I got a lovely email from Chauceriangirl telling me she loved my blog & expressing her shared admiration for my dear beloved Shirley Jackson. (The link takes you to a great post she wrote about Shirley Jackson inspired by our email exchange.) In her email, she wrote (printed with her permission):
I had a work read today that was an oddity of a historical novel. I suspect some of what I read will stay with me for quite some time. So, in honor of that read, here’s a meme I found at So Many Books
Synopsis: The son of a wealthy industrialist enters Jungian therapy to discover why he feels that his life is at a point of crisis. Review: In The Manticore, Robertson Davies continues the story he began in his masterful Fifth Business, turning his acute eye for the majesty of the quotidian on David, the son of Boy Staunton, a prominent figure in the first book. David feels himself to be a stunted man, and hopes that rigorous Jungian psychoanalysis will yield revelations enabling him to shake…
Updated–for more on the nominations, check out this thread at Scanners. Here are the movies I submitted to Eddie on Film for the quest to determine who will be America’s Favorite 25 Non-English Language Films. I’ve bolded the ones which didn’t make the final selection, which was chosen from films which received at least 3 mentions.
I was asked by Eddie on Film to participate in putting together a list of my favorite foreign language films so that we could create a definitive online list. In another incarnation, I blogged about film, which is how Eddie knows me, and cinema is definitely a big passion of mine. Voting is open until Sunday, September 16th. You can find the list & how to vote here. Below is my selection from the list of the best of the bunch, and I’ve posted the…
Synopsis: The unicorns have all disappeared from the world, save one, who cannot accept that she is the last. Review: I know I said no fantasy for a while, but The Last Unicorn is a children’s books so it doesn’t count. I have long been a fan of the Rankin/Bass animated movie, but never read the book. When it showed up from BookMooch, I couldn’t wait any longer.
Synopsis: Despite being both beautiful and smart, former teen beauty Sasha’s love life is a shambles, and–even worse–she’s approaching 30 with rapid speed. Review: I usually don’t say blank is the new blank, but I’ve never been more glad that 30 is the new 20 than after reading this depressing book. When I was in my 20s, I was looking forward to 30, because I had a sense from the women around me that 30 meant a break from a lot of the angst and…
Synopsis: After a teenage girl’s abusive father is released early from prison, she fears that she will be victimized again. Review: I hold Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak to be the perfect YA “problem novel.” These novels take a teen in jeopardy facing off against a social issue, and show how the protagonist overcomes the situation. In the case of Speak, the protagonist has gone mute after calling the cops on a summer party, and can’t tell anybody what happened to her that night. Halse Anderson…
Synopsis: The epic battle for control of Pandemia converges on Thume, a peaceful enclave that’s hidden from sight for two millenia. Review: I’m sort of relieved to be finished The Living God, thus concluding the four-part series by Dave Duncan called A Handful of Men. I loved every minute of this series, which is a sequel to a previous series known as A Man of His Word, but it’s just awfully hard blogging about epic fantasy when it’s this perfect.
Updated: Thanks to everyone who helped. The site seems to be working fine. Apparently the scripts I’m running on the far right are breaking my site in IE. Because I have a new Mac, I can’t check this out for myself. I’m told that when I remove the scripts the site works fine in IE. I can tell from looking at the stats that people like the Librarything, BookMooch, and Google Reader features, so I don’t want to get rid of them. But I don’t…