| title | author | format | genre | pub date | original language | notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| the employees | olga ravn | novella | fiction/sci-fi | 2022 | danish | this book is a dream of experimental science fiction. the actual content of the book isn't that out there - a space ship takes aboard scientific samples from a newly discovered planet, which turn out to be more than they bargained for - but the experience of reading it is so unique. it's presented as clips from interviews with various crew members, out of order and incomplete, which forces you to piece together what's actually happening while the story spirals toward doom. |
| collected fictions | jorge luis borges and andrew hurley | collection/short story | fiction | 1999 | spanish | this is an absolute fucking brick of a book, and it doesn't even include borges' nonfiction and poetry. my early perception of borges was that he wrote weird fiction or cosmic horror, kind of an alternative to lovecraft. after becoming acquainted with the whole breadth of his work, though, i really appreciate his stories that retell regional/argentinian legends or folktales. the translator's notes are especially useful there. |
| blackouts | justin torres | book | fiction | 2023 | english | |
| the broken heart of america: st louis and the violent history of the united states | walter johnson | book | nonfiction | 2021 | english | hooooly shit you guys this book is so good. even if you've never lived in st. louis it's an amazing book about connecting racial capitalism to native american removal to slavery to jim crow to redlining to contemporary policing, and it's also filled with cool midwestern communists you've probably never heard of. |
| that time of year | marie ndaiye | novella | fiction/horror | 2020 | french | this book is so sleek and stylish, and it reminds me more than anything of the podcast i am in eskew. there's something so delicious to me in stories about being trapped in an unfamiliar city where the residents don't act quite right and the slow process of assimilation. i have a lot of dreams like that. |
| reform or revolution? | rosa luxemburg | book | nonfiction | 1908 | german | |
| the extinction of irena rey | jennifer croft | book | fiction | 2024 | english | |
| the tainted cup | robert jackson bennett | book | fiction/fantasy | 2024 | english | |
| the trees | percival everett | book | fiction | 2021 | english | |
| vengeance is mine | marie ndaiye | book | fiction | 2023 | french | |
| leech | hiron ennes | book | fiction/horror | 2022 | english | this book made me feel bad in a really interesting way - there's a twist that feels like the moment when you should start Feeling Bad, but the dread and upset didn't creep up on me until a while after that. i didn't want to step away from a lot of the really horrible and strange things even as the story naturally moved past them, but that's a great mark in favor of a horror novel. |
| the bright sword | lev grossman | book | fiction/fantasy | 2024 | english | i have some minor plotting quibbles with this book that are basically the result of it taking huge, huge swings and only landing them well, not perfectly. for the most part it's great and i loved it and it made me feel like a kid again. |
| the reformatory | tananarive due | book | fiction/horror | 2023 | english | this book is so fucking bleak dude. but it's also full of beautiful moments of care and connection. made me cry at work. |
| the gammage cup | carol kendall | book | fiction/fantasy | 1959 | english | i try to keep this list to first-time reads, but i haven't read this one in years despite it being a childhood fave. one thing i loved about it as a child was the way it let me access a mature, adult world, even if it was through a fantasy lens. the characters are all adults, and the conflicts feel like they operate in a fantasy-satire mode similar to the discworld books. there are villainous, faceless hordes to fight, but the real conflict is a culture's refusal to face facts and embrace necessary change. very red scare, iraq-war-backlash vibes. but it's also very whimsical. |
| enter the aardvark | jessica anthony | book | fiction | 2020 | english | absolute breakneck carnival of a book. mwah. loved it. i need to pick up books at random from the library more often. |
| kill the next one | federico axat | book | fiction | 2016 | spanish | |
| gilgamesh | derreck hines | book | poetry | 2002 | english | i lost someone in my family in a very strange but not completely improbable accident earlier this year, and this book was one of the first to really get to me after that happened. it didn't make me cry, but it pushed me into a new mode of feeling and being. shocking, i know: the world's oldest epic has lessons for our time. this translation verges on science fiction in a way that doesn't feel overwrought or tryhard, which is a massive accomplishment for an updated version of an ancient classic. also: i picked this up at maktaba bookshop in montreal while i was on vacation and i'm sooo bummed i can't go back. if you live in the area you should do what i wish i could and go spend some time there!!! |
| less | andrew sean greer | book | fiction | 2017 | english | |
| 253 | geoff ryman | hypertext novel | fiction | 1996-1998 | english | i put this on my links page but it's just so fun. and sad. and charming. and thoughtful. really a showcase of what web writing can do. |
| dangerous laughter | stephen millhauser | collection/short stories | fiction | 2008 | english |