My #tuesdaytunes for this week is my current top 5 songs from the Spottify: On Repeat function, along with #7 on the On Repeat-a song by my new favorite band of the past year-Wolf Alice
1) Arab Strap: Allatonceness
2) Phosphorescent: Song for Zula
3) Sybile Baier: Give Me A Smile
4) Gillian Welch: Dark Turn Of. Mind
5) Nick Cave: Girl In Amber
6,) Wolf Alice: Safe in the World
@tiedyedude
This is easily one of the greatest workplace novels I have read in quite awhile. Marisa works middle management at an ad agency & her days start with panic attacks when she wakes up, fantasies of worker's comp by getting involved in a debilitating, but not too debilitating, accident on her way to work and scrolling YouTube videos in between pointless meetings. Although Maria's economic status is better than minimum wage workers and retail (CONT)
Was the premise paper-thin the characters somewhat rlridiculous?
✅
Was it a book that I wouldn't have cared for the rest of the year?
✅
Did it make me laugh & I did I recount sections over Xmas dinner after a cup of wine or two for shock value?
✅✅
An undead elf pick!
#celebrate @eggs @alwaysbeenaloverofbooks #holidaysetting
These aren't even #stickersoncvr they're 🤬🤬 embossed into the cover. What makes it worse is that All of the paperback editions produced after the announcement of the show had these marketing stamps, despite *irony of ironies* the show has now been cancelled. (I obviously have strong feelings about this lolol)
#celebrate @eggs @alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
#HasAuthorNotes definitely makes me think of ergodic literature and Hughes' SF XX is apparently one of the more recent exemplary entries. Although it's still TBR, I have read a couple of books in this genre and one-House of Leaves, is a favorite. I have heard that the latest by the same author is quite impressive.
#celebrate @eggs @alwaysbeenaloveeofbooks
There was a movie that popped up on my Netflix recommendation feed on Xmas Eve that I had no idea was in the works-Kathryn Bigelow's House of Dynamite. Featuring the stellar Rachel Ferguson along with a an Idris Elba cameo, it is very similar to her recent filmography. A gritty, realistic portrait of international politics. This is what the reader can expect in Ackerman's 2034,which despite the Clancy comp lacks a Jack Ryan but is filled (Cont)
#SetInALrgCity
My mind automatically goes to NYC when I think of “large cities.“ This is a city I haven't been to for quite awhile, but I *have* visited 4 times and still retain vivid memories of each visit. From going to a reading by Diane di Prima on St Mark's & the next day visiting the old MoMa to my most recent visit shortly after the opening of the new MoMa, as well as seeing The Producers on Broadway (showing my age). Of course all (Cont)
Catching up on #celebrate:
Day 1: Technically the song by Bowie was based on the Orwell book, but who am I to argue with brilliance? A politician who vehemently argues that they not only are not a politician, but would be willing to lock up and if not kill then be complicit In the murder of journalists, political opponents, engaging in regime change, .. icing on the cake? A coup against the US capitol led by someone with a Viking helmet...WWOD?
15% into the tagged audio, but I only started it a few hours before leaving work today and although it is definitely early days in my first Jess Kidd I am loving it. Definitely one I can't wait to return to. Top notch narrator.
Started this a few hours ago and oh boy, do I not only find some of the office politics relatable (especially as someone in middle management like our MC) , but there's so many great lines:
“Life, in the end, is a lot like a search engine: as you make decisions, your options get fewer, until you have two or three and pray you haven't made a mistake.“
For some reason I had a lot of trouble sleeping last night, so I spent most of the night reading the tagged book by Carl Lee AKA David Sodergren. The book opens junior year in the 70s at a HS dance where Susan & Charlie are attending with their own dates, but are forced to keep their own relationship a secret due to relentless bullying. The dance ends in tragedy & a year later those responsible start getting picked off. Like other (Cont(
I'm sorry, sometimes I can't resist a good pun. My review for the tagged?
Ice Planet Bar-Bearian
(In all seriousness, an unconventional novel about a bibliographer who forms a close relationship with a bear at an estate she is tasked with itemizing for her employer. “Unhinged women“ seem to be all of the rage right now & this one is a bit of an outlier. This is a love it/hate it. I found some of the reveals of the MC at the end made me (CONT,)
*Libby: Currently on my 3rd audio of the year
*Mornings when I go to Caribou for my first coffee of the day & a couple of hours later hit up Dunkin Donuts before a library run for an iced latte with an occasional kolache (which for the life of me, I ALWAYS end up pronouncing kolochka & then have to endure the D&D smirks... like, I know I'm not pronouncing it right but in my mind it *should* be kolochka)
*Received a pay raise today 🎉
*(CONT)
It's early November '57 & rather than join her family at church, Kathleen spends the entire day in the apartment swimming pool. We learn about her near stardom as a tennis champion, as well as her husband's loathing of his corporate work colleagues & dreams of becoming a jazz musician. This is an exquisite novella of a couple made for one another, defeated by the expectations of their time. Highly recommended.
Series started that I will be continuing this year;
*Pratchett's Discworld: I'm very excited as the next installment is Mort.
*Scott Lynch:Republic of Thieves
*Joe Ide:Smoke
* Karin Slaughter:Undone (Ridiculously excited as this will be the meeting of Linton & Trent)
* Joe Abercrombie:Last Argument of Kings
*Robin Hobb:Royal Assassin
*Mira Grant: Symbiont
*Timothy Zahn: Dark Force Rising
Series I plan on starting for the first time:
(CONT)
I just saw the post for #serieslove2026 & plan on making my own post about series plans for the year; however, I have a question. I recall a few years ago many littens posted their favorite series that they had ever read. It seemed like it was either completed, or mostly completed. series & if I recall correctly each person posted quite a few. I think it could be fun to revisit this idea. My apologies to the original creator of the series (CONT)
Packages that don't fit in the mailbox are sent to the office, a few weeks ago I received a notification that I had a package. Literally every time I stopped by they were closed, on break, or showing an apartment Lolol. The wait was definitely worth it 📚🎉 Thanks so much for the card, great books (all on my TBR) @reggie AND the chocolate bar. Happy New Year's, friend. 📚🎉🍫
It's uncanny how for several years my first book of the year has inevitably ended up on my BOTY list. This year I found myself listening to an excellent audio book-The Safekeep (N Haynes-Stone Blind on audio was my first read of '25 & ended up as a favorite). There was one point while listening to Safekeep , I had to pull my car over so that I could safely sob. One of the greatest love stories - will be on my BOTY list. No doubt!
Housewife & mother, Kathleen, opts for a day at the apartment pool on a Sunday the beginning of November. While rebuffing her family's pleas to leave & resume her socially assigned gender roles, she is listening to news updates of the launch of the Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2. The live passenger of Sputnik? The dog, Laika
About halfway through this one and really liking it.
#weirdwords @cbee
Bailed on Patel's I'm A Fan earlier. The sporadic brilliant insights unfortunately couldn't save it (never a good sign when nodding off repeatedly while listening). Up next one championed by @merelybookish OR I might opt for Max Porter's Shy: both audio. Will definitely still give both a go this month!
As I said in my previous post, I was largely offline since the beginning of the holidays. Imagine my (un) surprise of 47 acting VERY much like 43. Having watched the excellent One Battle etc last night really hits it home. My playlist for #tuesdaytunes were the songs I was playing at time of the follies of GW:
*Green Day: American Idiot
*Black Sabbath: War Pigs
*Alice In Chains: Rooster
*Pink Floyd: Dogs of War
@tiedyedude
I was off socials over the holidays, but am making my return with my #25of25 Kicking off with 10 honorable mentions. The honorable mentions are in no particular order, neither are my 25:
Honorable Mentions:
Toni Morrison-Recitatif
Lucy Rose-The Lamb
CJ Tudor-The Gathering
Samantha Downing-Too Old For This
Claire Keegan-Small Things Like These
Margaret Atwood-MaddAddam
Clive Barker-The Hellbound Heart
Jason Mott-Hell Of A Book
(CONT)
This is the new Bockoven, author of Fantasticland. It seems similar to Fantastic etc in that the book is a compilation of interviews of survivors of an interactive theater performance turned bloody and fatal. Color me intrigued. There are still certain portions of Fantasticland that I still remember very vividly. Picked this one up at my local library, so price was right 📚📚
IMHO, Alex North's novels are underrated clever atypical thrillers. I have read, & loved, every single release since The Whisper Man. His latest opens at a rest stop where the Pied Piper killer is discovered shortly after stopping. Decades later, one of the people at the rest stop is called back home because of his father's death; which ends up tying to the main case. This is definitely worth reading, but if you haven't read AN it's not the (Cont)
Several weeks ago I reviewed the Day side of this Saga Double, edited by Datlow. I just finished the Night side & while some of the stories from the other side are favorites of the year, I would say that the Night is a consistently stronger selection. I loved every single story featured-with the exception of the Cardigan which left me indifferent & the frankly silly one by Malerman. Otherwise -SGJ, CM Chapman & Percy really nailed it.
This was the post @Amiable...I saw this before the Reiner posts he did & everything afterwards. I feel like under the current administration it's like dog years. One year equals seven years.
You know what they say about men who feel the need to rename culture centers after the themselves? 🙃
“... After that, she would not think of him leaving, for on the weekend was a harvest festival. And after the festival, it was someone's birthday, and one of the greenhouses was done up as a disco with colored lights, and cats of all description wore festive hats ..“
TWO months after the assassination of Kirk, and the ensuing fallout where *literally* anyone who even had the audacity to post a mild criticism of Kirk with his problematic views could automatically lose their livelihoods... We have the leader of the “free world“ wildly mocking Reiner and his wife after their brutal homicides..... This is AMERICA
*Currently 130; pages into the tagged, which I'm very much enjoying. Thrawn may very well be my favorite SW villain of all-time.
*Two stories into a crime anthology: A Darker Shade of Sweden.
* Halfway through the novella ebook of David Sodergren's “Hard Luck Jenny,“ which reads like an Edgar Wright movie with a screenplay by Sodergren.
#weekendreads
@rachelsbrittain
I don't know *Why* in the world I thought it would be a good idea to try 2 of the Blazing Knockout (aka spiciest wings you can order from Buffalo WW) from my brother's meal, NOR why he encouraged me in the spicy dark side 🥵🌶️🔥.... but chalk this up to top 5 interesting experience of the year!
I was very happy to receive this in the mail. I was a bit bummed out to not find a page-a-day bibliophile calendar for last year & Workman publishing has produced several great such calendars in the past. I noticed that they also produced wall calendars, if that's more your speed.
Bolaño's 2666, initially published 21 years ago (I remember!) & totalling a bit over 1k pages has always been one of the longest that I've read, but WT Vollmann just said, “Hold my beer.“ The tagged 4 volume set, due to be published in March 2026 will clock in at 4x the length of the Bolaño. ☠️
It's early days for me with this one, but I'm riveted!
My #tuesdaytunes selections are my top 5 songs, according to Spotify wrapped:
*Mazzy Star: Take Everything
https://open.spotify.com/track/4f8igDpWLaLB8FyhitEdqy?si=e4d3daf6318b456d
*Waxahatchee: I Think I Love You
https://open.spotify.com/track/066w5Tk5Bcb3AQImUsktKw?si=86f9cc1e18d14449
*Cypress Hill: Insane In the Brain
https://open.spotify.com/track/1oTHteQbmJw15rPxPVXUTv?si=9316e4b05b68459b
*Phoebe Bridgers: Funeral
(CONT)
This recent NYRB Classic is not the version I read. The one I read was included in a box set I picked up at hpb which includes 5 other Woolf books. The only other one in the set I've read is Orlando. Due to recovering from a cold I honestly don't have the energy that Woolf's masterpiece deserves. Stream of consciousness doesn't always work for me, it is either laborious or very engaging depending on how it is structured. MD follows several (CONT)
The tagged book opens with the dramatic destruction of the major Italian cities on 9-11 2077 from a meteorite. This catastrophic event, & scientific advancement, leads to a watch organization for future events. Eventually an object of interest, traveling at unusually high speed, is flagged & spaceship Endeavor is sent to intercept & investigate. What they find is a massive ship that is described as more of a world & by the end (CONT)
“The columns were not transparent from every angle or under all illuminations. As one walked around them, objects would suddenly flash into view, apparently embedded in their depths like flies in amber, & would then disappear again. There were dozens of them, all different. They looked absolutely real & solid, yet many seemed to occupy the identical volume of space.“
👆 has seriously been the energy of my books lately. My current read *might* be a bit over a 4 star, otherwise, the last 4 have been 5 stars:
*Robert Harris: Munich
*Nat Cassidy: When the Wolf Comes Home
*Lucy Rose: Lamb
“Samantha Downing: Too Old for This
I honestly don't recall the last time I had a streak of 5 star reads. Feel truly blessed 💙📚💙📚
Just curious... what reading challenges are y'all doing next year,? I'm still working on the 50 states, 50 horror books (50 percent complete); the past couple of years I have been slightly intrigued by the 52 book club challenge and I've knocked off a few new favorites I might not have otherwise... but I'm thinking '26 will be challenge/prompt free.As a mood reader, it's just so hard to commit!
Clarke's 2001 is one of my favorite SF books of all time. I think it's even better than the movie, which is saying a lot bc I love Kubrick. This is my second Clarke read & a word that keeps popping up is perihelion: the point of a planet, asteroid, or comet at which it is closest to the sun
#weirdwordswednesday @cbee
Side note: Villeneuve hinted at an adaptation, but typing the definition, I'm reminded of the excellent D. Boyle movie “Sunshine“
There was a time when Kristin Hersh, of Throwing Muses fame, was in heavy rotation for me. Lately I have been reminded of her genius:
Me & My Charms:
https://open.spotify.com/track/5eSgNBa53yJrzat1y1SiYZ?si=224b8d56a6f943f7
Another favorite from around the same period (who I had the extremely good fortune to see perform)
Morphine: Cure For Pain
https://open.spotify.com/track/3hO9gaVixKDoYDrlTBrEWf?si=c2428891df934069
#tuesdaytunes
@tiedyedude
I finished this one earlier today & while I don't really have the mental energy for the review it deserves, I loved it. Everything in the book was seamlessly working on both literal & metaphorical levels. This will undoubtedly be on my best of the year list. The audio is *chef's kiss* I just noticed that this is a '25 release. I'm hoping it gets the attention it deserves!
*Only 70 pages left in the excellent When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy
*Alex North's The Man Made of Smoke
*Finish the delicious,(pun intended) Lamb by Lucy Rose: audio/print combo. Audio narrator is stellar.
#weekendreads
@rachelsbrittain
Me... waiting for the Aardvark December selections 🙃📚
I've read 200 pages of this werewolf novel today and absolutely love it, but it is also a very tricky book to discuss without wading into spoiler territory.
100% agree with this Lit HUb article:
https://lithub.com/the-dentist-should-let-you-read-instead-of-watch-tv/
December #botm selections are live. Their picks the past few years have been rather hit & miss, but it does seem like in recent months they have slightly improved their choices. Maybe feeling the pressure from Aardvark? Anywhoo, I was delighted to see a Demeester as one of the choices. I have read several of her stories & loved them.
I was off from work all of last week & was able to read A LOT. Out of the 13 books finished during my PTO, these are my favorites (in no order):
*A. Cessre- Influencer
*J. Ketchum - Offspring
*R. Brautigan - In Watermelon Sugar
*W. Mosley - Long Fall
I just finished the Day side of this anthology & wanted to note my favorites before I move onto Night. Of the 9 stories featured in Day, there weren't any that I strongly disliked but I definitely had my favorites: Brian Evenson, Rachel Harrison, Robert Sherman & Sophie White all had great works of daylight horror.
![[tagged book]](https://image.librarything.com/pics/litsy_webpics/icon_taggedBook@3x.png){kind=icon}