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Posts tagged with literature

"...magic and mystery boil down to very simple universal truths and lessons..."

Photograph of a stack of booksPhoto by Steven Miller, via Flicker: https://www.flickr.com/photos/aloha75/

Cupcakeninja posted a link to 30 of the best fantasy novels of all time and we're drawn in by the comments. There's various opinions about what is and isn't on the list, come share your thoughts!

Transported into a new (old) world

Please allow autopilot to introduce you to Margaret Cavendish, science researcher, fashion designer, and writer, who crafted science fiction stories back in 1666! Come explore her "Blazing World"!

"I have never read anything like it"

an array of 14 book covers in two rowsA selection of Kathleen Sully’s novels via neglectedbooks.com

"Kathleen Sully's name appears in no encyclopaedia, in no dictionary of biography, in no other survey of the English novel" ... BenAstrea posted Brad Bigelow's NeglectedBooks.com article "Kathleen Sully, the Vanished Novelist," a nice bit of detective work on an author who seemed to continually mystify her contemporaries.

11/18/23
by taz

Everyday Stories from the Ancient Past

These “forgotten papyrus” scrolls existed circa 1100 B.C. ... 1100 B.C.!! (*feeling very small*) Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Art History) Vienna, AustriaThese “forgotten papyrus” scrolls existed circa 1100 B.C. ... 1100 B.C.!! (*feeling very small*) Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Art History) Vienna, Austria by Sharon Hahn Darlin (cc by)

Love in an Orchard, as Written by the Trees. Donating Kittens to the Goddess Bastet. Parental Grief. Same-Sex Love Spells. A Runaway Child Bride. Rumple's post highlights various vignettes of ancient Middle Eastern life from the Papyrus Stories Group Blog.

"Plumbing, the depths"

All doneAll done by Kit4na (cc by)

Literaryhero posted a story about plumbing and people, and a man called Fran by John Jeremiah Sullivan, and it's a great plunge into life, the loo, and everything.

09/23/23
by taz

Soak up some Light

"All truth is profound"

Moby Dick - Herman Melville (Club français du livre, 1964)Moby Dick - Herman Melville (Club français du livre, 1964) by -ep- (cc by)

I'm reading Moby Dick. It's fun! But I'm sure I'm missing a lot. This is where you come in ... wooh is looking for good explanations and analyses for our favorite great white whale.

07/30/23
by taz

"Amazing writers, never heard of 'em"

photo of a question mark made of booksImage via Dreamstime

In Ask Metafilter, sonofsnark is looking for "recommendations for amazing fiction writers that I am unlikely to have heard of before"

06/26/23
by taz

“ T—S.T.D.—B”

an open book showing the page with the printed notation at the bottomPhoto by whitewall

An interesting discussion on the origins of some printed mystery notations in a 1966 Penguin book: "The bottom of page 33—and only page 33 – in my 1966 Penguin edition of Saul Bellow’s “Seize the Day” has “T—S.T.D.—B” written on the bottom left, opposite the page number. What does it stand for?"

04/08/23
by taz

Inner Space

Detail from book cover with the words THE HEAT DEATH OF THE UNIVERSE in a circle on a blue background, and inside the circle an impressionistic painting of three children astride a railing, with one looking up at a roiling sky

In case you missed it, be sure to check out Kattullus' post on "A Space of Her Own by Mary E. Papke," an essay about Pamela Zoline and her 1967 science fiction story "The Heat Death of the Universe."

04/04/23
by taz

What's not enough and what's too much?

Two Years AgoTwo Years Ago by esotericsean (cc by-nc-nd)

Some fascinating advice from grumblebee on how to read a script

06/14/22
by taz

"something disturbing to raise your spirits"

LeftoversLeftovers by JD Hancock (cc by)

GenjiandProust's Increasingly Strange Stories for an Increasingly Strange Year is another faboo roundup of weird audio dramas, again with tons of info and links to each one ... And for yet more weird and wonderful, PussKillian has posted NPR's excellent list of the best Science Fiction and Fantasy books of the last decade. Cheers! 👾

08/21/21
by taz

Bookfilter: Magical Economies

colorful stock exchange board with dancing flame in front of it

In Ask Metafilter, miles per flower asks, "I've recently enjoyed a couple books that dive deep on what magic costs — Sanjena Sathian's Gold Diggers and Naomi Novik's A Deadly Education — and I'm looking for more to read along those lines: detailed mechanics and economic systems, with magic as the currency and thoughtful attention to economic metaphors. Suggestions?"

08/15/21
by taz

Halloween Eve Even More Weird

Detail from film poster for 1967 Russian horror film ViyDetail from film poster for 1967 Russian horror film "Viy"

If you've finally gulped down Wobbuffet's fantastic Weird Tales from the 18th Century and are hungerrrring for morrrre, feast your eyes and immortal soul on (Translated) Weird Tales from the 19th Century and Weird Tales from the 20th Century, all with lots and lots of lovely, juicy online links for reading late into the witching hour.

10/30/19
by taz

"Tales of Wonder and Terror"

image of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (1943) by Dorothea TanningDorothea Tanning, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (1943)

Amazing post! Flagged as phantasmic*: Wobbuffet kicks off spooky season with a fabulous, deep, bookworm-friendly post on weird tales from the 18th Century.

10/01/19
by taz

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