From the Dustbin (June 9, 2025)

A list I disagree with, a podcast about a trailer park, and a pun

Skimmed

Things that make you go “Hmm.”

Time’s 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time

I mean… some of them, sure. Narnia, LOTR, The Phantom Tollbooth. Absolutely fantastic and deserving. Several titles are good but not top 100 material (looking at you, Six of Crows and Ozma of Oz). Some of them are trash.

I did add a few to my TBR, so thanks for that, Time. I’d love to know what titles my readers agree with and which they don’t.

Read

Speaking of books that should be on that Time 100 list:

I love Mistress Masham’s Repose by T.H. White (of The Sword in the Stone fame). It’s fun quirky children’s fantasy that made me desperately want a spider-silk handkerchief as a tween, and I’ve made it one of my soap boxes to get it more recognition.

Maria is an orphan living in an old moldering estate (think Downton Abbey but with only one or two servants and big chunks of the house don’t have a roof) and trying to find ways to hide from her governess and avoid schoolwork. When she takes a boat out to a tiny island in the middle of her estate’s lake, she discovers tiny people living there. What follows is a very funny and creative series of misadventures with Maria and the tiny city of refugees from Lilliput (yes, that Lilliput from Gulliver’s Travels). If you want a fun summer read aloud, get yourself a copy.

Listened

The Tavin Dillard podcast cracks me up! I’m way behind (as you can tell), but it’s worth going back and listening to the older ones to learn the names of all the characters and settings. As someone who grew up in Oklahoma, I think I knew some of these people in real life.

My oldest child adores Tavin, which is another reason I listen to this podcast. It’s one of the few things I can turn on in the car without whines of “I don’t want to listen to this, Mama!”

Watched

We finished Andor season two and watched Rogue One this weekend. I have a lot of thoughts about Andor, but they need to percolate a bit longer.

I will say that I like the movie much better now that I’ve gotten to know Cassian Andor. The character development in Andor is fantastic, and I appreciate the lore of Star Wars so much more because of that show. I’ve always been more of a Trekkie, but Andor has better writing than most of Star Trek. I said what I said.

Quoted

“She exploits dead people, he says.”

“How?”

“She’s a medium. Well, more a small.”

-Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man

If you don’t appreciate that pun, I’m disappointed in you.