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Wicked Wonders
Wicked Wonders | Ellen Klages
The Scott O'Dell award-winning author of The Green Glass Sea returns with her second collection: a new decade of lyrical stories with vintage flair. Inside of these critically-acclaimed tales are memorable characters who are smart, subversive, and singular. A rebellious child identifies with wicked Maleficent instead of Sleeping Beauty. Best friends Anna and Corry share a last melancholy morning before emigration to another planet. A prep-school girl requires more than mere luck to win at dice with a faerie. Ladies who lunch keeping dividing that one last bite of dessert in the paradox of female politeness. Whether on a habitat on Mars or in a boardinghouse in London, discover Ellen Klages' wicked, wondrous adventures full of brazenness, wit, empathy, and courage.
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monalyisha
Wicked Wonders | Ellen Klages
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Klages‘ collection of short stories was my favorite read this month. It‘s making me miss my Short Stories Book Club something fierce! The members, though (my high school friends), are all in the throes of raising young children and competing in fitness & body-building competitions (What? 😅 That one wasn‘t in the “Most Likely to” section of our yearbook!), so (sadly) I don‘t expect its revival.

#ReadingBracket2024
#2024ReadingBracket
@CSeydel

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monalyisha
Wicked Wonders | Ellen Klages
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Pickpick

Ellen Klages is a new favorite! 🤩 I kept thinking, “These stories capture girlhood (especially queer girlhood) in the same way that Ray Bradbury captured boyhood in Dandelion Wine.” Lo and behold, in the notes for “Amicae Aeternum,” Klages celebrates the fact that a reviewer once compared her writing to Bradbury‘s, which she says, “thrilled [her] beyond belief.” See? It‘s not just me! It‘s just simply - & gloriously - true. 👇🏻

monalyisha 1/2: I came to Ellen Klages by way of an incredibly funny Instagram video, which shows her telling the true story of “The Scary Ham” while a contestant on Jeopardy. Her name struck me as vaguely familiar and I realized I‘ve had this collection on my bookshelf for ages! As it turns out, the final story is “The Scary Ham.” 4mo
monalyisha 2/2: My favorites in the collection are “The Education of a Witch”, “Echoes of Aurora”, “Caligo Lane”, and “Woodsmoke.” She promises to continue the characters‘ stories in the last on the list; I hope she does them justice and that they find a progressive, inclusive, and affirming ending. I can‘t wait to find and devour more of her writing! (edited) 4mo
monalyisha *Possibly some concerns about cultural appropriation. Without knowing more about Klages‘ bio, I can‘t really say. I‘m also willing to give her a bit of a pass; sensibilities have changed rapidly since 2017, and I get the impression that she‘ll strive to keep up. 4mo
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monalyisha
Wicked Wonders | Ellen Klages
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Look at all these books!!!

The top 3 are from my TBR; the bottom two are surprise gifts. You did a great job shopping for me, @nestlera ! I loved “The Kite Runner” & haven‘t been utterly DESTROYED by a book in awhile so I think I‘m due. 😅📖😭

The adorable bun on top was also a part of my #easterbasketbookswap.

PenguinInFlight ♥️Alice Hoffman! 7y
Bookish_AF Yay!!! I put the little notecards in the front covers of the two surprises to say why I picked them (besides the fact that I love them both!), in case you didn‘t find them . I realized they were the most (unintentionally) well hidden of all the note cards 😜 7y
monalyisha @nestlera I didn‘t realize! Thanks for the heads-up! 7y
monalyisha @PenguinInFlight I love her. 💖 7y
80 likes4 comments
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brownekr
Wicked Wonders | Ellen Klages
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This morning's book and breakfast combination.

I bought WICKED WONDERS in Asheville on my way to my parents' earlier this winter as kind of a gentle queer talisman because I had recently finished and adored Klages's PASSING STRANGE. It sat around for a few months because I was afraid it wouldn't live up to my magical hopes.

BUT IT'S SO GOOD; I only have a couple of stories left and I'll miss it when I'm done.

brownekr WELP, should've stopped where I was; Woodsmoke is such a wonderfully atmospheric coming-of-age story completely covered in the pseudo-Indian traditions of white American midcentury summer camps, and then it has a cheap gutpunch of an ending that, in stopping where it does, utterly robs a character of her actual girlhood. 7y
11 likes1 comment
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thereadingwomen
Wicked Wonders | Ellen Klages
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First up in the #ReadingWomenMonth challenge: short story collections! Just received this amazing book mail yesterday. I'm all here for some magical realism. And guys, we need to talk about this creepy cover. 😱 - K

#thereadingwomen

82 likes8 stack adds
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kdwinchester
Wicked Wonders | Ellen Klages
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First up in the #ReadingWomenMonth challenge: short story collections! Just received this amazing book mail yesterday. I'm all here for some magical realism.

87 likes8 stack adds
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jes
Wicked Wonders | Ellen Klages
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Excited to start this book of short stories with a cup of coffee in my new favorite mug.

Seekingtardis I love that mug!! I'm gonna need to get me one!! 😍😍😍 7y
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shanaqui
Wicked Wonders | Ellen Klages
Pickpick

Got an ARC of this! I enjoyed most of the stories -- not all groundbreaking, but there's a tender wistfulness in some of them that really touched me.