Nov 06 2019
There’s an almost Hardy-esque quality to this book, from its impoverished protagonist’s longing for higher education to the frank discussions of sexual transactionalism to the desperately whipsawing balancing acts between respectability and happiness. Of course, since this is a romance novel written in the modern era, our main protagonists do find their ways towards a …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2019/11/06/bringing-down-the-duke-a-league-of-extraordinary-women-1-by-evie-dunmore/
Nov 05 2019
When San Francisco homicide detective Valerie Hart is called to her latest crime scene, a deadly assault in an upscale neighborhood, she isn’t prepared for the victim’s identity, or for the emotional turmoil it brings to her newly reconstructed life. Having put her days of robotic alcoholic promiscuity behind her, she’s reconciled with her husband, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2019/11/05/anything-for-you-valerie-hart-3-by-saul-black/
Nov 04 2019
I came to this title from Powers, back when I was still actively collecting comic books in the earliest years of the 21st century. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t really understand it. Yes, I thought it was groundbreaking that Marvel Comics was finally releasing R-rated comics, years after the success of DC’s Vertigo line …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2019/11/04/from-page-to-screen-alias-vol-1-by-brian-michael-bendis-michael-gaydos/
Nov 03 2019
Ngl, I totally picked up this book based on its cover, after my library website algorithms decided it was a good recommendation. I mean, honestly, just look at that cover! So charming! So irresistible! The novel itself is slight and targeted towards middle-grade readers. It’s alright. The world-building is mild: essentially, a bunch of fairy …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2019/11/03/flunked-fairy-tale-reform-school-1-by-jen-calonita/
Nov 02 2019
I’m pretty sure I would have liked this more if it had been more speculative fiction and less MFA. Thing is, it’s an entirely worthy book. If it wasn’t for Freshwater, I would have no idea what a non-binary trans person is, and I’m richer for having found out. But I didn’t find out from …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2019/11/02/freshwater-by-akwaeke-emezi/
Oct 29 2019
(with colors by the amazing Mary Cagle) As an open borders absolutist, I’ve been wanting a book like this to come along for years. Living in the USA, it’s almost mind-boggling that people aren’t more inclined towards immigration, given that the contiguous 48 states are one of the world’s best modern examples of the free …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2019/10/29/open-borders-the-science-and-ethics-of-immigration-by-bryan-caplan-zach-weinersmith/
Oct 28 2019
Gosh, I still can’t get over how clunky that title is. That said, I was disappointed with this novel. Pat Barker’s Regeneration trilogy is one of the all-time best examinations of the horrors of war, and her skill at writing about armed conflict and the toll it takes on the men who fight in it …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2019/10/28/the-silence-of-the-girls-by-pat-barker/
Oct 22 2019
I’m conceding defeat and I’m not even sure whom to. See, despite being an ardent mystery fan since a wee girl, I’ve been lukewarm at most to the Sherlock Holmes canon, and have had very little interest in reading the Sherlockiana that has spawned since. Not even Neil Gaiman’s brilliant A Study In Emerald could …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2019/10/22/sherlock-holmes-and-the-christmas-demon-by-james-lovegrove/
Oct 20 2019
I mean, it’s not the worst Man Booker winner I can think of. If for nothing else, I do appreciate Milkman for being the first Northern Irish fiction I’ve read that I can remember: I’ve read plenty of stuff from Ireland but never from “over-the-border” so this was very illuminating. As someone born on the …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2019/10/20/milkman-by-anna-burns/
Oct 19 2019
I gave myself a few days to properly mull over this book, and you guys. My biggest impression still is “that’s not okay.” First, stylistically (thematically?), I really, really hated that N. K. Jemisin veered away from the hard sci-fi of the first novel to get all fake(?) magicky. Honestly, when Alabaster (still hate that …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2019/10/19/the-obelisk-gate-the-broken-earth-2-by-n-k-jemisin/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire