https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDWZEzT1CTs
Intro
Mystery guest
Weekly highlights
Old Rendering Plant by Wolfgang Hilbig
About Uncle by Rebecca Gisler
Though the Bodies Fall by Noel O'Regan
Resonances
Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell
Gaza Weddings: A Novel by Ibrahim Nasrallah
Birdeye by Judith Heneghan
The Ecliptic by Benjamin Wood
...etc
And just that clearly, in the muddled, whiskey-soaked place where terrible ideas pose as good ones, I knew what I had to do.
pickThis is a haunting, lyrical story set on the Irish Kerry cliffs. Micheál, a reluctant guardian of a suicide blackspot, inherits his late mother‘s grim duty of watching and intervening when he can.
Torn between family estrangement, personal grief, and the suffocating pull of home, Micheál‘s silence speaks volumes. I‘ll be thinking of this for a while.
pickI wasn‘t a Swamplandia fan and thus initially passed this one up, so I‘m glad the #NBAlonglist for fiction got me to read it. I found this unique Dust Bowl historical fiction with some fantastical components to be fully engrossing. The characters are great and I like that we hear rotating perspectives from them, which helps keep the book moving. I really liked it!
pickThe Antidote is so different: it‘s historical fiction but felt fresh. The point of view is constantly changing so the action is slow and even feels a bit repetitive but I think that is actually a good thing for this novel. There‘s also Wizard of Oz vibes, weirdly. I hadn‘t encountered that in other reviews I‘ve read, but the town is Uz, and there‘s a scarecrow. Stolen lands, a collective misremembering & willful ignorance, it‘s America!
My October TBR for #Bookspin, #HauntedSelf, and #CasttheDie (first 13 with the tagged as my Lucky Book), plus several alternates since I have so many newer titles on my TBR and those are sometimes difficult to acquire in a timely manner without breaking the budget. (And because I was too excited about spooky reading to stop at 20.)
And here's Camille, making sure I'm doing it right.
@thearomaofbooks @puddlejumper
pickThis was an enjoyable read about a grunge band‘s rise and fall in the 90s. Perfect if you enjoyed Daisy Jones and the Six.
so-soThis was just so-so for me. Because it was quite slow-slow. Excellent message though, I just found the MC uninteresting. (32)
⭐️: 3/5
pickI just loved this. The initial humor makes room for more depth than I was expecting. Bud is an obituary writer. And after a botched blind date he drunkenly pens his own obituary and manages to publish it. Put on leave from his job, Bud has some time to spend with friends, start a funeral attendance habit, and examine his own life. The question: in light of your own mortality, how does one make a meaningful life?
