"Comfort Me with Apples" by Catherynne M. Valente

NeilNjae

I just read "Comfort Me with Apples" by Catherynne M. Valente. It's essentially "Bluebeard's Bride: the retelling", but ends up becoming more than that. It's a book that's about the sumptuous language and the mood it evokes, rather than the twists of the story. A wonderful book to fall into and just enjoy the flow.

I can't say too much about the content, as that would spoil the experience. But recommended.

(She wrote the wonderful "Space Opera" that we read a while ago, and I've been eyeing some of her other work for ages. These two books are very different!)

RichardAbbott

This sounds fun, I've got a couple of books on the go at the moment but must remember this one for later

RichardAbbott

In the end I was so intrigued I bought it anyway and am very much enjoying it, not least because of the underlying mystery of what is actually going on. It took me a couple of chapters to work out that the chapter names are all apple varieties (many of which are unfamiliar to me, and some I would have expected are missing, so Catherynne M. Valente must know a whole different subset to me! So now I'm trying to work out if the apple variety has anything to do with the content, and have so far drawn a blank.

NeilNjae

I'm glad you're enjoying it! When the mystery is revealed, it's satisfying. I won't say more.

RichardAbbott

Absolutely brilliant! Thanks so much for mentioning it!

NeilNjae

I'm glad you liked it!