The Owl Service – Alan Garner

A book from 1967 using Welsh myth to create a modern day mystery? Sign me up! I loved being in the Welsh lands for this novel, thinking about the slate and the sheep and the beautiful vistas. It’s such a magical place. And this is a magical novel. Filled with plates whose pattern turns into …

The Amber Spyglass – Phillip Pullman

And then IMMEDIATELY after I finished The Subtle Knife I scanned my bookshelf, threw my self-imposed reading rules out the window, and grabbed this third book in the trilogy. Not that I ever want this story to end, but I wanted to spend more time in the company of Lyra and Will and Iorek and …

The Golden Compass – Phillip Pullman

Have you read this book already? I am really late to the game, but it came out during my “lost and pretentious” period, or shall I say my “drunk and dissociated” phase. In other words, 1995 and on. I wasn’t reading fantasy novels about kids who are disappeared by bureaucrats trying to maintain church control …

Awayland – Ramona Ausubel

I don’t know how to explain these stories except that they deal with loss and growth and change. I liked the stories, and the writing, though sometimes I thought about how the language could have been more inclusive. But I think I’m perhaps just sensitive in the age of 45 (which, thank goddess, is over …

The Sky Is Yours – Chandler Klang Smith

A classic tale of two obnoxious young royals betrothed in a city plagued by dragons and a penal colony. Really, a coming of age for the age of 30029 AF (after fire). The story has a lot of fantastical elements, though all seem as if they could be true (really, even the dragons), and the …

Deerskin – Robin McKinley

Don’t read the book description on the back. It will make you want to put the book down. Just trust me on this one. I’ve found myself getting back into fantasy/sci-fi this year, which if you had told me about this turn of events last year I would have scoffed. Do you go to therapy? …

Homesick: Stories – Nino Cipri

This was probably the first productive reading weekend I’ve had in months. This pandemic and my job have sucked the ability to focus on words from me. The trick, perhaps, is to find a series of fantastic books which compel you to sit and read. And this was an incredible story collection! So good that …