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A mountain lion living under the Hollywood Sign observes the strange lives of humans around him. This was a quick and quirky read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Physical book: Open Throat by Henry Hoke
Audiobook: Proto by Laura Spinney
E-book: Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson

#WeekendReads

New library books

A strange tale of a queer mountain lion living under the Hollywood sign and pondering the foibles of humans and its own personhood. Written in deceptively simple language that often hides profound insights and heartbreak. The kill sharer! The long death!

I wasn't in the right head space to make myself read this slowly and savour it; it's prose that should be read like poetry.

I'm looking forward to talking about this at an IRL queer book club!

Well I'm going to give an in-person queer book club a try, and this one is the read for February's meeting. I'm always a bit contrary with traditional style book clubs where everyone reads the same book, I don't know why, I just don't want to be told what to read at any specific time? Anyway, this book (told from the perspective of a queer mountain lion) is very weird so far, which is up my alley.
#QueerBooks

#12Booksof2024 March is for #tob2024 - here are the books from last year's shortlist that stuck with me - though I'm not sure they are all universal favorites and may be another sign that my reading trended to the surreal this year...

This is definitely one of the weirdest books I have ever read. I like that it was written in the perspective of the animal. I loved the ending.

My Howl-o-ween read, lol. It‘s pretty weird so far. 😉

I loved this poem/story hybrid. The meditations on every page. I fell in love with heckit and little slaughter💜

This was different, both in style and content. It made me quite emotional. A really quick read, easily done in one sitting.

I'm still reading Ducks, Newburyport (yes, still!) and decided I needed more mountain lion content. What better than the novella known as "the queer mountain lion book"? ? The Opening lines are promising.

This book does much more than memorialize one person‘s life; it‘s an exploration of the many possibilities storytelling has for self-reflection and therapeutic processing. The exploration of Hoke‘s life takes the reader back to the most intimate aspects of their own lives, the way they have changed and grown into their current selves....
Full Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6615857290

I've been...Not great?.. in posting my reads lately, & I'm not sure what's worth posting now 🤪
Case in point: March! Well, at least my fav (tagged) should get a shout out. Spot on cougar narration, man! If they were to do things like narrate, that is.
+ I'm impressed I got through so many #tob2024/#LitsyToB24 selections! I plan to continue with those lists, but possibly not very diligently, given that the tournament-immediacy is, um, over.

Well, THIS has to be the shortest fastest ToB read I have ever experienced! I wish I would have known it would only take me one sitting; I would have devoured it at a bookshop and returned it to the shelf. LOL maybe not… #ToB24 #novella #LibraryBook [Book 15 of 2024] ⛰️🦁

Soft pick, entertaining in a way that fits my mood today.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Fun, quick novel told from the POV of a mountain lion living in the hills above LA, his inner thoughts, drives, and interactions with humans.

A quick, relatively enjoyable read, but like others, I found that the level of anthropomorphizing took away from the impact. The idea that a mountain lion would consider attacking a large adult man rather than a child out of principle made me raise one eyebrow. I like the premise, but I think Hoke might have tried to do too much with it.

From the marketing copy: “A lonely, lovable, queer mountain lion narrates this star-making fever dream of a novel.“ Indeed!

This was a really fast read -- even though I had to go back and re-read a few sections because I was so confused about what was going on! If you're looking for conventional storytelling, this is definitely not for you, but if you're open to something outside of the box, it's worth checking out.

This novel from the point of view of a mountain lion in the Hollywood Hills, surprised me with its tenderness. The lion is based on the real P-22, but we see people and dangers through his eyes. He wants to be a part of the world as much as he's confused by it. Pax, a novel from the POV of a fox, hit me more deeply, but that's probably because I read it first.

I think it‘s wildly creative to write a book from the perspective of a mountain lion and use the narrative to show the hypocrisy of human beings and the truth about climate change. Because of that, I‘m giving this a pick, and most of it is great, but it veered too far into anthropomorphism and lost a lot of its impact as a result. #tob24

I loved this. This was really a sad and whimsical children‘s book for adults about a big cat living in the Hollywood sign area who has many adventures and deep thoughts. Through the cat‘s eyes we‘re left to connect the easy dots of our inhumanity and our disconnectedness with each other. I‘m glad the cat got to go to Disneyland! Lol. Pick!

I loved the writing in this. Hoke has a lyrical way with words and I will be watching out for more of his work. The structure is sparse and the story propels you through the pages. It is a bit weird, and I don't normally go for animal toys stories (that one about the dolphins this year I couldn't get into at all!) But this was just right in the balance of whimsical but with something to say.

As someone who doesn‘t often like short stories it seems weird to say that I think I would have liked this more as a short story. I liked the beginning and what I thought the author was trying to with a gay mountain lion protagonist but as the admittedly short book progressed I became less and less enchanted. #tob24.

How many times can a I roll my eyes when reading a book? Apparently a lot because I didn‘t like this at all. Maybe it‘s because of my line of work but I hope animals have a lot more fascinating thoughts than the cougar living in an LA park who narrates this book. I get that he was trying to make a larger point about homelessness and wildfires and vanity and wild places needing to be wild, but no. Just no. Glad I borrowed the audio from hoopla!

"if you feel alone in the world

find someone to worship you"

I love the use of language in the book.

I don‘t get the ecstatic hype? I listened to the audiobook because of a bookstore staff rec that called it a “haunting” story of “heartbreak” with the “best character I‘ve ever read.”

Darcie. 🤨

Nonhuman narration is an opportunity to really look at our world through new eyes. I don‘t know that I got that with this story of a lonely, quickly tamed wild animal. What we did get was an imagined trip to Disneyland.

Points for originality! It‘s not too often you read a book from the point of view of a queer mountain lion. Hanging around behind the Hollywood sign in LA, this creature has seen some things and makes observations about humans. Observations about hikers, dog owners, and unhoused people made me feel ashamed to call myself a human. Then there‘s a strange connection with a teen girl. Based on an actual animal who lived in an LA park. #tob24

I‘m often not keen on anthropomorphism so I was nervous, but the lion‘s narrative voice at the start was so witty that I fell in love with him.

In the second half there were some ‘out there‘ storylines that I felt spoilt it a bit. (I know; what isn‘t ‘weird‘ about a sentient lion living in the hills above ‘ell-ay‘ and being sarky about all of the hikers, but hey-ho!)

Still a (strongish) pick though, just for the social commentary alone.

Today‘s ToB haul. White Cat, Black Dog is from the library - rather annoyingly I went along with a list of 4 books that were supposedly on their shelves, but could only find 1. (The others apparently had been returned to other libraries in the network but not shipped back to the main library 🙄)

The other 3 are purchases - the tagged will take all of 30 minutes to read; it‘s only 150 pages long and has lots of white space on the pages!

Really enjoyed this little novella narrated by a lovable yet hungry mountain lion who is forced out of his home in the hills of L.A....or as he calls it "ellay".
Funny and whimsical observations about the people he encounters that will make you smile and perhaps shed a tear or two.

Interesting concept, but not what I was expecting.

Starting this one. 20 pages in, and I‘ll probably finish it today since it‘s so short.

*fire is the only future*
Narrated from the POV of a mountain lion residing beneath the Hollywood sign, Open Throat has one of the most original narrative voices in any work that I have read this yr. With an animal narrator this could have easily been saccharine, instead it tackles issues such as ecological disaster, homelessness, & identity through an aphoristic narrative. I loved this book & will def be revisiting. One of the surprises of the yr

^^p31 “the hikers talk about their therapists” while P-22 tries not to eat them 😄

36 “my mother taught me to hunt but my father taught me to be hunted”

37 “I traded old fear for new fear”

51 “I want to devour their sound

I have so much language in my brain

and nowhere to put it”

115 “I feel more like a person than ever because I‘m starting to hate myself”

Anthropomorphism always make me nervous, but this first-person queer mountain lion living under the Hollywood sign voice completely won me over. Great perspective for defamiliarization, living in “ellay” with all the “loud metals that carry people to the park.” Constant hunger. Missing family. Urban / rural. Animals in crisis. Justice. Survival. Outsider, at the edges, watching. Tamping down the urge to eat a person. Trying to connect. 2023