This week’s word for Wednesday is pecksniffian, an adjective meaning sanctimonious or hypocritical, or “unctuously affecting high moral principles.” “Pecksniffian” comes to us as a gift from Charles Dickens, based on the character of Seth Pecksniff in Martin Chuzzlewit. It came into use between 1850-1855. And there’s a related noun; pecksniffery!
Awards
Joe R Lansdale won the Raymond Chandler Award. (See, an award every week! What did I tell you?) Courtesy of Locus.
December 16th, 2015. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 9 comments |
Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord
Redemption in Indigo (2010) by Karen Lord is a beautiful, sly, innovative book that is doing much more than it seems to be on the surface. The frame story is the folktale of Ansige the glutton. Lord’s retelling takes Paama, a skilled cook and Ansige’s estranged wife, as its protagonist. At the beginning of the book, she has left Ansige and returned to her own family to decide what she’ll do next. But after missing his wife’s constant attention to his endless appetite,
December 16th, 2015. Kate Lechler and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5 | Karen Lord | Audio, Mythopoeic Award | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Lord of the Silver Bow by David Gemmell
I tried reading David Gemmell‘s Lord of the Silver Bow about 9 months before I actually read it. It was heavy, plodding, and confusing. I was looking for a fun story full of action and adventure, and I love history… but, alas, I stopped reading after about 50 pages, and kind of figured that I was simply beyond the age when testosterone-fueled adventures could carry a story. I gave it a second shot, and it turns out,
December 16th, 2015. Jason Golomb´s rating: 4 | David Gemmell | Edge | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Colonel Quaritch, V.C.: A Tale of Country Life by H. Rider Haggard
Here is a free Kindle Version.
Almost 120 years before British author J.K. Rowling faced the pressure and the problem of how to follow a string of phenomenally successful novels, another British writer was faced with the same dilemma. H. Rider Haggard, between the years 1885 and 1887, had come out with four of the most popular novels of the late Victorian era: King Solomon’s Mines (1885);
December 16th, 2015. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | H. Rider Haggard | Free!, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Do it! One of the best things I've read in recent years.
This reminds me. I want to read Addie LaRue.
We’re in total agreement David!
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.