I found Abigail Nussbaum’s blog through her comments at Andrew Rilstone‘s. I was intrigued to stumble across another Israeli Rilstone admirer, and delighted to find that she’s a discerning fantasy fan writing an intelligent book blog. Cool posts I read include (19th Century) rationalism vs. the unfathomable nature of the fantastic, an interesting piece about the slide towards anti-intellectualism in the Myst game series (which gives enough background to captivate me, someone who has never seen, let alone played, any of these games), and in geek culture in general (She cites a Farscape episode I saw, as Buffy, Angel and Battlestar Galactica).
(Why does it feel like I’m writing a report on this?)
Anyway, this is great stuff. Worth a look even for people who aren’t going to read long essays is her brilliant Condensed version of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, which just nails it. Probably worth avoiding for a short while are her thoughts on the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (which I’m going to go read as soon as I finish the book).
2 replies on “Asking the Wrong Questions”
Dayum. That’s a heck of a blog. She also has a great blogroll.
Why, thank you both!
Dotan, I’m glad you found the Myst entry enlightening as a non-fan. I was concerned I had buried the discussion under too much details. It’s good to have feedback.
If you’re interested in computer games at all and you get a chance, you should give the Myst games a look. They didn’t become a bestselling phenomenon for no reason – they’re smart, tough and engrossing.