FACT: I love books. I love reading them, buying them, selling them, recommending them, writing about them, and collecting them. I love how many books surround me at all times. But sometimes my house begins to look like this: THEY"RE COMING TO GET ME. So to keep from being Collyered, I occasionally cull my library. Which I did this past weekend. And while I was having an epic nerdpurr shuffling books around, I came up with an idea for a reading goal: The Backlist Alphabet Project! In the past years, I usually pick a reading goal that involves re-reading a … [Read more...]
Baby Got Backlist: Lives of the Monster Dogs by Kirsten Bakis
Baby Got Backlist is a column in support of older titles that I feel should still be getting love and attention. Before we go any farther, there is something you need to know: This book is no longer in print. WHICH SHOULD BE A CRIME. Because this book is soooooooo wonderful. I can't believe it came out nineteen years ago. I stumbled upon it in the now-closed Stroudwater Books, and it caught my eye because it has a Malamute on the cover, and we had a Malamute when I was a kid (R.I.P. Kajo) so I was intrigued. (If you don't know what a Malamute is, it's like a … [Read more...]
Baby Got Backlist: The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier
Baby Got Backlist is a column in support of older titles that I feel should still be getting love and attention. So there's an epic blizzard hitting the East Coast right now, but for some reason, it's not snowing in Maine. My Instagram feed is full of pictures of snow, but my yard is empty. It's so weird to not have snow here. It just feels so unnatural. (Peter Gabriel too.) But snow or no snow, I want to tell you about one of my favorite winter reads: The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier. This is a perfect book for snowstorms! The main character is … [Read more...]
Baby Got Backlist: Disquiet by Julia Leigh
Baby Got Backlist is a column in support of older titles that I feel should still be getting love and attention. I am obsessed with Disquiet. (Which is a little disturbing, if you've read it.) It could easily have been titled "Unsettling." It's so, so good! It's about a woman who flees to her mother's home after a long absence. With her are her two young children, their father the reason for her flight. They are joined by her brother and his wife, who are grieving the loss of their baby. In a most unsettling way. This is 120 pages of deeply disturbing … [Read more...]