Reviews and Comments

Marya

maryaed@wyrms.de

Joined 2 years, 1 month ago

recovering Victorianist, tech worker, fan of giant books. Portland, OR.

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Follows the adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Armitage and their children , Harriet, Mark, and …

Review of 'The serial garden' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

As another reviewer said a whole book of these is a bit much at once, but they're good rollicking stories about an otherwise dull pleasant English village where the Armitage family matter-of-factly deal with witches, ghosts, baby griffins that need raising, the demands of pet unicorns, and so on. They're in that unthreatening sweet spot where you have only the tiniest worry the magical problem won't get solved, and there will be something nice for tea.

Tracy Chevalier: Remarkable creatures (2009, HarperCollinsPublishers) 4 stars

A voyage of discovery, two remarkable women, and an extraordinary time and place enrich this …

Review of 'Remarkable creatures' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This was so excellently unsparing about the lives of spinsters in early Victorian England, and so intriguing about the fossil hunting, both the "science" and the business. Highly recommended.

Juliet Marillier: Seer of Sevenwaters (2010, Roc) 3 stars

Review of 'Seer of Sevenwaters' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Oh, this is such desperately sweet stuff I feel the need to caveat my three starts, but it's likeable enough I guess. Main character a terribly serious druid novice, spiritual vocations, lots of egalitarian marriage, somehow there are all sorts of badass warriors going around and yet everyone is very tender on the magical island. Still, entertaining enough.

I guessed the amazing plot twist about halfway through though.

Mary Gordon: The Love of My Youth (2011, Pantheon) 3 stars

Review of 'The Love of My Youth' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I don't know, there was lots of intriguing stuff in here but it felt labored, and I kept forgetting it was by an American writer because it seemed so much like recent Julian Barnes or whatever. Sometimes I wish writers who get older would not feel the need to deliver end of life insights, with which this novel is somewhat overburdened. I kind of love Doris Lessing for having figured out how not to get super-heavy about this--maybe because she was so serious in youth and lightened up?

Still, though, really vivid writing and sharp insights and memorable people and many writers can't do that at any point in life.

Ray Bradbury, Martin H. Greenberg, Harry Turtledove: The best time travel stories of the 20th century (Paperback, 2005, Ballantine Books) 4 stars

LEAP INTO THE FUTURE, AND SHOOT BACK TO THE PASTH. G. Wells's seminal short story …

Review of 'The best time travel stories of the 20th century' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This was a really likable collection if you like anthologies, with a lot of range and also a lot of dinosaurs, although Ursula K Le Guin's contribution as usual overshadowed everything else.