Category: Literature

Mud Vein by Tarryn Fisher

I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads because I got so caught up in it. On the surface it’s a puzzle/mystery kind of story. A female author named Senna Richards wakes up on her 33rd birthday to find herself trapped in a strange house with an emergency room doctor who once treated her and …

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Beautiful You: A Novel by Chuck Palahniuk

I like most things by Chuck Palahniuk, mostly because he always pushes the envelope, even when or perhaps especially when it leaves people outside their comfort zone. This particular book explores sexuality and women in a way that’s distressing to an extent. I couldn’t really decide if he was drawing women as superficial pleasure seekers …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/16/beautiful-you-a-novel-by-chuck-palahniuk/

The Long Night of White Chickens by Francisco Goldman

I have a real fondness for Latin American novels. From Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s magical realism to Juan Gabriel Vasquez’s rejection of that magical realism and always, always, a deep fondness of Pablo Neruda’s poetry, I’ve read what I can find and enjoyed it all. I very much wanted to enjoy Francisco Goldman’s The Long Night …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/10/the-long-night-of-white-chickens-by-francisco-goldman/

Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders by Samuel R. Delany

I bought this book blindly because of the title and the author. I have loved some of Samuel R. Delany’s past science fiction novels, and that’s how I thought of him – a Science Fiction writer and only a Science Fiction writer. Combine that with the title and I thought I couldn’t go wrong with …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/03/through-the-valley-of-the-nest-of-spiders-by-samuel-r-delany/

Theogony / Works and Days / Shield by Hesiod

Hesiod’s poems, along with Homer’s epics, can be considered the bible of the ancient Greeks, but Hesiod’s works are far more religious in nature than Homer’s, both in theology and in moral doctrine. Theogony describes the origin of the gods and the world. I am not sure if Hesiod is simply recounting basic accepted beliefs …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/01/theogony-works-and-days-shield-by-hesiod/

Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

This play was much more serious than I remembered it being. It is certainly not a play about nothing. The verbal fencing between Benedick and Beatrice is priceless, but there is much more to the play than that, and there is more dark subject matter than light comedy in it. Thankfully the evil is thwarted …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/12/27/much-ado-about-nothing-by-william-shakespeare/

The Epic of Gilgamesh

This is the third time I have read this story, and it never fails to amaze me with its power and its timelessness. Gilgamesh is the first legendary hero known to history, and like a true legendary hero his story is tragic. He achieves great things, but loses his best friend, and is haunted by …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/12/27/the-epic-of-gilgamesh/

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

I always thought this play was pretty silly, but this time around I appreciated what good fun it is. “Lord, what fools these mortals be!” The seeming randomness of the direction love’s arrows take works mayhem in a way that is all too real even with the element of magic thrown in, but since this …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/12/24/a-midsummer-nights-dream-by-william-shakespeare/

Alias: Grace by Margaret Atwood

In the interest of disclosure, I have to say that I have never read a Margaret Atwood book that I didn’t like. There were some that disturbed me, made me think, made me wish such things didn’t exist to be written about, but I have always been glad for the experience. Part of her charm …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/12/23/alias-grace-by-margaret-atwood/

The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare

Some people come away from this play with the impression that it is anti-semitic, but Shakespeare puts such eloquent defenses and rebuttals in the mouth of Shylock, on behalf of himself and his people, that for me the charge does not ring true.  The more serious theme of this drama is the balance, at times …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/12/15/the-merchant-of-venice-by-william-shakespeare/