Book of the dayFictionReviewThe Jonathan Strange author returns with a mysterious tale that examines the nature of fantasy itself “The beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite”: this is the reverent pronouncement of Piranesi, who believes he has occupied the house in question “since the world began”. Indeed, the house and the world, for Piranesi, are one and the same. Birds congregate in its cloud-wreathed upper halls and fearsome tides surge through its lower levels, but although Piranesi has journeyed widely – as far as “the Nine-Hundred-and-Sixtieth Hall to the West” – he has glimpsed nothing beyond it. Read More...
Readers recommendMusicReaders recommend: songs about reptiles – resultsFrom the Pixies’ serpent song to the Grateful Dead’s tune about a creepy alligator, RR regular Severin picks the playlist from last week’s topic
“Reptiles are an evolutionary grade of animals, comprising today’s turtles, crocodilians, snakes, lizards, and tuatara, as well as many extinct groups.” So says Wikipedia. There weren’t many songs about the Antipodean tuatara suggested this week, but a lot about snakes. Read More...
10 of the bestBooksTen of the best misersMalbeccoMisers often have attractive wives or daughters. In Book III of Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, the knights Satyrane and Paridell seek shelter at a castle owned by suspicious old Malbecco, "a cancred crabbed Carle". His mind is set only on "mucky pelfe, / To hoord up heapes of evill gotten masse". Malbecco's frisky young wife Hellenore runs off with Paridell, and the miser's loot is stolen. Read More...