to love me is to suffer me

books in bold are especially recommended!

The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon. incredibly important read if you want to understand decolonization.

Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Pevear-Volokhonsky translation). I liked Brothers Karamozov better, but I really enjoy Dostoevsky’s style and storytelling.

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield. I went in expecting something different. the horror in this book is more subtle, and the focus is more on the relationships and characters. I did still enjoy this.

A Tempest by Aimé Césaire. another one for the literary cannibalism reading challenge I’m doing. this one was really interesting. I enjoyed the bird imagery in it.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. I read this in high school and hated it. I decided to give it another shot because of the recent discourse (I have not seen the movie, only people reacting to it). I appreciate the writing and themes but still don’t like this book.

The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa (translated by Stephen Snyder). masterfully creates a sense of subtle unease. sort of like if George Orwell and Shirley Jackson wrote a book together.

Women, Race, & Class by Angela Davis. fantastic history and analysis of the relationship between the categories in the title. I appreciate how approachable her writing style is.

Our Hideous Progeny by C.E. McGill. very very fun and cool. Frankenstein meets Jurassic Park meets Ammonite. I do think that the relationship between Mary and Maisie deserved more time and development, though. I wouldn't have minded the book being a bit longer to give that plot element more attention.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. I always say I want to become the local urban legend. this felt like a manual on how to do that.

The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein. dense and challenging but informative about how segregation was government sanctioned throughout the US.

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin. this is my third Jemisin book, and I am really loving everything she writes so far. the prose and world-building in this book is phenomenal. I love when authors trust the reader to figure things out as they read rather than info-dumping lore in exposition.

The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson. true story my ass. definitely not helped by the mid writing. but fun if you’re looking for a trashy “oooooo scary!!” kind of read.

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett. overall I enjoyed this a lot! the mystery and world were extremely compelling. I wish we got to spend more time learning about certain characters and relationships, though - particularly Strovi and Ana.

Omeros by Derek Walcott. for the literary cannibalism challenge. I really struggled to understand what was going on most of the time, but the imagery and prose in this book are very beautiful.

Perdido Street Station by China Miéville. fucking incredible. an atmospheric, weird, delightfully gross and fucked up book. I loved the world-building and characters.

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams. I watched the TV show first (and loved it), and it’s very different from the book. but I can see the similarities. and I really enjoy Adams’s sense of humor and writing. clever little story.

Food Fights & Culture Wars by Tom Nealon. neat collection of weird food histories. some chapters were more interesting than others. the one on cannibalism missed the mark for me, but the ones on barbecue and food thickeners were fantastic.

Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell. really fascinating. cults are a big area of interest for me (I’m ex-Mormon). this challenged some of my previous understanding of cults (for instance, I didn’t know that brainwashing is a pseudoscientific concept) and fit in well with some readings I’ve been doing lately on conspirituality and Western re-enchantment.

The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin. my love for Jemisin’s writing is probably well documented at this point. so excited to see where this trilogy goes next.

The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker. this has left me with a lot of thoughts about pain, pleasure, and what it is that people consider scary or unnatural.

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. I was underwhelmed. I understand why it gets referenced so much, but I think surely there are so many other, better works to read that deal with the same subject from the actual perspectives of colonized peoples.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. this was really really fun. I'm not enough of a science nerd to weigh in on accuracy, but I don't think that always matters for sci-fi. movie next!

A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul. another for the literary cannibalism challenge. I didn’t like everything in this (ex: the writing of the few women). but the way it captures the sense of alienation and the complicated feelings a person has about where they live was really interesting. this reminded me that I need to read How Europe Underdeveloped Africa.

The Re-Enchantment of the West (vol. 1) by Christopher Partridge. an exploration of what the author calls occulture and the modern landscape of religion/spirituality in the West. relevant to many of my interests.

DNF