Category Archives: Adventure

#WitchWeek2020 Day 5: Gothic fantasy, with puppets

Posted on November 4, 2020 by Lizzie Ross

Puppet shows! Fun times for all, right? Not in this chilling Newbery Honor book. In 2007, Laura Amy Schlitz had won the Newbery Award for Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village. This 2012 gothic fantasy by the … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Fantasy, Gothic, Historical fiction, Mystery, Witch Week, YA Lit | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Have you forgotten something?

Posted on March 31, 2020 by Lizzie Ross

Despite being set in two different centuries, nearly 100 years apart, the books in today’s post share one element: a blinkered Euro-centric view of life “down under”. Read on to see what I mean. In A Town Like Alice (1950, … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Am reading, Australia, Fiction, Historical fiction, History, New Zealand, Travel | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

In the near future

Posted on February 26, 2020 by Lizzie Ross

Lory at The Emerald City Book Review recently wondered if her readers had reading plans for the year. Excellent question, if only because it gives me a chance to prep you for what’s to come on this blog. My usual … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Am reading, Australia, Fiction, Historical fiction, History, New Zealand, Travel | 11 Comments

Flotsam and Jetsam

Posted on January 19, 2020 by Lizzie Ross

4 books reviewed here, and from them you’ll get a sense of my odd taste in reading these days. No particular reason for it — each one spurred by happenstance, satisfying a yen, or whatever. Lud-in-the-Mist, by Hope Mirrlees (1926, … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Am reading, Fantasy, Mystery, YA Lit | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

“As the sun pulls away from the shore …

Posted on January 7, 2020 by Lizzie Ross

… and our ship sinks slowly in the west ….” I finished Moby Dick more than a week ago, on my last night on the road home from a holiday family visit in Oklahoma. The wide horizons of the Midwest … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Am reading, Seafaring | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Shore leave ends

Posted on November 23, 2019 by Lizzie Ross

Last night I finished The Secret Commonwealth (Vol 2 of Pullman’s follow-up series to His Dark Materials) and sent it back (virtually, and virtuously) to the NYPL. By now, another patient reader has begun this dark and compelling tale. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Am reading, Am revising, Fantasy, NaNoWriMo, Seafaring, short stories | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Am writing, am reading, am really really busy

Posted on November 12, 2019 by Lizzie Ross

12 days into November, and I’m on track to finish NaNoWriMo well ahead of the deadline. It’s amazing how much I can accomplish when I have to. The reason I have to: I start a 2½-week trip on 24 November, … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Am reading, Am writing, NaNoWriMo, Seafaring | Tagged | 8 Comments

There’s more than one kind of wolf

Posted on November 2, 2019 by Lizzie Ross

Today’s Witch Week post, from my WW2019 co-host, Chris at Calmgrove, is all about the despicable and heinous, the selfish and greedy — the altogether dreadful villains of Joan Aiken’s Wolves Chronicles. Whether you know Aiken’s series well, or are … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Fantasy, Villains, Witch Week | Tagged | Leave a comment

R.I.P. XIV, part 2

Posted on October 18, 2019 by Lizzie Ross

As promised, a second post for R(eaders) I(mbibing) P(eril) XIV, a celebration of any genre that raises the hairs on the back of your neck. Four books, 2 of which also fit into my celebration of Herman Melville’s 200th birthday … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Am reading, Biography, Fantasy, Gothic, Mystery, RIP, Seafaring | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Everything is connected

Posted on August 28, 2019 by Lizzie Ross

Another post in my continuing salute to Herman Melville, on the occasion of his 200th birthday. For today, I’ve selected an unlikely book, Julian Barnes’ 1989 novel, The History of the World in 10½ Chapters (Borzoi/Knopf). This was the book … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Am reading, Science fiction, Seafaring | Tagged | 2 Comments