‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
Continue reading ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
A farting pony, a racially and culturally diverse cast, a mixed race main character as a young princess with a desire to be a champion warrior only for her birthday, instead of a warhorse, she receives an adorable little pony. Sounds good so far.
Remember last October, during the Katherine Hale controversy, when we heard about the reviewer who was whacked over the head with a wine bottle while working in supermarket Asda in Scotland by author Richard Brittain who’d travelled 500 miles to do so as revenge for a negative review?
Continue reading Author Richard Brittain Pleads Guilty for Attacking Reviewer with Wine Bottle
Out of the shadows and into the light
With secrets and lies,
Conspiracies and spies.
O life, simple life!
When does it end, if ever?
The corruption
The dishonour
And the squalor.
Today is Super Thursday, the day publishing houses release their (mostly hardcover) books into the wild for frenzied Christmas consumption in order to boost dead tree sales in bricks-and-mortar bookshops. Last year saw over 300 titles released in a single day, paling in comparison to today’s 503.
Continue reading UK Publishing’s ‘Super Thursday’ – 503 Books Released in Time for Christmas
After the disastrous ending to my birthday trip to New York, I haven’t been feeling like reading, reviewing or blogging so this post is a little light. On top of that I realised my cursed car is caught up in the VW diesel emissions scandal and I’ve been having a terrible time trying to cut through bureaucracy to schedule an operation that should’ve happened weeks ago. Sigh.
After scraping some money together and an awful lot of planning, I managed to take a trip to NYC for my birthday. Actually stepping on that plane was something I never thought would happen. Two weeks earlier my mother’s arthritic pain had reached a new high and she was due a knee operation. To ensure she’d be safe on her own for a few days, I put certain things in place and people to call should she have problems.
Continue reading Planes, Trains and Automobiles: A New York City Birthday
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
‘They didn’t notice that all he wanted was a hug.’
A textured tactile cover and adorable pencil illustrations, but an anticlimactic ending ruined what I thought would be a resolution full of love and affection from the power of a simple hug.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
As an autobiographical sequel to Fun Home, Bechdel’s approach to analysing her relationship with her mother couldn’t be more different to how she examined the one with her father. If you have a problem with dry psychoanalysis, then you may struggle with Are You My Mother?
Continue reading Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama by Alison Bechdel
Literary Ames 