Finished reading Stormsong
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Finished reading Interesting Times
Finished reading Soulstar
Finished reading Guards! Guards!
Rated How We Fight For Our Lives 10/10
<div>Beautifully written experience of love, lust, loneliness, and longing. A tribute to a mother who did the absolute best she could and died too soon, and the story of man who must learn how to become more fully himself. I'm glad I finally read this.</div>
Finished reading Witchmark
Wants to read Seven Surrenders
Rated Help the Witch 8/10
It wasn't head-over-heels love, like it was for 21st Century Yokel, but I really liked this. Like any great round of telling stories, I might wish for just one more.
Finished reading The Light Fantastic
Rated Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body 10/10
Pretty much everyone should read this.
Rated Horror for Weenies: Everything You Need to Know About the Films You're Too Scared to Watch 10/10
<div>Loved this. I am not overly a weenie when it comes to horror, but!! There are certain body horror elements, and sometimes animal harm, that I do not want to see on screen, and Horror For Weenies definitely let me know that reading a summary of The Thing, but not WATCHING The Thing, is probably for the best. Same for The Fly.<br><br>Emily C. Hughes hits the highlights of the horror genre mainly starting with standouts from the 1960s and moving forward all the way to 2018's Hereditary (another one I probably won't watch. Love you nonetheless, Toni Collette!) Some of the films I'd seen before, some not in a long time, and others I meant to get around to, but never have yet. The summaries are great, the jokes are good, and if you're the type that can read some horror elements, but can't watch them, she helpfully provides a few books at the end of each chapter that might be more up your alley. I've also read several of the recommendations, and they are good ones. So you can trust this book, is what I'm saying.<br><br>Emily and I are internet-acquainted, so admittedly, this is what got my attention at first, but I still think that even if you're a stone-cold, nothing-bothers-you horror fan, you'll find something to enjoy with this book. Weenies forever!</div>
<div>3 stars would be a bit generous, but I did learn some things. This look at Scotland's history and influence as it relates to the modern world (well, as of 2001, when this was published) is a dry read, and I didn't always agree with Herman's assessments. He takes too light a hand in matters of colonialism and capitalism, and there's barely a woman to be found. However, he does lay out a timeline well, and it's interesting to learn about the ways in which Scotland prioritized education and freedom, and I could see some through-lines when it comes to my own family's ancestry (those ex-Orkney Canadians/New Englanders and Carolina/Tennessee "rednecks" are both in my background). So, for a book I picked up because I happened to notice it at the library, it's not bad, but it definitely wasn't love.</div>
Finished reading Spy Vs. Spy: The Complete Casebook
Edited 50d ago
Finished reading Going Postal
Rated How To Write An Autobiographical Novel: Essays 10/10
Loved this completely.
Finished reading Making Money
Rated Torchwood: Uncanny Valley 8/10
Jack Harkness has hate-sex with a queer robot designed to look like a well-known billionaire? Yes, this sounds like Torchwood.
Finished reading MAD Spy vs Spy: An Explosive Celebration
Wants to read Inside Updown The Story of Upstairs, Downstairs
Rated I Loved You More: A Novel 10/10
Briefly, I debated between <i>The Price of Salt</i> by Patricia Highsmith and this book for my favorite read this year, but what gave <i>I Loved You More</i> its edge was my visceral reaction to it. This book fucked me up in the best way, right when I needed it. While Highsmith keeps a certain amount of narrative distance from the love, lust, loneliness, and longing, Spanbauer dives right in. Mercilessly.<br><br>The Goodreads plot description doesn't really do the book justice. The friendship between these two men — Ben, more-or-less gay; Hank, more-or-less straight — is intense and beautiful. For a time, they drift apart, and their reunion is full of its own complications. Because it's partially set in 1980s New York, illness and caregiving play a central part of the story as well. <br><br>I cannot recommend this book enough.<br><br>(See the rest of my Top 10 Favorites from 2015 at <a href="http://glorifiedloveletters.blogspot.com/2015/12/glorified-love-letters-top-10-favorite.html">Glorified Love Letters</a>.)
Wants to read I Will Judge You by Your Bookshelf