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Search tags: gothic-and-ghost-fiction
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review 2017-09-17 14:57
Magic Realism Square
Nights at the Circus - Angela Carter

- A story about stories and illusion.



Magic and reading have something in common. It’s that thin wedge that question of what is real and what is fantasy. We know that the magician is doing some trick, but we just can’t get it, can’t figure it out. With books, good ones at least, the trick is the writing taking you someplace else. Books aren’t the only thing that can do this – a good movie, painting, music. 
It’s this line between reality and fantasy that Carter explores in this novel about a circus performer who may actually have real wings. At first glance it seems as if Fevvers is the only character with this problem, but every character in the book comes into contact with this question. Even the tigers, which may or may not really be jealous lovers.
In many ways, this is the human condition, the search for ourselves. Is our work face our real face? It might not be the wings that Fevvers has, but the question of reality and fantasy is one we change and fight in some way every day

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review 2016-09-23 19:28
Okay this was cool
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - Washington Irving

I never watched the Sleepy Hollow series.  But this rendition of the famous story is pretty cool.  What I have always loved about this story is the great use of humor.  Irving you wicked man you.  

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review 2016-09-23 19:14
Spooky but
Mirror Mirror - Anthony M. Strong

Nicely spooky and a very nice story in terms of how the ending is handled.  I do wish that the girlfriend had been better drawn as a characters.  She almost comes into her own at the end, but prior to that she comes across as little more than f**k buddy instead of the true love that both partners came.  Though, to be fair, she is far from a bimbo.

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review 2016-09-05 01:01
Supernatural Square
The Haunted Looking Glass - Edward Gorey,Robert Walser,Ward Gorey
So the great Gorey and I have some of the same tastes in fiction. And we both like cats.

Some of these stories are well known - such as "The Monkey's Paw", which is one of those stories that never grows stale at all. Others are not, such as "August Heat", a rather chilling tale. What is interesting is that Blakwood's story "The Empty House" and Wilkie Collins' "The Dream Woman" make use of rather strong women, where as the others don't. In fact, Nesbit's story seems to be also poking fun at the classes and the differences between rural and city folk.
 
 

 

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review 2016-06-16 00:35
Maple Leaf Rag time people
Joplin's Ghost - Tananarive Due
I picked this up at a wonderful used bookstore - The Book Bank- in Alexandria, VA.

Seriously, how someone could let this book go, I don't know.

So awhile back, I read a Due short story on my kindle. I enjoyed it, and she got added to my list (the ever growing one) of "authors to try in novel form". When I saw this book, I figured, why not. Who doesn't love Scott Joplin?

(Yeah, okay, you're the one person. And I don't like you, so we're good. Seriously, go listen to Ragtime or Maple Leaf Rag. You are most likely one those people who thinks Shakespeare writes in Old English).

In part, the book deals with the question of sex and consent, in particular in terms of gender and age. There is much about music (and the definition of music) as well as being true to one's art. There are true friendships between women. In particular, I love Gloria and Phoenix's relationship with her, in particular in regards to what happens early in the book. I love that Gloria stood her ground and Phee realized something.

(Additional shout out to the lovely woman, perhaps the owner, at the counter. She loved this book and we had a nice talk).
 
 

 

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