Spring 2023 University Press Recommendations

The master list of university presses, catalogs, and Twitter accounts can be found here (this list will help you get a sense of the shorthands I use for Press names). All past and future seasonal recommendation lists can be found here. Spring 2023 Book Recommendations by . . . General InterestWorld Cultural StudiesAmerican StudiesAncient and Medieval … Continue reading Spring 2023 University Press Recommendations

Reading Shadowdale by Scott Ciencin (Forgotten Realms: Avatar 1)

Shadowdale by Scott Ciencin / Richard Awlinson (TSR, 1989). Forgotten Realms. Avatar 1. The "Time of Troubles" was a major event in D&D's Forgotten Realms storyworld, beginning in 1989 and making its mark at a time when TSR, D&D's original owners, was nearing the end of its original peak of popularity in the 1980s and … Continue reading Reading Shadowdale by Scott Ciencin (Forgotten Realms: Avatar 1)

Reading Juniper by Monica Furlong (Doran 1)

Juniper by Monica Furlong (Knopf, 1990). Doran 1. I discovered Monica Furlong and her novel Juniper in my favorite place: a pile of used books. It is always the most providentially discovery and inspires a much deeper relationship, in my mind, between reader and book than does purchasing the thing brand new. I found this, … Continue reading Reading Juniper by Monica Furlong (Doran 1)

Fall 2022 University Press Recommendations

The master list of university presses, catalogs, and Twitter accounts can be found here (this list will help you get a sense of the shorthands I use for Press names). All past and future seasonal recommendation lists can be found here. Fall 2022 Book Recommendations by . . . General InterestWorld Cultural StudiesAmerican StudiesAncient and Medieval … Continue reading Fall 2022 University Press Recommendations

ReAding Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey by Gordon Doherty

Assassin's Creed: Odyssey by Gordon Doherty (Ace, 2018). All readers come to novels with a purpose. One of the key values of franchise novels, whether film or game adaptations or continuations of those stories (as in the hundreds of Star Wars and Star Trek novels), is that they provide a new look at the world, … Continue reading ReAding Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey by Gordon Doherty

Reading The Captive by Skomantas (Tales from the Baltic 1)

The Captive by Skomantas, translated by Mara Almenas (Tvermė, 1998). Tales from the Baltic 1. Baltic fiction—literature from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—is not incredibly common in English translation. In fact, the Baltics have long been a "mystery" in the European world, like Albania: close to the major centers of power, and yet largely unknown outside … Continue reading Reading The Captive by Skomantas (Tales from the Baltic 1)

Reading The Blue Fox by Sjón

The Blue Fox by Sjón, translated by Victoria Cribb (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 2013). Sjón is Iceland's best known contemporary author, widely read in English translation and celebrated for his weird, fairy-tale-esque, and often experimental fiction that blends the concerns of global society with Icelandic history and folk culture. The Blue Fox (Farrar, Strauss & … Continue reading Reading The Blue Fox by Sjón

Spring 2022 University Press Recommendations

The master list of university presses, catalogs, and Twitter accounts can be found here (this list will help you get a sense of the shorthands I use for Press names). All past and future seasonal recommendation lists can be found here. Spring 2022 Book Recommendations by . . . General InterestWorld Cultural StudiesAmerican StudiesAncient and Medieval … Continue reading Spring 2022 University Press Recommendations

Fall 2021 University Press Recommendations

The master list of university presses, catalogs, and Twitter accounts can be found here (this list will help you get a sense of the shorthands I use for Press names). All past and future seasonal recommendation lists can be found here. Fall 2021 Book Recommendations by . . . General InterestRace, Indigeneity, and WhitenessWorld Cultural StudiesAmerican … Continue reading Fall 2021 University Press Recommendations