Books like the bear and the nightingale6/30/2023 ![]() ![]() Vasilisa must overcome the people she loves and use hazardous abilities that she has long kept hidden as danger looms over her in order to defend her family from an evil that seems to have emerged from her nurse’s scariest stories. While this is going on, Vasilisa’s stepmother becomes sterner and sterner in her efforts to prepare her disobedient stepdaughter for marriage or incarceration in a convent. ![]() ![]() Indeed, crops start to fail, woodland monsters get closer, and bad luck follows the village. ![]() The family agrees, but Vasilisa is terrified because she feels that more depends on their traditions than everyone is aware of. Vasilisa’s new stepmother, a fiercely devout city girl, prevents her family from worshipping the home spirits. Vasilisa’s father travels to Moscow in search of a new wife after her mother passes away. According to her nurse, wise Russians revere the spirits of the house, yard, and forest that guard their houses against evil and fear him. She adores the terrifying tale of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon that arrives in the icy night to seize the souls of the unwary. Vasilisa doesn’t mind, though, because she loves spending the cold winter nights cuddling up next to her darling siblings and listening to their nurse tell fairy tales. The majority of the year is spent in winter at the border of the Russian wilderness when snowdrifts tower over buildings. ![]()
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If It Bleeds by Stephen King6/30/2023 ![]() ![]() If (God forbid!) I was ever forced to choose between all of King’s mediums (books, movies, essays, shorter works), I would have to choose his short stories and novellas. ![]() So, safe to say I’m pretty well versed in his various offerings. He’s just always been there in one way or another. Stephen King (finally) gets respect to go along with all those sales (which surely helped to cushion the blow of any snubs he may have received over the years). I’ve been going to bat for King forever, and I (like so many) find it gratifying that his On Writing is now taught in so many writing programs. There’s been a variety of King eras, some garnering him and his readers more respect than others. ![]() (Probably earlier than was necessarily advisable.) And like your average Gen X-er (Quick shoutout to the Jan Brady of generations!), Stephen King books and movies have been woven into my cultural experience. (I mean, he has produced a cool dozen collections.) Like a lot of people, I’ve been reading King since I was a kid. ![]() Parenthetically speaking, you may (not) be entirely shocked to learn that this isn’t my first Stephen King read.It’s not even my first Stephen King short story collection. Maybe you’ve heard of this guy Stephen King? (He’s an up-and-comer!) I hear he’s also somehow connected to the author (Joe Hill) of my most recent review ( Full Throttle). ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() They are not what they seem, but rather colleagues who have come back in time from a technologically advanced future, posing as wealthy West Indies planters-a doctor and his spinster sister. Turned away at a nearby inn, they are forced to travel by coach all night to London. London, 1815: Two travelers-Rachel Katzman and Liam Finucane-arrive in a field in rural England, disheveled and weighed down with hidden money. Perfect for fans of Jane Austen, this engrossing novel offers an unusual twist on the legacy of one of the world's most celebrated and beloved authors: two researchers from the future are sent back in time to meet Jane and recover a suspected unpublished novel. Flynn brings this dream to life, creating a vivid portrait of Regency England in all its glory and squalor." -Lauren Belfer, author of After the Fire and A Fierce Radiance "What lover of literature hasn't dreamed of going back in time to meet Jane Austen?. Flynn's style makes this a quick, fun read, and since the story is Jane-related there's even a romantic subplot." - Vulture "The most brilliant Austen-adjacent book on the market. ![]() |