Some Annotated Reading February 6

Books

I recently read the follow-up to a YA book I liked very much a few years back. I am not mentioning any titles, because the second book was a major, major disappointment. It became what I call a "skimmer." I had to start skimming to finish the thing. It was YA, but there was no indication that the YA character was YA (his backstory was in the first book). There was a lot of what might be considered thought-provoking sort of spiritual stuff that didn't really work. Some point-of-view switches that didn't make sense. Some dragging that seemed like filler. Oh, my gosh. This was the second in what was supposed to be a trilogy. The third book seems to have been dropped. The author may have never had much of an on-line presence and now seems to have disappeared. I am always sorry to see this kind of situation. 

Short-form Writing

Did a Best-selling Romantasy Novelist Steal Another Writer's Story? by Katy Waldman in The New Yorker I am a great one for missing the point when I'm reading, especially nonfiction like this. The part of this that really struck me was the description of how the best-selling novelist worked with her editor on this particular project. It was intense, more so than I experienced when working with book editors. I read things like this, and I think that maybe I'm fine with not publishing another book. I don't know that I want to go through something like that. Thank goodness for that agent rejection I just got, yeah?

Transgender soldiers date back to the Civil War  by Petula Dvorak in The Washington Post. When I was a tween and teen reader, I loved reading about women who disguised themselves as soldiers so they could fight in the Civil War. I knew nothing about transgender issues. Didn't know they existed.

Why Simon & Schuster’s Flagship Imprint Won’t Require Blurbs Anymore by Sean Manning at Publishers Weekly. I hate book blurbs. As I've said here many times.

What Fruit We Bear by Megan Baxter in Sequestrum. This is so good it makes me feel, Yes, I must read short stories.

The Many Ways YA Books & The Community Isolates Teens at Vicky Who Reads: A YA Book Blog.  I don't know how I stumbled upon this five-year-old post, but I 100 percent agree.

How Midlife Became a Crisis by Matthew Redmon in Wise & Well. This is a wow. I will never think about middle age as that boring old cliche again.

Humor

Three-Year-Old Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs  by Angus Duffin in Slackjaw. Because I love Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

I’m Your Young Adult Child and I Have Twenty Acceptable Reasons for Not Putting My Stuff in the Dishwasher  by Stacey Curran in Frazzled.  I love teen voice lists. 

How I, A Stay-at-Home Mom, Actually Wind Down in the Evening When My Husband Comes Home by Alexis Tai in Frazzled. Notice the line about asking the father to babysit. It's not babysitting if it's your own freaking kid!

A Series of Announcements From the Robertson Elementary PTA Spring Gala Committee Encouraging You to Please Support the Students Despite the Ongoing Apocalypse by Saba Khonsari in Frazzled. As a general rule, I don't care for apocalyptic books and movies, but I love apocalyptic humor.

God Attempts To Write A Novel In Seven Days by Rachel Reys in Slackjaw. You probably don't have to be a writer to get this.  

Some Annotated Reading January 23

This annotated reading thing...it's becoming a reading journal. Only I am now reading so much short-form writing I can't possibly write it all up here.

Books

I am just full of thoughts about The Guest List by Lucy Foley. First off, I must say that as a reader I am not a fan of alternating points of view, especially when there are several of them and every point of view sounds like the others. In fact, I recognized the first couple of chapters of The Guest List, because I'd started to read it before and gave up on it. Probably because of the p.o.v. switches. This time I stuck with it and ended up staying up until 2:15 AM a few nights later to finish reading it. Didn't have to fight sleep for even a minute. This thing has a number of surprises that are of the best kind...surprises that you realize make all the sense in the world because they are so intricately set up. Additionally, I had nearly finished the book when I realized it has a structure that I have been thinking of using if I end up writing another novel. And, finally, rich kids are freaking sociopaths, aren't they? And they're only marginally better when they grow up.

Short-Form Writing

And She Had Been So Reasonable by Rachel Bolton in Apex Magazine. This story definitely grabbed me, I think because the narrator is speaking directly to readers and there is a feeling of reality until the end.

Small Rebellions: Prose Poems by Bruce Holland Rogers in Flash Fiction Online. I have written exactly one prose poem, which is why I was drawn to this essay about prose poems.

I liked Do You Speak Indian? by RealStories in Ellemeno very much. It's the kind of story that opens a person's mind to other cultures.

I don't recall how I came upon Benjamin Woodard's writing, but what I've read of it is terrific. I haven't been able to read everything but some things I've enjoyed:

• Intimacy at Gooseberry Lit Magazine.
• Everyday Miracles in Bull. 
• Bump in the Night in The ASP Bulletin

I'm trying to read more traditional length short stories this year, and Welcome to Your Authentic Indian ExperienceTM by Rebecca Roanhouse at Apex Magazine is a stand-out.

Yes, trad wives do freak me out. Trad Wives Are Thriving in the Post-Dobbs Era by Morgan Jerkins in Mother Jones. Personally, I take a "this, too, shall pass" attitude toward them, but, yeah, I may be wrong.

I did some reading at Bending Genres, because I'd submitted a piece of creative nonfiction there. Bending Genres published me in the past, though it has had no interest since then. My most recent submission came to nothing, too, though I didn't know that when I read the following:

• A Fallibility of Hoopoes by Patricia Newberry
• Snakeskin Road by Douglas Cole
• Deciding by Marie Hoy-Kenny

Humor

Conditions That Must Be Met Before I Can Do My To-Do List by Viktoria Shulevich in Slackjaw. I know this feeling.

Don't Have Time For Small Talk--Why Do You Hate Your Mom by Kelly Matheis in Frazzled. Fortunately, I don’t get out much, because I’ll never be able to hear questions like she’s talking about without bursting out laughing. Matheis also has a fun piece on how much she hates Connecticut. Don’t hate it here, but the place is full of itself. For no good reason. 

Looks as if I went on a little Emily Kling reading binge:

• The Wedding Vows of Someone Marrying Their "Best Friend" by Emily Kling in McSweeney's. I love this. Both the concept and the structure.
• A Member Of The Donner Party Responds To It Being Called A "Party" by Emily Kling in Slackjaw. Incongruity humor, folks.
• What I Said To My Boyfriend On Saturday During A Fight Vs. What I Said One Hour Before His Weekly Therapy Session On Friday by Emily Kling in Slackjaw. Notice the build-up in this one.

Some Annotated Reading January 2

My first Annotated Reading of the new year. Though, of course, this is all December reading. I'm working on increasing my short-form reading. Relax. I'm not going to be posting about all of it.

Books

The List by Yomi Adegoke is one of those books I can't remember hearing about, but I ordered it through Libby, it turned up after a while, and I read it! An enjoyable read with some depth to it. Ola Olajide and Michael Koranteng, a well-known and admired couple on social media in London, are weeks away from getting married, an expensive event with relatives coming in from foreign countries. Then Michael's name turns up on a list of abusive men posted anonymously on-line. Michael can't prove he's innocent of the charges without revealing some other negative things about himself. The guy is not pure as the driven snow. Ola is in a particularly difficult situation, because she's a journalist who would normally be all over a story like this, supporting the anonymous women behind The List. Both characters are torn apart by the claims. Now, there is a reveal here that blew me away, as I'm sure it was supposed to. I don't want to spoil your reading experience, so you will hear nothing more about it from me. 

Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin is described as a "modern day Mulim Pride and Prejudice," which is what drew me to it. There are enough P&P connections to make it an enjoyable read for people who like that sort of thing. (I do.) I've also seen it described as a Muslim romcom. As I've said many times before, I'm not that fond of contemporary romance, because I need more than someone-meets-someone-and-they-fall-in-love-after-a-lot-of-contrived-roadblocks. I need a historical novel or, better yet, a historical novel with dead bodies and a murderer to find. Ayesha at Last, though, did provide me with more, though not the more I usually look for. A romance set in another culture definitely has something more to offer. Also, these Muslims live in Canada. I'm no authority on Canada, but I have been in a Tim Horton's and loved these guys heading over to one regularly. Also, Algonquin Park is mentioned and, guess what? I've been there! Once! So, yes, this was a good read for me. 

Short-Form Writing

I was struck when I read about The Tiffany Problem, described at the Dictionary of Medieval Names frim European Sources, because the Georgette Heyer novel, set in the early nineteenth century, that I read recently had a character named Tiffany. Yes, it was a little off putting. But evidently realistic. By the way, author Jo Walton named The Tiffany Problem. She also coined the expression Suck Fairy.   

Dead dogs are a thing in children's literature. A cliche even. You see a dog on the cover of a kids' book, and it's probably going to die, if it isn't dead already. So I was struck by My Dog Died and It Was Super Awkward by Andrew Knott in Grief Book Club, because it was a dead dog story from an adult viewpoint. The kids were not there to learn some important life lesson, as so often happens in children's dead dog stories. 

Only six years late reading V.E. Schwab's "In Search of Doors" Tolkien lecture. I loved the whole door thing. Also loved her standing up to the guy about reading Tolkien.

Why I Quit Teaching at the Villain Academy by Tina S. Zhu in  Flash Fiction On-line. A flash story in the form of a numbered list.

Absence by Mike Fox  in Fictive Dream. Not sure why what happened happened, but I was expecting it.

Wired Declares 47% of Medium Content as AI Slop by Susie Kearley in Never Stop Writing. I wonder if the rate of AI is really that high or if AI sounds like a lot of on-line writing and whatever they used to test can't tell the difference. Little detail, no distinct voice, usage errors, and spelling mistakes. 

Why 'Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel' Still Charms All Ages by Janice Harayda in Lit Life. I have an interest in Mike Mulligan. It only came about recently.

According to my Goodreads account, I read Joan Aikens' Wolves of Willoughby Chase last year and gave it a four-star rating but no review. I didn't mention it here, which suggests I wasn't blown over by it. I read One of the most beloved writers of all time: the genius of Joan Aiken at 100 by Amanda Craig in The Guardian because I read her historical romances as a teenager. Yeah, I read a lot of that back in the day.

Humor

I noticed some humor pieces recently that were very much recalled life experience with a humorous twist. It wasn't working for me. The following did.

I'm the Random Five-Year-Old at the Playground Who's Going To Follow You and Your Toddler Around All Day, So Get Used to It by Nick Gregory in Frazzled. In my humble opinion, good child humor (but for adults) needs to have a voice and not be too close to reality. This does both those things.

Best Dad in the World Power Rankings by Aaron Crown  in Frazzled. Again, I like some attitude. I like brevity, too.

Terrifying Two-Sentence Parenting Stories by Jen Dee also in Frazzled. This one won me with the title.

Common Hangover Cures That Won't Work Because You're Over Thirty by Richie Zaborowske in Jane Austen's Wastebasket. Again, voice. And I like the short bits created with subtitles.

I Am Deeply Committed to This Work Unless I Can Quit by Justin Courter in Jane Austen's Wastebasket. I need to find something funny immediately, and I do here. Additionally, this is fantastic incongruity humor.

                   

Some Annotated Reading December 19

Wow. I did a lot of reading the last couple of weeks.

Books

It's not unusual to find booky women of a certain age who have read Georgette Heyer in their youth. Heyer was a writer of historical romance, as well as some more contemporary mysteries and other things. We're talking Regency romance. Like Bridgerton but without sex. I read her books as a teenager and during exam weeks while in college. Heyer was writing, I believe from the 1920s, and she died in 1974. 

Last week we had our usual December holiday hell experience with a child in the family in an emergency room for hours one evening and feverish for days. (Of course, he's okay. He's seven years old, not seven months.) To divert myself, I turned to my college exam reading...Georgette Heyer...and read The Nonesuch, which I may or may not have read before. You can find a great deal about this book on-line, because Heyer still has quite the following.

This is a governess/wealthy aristocrat story with a lot of meticulous writing and enormous amounts of period specific dialogue. While this did the trick for me as far as diversion is concerned, I could do a lengthy analysis of things going on in this story, especially if I knew more about romance than I do. All I will say is that the book ends abruptly, as if Heyer didn't have an ending and just stopped writing. And a couple of lines before the abrupt end, the male main character, the nonesuch (a real word meaning someone who is perceived as perfect) threatens to hit a woman. Another male character shakes his hand and praises him for his behavior.

This was jaw-dropping, not only because he threatened to hit a much younger, physically weaker person beneath him in status with absolutely no one batting an eyelash, but because it was totally out of character. This guy really was a perfect man before that point. Then he does this. Not a good ending, not a good ending at all. 

Does a lot of this kind of thing appear in twentieth century historical romance? 

Short-form Writing

The 19 tell-tale signs an article was written by AI | by Jim the AI Whisperer in The Generator. Recently I've been being followed on Medium by promoters of AI or, in one case, an AI cook chef. (Note it calls itself  "cook chef Somebody" and not just a "Chef Somebody." That's a red flag. Also a red flag? Calling itself an AI chef at its website.) I mute those accounts. I followed Jim the AI Whisperer back, though, because he writes about AI without trying to sell me on using it. Here is my own, admittedly limited, experience reading AI--It's short on details and has no voice. It sounds like  Internet writers who have done 30 minutes of on-line research about something and are writing something for a quick sale. Which is definitely not the case with The 19 tell-tale signs a article was written by AI. 

Richard Brautigan by Addison Zeller in Had. I just got through going on about my past reading Georgette Heyer, so I won't bore you about my past reading Richard Brautigan, though both pasts were going on at about the same time. While I don't own any Georgette Heyer books, I still have three by Richard Brautigan. And, no, I don't actually understand them.

The Most Exciting Debut Short Story Collections of 2024 by in Electric Lit. I'm interested in a couple of these.

5 Vegan Recipes From the Past for Your Next New Year's Eve Party by Danielle Herring in Plant Based Past Food and history! I am now following this publication.

Write Every Day? Why Should I? by Daniel Williams in Wholistique. My legion of followers are aware that I'm not a fan of the write-every-day demand, because it slaps down and belittles those who just can't manage it. But this guy makes the absolutely best case for doing it.

I, Your Iconic Adirondack Chair, Am Distraught Over My Decline in Social Stature by Thomas Pease in Jane Austen's Wastebasket. This was published at a humor site, but I'm placing it under short form because it reads like a witty essay and witty essays should have their own place.

'Heart of Darkness' Is All Kinds of Relevant by Jessica Minier in Books Are Our Superpower. When I was in college, I read one of Joseph Conrad's books for class. But I think it was Lord Jim.

What Nobody Tells You About Those Year's-Best-Books Lists by Janice Harayda in Thought Thinkers. In my experience, it's rare for anyone to write at Medium about writing outside of Medium. 

Humor

The Worst Advent Calendars of All Time by Richie Zaborowske in Frazzled. I haven't bought an Advent calendar in years. And now I won't be buying one for years.

The Time Has Come to Tell My Son He's Adopted and Also a Grizzly Bear by Aaron Chown in Jane Austen's Wastebasket. Aren't all kids grizzly bears?

I'm a Dad--Isn't It Hilarious How I Don't Know Anything About My Kids?! by Jeff Bender in Slackjaw. Is it?

Sorry Kid. You Can't Stay Home Until You Can Handle Emergencies The Way I, an Adult, Definitely Can by Lily Hirsch in Frazzled. Please take care of me.

Positive Affirmations For Terrified Public School Teachers by Katie Burgess in McSweeney's Internet Tendency. I love affirmations.

I'm a Thoughtful Drunk by Alex Baia in Slackjaw. "Why do I want to ask so bad whether you ever read--*Hiccup*-- Infinite Jest? HAHAHA. I hate myself."

Ultra Dad Book For Hardcore Dads: Holiday Gift List by Alex Baia in Slackjaw. It took a little commitment to get into this one, but it was so worth it.

Some Annotated Reading December 5

 It looks as if I've read a lot since I last did this, doesn't it?

Books

Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore got a lot of attention when published. This story of a woman who jumps to a different year of her life each New Year's Eve is very readable. But I couldn't wrap my head around what she knew and when. Sure, it wasn't necessary to know why it was happening. But there were other logistics I couldn't make out. The book reminded me of The Time Traveler's Wife. Also, I wrote a short story similar to this years ago. No idea where it is. Margarita Montimore has a new book coming out in February. I'm interested and just registered to win a copy at Goodreads.

I'm not at all sure why Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw ended up on my TBR list, since I'm not a major fan of fantasy. But if I am going to like fantasy, it's usually going to be in a contemporary, realistic setting, which is what we have here. This was a terrific story about Greta Helsing who is a twenty-first century human medical doctor treating London's supernatural beings, beings the other humans in the city don't know about. Good writing, terrific characters, and the fantasy elements made more sense to me than fantasy elements usually do. It is the beginning of a trilogy, and I am almost certainly going to read at least the next book.

Oh, look. I read some nonfiction. Happier Hour by Cassie Holmes, Ph.D. is about managing time, but not for the sake of getting more done. Holmes is interested in managing time for the sake of being happier. That is a very legitimate take on time, it's just not the one we dwell on here.  Though I'm splitting hairs a bit here, since any effective management of time ought to make us happier, don't you think? Holmes is knowledgeable about her subject. She isn't somebody who's read some articles on-line or a few self-help books. Meaning she's not me. She describes research she's done and how it supports her arguments. The main thing I took from this book is that if you have the means to be able to pay people to do things for you (and I assume a big chunk of the population does not), you're not really paying to have something done for you. You are paying for time, because you now have the time you would have spent doing some task available to you. I'm obsessed with that concept. In fact, I've been thinking about it all day, because this morning the service I'm paying to plow my driveway this winter was here. I'm very aware of what that meant for this day.

Short Form

 Help Wanted: Pre-Emptive Griever by Casey Mulligan Walsh in Hippocampus Magazine This is good, but also, wow.

A Small One Thrown Back to the Waters by Kate Horsley in Fictive Dream. I am not crazy about mermaid stories. You know, like fantasy. But is this a mermaid story? Hmm.

'We Are All At the Mercy of the Cowbell Sketch' by Devon Ivie in Vulture. I have no idea how I stumbled upon this thing. I don't even like the Cowbell Sketch. It's another thing I've been obsessed with recently. It was discussed at Thanksgiving.

Harper Collins AI Licensing Deal at Authors Guild. I'm sure you've all heard about what HarperCollins is doing regarding to AI, because it's a big deal in my world, so it must be a big deal in yours, too. When I first read about it, I wondered, What's in this for HarperCollins? Read this article, and you will know.

The Operator by Michael Specter in The New Yorker. An eleven-year-old article about Dr. Oz. No comment. I just read this stuff.

Food

Kelly Jaggers on cooking for one, etc. etc. by Michael LaCorte at Salon. I'm sorry. That was a long title. I was attracted to this, because I am very into small batch cooking. In fact, I just found an article I started to write on the subject and forgot about.

Why Immigration Was the Best Thing to Happen to Food by Charlie Brown in Rooted. Historically, immigration has had a big impact on a number of things. 

I've Been Intermittently Fasting for 10 Years: Here's What I Learned by Dim Nikov in Tastyble. Here's what I learned--the difference between cravings and hunger and how we came to fall into a three-meal-a-day eating schedule.

Humor

How Losing a Ton of Tennis Matches Helped 'Daily Show' Correspondent Michael Kosta Go Pro as a Comedian by Kevin Nguyen at GQ Sports. This isn't really humor. It's humor adjacent. I am a big fan of Michael Kosta's Daily Show work. It took a while to warm up to him, but I definitely have. I like the not-so-dumb jock persona.

It's Me, Your Friendly Mindfulness App Telling You It's Time to Meditate by Mary Heitcamp in Slackjaw. I'd been thinking about paying for a meditation app, but now I'm not.

This is Your Dentist Reminding Everyone that the Scraping You Hear is Totally Normal by Henry Loe in The Haven. I love going to the dentist.

13 World Famous Inventions Inspired by O. Henry's Christmas Story 'The Gift of the Magi' by Mayur Cahan in The Haven.  I've always had a soft spot for The Gift of the Magi. And Die Hard.

Anthony Bourdain Visits the American Girl Cafe by Heidi Lux in The Belladonna Comedy. I've never read anything by Anthony Bourdain, and I still thought this was terrific.

We Are The Nine Muses, And We're All Exactly Sixteen Years Old by Amanda Lehr in McSweeney's Internet Tendency. This addresses the Cormac McCarthy thing at Vanity Fair. Do you have to know about that to get it? I can't tell, because I do know about it.

Some Annotated Reading November 21

 Kind of a chaos reading week, folks.                                                                  

Books

I liked The Other Side of Mrs. Wood by Lucy Barker a great deal. Though I don't consider myself a fan of stories about spiritualism, I wanted to read some historical fiction that wasn't a mystery, and this fit the bill. So well done.

Then I had to give up reading a book by a pretty well-known science fiction writer. The second of her books I didn't like. She just does not work for me, and we must agree to move on. 

Short Work

Yes, I was one of those people who read what is being called "that Vanity Fair article about Cormac McCarthy." The situation described is terrible, though it's not clear if the guy writing the article thinks so. I had to skim portions of the thing because of the lengthy asides in which the author intrudes himself into this woman's story. Does Vanity Fair not have editors? Opportunity cost is the value of what you're NOT doing while you're choosing to do something else. What you COULD be doing if you hadn't chosen to do this thing you're doing. I kept thinking about it yesterday while I was reading the Cormac McCarthy article. I'll never get that time back. 

I read a number of flash fiction pieces at Fictive Dream. Here are some I particularly liked.

Rock, Paper, Scissors by Claudia McGill. I liked the frame on this.

A Friendly Confession by Lori Cramer. I'm not a fan of one-para flash, but I did enjoy this one.

The Goalless Draw by Gerard McKeown. There's something going on under the story for this narrator.

Then I read some microfiction at Centaur:

Mushrooms by Kathryn Kulpa. This is like a whole novel in a paragraph!

Manual for an Indian Novice in a Small Indian Town by Isabel Zambrano. It sounds as if somebody really needs this manual. 

Food

I meant for this be a food reading week, because I'm already baking for Thanksgiving, but then I stumbled upon the flash and micro opportunities and only managed to read one food piece and that explains why this is a chaos reading week.

The "Bake Off" Guide to loaf cakes: Secrets from a pastry professional by Michael LaCorte at Salon. This is one of the best food articles I can recall in terms of the pastry professional having secrets a standard cook might really be able to use. I do have a question here if we're talking about loaf "breads" like banana bread (mentioned toward the end) or something else. I never liked loaf breads in the past, but became a fan the last few years, which was what attracted me to this article. The word "loaf."

Humor

Welcome to Bluesky, but Maybe Take it Down a Notch?  by Miriam Jayraratna and Kathryn Baecht. Why, yes, I did jump ship to BlueSky, which could be a blog post one day. While I am getting benefit from the place, it's not as terrific as it's made out to be. But there doesn't appear to be any AI involved, which was the straw that broke the camel's back for me at Xitter.

Some Annotated Reading November 14

 Books

I did finish one book that will remain nameless, because I had to skim the second half to get through it. It
was just so slow. Normally I wouldn't mention it here, but I liked the book's concept very much. It was an adult book about a former child detective who is being drawn into an adult case. We had her child scooby as adults there...a sibling...characters that would have appeared in a child detective book but grown up now. Perhaps that's why it was so slow. So much went into developing that aspect of the book that the mystery plot, which is what moves a story along, took second place. We might be talking a story in which the elements are not in balance. 

Short Form

Heavy Snow Han Kang in The New Yorker You can't read this without a subscription, but if you can get hold of the magazine it's in (Nov. 10), it is quite an experience. Truly we're talking a something-happened-to-somebody situation, which was L. Rust Hills' definition of story. Assuming anyone remembers him. He wrote a good book about writing, though good luck trying to find much about it or him.

The Countess of Warwick: A Society Cyclist by Sheila Hanlon at Sheila Hanlon/Historian/Women's Cycling Yes, I am still reading about women cycling in the nineteenth century.

DNA Analysis Upends Long-held Assumptions About Pompeii Victims' Final Moments by Ashley Strickland at CNN Was I a really morbid kid, because I liked reading about Pompeii? Yeah, I think I was.

Humor

Sure, I Voted For Someone Whose Policies Might Kill You, But Now's The Time To Put Aside Our Differences by Lisa Borders at McSweeney's. "I personally think it's awesome that my house in Central Massachusetts might be waterfront property sooner rather than later." 

How To Write A Book That Nicole Kidman Will Turn Into A Limited Series by Tom Smyth at McSweeney's. Hey, I liked The Perfect Couple. Kidman played a writer who we actually see working. A lot.

Some Annotated Reading November 7

Books

Well, I've been reading two books but then I had an unexpected opportunity to go to my favorite library with my list and a bag.

Yeah, I was overwhelmed for a moment. But the way to take on a task like this is to just read one book at a time. Though, actually, I'm reading two. That's not counting the two I was reading before, which I own and thus don't have a deadline for finishing them. 

You really have to give some thought to how you're going to approach a situation like this. 

Short Form

Steinbeck mined her research for "The Grapes of Wrath." Then her own Dust Bowl novel was squashed by Iris Jamahl Dunkle at Salon. Dunkle has written a biography of Sanora Babb, the women referred to in the title.

A Spanner of One's Own: Liberation and Mechanics in Maria Ward's "Bicycling for Ladies" 1896 by Sheila Hanlon at Sheila Hanlon/Historian/Women's Cycling I've been feeding an interest in 1890s history, particularly women's history, for many, many months. Why shouldn't you have to hear about it?

John Charrington's Wedding by Edith Nesbit at Project Gutenberg Australia. I'm reading a book about women who pioneered horror and speculative fiction. This is one of the stories and authors referred to. Nicely written, though the ending isn't much of a surprise. It's an older work that has probably been redone in various ways, so seems more familiar than it would have in its own time.

The Tight-knit World of Kamala Harris's Sorority by Jazmine Hughes at The New Yorker. This should still be interesting, if you have a digital subscription and can access it. Though probably not as interesting as it would have been before November 5.

#Girlbosses and the Stupid Idiot Men Who Welcome Them by Jamie Loftus at Paste. Jamie Loftus wrote Raw Dog, which is what led me to look for her shorter work. Her spin makes #girlbosses sound like #tradwives...something that never really existed.

Humor 

Thanks for Stopping to Chat. I'll Just Pretend You're Not Holding a Bag of Shit by Caroline Horwitz at Belladonna Comedy  Anything can be funny. Anything.

Thank You for Coming to My Fred Talk by Steven Ostrowski at The Offing. This is not so much about voice, but attitude. "Or consider this: on some days, there's a one hundred percent chance of rain...and yet...it doesn't rain!" 

Some Annotated Reading October 31

In the three weeks since my last Annotated Reading post, I started and stopped 3 books (all in one week), read one, and am now reading two. I have a number of interests I want to read about and need to
create some kind of organized plan to do so. During the time I was reading Raw Dog, I focused on reading about food. Because Raw Dog is about hot dogs, which is food.

Food Reading

Falling for Chai--Crafting Comfort in Every Sip by Verde Curated Lifestyle at Tastyble. I am only a tea dabbler, but this article made me want to be more. So I bought some chai tea bags. That's about as much as I can expect of myself.

Ruth Reichl: "The delicious revolution" was a distraction from America's food crisis by Mary Elizabeth Williams at Salon. I do just enough food reading to have heard of Ruth Reichl. She sounds amazing in this article. In some far away, disorganized way, I will read more about/by her.

"Cooking saved my life more than once": Chef Einat Admony on her culinary memoir "Taste of Love" by Michael La Corte at Salon. This woman gets a lot more out of cooking than I do.

Don't feel like cooking? Caroline Chambers' new cookbook has you covered" by Joy Saha at Salon. This article has inspired discussion at our house and with some guests over the beginning, which discusses why "this generation" doesn't know how to cook. So far, I haven't met anyone who was taught to cook by their mother, though we cook.

Anxious About Baking? This Is a Great Way to Get Started by Dim Nikov at Tastyble. Speaking of learning to cook, this sounds like a good way to get kids started on baking bread.

Mother's Ruin by Tiffany Hawk at The Smart Set. This is about gin, which is no more about food than the tea article I linked to above. It also includes history, which is a good way to grab me. 

Humor Reading

A Victorian Time Traveler Meets Your Puggle  by Rebecca Turkewitz at The Belladonna Comedy. Not sure if this link will work for you, but this is funny.

Real Adult Horror Isn't That Someone is Coming: It's That No One Is Coming by Kate Brennan at MuddyUm. With pictures.

Next Door Reacts to the Rapture by Jay Martel in The New Yorker. You don't have a prayer of reading this. 

Parent-Teacher Conference by Karen Chee in The New Yorker. Nor this.

Fake Pandemic Introvert vs. Real Pandemic Introvert by Dahlia Garrin Ramirez. 

Some Annotated Reading October 10

Books (From my Kindle app) 

System Collapse by Martha Wells. The seventh in the Murderbot series. I love Murderbot. I must say it was off its game in this book. By that I do not mean there was something wrong with the writing. No, I mean Murderbot was struggling. If I had read this closer to the sixth book that probably would have been more meaningful for me. But Murderbot is Murderbot. It is meaningful just as it is. 

Skinny by Donna Cooner. This is very much a YA Cinderella tale about Ever (happily ever after) Davis, a high school sophomore who weighs 302 pounds at the beginning of our story. Her father is alive, unlike Cinderella's, her stepmother is a lovely person, she has a stepsister who wants to be her friend, a male friend named Rat (don't mice figure into the Cinderella story?), and a couple of fairy godmother figures. One of them is a very disturbing inner voice Ever has named Skinny. I wonder if Skinny was unhealthily disturbing. I found this book far more readable than some other books about teens with weight issues. The fairy tale connection made it less of a traditional problem story. Things turn out very well for Ever, as they should, since this is a fairy tale. However, they turn out very well for her because she loses weight, gets a makeover, and buys expensive clothes. When she conforms to society's teen girl norm, all good things come her way. Also, I question whether she could have dealt with Skinny on her own, without professional help. Nonetheless, this was an engaging read that didn't drag. 

Short Form

The Art of Taking It Slow by Anna Wiener in The New Yorker. Sadly these slow biking people are nowhere near slow enough for me.

The Unrivaled Omnipresence of Queen Elizabeth II by Rebecca Mead in The New Yorker. I enjoy reading about royal families, because their lives are like living novels. Maybe they are reality shows. I don't know, because I don't watch those. Rebecca Mead wrote My Life in Middlemarch, which is on my iPad. I have some interest in Middlemarch.

Humor (Yes, I did read a lot of humor this week)

My Cold is Worse Than Yours, I Can Tell by Sarah James at Slackjaw. This is fantastic. Why isn't it getting thousands of claps? 

Just Because I'm A Death Doula, Doesn't Mean I... by Catherine Durkin Robinson at The Haven. For a humor list to work, it needs a really distinctive hook. Which this humor list has.

I Tried Turning Thirty So You Don't Have To (Honest Review) by Meghana Indurti at The New Yorker. Haven't you seen these titles? "I Did _________ So You Don't Have To?" "My Honest Review?" Sure, it is.  

I Only Offered To Do The Dishes At This Dinner Party So I Could Keep Eating by Chason Gordon at McSweeney's Internet Tendency  Nobody offers to do dishes at a dinner party. Nobody.

My Friend Can Be A Bit Much But He's A Good Guy If You Give Him A Chance by Ashton Winters at McSweeney's Internet Tendency  No, he's not. And that's what makes this funny. Incongruity.

It's Crazy To Think Everyone (Except Me) Is Going To Die Someday by Graeme Carey at Slackjaw Again, why isn't this thing getting thousands of claps at Slackjaw? Is it the word "death" in the title? Because the "death" doula humor piece should get more attention, too. I once used the word "die" in a title on the Medium platform, and, no, that didn't go over well at all. We need to all work on this.

I Am A Lady, And Donald Trump Is My Protector by Devorah Blachor at McSweeney's Internet Tendency. More incongruity humor.

Some Annotated Reading October 3

I have just finished a week of birthday observances, all for the same person. Me. That, on top of the two weeks of vacation less than a month ago has left me reeling over all the minor life and work details I need to address. Overwhelmed.

I did keep reading though. I can always keep reading.

Books

I finished a couple more nineteenth century historical mysteries, both in the same series, which is going down hill as series often do.

I've read some more of Best Travel Writing of 2018. That book is so long.

Short Form

Emily is the Quintessential Privileged White American Girl by Martine Nyx in Cinemania. I started watching this show after it had been out for a season or so for the French with English subtitles. I'd already finished Dix Pour Cent (there is no comparison) and hadn't discovered Lupin. Yes, you do have to wonder, What is the attraction with this show? Even if you don't hate it, as many people do, what is there, really, to even hold your attention?

When Good Artists Do Bad Things by Citizen Reader at Books Are Our Superpower. I don’t know that there is ever going to be a way of dealing with the issue of good artists being bad people.

An Impresario of the Landscape by Stephen Heyman at Lapham's Quarterly. This is an introduction to Louis Bromfield, whose home, Malabar Farm, I visited on vacation. It focuses mainly on him as a conservationist. I have so many thoughts about this guy.

This is Why So Many Bars, Restaurants and Coffee Shops Look the Same Across the World by Charlie Brown at Rooted.  It's because social media has flattened taste. I wonder if other types of media do it, too. But the whole concept of "flattening taste" was new to me. 

Humor

Blurbs Beyond Books by Adam Bertocci at Points in Case. This is a fantastic piece for those of us who really dislike blurbs.

I Thought I Would Have Accomplished A Lot More Today And Also By The Time I Was Thirty-five by Alex Baia at The New Yorker. This is hysterical. I started laughing out loud when I got to "Shit. I'm actually forty-one." And then I felt guilty for having laughed at this suffering narrator. And then I laughed some more.

Humor and pain I’m So Lucky I’m an Adult So I Can Do Whatever I Want by Lisa Hides at Frazzled.

"What About the Cat?" Feedback From an Online Writing Workshop by Helen Raica-Klotz at Brevity Blog.  How funny you find this will be determined by how many writers' workshops/critique groups you've been part of.

Some Annotated Reading September 19

Why, yes, I am back from a two-week vacation and overwhelmed by the seemingly thousands of minute details of my daily personal and work life. But I've done some reading!

Books

Art History 101 by John Finlay. This was a Christmas gift from a family member. Masses of interesting stuff that I can't really recall now.

A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Murder by Dianne Freeman. This is part of one of those romance/historical mystery series. The romance here is less intense than some series, but the mystery is strong, particularly in this one.

Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple. Maria Semple is the author of Where'd You Go, Bernadette, which I enjoyed, though I couldn't tell you now where Bernadette went or who was looking for her. Today Will Be Different is another missing person story, also a good read. It was more of what I think of as an experience book, meaning you enjoy the experience of reading it and don't worry a lot about what is happening. Though what is happening here is more clear cut than I recall Bernadette being.

Short Form

I read a number of the essays in Best American Travel Writing 2018, edited by Cheryl Strayed. I have so many more left to read. Travel writing is not just those things we used to see in the travel section of the Sunday paper. Back when the Sunday paper had a travel section. Back when we read the Sunday paper.

In related news, I read Women's Travel Writing by Patricia M. E. Lorcin at World History Sources. What was interesting here was the idea of using travel writing to teach history.

I Love Little Free Libraries, But Do They Really Benefit the Community? by Kathleen Curtin Do at Books Are Our Superpower. This is an excellent essay, beginning with the personal and moving on to the greater world, which is my understanding of what a good personal essay should do. 

Exclusive: Doug Emhoff Makes a Pre-debate Pitstop at my Boyfriend's Philadelphia Record Store by Amanda Marcotte at Salon. What I like about this is the idea of politicians having interests. Almost any interests.

Keeping Up With the Joneses by Andrew Jazprose Hill at Counter Arts. James Earl Jones' father was an actor, too! Very interesting early life.

Did I mention the NaNoWriMo series of messes before I went on vacation? In case I didn't, here you go.  NaNoWriMo 2024 AI Controversy Explained by Klein Felt at The Direct.

Two Shakespeareans Take Stock at The Millions Well, to be truthful, I like Judi Dench, who is one of the two Shakespeareans here, not Shakespeare.

Humor

Coming back from vacation is a temporal landmark, a time to start anew. Assuming you aren't overwhelmed with stuff to get back to. Nonetheless, I am trying to establish both a daily yoga practice and daily Medium reading. 

I'm the Parent of the Class Troublemaker. How About a Play Date? by Caroline Horwitz at Frazzled. Hey, troublemakers need play dates, too.

Cuckqueans and Cackles: Scrabble With James Joyce by Walter Browne at MuddyUm. I don't even like James Joyce or Scrabble, and I enjoyed this. 

The Eco-Green Yoga Mat Guide To Navigating Our Sliding Scale Payment System by Jordan de Padova at Slackjaw. I like yoga and meditation humor. 

Some Annotated Reading August 29

Books

A Lady's Guide to Etiquette and Murder by Dianne Freeman is the beginning of what for me is a new nineteenth century mystery with couple detectives series. There must be a term for these books, but I don't know it. Lady's Guide has a decent mystery, though I thought the ending was just a little bit abrupt, and there is little of the cliched mannerisms that many of these books have--the rolling of eyes, the carrying on about the scent coming in from outdoors, the arguing between the future lovers. I'm now reading book two.

Book Lovers by Emily Henry. This author was recommended for her dialogue by a workshop leader a few months ago. Her dialogue is great. And this particular book is good for a reader like me who isn't into traditional romance and whose knowledge of it is primarily from movies, because a family member is a fan. Book Lovers has a metafiction thing going on, with the main character recognizing the cliches of the romance genre and assigning roles to the people around her. She, herself, is the evil city woman girlfriend in romances. Loved that. In spite of this, there was a lot of romance stuff going on that romance readers should like. I particularly liked how much the main character loved New York City, because the city is usually bad and country good in these kinds of stories. Henry is a good author to know about.

Short Stories

The Books of Losing You by Junot Diaz at The New Yorker. My first time reading Junot Diaz. I got the New Yorker subscription to read their on-line humor. That doesn't interest me much. It's exposing me to a wider variety of fiction writers, though. So huzzah for that.

The Closer You Were, The Less You Knew by Annie Dawid at Sequesterum. Right now Sequesterum may be my favorite literary journal. You have to subscribe to read entire short stories, but you can do so for just a few months, which seems very outside the box to me. Sometimes I find literary journals...difficult...beyond me. The things I've read at Sequesterum are sophisticated stories I can understand. The Closer You Were, The Less You Knew deals with a family experiencing tragedy on 9/11/2001. But they've been experiencing tragedy for decades, even generations. It was something I never thought of before. Tragedy is all over extended families, even if it's not tragedy on a 9/11 magnitude. In this story, it comes on top of everything else.

Short Form

A Fishing Book From 1594 is Still One of the Most Sought-After by Nature Lovers by Lance R. Fletcher in A Boy and His Dog: Outdoor Americana As a general rule, I prefer reading about very old pieces of literature rather than reading the pieces of literature themselves. 

A Life of Neurodivergence: What We Thought About Paris Hilton Was All Wrong at LinkedIn? Not sure who wrote this or how I got to something at LinkedIn. It turns out that Paris Hilton has ADHD and writes about it in her 2023 memoir. We deal with ADHD in our family. I read about that.

How I Shifted From Pure Writing To Documenting Instead by Brendan Charles at The Writing Cooperative. Charles explains that he became more successful on Medium when he stopped writing "how to" articles and began writing "how I" articles. I think this relates to something I've seen going on on Medium all the time I've been there. Many people write and publish articles on things they don't actually know much about. In terms of writing about writing, I agree with Charles that most things I see on the subject on Medium have been done before. The articles appear to be researched, not the work of experienced writers discussing a craft they have experience with and knowledge of. In fact, I can recall reading a "how to/how I" Medium article once by someone who explained how many minutes he spent on-line researching a subject and then how many minutes he spent writing the article. The impression left was that his readers could do that with their writing, too. But writing about something you don't truly know about doesn't make for compelling reading.

Humor

I Miss the Good Old Days When You Could Go to a Website and Read It by Alex Baia at Slackjaw  What's funny about this is that the 'good old days' aren't all that old. Except for the readers who think they are.

I'm a Regular Guy Who's Sick of Being Villainized for My Secret Second Family by Caroline Horwitz in Frazzled. We're not supposed to feel a guy with a second family is being victimized. And guess what? We don't! 

Some Annotated Reading August 22

 Books

I read Early Autumn by Louis Bromfield, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1927, because I'm going to be visiting his home this fall. I have many thoughts about this book, which I may put into an essay. I will say that this thing leans heavily into telling instead of showing. Very, very heavily.

Short Stories

Chablis by Donald Barthelme in The New Yorker. I think this is the first thing by Donald Barthelme that I've read. I found it enjoyable, but I can't say I got it. I'm reading a book about art history, and I'm wondering now how necessary it is to get things.

My Poet Laureate Project

I keep forgetting that I'm reading poetry by all the poet laureates. Or, as they were called in the early days, consultants in poetry. I tried reading a few things by Robert Lowell, Consultant in Poetry in 1947 to 1948. I know he's a big-name writer. I didn't have a lot of time this past week, and his poems I sampled did not quickly grab me. I do admire Skunk Hour a bit, because it includes the name "L.L. Bean." 

Short Form Reading

The Radical Woman Behind Good-night Moon by  Anna Holmes in The New Yorker. I love reading about Margaret Wise Brown. Love it. So much great stuff in this article, which you won't be able to read, because it requires a subscription. Like the short story above

Nor will you be able to read Wendy Wasserstein's The Baby Who Arrived Too Soon, because it's also in The New Yorker. Published in 2000. Now, of course I know Wendy Wasserstein's name, because I don't live in a cave. But I've never seen any of her plays or, I believe, read anything she wrote. I don't love reading preemie stories, the way I love reading Margaret Wise Brown stories, but it's difficult for me to pass by one, especially if it appears to have a happy ending, which Wendy's does. I call her Wendy, because I, too, am a preemie mom. We sort of have a club. So I read Wendy's wonderful story, then I headed out to Google to see how things are going with her and Lucy. And I found that Wendy died in 2006. And you know what? I knew that. I read about it when it happened, because I don't live in a cave. But I didn't know we were both preemie moms then. Now I do.

Here's something you should be able to read: Helga Estby's Long, Long Walk Was Almost Lost to History by Shawn Vestal in The Spokesman Review. I stumbled upon Helga Estby's name, because I'm into the nineteenth century, particularly the 1890s. Also women.

I've heard of flaneurs before, but they came up again in that art history book I mentioned earlier. That led me to reading A Flaneur's Guide to Walking with Intention by Caleigh Alleyne in EnRoute. It's an interview with Erika Wilson who wrote a book about walking in the flaneurish way. I walk. I expect to be walking an extra amount next month. 

The Trad Wife Is a Myth--Historically, She Never Existed by Maria Cassano at The Virago. This confirms everything I think about this subject. 

Some Annotated Reading August 8

Lots going on the week before last, including house guests. Last week was recovery. If you've ever read about introverts needing recovery, believe it. I was overwhelmed just from little things I needed to do to get work and life back on track. Too overwhelmed to do an annotated reading post, which appears to be one of the few things I do here these days.

Books

The Witches Are Coming by Lindy West. I don't know how I found out about this, but it's terrific. I've read a number of books of essays by young women who are say, comedy people, and the essays are very memoirish things. From this book, it appears West is more of a witty social commentator. Her essays, even if they are personal essays, do what I believe personal essays are supposed to do...they move from the personal to the greater world. The meaning of "the witches are coming" title...wow. Lots of good stuff in this book. I'll be looking for more of her work. 

The Lemon by S. E. Boyd. I'm sure I came upon this one because it won this year's Thurber Prize. I had a little trouble getting into it, which was probably due to the point-of-view switches. They're always an issue for me. And I found the ending...not all that ending-like. But I suspect this book is more of a satire about celebrity than it is a story, and it was an enjoyable read between the beginning and the ending. 

About Humor

"One of the main inventors of the form": Bob Newhart's stand-up comedy mind unbuttoned" (I hate it when titles have no caps) by Melanie McFarland at Salon. McFarland quotes Marc Maron: "Newhart was part of a shift from rapid fire punchlines to methodical, contemplative comedy." This reminded me of my high school English teacher who said he didn't care for Bob Hope, because he just stood on a stage and told jokes. Probably the most significant thing I took away from my year with him.

Eating

An Ode To The Saltine Cracker by John DeVore at Medium. 1st. I don't actually know what good food writing is, but I enjoyed this very much. I don't eat saltines anymore, because I don't eat wheat, but one gluten free company makes something it calls "table crackers" that serves the purpose for me. This article left me feeling that perhaps crackers don't exist for soup, but that soup exists for crackers. 2nd. I just noticed that this article wasn't published at a Medium publication but directly by the author. Nonetheless, it did very well according to the number of claps and comments, which can be difficult to do without the help of a publication. Well, this author has nearly 140,000 followers. So he doesn't need a publication.  

Kamala Harris is reclaiming what it means to be a "woman in the kitchen" by Marin Scotten at Salon. I found this very interesting, because Harris has been in what you'd think would be a high-profile position for nearly four years and evidently has talked about cooking quite a bit. I am not a foodie by any means. Eating is more my interest, and while I had pretentions for cooking as an art years ago, I cook to sustain life now. Still, I do a little reading about cooking. In four years, the only thing I'd heard about Kamala Harris cooking was the story about her explaining how to cook a turkey while she was waiting for an interview to start. What's that about? Was the press not interested before the last two weeks, even though there are videos of her talking about cooking? Was I reading the wrong stuff? 

Humor

J.D. Vance's Least Favorite Movies and TV Shows by Caroline Horwitz at MuddyUm. I like repetition in humor, and I enjoyed the cat repetition here. 

I'd Like to Present an Argument Against Funeral Karaoke by Graham Techler at Points in Case. A very good example of incongruity humor.

After Playing Magic the Gathering with You, a Child, I Have Concluded That My Life is a Lie and I Probably Have Dementia by Dave Goldstein at Frazzled. Love the way the game leads the speaker to his life conclusions. Also, I've lived through Magic the Gathering and am now immersed in Pokemon. I'm going to point out that at Chez Gauthier those collectible card games are perceived as a guy thing. It's not that I, a woman, am intellectually too weak to play them. It's that I won't. 

Some Annotated Reading July 18

Finished Reading a Book!

Mrs. March by Virginia Feito was one of those books I read about, put on my library list, and by the time I got it, no longer recalled why I was interested in it. Usually that is a neat reading experience. This time I am very sorry I didn't read up on Mrs. March again before reading it. I read this as literary fiction about an unpleasant woman who is falling apart. The unnamed setting appears to be 1960s, upper class New York City, a time and group that always depresses me. I ended up skimming some sections and jumping to the end. 

I am sorry now.

After finishing the book, I did some reading about it and...it's a novel of psychological suspense!  I wasn't prepared for that when I started reading. So I missed what, in hindsight, I now believe were several references to Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier, a novel of psychological suspense that Mrs. March is reading. And Rebecca is related to Jane Eyre, and I am so mmmm about Jane Eyre. I really regret not being better prepared for this book.

I am not a fan of reading books over again, but at some point in the future, I would like to reread this one. There's also going to be a movie.

An interesting point about Mrs. March, no matter how you read it: I don't see how anybody could find Mrs. March a likable character. And that blows the whole "your protagonist must be likeable" thing right out of the water.

Short Story

Though I have a digital subscription to The New Yorker, I haven't been reading many of the short stories, which is, I'm sure, my loss. I only read So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan, which originally appeared in The New Yorker in 2022, because Peter Hoppock did what the Off Campus Writers' Workshop calls a craft element program about it for them. Oh, my gosh. An incredible story by an author I had never heard of but whose work I'll be looking for now. I signed up for Hoppock's program, couldn't attend, but read the material he collected in which Keegan talked about her writing. A great reading/study experience.

An interesting point: as with Mrs. March, the main character in So Late in the Day is not a likable character. 

Other Things

A family member posted a poem on Facebook by Aliza Grace, a writer I'd never heard of, that packed a bit of a punch. So I looked Grace up, by which, of course, I mean I googled her. Holy Smokes! TikTok's Hottest Gen Z Poet Accused of Blatant Plagiarism by Darshita Goyal at The Daily Beast. A number of years ago, I read of something similar happening with books. While this is not the worst thing in the world that can happen, it is disturbing that it appears these people can't be stopped. There is plagiarism and then, yes, there is blatant plagiarism.

The Lion and Me by John Lahr in the New Yorker is one of those older articles (1998) I enjoy reading when I stumble upon them.

Humor

I Quit Murdering People for 7 Days. Here's What Happened by Philip S. Naudus at Jane Austen's Wastebasket. I love the title of this thing. It is soooo close to titles we've all seen. Over and over again.