So this is a collection of stories from John O’Hara, who wrote many many more than are contained here, and there’s also a weird gap in the middle that I will discuss. For first third of this book, we have very short short stories from about 1935-1950. This represents a period in which John O’Hara was heavily publishing in The New Yorker and in a lot of ways, he kind of invented the genre of the “New Yorker” Story — short, impactful. For me, the kind […]
The Life-changing Magic of having a Less F-ed Up Habitat
As with so many other things, I’m reviewing a thing long after it got popular, and yet this time, at least, I’m managing to be at least a little bit on-trend, so go me?
Crying Out My Safe Word
I am an unrequited fan of Jim Thompson’s novels. If he’s not my favorite writer of all time, he’s one of them. I usually read books for good, well-plotted stories with richly developed characters. Rarely do I read them for metaphysics. Such is not the case with Thompson’s work. Famously dubbed the “dimestore Dostoevsky”, Thompson’s unrelenting nihilism and views of the corruption of human nature weirdly fit my own despite my cheery demeanor. I believe we’re all mere steps away from chaos and those who […]
Did anyone think to check the building for personifications of Roman Gods
Modern day London: home to a vibrant mix of cultures, faiths, and hipster coffee shops. And, in Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series, also home to gods and goddesses, the fae, ghosts of past London, and the terrifying spirit of Mr Punch from the Punch & Judy puppet show. Really it’s not surprising that the Met Police need their own magic division to cope with a city where any building could embody the spirit of a 2500 year old anglo-roman who got worshipped as a […]