finishing up The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk. very long, and I struggled for the first half of it with keeping track of the dizzying array of characters, but overall pretty good. I enjoyed Primeval and Other Tales by her much more, however.

next up will be Soldiers and Kings by Jason DeLeon (Land of Open Graves, his previous book, was a goddamn gut punch, and expecting the same from this one - both deal with migration at the southern US border). also looking forward to James by Percival Everett.

I really enjoyed the first third of that book. the last third was OK. the middle third was so dreadful that I almost stopped reading. it just abruptly shifted to sitcom style/ depth plot and character development, it was bizarre.

‘glyph’ by Percival Everett (who has rapidly become one of my favorite authors).

I read ‘the book of form and emptiness’ by her a few weeks back and absolutely loved it. also looking forward to reading more of her.

get a coin. heads = school; tails = wait. flip the coin.

you’re not actually seeking an answer from the coin, but rather to see your gut reaction to what the coin says. maybe it’s excitement, relief, calm, or acceptance. maybe it’s sadness or dread or disappointment. maybe it’s still confusion. in any case, it can help shine a light on what you’re feeling, which can be useful when you’re overwhelmed by thinking. don’t be afraid to trust your gut.

it’s a digital play on the word gadabout (one who wanders in search of amusement).

if you grew up during the era of scorched earth, shell shock live is good for this.

obligatory shoutout to Bre Kidman in the 2020 maine senate primary.

the archive of alternate endings by lindsey drager.

• ublock origin
• privacy badger
• decentraleyes
• clear URLs
• facebook container
• https everywhere
• firefox multi-account containers
• dictionary anywhere

yes, but not as much as I read novels. every once in a while I’ll come across a book of short stories that piques my interest, and I’ll give it a go. if I like it, I’ll read more by that author. most recently that was Jason Ockert, I loved all 3 collections of his. last year I read a bunch of Lauren Groff.

I feel like it’s harder for an author to pull me into short stories than it is to pull me into a novel, but I think the payoff for me is the same either way. they require some different skills, but good writing is good writing.

world of goo. still my favorite experience in almost 40 years of pc gaming.

I live in Maine, and didn’t know about pine and roses. thanks for the heads up.

canoeing, woodworking, ask historians, and maine.

npr book concierge, the booker prize longlist, my wife, and browsing the library/bookstores.

this list is almost evenly split between books i love and books i’ve not heard of. primeval and other times & the shadow of the wind are now at the top of my to-read list. thanks!

The Archive of Alternate Endings by Lindsey Drager is my absolute favorite.

honorable mentions:

• Slumberland by Paul Beatty
• A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
• Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
• Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
• The Thought Gang by Tibor Fischer
• The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
• The Cider House Rules by John Irving