I swear, every day since Drumpf's second inauguration has felt like the shittiest dystopian. Unfortunately, this is not merely fiction. This is very much real and all of the policies/authoritarian aspirations are causing real time pain and suffering.
This story collection, pub. by Pushkin, highlights the absurdity & black humor that Dostoevsky excelled at. I am halfway through the book & have loved both stories I've read. A later entry “The Crocodile“ I had previously read as a New Directions double feature along with Gogol's The Nose and found it to be just as memorable.
My final selection is a psychedelic sci-fi manga about chemically altered emotions and the fallout from this industry. The artwork in this one is wild & trippy. Definitely one of the more memorable graphic narratives read so far this year.
#bestof2025
Is JC Oates a disaster online? Absolutely. Did she write some of the most unsettling stories of the 20th C? This is also true. The title story is a noir masterpiece.
#bestof2025
I don't believe in “essential reading“ with a few exceptions. This is one. A short, but blistering impactful examination of our times with historical parallels to the current aspiring tyrant.
#bestof20205
It has been years, YEARS, since I had read Palahniuk. Beginning of the year: COVID, drumpf inauguration insanity, moving in the middle of winter & somehow the insanity - and satire of Palahniuk clicked again. This was one that I read very shortly after recovering from COVID and I couldn't decide which was more unsettling.
#bestof2025
Just read volume 6 and I'm 100% convinced that in the right hands this could be something very very special, with a GoT fanbase if done well and smart. This is adult Star Wars and it rocks 🤘
Lololol
I raved about Thorogood's graphic narrative over the weekend & it has displaced one my selections for #bestof2025 (Barry Windsor-Smith's raw & gritty Wolverine: Weapon X). It's Lonely etc was a ceaselessly surprising, deeply touching portrait of an artist's lifelong mental health struggles & the solace & freedom they were able to find in art. This is one I will be recommending for awhile.
I loved this graphic narrative of a young artist as they struggle with their own work & mental health issues. It's Lonely At etc is one of the most creative graphic narratives I have read in awhile, but there is a strong emotional & personal core throughout so it never becomes tedious or overly cerebral. Instead, it is a surprising exploration of mental health & the power of art. Just absolutely remarkable.
I haven't chimed in on one of these posts in awhile, but as I've read a few of the books selected from the tagged book I felt like doing a post. 3 favorites from this list would be:
*Larsen's Passing
*Schulz's Street of Crocodiles
*Sayers' Murder Must Advertise
*Tolkien's The Hobbit
*Du Maurier's Rebecca
(you really thought I'd stop at 3?! LOLOL)
3 books I want to read from the list:
*Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God
(CONT)
*Doordash
*Coffee
*Libraries
*BoTM including the latest SA Cosby as a selection
*So many great new movies/books./music to catch up on.
*Loyal co-workers (I had one retire today that I have known for nearly 20 years!)
#5joysfriday @debinhawaii
Friday night at library
Armful of books from lists
Due dates? Challenge accepted
#haikuaday
By far one of the most consistently surprising single authors story collections read so far this year. Bad Dirt ranges from a gritty realism to a magical realism that truly works. I loved this linked collection and Proulx has a truly Dickensian knack for character names. I have been meaning to read Proulx for awhile and was not disappointed. Will definitely be reading more.
#bestof2025
First, let me say that I love all of the answers to my previous post on beach reads. 💙
Favorites of May (w/ the caveat of I was unable to finish Swallow the Ghost by today, but might tomorrow.) The past couple months it's pretty much been impossible for me to accomplish much reading during the week. Anywho, here are my favorites of the month (in no particular order):
*Before Watchmen: Nite Owl/Dr. Manhattan (Specifically for the DM origin story)
Summer reading! Beach reads! WTF does that even mean?! Escapist literature? 19th C Russian door stoppers that have been clogging the TBR for years. Is it the new Emily Henry? Or Count of Monte Cristo? Littens, I need to know! Chime in in the comments with your 10 favorite beach read/TBR beach reads On July 1st I will use the advanced science of the random number generator to select a winner & gift a $30 gift card of yr choice.
#beachreadsfindaway
Phone scrolling at urinal
Spotting hipsters in the wild
Nerds or ephemeral
#haikuaday
This is atrocious.
Book 3 of Le Guin's Hainish Cycle is one of her more under the radar works, but strangely seems to be a significant influence on major fantasy works of today (Song of Ice & Fire). I would be willing to eat my shoes if George RR Martin Had not read this one prior to writing his renown series; however distinct he made his own world he def paid homage to the singularity & brilliance of Le Guin's Hainish Cycle.
#Bestof2025
NGL, ever since I saw the following Onion video I immediately knew that my #tuesdaytunes selection would be the excellent A Boy Named Sue by Johnny Cash
https://open.spotify.com/track/5xMNjx7uqCzMpJZSo4Wq55?si=3d4950ea7bb04f79
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXjvr9CPQjs
@tiedyedude
Read this one in one sitting this morning, so clearly enjoyed it. Reading the description I thought it would be more of a dark comedy along the lines of Awad, but instead Su definitely treads her own ground. Su“s message at the end is: humans know as little as about the meaning of life as a sentient blob taking on the appearance of a conglomeration of the early 90s heart throbs, and this is reassuring in a way.
Halfway through the tagged book: hard to describe. Will definitely be writing a full review when finished, hopefully tomorrow. So far, absolutely brilliant.
It is very rare that I cry while reading, however I do distinctly recall crying while reading the tagged book last November. More recently, I do believe I teared up while reading Liz Moore's Long Bright River.
@bookmarktavern
#sundayfunday
My sixth selection for #2025bestreads is the most unhinged horror book that I have read so far this year. This book has a very important message one that seems that to have been missed as it is currently sitting at 3.38 on Good Reads. This is is Chapman's boldest book to date. Old school Stephen King for our current dysfunctional era.
I was deeply moved by this novel about family, addiction & grief. Set in Philadelphia, Mickey is raising her young nephew due to her sister Kacey's addiction issues. When Mickey learns that someone is targeting sex workers, she fears the worst. Police bureaucracy with a solid mystery: LBR is the literary equivalent of The Wire meets Agatha Christie. Immensely satisfying with great character work..
#bestreads2025
*Having at least a couple reliable coworkers
*Start of 3 day weekend
*Libraries
*I didn't have produce (nor accused of being a heretic) thrown at me during the class I taught today
*Music, movies, book lovers
#5joysfriday
Talk To Me, trauma
Bring Her Back:more sleepless nights
Here, take my money
#haikuaday
The Phoenician Scheme
Wes Anderson to Anderson “Hold my beer“
I'll still probably see it
#haikuaday
“The bill will include even more funding for the military and more funding for Trump‘s border crackdown, while slashing crucial programs like Medicaid, Medicare, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and also repealing clean energy credits put in place by the Biden administration. Up to 15 million Americans will be uninsured by 2034 due to the bill‘s cuts, and 7.6 million will be at risk of losing Medicaid,(cont):
(CONT)
Littens! Proud to announce that my jar of fucks arrived today! Thanks to @jamiearc for putting this on my radar...as I have been saying for awhile now, my fucks to give are like a natural resource, We'll see how long they last. (p.s.: 2 used today)
Early 2025 was truly my own my own winter of discontent (second drumpf term, having to move in the middle of Feb, covid for the second time etc etc) Hornby's novel about a winner of a beauty queen pageant in a British village who proceeded to revolutionize tv has so far been one of my favorite reads of the year. Sophie Straw is absolutely terrific & the cast who surround her are in turns interesting & infuriating. This books has MUCH to say (CONT)
Beautiful & Damned
Spicy Nachos, Horror Books, Good Movies
Memorial Day Break Plans
#haikuaday
According to Ye Olde Goode Reads, I have read 4 of Clowes' books since 2016, but Monica is the first 5 star. This one truly had the capaciousness, & complexity, of a fleshed out novel. , This has much in common with other Clowes works I have read but it was def. a step beyond. One of the first books that I read after my move back in Feb. & I specifically recall it breaking through my mental fatigue at the time as a special work.
#2025bestreads
So much drama at work
Is it me, am I the problem
So few fucks to give
#haikuaday
Daniel Wilson is one of the contemporary greats of evil machines & bk 2 in the Robopocalypse Series looks very promising, esp. with the rise of AI the past few years since I read book 1.
#robot
@eggs @alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
Day 2 of #2025bestreads was my first book of the year. What was unusual about this one, is I don't recall when my first read of the yr was an audio book (my audio tends to happen on work commutes; at the beginning of the yr I'm on holiday) but I was so riveted by both the story & Haynes narration that I simply couldn't stop listening. This added a lot more to the Medusa story, which I already felt familiar with & genuinely surprised me.
Y'all, I have to teach a 2 hour class this upcoming Friday on basic med support knowledge for supervisors at my agency. I have been feeling slightly discombobulated ALREADY, I need to be combobulated ASAP.
#weirdwords @cbee
Congrats to Mushtaq's Heart Lamp for winning the International Booker Prize! I have stopped following literary prize news the past couple of years for several reasons & it's something outside of the box to make me pay attention (ie: Everett's overdue Pulitzer this year) & now a short story collection! Although I have not read Mushtaq, some of the best fiction I have read over the past few years has been story collections & this is long overdue!
I stumbled across this one at the library today and read the first 70 pages while there. Early 90s Scotland. A compelling narrator, fantastic!!
Is it a goodie? An oldie? Am I just boring? Regardless, I am posting my #tuesdaytunes selections 2 days early with a few selections I never tire of:
*Low: Sunflower
https://open.spotify.com/track/5MLBottNJ4s4yL6t9sIryD?si=1efcba7e33c44138
*Jenny Lewis: Melt Your Heart
https://open.spotify.com/track/3Bmpx1qObH98h6JAuN7VLj?si=d56b8af5095243af
*Phosphorescent: C'est La Vie No 2
(CONT)
3 songs mashed in 1
Early 90s, Dollar Movie Theater Mind Blown
Wayne's World, Party On Garth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ9rUzIMcZQ
#Haikuaday
Since it is a bit under the halfway point of the yr, I have made a list of my 15 favorite reads so far. I will be posting these, in no particular order whatsoever.
First up is a retelling of Hamlet with a very unusual POV. The narrator is the unborn child of Trudy & John and is made aware of a plan between Trudy & Claude to get rid of John. The narrator, a bit of a sommelier, & very much aware of the state of the world they are about to (CONT)
Years ago I tackled the wacky tagged Italian epic poem in the 2 vol Penguin set. Total page count is 1,632 pages.
Although it is technically a trilogy, Tolkien envisioned LoTR as a single volume & if it was counted as such then the page count for editions I read clock in at 1,248.
At just a few less pages than LoTR would be King's longest work-The Stand (1,200)
Lately I have been thinking of tackling Shogun (1,300) pages.
#sundayfunday
I'm curious, Littens!
1) Most recent book(s) purchased
2) Last completed book from a library
Since I'm posting this, full transparency
1) A HPB book haul: Steinbeck's “Travels with Charley,“ Kosinski's “Being There,“ “DF Wallace Reader,“ “Virginia Woolf Box Set“ Harlan Ellison “Greatest Hits“
2) I Dnf a book (King's Killing Time), prior to that was the excellent “Before Watchmen: Nite Owl & Dr Manhattan “
Batman's Killing Time is an obnoxiously consistent non-linear story that could have easily been a masterpiece. I ended up DNF'ing this one around the 65% mark. Tom King is a fantastic creator. I highly recommend both The Human Target & Rorschach. There were elements of this I liked quite a bit, however the elements that did not work were too big of distractions.
As the title says the events of this are a bit like origin stories for Nite Owl/Dr Manhattan. Nite Owl is a bit of a poor man's Batman. What is interesting in this volume is how he grows as a character with his interactions with Rorschach & others. The second half of this was absolutely fantastic, easily one of the best graphic novels I have read this year. Dealing with quantum realities, pocket universes, etc. There are times where you (CONT)
![[tagged book]](https://image.librarything.com/pics/litsy_webpics/icon_taggedBook@3x.png){kind=icon}
This is crazy, not even a Senator has rights to question Little t's policies?
This is horrifying in America!
11h