Ry Herman's Blog, page 10
July 16, 2022
The Mystery Answered At Last
THEORY: Meatloaf’s “I’d Do Anything For Love” is actually a direct retelling of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. There are of course numerous parallels, but perhaps the most obvious can be found in Act IV, Scene 1:
BENEDICK: Come, bid me do any thing for thee.
BEATRICE: Kill Claudio.
BENEDICK: Ha! not for the wide world.
That is to say, he will do anything for love, but he won’t do that.
(It is already well known that “Bohemian Rhapsody” is Albert Camus’ The Stranger, whereas “We Built This City On Rock And Roll” retells The Aeneid.)
July 1, 2022
Favorite Books — June 2022
June was a good month for books. There’s one I’d like to particularly highlight:
THE MIGHTY HEART OF SUNNY ST. JAMES, by Ashley Herring Blake
When Sunny St. James receives a new heart, she decides to set off on a “New Life Plan”: 1) do awesome amazing things she could never do before, 2) find a new best friend, and 3) kiss a boy for the first time. Her “New Life Plan” seems to be racing forward, but when she meets her new best friend Quinn, Sunny questions whether she really wants to kiss a boy at all.
This book is awesome. As is just about everything Ashley Herring Blake has ever written. That is all.
Other books I enjoyed this month included: THE ROBBER GIRL by Franny Billingsley, SHE GETS THE GIRL by Rachael Lippincott, THE DAUGHTERS OF YS by M. T. Anderson and Jo Rioux, DEATHLESS GODS by P. C. Hodgell, THE MEMORY THEATER by Karen Tidbeck, NEVERNIGHT by Jay Kristoff, COMPANION PIECE by Ali Smith, A TOUCH OF JEN by Beth Morgan, TWELVE DAYS IN MAY by Niamh Hargan, CLOCKWORK SISTER by M. E. Rodman, THE STORYTELLERS by Caron McKinlay, CIBOLA BURN by James S. A. Corey, HIDE by Kiersten White, NEITHER PRESENT TIME by Caren J. Werlinger, and EYES OF THE VOID by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
June 7, 2022
Onward!
First chapter written. Gonna say that’s … 3% of the new project done.
June 1, 2022
Favorite Books — May 2022
There’s no book I want to highlight in particular this month, but a lot that I liked quite a bit. Some of the best reads were SPIDERLIGHT by Adrian Tchaikovsky, THE BROKEN PANE by Charlie Roy, IN THE SERPENT’S WAKE by Rachel Hartman, THE KNITTING STATION by Kirsti Wishart, SORCERY OF THORNS by Margaret Rogerson, LAURA DEAN KEEPS BREAKING UP WITH ME by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell, NETTLE & BONE by T. Kingfisher, LATE TO THE PARTY by Kelly Quindlen, THE BEAUTIFUL ONES by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, DELILAH GREEN DOESN’T CARE by Ashley Herring Blake, THE EXCALIBUR CURSE by Kiersten White, THE PANOPTICON by Jenny Fagan, UNWITCH HUNT by Justin Robinson, and Burton Raffel’s translation of BEOWULF.
May 22, 2022
Not sure how a catfish happens
A fox is what happens when dogs try to build a cat. A hyena is what happens when cats try to build a dog.
April 30, 2022
Favorite Books — April 2022
My favorite book this month was definitely:
THE THOUSAND EYES, by A. K. Larkwood
Two years ago, Csorwe and Shuthmili defied the wizard Belthandros Sethennai and stole his gauntlets. When an old enemy arrives on the scene, Shuthmili finds herself torn between clinging to her humanity and embracing eldritch power. Meanwhile, when a magical catastrophe befalls Tlaanthothe, Tal Charossa tries to run rather than face his past, but soon learns that something even worse may lurk in the future.
A. K. Larkwood continues to impress me with her ability to backspin a plot in a completely unexpected direction that still makes perfect sense. I maybe could have wished for a little bit more from Csorwe’s point of view in this one, but Shuthmili was as amazing as always and it was great to see Tal finally grow up. Highly recommended.
Other books I enjoyed this month included ONE LAST STOP by Casey McQuiston, DEAD COLLECTIONS by Isaac Fellman, WHAT WE DON’T TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT FAT by Aubrey Gordon, LEGENDS & LATTES by Travis Baldree, GALLANT by V. E. Schwab, and THE SCAR by China Miéville.
April 1, 2022
Favorite Books — March 2022
The best book I read last month was definitely:
A STRANGER IN OLONDRIA, by Sofia Samatar
Jevick, the pepper merchant’s son, has been raised on stories of Olondria. When his father dies and Jevick takes his place on the yearly selling trip to Olondria, Jevick’s life is as close to perfect as he can imagine. But just as he revels in Olondria’s Rabelaisian Feast of Birds, he is pulled drastically off course and becomes haunted by the ghost of a young girl.
While this book has a slow start, once it gets going it becomes an absolutely riveting testament to the power of the written word. The fact that the prose is beautiful throughout doesn’t hurt, either.
Other great books from last month included LAST NIGHT AT THE TELEGRAPH CLUB by Malinda Lo, AGE OF ASH by Daniel Abraham, GIRLS OF RIYADH by Rajaa Alsanea, THE TEA DRAGON SOCIETY by Kay O’Neill, CLAUDINE AT SCHOOL by Colette, HERE THERE ARE MONSTERS by Amelinda Bérubé, and THE BOOK THIEF by Markus Zusak.
March 1, 2022
Favorite Books — February 2022
This month had a definite standout:
MR. FOX, by Helen Oyeyemi
It’s a bright afternoon in 1938 and Mary Foxe is in a confrontational mood. St John Fox, celebrated novelist, hasn’t seen her in six years. He’s unprepared for her afternoon visit, not least because she doesn’t exist.
This book is about a lot of things. The excuses men make for killing women. The responsibilities of authors. The difficulty of communication. How fictional characters can come alive and how life experiences bleed into fictional characters. I won’t pretend that I understood all of it. But what I did understand, I loved.
Other books I enjoyed included THE SILENCE OF THE GIRLS by Pat Barker, UNNATURAL MAGIC by C. M. Waggoner, RUBY by Nina Allan, TERCIEL AND ELINOR by Garth Nix, INVISIBLE, AS MUSIC by Caren J. Werlinger, THE GLASS HOTEL by Emily St. John Mandel, and THE SUN’S DEVICES by Rebecca Levene.
February 19, 2022
Comments are back from Beta readers!
*cracks knuckles*
Time to start Draft 3.
February 1, 2022
Favorite Books — January 2022
No book stood out as an especial favorite of mine last month, but there were quite a few I enjoyed reading, including GHOST WOOD SONG by Erica Waters, HANI AND ISHU’S GUIDE TO FAKE DATING by Adiba Jaigirdar, MALICE by Heather Walter, THE WAVES by Virginia Woolf, COMFORT ME WITH APPLES by Catherynne M. Valente, THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING by Joan Didion, LENT by Jo Walton, CULTISH by Amanda Montell, JADE LEGACY by Fonda Lee, ELDER RACE by Adrian Tchaikovsky, IRON WIDOW by Xiran Jay Zhao, and a re-read of A THOUSAND WORDS FOR STRANGER by Julie E. Czerneda.
