To Russia With Love
I’m not going to turn this into a political blog, but Ukraine’s national flower (here seen against the blazing blue skies of the Loire valley) will be heading my posts until Russian troops have left the country and the slaughter of innocent civilians has come to an end. Бог з Україною (God be with Ukraine).
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Adventures in Arda
Note: This was my summer 2022 project — but while I posted the associated project pages here at the time (Middle-earth and its sub-project pages concerning the people and peoples, timeline, geography, etc. of Arda and Middle-earth, see enumeration under the Boromir meme, below), I never got around to also copying this introductory post from […]
Read MoreGerman Women Writers: Children’s and Young Adult Literature
General introduction to this series of blog posts HERE. Children’s and young adult literature was an era where German women writers were represented even before there were such things as “children’s”, “middle grade”, and “young adult” genres. In the early 20th century, there were the books of Else Ury, which are still hugely popular today, […]
Read MoreGerman Women Writers: Mystery and Suspense
General introduction to this series of blog posts HERE. Crime fiction is arguably the most lively genre in the contemporary German literary scene; yet, only a fraction ever makes it to the translation into English (or, for that matter, French or any other languages). This is true for both male and female authors, and it’s […]
Read MoreGerman Women Writers: Post-WWII / Contemporary
General introduction to this series of blog posts HERE. When Germany — divided into two unequally-sized halves — picked itself up after the catastrophe that had been the Nazi era and WWII, writers played an increasingly big role in the country’s search for its collective soul and its path to a better future; and finally, […]
Read MoreGerman Women Writers: 1900 – 1945
General introduction to this series of blog posts HERE. Women writers had made great strides in the 19th century, but it still had taken them almost a millennium to really claim a place of their own in public awareness. A fair number of the works of early 20th century German women writers exist in English […]
Read MoreGerman Women Writers: Historical Fiction
General introduction to this series of blog posts HERE. Historical fiction is obviously an important way to visit the past; alas, while I’m happy to report that the genre is alive and extremely well in Germany, only a tiny fraction of the books published — and an even tinier fraction of those written by women […]
Read MoreGerman Women Writers: The 19th Century
General introduction to this series of blog posts HERE. The below collection of 19th century writers incorporates the initial response to the question about women writing in German that inspired this series of blog posts; beginning with my personal late 18th / early 19th century heroine and with the ladies most closely associated with the […]
Read MoreGerman Women Writers: The Age of Enlightenment
General introduction to this series of blog posts HERE. The Age of Enlightenment introduced new schools of philosophical and political thought and brought huge advances in scholarship and scientific knowledge — what it still didn’t bring, however, was universal education, including and in particular for women. So writing (and reading) still remained a pursuit of […]
Read MoreGerman Women Writers: The Reformation Age
General introduction to this series of blog posts HERE. The Reformation brought new freedoms to women: Luther published an opinion that nuns’ vows were not eternally binding (which opinion, in short order, would earn him a wife), women — both secular and (heretofore) nuns — took an active part in the Reformation movement; and the […]
Read MoreGerman Women Writers: The Middle Ages
General introduction to this series of blog posts HERE. There is a surprising number of medieval German women writers: not in the hundreds, of course; but definitely almost 20 or perhaps even more than 20, which is not necessarily the number I’d have expected, given that literacy was not a widely-taught skill even among men […]
Read MoreGerman Women Writers: A Series of Blog Posts
Earlier this year, at the beginning of a buddy read of Andrea Wulf’s Magnificent Rebels (in another venue), a friend asked about German (speaking) 19th century women writers or more specifically, German women writers “in the years between the French Revolution and WWI”. Another friend and (somewhat belatedly) I came up with a few names, […]
Read MoreMichael J. Sullivan: Riyria Short Stories – The Jester & Professional Integrity
The first book of Michael J. Sullivan’s Riyria Revelations has been sitting on my TBR for a minor eternity at this point, but so far I’d been hesitating because some of its descriptions made it sound a bit too much like Scott Lynch’s Gentleman […]
Read MoreHappy Easter!
… and Passover and Spring Time and everything else you’re celebrating right around now! Alas, RL had other ideas than letting me enjoy books, blogging and such of late — I’d been hoping to get back to it earlier this year, but … the best-laid plans of mice and men and a’ that. I’m still […]
Read MoreHappy Holidays from My Home to Yours!
Have a lovely holiday weekend, however and whichever way you’re spending it. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Festivus, and Happy Newtonmas!
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J.R.R. Tolkien: Tales from the Perilous Realm
Blurb: Combined into one volume, this is the collection of Tolkien’s five modern classic ‘fairie’ tales in the vein of The Hobbit: Roverandom is a toy dog who, enchanted by a sand sorcerer, gets to explore the world and encounter strange and fabulous creatures. Farmer Giles of Ham is fat and unheroic, but – having […]
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Andy Serkis: Gollum: How We Made Movie Magic
Blurb: Film-making history was made when, in The Two Towers, an actor’s performance and digital animation were seamlessly integrated to create the world’s first totally lifelike computer-generated character. Now Andy Serkis tells his own story about how a three-week commission to provide a voiceover for Gollum grew into a five-year commitment to breathe life and […]
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Robert Foster: The Complete Guide to Middle-earth
Blurb: For the millions who have already ventured to Middle-earth—and for the countless others who have yet to embark on the journey—here is the one indispensable A-to-Z guide that brings Tolkien’s universe to life. EVERY CHARACTER From Adaldrida Brandybuck to Zaragamba—every Hobbit, Elf, Dwarf, Man, Orc, and other resident of Middle-earth is vividly described and […]
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J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien: The Lays of Beleriand
Blurb: The third volume that contains the early myths and legends which led to the writing of Tolkien’s epic tale of war, The Silmarillion. This, the third volume of The History of Middle-earth, gives us a priviledged insight into the creation of the mythology of Middle-earth, through the alliterative verse tales of two of the […]
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J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien: The Fall of Gondolin
Blurb: Presented for the first time as a stand-alone work, the epic tale of The Fall of Gondolin reunites fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with Elves and Men, Balrogs, Dragons and Orcs and the rich landscape and creatures unique to Tolkien’s Middle-earth. This audio production features Samuel West, voicing J. […]
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J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien: Beren and Lúthien
Blurb: Beren was a mortal man, but Lúthien was an immortal Elf. Her father, a great Elvish lord, was deeply opposed to Beren, and imposed on him an impossible task that he must perform before he might wed Lúthien. Undaunted by Lord Thingol’s challenge, Beren and Lúthien embark on the supremely heroic attempt to rob […]
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J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien: Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth
Blurb: Unfinished Tales is a collection of narratives ranging in time from the Elder Days of Middle-earth to the end of the War of the Ring and provides those who have read The Lord of the Rings with a whole collection of background and new stories from the 20th century’s most acclaimed popular author. The […]
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J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien: The Children of Húrin
Blurb: There are tales of Middle-earth from times long before The Lord of the Rings. The story told in this book is set in the great country that lay beyond the Grey Havens in the West: lands where Treebeard once walked, but which were drowned in the great cataclysm that ended the First Age of […]
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J.R.R. Tolkien: The Silmarillion
Blurb: The Silmarillion is an account of the Elder Days, of the First Age of Tolkien’s world. It is the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the Rings look back, and in whose events some of them such as Elrond […]
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J.R.R. Tolkien: The Hobbit – Performed by Andy Serkis
Like its magnificent sequel, The Hobbit is, I think, many things to many people: the first exposition of the universe that would become Middle-earth; prelude to The Lord of the Rings; a bite-sized visit to Middle-earth whenever you don’t feel up to the full blow of the War of the Ring(s); one of the most […]
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Karen Wynn Fonstad: The Atlas of Tolkien’s Middle-Earth
Blurb: “Find your way through every part of J.R.R. Tolkien’s great creation, from the Middle-earth of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings to the undying lands of the West … The Atlas of Tolkien’s Middle-earth is an essential guide to the geography of Middle-earth, from its founding in the Elder Days – as […]
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J.R.R. Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings – Performed by Andy Serkis
In another online community, we recently talked about the new Andy Serkis Lord of the Rings recordings. Well, it turns out that the pull of The Ring is still mighty strong, for however much it may have been destroyed in Mount Doom. I had barely gotten my hands on these audios and I found I […]
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Ngaio Marsh: Swing, Brother, Swing (aka A Wreath for Rivera)
Blurb: Lord Pastern and Baggot is a classic English eccentric, given to passionate, peculiar enthusiasms. His latest: drumming in a jazz band. His wife is not amused, and even less so when her daughter falls hard for Carlos Rivera, the band’s sleazy accordion player. Aside from the young woman, nobody likes Rivera very much, so […]
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Ngaio Marsh: Death at the Bar
Well, as it turns out, I can’t leave well alone with just two books by Ngaio Marsh in a row, so here we go … As I revisited Overture to Death — the book immediately following Artists in Crime and Death in a White Tie — last year as part of the Appointment with Agatha […]
Read MoreShe might be without country, without nation, but inside her there was still a being that could exist and be free, that could simply say I am without adding a this, or a that, without saying I am Indian, Guyanese, English, or anything else in the world. Sharon Maas: Of Marriageable Age
Through our maps, we willingly become a part of their boundaries. If our home is included, we feel pride, perhaps familiarity, but always a sense that this is ours. If it is not, we accept our roles as outsiders, though we may be of the same mind and culture. In this way, maps can be dangerous and powerful tools. Debbie Lee Wesselmann: Trutor and the Balloonist
I believe in such cartography – to be marked by nature, not just label ourselves on a map like the names of rich men and women on buildings. We are communal histories, communal books. ... All I desired was to walk upon such an earth that had no maps. Michael Ondaatje: The English Patient
There are many countries in our blood, aren't there, but only one person. Would the world be in the mess it is if we were loyal to love and not to countries? Graham Greene: Our Man in Havana
Maybe your country is only a place you make up in your own mind. Something you dream about and sing about. Maybe it's not a place on the map at all, but just a story full of people you meet and places you visit, full of books and films you've been to. I'm not afraid of being homesick and having no language to live in. I don't have to be like anyone else. I'm walking on the wall and nobody can stop me. Hugo Hamilton: The Speckled People
We swung over the hills and over the town and back again, and I saw how a man can be master of a craft, and how a craft can be master of an element. I saw the alchemy of perspective reduce my world, and all my other life, to grains in a cup. I learned to watch, to put my trust in other hands than mine. And I learned to wander. I learned what every dreaming child needs to know – that no horizon is so far that you cannot get above it or beyond it. Beryl Markham: West with the Night
