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Midweek Music Break: Theme-Park Earworms
The Missus and I took a much-needed mini-vacation this past weekend, trekking off to central Florida for (among other things) our first visit to the other theme park in that neighborhood. We love amusement parks and fairs (county, state, you name it), but neither of us is a big roller-coaster fan; most of the rides at [...]
Pottermore
From The Atlantic: In a much-anticipated press event this morning, J.K. Rowling announced the launch of Pottermore, a new website meant to bring all-things-Harry Potter to the Web. It was revealed in a leaked memo yesterday that a central focus of the site would be an online gaming experience developed by the company Adam & [...]
Book Review: Children of God, by Mary Doria Russell
A few weeks ago I reviewed Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow at the Book Book review blog. I just posted a follow-up there, a review of The Sparrow‘s sequel, called Children of God. However, if you have not read The Sparrow, please don’t read my Children of God review: it assumes that you know what [...]
Book Review: The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell
Over at The Book Book, I’ve posted my recent review. This time around, the subject is Mary Doria Russell’s novel The Sparrow, first published in 1996. Russell seems one of those novelists in the enviable position of writing whatever she wants, irrespective of genre. The Sparrow (and its 1998 sequel, Children of God) are frank [...]
Book Review: The City & The City, by China Miéville
My full review of this book is up, over at The Book Book. Part conventional murder mystery, part dark urban fantasy, The City & The City is constructed on a bizarre high concept which the author makes somehow believable: two Eastern European cities are not just neighbors, adjacent to each other; they’re even closer than [...]
Perspective, Proportion, Sweet Spot
[Image: "Perspective," a portion of Engineered Biotopes; this was an entry in a 2010 Greek architectural competition called "Piraeus Tower 2010 -- Changing the Face/Façades Reformation." For more on the competition, and this entry in particular, see this page at the Bustler architecture/design site.] From whiskey river: To My Doppelganger You were always the careful [...]
Book Review: Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
I’ve (finally!) posted my review of Nabokov’s Lolita, over at The Book Book. It certainly made for a discomfiting read, on some levels. Anyone with a niece or daughter, as young as the title character or simply once that young — and, I’d bet, any one who herself was once that young — will find [...]
Books Beyond Books
The whole e-books vs. traditional books debate spins crazily about one question: What is a book, anyhow? Let’s pursue that question a step further: What is a reader? Science-fiction (etc.) author Cory Doctorow tackles both questions in a very interesting project of his, called With a Little Help. It’s a self-published “book” — an anthology [...]
Book Review: Who Hates Whom, by Bob Harris
My latest review is up at The Book Book. This time around, it’s a non-fiction title, Who Hates Whom. (Subtitle: Well-Armed Fanatics, Intractable Conflicts, and Various Things Blowing Up: A Woefully Incomplete Guide.) In brief, it’s a good overview of world “trouble spots” — where they are, how they became troublesome in the first place, [...]
Book Review: Tender Morsels, by Margo Lanagan
Here’s how I imagine it must have gone: The woman went about her work calmly but with determination. Cupped in her hands before her, on the table, was a mysterious jewel; depending on the light in which and the angle from which viewed, sometimes the jewel glittered with color and sometimes seemed black enough to [...]
