Like my bookmark and cocktail pick?

Paired with tonight‘s reading: Technicolor Paradise exotica album.

It‘s a steamy night in Missouri. Nine o‘clock and still almost eighty degrees. 🥵 Great night to read this book.

[…] made her shudder as if a gorilla were caressing her gums with one finger.

[Her] biggest problem was the unwanted thoughts that—like cockroaches—laid eggs inside her head.

Teenage secrets. 👂

So it‘s only April but I‘m pretty sure I already read the best book I‘m going to read this year. It‘s my first Everett novel (though I loved American Fiction) and damn, this man does not waste a word. I was completely invested from the first sentence and his story telling did not let me go until the last line, and honestly, not even then.

This book is fantastic. It‘s so dense I am certain I missed a lot and I want to reread it already. A book club friend described the writing as “resisting momentum.” It utilizes structure and language in unusual ways to create a disorienting narrative full of references to creepypastas and horror lit that is about so much, but mostly how absolutely feral, powerful, and frightening teen girls are and how thin the line between clique and cult.

These teens sure have a lot more sexual experience than I did!

Terrible glare, but it‘s read Tolkien day!

Happy St Patrick‘s Day! I normally hide out during the day‘s bacchanalia (I went to a single St Patrick‘s Day parade and realized with such clarity it was not for me) but it‘s nice to observe the day through literature. Anyone else feel the same?

@Howardsimmons reading with the newest member of our household, Gracie!

She‘s about ten, ended up at the shelter when her person died. She‘s about as sweet as can be! Not the temperament we expected from a chihuahua. Just wants to cuddle and nap. 💤

Ok, this book is more intense than I expected. Couldn‘t put it down the other night and then I couldn‘t sleep because I was so keyed up. 😳

I need something frivolous after finishing Anthony Seasana So‘s Afterparties, so this is next up for me, courtesy of my library‘s discard cart.

Five upper-class corporate wives are stranded on a tropical island after a terrorist attack. They have known each other in the “slightly bitchy atmosphere of genteel suburban competition” but now are each other‘s only hope!

Saunders is teaching me how to read again and it is a beautiful, exciting experience. Loving this so far.

There‘s a lot going on in this: a relocated family, a serial killer, animals in suicidal death spirals, ghostly visitations, but even in 500+ pages it doesn‘t quite meld. Side characters, motivations, events (my interest), got lost along the way as the book shakes out.

The writing was loaded with references, similes, and onomatopoeia, which works for some (but not for me).

Dominic Chambers “Palace” 2023 on exhibit at the STL contemporary art museum. Chambers “sees the library as a literary palace filled with prescient voices housed in books.”

You can‘t go back on a dare! Especially when the guy who dares you is “really GREAT looking.” 👀 🥵 👅

Even when that dare is to kill your teacher and next door neighbor! 😱

Is Johanna desperate and unstable enough to follow through?! Is she?!

Gosh, I wish I had a group of friends who would spend a thousand dollars buying supplies and perform an exorcism of my basement with me if I needed it.

My current read. Bari Wood wrote one of my favorite horror novels (The Tribe) and when this came up on the weed list at the library I decided to check it out.

Myra is a gentle, nervous housewife with a group of devoted friends. The book starts right after she has her basement remodeled in hopes of erasing the evil atmosphere she hoped was due to “sour earth” and mice. But money and decor won‘t banish whatever taints her basement.

After reading 2 debut novels, there was a mental relief in returning to Patchett, whose narrative ability is like a warm, strong hand guiding you confidently through the cherry trees, youthful memories, and that early pandemic experience. For the first 1/3rd I found I was unconsciously smiling, charmed by her wit and gift at conveying familial love. Loved it, obviously.

A simple, satisfying domestic horror novel. Blythe‘s affluent life is socially limited before she has a baby, and afterwards she only becomes more isolated. There seems to be an intractable animosity between herself and her newborn, and this was my favorite part of the novel, the sheer claustrophobic horror of that dynamic.

Yay! A new “winter solstice” anthology. We read this for book club and I was happy it was a pretty solid collection with a good range of what can make up this sub-genre. The writers that I thought nailed the assignment were the ones that did something relatively simple very well. There were a few duds (and no Krampus, even though he‘s on the cover!!), but overall I thought it was a solid collection! Check it out.

Birthday gift from two beloved friends, read today (1/1/24).

Beautiful and unsettling, this graphic novel adaptation conveys through its art the sense of memories, sometimes vague, other times sharp and clear. The confines of their upbringing is felt perhaps most in the focused moments of glimpses of sky, the sea.

This brought back memories of reading the quartet years ago, the poignancy and the drama.

“She was a weak, silly woman with a mind like loose pudding.”

Damn!

Recommended by our children‘s librarian for a variety of reasons, one being to show children a depiction of community helpers. It‘s a beautiful story about appreciating what‘s around you. I found it moving. Getting it for my nephew this Christmas.

Great cover, old story. She‘s this sci fi series actor‘s “number one fan.”

Felt pretty meh about it tbh. Maybe went in expecting it to be more sexy and psychological (I mean, that cover!).

I imagine I will think of Jayber after an hours long nap in the woods, futilely trying to piece together a spiderweb he destroyed upon waking. 🌲

Though it is over 300 pages and there‘s no plot to speak of, it passes smoothly like a comfortable, meandering story heard while sitting in a barbershop (an experience I don‘t have but can imagine through this telling).

My sister‘s fav book, and what a one to live with resonating inside of you.

What to do with the art of monstrous men?

This hooked me. It‘s a book I knew I was reading too fast but I also didn‘t want to put it down. Love her voice, her slippery writing. It‘s smart and thought provoking but also beautiful and personal.

This question comes up so many times with my friends I kind of want to have this book on hand to give out.

Oh, maybe that‘s what I‘ll do for Christmas. 🎄

This has been on my TBR for about four years, since my sister was pregnant and said she wanted to name her son Jayber.

My husband and I had a lot to say about that and I‘m relieved to report my nephew‘s name is Abe (jAyBEr). Here he is pictured giving thanks for that.

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.

A family drama with a river monster? Yes, please.
I read it over 6 months as it was originally published, and I think that is the ideal way to take in the Caskey saga. Savor it! I want to recommend it to my horror-loving friend who lent me Buddenbrooks, if that tells you anything. McDowell brings the characters to life with his descriptions and dialogue and I was invested in each of their stories. I wanted to restart it before I was finished.

It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succor of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.

Reading in a park between movies at the Telluride Horror Show. 🤡 🌞 🏔️

In flight entertainment. The folks who recommended this know me well. The author will be at the Telluride Horror film festival this weekend so it was bumped up on my reading list! 🤡

On this reread, I was struck 1st by the challenge of the writing. Reading aloud, we stumbled and would try multiple times to understand what was being said but sometimes had to move on, content with our confusion. The second impression I have is how unnerving the story remains. The governess‘s anxiety, suspicions, and retelling of events sufficiently unsettles.

Just an update on my “innocent little precious” Twinkle Toes (to quote the breathless governess in TOTS): Thank you for the well-wishes. He was hospitalized for two nights and is back home, voracious, spirited, and back to dragging his blankie around the house.

Emergency vet waiting / reading. 😕

Reminds me of my brother and his judgement of our parents, which for years made family get togethers fraught. A year or so ago he was interrogating them about the town they chose to raise us in. I think at 45 he‘s finally softening a little after years of recriminations. It‘s gotta be tough being a parent!

Don‘t mind me, just over here crying into my book. Oh my god, I love these characters so much. It‘s the most amazing thing, to have a moving family epic that incorporates a water monster and some truly grisly murders.

It never occurs to her that, if in her sleep, her hand hangs over the edge of the bed, something will crawl out from under it and bite her fingers off. I sleep near the wall, because that thought has occurred to me.

It gives me that same sense of glamour that You Must Remember This podcast delivers, partially because blocks of texts read like descriptions of photographs. TJR gives us fantastic scenes illustrating the double-talk and misdirections that make up Evelyn‘s life and star power. It‘s deeper than you‘d expect while not being very deep. Sometimes there are gross missteps: ⬇️

Whew. I inhaled the last half of this today. I woke up and started reading and didn‘t stop until I finished it just now. I have thoughts. But all that can wait for a moment of appreciation and praise for such a captivating reading experience.

I loved this one. Here we are in the midst of despair and the absolutely metal landscape of Mordor. We get a lot of Sméagol, which I live for, as he is the most slippery of the characters. What is he? Will he be loyal? Where does he go?? Not to mention the incredible Elder Goddess Shelob. ? I‘m picking up on a deep melancholy that I wasn‘t expecting. Ready for the final portion of the story!

A complex, tender, absorbing novel about love & grief & acceptance. In our horror book club, we discussed a variety of interpretations of monstrosity, but one reason I love this book is that it isn‘t a metaphor or parable. Here, the bizarre becomes feasible through his emotional realism. I loved this book.

A tie is a noose and inverted though it is, will hang a man nonetheless, if he is not careful.

For fans of Paperbacks From Hell, I strongly rec this outrageous & messed up treasure. I muttered “oh my god” aloud every few pages. Sometimes I can‘t tell if it was sloppy or smart or if it mattered at all because I was so gosh darn entertained and horrified. There is a strong V. C. Andrews Gothic aesthetic but with much more of a grisly pulp horror vibe. There is a deranged tea party in here that has to be read to be believed.

Dad says to daughter I gotta tell u a legend to keep u out of the woods. Daughter says I know the legend. Dad: 🤯🤔??!? Daughter: 😂😂🤣🙃 jk I don‘t. Then she comes out with this: “I don‘t really know what I know or what I don‘t know, or where I found out.”

!! I kinda want it on a t shirt.

Can we take a moment to appreciate the ridiculous hotness of this hunk in Tynion & Belanger‘s “The Washing Machine”? They even give him a shower scene. 🤭😅🥵

I love both the movie and this book. There is something fascinating about this furious revenge story. I teared up, I laughed (sometimes in horror), but most importantly, I kept reading. Anyone, at any time, realizing their own power and abilities is a beautiful thing. 🥂

The semi-finalists of a reality tv dating show head to a remote island in the Pacific Northwest, where amid the backbiting and machinations, a hairy local lurks, wanting…to cuddle? Maybe?

The book is fun, mean, and beautifully executed. Allen maintains great balance between catty drama and slasher-movie gore. I can‘t wait to discuss at our book club next week! 💅🏻💋🤳🌲👣🌲