Writer, editor, translator, project manager, reformed bookseller. Currently based in Berlin, following stints in Moscow, Tbilisi, Munich, Washington, Warsaw, Budapest and Atlanta. Previously blogged at A Fistful of Euros, though that is now largely lost to link rot.
Most commented posts
- The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison — 9 comments
- White Eagle, Red Star by Norman Davies — 7 comments
- Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch — 7 comments
- Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire — 6 comments
- The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin — 6 comments
Author's posts
Last autumn, Berlin celebrated the 25th anniversary of the opening of the Wall, and the peaceful collapse of the Communist order in eastern Germany. Eight Pieces of Empire: A 20-Year Journey Through the Soviet Collapse, by Lawrence Scott Sheets, reminds readers that in other places the end of Communism was not peaceful at all. The …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/09/eight-pieces-of-empire-by-lawrence-scott-sheets/
Three themes emerged in my reading this year, without great conscious intent on my part; well, four if I count getting back to a more typical number of books read. The year did not feature any births, international relocations, invasions by neighboring countries, or major changes in employment. All of that helped in finding more …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/02/taking-stock-of-2014/
Blood of Elves is billed as “a novel of the witcher” and this same witcher, Geralt of Rivia, is blurbed as the inspiration “for the critically acclaimed video game The Witcher,” which tells me some interesting things right away. First, that one way to get fantasy translated into English, it helps to have a popular …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/12/30/blood-of-elves-by-andrzej-sapkowski/
Adam Zamoyski began Poland: A History as an update and revision to his 1987 book, The Polish Way. He found that history had gotten in the way, and that just revising the older work would not be enough. In the early modern period, the Poles failed spectacularly to build an efficient centralised state structure and …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/12/23/poland-a-history-by-adam-zamoyski/
What I liked most about Odessa: Genius and Death in a City of Dreams is how clearly Charles King tells the early stories of Odessa’s founding. For while there had been a small settlement at the site under khans and Ottomans, none of the extant written records gives an unambiguous account of long-term settlement [at …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/12/18/odessa-by-charles-king/
In this ninth Tales of the City novel, The Days of Anna Madrigal, Armistead Maupin is content to show his characters being themselves. That’s no mean feat, for it requires creating characters who are both believable and interesting in themselves, and sustaining it over one or several books. Many authors do not appear to have …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/12/16/the-days-of-anna-madrigal-by-armistead-maupin/
One of the nice things about not being in a book’s target audience is being able to stand back a bit more and see what the author is up to, what’s happening structurally within a book or series, to generally chew on it a bit more. The House of Hades reaches its main intended audience …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/12/15/the-house-of-hades-by-rick-riordan/
Did you know there was an Association of Poles in India? Did you even have the faintest idea that there had been Poles by the thousand in India during the Second World War and in the first few years afterward? I certainly didn’t, and I know a thing or two about Poles and Poland. Which …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/12/08/finding-poland-by-matthew-kelly/
What to say that Laura hasn’t already? This story is a week in the life of a minor character, minor in Rothfuss’ other works, that is, and I think that it’s a good example of a writer doing something interesting because he doesn’t feel constrained to follow that larger story. It isn’t trying to be …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/12/03/the-slow-regard-of-silent-things-by-patrick-rothfuss-2/
Fun, funny at times, and even occasionally touching. Hits its mark perfectly for its intended audience, and isn’t bad at all for those of us a couple of decades past that. The Mark of Athena is much the same, and brings the overall story closer to completion. I am taking a break before going much …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/12/02/the-son-of-neptune-by-rick-riordan/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
Emily Lauer
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire