Review of the Month: The Middle Window
My favorite review this month had to be the one in which Simon of Stuck in a Book fought his “natural aversion to historical fiction” to find at least partial pleasure in a novel most readers — even fans of the author — detest. I love it when our reading expectations are turned upside down!
More of my favorite posts and articles this month:
Halloween Fun
- A list of literary ghosts from Girl With Her Head in a Book
- Fantastic fictional witches: Lolly Willowes at Majoring in Literature (and again at Heavenali), The Witches of Eastwick from Kate MacDonald
- A perceptive review of We Have Always Lived in the Castle, one of the few creepy books I truly love, at the Book Stop
- Ghosts of another sort are invoked in this post about writing from Selkie Moon
List Love
- A timely list of children’s books to use to talk about world peace, from Nerdy Book Club
- An intriguing list of women’s classic fiction at Beyond Eden Rock, with many off-the-radar titles
- Fall paperback picks from Books on the Table
- Who knew there were so many chickens in literature? Thanks to Mirabile Dictu, now we do.
- When reading is truly a lifeline: from Bustle, the most requested books in prisons
- Off the Shelf has a wonderful list of books with child narrators
- And from the Barnes and Noble blog, Kate Elliott lists ten fantasy novels with strong women
Food for Thought
- Girl With Her Head in a Book points out some of the painful questions that can arise around books and friends. What if you don’t love your friend’s favorite book — or vice versa?
- Reading and Race: On Slavery and Fiction shares some honest reflections from a white reader, through The Millions
- A teaching observation prompts some thoughts about how we all experience being observed in life, at Dolce Bellezza
- At the Bookwyrm’s Hoard, musings about the cost of books and reading speed; are we making the most of our “entertainment hours”?
Getting Visual
- Color charts and wheels through history, at the Public Domain Review
- Some of the beautiful artwork featured on the old “Green Viragos,” from Beyond Eden Rock
- Can you spot the right book cover? Tiny differences make a huge impact!
- From Fusion, a side-by-side comparison of Richard Scarry’s original Best Word Book Ever with the 1991 revision (which achieves greater gender equity, at least for bunnies and pigs)
Image of the Month
Reading in Bed by Jessie Wilcox Smith, found here
Shared in the Sunday Post hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer
The Emerald City Book Review Archive 
I was reading through this and clicking all the links that said “read me, read me!” (a substantial percentage) when I suddenly came to the reading-speed-and-cost-of-books post. Thank you for including me — and I love the company I’m keeping!
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You’re very welcome, and thank you for your interesting post. I’ve always been a superfast reader, so I’d be sunk without the library.
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What a great roundup of interesting posts! All of these are so interesting!
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That’s certainly what I thought. 🙂
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Ditto Lark above — I scarcely dare click on any of the links for fear of book envy. Oh, go on then!
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Always happy to provide some temptation. 🙂
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Loved that link about when friends don’t like your favorite books. I think blogging has made me cooler about book taste disagreements, because it happens so often. But still when it’s a dear friend and a book I truly love, it can still really get me down.
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More than once I’ve pressed one of my favorite books upon someone who ends up hating it. It makes me question whether I really know that person, or myself; why DO I love that book anyway? All kinds of existential questions can arise.
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Great links! I love the art links especially, and Dolce Bellezza’s link! Thanks for sharing!
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So many talented writers and so much beauty in the blogosphere. It never ceases to amaze me.
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