Book Round-Up: Where Does the Time Go?

 Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher: Kingfisher's novella is a decidedly unusual retelling of Sleeping Beauty, with a heroine who is about as far from a Disney princess as you could imagine. Instead of the usual tropes, the story focuses on the folk idea of changelings and how that can devastate a family. It's melancholy and touching, odd and funny. 

Around the World in Eighty Games by Marcus du Sautoy: du Sautoy is a mathematician with a longstanding fascination with games, and here he gives an overview of the history of gaming. As you might guess from the title, he covers games from every part of the globe and as far back as the third millennium BC. His insight into why humans play games was good, although when he strayed into meaning-of-life philosophy he fumbled a bit.

The Art of Vanishing by Morgan Pager: This was an interesting premise -- painted figures come to life when people aren't watching, and some people can even enter the paintings -- but the resulting story was just ok; The pacing was better suited to a thriller (this wasn't) and the love story wasn't very strong.

The Mythmakers by John Hendrix: An interesting graphic novel on the fruitful (and fraught) relationship between J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, with digressions into the nature of myth, fairy tales, and folk tales. I had known about the Inklings, of course, but reading about the deterioration of their relationship (due to religious and literary differences, changing life circumstances, and human frailties) was sad. One hopes they are now reunited, their friendship restored to its full glory.

Golden Age Bibliomysteries by Otto Penzler, ed.: A collection of mysteries set amongst librarians, booksellers, and collectors. Sometimes the bookish element was a McGuffin, other times integral to the plot. Stories by Lawrence G. Blochman, Anthony Boucher, and Cornell Woolrich were standouts. 

Hellboy v. 5-7: Love 'em. With volume 5, the initial storyline is over -- Hellboy is no longer fated to bring about the apocalypse and he's no longer a member of BPRD. Instead we get his adventures, past and present, along with Mignola's trademark folk horror and humor.