence because of the platypus. It's funny: I notice that Australia has a lot of that trademark box city from above portraits and a lot of animals and hardly any culture at all.
Now I'm really curious about what got left out of all of them.
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14 November 2017
Culture: You're soaking in it. What's wrong with this sentence:
Platypus looks as if he were forever unable to decide what he wants to be: he has a beak like a bird, he swims under water like a fish, he has fur like a kangaroo, and he lays eggs but suckles his young.
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18 March 2016
When I was a child we had a copy of This is London. In the London book there is a picture of a man, in a park, up a tree, and he's sawing off a tree branch: the one that he's sitting on! How quaint that seems now. I'd love to have all the original books, or reprints of same, in theory. I'm worried that the judicious choice of snippets for this book might have some possible basis in the idea of excising images or text that would be broadly offensive now. There is an emphasis here on Anglophone interests, and nothing, I think, on the native people of any location [Actually, there is a reference to Australian Aborigines, who mostly live in cities, "in more remote areas others still live as they may have done in traditional times, with their legends, their dances, their wood carvings and their bark painting." Based on that example, it's probably better not to include anything he might have said about indigenous people anywhere]. Really, it can't deserve the word "world" without anything from South America, Africa, or Asia, excepting Hong Kong which was still British at the time.
Anyway, I loved it. The art is so sixties, and so cool, even now it remains distinctive and attractive. His cities of tiny boxes are still cool. It may be a safe nostalgia, but it was good.
I really like the way Adams compiled this: making a long list and then submitting those stories blind to Joe Hill to choose from. Lots of good stuff, I really like the way Adams compiled this: making a long list and then submitting those stories blind to Joe Hill to choose from. Lots of good stuff, and several new-to-me authors.
Stories by authors I've already tried and like? yes Stories by authors I haven't yet tried but now want to? yes Follow-up story to story in Ppage 172
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Stories by authors I've already tried and like? yes Stories by authors I haven't yet tried but now want to? yes Follow-up story to story in Perkins' last anthology? yes Illustration of Cthulhu dressed as Strawberry Shortcake old style? YES A variety of characters and loves? indeed
Let me just say that in addition to writing, Perkins sure can pick 'em.
After you've read this, and I hope nearly everyone does, do please share what you liked best.
An outstanding collection of short stories of strange critters, with diversity of authors, time periods, styles, etc. Well chosen. Tremendously fun toAn outstanding collection of short stories of strange critters, with diversity of authors, time periods, styles, etc. Well chosen. Tremendously fun to read.
Great picks. We could quibble, but if you only get to choose thirteen stories in English, I think these would be on everyone's top twenty. Between thiGreat picks. We could quibble, but if you only get to choose thirteen stories in English, I think these would be on everyone's top twenty. Between this and the coolth and the rain, it's starting to feel like fall....more
A good anthology enables me to sample new writers. I'll probably never go back and reread this, but I'd recommend it to anyone who was looking for womA good anthology enables me to sample new writers. I'll probably never go back and reread this, but I'd recommend it to anyone who was looking for women writing mysteries (as I would recommend the others in the series).
A fun anthology. And it taught me that the scene of Mr. Darcy in his wet shirt in the BBC adaptation is the most swoon-worthy piece of film in the pasA fun anthology. And it taught me that the scene of Mr. Darcy in his wet shirt in the BBC adaptation is the most swoon-worthy piece of film in the past twenty years....more
Cromwell's New Model Army attempts to eradicate the Irish in 1649, and young Emer sees atrocities. She's then taken to Connaught with her uncle's famiCromwell's New Model Army attempts to eradicate the Irish in 1649, and young Emer sees atrocities. She's then taken to Connaught with her uncle's family where she slowly starves for years, before being sold off at 14 to a wealthy "husband". She sets sail for the Caribbean and gradually, by degrees over years, becomes a pirate.
And also, at her death, she's cursed with the dust of a hundred dogs to be reincarnated as a dog one hundred times.
And after that she is reincarnated as a human in contemporary Pennsylvania, the youngest of five children, early identified as a genius and the hope of a family sliding into destitution.
It's an odd story, but the pieces fit together beautifully. The memory of what Emer endured, and the violence she perfected, gives the modern Saffron extra reserves to call upon, as well as a clear view of the world. Her brother is an addict who will steal and sell anything to feed his habit. It's no good angsting about it, just hide anything important and carry on.
Good choice for anyone who suffers from stabbiness in the presence of others.
For someone with a new interest in cartooning and illustration, seeing the styles of various popular and known-to-the-kid illustrators is great. And, For someone with a new interest in cartooning and illustration, seeing the styles of various popular and known-to-the-kid illustrators is great. And, the answers were funny, too....more
1990 Aug 18 2000 Apr 18 2008 November 11 2011 August 09
I've read the introduction, which has an interesting digression into authors and other kinds of ar1990 Aug 18 2000 Apr 18 2008 November 11 2011 August 09
I've read the introduction, which has an interesting digression into authors and other kinds of artists and gender, as well as a further digression on writing for children. Good stuff. The first story, "W.S." by L.P. Hartley is all kinds of creepy good.
The second story, "Harry" deals with a mother creeped out by her daughter's imaginary friend. A firm grounding in the mundane and the familiar so far mark Dahl's choices. And he stated up front that the ghost is best when not viewed full on.
I wonder why few women these days are writing horror, or, why more women these days are writing romantic horror.
I've just now finished "The Corner Shop" by Cynthia Asquith. Very well done, I was quite pleasantly mislead along with her protagonist. Brava. And kudos to Dahl for his selections.
"In the Tube" by E. F. Benson and "Christmas Meeting" by Rosemary Timperley make an excellent pairing, both dealing with temporal disturbances. The Benson contains no golf or house-hunting, but the room in which the story is told is well-described. Timperley, on the other hand eschews much description at all. Amazingly concise."
Elias and the Draug" I think Dahl picked this out of sentiment. It's a good ghost story, but not a great one. "Playmates" is really very creepy. The creepiest stories have kids in them, I think. "Ringing the Changes" is one I've read before, and oh, my, is it a good pick for this collection. "The Ghost of a Hand" was new to me, and is outstanding for unseen menace. "The Sweeper" is good, and particularly evocative of the sound of a broom sweeping leaves (actually, I imagined a rake, but still, it works).
"Afterward" by Edith Wharton is a good one, particularly as it seems to be a humorous story at first, as the couple specify their dream house in England. "On the Brighton Road" is a sad story, and reminds me of Orwell's marvelous Down and Out in Paris and London. "The Upper Birth" is one of the few really manly sorts of ghost stories, very active on the part of the protagonist.
Repeated readings of the stories has only increased my agreement with Dahl that these are particularly good ghost stories. If anything, they've gone higher in my estimation.
But repeated readings of Dahl's introduction have the opposite effect. He describes a project he was working on, and the results of his search to read all the ghost stories. And then how amazed he is that so many of the best were written by women. (His final tally is thirteen great male-written stories to eleven great female-written ones.) He goes on to expound on great art produced by women versus that produced by men, noting that while women have written great novels from the beginning, they haven't managed to produce great visual art (painting, or sculpture), nor to compose great music.
And you know, I've now seen about a billion versions of the same comments made all over the internets by a vast number of people. The specific forms of great art vary (although dance is usually left out), the defining characteristics of "greatness" vary, often, as here, with the writer specifically excluding one area that would cast doubt on the theory. (Here Dahl says women write great ghost stories, and great novels, but not great short stories, then goes on to acknowledge that his selected ghost stories are both great and short, but they don't count. And the writer is more than willing to point to one field where women (or people of color, or certain ethnicities, or whatever subset of inferior beings are being remarked upon), one field where the group unarguably excels (Dahl mentions writing for children), and the proponent of the comment is always so proud of himself for noticing this failure, and for being all even-handed about the thing.
You know. You've seen it a billion times yourself: women can write mysteries just fine, but not history, or poetry, sure, but not rock songs; blacks can play football and basketball but not tennis; latin@s can write magical realism, but not journalism; blah, blah, blah ad infinitum.
And what none of these people ever see is the connection between deliberately keeping a group of people out of [something] and the failure of that excluded group to produce what the supposed arbiters consider masterworks. "I don't think a woman has ever written a classic play" writes Dahl. I wish I could point out to him that Christie's The Mousetrap: A Play has been running continuously for 61 years in the West End (31 when he published the intro). Not that it matters. If your starting point is that a group of people is inherently inferior, then no argument is going to change your mind, not a list of brilliant works by that group, or the observation that they are systemically excluded. Although for them, some version of a blinded audition will work, which is why I will never give a woman a hard time for publishing under neutral initials....more
Tempting though it may be I am not going to extrapolate from these letters, not to authors at large, not to anything. This is a collection of letters Tempting though it may be I am not going to extrapolate from these letters, not to authors at large, not to anything. This is a collection of letters from mostly still quite young authors, offering advice, encouragement, support, and insight to their younger selves. Everyone had bears to cross, some were finding love, others were bad hairstyles, some were alcoholic, absent, or abusive parents. For all of these writers, it did get better: they found their voices, their people, their partners, their safety, their recovery, their looks, whatever. Some advice is general, some incredibly specific, and a fair few offer glimpses of joys to come.
An excellent reminder that no matter what our problems are, we are not alone. And no one thinks high school is a high point.
A fun overview of the murder mystery genre and it's lovers and writers. Introduced me to a lot of new writers, of course, writing this thirty plus yeaA fun overview of the murder mystery genre and it's lovers and writers. Introduced me to a lot of new writers, of course, writing this thirty plus years later, I suppose "new" isn't really appropriate....more
The non-fiction was really good, the fiction was kind of hip Oprah book club. A consistently good series, though. Even when I don't love individual seThe non-fiction was really good, the fiction was kind of hip Oprah book club. A consistently good series, though. Even when I don't love individual selections, I like the diversity of the choices. Most of the stuff that gets included I would have missed, otherwise. I have a big old crush on Eggers that has nothing to do with his writing and everything to do with his work creating writing centers for kids. (Really, how cool is it to get Viggo Mortenson in as guest editor?)
Rogues - George R. R. Martin, editor Lots of charmers in the crowd. My favorite story was by Gillian Flynn, and is also available as a tiny stand-alonRogues - George R. R. Martin, editor Lots of charmers in the crowd. My favorite story was by Gillian Flynn, and is also available as a tiny stand-alone book, perfect for fans of Gone Girl and all those reverses. But it is still a good idea to get the great big book which is full of excellent short stories that take the idea of "rogue" in some interesting directions. Check out the list of contributors, there'll be at least one to delight everyone.Library Copy...more
The KitKatPandaBatWolf came up with a marvelous solution to the question posed by the title. She will turn the unicorn into a zombie, and use its razoThe KitKatPandaBatWolf came up with a marvelous solution to the question posed by the title. She will turn the unicorn into a zombie, and use its razor-sharp horn as a bottle-opener to crack the skulls of her victims, enabling her to easily eat those delicious brains. And as a bonus, she can ride the unicorn and not have to drag her decaying flesh around all by herself.
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When she asks her 3rd-grade classmates "zombies vs. unicorns" apparently they ALL respond "zombie unicorns!" Third graders FTW!
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I thought all the stories were very strong, and I was amused by the editor's banter before each story. Interestingly, the zombie stories are almost all love stories, while the unicorn stories are almost all about seeking justice. No one will be surprised that Margo Lanagan's story was very dark, while Meg Cabot's was very funny, but it's a collection that makes me want to read everyone's backlist, and that's the best kind of collection. I admit to being a weensy bit disappointed that the editors did not also contribute.
Oh, my. There are some excellent stories in here. I checked it out to read Willis' "D.A.", which I loved for her faced-paced hec03 Jan 2009 10 Apr 2016
Oh, my. There are some excellent stories in here. I checked it out to read Willis' "D.A.", which I loved for her faced-paced hecticness. "How To Talk To Girls At Parties" is a re-read for me, but it is still might good. "In The House Of The Seven Librarians" is a story about feral librarians and is a perfect little fairy tale. "Halfway House" was just a bit too opaque for me, I never felt like I quite got it. "Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter (Fantasy)" was marvelous and satisfying.
I'm looking forward to the ones I haven't cracked yet.
I loved it. The PandaBat read all the little cartoon interludes, and matched up the icons to the authors. The Possum stole it and held it for weeks, bI loved it. The PandaBat read all the little cartoon interludes, and matched up the icons to the authors. The Possum stole it and held it for weeks, because she got sucked in by Libba Bray's story. There's all kinds of geekery at our house, so it was a great read....more
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