Welcome to Litsy!

#BestMidYear22 Day 14: Poe's The Cask of Amontillado was a reread for me & it was a nice complement to my recent ongoing contemplation of another famous tale of revenge-Shakespeare's Hamlet. As the linked essay on The Northman states, Shakespeare's highly anticipated revenge tragedy robbed theater attendees of an elaborate revenge stratagem.. Rather, they were left with a Prince & his monologues, stalled in his interiority. With Poe we have👇

#BestMidYear22 Day 13: When an anticipated title is released I find that this is often motivation to catch up on a previous release that I missed. Such was the case with Mandel's latest & judging from the flurry of reviews on Litsy for The Glass Hotel in March & April, I wasn't alone. This was a one sitting read for me & I actually enjoyed it more than Station Eleven. Mandel's melancholy prose & intricate narrative portrays flawed & complex👇

#BestMidYear22 Day 12: One of the joys of a reading year is trying an author that has been on the TBR for awhile & having them meet, or better exceed, expectations. Such was the case when I read Tananarive Due's brilliant book The Between. It is hard to believe that this smart, creepy book was a debut. With the release of Nope right around the corner, I'd have to say that f I could choose one book for Peele to adapt, I think I would pick this.

#BestMidYear22 Days 9-11 Catch-up: 3 very different, yet equally memorable books. I loved each one of them for a different reason.

#BestMidYear22 Day 8: There are certain books that only grow in estimation the more time has passed since reading. Such is the case with Lennon's Subdivision. A book that I greatly enjoyed when I finished, but as I had recently read numerous other fantastic works (Sylvia Plath, Italo Calvino, Patrick McGrath) it didn't initially have a major impact. Yet, it has lingered with me & months later I now actually prefer it over the similar Piranesi.👇

#BestMidYear22 Day 7: Running a day behind, as I forgot to post yesterday. Ghosts have figured somewhat prominently in my reading life this year in an interesting way, rather than in the manner of a stereotypical horror novel with rattling chains & spooky noises. The restless spirits I speak of have been more metaphorical figures, or manifestations of past historical tragedies (see Percival Everett's magnificent over the top bloody revenge👇

#BestMidYear22 Day 5: Abdurraqib tackles broad social issues, along with personal issues through the shared cultural language of music. Whether he is discussing the infectious pop of Carly Rae Jespen, Prince's transcendent Superbowl Halftime performance, the misogyny of early emo bands or the progressive radicalism of Nina Simone. This is the best essay collection that I have read this year & several times since reading it I will read a👇

#BestMidYear22 Day 3: The publisher site states, “A story of infatuation and disappointment, betrayal and revenge, In the Freud Archives is essentially a comedy. But the powerful presence of Freud himself and the harsh bracing air of his ideas about unconscious life hover over the narrative and give it a tragic dimension.“ Malcolm watches with a clinical eye as her subjects, Freud scholars, dig their own graves in this gossipy account of👇

#BestMidyear22 Day 2: I read Groff's short story collection Florida soon after reading her latest novel at the very beginning of the year. As much as I appreciated Matrix & have recommended it to several others, it is Florida that has stuck with me months later, Especially the stories Ghosts & Empties, The Midnight Zone, Eyewall, & Snake Stories. I said in my review at the time that The Midnight Zone was my fav story in the collection, but the👇

For the following 17 days I will be posting daily about a favorite book that I have read so far this year. I know that 17 is an odd number, but this is the number that I came up with after looking through the books I read & I simply couldn't eliminate any of these.I will be posting these in the chronological order that I read them in from the beginning of the year. Rachel Yoder's Nightbitch is one of my favorite “types“ of books. Lit fic with