Aug 30 2025
The first two pages of The Kite Runner establish that as a child in Kabul in 1975, the first-person narrator witnessed or did something life-changing, something that so indelibly marked him that he carried it into the novel’s present day, which is December 2001. The summer of that year the narrator, who is living in …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/08/30/the-kite-runner-by-khaled-hosseini/
Aug 29 2025
A Tantalizing Tales Part Five, dear readers! That’s a first for us over here at The Frumious Consortium, but oh what delicious books we have in store for you this week, covering tomes just published and those about to come! First is my personal favorite of the bunch — and the one I’m hoping to …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/08/29/tantalizing-tales-august-2025-part-five/
Aug 28 2025
God, given the week I’ve been having, it’s so nice to be able to slip into a book about young people whose deeply felt and very real problems are solved by the end of its 300+ highly readable pages. So look, when I compare Alexandra Brown Chang’s debut novel By Invitation Only to Cecily Von …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/08/28/by-invitation-only-by-alexandra-brown-chang/
Aug 27 2025
translated from the original Kurdish by Sami Hezil. It feels a little strange to be talking about a(nother) book on the subject of the legacies of the departed, especially since this definitely takes the opposite tack of yesterday’s What Happens After? That book talked about grief and acceptance, whereas this speaks of guilt and vengeance. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/08/27/lovers-of-franz-k-by-burhan-sonmez/
Aug 26 2025
I really needed to read this terrific book, on the heels of Lauren Munoz’ absolutely devastating (to me) YA mystery Very Dangerous Things, which triggered yet another round of grief over a long-ago loss that I’m still trying to grapple with. The nice thing about What Happens After? is that it doesn’t try to dive …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/08/26/what-happens-after-by-diane-namm-laura-jager/
Aug 25 2025
It is tempting to begin this roundup with the timeworn lede, “Comics! They’re not just for kids any more!” I’ve been rolling my eyes at that one for decades at this point, as mainstream reviewers seemingly “discover” that sophisticated graphic novels exist, over and over again. In fact, the graphic novel is a form that …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/08/25/18443/
Aug 22 2025
Hello, dear readers! We’re well on our way to a five-parter of Tantalizing Titles this August (with a bonus reissue recap earlier this week!) but let’s not get too, too far ahead of ourselves. Today we’re featuring seven brilliant books that have either just published or will be coming to bookshelves this coming Tuesday! We …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/08/22/tantalizing-tales-august-2025-part-four/
Aug 21 2025
I had a great time at Flame Con this past weekend! As planned, I went both days, Saturday solo and Sunday with my kid. On Saturday my good time started even before I entered the Con, chatting in the press pass line with Erica Friedman (LGBTQ Comics Tastemaker) of okazu.yuricon.com. When I got in, I …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/08/21/flame-con-2025/
Aug 20 2025
Given my literary consumption of recent years, I’m genuinely wondering whether I ought to pivot away from my usual mental palate cleansers of classic/cozy crime in favor of horror anthologies like this one! This volume certainly acted like a much needed reset on my brain, serving up short, sharp and entirely self-sufficient diversions to give …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/08/20/creepshow-vol-3-edited-by-ben-abernathy/
Aug 19 2025
I received four books recently that are all coming out in a new format today, with a fifth publishing next week. What better way to celebrate all five than with an exclusive round-up column! The first is the sequel to a crime debut I super loved for its investigator protagonist. Charlotte Vassell’s The In Crowd …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/08/19/reissue-recap/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
Emily Lauer
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire