I've been teaching McCorkle's story "Hominids" for years now, but had never read anything else of hers until this morning. Got started on this after abandoning the book I wasn't reading, at least not really, and it's been great so far. Picked it up at a library book sale a week or so back.

The To-Be-Read stack has piled up this semester. I have all this, plus 7 more on my iPad. And that's just what I've bought. There's a whole other list that I want to read but don't own yet. Which would be fine if I read quicker than I do, and if I didn't end up feeling bad about how little I get read each year compared with other people. Then again, I spend so much time reading student stories each year that maybe I should give myself a break.

Starting this, this morning.

I studied under Tony during my MFA, but I didn't get around to this book until now (as it was out of print at the time). Looking forward to it.

I'm totally biased, as I worked on two of the magazines where some of these stories originally appeared, but I found this collection delightful. Dark as all get-out at times, it's also remarkably hopeful. And true. It just feels true.

Reading by the light of my computer screen, as per usual. This time it's a book by my friend Bethany, which includes a couple of stories by her that I originally published in "Geek Force Five."

I didn't hate the book by any stretch, but I was left with the feeling that a little Sara goes a long way. And I was disappointed that so little of the book had to do with the title "Real Artists Have Day Jobs." Had I read the structure of the title/subtitle more carefully, I would've understood that this was a collection of essays, only one of which was really going to be about that topic.

After spending the evening with my pal Zeke Russell's chapbooks last night, it's on to this one tonight.

Time for a re-read. Been meaning to get back to this one for a while.

I love me a collection that includes some stories that are linked and some that are not. Every time you get another glimpse at Caroline, it's like hearing a story about someone you've known forever but are continually getting to know. If that makes any sense.

Some read by candle light, some by flashlight. Me, I'm reading by computer light. You gotta do what you gotta do (to not wake anyone up).

I'm not sure there's anything particularly revelatory here, but it's a good desk reference for the perpetually scared-to-share and it was quite affirming to read someone putting to paper a lot of the same conclusions I've been struggling to come to for a while myself.

I'm in love with Charlie Chaplin right now.

Great essays and insight sit alongside a fantastic looking copy of the libretto and fascinating footnotes by the playwright. This is one I'll be coming back to again and again.

Tonight I continue reading "Hamilton: The Revolution." Fitting that I'm reading this section as I get ready to revise a couple new stories.

About to read the footnotes to my favorite song in this musical.

The first couple of stories felt very uneven, but then there was a long run of awesome. This is well worth the price of admission, several of the stories worth revisiting again and again.

And now we start reading this.

Just finished reading this and was riveted from cover to cover. I adore that someone so good at the short story form finally has a collection I can recommend and assign to my students. So many good pieces in here.

It's taking me forever to get through this, and as a book-monogamist that's frustrating me. I'm enjoying the read, but I'm a slow reader and parenting during the kids' winter break is eating away at my time (in the best way possible, of course). There are so many books in my To Read pile. So, so many.

A little like finding out that professor you had, who made you feel like your class was the most memorable ever, had at least one pretty memorable student before you… if that makes any sense. This takes nothing away from Harry Potter, whilst reminding us that, in Ron's words (at least from the films), the history of this world is a whole lot bigger than one Potter.

I've read here and there some negative things about the film, which I haven't yet seen, but I'm delighted so far by the screenplay. I'm 14 pages in.

As enthralling a page-turner as this grumpy short fiction devotee has ever read. Surprised me numerous times by turning where I thought it might twist, and so on. A must-read for adventure lovers, people who like the theory of a good romance but dislike the tropes, and for anyone else. Just read it already!

Finally digging into "The Smoke Hunter."

Reading Le Guin's "Vaster Than Empires and More Slow" in prep for my Genre Fiction Seminar lecture on Monday, which'll be on Alien Encounters.

Brief, inspired, and crucial. Left me wanting for more nonfiction of this length.

I can't let another #Recommendsday go by without throwing this one at you, which totally changed my life as a writer who loves that line between linked short fiction and novels and who loves the kind of narrative tapestry a book with multiple points of view and multiple structural styles can create.

I'm leading a discussion on this on Monday — yes, Labor Day — so I guess it's time to dig into it a couple of times.

I love Linsner's art and I usually love how he plays with mythology and marries it with pin-up art, but this felt like too little material stretched out over too many issues. He cites Vampirella as an influence on his creation of Dawn, and it's neat to see him playing with a character he so obviously adores, but I don't think he figured out what he wanted to say before starting. Or something. Something is off here.

This book couldn't be more up my alley if Michel were a bowling ball that had just knocked all ten pins of me into yawning chasm of awesome. The stories are superbly well-crafted, never overstay their welcome, and perfectly blend literary and genre fiction.

My #FunPhotoFriday pick and the only book set at a college you ever need to read. Or, well, the only book you ever need to read period.

Started plugging away at this on vacation, but slacked off this week. Signs point to it being my favorite collection of the last few years. I'll let you know when I'm done.

The prose style feels deliberately antagonistic toward the reader and that's just one of those things I can't stomach in big doses. 14 pages in and I wanted to hurl it through the window and into the thunderstorm outside.

Up next…

I read this more as a professor always looking for good texts to use in class than as a creative looking for advice, but I did find a lot of great distilled information. And it's a super-quick read, something to keep on top of the desk as a reference for those über-crappy days.

The art was exceptionally rough, almost making me cast this aside on multiple occasions, but Gaiman's story kept pulling me back in. I think I'll read the next one, but the art may ultimately be what keeps me from seeing this series through to its conclusion.

The art was exceptionally rough, almost making me cast this aside on multiple occasions, but Gaiman's story kept pulling me back in. I think I'll read the next one, but the art may ultimately be what keeps me from seeing this series through to its conclusion.

If I can pry the book out of my daughter's hands — she's just skimming and doesn't want to read it yet — then it might be time to drop everything.

Finally reading this, after years of prodding by friends and acquaintances who can't believe I've never read it.

Ultra-fast read full of mother-flipping truth about writers and writing and human beings.

As a palate cleanser, decided to pick up this up. Blazed through the first half in an hour. If you write, you need to read this. You'll laugh/cry yourself senseless.

Finally finished this. There were a number of can't miss stories. And the writing was stellar throughout.

New books to add to my To Be Read pile, thanks to a gift card.

Working through this slowly but surely. I thought this story, "Secret Identity," was going to end at the 23 page mark. It has 24 pages left. And now I need to know what more there could be to this.

Getting started on this, this morning.

Finally finished. Totally lived up to the hype and was well worth the heft of its many, many pages.

Still. (But I am getting there.)

When I pick up books like this, I wish I wasn't such an abysmally slow reader.

Once upon a time, I worked with Richie at a nonprofit. His was as creative and sensitive a mind as I'd ever met, and this debut by my old colleague is exceeding every expectation.