(crossposted with Tumblr)
The Year Of Difficult Reading is a blog reading project someone’s doing – tackle “twelve of the most notoriously difficult novels in the English language” across 2011, one a month. (Two of ’em a[…]

granddaughter susan, barbara the teach,
ian, teen vicki, stowaway steve;
katarina and sarah, both of them dies,
dodo, polly, ben so wise,
jamie, victoria, zoe the brane,
liz, screamy jo, then sarah jane;
doctor harry, leela for dads,
k9 one is not so[…]

The depiction of paradise is as bold as it’s tricky — which is why it’s so rarely undertaken, obviously. There’s Dante, who made it the setting for the last and weakest book in his sword-and-sorcery trilogy. Powell and Pressbu[…]

My favourite part of any subcreation is its edges – apocrypha, marginalia, the sketches and hints at grander unrealised designs. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth is detail-rich (to say the least) but I’d linger fascinated on the Blue Wizards,[…]

But he can cha-cha-cha with the best of them!
See also: Eustace the dragon makes a sandcastle while he’s waiting for a lift and Reepicheep advertising sun lotion.[…]

I’ve enjoyed all three of the Narnia films so far, partly because they render the deep philosophical silliness of Lewis’s seven beloved books even more massively obvious — but partly because they not only trust in his strengths, but[…]

And here we are – the final section! Thanks again for everyone who’s voted, and a special thanks to all the commenters who’ve joined in the discussion on it. Certainly worth doing again next year, I think.

11. KELIS – “[…]

The social media bits of the Twittersphere I read have been very approving of an AdAge piece this week by Matthew Creamer. Creamer lays into the firm Klout, who peddle a metric of how influential someone is based on the Twitter activity surrounding t[…]

Another 11 of your Top However-Many-It-Is-Now, bringing us into the Top 20 in the poll.
22. KANYE WEST – “Power”: While I’ve waned and waxed on some of the Kanye tracks, this bit of unashamed art-rock is one which I think I l[…]

Only two chunks to go now – up tomorrow and Friday – so feel free to offer any predictions for the Top 10 in the comments.
33. WAKA FLOCKA FLAME – “Hard In Da Paint”: High-aggro Atlanta hip-hop, probably the most in-your[…]