1. They’re ugly as sin.
2. They’re scary as shit when you happen across one in the dark and it hisses at you with its pointy teeth and glowing eyes.
3. I left my car parked in a lot at work overnight, and in the morning it wouldn’t start. A possum had climbed up under the hood and chewed clean through a bundle of wires that apparently was most of the electrical system. It was so stupid that it wouldn’t leave even when I poked it with a stick. That car never ran again.

Maybe people would be more willing to fund science research if all experimental results were reported like this!

“She had six strong legs and it frightened me. She had insect eyes but I could still see that the look she gave him you give to me.”

I love Becky Chambers. Psalm for the Wild Built was one of my favorites from 2022.

Dutch House was one of my favorite reads from 2022.

I actually split between reading and listening to the audiobook. It was long either way! I didn’t care for it as much as I thought I would. The first part took me a while to get into, I loved the second part, but after

it was all downhill.

In very roughly descending order:

Auē by Becky Manawatu

Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson

Open Throat by Henry Hoke‬‬

Autumn by ‪Ali Smith‬

A Tale for the Time Being by ‪Ruth Ozeki‬

Home by ‪Toni Morrison‬

Gnomon by ‪Nick Harkaway

Space Opera by ‪Catherynne M. Valente‬

The Book of M by ‪Peng Shepherd‬

The Book of Strange New Things by ‪Michel Faber

The Overstory by ‪Richard Powers

The Door by ‪Magda Szabó‬

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by ‪Gabrielle Zevin‬

I hadn’t thought about it, but it sounds like a fun idea, so I’ve checked out The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers, a horror classic that’s been on my to-read list for a while: “a collection of spine-tingling horror stories that are woven together by a fictional play called The King in Yellow.”

Lou Reed - Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal

I left GoodReads because I try to have as little to do with Amazon as possible. I tried StoryGraph but never warmed up to it. I realize LibraryThing has some indirect Amazon ownership, but I found it an acceptable compromise.

I recently read How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu, which I really liked. It is science fictional, though, but maybe not…maybe more surreal. Jorge Luis Borges, Italo Calvino, David Markson. I started Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavić many years ago, got interrupted, and haven’t got back to it, but I definitely need to because it was so intriguing in form.

Lord of the Rings just about saved my life in high school. Possession by A.S. Byatt. Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, though I’ve yet to read the sequels. Atonement by Ian McEwan. Just about anything by Geoff Ryman, Ali Smith, José Saramago, or Sheri Holman.

I recently discovered M.R. James and have his Collected Ghost Stories on my to-read list.

894

I listen to a lot of audiobooks in my car, which got me back into the reading-for-pleasure habit after a dry spell during and after grad school. I have a subscription to libro.fm, the source of most of my audiobooks.

When not in my car I borrow a lot of ebooks from libby, or hoopla if the book’s not on libby. I also sometimes borrow audiobooks. I haven’t borrowed a physical book from the library since COVID.

Less often, I buy books from Powells, but my physical book collection is so big, I usually only buy older books that aren’t available from other sources.

I have a wealth of sources for book recommendations to find new books. Powells, who have staff recommendations every month, New York Times, librarything, a gazillion places on the web…

This in on my TBR list. I had mixed feelings when I heard about it, but it gets great reviews. Glad to hear you enjoyed it.

I loved The Soul of an Octopus. It brought me to tears at places. And I read Her Body and Other Parties but wasn’t too impressed, but I’m not a big fan of short stories. I’ve never heard of the others, but I’ll probably be adding War with the Newts to my to-read list.

Hooker here! This is one of my many WIPs—a hoody using the Overcast Sweater pattern on Ravelry:

I’ve reread the series more than once, and I hardly ever reread books—I just can’t get enough of Murderbot! I’m anxiously awaiting the new release, System Collapse, due out later this year.

I’ve always got way too many books going at once. I’m listening to the audiobook of The Overstory by Richard Powers, one of my favorite authors who never disappoints, and, among others, I’m reading The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton—which is entertaining enough so far, but I’m reserving judgment—and Auē by Becky Manawatu, which is so emotionally devastating at times that I have to take it in small doses.