Index of /bookworm_writhing | |||||
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Date |
Title |
Author |
Pub. Date |
Description |
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Feb. 2024 |
Barbara Pym: A BBC Radio Drama Collection |
2022 |
Almost 17 hours of Barbara Pym radio plays! Includes period-appropriate music! Entire casts of actors and actresses! Mid-century British novels, village gossip, comedy social humor
★★★★★
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Feb. 2024 |
The Premonition |
1988(J), 2023(E) |
Definitely a mood. Audiobook, understated psychological drama
★★★
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Feb. 2024 |
The Fabric of Civilization |
2023 |
Humans co-evolved with cloth. As with Kassia St. Claire's The Golden Thread, has dramatically changed how I look at the world (in a similar way). Textile history
★★★★★
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Feb. 2024 |
Leave the World Behind |
2020 |
Repetitious and slow throughout til punctuated by foreshadowy doomsday bait with increasing frequency. Ultimately a disappointment. Nothing happens. The main characters are terrible people. Suspense, disaster drama, anticlimax
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Feb. 2024 |
Pockets |
2023 |
"An Intimate History of How We Keep Things Close." The second book on the topic of pockets that I've read. Fascinating material, plentiful illustrations. Good, scholarly work, very readable. Fashion/costume history ★★★ |
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Feb. 2024 |
Why Don't I Have Anything to Wear? |
2023 |
"Spend Less. Shop Smarter. Revolutionise Your Wardrobe." I enjoy the authoritative and relatable tone. My closet is in desperate need of an audit. Sustainability in fashion, social media influencer ★★★★ |
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Feb. 2024 |
Shigidi |
2-23 |
"...And The Brass Head of Obalufon." Magic special effects, gods, demons; the action skips around rapidly, chronologically, geographically; rapid world-building with complex hierarchies and laws. And so much sex. Mostly spectacle—tiring. Compelling cover art and cultural context.Fantasy, magic/witchcraft, dark romance ★ |
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Feb. 2024 |
Death's End |
2010(C) |
Superlative literary achievement of a sci-fi trilogy—the final part—stunning, staggering in scope, quality of writing... The second was better than the first, the third better than the first two combined. I'd give it more stars if I could. Science fiction; speculative social psychology? ★★★★★ |
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Jan. 2024 |
Grass Spirits Tree Spirits |
2023 |
A woman caught between her Japanese and California homes compares the landscapes, the biomes, perplexed by conflicting taxonomies. Deceptively simple premise but gorgeous, moving, utterly revolutionary. Cannot recommend enough. Short, poetic personal natural history essays ★★★★★ |
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Jan. 2024 |
Girls Against God |
2018 |
A hallucinatory trip into Norwegian black metal and magic. Meditations on the modern age (the '90s). I enjoyed it; an extra star for an arresting cover image. Surreal, magic/witchcraft, darkly comedic, feminist ★★★★ |
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Jan. 2024 |
Paradise Rot |
2018 |
Dark, unsettling, experimental. A strange, hazardous living environment slowly poisons (?) two college-age roommates, women (my theory). One of them, our narrator, is a Norwegian biology student. Prolific with mushroom imagery—also, urine. Darkly comedic, feminist, gay ★★★★ |
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Jan. 2024 |
Speech Team |
2023 |
Highly entertaining novel about friendship, growing up in the '80s, and revenge. Cinematic in scope, believable characters, vivid, complex relationships. Nostalgic, dark comedy ★★★★★ |
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Jan. 2024 |
Unsettled |
2023 |
I wanted to read more books from this publisher, Sibylline Press; the story echoes my own from this past October in so many ways. A genealogical search into one's German-immigrant ancestors. Drama, family epic, historical fiction ★★ |
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Feb. 2024 |
The Song of Achilles |
2-23 |
I'm always down for a retelling of the Iliad. This one had an interesting angle. Ultimately I wasn't totally convinced—but at least it was original. Fantasy, mythology, gay romance, YA ★ |
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Jan. 2024 |
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow |
2022 |
A fun take on video game creators and their world. Alternative recent videogame history? ★★★★ |
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Jan. 2024 |
Silver Nitrate |
2023 |
Riveting horror, plausible magic, a book for film nerds. Excellent and deeply character- and relationship-driven. A fascinating setting too, Mexico City in the '90s. Horror, witchcraft/magic, nostalgia ★★★★★ |
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Jan. 2024 |
Tatami Time Machine Blues |
2020(J) |
Fabulous beyond compare, emotionally wrenching, fantastic, hilarious, a wild ride. Speculative fiction, nostalgic ★★★★★ |
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Dec. 2023 |
The Covenant of Water |
2023 |
Once again this author took me on an unforgettable, wild journey. Outpourings of detail and emotion. Listen to the audiobook for his marvelous accent(s). And emotion. Medical mystery, Indian family epic, drama ★★★ |
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Dec. 2022 |
Numbers in the Dark |
1985 |
Short stories. A few are really fantastic but others just feel like tedious exercises. Experimental short stories ★★ |
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Dec. 2023 |
Death in Her Hands |
2020 |
Maddening, bleak, cryptic. Satisfyingly Ottessa Moshfeghesque, if you appreciate her style. Black comedy? Psychological horror, psychodrama? ★★★ |
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Dec. 2023 |
Eileen |
2015 |
Went on a sudden binge of Moshfegh's work and this one was replete with everything I love about her. The filth, the hatred, the perpetually growing sense of unease. Noir, black comedy, psychodrama ★★★★ |
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2023 |
Dracula |
1897 |
As when I saw the film for the first time, I had no idea how wonderful this truly was. Epistolary novel, Gothic romance/horror ★★★★ |
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Oct. 2023 |
Death of a Russian Doll |
2018 |
"A Vintage Toy Shop Mystery." It was the perfect airplane ride book, a fun and silly read. Small-town murder mystery ★★★ |
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Oct. 2023 |
Shades of Grey |
2012 |
A slightly difficult beginning but once I adapted to the world as presented I realized this is masterful, enjoyable, a magical feat, just like all Fforde novels, fast-paced and having all his signature off-the-wall inventiveness. A book that made me smile. Speculative fiction, postapocalyptic, dystopian future, dry humor ★★★★★ |
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Oct. 2023 |
Pony |
2021 |
Like True Grit with ghosts, a gripping father-rescue adventure story with a very appealing horse character, set out West. Western, YA Fiction ★★★ |
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2023 |
How to Know the Insects |
1947 |
My grandfather's book from college. It's about what you'd expect to find in Kansas, from the '40s: a fascinating us-versus-them mentality when it comes to the insects and natural world. Natural history, insects, field guide ★★★★ |
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2023 |
Introductory Bible Studies |
1920s |
Another find in the midwest. A beautiful book. Religion, Protestant Christianity, the Bible ★★★★ |
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Oct. 2023 |
Hamlet |
My grandmother's, full of pencilled underlinings and elegant, cramped notes—and doodles of flowers. I read it lying in bed at the hotel. Memories of English classes in college washing over me. Play ★★★★★ |
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Oct. 2023 |
The Vicar of Wakefield |
1766 |
Twists and turns, hilarity and tragedy. Such a compact little falling-apart treasure of a book—the illustrations alone, Rackham pictures, badly engraved/printed but full of detail and precision and elegance. Discovered in my grandmother's garage. Early English novel, romance, marriage plot ★★★★★ |
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Oct. 2023 |
The Plague of Doves |
2003 |
A book about secrets held for generations and ugly deeds. Novel, Ojibwe people, Native American historical fiction, a family epic ★★★★★ |
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Fall 2023 |
The Gambler/ Bobok/ A Nasty Story |
1862 |
The title A Nasty Story caught my attention; The Gambler was the best of the bunch. The gambler is a rich matriarch: everyone can't wait for her to die, but then, to their horror, she discovers the joys of roulette. I was writhing with glee. Russian short stories ★★★ |
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2023 |
Hamnet |
2023 |
Entirely about the wife of Shakespeare, it never speaks his name, which is fun. Lyrically beautiful. Brings Elizabethan England to life; also very witchy. Otherwise just a desperately sad book. Historical fiction, magic/witchcraft, maternal loss/grief novel ★★★ |
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2023 |
Eels |
2011 |
This was the year I also became obsessed with eels. Prosek delivers; covers the eels of the Maori, the spawning rituals, the Asian comestibles market. Natural history ★★★ |
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2023 |
The Book of Eels |
2019(S) |
Original title in Swedish: "The Gospel of the Eels: A Father, a Son and the World's Most Enigmatic Fish." Understated; a little bit magnificent. The eel is a troubling and beguiling thing, I became fanatical about them very quickly. Natural history, memoir ★★★ |
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2023 |
Memoirs From the House of the Dead |
??? |
After reading a library copy I became obsessed and found other editions to add to my collection, greedily scouring eBay. |
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2023 |
The Once and Future King |
1985 (1938-1940) |
I was stunned, I laughed, I cried, this is my Bible now. |
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2023 |
Notes From a Dead House |
1956 edition |
Another one for my collection, probably the best. Look how many alternative translations of the title, even his name, exist! Autobiography/memoir, character sketches, depressing Russian history ★★★★★ |
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2023 |
A Field Guide to Shells |
1981 |
"The National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Shells." An illustrated guide with a lot of photos as well. Learned how to use it visiting Morro Bay. It's built like a brick! Natural history, shells, field guide ★★★★★ |
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2023 |
Fascinating Shells |
2022 |
The (exquisite, glossy, innumerable) photographs are painfully beautiful to look at, I almost can't bear it. Shells are terrifying. I love this chunky little book. Natural history, shells, difficult read, DNF ★★★★★ |
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2023 |
A Natural History of Shells |
1993 |
So dry sometimes it was impossible to penetrate, you'll bore yourself to tears. And yet he brought up sublime points about geometry and resource economics and about the real lives and practical problems of the molluscs in a way that thrilled me. Natural history, shells, difficult read, DNF ★★ |
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2023 |
The Sound of the Sea |
2021 |
Answered questions I had sometimes; on the whole, provoked more questions. An important read. Unexpectedly grim. Natural history, shells, climate change and the end of the world ★★★★ |
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2023 |
The Little Book of Shells |
2020 |
Reading this book feels distinctly similar to falling in love, intoxicating. Natural history, shells ★★★★★ |
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Summer 2022 |
The Warrior's Camera |
1991 |
"The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa." Pretty epic/ detailed. Biography, film history ★★★ |
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2022 |
Revenge |
1998(J) |
"Eleven Dark Tales." Some glorious and unforgettable images here, particularly of rot/decay; very gothic and understated. Horror in translation ★★★★★ |
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Summer 2022 |
Leonora Carrington and the International Avant-Garde |
2017 |
Read as a supplement to my seminar on dream literature. Biography, surrealism, art history ★★★ |
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Summer 2022 |
Down Below |
1972 |
Read as a supplement to my seminar on dream literature. Memoir, surrealism, magical realism, mental illness, witchcraft/magic ★★★ |
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Summer 2022 |
Under the Skin |
2000 |
Brilliant, gorgeously disgusting literary speculative fiction, with the feeling of a social dystopian novel. Horror, sci-fi ★★★★★ |
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2022 |
The Hole |
2017 |
Transcendent. The mother-in-law is one of the most terrifying people for many men, and in Oghi's case, for good reason. Horror in translation ★★★★★ |
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2022? |
The Life of Ian Fleming |
1966 |
Pretty rad. At one point you find out he smoked 70 cigarettes a day. ❤ Biography, James Bond history ★★★★ |
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Summer 2022 |
Woman, Eating |
2022 |
Wonderfully gory vampire story. Mixed-race issues, mother issues abound. Horror ★★★★ |
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Summer 2022 |
The Tale of Genji |
2019 |
"Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji: Philosophical Perspectives." Fascinating things I never knew about interior spaces in her culture, wonderful things about gardens. Anthology, literary analysis, Japanese literature ★★★★ |
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Summer 2023 |
An Anatomy of Addiction |
2012 |
"Sigmund Freud, William Halsted, and the Miracle Drug, Cocaine." Pretty epic/ detailed. Biography, history of medicine, drug addiction ★★★★★ |
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The Book of Disquiet |
2018 UK Edition |
More of the same to feed my obsession. I just wanted a copy everywhere, in my car, at my work, etc. Existential, philosophic, melancholic posthumous fragments ★★★★ |
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2023 |
The Book of Disquiet |
1988 |
This book had me falling in love, I felt an instant spiritual kindred with this strange and lonely man of letters. Existential, philosophic, melancholic posthumous fragments ★★★★ |
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2021? 2022? |
The Shōwa Anthology |
1993 |
The Shōwa period is long, from 1926 to 1989. My favorite short story is "The Magic Chalk." Short stories, poignant, magical realism — a mood ★★★★ |
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2022 |
Earthlings |
2018(J) |
Deliciously bizarre and dark and original. Sad to say I could relate all too well with Natsuki. Black comedy, speculative/psychological fiction ★★★★ |
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2012? |
The Brothers Karamazov |
1880 |
Shocking, un-put-downable. I felt seen. Depressing Russian novel ★★★★ |
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??? |
The Decameron |
Modern Library Ed. 1947 |
❤ Renaissance tales, the plague, chivalry, romance, humor ★★★★ |
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??? |
Crime and Punishment |
1866(R) |
Gripping. Minus two stars because it drags on forever. Dramatic, depressing Russian novel ★★★ |
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2011 |
Renaissance Handwriting |
1960 |
"An Anthology of Italic Scripts." Revelatory. This changed my life and the way I write and think about handwritten documents. Nonfiction, Renaissance Europe, the development of writing ★★★★ |
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2010 |
The Portable Medieval Reader |
1949 |
Such a strange and compact book, containing worlds, an enormity. I was shaken. Transported me to another time, inflamed my imagination. Anthology, Medieval Europe ★★★★ |
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2008? 2010? |
Wuthering Heights |
1949 |
❤ Gothic romance, English novel ★★★★ |
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??? |
The Bell Jar |
1963 |
❤ I've been fully obsessed with Plath since middle school. 1950s college girl's bildungsroman, depression ★★★ |
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Early 2000s? |
The Last Unicorn |
1968 |
❤ Fantasy ★★★★★ |
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Late '90s, early 2000s? |
Another Fine Myth |
1986 |
❤ "Myth Adventures" Book 1. Fantasy ★★★★★ |
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