February 2023 archive

We Never Talk About My Brother by Peter S. Beagle

We Never Talk About My Brother by Peter S. Beagle

How to talk about We Never Talk About My Brother? First, note that it predates Bruno by more than a decade. But then what? Considering the astonishing range in this volume’s nine stories and single sequence of poems? Praising the characters’ odd corners that mark them as real people even when they’re inhabiting the best-known …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/02/26/we-never-talk-about-my-brother-by-peter-s-beagle/

Women Of Myth by Jenny Williamson & Genn McMenemy

with the very long but accurate subtitle: From Deer Woman and Mami Wata to Amaterasu and Athena, Your Guide to the Amazing and Diverse Women from World Mythology. And readers, what a guide! I’m ngl, as a cis woman myself, I’m always at least subconsciously looking for the woman in the work, to see how …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/02/23/women-of-myth-by-jenny-williamson-genn-mcmenemy/

Marry Me A Little by Robert Kirby

This graphic novel might be the most relatable thing I’ve ever read about marriage, especially from the perspective of a white man. When gay marriage was legalized in 2013, Robert Kirby and his partner John had already been together for about a decade. They shared a dog and a house, and were thrilled that marriage …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/02/22/marry-me-a-little-by-robert-kirby/

Fitter. Stronger. Calmer.: A Mindful Approach To Exercise And Nutrition by Ellie Goulding

I’ll be honest, I and likely loads of others picked up this book because it has Ellie Goulding’s name on the cover. Lights is such a terrific album (I’m listening to it again as I type) and I always thought the media hubbub over her moving on from Ed Sheeran to Niall Horan was overblown. …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/02/21/fitter-stronger-calmer-a-mindful-approach-to-exercise-and-nutrition-by-ellie-goulding/

A History of Iran: Empire of the Mind by Michael Axworthy

A History of Iran by Michael Axworthy

I imagine that Michael Axworthy’s brief for this book ran something like this: Write a one-volume history of Iran, from as early as possible up through as close to the present as is practical. (The hardback edition was published in 2008; the edition that I have was published in 2010 and has an epilogue that …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/02/19/a-history-of-iran-empire-of-the-mind-by-michael-axworthy/

The Ink That Bleeds by Paul Czege

I’m not a terribly meta kind of person: I prefer to play games rather than read about them, and heaven knows, I’d much rather spend my precious time actually writing rather than reading about writing. So despite Paul Czege being a valued collaborator of mine, I wasn’t sure how much I was going to appreciate …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/02/15/the-ink-that-bleeds-by-paul-czege/

The Red Scholar’s Wake by Aliette de Bodard

The Red Scholar's Wake by Aliette de Bodard

The Red Scholar’s Wake is, by turns, a romance, a meditation on loss, a political intrigue, a story of starfaring pirates, an examination of parenthood, and a tale of interplanetary adventure. That sounds like a lot, maybe too much for fewer than 300 pages, so let me look at it from a slightly different angle. …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/02/12/the-red-scholars-wake-by-aliette-de-bodard/

River Of Wrath (St Benedict #2) by Alexandrea Weis & Lucas Astor

Oh man, I absolutely loved this bananas sequel to River Of Ashes! A large part of this is probably due to the fact that we don’t have to live in the viewpoint of a psychopath, as we did in this novel’s precursor, but instead experience events from the perspectives of people struggling to come to …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/02/10/river-of-wrath-st-benedict-2-by-alexandrea-weis-lucas-astor/

River Of Ashes (St Benedict #1) by Alexandrea Weis and Lucas Astor

First, I have to say that I’m really glad that this is being marketed as horror and not Young Adult, despite the main cast all being teenagers. There’s quite a bit of graphic stuff in here that probably isn’t suitable for the fade-to-black nature of the YA genre, and the last thing anyone needs is …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/02/09/river-of-ashes-st-benedict-1-by-alexandrea-weis-and-lucas-astor/

Paris Versus New York: A Tally of Two Cities by Vahram Muratyan

I was looking for a book of Bach cello music when I unearthed this gem from one of the many piles of To-Be Reads squirreled away in my house. I’d gotten it as part of a subscription box devoted to French products and lifestyle, and put it away to enjoy at “another time”. Well, that …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/02/06/paris-versus-new-york-a-tally-of-two-cities-by-vahram-muratyan/