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December 14: The Professor by Sabrina Orah Mark. Story published in The Bennington Review

A student has a relationship with the professor while at the same time working at the Prayer Center

I was in the mood for something short and weird, but wow, what a weird bunch of shorts. This was incomprehensible and disorienting. I wondered if the author would rather be writing poetry.
I connected with a few, especially "Sister," and I really liked the very last one, but I can't articulate why. A lot of the symbolism, if there actually was any, went right over my head. Like, why all the mice and eggs?
Baffling.
It will stick with me, though.

The narrator in this passage is Ugrit‘s stepmother, just for context. I really enjoyed (maybe enjoyed is the wrong word) these stories. They have this false lightness about them. What seems simple and wacky has these dark undertones of fractured familial relations and of people struggling to breathe in everyday life, their fingernails being pulled back as they struggle to hold on to the earth that keeps them from going over the edge. Pick!

(Cartoonist- Max Garcia) This is from her story “Two Jokes Walk Into a Bar,” where 2 Jokes go to a bar to hang out, run into a 3rd joke and guess who walks in?!!!! Lol this whole book of stories has a kookiness about it. On the surface it seems fun but this has a whole semester of Creative Fiction round table discussion to it.

In recent years, my taste for the surreal and fantastical has expanded. Otherwise, I could not have read these bizarre modern fairy tales. There are children, stepmothers, witches, spells, seahorses, mouse-sized hearts, and Louis CK. Stories are set in homes, forests, and daycares. They are weird, funny, playful and disturbing. Imagery and word play are top-notch. They are not for everyone.
A recent essay by Mark for Paris Review went viral. 👇

Joining #nutsinMay #readathon. Why the hell not?! 😛 Here are the books I'll try to read. Plus an audiobook. @Andrew65

Ma calls. She tells me she is reading Slaughterhouse-Five. “It says here,” says Ma, “everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.” She says this to reassure me. As if she‘s reading the newspaper, and not a drawing of a gravestone in a book.

“I think I‘ll go to the library to return some books and not check anything new out!” They said, you know, like a liar. (Yes, that‘s a different copy of Paper Girls. The other was ILL and couldn‘t be renewed.)

This short story collection did nothing for me. Writing was good, but the fantasy of it was just not my Jam at all. This would definitely work better for other readers I am sure.

Going to start this collection this morning (maybe even finish it). Have been waiting for this to come in at the library for a bit, so glad they ordered it.

These stories are incredibly beautiful and bizarre.

Happy pub day to these two amazing books - I cannot recommend them enough! I read the first story in Wild Milk, which is the title story, and had to get out of my hammock and run around the yard, because I couldn‘t even handle how amazing it was. AND THE WHOLE THING IS LIKE THAT. 🔥🤘🏻📚

Read The Cheerleaders, took a nap, did work and chores, and now I‘m ready to get back to the @24in48 #readathon! Starting with this little lovely and a big bowl of pasta. (Pasta for breakfast is one of my favorite of life‘s treats.) How‘s everyone else out there doing? 📚♥️📚