currently reading: Interior by Thomas Clerc
books bought:
The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins by Clint, Justin, Travis, and Griffin McElroy; illus. Carey Pietsch
books received:
Interior by Thomas Clerc, trans. Jeffrey Zuckerman
The Souls of Yellow Folk by Wesley Yang (e-galley)
Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World by Anand Giridharadas
books finished:
Winners Take All by Anand Giridharadas
The Adventure Zone by the McElroys & Carey Pietsch
Hey you,
I have written a few drafts of this and my heart's not been in any of them. (I've been trying to write about the economy. Can you imagine?) Instead of an essay with coherent thoughts, then, I present you with this list of books that maybe you've never heard of but which could still be worth checking out? Let's find out!
By Monday I'll Be Floating in the Hudson with the Other Garbage by Laura Lannes
You could argue this isn't actually a book, but you shouldn't, because that would put this list off to a really bad start. It's only 30 pages, but it's what made me fall in love with diary comics: yes, show me the mundanities and vagaries of your day! I'm not being sarcastic – I didn't realize how interesting I find all of this ephemera until I read Lannes. Also, By Monday inspired me to read Spaniel Rage by Vanessa Davis and Drinking at the Movies with Julia Wertz and I loved both of those books, too!
Sprawling Heart by Sab Meynert
After my purse was stolen I went home and flipped through this and I felt like more of a person.
The Secret Life: Three True Stories of the Digital Age by Andrew O’Hagan
This one feels like cheating because it was put out by a major publishing house but I do have the sense that most people haven’t heard of it, so there. It’s broken up into three distinct essays: one about Julian Assange, one about the Dark Web, and one about the guy who may or may not have invented bitcoin. They’re all fascinating, especially the one about Assange, called “Ghosting” – O’Hagan was actually asked to ghostwrite Assange’s biography, and who would’ve thought but it turns out Assange is a terrible asshole, which is great and terrifying to read about. I hope Elon Musk gets a similar treatment sometime soon.
A Bestiary by Lily Hoang
I’ve read a lot of essay collections and this is one that I remember, this is one of the best. It gets compared to Maggie Nelson’s Bluets a lot, largely because they are kinda similar structurally, but I think A Bestiary is the stronger of the two works; I’m saying Bluets should be compared to A Bestiary and not the other way around. Hoang writes about her dead sister and broken relationships and myths and culture and she is so precise with her language that it took my breath away.
The Garbage Times/White Ibis by Sam Pink
This book is made up of two novellas (you’ll never guess what they’re called). I absolutely read them in the wrong order. There are people who think, “Oh, it’s art, you can read it however you want,” but they’re lying and I read it wrong and I still really liked it, can’t stop thinking about it. After I finished reading this book(s) I walked around kind of narrating the world in my head one line at a time, just like the narrator does here. For example:
Haha.
Ok.
Sam Pink is a great guide to the underworld.
You & a Bike & a Road by Eleanor Davis
This is Eleanor Davis’s illustrated travel diary/graphic memoir (depending on who you ask) from the time she decided to bike from Tucson, AZ to Athens, GA. I keep coming back to it. I keep giving my copy away and having to buy a new one.
The Most of It by Mary Ruefle
Very short stories? Prose poems? Here’s one in its entirety:God is a toddler. He is learning to walk, tumbling into everything, touching the luminous red surface, surface of your innermost thoughts like coils on a hotplate. He has got to learn. It is up to you to teach him.
Your friend,
Smalls