Dec 31 2021
In Lent, Jo Walton takes the life of Girolamo Savonarola both seriously and literally. Not only his life, the whole framework in which he lived that life: God, demons, Purgatory, the Rule of St. Benedict, the Dominican Order to which Savonarola was dedicated, his desire to create a new Jerusalem in Italy, and ever so …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/12/31/lent-by-jo-walton/
Dec 25 2021
Luke 2:1-14, Anglo-Saxon: Soþlice on þam dagum wæs geworden gebod fram þam casere Augusto, þæt eall ymbehwyrft wære tomearcod. Þeos tomearcodnes wæs æryst geworden fram þam deman Syrige Cirino. And ealle hig eodon, and syndrige ferdon on hyra ceastre. Ða ferde Iosep fram Galilea of þære ceastre Nazareth on Iudeisce ceastre Dauides, seo is genemned …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/12/25/merry-christmas/
Nov 07 2021
Circassians! The father of Allie, title character and first-person narrator of Courtney’s novel, comes from a Circassian family. They’re an ethnic group originally from the Northern Caucasus. After their encounter with an expanding Russian Empire went the way of most encounters between small peoples and the empire, the vast majority of Circassians were expelled to …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/11/07/all-american-muslim-girl-by-nadine-jolie-courtney-2/
Nov 03 2021
I actually hadn’t read the original text of Parable Of The Sower before this, but I have read and loved Parable Of The Talents. I’ve also read and, in retrospect, disliked Kindred — I had good things to say about it at the time, but the way Sarah treated her ancestress feels more selfish and …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/11/03/octavia-e-butlers-parable-of-the-sower-a-graphic-adaptation-by-damian-duffy-and-john-jennings/
Oct 14 2021
I read a lot of books where I praise the empathy displayed, but after reading Brad Kessler’s brilliant North, I realized that there’s another, rarer quality I appreciate even more in writing: the quality of compassion. It’s one thing to understand where another person’s pain is coming from, to find common ground no matter how …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/10/14/north-by-brad-kessler/
Sep 10 2021
I admit that I flinched a little when I read the blurb for this on receiving the Wednesday Books circular. How much would I, a progressive Muslim, find in common with a bunch of evangelical Christian church kids? Apparently, quite a lot! I’m glad I put my trust in Wednesday Books on this: when they …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/09/10/never-saw-you-coming-by-erin-hahn/
Jul 29 2021
As the parent of twins, I can attest to the fact that twins can be as sweetly devoted yet as deeply strange as the siblings depicted in this novel. After the death of his father, the already rather odd Jesse Owens (yes, really) starts looking for meaning in all the most metaphysical places. His search …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/07/29/the-follower-by-nicholas-bowling/
Jun 25 2021
This slim volume of short stories punches far above its weight class as it examines the lives of loosely connected characters in and around the turn of 21st century America. The opening story Dinner Conversation is one of the strongest, revolving around three couples out to dinner and the weight of expectations felt by the …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/06/25/life-and-other-shortcomings-by-corie-adjmi/
May 25 2021
The second part of my sister’s Raya book-present-bundle to my eldest, this delightful tale of a lonely young Muslim boy finding friendship through a lost cat was a joy to me and my 10 year-old (and had my perhaps overly-emotional sister in tears, lol.) Saleem has just moved to a new city and desperately misses …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/05/25/rami-the-ramadan-cat-by-robyn-thomas-abira-das/
May 21 2021
In a contemporary Somali village, young Hasan promises his mother a feast while his father is away working in the city. Trouble is, there isn’t any food in the pantry. Hasan runs to the local mosque, and with the help of the imam and various (semi-unwitting) villagers and mosque goers, puts together the promised feast …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/05/21/bismillah-soup-by-asmaa-hussein-amina-khan/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire