So I picked Calypso by David Sedaris as my “Brain Candy” square for CBR10 Bingo, which after reading it, seems like maybe not the best choice, because these short stories are a bit darker than usual. Sedaris’ sister Tiffany committed suicide in 2013, and this, his mother’s alcoholism, and a strange tumour growing on his side become the running topics in many of the stories in his first compilation in five years. Calypso is still hilariously funny, in exactly the ways you expect it to be. I’ve always had […]
Bingo! Bingo! Bingo!
First Bingo!!!! I’m going to be teaching “Dubliners” to my Advanced Fiction students this semester, so what luck that we had a square for old books :) Written in 1914, James Joyce hoped to capture the tenor of his city in a series of short stories that act like windows into the lives of Dublin’s inhabitants in the early 20th Century. Did I like this book? It grew on me. It’s not thematic or cyclic, nor does it have any reoccurring characters. At its core, […]
Lindsey could practically feel the air getting thicker. It was like humidity, only skankier
CBR10Bingo: Not in My Wheelhouse It wasn’t always like this. In junior high I discovered Stephen King’s short stories before any of his novels. These were my road trip and summer vacation books. I loved that I could read a story or two, put the book away and do something else, and then pick it up later and start fresh with something new. Night Shift and Skeleton Crew and Different Seasons were my gateway drugs to Cujo and The Shining and Misery. I don’t know […]
I’m probably the only one.
Y’all I spent so much time at The Toast! I loved, loved, loved it. Enough that I go back and read my favourite posts over and over again—especially the art history ones, like this one. So, I’m just gonna say it. I did not like The Merry Spinster very much. Oooof, that hurt. This book was on everyone’s radar, and every review has praised its inventiveness. I get it. But it was fine. It was just, fine. I didn’t finish it all that long ago, but I honestly […]