PSA: I will be on hiatus for an indeterminate period, I am currently undertaking intensive professional development, in addition to my current work schedule. I am well. Just busy! Stay well. Stay well read.

I saw Oppenheimer earlier today and was thoroughly impressed. Best movie released this year that I've seen so far, beating out my favorite: Evil Dead Rise. I do intend to eventually watch Barbie (I 💙 Gerwig & Margot Robbie) & I also want to see Talk to Me.

Y'all, booktube videos can lead to some interesting places

As I read a couple of Bierce stories yesterday, it seems only appropriate that my #weirdwords selection be pulled from one of the great works of American satire in the early 20th century:
“Logomachy, n. A war in which the weapons are words and the wounds punctures in the swim-bladder of self-esteem—a kind of contest in which, the vanquished being unconscious of defeat, the victor is denied the reward of success.“
@cbee

Why are people so exhausting *sigh*
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/arthur-book-facing-ban-in-florida-over-this-on...

While reading the tagged book yesterday, crepitate jumped out at me in a passage.
#weirdwords @cbee

After an affair, Edith ends up at the Hotel du Lac towards the end of the season. Edith is a novelist & is sent there for a reason which is revealed over the course of this novel filled with careful observations & great characterization. While at the hotel Edith meets several other unusual guests & as Edith is a very quiet individual it is through these interactions that we get a better sense of her as a character. Absolutely splendid book.

A group of six inidviduals, all approximately in their early to mid 20s, are recruited at the start by Atlas Blakely the caretaker of the enigmatic Alexandrian Society. As the Kirkus Review succinctly states, “At the end of one year, five of the six will be initiated into the Society, and the reader won‘t be surprised to learn that the sixth person isn‘t allowed to quietly return home.“ Despite their hours & hours of reading, our characters (cont)

I usually post my #weeklyreport Sunday afternoon but this has been such a great reading week I am going to post now. 7 books read since previous report: 3 manga, 1 graphic novel, 1 story collection, 1 novel & 1 collection of linked novellas. The three managa were vol 7-9 of Blood On the Tracks. So disturbing. So intense. The gn was the tagged one by Sala. A hybrid of pulp, crime, expressionism & horror. The story collection was Carys Davies (cont)

I loved this collection of linked horror novellas about deadly books by Ronald Malfi. The first one made me think of the excellent John Carpenter In The Mouths of Madness, the second one had shades of Dark Tower, the third one was a twisty interesting book where the main object involved a popup book & the final novella involved a digital interactive Story. (cont)

A day late for #weirdwords but this passage in the tagged book that I'm reading seemed perfect, “...Her thoughts spooled up and unwound in complex ormolu tracery which floated around her head.“
@cbee

My book choice for #theworldismyoyster couldn't have been easier as I have tickets to see Colson Whitehead next week! To say I am excited is an understatement. He is one of the living authors who I have not seen live that has been at the top of my list. I have read several of his books & have loved every one. However, I still need to read Harlem Shuffle. I hope to read at least half of it before the event. My song choice is (cont)

Having finished the third novel & the epilogue in O'Brien's trilogy this morning, I am at a loss at how to adequately review it, especially as I didn't post a review for the second book in the trilogy. So I have decided to list a few random thoughts on the trilogy:
*The final book in the trilogy is incredible. It's my favorite of the three & reviewers who shied away bc it was “less rollicking“* (NY Times) seem to have missed the point
(cont)

I love this question!
I have several answers:
Although in my mind, a road trip should involve an automobile, immediately I thought of Don Quixote.
If I'm going to stick to stories involving cars/automobiles: Elliott' Chaze's noir Black Wings Has My Angel, Gaiman's American Gods, Matt Wesolowski's Six Stories series (he's always traveling between locations to interview subjects), & Jessica Bruder's Nomadland.
#sundayfunday
@ozma.of.oz

5 books completed since previous #weeklyreport
Stine's Horror At Camp JellyjJam* Barker's Books of Blood Vol. 3*Vasko Popa's Selected Poems (translated by Simic)*Hoke's Open Throat*Tagged Book.
The first 2 were a bit disappointing. I had a lot of fun with my prior Stine book, however I have started reading One Day At Horrorland & am having a blast. The Barker was frontloaded with the best stories, definitely the weakest vol I've read (cont)

*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

I have posted this priceless meme before but am reusing it for my #weeklyreport as I actually read 1 Goosebumps book this week (the very strange I Live In Your Basement!) & am also in the middle of the tagged book. A total of 6 books this book, including the one in progress: 2 graphic novels, 2 goosebumps, 2 novels. The standout is Orphan Master's Son which I will be recommending for years to come.
@cinfhen

Having JUST finished the tagged book, I'm going into the weekend with a major book hangover, so for relief I will be starting the next volume of Berserk as I need to return it to the library. After that, who knows? I might read Vasko Popa's Poems, which I received in my NYRB package. I am also planning on swinging by B&N & picking up Chain Gang All Stars & Henry Hoke's Open Throat (cont)

1) Tie between Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived In the Castle & Edna O'Brien's Country Girls
2) Berserk vol. 2
3) Kuang's Yellowface/Tremblay Beast You Are
4) Holly by King
5) Andersen's Cryptid Club
6) Blood on the Tracks
7) Doris Lessing
8) Cait & Baba from O'Brien's trilogy
9) Teared up at parts of Orphan Master
10) Vacationland
11) Since I received my NYRB order today I'll say Stamaty's Macdoodle St
12) Whatever I want lol

My #weirdwords is one of my favorite onomatopoeia: tintinnabulation. Used to good effect in Poe's slightly maddening poem The Bells. 🔔🔔
@cbee

Brilliant book, but quite possibly the most disturbing I've read this year. I had to literally set it aside while eating lunch this afternoon because of the scene that I was reading.

1) The ONLY challenge I have at the moment is my GR reading challenge. I am currently on track to meeting it,
2) I would like to get caught up with the big horror releases of the past couple of years by the end of the year, but I am going to continue to mostly follow my mood. Life is stressful enough that if I force myself to read something that I am not in the mood for at the moment, it'll put me in a slump & I don't need the added stress.

I always dip in & out of Datlow's anthologies over a period of time. However there were so many solid stories in the first half of this volume that I have gifted it to a few people before finishing today. There are two stories in here that are two of the best that I have ever read: SG Jones' Lords of the Matinee & John Langan's Altered Beast Altered Me. The latter was an epistolary story, between thinly veiled Langan & Tremblay, about a (cont)

With a propulsive narrative voice, Oliver Twist is immediately engaging. A large cast of memorable characters have remained with me since finishing: especially Artful Dodger, Fagin, Mr. Grimwig, Bill Sikes. As I mentioned in a prior post about OT, Bill Sikes is one of the greatest villains that I have ever encountered, I also mentioned that there are some jarring elements in the novel, which can be found in the wikipedia entry on how Fagin (cont)

Started earlier this evening. Engrossing & chilling. Looking forward to finishing work tomorrow so I can return to it.

This was my first experience with Sayers & I was a bit jarred when I read that it was published in '33, as many of the concerns expressed feel contemporary. The office politics was humorous & painful, the social commentary was spot-on & cleverly tying in the murder with the greater themes without browbeating was brilliant. I will definitely be reading more Sayers.
Book 14 of #MidwayBOTY23

*Name a book that has coffee/dessert on cover or in title: I was reminded of Crosley's essay collection just this week. Still TBR, I hope to read it soon.
*Your favorite dessert and beverage: Tiramisu, cherry/apricot danish, coffee cake, pecan pie, cheesecake.
Ice coffee in it's glorious manifold forms & lately an occasional refreshing gin & tonic or cold pinot grigio.
#wondrouswednesday @eggs

I was about 1/3 of the way through Jones book when I realized that it was essentially a fantasy version of Black Books. Tamsin Greig's Fran as Sophie Hatter, Bill Bailey's Manny as Michael Fisher & Dylan Moran's Bernard Black as Howell Jenkins. I watched the Miyazaki movie ages ago & thought, “Meh,“ & was struggling a bit at the beginning as it felt like a bit of an imitation of Pratchett. However, when I came up with my own cast for it, I (cont)

From the author of Stranger In the Woods, this nonfiction sounds wild! Will definitely be checking out. Love a heist story, especially in the summer.

To NYRB or not to NYRB, that is the question
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of reading from my groaning shelves
Or to take cards against a sea of books
And by buying, perhaps one day reading them...

I have read quite a few short story collections this years & Carver's Cathedral is easily one of the best. Several of these have now entered the modern canon of the short story form, & for good reason. But there are other, less well-known works in the collection that deeply moved me: A Small, Good Thing & The Compartment. Carver's stories are filled with blue-collar workers, misfits & oddballs but many of them are just trying to make it (cont)

Four books read this week. one was a short story collection that I had been working on for a few weeks, another was PK Dick's Electric Dreams & two bleak, unsettling works of dark literary fiction: Iain Banks' Complicity & Cormac McCarthy's Child of God. My favorites were the Banks & the McCarthy.
#weeklyreport
@cinfhen

When Edna O'Brien's debut novel was published it was immediately condemned in her native land. It was even burned in her hometown. I did not read this for the scandalous content, but because I had previously read another of her works & wanted to try more. I LOVED this coming of age story of Cait & her complicated friendship with Baba. I was deeply moved by certain parts of the book & I am looking forward to diving into the second book today.

This gritty, bleak novella was the basis for the 2011 Pedro Almodovar film The Skin I Live In. I have not seen the Almodovar movie, however I do recall seeing trailers for the movie & immediately thinking of Georges Franju's 1960 movie Eyes Without a Face, one of the first Criterion Collection movies I ever watched. This is a deeply unsettling work of transgressive fiction that I wouldn't recommend to many. As The Complete Review states (cont)

The book that have I lined up for #sexdrugsandrocknroll for July is a collection of interviews with one of the greatest living patron saints of rock 'n roll. I might also squeeze in the recent book by Cave's frequent collaborator: Warren Ellis' Nina Simone's Gum. My tune is Bad Reputation by Joan Jett 🤘
#titlesandtunes @cinfhen @barbarabb

Of all of the genres that I currently read, sci-fi is high on my list of personally acquired tastes. Although I have always admired stories & movies of the mindbending & conceptually driven variety (typically involving time travel & questions of reality/identity) I have tended to shy away from the genre until the past few years. Clarke's 2001 is a strange beast. Although Clarke has sole authorial credit, it was co-authored with Kubrick the (cont)

Not sure why this isn't in the Litsy database. I stumbled across this at the library earlier today & although I have a lot that I intend on reading soon I immediately picked it up. It's incredible. Definitely worth looking for in your library.

PK Dick is the author of Ubik, one of my favorite novels of all-time, as well as one of my favorite short stories of all-time, Upon The Dull Earth. This is all of the stories that were adapted for the tv series (haven't watched). Although I have read a few of Dick's novels & a handful of stories prior to reading this volume, I suspect that this wasn't necessarily his greatest stories. That would be a tall order as the insanely prolific (cont)

I'm posting my bibliophile highlight of the week as a separate post & several days early because there's no way that it will be topped. A few days ago I had the extremely good fortune to spend a delightful evening with my fellow horror fanatic @reggie There was book shopping, dinner & lots & lots of great conversation. It was a fantastic evening!
#weeklyreport

Scheduled for pub 10-24-23.
Sounds terrific & what a cover!

Of the 29 stories included in Datlow's recent anthology about the monstrous, there are no shortage of memorable stories. It has been my experience reading Datlow's anthologies that, in general, the best stories are by the authors that I was already familiar with. That was def the case with Screams From the Dark, as the real winners were the pieces by SG Jones, Gemma Files, Daryl Gregory, Caitlin Kiernan, Laird Barron & quite possibly one of (cont)

1) Quite a few: Edinburgh, Venice, London, Mexico City, Toronto.
2) I loved it, but I would not recommend it lol.
3) Currently reading the tagged book. I have about 80 pages left.
#wondrouswednesday @eggs

According to Oxford Reference, bags of mystery was first recorded in 1864 to refer to sausage of dubious origin.
#weirdwords @cbee

This is a brilliant work about a couple, out of step with their times, who decide to have six children. Their home becomes a center for friends & family & everything is fairly idyllic until the birth of their fifth child, Ben. Ben does not fit into the family unit, but the reason why is difficult to put into words & it is this elusiveness that makes this a work I can't stop thinking about. It includes quite possibly the most harrowing scene (cont)

When I read vol 1 several months ago, I drove 15 minutes to the closest library to pick up volume 2 as soon as I had finished volume 1 of Sang-Ho's imaginative work about a world where people are dismembered in violent public demonstrations after receiving notifications. These 2 volumes have much to say about vigilante justice & truth in the era of social media. A book that is memorably portrayed by one of the finest South Korean directors.

I read some great books this week, but in lieu of stats & discussion of books read for #weeklyreport I want to honor Cormac McCarthy. I have read only a couple of books by him, but The Road is one of the best books I have read the past few years. Although he died of natural causes & lived a long life, the world definitely feels poorer without his presence.
Contemporaries & critics pay tribute (Link in comments):

I loved this collection of essays of 58 novellas recommended by Davis. Each entry includes opening line, plot synopsis, biographical information, an argument to convince you to read it & further recommendations. At the back of the book is a list of several more great short books. There are obvious entries: Animal Farm & The Great Gatsby, however the choice of book by some authors was surprising (Evil Under the Sun & Surfacing come to mind). (cont)

Set in a fictional occupied country (clearly Vichy France), Dirty Snow is one of the bleakest books I have read so far this year with a character, Frank Friedmaier, who is at times a representative & at others an exaggeration of the morally bankrupt landscape surrounding him. As Volllmann writes in the afterword, “Simenon has concentrated noir into a darkness as solid and heavy as the interior of a dwarf star.“
Book 5 of #MidwayBOTY23

Moby Dick was tied with King Lear as my favorite book read last year. I have never read another book like it before. Bartleby is a jewel of a novella that starts as an employee's admirable quiet rebellion against the extra tasks that are piled on his workload with one of the greatest mottos of 19th C American lit, “I would prefer not to.“ Bartleby soon transforms into a complex story as Bartleby begins to refuse to do more & more with the (cont)

My #weirdword is Defenstration. An act of political violence to remove one's enemies with a 600 year history. It was an act of defenstration that started the Thirty Years War & it is still used in Russia as the following recent Atlantic article states, “Here is a list of people you should not currently want to be: a Russian sausage tycoon, a Russian gas-industry executive, the editor in chief of a Russian tabloid, a Russian shipyard (cont)