Mini classic review: Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin

San Francisco, 1976. A naïve young secretary, fresh out of Cleveland, tumbles headlong into a brave new world of laundromat Lotharios, pot-growing landladies, cut throat debutantes, and Jockey Shorts dance contests. The saga that ensues is manic, romantic, tawdry, touching, and outrageous—unmistakably the handiwork of Armistead Maupin. “Garbage, you know, is very revealing. It beats …

Mini classic review: Days Without End by Sebastian Barry

Thomas McNulty, aged barely seventeen and having fled the Great Famine in Ireland, signs up for the U.S. Army in the 1850s. With his brother in arms, John Cole, Thomas goes on to fight in the Indian Wars—against the Sioux and the Yurok—and, ultimately, the Civil War. Orphans of terrible hardships themselves, the men find …

Mini classic review: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Anna Karenina provides a vast panorama of contemporary life in Russia and of humanity in general. In it Tolstoy uses his intense imaginative insight to create some of the most memorable characters in literature. Anna is a sophisticated woman who abandons her empty existence as the wife of Karenin and turns to Count Vronsky to …

Mini classic review: 1984 by George Orwell

Winston Smith works for the Ministry of truth in London, chief city of Airstrip One. Big Brother stares out from every poster, the Thought Police uncover every act of betrayal. When Winston finds love with Julia, he discovers that life does not have to be dull and deadening, and awakens to new possibilities. Despite the …

Mini classic review: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Wuthering Heights is the tale of two families both joined and riven by love and hate. Cathy is a beautiful and wilful young woman torn between her soft-hearted husband and Heathcliff, the passionate and resentful man who has loved her since childhood. The power of their bond creates a maelstrom of cruelty and violence which will …

Magical Readathon: Orilium Spring Equinox TBR (Year One)

Hi all! I'm very excited to get back into the Magical Readathon: Orilium again this year, after the creator, Book Roast, hosted The Novice Path last year. I successfully passed The Novice Path, which you can check out here. Now we're up to the fun part: character creation, choosing guilds, powers, and setting up TBRs …

Mini classic review: The Road by Cormac McCarthy

A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them …

Mini classic review: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of the The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out of work actor.  …

January Wrap Up: The Month of Classics

Hi all! How was everyone's January? Mine was busy -- lots of reading, watching movies, catching up with friends, and going to events. I'm quite tired, to be honest! And my February is shaping up to busy as well. Books read 13 reads: 8 audiobooks, 2 books, 1 play, 1 essay, 1 poetry collection Book …

Mini classic review: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

To bitter, miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, Christmas is just another day. But all that changes when the ghost of his long-dead business partner appears, warning Scrooge to change his ways before it's too late. Then on Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by three different ghosts of Christmas, who show him his past, his present, and his future, …