Apr 26 2023
Okay, I know that no retrospective of Jane Austen’s work is complete without Anne Elliott, but why on earth would she have her own chapter here when she is about as far from a Mean Girl as I can think of in this canon? Elizabeth Elliot, absolutely. Ending on Anne is just a weird thematic …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/04/26/bitches-in-bonnets-life-lessons-from-jane-austens-mean-girls-by-sarah-j-makowski/
Apr 19 2023
As someone who has spent a patently absurd amount of time playing Legend Of The Five Rings, a role-playing game heavily inspired by Far Eastern cultures, it’s always fascinating to me to see how lacking my knowledge of Japan actually is. Books like this one gently correct my misperceptions, in the most interesting way possible. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/04/19/magical-history-tour-vol-12-the-samurai-by-fabrice-erre-sylvain-savoia/
Mar 29 2023
If you think of the saxophone nowadays, you think of jazz musicians, perhaps John Coltrane and Stan Getz if you’re of a certain musical inclination, perhaps Lisa Simpson and Kenny G if your knowledge of the instrument tends more towards mainstream pop culture like my own does. But the saxophone has a long and storied …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/03/29/the-story-of-the-saxophone-by-lesa-cline-ransome-and-james-e-ransome/
Mar 28 2023
with the absolutely delightful subtitle: Bees Are So Amazing and You’re About to Find Out Why. I am 100% the target audience for this humorous non-fiction book extolling the benefits and wonders of bees. Heck, I even wrote a hybrid role-playing/board game, Honey Hex, that benefits the National Wildlife Federation’s efforts to protect pollinators. In …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/03/28/omfg-bees-by-matt-kracht/
Mar 16 2023
This collection of essays with recipes is absolutely stunning, both visually and in the impact of the stories. Not all the essays come with recipes, which is why I hesitate to call it a cookbook, and some recipes have definitely been more rigorously tested and precisely presented than others. But overall this is an emotionally …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/03/16/recipe-for-disaster-40-superstar-stories-of-sustenance-and-survival-by-alison-riley/
Mar 09 2023
Back when I was a lass, sometime between fifth and eighth grades, cross-stitch became A Thing at my school. I lusted after the beautiful kits some of the other girls had, and remember in particular running my hand longingly over a sampler kit of yellow roses at a notions store. I’m not sure if my …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/03/09/maybe-swearing-will-help-relax-and-curse-your-ass-off-in-cross-stitch-by-weldon-owen-publishing/
Feb 21 2023
I’ll be honest, I and likely loads of others picked up this book because it has Ellie Goulding’s name on the cover. Lights is such a terrific album (I’m listening to it again as I type) and I always thought the media hubbub over her moving on from Ed Sheeran to Niall Horan was overblown. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/02/21/fitter-stronger-calmer-a-mindful-approach-to-exercise-and-nutrition-by-ellie-goulding/
Feb 15 2023
I’m not a terribly meta kind of person: I prefer to play games rather than read about them, and heaven knows, I’d much rather spend my precious time actually writing rather than reading about writing. So despite Paul Czege being a valued collaborator of mine, I wasn’t sure how much I was going to appreciate …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/02/15/the-ink-that-bleeds-by-paul-czege/
Feb 06 2023
I was looking for a book of Bach cello music when I unearthed this gem from one of the many piles of To-Be Reads squirreled away in my house. I’d gotten it as part of a subscription box devoted to French products and lifestyle, and put it away to enjoy at “another time”. Well, that …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/02/06/paris-versus-new-york-a-tally-of-two-cities-by-vahram-muratyan/
Jan 24 2023
Happy Lunar New Year, readers! What more serendipitous opportunity for us to talk about the moon than in the first days of this auspicious time? This wonderful picture book details the way the moon orbits around the earth and how we experience it, both visually and via the tides. In prose that’s as carefully chosen …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/01/24/the-moon-tonight-our-moons-journey-around-earth-by-jung-chang-hoon-jang-ho/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire