In my quest to read all of Diana Wynne Jones’s books in one year, this month I read The Crown of Dalemark, Stopping for a Spell, and The Tough Guide to Fantasyland! Seriously, this was quite a lineup for a short month: it included our first ending of a series, our first collection of shorter …
Category: Review
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/03/18/a-year-of-diana-wynne-jones-the-mid-1990s/
Mar 05 2025
A Song for You and I, by K. O’Neill
A Song for You and I, the enchanting new graphic novel by K. O’Neill, is now available! As in O’Neill’s previous graphic novels, such as the Tea Dragon trilogy and The Moth Keeper, lush and quiet worldbuilding is balanced with characters who are searching for meaning in their own lives, finding connection with each other …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/03/05/a-song-for-you-and-i-by-k-oneill/
Feb 19 2025
A Year of Diana Wynne Jones: The early 1990s!
In my quest to read all of Diana Wynne Jones’s books in one year, this month I read Castle in the Air, Aunt Maria, A Sudden Wild Magic and Hexwood! Honestly, it was a big month. Those are some hefty ones, and I think Hexwood is among her very best. It’s a high bar! Castle …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/02/19/a-year-of-diana-wynne-jones-the-early-1990s/
May 14 2022
Reading Backwards by John Crowley
There are still 148 copies available of this gorgeous, autographed collection of John Crowley reviews from 2005 to 2018. It’s a lovely object, a reminder of what the making of books, even commercially published books, can be as a craft. I’m even a little sorry that the dust jacket betrays that this book has actually …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/05/14/reading-backwards-by-john-crowley/
Oct 15 2018
The City & The City by China Miéville
Don’t read the second sentence of this post. Don’t read the sentence that comes before this one. In this world, we do not acknowledge italics. Italics are the only text there is. If you see something written in another way, avert your eyes, unsee and unread before it is too late. We have some leniency …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2018/10/15/the-city-the-city-by-china-mieville/
Oct 29 2017
Movie review: Kingsman: The Secret Service
This combines James Bond-like debonair spying (including some very nice toys) with a Quentin Tarantino-esque love of joyful violence (there is a massacre that is practically an exercise in interpretive dance), leavened with a lisping Samuel L. Jackson and random humor. Not a great film, not a horrid film, just an entertaining film, one that …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2017/10/29/movie-review-kingsman-the-secret-service/
Dec 29 2015
The Boy Meets Girl Massacre (Annotated) by Ainslie Hogarth
I can’t remember where I came across mention of this book, but it was obviously enough to get me to buy it and read it. Of course, that happens a lot, which is why my to-be-read collection on my Kindle just broke 300 books. Tangents, aside, I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/12/29/the-boy-meets-girl-massacre-annotated-by-ainslie-hogarth/
Dec 27 2015
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
In which I read a book simply because it has won the 2015 Man Booker prize, and am somewhat disappointed. I read just about everything on the 2015 Man Booker short list because I wanted to. This was one of the ones I didn’t read, and now I’m regretting a bit that it won, because …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/12/27/a-brief-history-of-seven-killings-by-marlon-james-2/
Nov 03 2015
Modern Romance: An Investigation by Aziz Ansari
Honestly, this is just a superlative book on what it’s like to date and be in a relationship in the present day. Aziz Ansari and Eric Klinenberg conduct studies and review data to bring a comprehensive but still accessible (in large part due to Mr Ansari’s humor and personal anecdotes) overview of modern romance. They …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/11/03/modern-romance-an-investigation-by-aziz-ansari/
Sep 21 2015
TRUST by Jodi Baker
Series: Between Lions (Book 1) Hardcover: 296 pages Publisher: BookBaby (October 3, 2015) Language: English ISBN-10: 0986431710 ISBN-13: 978-0986431715 Publisher’s Description TRUST is a young adult, mythological, urban fantasy thrill ride about the darkly fantastical, supernatural Museion that has secretly protected humanity’s greatest treasures for millennia, and Anna, the sixteen-year-old New York girl who …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/09/21/trust-by-jodi-baker/