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kitewithfishReading Journal Nov 20 2024
What I’ve Read
Paladin’s Strength – T Kingfisher – Mere hours after my late reading post last week, I finished this book! I was surprised to get such a compelling answer to the mystery started in the previous book, when there are several more novels to go. While there are new threads of complication to delve into, the source of the horrible Smooth Men is revealed – and because it’s T. Kingfisher, it’s written with such emotional care and pathos that it really hit.
Because I’ve been having trouble focusing on reading as much as I usually do, I have pivoted to short story collections.
“Colloquy” by Shirley Jackson, in The Lottery and Other Stories – Available online here: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1944/08/05/colloquy
When I finished this, I when to look up the original publication date because, by god, this hit. A woman goes to her doctor and becomes frantic about how complicated and insane the world she lives in has become. It’s very short, barely two pages, and dances on the line of questioning whether the woman is insane or the world, and refuses to pin it down. Frantic confusion and embarrassment in a very shot piece of writing. Pairs well with “The Intoxicated,” the first book in this story collection.
I bought this book in Picador Classic format, which is a sturdy little pocket-sized hardcover book with sewn binding. The binding and the size were points of nostalgia – I spent a childhood with a book in my pocket to assuage boredom and cultivated a collection of favorites in a similar size range. These days I have a smartphone and a Kindle, but books of short stories make excellent pocket companions.
From Jackalope Wives by T. Kingfisher, I have read “Godmother,” “Jackalope Wives,” “Wooden Feathers,” and “Editing,” of which only Wooden Feathers and Editing were entirely new to me – Wooden Feathers doesn’t repeat the themes of Paladin’s Strength, but they rhyme in particular ways, and focus on the relationship of the artist and their art as reinforcing of the best and worst of each other. “Editing” is a very very short story, and I am tempted to simply transcribe it because I want to stuff it directly into the brain of every writer I have ever met .
Edit: I read also "Bird Bones" (which feels like it should haven been written after Covid but was written three years before) and "That Time With Bob and the Unicorn" which is a hilarious romp.
What I’m Reading
Love Potion for the Alpha – Alice Coldbreath (not her best work but short and fun)
It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror – 46%
Power Broker – Audiobook Part 3 – 1%
The Archive Undying -12% (Going to restart, this did not work for me as an audiobook)
He Who Drowned the World – 34%
Ash: A Secret History – 23%
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 5%
Count of Monte Cristo 48%
The Lottery and Other Stories – 31%
Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation – 31%
What I’ll Read Next
Worn: A People’s History of Clothing by Sofi Thanhauser
The Archive Undying
Petals on the Wind
Swordcrossed
Strange Practice
The Centre -Sidiqi
Unrelated to books, I have finished The Terror, which was exactly as good as people said it was and better, and I started reading some of the fic and by God, that's also really good!
Started working on an entrelac scarf as a knitting project. I finished my update/lengthening of a sweater I made years ago to crop-top length – now I can wear it again!
What I’ve Read
Paladin’s Strength – T Kingfisher – Mere hours after my late reading post last week, I finished this book! I was surprised to get such a compelling answer to the mystery started in the previous book, when there are several more novels to go. While there are new threads of complication to delve into, the source of the horrible Smooth Men is revealed – and because it’s T. Kingfisher, it’s written with such emotional care and pathos that it really hit.
Because I’ve been having trouble focusing on reading as much as I usually do, I have pivoted to short story collections.
“Colloquy” by Shirley Jackson, in The Lottery and Other Stories – Available online here: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1944/08/05/colloquy
When I finished this, I when to look up the original publication date because, by god, this hit. A woman goes to her doctor and becomes frantic about how complicated and insane the world she lives in has become. It’s very short, barely two pages, and dances on the line of questioning whether the woman is insane or the world, and refuses to pin it down. Frantic confusion and embarrassment in a very shot piece of writing. Pairs well with “The Intoxicated,” the first book in this story collection.
I bought this book in Picador Classic format, which is a sturdy little pocket-sized hardcover book with sewn binding. The binding and the size were points of nostalgia – I spent a childhood with a book in my pocket to assuage boredom and cultivated a collection of favorites in a similar size range. These days I have a smartphone and a Kindle, but books of short stories make excellent pocket companions.
From Jackalope Wives by T. Kingfisher, I have read “Godmother,” “Jackalope Wives,” “Wooden Feathers,” and “Editing,” of which only Wooden Feathers and Editing were entirely new to me – Wooden Feathers doesn’t repeat the themes of Paladin’s Strength, but they rhyme in particular ways, and focus on the relationship of the artist and their art as reinforcing of the best and worst of each other. “Editing” is a very very short story, and I am tempted to simply transcribe it because I want to stuff it directly into the brain of every writer I have ever met .
Edit: I read also "Bird Bones" (which feels like it should haven been written after Covid but was written three years before) and "That Time With Bob and the Unicorn" which is a hilarious romp.
What I’m Reading
Love Potion for the Alpha – Alice Coldbreath (not her best work but short and fun)
It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror – 46%
Power Broker – Audiobook Part 3 – 1%
The Archive Undying -12% (Going to restart, this did not work for me as an audiobook)
He Who Drowned the World – 34%
Ash: A Secret History – 23%
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 5%
Count of Monte Cristo 48%
The Lottery and Other Stories – 31%
Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation – 31%
What I’ll Read Next
Worn: A People’s History of Clothing by Sofi Thanhauser
The Archive Undying
Petals on the Wind
Swordcrossed
Strange Practice
The Centre -Sidiqi
Unrelated to books, I have finished The Terror, which was exactly as good as people said it was and better, and I started reading some of the fic and by God, that's also really good!
Started working on an entrelac scarf as a knitting project. I finished my update/lengthening of a sweater I made years ago to crop-top length – now I can wear it again!
