It's been a while since I read Dickens. I loved him in high school – when all my friends hated him with a passion and were scared by A Christmas Carol – but then my reading habit fell off for several years. Now that it’s back, there’s just so much Dickens to read. I decided … Continue reading The Chimes (Charles Dickens)
I was reminded of this book after reading Turn Right at Macchu Picchu. For their extensive network of roads to function in the Peruvian mountains, the Inca needed bridges to cross rivers and gorges. So they engineered them out of grass. Of course a grass bridge requires constant maintenance to stay together. But don't let the … Continue reading The Bridge of San Luis Rey (Thornton Wilder)
I remember seeing Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes on booklists for late elementary grades for a long time, but never ended up reading it myself (which is kinda funny because I was fascinated by origami for a while). Finally getting around to it this year, I was most surprised by its length. Or should … Continue reading Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes (Eleanor Coerr)
I swear it’s a complete accident that this post immediately follows my last one about The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I did not reread Animal Farm as part of an allegories-with-talking-animals kick. Rather good timing, though, albeit a very different sort of allegory. No, I reread Animal Farm because since the last time … Continue reading Animal Farm (George Orwell)
As Monty Python would say: “…and now for something completely different.” And so I give you: River of Teeth. The second I saw this book mentioned on a friend’s Facebook, I knew I had to read it. The premise is so ridiculously, delightfully bizarre that I immediately went “OH HELL YES!!!” Because the premise … Continue reading River of Teeth (Sarah Gailey)
If you’re only familiar with Tolkien through popular culture and Lord of the Rings, you might not know that he wrote short books too, and most of them aren’t set in Middle Earth. I’ve read several of these over the years. Last year I read Smith of Wootton Major, which is a meditation on imagination … Continue reading Farmer Giles of Ham (J. R. R. Tolkien)
There are good reasons I’m reviewing these two books together. It’s not just because they’re both by Jack London, and both about dogs in the Klondike. Let me back up a bit. I went through a bit of a Jack London phase when I was a teenager – 14 sounds about right. I don’t remember … Continue reading The Call of the Wild (Jack London) and White Fang (Jack London)
