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Rated Villager 7/10

<div>I think I enjoy Tom Cox's non-fiction more than his fiction, but I still liked this weird, sprawling look at the fictional (though Dartmoor-inspired) area of Underhill. He jumps around in time through past centuries and our future, occasionally dips into both folk-horror and music journalism, and we meet a lot of different voices along the way. Some I liked more than others, but I respect the scope and strangeness of it all. I'll always want to read what he does next.</div>

Finished reading Dead Space

Rated Mermaids on the Golf Course 8/10

What are the degrees of fantasy? When is it merely the willing suspension of disbelief, and when is it delusion on much grander scale, a coping mechanism for day-to-day life? In this collection of short stories, Patricia Highsmith’s characters all deal with self-made fantasy, forcing themselves to believe something that they know, perhaps not so deep down, is not true.<br><br>Many of the eleven stories made me question what was real and what was a product of the character’s imagination, and all made for interesting character studies. Each person struggles with what they know is true, what they want to be true, and how they are expected to behave around others.<br><br>(Full review can be found at <a href="http://glorifiedloveletters.blogspot.com/2010/01/selected-stories-of-patricia-highsmith.html">Glorified Love Letters</a>.)

Rated Mikhail and Margarita 10/10

This made me want to read [b:The Master and Margarita|117833|The Master and Margarita|Mikhail Bulgakov|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327867963s/117833.jpg|876183] again so I could pair up how they reference each other, as well as finally read [b:A Country Doctor's Notebook|897363|A Country Doctor's Notebook|Mikhail Bulgakov|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1331655799s/897363.jpg|2709608] (though I have seen the TV adaptation). I am a sucker for art that does not hide how it is influenced by previous art, rather than pretending all ideas mysteriously come from the inspired ether.<br><br>Of course, anything that has to do with the Russian government has resonance today, and some of that certainly adds to the experience of reading, but it's just a well-written, fascinating book. Like the work from which it is inspired, it takes a little acclimating to get used to the more formal language (if one is not used to it), but it's worth it. Do pick this up.

Rated Too Like the Lightning 8/10

Wants to read Against Nature

Finished reading Digging Stars

Rated Menewood 10/10

<div>So good, I mostly didn't mind heaving a 700 page hardcover. Beautifully written. What a feat.</div>

Rated 1Q84 7/10

Rated Abaddon’s Gate 10/10

Finished reading A Drop of Corruption

Wants to read War and Peace

Wants to read Seed to Dust: A Gardener's Story

Wants to read Song of Ourselves: Walt Whitman and the Fight for Democracy

Wants to read Son of Mercia

Rated Man, Underground 4/10

<div>The story had its nice moments and a fair amount of humor, but I didn't overly care for this. I get what Hummel was doing — revealing information about both characters gradually, mirroring the way they are shedding their accumulated defenses — but if I wanted to have an older dude snobbily pontificate about music and culture, well... I only have to dust off the memories. At times, characters speak in monologues, not in dialogue people might actually say, near-perfect SAT score or not.<br><br>Besides, wouldn't a music snob know that Nico is spelled with only one c?<br><br>Also: Men Be Normal Writing About Women Challenge<br><br>(Apparently, Difficulty: Near Insurmountable)</div>

Wants to read Married Love

Wants to read Melissa

Rated The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia 10/10

Wants to read Why Read the Classics?

Wants to read Jazz

Finished reading It

Reading The Memoirs of Gluckel of Hameln

Rated The Shadow of the Torturer 9/10

Rated The Claw of the Conciliator 9/10