Reviews and Comments

ju

ju@lire.boitam.eu

Joined 2 years, 11 months ago

Some SF, fantasy, and obscure LGBT, mixed with travel, photography theory and women authors, in French and English.

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Arundhati Roy: The God of Small Things (Hardcover, 2008, Random House Trade Paperbacks) 4 stars

Compared favorably to the works of Faulkner and Dickens, Arundhati Roy’s modern classic is equal …

A vivid slow motion drama

4 stars

This book had been on my lists for ages, before I even knew who was Arundhati Roy, and I was surprised that it took me a while to like it. There was something holding me back a little. It's a slow drama, like a train crash in slow motion, often foreshadowed through the labyrinthine construction between the present and different times in the past. Eventually, it started to make sense and the incredible writing gripped me.

Alix E. Harrow: The Once and Future Witches (EBook, 2020, Redhook) 4 stars

In 1893, there's no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, …

A really great book

5 stars

It took me a while to finish this one, not because it's boring, quite the contrary. There is plenty of action, and Harrow makes you care about her characters in such a way that the tension and set-backs are almost too much at times. As in her other novels, she knows how to dig in the themes of loss, anger and reconciliation. Her vivid prose drips metaphors much better than this one, and her use and reinterpretation of fairy tales and children rhymes is really interesting. A fun and terrific book!

Olav Koulikov, Viat Koulikov: Mémoires d'un détective à vapeur (Hardcover, Français language, Les Moutons Électriques) 3 stars

Londres est la plus grande métropole anglo-russe, une statue géante du Bouddah Amida vient d'y …

Sympathique mais pas révolutionnaire

3 stars

Sympathique recueil de petites énigmes, avec une uchronie steampunk marrante à découvrir au fil des enquêtes (à la résolution un peu simple). Le charme s'estompe parfois avec l'accumulation de références littérales à Arsène Lupin, Agatha Christie et évidemment Sherlock Holmes, ou au name-dropping d'artistes contemporains -- quitte à marier la Reine Victoria à un Tsar, et à faire de la France un pays révolutionnaire solidariste (et Giscard président du gouvernement en exil), autant y aller pour de bon dans l'invention d'auteurs et de cultures, non ?

Isabelle Aupy: L'homme qui n'aimait plus les chats (French language) 4 stars

Une fable pleine d'humour et de gravité

4 stars

De prime abord, une fable pleine d'humour et de gravité sur l'obéissance, le langage, les besoins et ceux qui les décident, et sur les chats bien sûr... Et puis en arrière-goût, ce truc un peu indéfinissable aussi, qui brouille peut-être le message, à forcer le trait sur le cliché du "notre petite communauté de l'île de chez nous pleine de sel dans le vent" versus "ceux-là tout gris du continent et des villes qui font partie des administrations dont on ne connait même pas les noms". Mais c'est aussi le principe d'une fable.

reviewed Ring by Kōji Suzuki

Kōji Suzuki: Ring (Hardcover, 2002, Vertical) 4 stars

peepeepoopoo

Did you know that Ringu was originally a novel? I didn't

4 stars

Sometimes you read a book just because someone in your household borrowed it from the library. To be honest, I didn't even know that the movie Ringu was orginally a novel, and as I have not re-watched it in a long time, it was a very enjoyable read : the writing is very cinematographic, very detailed. There are differences between the movie and the novel, and probably a lot of details I had forgotten. Now I'm wondering if I should read the two sequels (Spiral and Loop)...

Michelle Tea: Valencia (2000, Seal Press) 4 stars

Fun and fast-paced

4 stars

A fast-paced trip in the dyke San Francisco of the early 90ies that reminded me of my early 20ies in Paris: frienships, drama, sex and too much alcohol in the usual dyke hang-outs (they're all closed now, so maybe it's just a bit of nostalgia). All in all a fun read.

Sonia Sulaiman: Thyme Travellers (2024, Fernwood Publishing Co., Ltd.) 5 stars

Thyme Travellers collects fourteen of the Palestinian diaspora’s best voices in speculative fiction. Speculative fiction …

Beautiful anthology

5 stars

It's not just that the title of this anthology is genius, these are stories of ghosts, encounters, lost lands, resistance and connexion, and they are heartbreaking in a million ways.

Arthur Nersesian: Dogrun (2000, Pocket Books) 5 stars

Mary Bellanova came home to her East Village apartment, cooked dinner, and fought with her …

Funny and frantic

5 stars

Hilarious and frantic, this book grabs you and seem to take you nowhere -- or at least, no further than the East Village, but then, right at the end, the author unties all the threads he had playfully tangled all along, and leaves you breathless and content.

reviewed Into the Riverlands by Nghi Vo (The Singing Hills Cycle, #3)

Nghi Vo: Into the Riverlands (EBook, Tor) 5 stars

Nghi Vo's Hugo and Crawford Award-winning series, The Singing Hills Cycle, continues...

Lambda Award Finalist …

Always enchanting

5 stars

Always enchanting, the Singing Hills novellas are little gems of storytelling, you want to read them all quickly and make them last as long as possible at the same time.

Lucile Novat: De grandes dents (Hardcover, Français language, Zones) 5 stars

Et si l'on avait fait fausse route dans l'interprétation du Petit Chaperon rouge ? De …

Un essai aussi vite lu qu'intéressant

5 stars

Un court essai à l'écriture percutante et drôle, qui remet une pièce dans la machine de l'interprétation des contes pour enfants.

reviewed Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett (The Founders Trilogy, #1)

Robert Jackson Bennett: Foundryside (2019, Broadway Books) 4 stars

Sancia Grado is a thief, and a damn good one. And her latest target, a …

Good but confusing at times

4 stars

A fun and original take on magic, and the politics and plot are interesting. I don't know if it was the world-building or me, but I was a bit confused at times. A good read nevertheless!

reviewed The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett (Shadow of the Leviathan, #1)

Robert Jackson Bennett: The Tainted Cup (2024, Del Rey) 4 stars

An eccentric detective and her long-suffering assistant untangle a web of magic, deceit, and murder …

Very enjoyable fantasy-mystery

5 stars

I enjoyed a lot this classic and convoluted mystery, set in a magical empire that has enough weirdness to grab you from the start. Many authors try a bit too hard to be light or funny, it feels effortless here. All in all, a very enjoyable book.

Sorj Chalandon: La légende de nos pères (French language, 2009, Grasset, GRASSET) 4 stars

J'ai laissé partir mon père sans écouter ce qu'il avait à me dire, le combattant …

Un roman qui se lit d'une traite

4 stars

Un roman court et sinueux où l'auteur convoque à nouveau son père, la vérité, celle que l'on se dit, celle que l'on raconte et l'écriture. J'ai eu envie de me replonger dans ses romans après avoir écouté cette émission de France Culture : www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/serie-sorj-chalandon-le-juste-et-le-vrai Il y parle, comme dans ce roman, de trouver le mot adéquat, le mot juste, et c'est passionnant.