By the time Ryszard Kapuściński returned to Ethiopia, the revolution had already swept Emperor Haile Selassie from power. He engaged in something like journalistic archaeology, digging up the people of the Palace from where they had gone to ground to avoid execution in the violence that followed the revolution. The Emperor reads as if it …
October 2015 archive
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/10/19/the-emperor-by-ryszard-kapuscinski/
Oct 18 2015
Aunty Lee’s Delights (Singaporean Mystery #1) by Ovidia Yu
I’ve babbled on about my issues with Malaysian writers before (nutshelled: I want them to be super good, but when they are, I immediately hate myself for not writing, too,) and with this book, I realized that those issues extend to Singaporean writers, as well. I think it might be due to the two countries …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/10/18/aunty-lees-delights-singaporean-mystery-1-by-ovidia-yu/
Oct 17 2015
Sky Key (Endgame #2) by James Frey and Nils Johnson-Shelton
In the interval between Endgame: The Calling and Sky Key, I got heavily involved in the Endgame: Ancient Societies augmented reality game, a primarily on-line game that involved solving puzzles and being creative after declaring yourself for one of the 12 lines. I chose to be a Nabatean, and set up our online community, and …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/10/17/sky-key-endgame-2-by-james-frey-and-nils-johnson-shelton/
Oct 16 2015
The End of All Things by John Scalzi
In the two most recent books set in his Old Man’s War universe, The Human Division and now The End of All Things, John Scalzi has been busy shaking up the structures that he set up in the earlier books. Briefly, the galaxy is full of starfaring civilizations, most of them relentlessly hostile to each …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/10/16/the-end-of-all-things-by-john-scalzi/
Oct 14 2015
Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee
I get the distinct feeling that Harper Lee only allowed this book to be published because a) she just didn’t care any more, and b) maybe it would stop people from pestering her about publishing (and honestly, shame on those people squeezing a profit out of this!) Go Set A Watchman is not a complete …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/10/14/go-set-a-watchman-by-harper-lee/
Oct 11 2015
Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty
Liane Moriarty’s debut novel is a remarkably accomplished, near-perfect exploration of family dynamics in contemporary Australia. Witty and wise, with excellent pacing and an inventive structure, it exemplifies the genre of contemporary women’s fiction. And after reading Three Wishes, I was impressed with how well she’s living up to her initial promise: her fifth and …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/10/11/three-wishes-by-liane-moriarty/
Oct 09 2015
Hild by Nicola Griffith
For real, if I’d known this novel would be the first in a series, I wouldn’t have bothered reading it till the rest came out. As it is, the book ends well before the… oh jeez, how to explain without spoilers? I know this is all based on what might as well be ancient history, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/10/09/hild-by-nicola-griffith/
Oct 09 2015
Of Noble Family by Mary Robinette Kowal
Of Noble Family is the fifth book of Mary Robinette Kowal’s Glamourist History series. The series crosses Regency romances with alternate (but not terribly alternate) history and a dash of domestic magic. The series follows Sir David Vincent and his wife Jane, accomplished glamourists; that is, practitioners of the arts of magical illusion known in …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/10/09/of-noble-family-by-mary-robinette-kowal/
Oct 08 2015
The Well-Favored Man by Elizabeth Willey
A friend whose taste I respect recommended The Well-Favored Man to me, and, while I didn’t bounce off of it, I didn’t respond with quite the enthusiasm we both thought I might. She zipped right through it and has, I think, re-read it again in the meantime, while I dawdled the weeks away, and read …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/10/08/the-well-favored-man-by-elizabeth-willey/
Oct 07 2015
Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett
They seem such slight things, the Discworld books. Mostly slender paperbacks with the unmistakable art on their covers and the absurd premises piled on one another (it’s turtles all the way down), usually stacked up in the first few pages. Suddenly it’s a couple hundred pages later, there has been laughter, there has been at …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/10/07/reaper-man-by-terry-pratchett/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire