Ghost Eaters by Clay McLeod Chapman
I’m not sure what I can add to what I wrote about this story that I don’t say in the last entry of WIR. Erin’s singular voice carries this story, slightly tenuously through the middle of the story. But that might just be personal preference and taste. It was a strong story from start to finish. And speaking of finishes! This book’s ending was heartbreaking in a way that I’ve rarely experienced recently. It is a gut punch, and one that, once again, makes me want to rename the genre “Tragedy.”
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and other misfortunes by Eric LaRocca
This book is the reason why I’ve finished reading so many books this month. That, and I’ve been reading some good stuff recently.
The title novella, clocking in at around 150 pages, I read in an evening. Part of that had to do with its formatting. It takes place over email and a messenger app in the early 2000s. I have to say that, for someone who was online in the early 2000s, it felt so visceral and scarily accurate. I’m not sure if the story was based on a true story, but it felt like it could have been.
“Enchantment” was no less engaging. A brutal opening that really is just the beginning, the story stuck with me particularly as a child of divorce. More narrative based, it took a couple days to read, but you can definitely read it in another day.
By the time you get to the final story, you might be tempted to immediately go back and give the book another read, as you can easily get through everything in a day or a few. If I didn’t have a TBR a mile high, I might consider it. Underneath the easy readability of the stories, you’ll find measured meditations on how far people push each other in relationships, sometimes out of cruelty, sometimes out of love, and sometimes, the two are indistinguishable.
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry
As I’ve stated previously, I don’t often read book-length nonfiction. I usually limit my nonfiction to articles.
I do, however, makes exceptions when books are recommended to me. My best friend and I are huge Friends fans. When we get together, the quotes bandy about with reckless abandon. We were devastated when Matthew Perry passed.
I was devastated again reading his book. At the end of the day, he was a very lonely man who tried his entire life to feel less alone. What makes the book so heart-wrenching is that it ends with so much hope and joy.
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Continuing the trilogy of books that were recommended to me, we’ve got Station Eleven. The funny part about this book is that the friend that suggested it to me has been watching the series and wanted to know if the book was any good. So she suggested it to me, knowing that I’d read it and tell her whether it was worth reading, after experiencing the story through a TV series. And I fell for it!
Not having seen the series, I am not in a position to compare the two. However, I can say that I am enjoying the story so far. Or I should say, I’m enjoying the main story. I’ve gotten a little bogged down in the secondary story, which is a flashback to a character that isn’t in the main story. I’m sure the threads come together. Or at least, I hope they do. But as of right now (around page 90), I’m not seeing how those threads will come together. But the back of the book promises “the strange twist of fate that connects them all will be revealed.” So I’m reading with that in mind.
Downhills Don’t Come Free by Jerry Holl
As I’ve said, I’m not really into nonfiction.
Unless it’s about bikes. I love bikes. And I love reading the crazy, beautiful, exhilarating, crazy, scary, triumphant, poignant, funny stories that people who love their bikes and embark on wild adventures.
A coworker at my bike shop recommended this book to me. The book is subtitled One Man’s Bike Ride from Alaska to Mexico. As someone who would love to someday make that trip, I can’t wait to dig into this one.
The Chimerical Dark 