John Nichols died yesterday. Years ago, I devoured his fiction when I lived in the Southwest. RIP.

Finally finished this yesterday. The film adaption of this was my favorite movie of 2023 and I‘m glad to say Cognetti‘s writing was equally elegiac and haunting. One reviewer has called this a male version of Ferrante‘s My Brilliant Friend and I don‘t think it‘s an unfair comparison. It‘s a shame more male authors don‘t write about the complexity of male friendships.

Margaret Atwood, the author of The Handmaid's Tale, turns 84 today.

"Canadians are fond of a good disaster, especially if it has ice, water, or snow in it. You thought the national flag was about a leaf, didn't you? Look harder. It's where someone got axed in the snow."

I started this book 2 weeks ago and snapped this pic while hiking the Black Mountains. Alas, I lost the trail on descent and ended up bushwhacking through laurel hells to a location 4 miles from my original starting point. Let‘s just say my NOLS training came in handy, and I have a new appreciation for reading these early exploration accounts 🥹😳😬

Who Wore It Best? This year‘s Halloween work group theme was “hotel”. “You see, there are still faint glimmers of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity. Indeed, that‘s what we provide in our own modest, humble, insignificant … Oh, f*%k it…” —Monsieur Gustave

While I enjoyed Ted Conover‘s Coyotes and Sonia Nazario‘s Enrique‘s Journey, this first-person memoir takes the experience of migrant children to a whole other level. Beautiful, heart-breaking, and a testament to humanity. Unfortunately it was unable to be nominated for a Pulitzer, as rules still require all authors to be American-born.

I love coming across obscure old books in antique stores that are well written and a pleasure to read. This is a family doctor‘s account of caring for the people in Balsam Grove, a remote pocket of Appalachia in the 1950s. When he founded the local clinic and hospital, the only thing he charged the patients was to bring two river rocks to help build the walls.

Science can show us the workings of the universe in ways we could never once have imagined, and it can change our perspective on that universe radically by doing so. But it can‘t tell us what matters in our human lives, and why, and neither can it tell us why we see what we see, and feel what we feel, and what we should do about any of that. Science might be able to tell us how to resurrect a mammoth, but it can never tell us whether we should.

Sadly, the backlog in my TBR pile is at least 5 years old, but glad I got to this one (I‘d even forgot he signed it!). I haven‘t read his latest, but this one‘s my favorite, so far.

The book cover was more interesting than the content. I think it‘s probably an homage to The White Album by Joan Didion. I had to read this after finishing The Shards and listening to the podcast about Ellis and Donna Tartt at Bennington College.

The Japanese have a word for it 😬😬

This got 4.25 on Goodreads, and it‘s a breezy read, but I didn‘t learn much I didn‘t already know, and I wish Hari had spent more time on neuroscience. He tries to tackle too much, and ultimately (and ironically) I‘d say this lacked focus 😂

The Rivers of America series started in 1937 and 65 volumes were eventually published, usually authored by literary figures, rather than historians. This is an excellent one containing a lot of great stories from early Western NC and Eastern TN history. Dykeman was a regional writer but a pioneer, considering she was a woman and wrote a lot about ecological concerns, long before the 1970s.

The Rivers of America series started in 1937 and 65 volumes were eventually published, usually authored by literary figures, rather than historians. This is an excellent one containing a lot of great stories from early Western NC and Eastern TN history. Dykeman was primarily a regional writer but also somewhat of a pioneer, considering she was a woman and wrote a lot about ecological concerns, long before 1970s.

Someone picked this for my book club. I‘m glad this book exists in the world, but I didn‘t enjoy it.

It seems inconceivable that poets were once guests on the Tonight Show and on the cover of Life. But they were, and James Dickey was larger than life. Today, however, he‘d be the poster child for toxic masculinity. I usually avoid memoirs, but Dickey‘s son was also a terrific writer, and there are quite a few details in this on the filming and inspiration for Deliverance. I didn‘t realize how exploitative the movie was until reading this.

It‘s meta, it‘s mash-up, it‘s Less Than Zero, Gatsby, American Psycho—dare I say there‘s even a dash of SNL‘s “The Californians”—I‘m still trying to decide if it‘s intentional (“I took Mulholland to the 405…until I reached the 10). You‘ll love it or hate it, and yes, it‘s violent. But here‘s the thing: Ellis‘s nostalgia for the Eighties is also surprisingly tender. Long and drawn out, but I relished this, right down to the last Quaalude.

I was looking for the perfect summer read. This was it. Not only does Wilson explore coming of age here, it's done in a way that's both wistfully nostalgic, yet lingers with the pain of adolescence like the best ice cream headache. If you grew up in a small town and always felt like an outsider, you‘ll love this. I enjoyed this one more than Nothing To See Here, which I didn‘t think was possible.

RIP Julian Sands. Heaven may not be a golden Italian countryside, but it comes pretty close.

The most beautiful description of dusk I‘ve read in a while…Fred Chappell was a poet, first and foremost.

My pick this month for Pride was an interesting if unconventional (and somewhat academically dry) bio of a minor character in gay history. The wide open American West appealed to many young men and “confirmed bachelors” who eschewed settling down and getting married. An interesting look at gay life, pre-“gay”.

“Needless to say, technology design is not value-neutral, and military contractors and weapons developers do not want these kinds of questions raised, never mind built into their controllers.” Wow. I‘m a decade late to this, but so far it‘s the best novel I‘ve read this year, and remains timely, considering the AI debate. Sadness and beauty, quantum mechanics, Proust, Japanese history, and meta. Truly everything, everywhere, all at once. 5 stars.

Spending the weekend in the failed utopia that Thomas Hughes attempted to create in rural Rugby, Tennessee. This is the original library. In 1880, Hughes was the most popular writer, after Dickens.

I absolutely love Atwood, but I was almost ready to bail halfway through this one. I wouldn‘t recommend unless you‘ve read Oryx and Crake. For me, it didn‘t achieve true momentum until I started to figure out how the stories fit together.

On the plus side, my book club forces me to read things I normally wouldn‘t. On the negative side: this. Ugh. I guess I‘ll never appreciate pop lit. I love old Hollywood and gay history, but I think I hated this as much as I did The Help. I know I‘m probably in a small minority…

Don‘t hate on Bambi but…deer dominate plant life in sections of the Blue Ridge. “Deer think of orchids as ice cream,” says rare plant specialist Janet Rock. “They always seem to like the rarest of plants.” She calls them locusts with hooves.

Poetry Month was a total bust this year. I had such good intentions but only managed this one, which was so-so, more memoir than haiku.

We‘re renovating the den/library which has forced me to confront my TBR and long-standing addiction. This little charmer came out in the Eighties as a satire of My First Readers and Yuppies, but I think it‘s aged pretty well!

Eudora Welty was born on this day in 1909.

"Edna Earle...never did get to be what you'd call a heavy thinker. Edna Earle could sit and ponder all day on how the little tail of the 'C' got through the 'L' in a Coca-Cola sign."

Disappointing follow-up. I can‘t think of many sequels, though, which surpass the originals.

Joan Is Okay and I mostly am, too, after a refreshing springtime weekend on the farm. I was a little reluctant to read this (pandemic lit) but I loved it. Lots of dry wit.

Desmond is visiting our local bookstore tomorrow, which prompted me to pull this from my TBR pile and finally read it. It‘s unflinching and powerful. I‘m curious to see what his latest will offer.

This was my third Alameddine and I loved it. I feel like one of the biggest challenges for the 21st century is going to be the increasing number of refugees, especially as the climate crisis worsens. This novel offers no solutions but was a powerful hands-on portrayal of the Syrian crisis in Greece and humanity at its worst and best, and also with occasional humor.

“Potato salad in the South is nothing less than the principal smuggler of cholesterol into the festive, careless heart. It is pure poison beneath the facade of bland puritan prosperity.”

Everyone remembers Kent State. No one remembers the Orangeburg Massacre, which took place several years before. I grew up in SC but this was never taught in public school. This was an excellent biography of Cleveland Sellers and the civil rights struggles of the 60‘s and 70‘s.

Carson McCullers was born on this day in 1917. “Falling in love is the easiest thing in the world. It‘s standing in love that matters.”

“He used to think that he wanted to be good, he wanted to be kind, he wanted to be brave and wise, but it was all pretty difficult. He wanted to be loved, too, if he could fit it in.”

I usually avoid illness memoirs but this was gifted to me, and it‘s well written. Medicine still fails many living with chronic disease, and long Covid has demonstrated that amply. There‘s so much we still don‘t know about our bodies…

I rarely read sci-fi or fantasy but got an early start on my book club‘s pick. I enjoyed this and it made me reflect on how so little was taught or mentioned about slavery during my 1970s public education in South Carolina.

“The Haber-Bosch process is the most important chemical discovery of the twentieth century. By doubling the amount of disposable nitrogen, it provoked the demographic explosion that took the human population from 1.6 to 7 billion in fewer than one hundred years.”

He came through my hometown a few years ago. He was generous, kind, and I will always have a special love for him, and his humility and treatment of children who always seemed to draw the short stick in life. RIP.

NOT to be confused with Lessons in Chemistry, though both deal with biases against women in science. I‘m probably in the minority, but I‘d much rather hang out with this novel‘s protagonist than Elizabeth Zott. She felt more real, and her humor‘s much sharper. I also just realized in writing this that she never has a name, throughout the entire novel!

Come on, did you honestly think we‘d escape a memoir? If you‘re looking for a well-crafted musical memoir in the spirit of Patti Smith‘s Just Kids, this ain‘t it. Granted, there are plenty of anecdotal Bono bonbons/brushes with greatness (Johnny Cash! Pavarotti! Gorbachev!) but the name-dropping eventually lost steam, much the same way that U2‘s late-career output has left me wanting. I longed for more stories from the early years.

“Now hoppin'-john was F. Jasmine's very favorite food. She had always warned them to wave a plate of rice and peas before her nose when she was in her coffin, to make certain there was no mistake; for if a breath of life was left in her, she would sit up and eat, but if she smelled the hopping-john, and did not stir, then they could just nail down the coffin and be certain she was truly dead.”

Happy New Year! If you know, you know.

I chose Claire Keegan‘s novella for our holiday book club, and made an Irish Christmas cake, which I discovered is basically fruitcake (if you decide to google recipes, I highly suggest going with Aunty Rosaleen‘s, not the Foodellers…I made two!) Each got a weekly dose of Jamesons since November. BTW, the book is wonderful, too. I loved Keegan‘s spare but powerful prose and the way which she makes telling a story seem effortless.

“Probate had responded to his new name right away. You could say, “Come here, Max,” or, “Come here, Probate,” and he‘d do so. That f#%er would stare at me nonstop until I finally said, “You want to go to the recycling center?” I‘d say, “You want to go see Robin at the liquor store?” I‘d say, “You want to drive over to Senor El Perro Caliente and get a wiener?” He loved me, and I him.

A good dog, is what I‘m saying.”

I've read works by many physician-writers, but hadn't come across Gogarty till now. An Irish otolaryngologist and a Sinn Féiner during the Irish War for Independence, he served as a Free State Senator, and was also the inspiration for Buck Mulligan in James Joyce's Ulysses. I was hoping this novel would provide an interesting glimpse of medical training in the 1900s, but it‘s mostly a collection of vignettes that was a bit of a slog.

It's the birthday of Canadian writer Margaret Atwood, born on this day in 1939.

"[My mother] says she doesn't give a hoot. The word hoot pleases me. It makes my mother into a non mother, a sort of mutant owl…Not giving a hoot would be a luxury. It describes the fine, irreverent carelessness I myself would like to cultivate, in these and other matters."

--Cat's Eye (1988)

I loved the movie “The Silver Linings Playbook” but never read the novel (or anything by Matthew Quick). This is my first Quick and it pains me to say I‘m underwhelmed. I love writers that choose to portray the ripples from a tragic event in a small town (Russell Banks‘ The Sweet Hereafter is an all-time fave) but I just struggled through this one. I think the epistolary format didn‘t help. Are there other Quicks worth exploring?

“But bees don‘t understand what war is. Bees can‘t switch from peace to war and back again, as people do…That‘s why he had to drive them out to where it was quiet, where the air was…filling with the sweetness of blossoming herbs, where the choir of these herbs would soon be supported by the choir of flowering cherry, apple, apricot, and acacia trees.” —Andrey Kurkov, Grey Bees