The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

Khaw weaves ancient tales into a beautiful and haunting tapestry of horror, power, domination, and all the ways the world makes monsters of us. And yet we live and love and forge connections, craving, striving, being.

All that is on display, with a prodigious and masterful, lyrical command of language that worms its way in to the darkest corners, unapologetically redecorating as it goes.

I loved this.

But then, I would.

Travel Light by Naomi Mitchison

Peapod Classics, 1952.

Another fairy tale for grown ups, this features the journey of a young woman as she encounters mythological creatures, is given a directive by none other than Odin himself, and makes her way in her life through uncertainty and into herself.

Mitchison’s prose is witty, scantly subversive, and delightful. Engaging as the tale is, the way its told is the real gem of this work, and I loved everything about it.