Monthly Archives: May 2015

A Phone I Did NOT Buy Specifically to Play Ingress, Of Course.

Posted on May 27, 2015 by caseykins

(how dare you suggest such a thing)

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I’m getting a new phone!  It probably arrives today!

My old cell phone is rather on the ancient side for technology.  It is almost three years old, and it was not the latest and greatest when I bought it.  But considering the fact that I was moving from a flip-phone to a smart phone, I didn’t think it mattered much.  And it didn’t matter for a long time, except that now there are a LOT of apps that abhor my operating system and refuse to be downloaded. Thus the new purchase.  I’m getting a Marauder’s Map case for it, too.  I’m such a nerd.

Speaking of being a nerd, one of those apps my phone hates is Ingress.  WHICH IS THE GREATEST INVENTION EVER.  Brian downloaded it a few days ago, and we spent hours running around the neighborhood linking portals.  I tried to download it onto my own phone, and everything appeared normal at first.  It wasn’t until day 2 that it froze up on me.  And then it refused to run anything else, including the Kobo app, saying it didn’t have enough memory.  That Kobo app is sacred.  SACRED.  Ingress had to go, even though it sorta broke my heart to uninstall it.

For those who don’t know, the Ingress basic premise is that our world is being infiltrated by strange energy and matter that you need a special device to see (your phone).  Portals are appearing all over as well, and there are two factions.  The Enlightenment (green) is trying to keep these portals open, the Resistance (blue) is trying to keep them closed.  Enlightenment forever! (It’s the only way).  I bet you can’t guess what team I’m on.

The game is overlaid on a Google map, and it uses your GPS position to tell you what portals/energy are around you.  This means you have to walk between portals to access them, and you have to walk to pick up the energy you need to be able to do anything.  You get plenty of exercise.  As a bonus, you also get to know the neighborhood pretty well.  It’s been fun.

I looked up the map of where all the portals are online and there are a TON by my work that are waiting to be claimed.  I also found out that I’m in enemy territory when I’m at work.  Home is about 50/50.  So my mission is going to be to run around on my lunch hour and Enlighten the Claremont Colleges.  It’s stupid, but I’m excited about it.

Brian is even worse than I am, though.  There is a brown stump road barrier near our house that someone spray painted a face on.  It’s a portal named “Mr. Tiki,” and Brian stole it from the Resistance.  I was lounging in  my pajamas and watching Netflix on the couch on Monday when he came charging down the stairs, a wild look in his eyes.  He clutched his phone in his hand.

“Someone’s attacking Mr. Tiki!” he said.  “I must go!”  He pulled on his shoes and ran out of the house.  Five minutes later, he came back out of breath.

“Did you save him?” I asked, looking up from my home show.

“Yeah, I guess they were attacking a portal he’s is linked to, and not Mr. Tiki himself.  I don’t care about that.  They can have all the other portals they want, but Mr. Tiki is mine.  MINE, I say. They cannot have him.”

“Well, it’s good he’s safe,” I said.

So just think, by tomorrow I’ll be able to be as insane about my own pet portals.

The other things I’m excited about involve more than 4 hours of battery, a better camera, the ability to use Pinterest and Tumblr without crashing everything, and (hopefully) a faster loading time on Kobo.  Sometimes waiting for chapters to turn kills me.

For those interested in these sorts of things, it’s a Moto G, 16 MB, 1st generation.  The case I bought is http://amzn.to/1J6ks9k  I’m SUPER excited, if you can’t already tell (!!!!!).

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Spring Reading List

Posted on May 19, 2015 by caseykins

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The students have graduated.  We were afraid it was going to rain on them, and so there were white tents all across campus.  It mostly just looked cloudy and miserable without any drops falling, though.  The students at Scripps get their diplomas amid a grove of trees, and I’ve never seen a prettier graduation.  Chapman’s is this weekend, and Brian will be working it.  The weekend after, my sister will be getting her hard-won Art degree.  It hardly seems like two years since I was up on that platform myself, but it has been.  It’s funny how life changes and doesn’t all at the same time.

There have been a bevvy of parties at my friend Emily’s house the last couple of weeks.  We are a snowball group of friends who met in high school and then grabbed kindred spirits in college and after to round us out a little more.  Most of us have a travesty of a car full of trash, attended community college, don’t have any idea what we want to do with our lives, and have struggled to pay the bills sometimes (often).  We hardly ever get together, but it has been twice in three weeks, and another party at her house this weekend.  There is never anyone like that group.  I was sitting on the couch next to my friend Lilo listening intently to the ratio of guano to ash to compost she puts on her tomatoes when she stopped mid-explanation.

“I just want to say that I’m so glad you’re as interested in this as I am, and I love you guys,” she said.  So I think we all feel it.  There’s no one quite like that collection of people for being so in sync with each other.

My tomatoes are going gang-busters, all except for one that died.  I’ll be investing in tomato cages soon, and I found out that Armstrong has navy-blue ones that would match my front door.  That may need to happen, since they’re in my front yard and all because of the gopher situation.

With graduation there comes the semi-annual posting of the reading list.  I have read a lot of smut this time, and I’m not sorry.  But I would like to remind you of our invisible non-binding pact that you don’t judge me for my reading habits.  This list encompasses February, and you HAVE to read romance novels in February (we’re ignoring the fact that some of these stretch in to May). That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.  Anyway, enjoy:

  1. How to Be a Victorian by Ruth Goodman – Goodman has experience living it all, and her personal insights were fascinating and invaluable. I was left with a massive appreciation for simple modern things.  It’s not often I can’t put a non-fic down.
  2. The Art Forger by B. A. Shapiro – Why are the jerks in romance novels always amazing in bed? I liked this one.  It had a mystery component, beautiful writing, and Degas.  The mystery was predictable, but it still felt tense.  Good beach smut, 4 ½ stars.
  3. The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley –The story didn’t feel important, but it was fun to see the characters I knew. I found myself wanting to keep reading so I could be in the forest with them.  Also, Marion kicks ass.  That’s awesome.
  4. Regency Buck by Georgette Heyer – Exactly what I was expecting, although the brother is a bit annoying and I wish there was more romance (they ignore each other until she’s not his ward anymore). But fun, if you can put aside their first meeting.
  5. Venetia by Georgette Heyer – Supposed to be one of her best, and I enjoyed it A TON. I wish I could just slice out that first meeting of the two main characters, though. Otherwise the book is perfect and I enjoyed it heartily. Okay, more than heartily.
  6. The Diviners by Libba Bray –Naughty John gives me nightmares, and everything just gets creepier the farther into the book you go. But Evie is delightful, incorrigible and the 1920s slang is perfection.  I can’t stop thinking about it.
  7. What to Expect Before You’re Expecting – I’m sure this is full of good advice, but I’m cranky with the cutesy terms. We’re all adults, for God’s sake.  We can have sex.  We don’t need to be TTC (wink!) or do the Baby Dance.  Please say I’m right.
  8. The Ultimate Guide to Writing Persuasively – for work. Filled with a lot of branding stuff that might have been helpful for a less well run fundraising machine (we have it handled at Scripps), but the letter writing portion was useful.
  9. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell – Good, because how can a Rowell novel not be good? But this one left me heartbroken.  Eleanor’s family life is SO messed up, and watching her try to deal while falling in love hurt so much.
  10. Paris In Love by Eloisa James – A series of social media snippets refined and divided into chapters about her sabbatical in Paris. Easy to read and put down, sweet enough to pick up again.  I wanted to live in Paris forever, I didn’t want it to end. Also, may not be able to stop reading her books.
  11. Duchess In Love by Eloisa James – A cute premise, and it quickly turns into a crazy farce in a country house where you aren’t totally sure how it will all turn out. 4 Beach Smut stars.
  12. The Duke is Mine by Eloisa James – Although the book was definitely good, I felt like it wasn’t quite up to James’ usual standards. The kidnap scene in France at the end wasn’t my favorite thing.  But altogether worth it.  I would say 3 1/2 Beach Smut stars.  Okay, maybe 4.
  13. Three Weeks with Lady X by Eloisa James – Not as X-rated as it sounds. The heroine’s name is Xenobia.  But I liked it especially for that, and for Xenobia’s independence.  She’s my favorite of James’ heroines so far.  5 Beach Smut stars.  Okay, maybe 5+
  14. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins – A sweet novel set at a high school for Americans in Paris. Has a dreamy boy named Etienne, rocking friends in Atlanta, and lots of France.  Nothing too unexpected, but solid and well written.
  15. Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins – I’m IN LOVE with Lola. She’s hilarious, with the best fashion sense.  Her story is unusual, her boyfriend the perfect jerk, and Cricket next door the perfect complement to her.  Better than “Anna,” and it’s tough to be better than “Anna.”
  16. Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins – These just keep getting better and better. “Isla” was my favorite by far.  Loved the Barcelona bits and Josh too.  Sexy painting scenes.  Go read it.  That’s all I have to say.
  17. Potent Pleasures by Eloisa James – Oh man, I can’t stand the name. The novel was generally good and fun, with a good premise.  But the hero exhibits some scary, angry tendencies that made me balk a little.  Still good Beach Smut.
  18. Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horowitz – a re-read. There is peeing on buttons for authenticity, a Civil Wargasm, and much spooning.  Not to mention the horrifying ham… Brian asked me to stop laughing, because I was shaking the bed.  I think it might even get funnier the second time.
  19. The Forgotten Sisters by Shannon Hale – Oh, I love her so much. The ending wasn’t what I thought it would be, in the best way.  Miri trying to adjust to life in the swamps, and Peder’s pursuit of her, the secret even the sisters don’t know… the whole thing was absolutely right.
  20. Rags and Bones by Various Authors – A collection of tales you know (fairy and common short stories), re-told by awesome people. They’re weird.  Like, really weird.  Like gave me nightmares weird.  I’m not sure I liked it, but I can’t stop thinking about them.  So that says something, right?
  21. The Pinhoe Egg by Diana Wynne Jones – Nice to be back in Chrestomanci Castle again, but I can’t say I thought it was as good as Charmed Life or Christopher Chant. Gammer is hilarious, though, and so is Nutcase the cat who walks through walls. Worth it if you like Chrestomanci stuff.
  22. A Kiss at Midnight by Eloisa James – I can’t tell you why I loved this book, but I did. Probably it was those horribly behaved purse dogs.  But it might also have been the dresses, or the prince in the castle or the fireworks.  It was practically perfect and gets 5 Beach Smut stars.
  23. Cotillion by Georgette Heyer – Unexceptional although not one of my favorites. It’s hard to say the heroine is dumb when she concocts such good schemes, but she is a bit.  Freddy has to save her most of the time.   I also didn’t feel real passion on either of their sides, just friendly affection.
  24. Meet the Austins by Madeline L’Engle – I fell in love with A Ring of Endless Light when I was younger, and it was nice to know there were more stories about the Austins. A sweet book about 1950s life in a big family.  It reminds me a little of LM Montgomery’s “Anne” books in tone.
  25. The Moon By Night by Madeline L’Engle – Nice to be camping out in the world of the Austins, but it was my least favorite book of the bunch so far. I didn’t like Zachary, and I felt like the message of the book was largely unrealized.  I wasn’t sure what it was About (with a big A).  I still enjoyed being in the world with the family, though.  Can’t beat a wedding!
  26. The Young Unicorns by Madeline L’Engle – I haven’t gotten to A Ring of Endless Light yet, but this book gave me SO MUCH hope it would hold up now that I’m older. It was great.  Blind Emily is capable, and it’s a mystery that thickens because everyone is trying to protect everyone else.  At times the scenes felt too unreal, but it was suspenseful and well written.
  27. What to Expect the First Year by Heidi Murkoff – I was hoping to wait until I had a kid to edit Revolution where the main character has a 6 month old. But in the place of experience there is research.  Well-written and helpful for what many things with an infant should look and feel like.  I’ll have to rely on babysitting and imagination for the rest.
  28. The Sh!t No One Tells You by Dawn Dais – Read this for ditto the reason of above. It was fhilarious, but it wasn’t very helpful for research as it dwelt a lot on the modern mother’s experience and not on child development. Still, I enjoyed it even while I cringed (in a good way?).
  29. The Princess Bride by S. Morgenstern – A re-read. I forgot how much I liked this book.  I’ve seen the movie so many times that it feels so familiar, while also feeling so much deeper and more intricate.  And funnier.  I’m a fan.
  30. A Ring of Endless Light by Madeline L’Engle – It holds up way better than I thought it might. In fact, I’m as in love with this book as ever.  I was more frustrated with Zachary this time, and more upset that Vickie didn’t put him in his place sooner.  But everything about this book speaks to my adolescence (in tone, not fact), and it’s GOOD.
  31. Troubling A Star by Madeline L’Engle – I felt like Adam became a different person in this book, and someone I liked less. I also didn’t love the flashback structure where we know from page 1 that Vickie is on an iceberg dying, but not why.  But the writing was beautiful and the story suspenseful.  Would ultimately recommend.
  32. Four Nights with The Duke by Eloisa James – Pretty great, really. I liked that Mia was a writer, and the relationship the Duke had with her nephew – so funny.  I did feel like the crisis at the end was a little quick and predictable, but otherwise great.  Beach Smut Rating: 5 stars.
  33. The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchet – This book is just about the funniest thing I’ve ever read. Their swords go blue in the presence of lawyers.  And Tiffany Aching!  Such a great, strong heroine.  I couldn’t get enough.  I’ll definitely be getting more Discworld books.
  34. Lives on the Boundary by Mike Rose – About teaching people labeled as remedial. Very interesting perspective, and reads like a memoir.  I found it fascinating, especially because he showed so adeptly that “mistakes” in a lot of cases were people seeking to grow and not knowing how.
  35. Up The Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman – So great, and so interesting in the way it was narrated through school paperwork. You got to really love the kids, and really hate the inept administration.  But it was lovely chaos.  Lives up to its reputation for sure.
  36. A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchet – I do love Tiffany. The other girls in the wannabe “coven” are sort of awesome, and so is Miss Level (all two of her).  I liked Wee Free Men better, and wasn’t as horrified as the Hiver as I’m sure I should have been.  But I’ll 100% download the next.
  37. Midnight in Austenland by Shannon Hale – A re-read.  Oh, I love this book so.  I am trying to figure out why, and it might be that Charlotte’s neuroticism matches my own.  Or maybe it’s her hilariously quippy Inner Thoughts.  But put murder and fake Jane Austen together, and it’s magic.
  38. How to Be a Heroine by Samantha Ellis – So good. I couldn’t put it down, and now my TBR list is gigantic because there are heroines in there that I didn’t know.  She and I felt so differently about many of the books, but that was interesting too.  A lovely wade through literature.
  39. Enchanted Glass – This book is just so ordinary, and that’s what I love about it. There are computers and trainers, and motorcars that get stuck in ditches.  But there’s also the weredog, and all the black figures in the garden, and so much everyday magic.  I’m jealous.  And I want to live there.
  40. Wintersmith by Terry Pratchet – I’m not 100% on board with the sentient cheese, but I loved everything else about this novel. I lost it in a fit of giggles when the Feegles freak out about Tiffany’s disapproval.  It’s nice to see her older, and Jack Frost is such an awkward beau.
  41. My Faire Lady by Laura Wettersten– Predictable story line, and more like what working at a summer camp is like, not a Renaissance Faire (I know, I’ve done it). But I couldn’t put it down, so that says something.
  42. The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House by Kate Anderson Brower – Lovely, slightly salacious and VERY interesting, but with a touching quality too. It makes presidents seem like humans, and even covers the Obamas, which surprised me.
  43. Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat – A re-read. I NEVER get tired of this book.  Mowat is hilarious while also being touching about lives and ecology.  His description of the wolves is also just great.  They get to seem like people, or maybe adorable pets, even while they’re not.
  44. Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner – Such an odd book. Things don’t really ever happen in it, but it’s nice just the same.  The excitement happens at the very end, when the devil shows up.  I enjoyed it and would recommend it, but it wasn’t what I thought it would be.
  45. Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett – Cute, and I really love Esk a lot. Why is Pratchett so hilarious? It reminded me of Ursula K. Leguin’s A Wizard of Earthsea a bit, but not entirely.  The gender banter was especially good, as was the old person romancing.
  46. The Fine Art of Truth or Dare by Melissa Jensen – A cute book, and unusual. Ella is obsessed with a fictional (but handsome) dead guy, trying to move past a horrible scar on her shoulder, and full of spunk.  About secrets, and dealing with them, or being one.
  47. The Last Train Home by Renee Wendiger – It was alright. The writing was simplistic, and the asides in parenthesis were distracting.  But the topic was so fascinating that neither seemed to matter all that much.  Orphan trains might be my new obsession.
  48. I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett – I felt like the epic quality of the prophecy and things was lost in the shuffle of crazy. I enjoy the shuffle of crazy in Pratchett novels normally, but this crazy didn’t seem to serve the story as well as in other novels.  Still amusing, and a good read.
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I Need Diverse Books

Posted on May 14, 2015 by caseykins

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I have decided that I’m reading only books by non-white authors this summer; and only books I haven’t read before.  I realized that, although I don’t try to be exclusive, most of the authors I frequent – my favorites – are white women.  Nothing wrong with being a white woman who writes books (after all, I am one).  But summer is for stepping out of the usual, am I right? (I’m right)

I’ve been following the We Need Diverse Books movement online.  I know the reality is that diverse books only get made if diverse books get bought.  Therefore I will buy some (hence the “haven’t read before” rule). I’m also hoping that by reading only non-white authors I’ll learn something new.  Yay for learning new things.

I usually get through somewhere between 20-35 books over a season.  I have a lovely little list going on at Goodreads, but I’m posting my thirteen Must Reads below (I started with ten, and then had to keep going).  It’s been sort of a challenge to find things because I’m not thrilled with literary fiction; I like genre much better and YA or Fantasy in particular.  Recommended reading lists for those genres are few and far between.  But I digress.

Below is my list.  If you have any others you think I should definitely put on there, please, PLEASE let me know.  I have read the Great Greene Heist, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, How The Garcia Girls Got Their Accent, The God of Small Things, some Virginia Hamilton, some Laura Esquivel, and much Sherman Alexie, but anything else is (probably) fair game.

  1. To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han
  2. Brown Girl Dreaming by Jaqueline Woodson
  3. Kindred by Octavia Butler
  4. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  5. The Wrath and the Dawn by Renaee Ahdieh
  6. A Colored Man’s Reminiscences of James Madison by Paul Jennings
  7. My Life as a Rhombus by Varian Johnson
  8. Mules and Men by Zora Neale Hurston
  9. Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
  10. The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
  11. Written In The Stars by Aisha Saeed
  12. For The Record by Charlotte Huang
  13. An Infinite Number of Parallel Universes by Randy Ribay

See, I read all of these titles and I get REALLY excited for those students to graduate and for the summer to officially start.  Commencement is this weekend, so SOON. (!!!)

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How It’s Going

Posted on May 12, 2015 by caseykins

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I haven’t talked about how the writing is going in a while.  That’s because it isn’t really going.  I mean, I shouldn’t say that.  It’s a different kind of “going” these days that feels less like writing and more like reading things and moving words around.  In short, I’m doing a bunch of editing.  All of it with Brian’s help, who is very awesome for going over my novel with me (it’s in much worse shape than I thought, but I don’t think the edits will be impossible).  Next stop Beta readers, maybe.

I set myself a few goals this year.  Goal #1 was to have a finished novel that’s ready to shop around.  Goal #2 was to get 5 short stories published, and one of those five paid for.  I’ll make #1, I think.  I’m on schedule to.  Brian and I will finish going over the novel sometime in June, and then I will have a full 6 months to do all the final edits and write the various synopsis that go with querying an agent.

But #2?  It just dawned on me that the year is almost ½ over and I don’t even have 5 stories written yet, let alone published.  And if everyone keeps things for 2+ months (which they do these days, mostly), then it is likely I won’t make it.  Yikes!  I’m whipping those six-in-six stories into shape as quickly as possible, and trying to write a few more as well.  The more I have circulating out there, the more likely I am to get things accepted.  That’s the theory anyway.  And only two of the six-in-six stories are something someone might be likely to buy, I think.

So I’m editing like crazy so I can start submitting like crazy.  The goal is to have 3 ready to submit this week, and then start writing again next week.  I’m making progress. Now we’ll just all have to cross our fingers that someone will give them a home.

Please?

In other news, Brian’s car is fixed!!!  It is running like a champ!!!  I have 2 hours of my day back and I couldn’t be more thrilled!!!  I like using exclamation points!!!

But seriously, it’s been nice to be able to have a little bit of time in the day, instead of always having to drag myself out the door, and then rush to the next thing, and then the next, until I finally get home (maybe) around 7:00 pm, after leaving at 6:20 in the morning.  And then there’s dinner to cook.

I do miss Brian, though, and it’s only been one day.  I’m hopeless.  I know.

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Book Reviews: Tiffany Aching and Other Witches

Posted on May 6, 2015 by caseykins

Pratchett

I’ve been reading a lot of Terry Pratchett lately.  Someone introduced me to a lovely infographic on where to start his books.  Discworld is so diverse that it’s impossible to know where to start, and very intimidating.  But the infographic made it alright.  Also, after reading several of the books, even as part of a series, I can say you should just dive in wherever looks good to you.  Everything I read would stand on it’s own.

I started with the Tiffany Aching books: The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, and Wintersmith.  There’s one more, I Shall Wear Midnight, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.  And then I picked up the first of the witches books, Equal Rites.  To say I’m a fan is an understatement.

First of all, I have a thing about men who write women.  Most men do it very badly, especially in the Fantasy genre.  The women in Terry Brooks’ “Magic Kingdom” books, for example, are a very good approximations of females.  But there’s something not quite right about them, although it’s hard to put a finger on what.  The same can be said of all the women in The Lord of The Rings (although I LOVE Tolkien second to none), anyone in the Wheel of Time series, even The Princess Bride a bit.  Don’t even get me started on Piers Anthony…

Pratchett doesn’t have that problem.  His women are WOMEN, real and accurate.  They care about domesticity, even while they strain against it.  They’re each powerful characters in a matter-of-fact way.  It also doesn’t hurt that he’s wildly funny.  I wholeheartedly approve, and I’ve been disturbing Brian’s sleep because I have to keep reading them into the small hours of the night, and I can’t help laughing out loud.

So here they are in more specificity:

The Wee Free Men:  My only criticism of this book is that Tiffany seems much more mature than your average nine year old should be.  Other than that, the book is perfect.  She uses her annoying little brother as bait, and then when he’s captured, takes on fairyland with nothing but an iron frying pan and a bunch of small pictsies (the Nac Mac Feegles) who are vulgar, drunk, and hilarious.  They have awesome names like “Rob Anybody,” “Daft Wullie,” and “No’-As-Big-As-Medium-Sized-Jock-But-Bigger-than-Wee-Jock Jock.”

It’s a story full of dreams and fairy queens; and a young girl’s need to live up to the reputation of her grandmother (who was probably a witch).  Tiffany herself is so spunky and practical that she is one of the best YA heroines I’ve read.  I would 100% recommend this book in every way.

A Hat Full of Sky: Not as good as Wee Free Men, I don’t think, but still pretty great.  Tiffany’s magic attracts the attention of something called a Hiver, which wants to take over her body and live as a mean, horrible version of herself.  She’s eleven now, and living in a different city with a woman named Mrs. Level who is actually one person split into two.  It sounds strange, but somehow it works.  The coven of witches with “no leader” is great.

The Feegles are back, and funnier than ever.  It seems like they’re hilarity is more for show than for actual plot furthering, but I do have to say that the dialogue while they’re all glommed together in a suit of clothes so they can pretend they’re a full sized man is just golden.  Especially everyone’s complaint about being the knees.  It’s sort of nice to see Rob Anybody coming into his own as a leader, too.

Full of much worthy stuff, and well worth the read, but not as tight as the other Pratchett novels I’ve read.

Wintersmith:  This was another of my favorites.  Tiffany is thirteen now, and studying with a Miss Treason, who is utterly delightful (if the adjective “delightful” can be applied to someone deliberately trying to seem nefarious).  She’s scary, and uses magic props from a catalogue to set up a haunted house-ish place in order to gain respect from the inhabitants of her village.  She takes Tiffany to the Dark Morris dance one night, and Tiffany gets swept up in it; dancing with Winter even though she isn’t supposed to.  The Wintersmith falls in love, and starts doing all sorts of embarrassing things like making snowflakes and icebergs in Tiffany’s image.

The Feegles are back in all their glory, along with an inexplicable sentient cheese.  The cornucopia is also pretty amazing, dumping hundreds of thousands of things you definitely don’t want into the house.  My favorite thing in the whole novel is all the “waily, waily” from the Feegles when Tiffany starts performing The Pursin’ o’ the Lips, and The Tappin’ o’ the Feets.

The end also feels inevitable and perfect.  I’d say it fully earned the awards it won.

Equal Rites: A hilarious comedy of errors, of sorts, where a wizard gets word that there will be an Eighth Son of an Eighth Son born in a small town and passes his staff on, but the Son is actually a Daughter instead.  She’s sort of forced to become a wizard.  The staff is temperamental, and  Granny Weatherwax is such a great character.  I got gleeful when she starts to make a bit of a romance of things with the head wizard.

Eskarina, or Esk, (the Daughter) is a stubborn girl.  She ends up entering the wizard academy as a servant, but still manages to learn a lot and ultimately saves the day.  Pratchett has such a way with character that you can forgive him a bit of density in his magical theory, even when she and the main wizard character come up with things that are utterly incomprehensible.  Did I mention that the librarian is an orangutan?

10/10 would read again.   And incidentally, if you’re looking for a well written essay by Pratchett on gender in fantasy, there’s a great one here: http://ansible.uk/misc/tpspeech.html

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