Oh man, that’s how I felt after I finished it. Total crisis alongside JG. That last convo with the judge hit me like a truck. Haha

There’s something like a connection to the garden of eden and paradise lost in the descriptions of the natural world and human encroachment that I have yet to tease out entirely.

It was meditative reading the passages set in the hills as a solitary JG picked his way north to the border. The descriptions of how light and shadow interacted with the environment/characters built an incredible atmosphere/ sense of place.

Border Trilogy is high on my to read list now fs

Picking up reading again. Thinking of reading "The Black Swan" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

Anyone who read it?

One of the best biographies ever.

Does anyone read more than one book at a time? I’ve got commitment issues

I'm currently readin one and listenin an audiobook, way more comfortable tbh

Been reading The Expanse novels. Finished Cibula Burn, and started Nemesis Games right after

I tried doing this before, and I don’t recommend it tbh. You take in a lot more detail information when you’re reading, so better to focus on one imo. Especially if what you’re reading is somewhat similar. It starts to blend together, and you might get which part belongs to which story. Happened to me when I first picked up Red Rising, and tried to read The Will of the Many at the same time. Had to pause one cause it blurred a lil bit.

I’m like halfway through 8 books atm, I just read whatever I’m in the mood to read tbh. If I get stuck on a book I’ll just straight up not read otherwise

8?

I still marinating Kafka on the shore 😯

Just use bookmarks

The rest he listed were short!😅

Some of the s*** I’ve read over the last 2 months (mostly pop non-fiction books lol):

And the only novel I’ve managed to finish in this time space:

Gonna give thoughts on a few when I have time (some were pretty uninteresting tho)

Negative Space - B. R. Yeager

Starts off pretty fun, quickly becomes a slog. Repetitive to a fault; I don’t even have the energy to write out the barriers Yeager puts between you and the fun. And then, when you finally get to the fun, you realize there’s significantly less of it available than you had been led to believe — no shame in a novella folks, truly. This could have been literally halved in length and I wouldn’t have batted an eye.

Real people are annoying, repetitive, and often lack reasoning for their actions. So if your characters act the same, then they’ll come off as having realistic depth, right? Wrong!

May have been written by a minor sociopath, the only moments that come off as convincing/lived in involve killing small animals or doing d****. Set in 2018 but everyone dresses, speaks and behaves like it’s 2006. Not as atrocious as most mainstream horror fiction, but goddamn what a drag it becomes. If you want some New England-set cosmic horror, just skip straight to Ligotti.

2/5

Fr

Love a good short novel to boost my confidence before tackling a tome

What are some good horror books you’ve read?

Off the top of my head, I’m fond of Kathe Koja’s The Cipher, Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay, Les Chants de Maldoror (kinda more funny than scary, very surreal), The Wasp Factory, The Marbled Swarm by Dennis Cooper. Trumpets of Jericho by Unika Zurn. The Yellow Wallpaper

Obvious short fiction picks but I’ve always been fond of the Blooks of Blood and the first three big compilations of King’s short stories are worth your time. Horror writing works best in short form IMO

I haven’t heard of a lot of these!
King is one of my faves always meant to read other writers working in the genre

Ligotti seems intriguing as I, like everyone else, loved True Detective s1

Debating on whether to read Pale Fire or All The Pretty Horses next

i didn’t finish all the pretty horses cuz i got sidetracked, but i loved what i read tbh

How did you like The Maniac? I picked it up last week but haven't started, When We Cease to Understand the World (the author's first book) was one of the most recent books I've read where I actually like felt changed afterwards

@HrdBoildWndrlnd

Omg I forgot I already asked lmao, thank you!

All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

still thinking about this one a few weeks later. understated yet with a lot of depth, McCarthy crafted a coming of age western novel that was gripping and had a unique balance between youthful wanderlust and coming to terms with the harsh realities of the world. probably top 3 Cormac books out of the 5 or so I've read so far. gonna read the next book in The Border Trilogy soon

9/10

Plata Quemada by Ricardo Piglia

novel based on a true story of a bank heist in the 1960's in Argentina and the subsequent pursuit in Uruguay. entertaining and well researched for sure, but felt like it could've gotten more into the characters heads a bit and maybe taken more creative liberties on that front. would recommend if you want a gritty and fast paced crime novel

7.5/10

Recursion by Blake Crouch

enjoyed Dark Matter so I wanted to check this out as a lot of people say it's Crouch's best novel. high concept for sure, with time travel and different realities making it an engaging book. kept me guessing but went in a direction I wasn't a big fan of and idk, these books are like summer blockbuster movies for me. fun to experience and perfect for a light read but they never leave a big impression on me. preferred Dark Matter tbh

7/10