I try to resist the impulse to review every book in a series. I really do. After a few reviews, the reader should have all the information they need to know whether or not a series is of interest to them, and I should give some new authors a chance. But I was so happy with Chaos Choreography, the latest InCryptid novel by Seanan McGuire, that I can’t resist giving the series one more hurrah. I … Continue reading Chaos Choreography by Seanan McGuire→
If there’s anything I love about the Internet, it’s the assurance that I won’t be disappointed if I Google “Chinese Pirate Queen.” This month’s Kickass Women is Ching Shih, also known as Madame Ching, also known as Cheng I Sao. She ruled the seas with an iron hand and retired so she could spend her golden years perched on big bags of money. She was a badass, and while of course her story is embellished … Continue reading Kickass Women: Ching Shih, Pirate Queen→
The Secret Loves of Geek Girls is an anthology that combines prose writing, illustrations, and short comics by many different authors. All of the entries explore the ways in which women who identify as geeks experience romance. There are countless variations on this theme – some people write about their first crush, some about a divorce, some about how fan fiction shaped the way they talk about sexuality. The general theme is romance but the … Continue reading The Secret Loves of Geek Girls ed. by Hope Nicholson→
Recently I watched Mamma Mia for the 5000th time and I had so many thoughts that SBSarah suggested I split them into three posts. The first was about how the film addresses and rejects slut-shaming. In this post, I’m going to talk about how the movie deals with relationships between women, and in the next one I’ll talk about the focus the movie places on older adults owning their sexuality and their choices, past and … Continue reading Mamma Mia Part II: Your Best Friend→
Lady Bridget’s Diary is, structurally speaking, a total mess, and I didn’t believe a single thing that happened in it. However, the characters are delightful. I read this when I was down with the same cold that was afflicting everyone in America that particular week, and it was great for my humble purposes at the time: it was solidly entertaining and enjoyable, and I didn’t have to think a lot. Lady Bridget’s Diary is, naturally, … Continue reading Lady Bridget’s Diary by Maya Rodale→
Revisionary is the conclusion to the wonderful Magic Ex Libris series. DO NOT START READING THE SERIES WITH THIS BOOK. Start with the first one, Libriomancer . For one thing, nothing in Revisionary will make sense if you haven’t read the rest of the series (and it’s only four medium length books, so not a huge commitment). For another thing Libriomancer is really great and I’d hate for you to miss it. I previously reviewed all the … Continue reading Revisionary by Jim C. Hines→
For me, Kissing the Captain was bad. It was mind-numbingly, throw-against-a-wall bad. While many historical romances are gloriously cheesy and I adore them, this romance was not ‘so bad it’s good’ – it was just bad. The dialogue was clunky and false, no one behaved in an even remotely plausible manner, the hero was a jackass, the heroine vacillated between being a kickass woman and a doormat, and the villain was cartoonishly one-dimensional and relentlessly fat-shamed. … Continue reading Kissing the Captain by Kianna Alexander→
NB: We have two reviews today for Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold. One from Carrie and one from RevMelinda. Their reviews are similar but distinct in how they react to the major revelations that take place in this story. We’re running them both, but in order to keep the discussion in one place, we’re closing comments on one and directing readers to the other – which is annoying, so we ask … Continue reading Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold→
In this month’s Real Life Romance, I’m going to cheat a little bit and talk about two Real Life Romances. The first romance is that between Frederick Douglass and Anna Murray, his first wife. Anna and Frederick were married for forty-four years. During most of their married lives, they were separated by Fredrick’s work. Anna had the unglamorous job of holding down the fort and raising their five children. After she died, Frederick married Helen … Continue reading Real Life Romance: Frederick Douglass, Anna Murray, and Helen Pitts→
Hail, Caesar! is the latest movie from the Coen Brothers. As it turns out, we’re all pretty big fans of the Coen brothers, so after many reassurances that this was not the “everyone dies a bloody death” type of Coen brothers movie, I checked it out, along with Redheadedgirl. Our non-spoiler review goes as such: we both enjoyed it, we’d both watch it again, but it didn’t set our worlds on fire or anything. It … Continue reading Movie Review: Hail, Caesar!→
The other night I watched the movie version of Mamma Mia and before I knew it I was ranting helplessly about female agency and older people owning their sexuality and the evils of slut shaming and I had to dance around the family room for like half an hour just to settle down. Mamma Mia is a ridiculous movie, but damn, it’s aging well. I ended up finding so many things about this movie to … Continue reading Mamma Mia Part I: Grow Back Down Again!→
