Debi Cates
Crying is appropriate.
I just a read a GR reviewer who noted how this story made her cry each time she read it as a child, decades after it was first published. (It's never been out of print.)
This is the classic tale for all who love life and embrace their individuality. Ferdinand is content with himself, his own company, and life's simple pleasures. But he was born a bull and bulls are supposed to knock each other's heads, horn one another, and, if lucky, be chosen to fight banderilleros with their barbed darts, picadors on horseback with their lances , and the ultimate slayers of bulls, the matador with his (and now also her) sword.
In spite of being every inch a robust, virile, muscular bull and of being chosen for the bullfight in Madrid, Ferdinand has no desire for such a “fight” and is sent back home by his enraged “opponents,” still happy and still alive.
I have always associated reading Ferdinand as a kid with a velvet painting from Spain given to my paternal grandmother by one of her globe-trotting adult children. It was displayed on top a locked glass cabinet filled with all manner of exotic, often humorous curios, a sure mesmerizing attraction for the many visiting grandchildren. My recall of the matador is vague but I still clearly see the bull with ribboned darts dangling from its crest and neck complete with painted streams of blood draining down its shoulder. Among the happy kitsch, the tortured bull was an incongruent shock.
Published just at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War and a few years before the beginning of Franco's 1939-1975 dictatorship, The Story of Ferdinand immediately attracted widely differing political interpretations.
It was banned by incensed regimes, of course.
For such an uplifting story with a happy ending, it should, indeed, make us sad.
This is Hemingway's rebuttal to [b:The Story of Ferdinand 773951 The Story of Ferdinand Munro Leaf https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348133512l/773951.SX50.jpg 484402], 15 years later. Hemingway, it is very well known, loved bullfighting. I didn't care for it much. But I admit I need to think more on it and might come back to this rating and review.
Complicated Cruelty
I almost wrote “Crazy Cruelty,” but thought better of it.
This is Wilson's classic story about three people who struggle with mental stability and social alienation, a recurring theme of the author, who himself had a period of a major mental heath breakdown.
The short story is about an English boy who regularly hangs out with the village's rich old sisters with his parents' approval. I'm not sure how much they know about all that goes on there—a bit like Pip's visits to Miss Havisham in Great Expectations—nor do they seem to inquire about the visits. The parents know something is not normal, something off, about their boy; we would likely call him neurodivergent now. The sisters, who he loves going to see, allow, encourage, and participate in his imaginative play. They are even odder than he is, touting their peculiar adult histories and distorted ideas into his young mind, too young to understand. All three are having a jolly good time being free to be themselves, unfettered by norms. Until one day when a cruel incident jointly perpetrated by the sisters results in a traumatic reaction in the child, nearing him toward a breakdown of his own.
I sought out this story after reading another one by the author, “Mummy to the Rescue,” as part of The Short Story Group on GR. It also dealt with a child, mental challenges, and came to an unhappy end. One of the group pointed us to a BBC FOUR documentary on YT about Angus Wilson elevating my interest in his works. It is aptly titled “Skating on Thin Ice.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpCDZWhETnw
I can see easily why this story doesn't garner high ratings. It is not pleasant. It is also lively, powerful, astute, and unforgettable.
Likely, you won't enjoy this story but Wilson's control of details is superb. I found the differing perspectives to be fascinating as an exploration into a situation that is still common today, that of long term care for a difficult and dependent person.I can't really say much more because it would give away an important aspect of the story. That aspect, though, causes our sympathies to deepen as suddenly we gain all the facts. There is no perfectly compassionate solution, even the story's end is hardly that.I read this short story with The Short Story Club group* from the [b:Black Water 2: More Tales of the Fantastic 147802 Black Water 2 More Tales of the Fantastic Alberto Manguel https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1473851695l/147802.SY75.jpg 1146288] anthology.This was a 4 star story for me but currently it has been given only 2 stars by my fellow readers. Last week it was the opposite, I gave the story ([b:A Woman Seldom Found 18219950 A Woman Seldom Found William Sansom https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1594653325l/18219950.SX50.jpg 25650347]) 2 stars and many other fellow group readers gave 4. Ha! I'll say it again, it proves we live in a magical world of books and stories aplenty for everyone. I wouldn't dream of having it any other way.
Sometimes I feel quite impish and dream of finding oodles of books like this to distribute in all the Little Free Libraries in my town. Let's rename this from “cautionary” to “consequence genre.”
Children's consequence genre answers that insatiable kid curiosity about the stuff they want to know, answering a question like, “What if I opened the cage with the lion at the zoo?” Good question, let's find out...
With open Jaws, a Lion sprang,And hungrily began to eatThe Boy: beginning at his feet.Now just imagine how it feelsWhen first your toes and then your heels,And then by gradual degrees,Your shins and ankles, calves and knees,Are slowly eaten, bit by bit.
And then, to drive home the point, the fascinating and ghoulish picture:
I do think, though, it might be best to introduce children early to this genre rather than late. Else they grow up to make FAFO YT videos crying because they voted in a snake as king and are surprised that it bit them. They thought it would bite only those ugly people they dislike so much! Silly, silly grownups. They should have read more books like this in childhood, then they'd know it's not good to embrace a known snake or open a lion cage without actually having to idiotically try it, saving a whole country a lot of misery.
Another short story with The Short Story Club group* from the [b:Black Water 2: More Tales of the Fantastic 147802 Black Water 2 More Tales of the Fantastic Alberto Manguel https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1473851695l/147802.SY75.jpg 1146288] anthology.I think I'm getting spoiled! Relative to the 15 stories we've read so far in this anthology, this one wasn't as engaging for me as most of the others have been. It was merely ok for me, a bit of a one trick pony: the ending. It did, though, garner 4 stars from some in the group proving we live in a magical world of books and stories aplenty for everyone.
A short story of a short rabbit-holeBefore I give my short review, I thought it might be mildly entertaining to other readers if I recounted how I came to read this obscure story by a now obscure writer, a question that i often wonder about other readers' oddball finds.As I edge closer and closer to the last short story in [b:Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Witch 1095680 Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Witch Dorothy K. Haynes https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1734133798l/1095680.SY75.jpg 1082515] with this titillating cover,[bc:Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Witch 1095680 Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Witch Dorothy K. Haynes https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1734133798l/1095680.SY75.jpg 1082515] (God forgive the publisher's design department that came up with that horrid cover, such an outright lie on the contents within!), I was lamenting soon there will be no more sublime, even addictive, Dorothy K. Haynes to read. In anticipation of that dreaded day, with trepedation I went to seek what else might be available.On Haynes's author page, I saw she was included in many other anthologies but with less than a handful of novels which I felt should be my next step with her, certain she would beautifully handle a longer work with the same deft skill. This one, [b:Robin Ritchie 55761946 Robin Ritchie Dorothy K. Haynes https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1603354991l/55761946.SY75.jpg 86967134][bc:Robin Ritchie 55761946 Robin Ritchie Dorothy K. Haynes https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1603354991l/55761946.SY75.jpg 86967134]about “...a young girl in rural Scotland who frequently wanders off at night by herself” appealed to me. It more than hints at Haynes' themes: Scotland, children, danger. Then, as I sometimes do, I scrolled to the very bottom of GR's book page and found that Robin Ritchie was included in a GR List with the intriguing title “Fiction, Better Left Unread? (No Ratings Or Reviews)” which is a list of 174 titles that have, well, no reviews, no ratings. https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/139421 Out of curiosity, I clicked the list, scrolled, and stopped at this book (yes, another arresting cover), [b:The Strangeness of Noel Carton 55454676 The Strangeness of Noel Carton William Caine https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1601068213l/55454676.SX50.jpg 57298729][bc:The Strangeness of Noel Carton 55454676 The Strangeness of Noel Carton William Caine https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1601068213l/55454676.SX50.jpg 57298729]I clicked again and was smitten by the blurb, “A hen-pecked and idle husband, kept by a rich wife, takes action when she taunts him that he is so incompetent he couldn't shine shoes, carry a sandwich board, or even write pulp fiction,” and so, to spite her, he begins writing a novel where “Soon he finds his fictional characters appearing in his real life.” Squee! Sounds fun!But I am on a Read What You Own/No Buy self-imposed restriction in 2025; the only exception I allow myself is if I can find a free online copy, one I can read without breaking half my vow, “no buy.” Luckily Caine's novel was written in 1920 and should be now in the public domain. I opened my favorite public domain site which has its own place, always there, on my Chrome bar.Bummer. No copy of this title. Well, what about anything by author William Caine? Yes, in an anthology of short stories, [b:The Best British Short Stories of 1922 7543642 The Best British Short Stories of 1922 Edward Joseph Harrington O'Brien https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347571139l/7543642.SX50.jpg 9820205]. More short stories, oh no! My current kryptonite. I see shiny objects scattered throughout, like the deep onyx of Algernon Blackwood, the misty opal of Walter De la Mare, and the passionate sapphire of May Sinclair. But, no, no, I stayed strong. I read just this title by William Caine. More like pyrite, fool's gold.And that's how I came to read this obscure little story. It was not unlike my rabbit-hole: sequential, pragmatic details told with a not entirely surprising end...Just like my own: I still have yet to lay my eyes on the next Dorothy K. Haynes I can read in 2025.
“Such fun I do not understand.”Me, I do understand. I understand naughty children who don't listen to their wise parents, in spite of many numerous warnings: Don't lean back in your chair at the table. Pay attention to where you are walking. Don't play with guns.Stop bullying other children just because they have a different skin tone. ...ad nauseum.Written in 1845, Struwwelpeter still had the sting, the tragic results, and the bloody horrors that were once part and parcel in old tales written for children. It no doubt would be banned today by the usual group of public ignoramuses as too violent for society's tender little brats who often grow up to be beasts.(Thank you to Dorothy Haynes who mentioned a little girl reading and being frightened by this very book in one of her short stories in [b:Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Witch 1095680 Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Witch Dorothy K. Haynes https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1734133798l/1095680.SY75.jpg 1082515])Wicked old thing that I am, I loved it.
Another author I'd now like to read after reading a selection with The Short Story Club*, Dürrenmatt's “The Sausage.” FIVE STARS because OMG I'm in love with it, although it's dark. Very dark. Totally absurd and funny in a wicked off kilter way.The story is the last day of the trial of a man who killed his wife and made her into sausage. It's told in staccato, very short sentences, “chop chop chop” as reader Fionnuala perfectly described it. The many evocative metaphors (I almost wrote “meataphors,” ha!) are bloody, ominous, and delicious.The evidence? The last, quivering, aromatic sausage link sitting on a small plate in front of the judge.I'm learning that I like dark (see the graphic novel [b:Beautiful Darkness 17287069 Beautiful Darkness Fabien Vehlmann https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1364599765l/17287069.SX50.jpg 6577216]) and absurd (see the play, [b:The Caretaker 96530 The Caretaker Harold Pinter https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1391637117l/96530.SX50.jpg 2457841]). I never knew this side of myself before—Hello, where did you come from?UPDATE 07/29/2025 Learning that literary scholar and Dürrenmatt biographer Peter Rüedi wrote that The Sausage was “a shrill prelude to Dürrenmatt's later general theme of legality, law, and justice” elevated its absurdity and unique style for me into a more interesting piece, after I had already enjoyed it quite a lot because of said absurdity and style...and its dark humor. Thank you again to Fionnuala for that important contextual tidbit.*You can join The Short Story Club at https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1187035-the-short-story-club where we are reading one short story a week (for July and August one story every two weeks) from [b:Black Water 2: More Tales of the Fantastic 147802 Black Water 2 More Tales of the Fantastic Alberto Manguel https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1473851695l/147802.SY75.jpg 1146288]. Our excellent moderator (Cecily at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1199525-cecily) makes sure there is a digital copy to read, even if it means scanning and uploading it herself.
My favorite old quirky place, Lake Wobegone.
People there are loveable in spite of themselves, awkward, shy, and a few even have unexpected secrets. Lots are nosey and some find high adventures within the city limits. There the snow dictates the rhythm of all life, where the locals and even the local dogs fall in love with a wayward swan who doesn't fly south. Certainly, there you find just about every decent, sometimes complex, emotion a human being is privileged to experience.
There's lots that isn't there. No red hats, no black-masked agents in military gear, no cruel abandonment of seniors, the sick, the poor, and children. And I don't believe they had even one small billionaire among them.
I visited there to recall fondly what Lake Wobegone was like and how it made me feel once upon a time.
How might the fictional town be doing now? Would they still be kind and mostly neighborly, forgiving old hurts, indiscretions, and tools never returned? Wonder if they would welcome their home-grown, the goofy 6ft 3 inch man who invented them, remembered all their names, knew the week's exact weather, and gave each resident or brief visitor the breath of life. Would they welcome that writer and narrator who has had his own serious troubles in the last years? Would he recognize anyone?
Would time in Lake Wobegone have marched on to now be more diverse, more inclusive, even welcoming to outsiders? Would new climate patterns begin to be discussed in earnest by the resident farmers in the back corner at the Chatterbox Cafe?
Or, would all those good, normal, quirky people of the recent past have goose-stepped into 2025 too?
The Short Story Club* read the title story of this small collection by Lampedusa. Apparently Lampedusa is in the spotlight with the Netflix production of The Leopard based on his novel. I'm also in a small group reading about the Roman emperor Hadrian, who was nicknamed the “Greekling” because of his Roman love for all things Greek. Funny how things we randomly read often coalesce like that, making a kind of universal, temporary constellation of history and ideas.This was one of those stories that challenged the reader to jaunts of rabbit-hole hunting. Not all the stories in our anthology do, but when it happens, it is always stimulating to see everyone making sense of the bits and pieces. It's those odd little strings you tug at, unraveling them, and after a time, the veil is undone. But even without all the lovely group comments and revelations, from my first reading I enjoyed this story immensely, although I acknowledge why it was not to everyone's taste.It's set in 1938 fascist Italy with a happenstance meeting of an old Hellenistic scholar and a young journalist who is something of a playboy. Their friendship has a rocky start, the old man is condescendingly aloof and seems out of love with the world. The young man, having just had a double-whammy breakup with two different dalliances is now ready to take a breather from his usual lusty pursuits, having in short order also lost fifty lira, an expensive black cashmere pullover, and the cost of a bill for a chocolate with double cream.It takes time to a build a friendship, especially an unevenly matched one like with these two men. The older man, the scholar, though, now and then reveals himself as someone with a possible secret and also a strange vulgarity. It is only after some time that the young man learns, and is convincingly told, about a sexual and spiritual experience the old man had with a mermaid back in his youth.What I loved was Lampedusa's fresh look at her, the mermaid. She was sexual, enticing, both an animalistic and spiritual creature. No Little Mermaid here. Nor a half-fish half-woman hag plunging men to their deaths in the sea. This mermaid was something much more. She introduces herself, “I am Lighea, daughter of Calliope. Do not believe in the tales invented about us; we kill none, we only love.”Lampedusa then brings the immortal entity to life with her exotic smells and tastes of her, with a speaking voice that is itself the siren's song, one that was “slightly guttural, veiled, reverberating with innumerable harmonies; behind the words could be sensed the lazy surf of summer seas, last spray rustling on a beach, wind passing on lunar waves.”In her he could see “an almost divine delight in existence.” And by just calling her at any time in his life he, like others, she tells him could be “conjoined in me” and “turn again into a life that is no longer individual and determined but of Pan and so free.” She doesn't offer him cold death but of a consummation into an ecstatic entrance beyond this divided self, beyond sorrow into something cosmic.In other words, she was cool as shit. Nothing like my childhood infatuation with mermaids pining for the life of a landlubber. *You can join The Short Story Club at https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1187035-the-short-story-club where we are reading one short story a week (for July and August one story every two weeks) from [b:Black Water 2: More Tales of the Fantastic 147802 Black Water 2 More Tales of the Fantastic Alberto Manguel https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1473851695l/147802.SY75.jpg 1146288]. We've thus far read 14 stories with still 50 more to go, including stories by Margaret Atwood, Arthur C Clarke, F Scott Fitzgerald, Mervyn Peake, Arthur Conan Doyle, and more you will recognize but not always associate with the fantastical.
My poor deprived daughters!I thought I had read this classic to them. I was certain I had. But I just reviewed it today—actually had it read to me via Youtube— and I'm now 99% sure now I did not read it to my girls. Or if I did, it wasn't a nightly ritual as it is for so many kids and parents.Instead, my oldest daughter loved [b:The Monster at the End of this Book 44186 The Monster at the End of this Book Jon Stone https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388193494l/44186.SX50.jpg 640276] and asked to have that one read to her many, many times, excited every time to turn the pages herself. She, in turn, has read it to each of her three kids many, many times. She's read many other classics to them as they grew up, including some I only just recently read myself, like [b:The Secret Garden 8134520 The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1674528856l/8134520.SY75.jpg 3186437].I read lots of books with my youngest daughter, up until she was in 4th or 5th grade but she didn't have an often-requested book. When she was kindergarten age, she liked me to recite the Paul Laurence Dunbar poem “Little Brown Baby” (“wif spa'klin' eyes”). What she liked was any book read to her so long as we were cuddled together, often under the dream blanket or in the big reading chair. Since her kids were little bitty, she has read to them every night, and at ages 7 and 9 I'm sure they've read hundreds and are still reading together.While Good Night Moon was not part of our nightly ritual, reading was. It was a loving ritual that has continued with the next generation. That generation, too, I have no doubt will read nightly to their children.Good night, to all the sweethearts.
I just added this book in my Donate to Little Free Library box. I tried to get the Littles interested in taking this to read at home with their mom, but it was a “nah” from them.
It could, though, be the just right book for many kids, I'm sure.
It has lots of numerical information—how much snot does a body make a day, for example—but isn't focused on the “gross” approach that some kid's books take on the subject of the human body. I also liked how it would, here and there, compare certain human statistic to that of other mamals, like the paltry 15 million human olfactory receptors compared to a dog's 220 million, or even a rabbit's 100 million.
The stylized and pure graphical approach works both for and against it. I think some kids would find following and deciphering graphics would be interesting. Others might find it an obstacle.
I was just above lukewarm about it myself, although it is a very nicely done publication with tabs for the sections even.
I'm working through my kid's books library that I had been collecting to read with my Littles (granddaughters ages 7 and 9). They will be moving out of Texas at the end of summer. Sad, right? I know. It's going to be tough times for me, but it's the right move for their family and the girls' future. For anyone considering a move to Texas, note it is transforming right now. Beware of the new slew of legislation that will adversely affect children, women, all levels of education, immigrants...and books!
Consider: Will these new restrictions be the right place for you and your family?
I may be jumping the gun a bit, reviewing this book before trying any of the recipes.
But when I gave it to my 2 Littles to look over and to pick a recipe for us to try together, they enjoyed it very much. As I was driving, the littlest Little (granddaughter) read aloud, unprompted, the recipe she would most like to try, Blueberry Pancakes.
When she was done, I was filled with enthusiasm. I said to her, “I'm so excited. Do you realize that's the first recipe you picked to make? You will read a lot of recipes in your life, yummy things to make for yourself, your friends, your husband, your kids, but this will always be the first recipe you picked yourself and will make.”
Her response wasn't quite the same level of amazement I expected. ha. But she is just 7 and I'm nearly 60 years older than her, so, yeah, that makes sense. Maybe in 60 years she too will say something similar to her grands.
Yippee for Sunday morning when we will have Blueberry pancakes!
Before they move out of state at the end of summer (away from newly unfriendly Texas 2025), I hope we'll have time to try a few more recipes from this book together.
How many ways can I be delighted reading the short stories from [b:Black Water 2: More Tales of the Fantastic 147802 Black Water 2 More Tales of the Fantastic Alberto Manguel https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1473851695l/147802.SY75.jpg 1146288] with the GR's group The Short Story Club*?Answer: MANYThis is another example of being introduced to a writer that I had no previous awareness of and of a history, also, that I hadn't considered, the history of my deeply Western-centric reading life.Here is an authentic voice, written in his unique version of vernacular English in Nigeria at the time, the 1950s, telling its tale of traditional African ghosts (this “short story” is actually an excerpt from [b:The Palm-Wine Drinkard 944103 The Palm-Wine Drinkard Amos Tutuola https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1708204593l/944103.SY75.jpg 1852075]) in ways unique and predominant to his culture.I found it a delightful story, delightfully told. I mean, come on, a story about a “complete gentleman” who rents body parts, and who is actually only a skull? That's unlike anything I've read before. And it changes the expression “a complete gentleman” completely! haI can see why early supporter of Tutuola's work, Dylan Thomas , described the work as “brief, thronged, grisly and bewitching.” (Others of the time were not so forward-thinking or kind.)In the Wikipedia article that I also read, it states that in the 1975 [b:Critical Perspectives on Amos Tutuola 434920 Critical Perspectives on Amos Tutuola (NO 1) Bernth Lindfors https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1266553856l/434920.SY75.jpg 423853] by Bernth Lindfors, he writes, One of the contributions Tutuola made was to “kill forever any idea that Africans are copyists of the cultures of other races”Hear Hear to killing the idea that so many cultures even should desire to imitate other cultures. How silly.The only problem with these short stories, and the lively TSSC group, is that my TBR doesn't stand a chance of ever remotely being close to 0.*Join The Short Story Club here: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1187035-the-short-story-club
“Pardon me if I sound like a jackass. Are you God?”That Isaac, what a hoot! In The Last Answer we sympathize with a man, recently deceased, who has a conversation with ...well....God but God who doesn't call itself God, certainly not as religion thinks of it. It has given this man eternity. Why? Basically to entertain itself. (It becomes clear that eternity would be really boring.) The man doesn't like the idea of eternity, especially given by an entity that doesn't really seem to be enjoying eternity all that much itself except by giving eternity to various entities in the universe, and then watching what they do.What does our man, the recently deceased, do? He concocts a way to spend eternity, of course.Because what else could you do?P.S. You might want to read Asimov's [b:The Last Question 18299452 The Last Question Isaac Asimov https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1375886757l/18299452.SY75.jpg 4873881] first, which I also loved.
Yeah, now that I think about it, what do they do with all that poo?
Read this at the library with the littlest Little (age 7). I'm not sure we learned a whole lot about what they did with the poo (mostly sell it as fertilizer) but we did learn a LOT about zoo poo. (Hyena's poo is all white, from the bones they eat, ewww. AND wombats' poo is cube shaped, whaaaa?)
Weirdly, it was a lot of fun.
And, even more weirdly, this Granny wished that besides illustrations, they had included photos too. I mean, come on, we want to see a pic of that wombat poo.
A little disappointing, although the illustrations were bright and fun.
Read this with the Littles at the library and it didn't really keep their attention. The idea that parents are eating candy without their kid is great fun, but that idea wasn't played enough. Most of the book was an introduction to the families and then questions about how the parents behavior might be the same at work similar as to that at home.
Meanwhile, we (the Littles and me, the Granny) wanted to know about....the candy!
The BIGGEST mystery is on the last page, under where the library taped the dust jacket!
Yeah, you'll see that problem in lots of reviews of this book. I read it with the older Little (age 9). She could not see the solution to the mystery unless we untaped the dust jacket. NO! I wouldn't set that example. Probably not a big deal to do, but there was another way...
Granny to the rescue.
I carry a little skinny mirror in my purse. Since the last page is written in reverse (a few others are too), Little was able to tuck the little mirror with her little fingers under the flap...and read it. The mystery wasn't much of a mystery but solving the taped dust jacket problem was BIG fun.
❤️
A dark fairy tale.
A really dark fairy tale.
AN EXTREMELY DARK FAIRY TALE.
And I loved it!
Like all fairy tales, it takes place in a forest. There, a community of fairies spring up around the corpse of a murdered girl. The fairies aren't trying to help solve her death, not bring her back to life, not even respectfully festoon her with woodland flowers and a fairy dance.
No. She's the fairies' new home now...the rotting body of a human little girl.
That is some serious fairy tale shit right there. It's fits right in with the old fairy tales collected by the Grimm Brothers. Full of bloody horrors, callous brutality, nonsensical actions, and dives down deep somewhere dark inside us. Is that dark place our own repressed demons? Or is it a recognition, a reminder, that we live in a world of lurking evil and we must prepare for a possible encounter?
Whatever psychology is behind it, it was enough to utterly flabbergast me; its presentation beautiful and odd enough to gob smack me at 66 years old. I couldn't stop turning the pages.
I can't do any better than Melki* did than when she described it as “[b:Alice in Wonderland|24213|Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass|Lewis Carroll|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1630487234l/24213.SX50.jpg|2375385] meets [b:Lord of the Flies|84943|Lord of the Flies|William Golding|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1340919381l/84943.SY75.jpg|2766512].”
*Melki's review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/955228748
Read this with The Short Story Club group* from the [b:Black Water 2: More Tales of the Fantastic 147802 Black Water 2 More Tales of the Fantastic Alberto Manguel https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1473851695l/147802.SY75.jpg 1146288] but also can be found including in the collection of short stories in May Sinclair's [b:Uncanny Stories 1040722 Uncanny Stories May Sinclair https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348268723l/1040722.SY75.jpg 1027094].Ah, love, sweet love. Ain't it grand?No, not always. And certainly not here in a 1922 short story about the life (and death) of character Harriott Leigh. She should have played cards for a living, because she certainly was never lucky in love. Her last unsatisfactory affair would haunt her, well, forever.Somewhere I read that May Sinclair was an under-rated author who deserves more attention. Her works deliciously embrace the new–at the time–advancements in 20th century psychology. She describes her characters with a fresh, bitter understanding of human nature. After reading just two works of hers, I am ready to heartily agree she should be better known. She's on my radar and on my definite TBR.*The Short Story Club reads and discusses one short story per week. Join us at https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1187035Note to self, June 15, 2025: 12,769 pages and 102 titles read.
No Kings! Readathon
June 14, 2025
I'm reviewing books about Kings today. How did it turn out for the Kings and the wannabe Kings in classic literature?
The oldest king in the No King Readathon who as an old guy has a lot of life lessons yet to learn. It will startle him to discover just how much two of his daughters despise him. He will learn too late that he is undeserving of the love and devotion of the third daughter. He will learn he is a fool who has wreaked havoc over his once peaceful kingdom by an irrational, impetuous, ego-driven decision.
“Tis the times' plague, when madmen lead the blind.”
Lear is finally overwhelmed by the many tragic results of his doing.
Like all wicked kings and wannabe kings–then and now–it just doesn't turn out too nice for them, not in literature, not in history.