Posted in Books, Graphic novel, Penelope's Picks, Picture books on May 8, 2008 | 1 Comment »
In Les Miserables, it took Victor Hugo 1400 pages and Lord knows how many words to tell his story of cruelty, suffering, endurance, and redemption. In this masterpiece of sequential art, Gabrielle Vincent accomplishes the same thing in 60 wordless pages.
A Day, a Dog tells a simple story entirely through bold charcoal sketches that [...]
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Penelope's Picks, Romance, Young Adult on January 25, 2008 | 10 Comments »
“You are going to hate it in so many ways,” I told Jessica before she started reading Twilight. I could anticipate the criticisms: sappy romance, amateurish writing, serious transgressions of feminist ethics…
As it turns out, Edward Cullen trumps all of the above. “You didn’t tell me this was a vampire romance,” growled Jessica, who was [...]
Posted in Adventure, Fantasy, Graphic novel, Penelope's Picks on January 24, 2008 | No Comments »
Ambivalent about rodents? Don’t let that keep you away from the exquisite comic book series, Mouse Guard. Under leaves, behind rocks, in the hollows of trees, a medieval mouse world flourishes. Stonemasons carve mouse tombstones, potters make tiny crockery, bakers bake thumbnail-sized loaves. These settlements, so fragile and threatened by predators, are protected by the [...]
Posted in Books, Graphic novel, Horror, Penelope's Picks on January 21, 2008 | 4 Comments »
Listen, my children, and you shall hear… Whoa, hold it right there. This is one Paul Revere story that is not fit for children’s ears or eyes. Revere: Revolution in Silver is scary, gory, and sort of sick, actually. That’s not meant as criticism, just a warning to anyone who might confuse this dark graphic [...]
Posted in Books, Historical fiction, Penelope's Picks on December 27, 2007 | 5 Comments »
“It’s a good thing she’s dead.” It was my friend Nora on the phone. Not hello, Penelope, this is Nora, how are you? Just “It’s a good thing she’s dead, or I’d kill her.”
I’d bugged Nora to read the Lymond Chronicles, raving that it was the most intense reading experience of my life. Now Nora [...]
Posted in Movies, Penelope's Picks, Westerns on October 17, 2007 | No Comments »
In 1997, the American Film Institute released its list of the 100 greatest films. The Searchers ranked 96th. This was a scandal. It is the greatest John Wayne movie, and the greatest Western ever, which means, necessarily, that it is the greatest movie of all time. The AFI released a revised edition of their top [...]
Posted in Classics, Penelope's Picks, Sense of place, Westerns on October 16, 2007 | No Comments »
Will anyone be reading Westerns ten years from now? The boys who once saved their dimes for pulp Western magazines have become old men who read and reread Louis L’Amour in large print. Soon, they will fade from the scene. Their children and grandchildren would not be caught dead reading a book with a little [...]
Posted in Penelope's Picks, Quick read, Westerns on October 15, 2007 | 2 Comments »
Sometimes I think that all Western literature, from Gilgamesh on down, is really about what it means to be a man. That is, Man with a capital M: a mensch, an hombre, someone who is worth the space he takes up. This is the question of utmost interest to readers of both sexes, at least [...]
Posted in Books, Clever dialogue, Jane, Penelope's Picks, Romance on July 19, 2007 | No Comments »
I do not doubt that Jane Austen would have disapproved excessively of Sophia Stanton-Lacy, who keeps a pet monkey, carries a pistol, and dares to drive a phaeton carriage down St. James Street.
Manners have changed, and modern admirers of Jane Austen’s novels will be amused by the escapades of Sophy, the heroine of this frothy [...]
Posted in Books, Literary fiction, Magical realism, Penelope's Picks on July 18, 2007 | 3 Comments »
One of the small sorrows of my life is that I’m unable to talk about my favorite novel with my friends. No one has read it. I have badgered any number of people into giving it a try, but most quit somewhere in the middle of the first paragraph.
Who can blame them? Just for openers, [...]
 | leftoverkumquats on Coupling |
 | t.gal on Angus, Thongs, and Full-Fronta… |
| t.gal on Angus, Thongs, and Full-Fronta… |
 | jan on The Lymond Chronicles, by Doro… |
 | ruhama on Rose: My Life in Service, by R… |
