Tag: classic

Better late than never, or #Narniathon21 finally coming to Reenchantment

On By Ola GIn books, fiction, Ola, reviews, silva rerum19 Comments

When Chris announced the great re-read of Lewis’s classic series for children back in 2020, I was a vocal supporter of the idea. I wanted to revisit Narnia for some time, having read all of the books at least twice over the period of some twenty years, and wanted to check if the ambivalent feelings of my former encounters would still dominate my reading.

But life intervened, and while other Narniathoners are already reading The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in preparation for the February 25th discussion, I’m here, discussing The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in conjunction with Prince Caspian. Well, better late than never 😉

Continue reading “Better late than never, or #Narniathon21 finally coming to Reenchantment” →

Hilary Mantel, The Mirror & the Light (2020)

On By Ola GIn books, Ola, reviews53 Comments

Author: Hilary Mantel

Title: The Mirror & the Light

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 883

Series: Thomas Cromwell #3

“We have all read the sermons. We could write them ourselves. But we are vain and ambitious all the same, and we never do live quiet, because we rise in the morning and we feel the blood coursing in our veins and we think, by the Holy Trinity, whose head can I stamp on today? What worlds are at hand, for me to conquer?”

The Mirror & the Light, the grand finale of Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell trilogy, is, like the two previous books, a precious and unique tour de force. I say this without hesitation: to me, this trilogy constitutes the best of what Western literature of the last several decades has to offer. It’s a true modern classic; a required reading that I cannot recommend highly enough. I have read Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies before this blog was even an idea, so I haven’t written reviews for them and I doubt I will anytime soon – definitely not before a reread, and these are books that require a lot of effort and attention to be fully appreciated 😉; what I can say here is that all three deserve the highest praise as rare masterpieces.

Continue reading “Hilary Mantel, The Mirror & the Light (2020)” →

Ursula Le Guin, The Found and the Lost (2016)

On By Ola GIn books, Ola, reviews1 Comment

The Found and the Lost

The Found and the Lost is a collection of novellas by Ursula Le Guin, the founding mother of fantasy and SF as we know today. It’s a perfect book for both die-hard fans and for those who have never had the pleasure of reading anything by Le Guin before. A doorstop of a book at 600 pages in my digital copy and 816 pages in hardcover, it contains 13 novellas written in the period between 1971 (Vaster Than Empires and More Slow) to 2002 (Paradises Lost). The collection is presented mostly in a chronological order, but another categorization rule readily comes to mind while reading as the novellas can be divided into three main groups: Earthsea, Hainish cycle and “other”.

Continue reading “Ursula Le Guin, The Found and the Lost (2016)” →

Walter M. Miller, Jr., A Canticle for Leibowitz (1960)

On By Ola GIn books, Ola, reviews7 Comments

canticle

Summer is nearing its inevitable end, and so the time has come to review a second book from my summer reading list, a very famous, classic SF novel, which had inspired countless readers and writers. Its huge intellectual impact and popularity was increased by the Hugo Award for 1960.

A Canticle for Leibowitz is the debut, and the only completed novel by Miller, Jr. (a sequel to A Canticle…, Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman, had been published posthumously), although he was a prolific writer of short stories. Come to think of it, even A Canticle… can be read as three separate novelettes. It had been originally written this way, as three separate parts, and the division is clear even now. The completed novel consists of three fairly independent parts, closely connected to each other by the main themes and the place of action, but still each part stands firmly on its own.

Continue reading “Walter M. Miller, Jr., A Canticle for Leibowitz (1960)” →

My Summer Reads A.D. 2016

On By Ola GIn books, meta, Ola5 Comments

My vacation is coming, so instead of a full review a short list of recommendations.

I don’t really know why, but my summer readings tend to be rather heavy – SF, military fantasy, everything that is long and massive and emotionally wringing. Everything that I don’t have much time to read during the year. This year I plan to read quite a few heavy, massive doorstops, and a couple of classic SF novels. Starting with grimdark favorite The Darkness That Comes Before, going through SF/fantasy mix with fairies, Little, Big, and on to classic SF: Flowers for Algernon and A Canticle for Leibowitz, below’s my list of summer readings.

Continue reading “My Summer Reads A.D. 2016” →