ARTS Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries is a cozy winter read

Get bundled up and ready for major winter academia vibes

Charts Shuffle

MAUVEY Before The Album: a love letter to the moons of mars

LITTLE SIMZ

NO THANK YOU

LOKRE ELIZABETH PLANET GIZA You Don't Understand [EP]

DOPE.GNG NRNTB_Rouge

ALVVAYS Blue Rev

SKYE WALLACE Terribly Good BOSLEN GONZO

NADUH HOMIESEXUAL

DUMB Pray 4 Tomorrow

SLOAN Steady

KURI

I love You, You're Welcome

WHITE LUNG Premonition

TEGAN AND SARA Crybaby

BLESSED Circuitous

MAYFLY HIDEAWAY

DILL THE GIANT Weed Man Son (Deluxe)

BLACK PONTIAC

From Bad To Worse (and back again)

WEYES BLOOD And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglo

THE SYLVIA PLATTERS Youth Without Virtue

AARON LEVY STATION MANAGER

CIVL Station Manager Aaron Levy is sending out good vibes for the eventual and inevitable time of spring with these tunes to fix any ‘tude.

Igor StravinskyThe Rite of Spring

On one hand, this is one of the modern masterworks of human creativity; on the other, its debut performance erupted into somewhat of a riot. Today, we can recognize this story as emblematic of what art can evoke. In this case, without even having swear words in the lyrics.

The GandharvasFirst Day of Spring

This single from this '90s alternative group anchored out of London, Ont. appeared on their debut release. It was later repackaged on their more widely distributed swan song, “Sold for a Smile,” next to original Canadian radio hit “Downtime,” and a disarmingly heavy cover of Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time.”

Matthew Good BandFlashdance II

I don’t know why Matthew Good and Good Charlotte both started referencing “loser anthems” in and around the early aughts, but the EP this song is on, and Good Charlotte’s Anthem both make the reference — and, both were released within about a year of one another. Internet?

The ProducersSpringtime for Hitler

Mel Brooks pushed a lot of boundaries in his comedy. There’s a lot of subtle and not as subtle racism in films like History of the World Spaceballs, etc. But in assembling The Producers into what is now a modern theatre classic, it seems like he’d been walking a tighter line.

MARIE-ANGE ROUTIER

Tell me if these buzzwords resonate with you: academia, winter in Scandinavia, mischievous, evil, fairies, whimsical magic, and adventure. Yes? This tickles your interest? Well then Heather Fawcett’s newest novel Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries is a book for you. I’ll be honest — I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect when the book dropped this January. I knew I liked the dark academia genre (when it’s well done) and faeries/folklore have always been a favourite of mine as well. I figured there’d be little chance of me disliking it, and I was right.

The protagonist, Emily Wilde is a young, grumpy, and serious Cambridge professor with an I-havesomething-to-prove-at-all-times personality. She sets off on an expedition in the cold north with her giant and loyal four-pawed partner Shadow, with the intention of studying the “hidden ones” and compiling the very first encyclopaedia of Faeries. At first her narration comes across as arrogant, dry, and slightly narcissistic. It even made me reconsider whether or not I wanted to keep reading; but shortly into the book — before I could make the mistake of stopping — she is joined by her frenemy/coworker Wendell Bambleby. I think that Wendell, who has a very contrasting personality, could very easily be a tiresome character on his own; but the blend of the two characters is what had me smiling and even laughing out loud at times.

Writing characters who get on each other’s nerves is a balancing act — make them too mean and the humour can get lost, while jabs that are too subtle may be read as flirtation — yet, this is where Fawcett excelled. She kept the jabbing, pranking, and backhanded compliments in harmony with the characters and the story.

The story provided a decent amount of mystery and action with side plots and side characters that were nice enough. The action, pace, and adventure components made for a very engaging read that could be binged in an afternoon or spread over a week without losing too much sizzle.

Hardcovers today typically come with dust covers, and as barbaric as it might seem to you, I never keep mine on. I don’t toss them either as I’d feel bad trashing such artful covers, so I do the one thing I excel at: I hoard them in a drawer. This was pleasantly not needed for Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries as the hard cover itself is beautifully decorated and there was actually no dust cover in sight. The book is written in a daily journal format. This makes each chapter a short read, which I’ve always preferred when I’m busy as I do not have to wait 15 more pages for the next chapter break. The journal (written in the voice of Emily) has footnotes on folkloric details for those not well versed in dryadology, which benefitted me as a reader. Lastly, the book was not too long, making it a short and engaging read.

Overall it was a good little winter read, and as this is the first in a series, I will be looking forward to the next one.