The Bibliofiles – June 2024

I’ve been riding the train a lot lately, which has given me more time to read. I leaned a bit toward non-fiction in June, but I did manage to read some pretty stellar fiction as well — and interstellar fiction! And whatever the hell Total Party Kill is….

Check out my latest recommended reads below. I hope you like them as much as I did.

(Previous Bibliofiles)

Genre Fiction

The Strange by Nathan Ballingrud

I think The Strange by Nathan Ballingrud may be the best space western weird horror literary novel I’ve ever read. The tale of teen Annabelle venturing into the Martian wastelands to recover a recording of her missing mother after it was stolen in a robbery, it’s got quirky robot sidekicks, desperate and doomed settlers, outlaw societies, eerie ghosts, and hidden treasure that is as dangerous as it is alluring. A truly mad and visionary work from Ballingrud, as always.

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61272810-the-strange

“In Bludd” by Jeffrey Ford

“In Bludd” is as if Raymond Carver’s stories had been written in a demonology tome. It’s a suburban dystopia of sorts, with the usual lost love and lonely souls. Only here one of the lonely souls is Hartly, who spies on his lost love, Verbena, in her house by means of a monstrous servant named Abelard (who has his own sad suburban back story). There’s a gun, a dangerous ex-husband, and ample amounts of alcohol, but the story is more emotional twists and turns than action tale. (Truth be told, it feels as if Harold Pinter snuck into one of the drafts and started moving things around.) I’m new to Ford, but he’s quickly become one of my favourite writers because of the way he turns our world inside out to reveal its weird, alien insides.

Link: https://www.sundaymorningtransport.com/p/in-bludd

“Shepherd Not Sheep” by Simon Strantzas

What happens when trolls maybe move in under some bridges of a strange town and children begin to disappear? Well, lots of council meetings, of course. And suspicion and conspiracy theories. And a curious encounter with one of those trolls. If you like weird lit, it doesn’t get much weirder than “Shepherd Not Sheep” by Simon Strantzas.

Link: https://www.bourbonpenn.com/issue/32/shepherd-not-sheep-by-simon-strantzas

“Sever and Bind” by Amanda Helms

A beautifully eerie tale of a young witch, her scheming mother, the Lord of the Dusklands, dead gods and a ghost dog. To say more would be to say too much. Just go and read it.

Link: https://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/sever-and-bind/

“A Magician Did It” by Rich Larson

An absolutely enchanting tale about a couple of petty crooks hired by a mage’s cockroach familiar to break the mage out of a prison for magicians. Of course, nothing is what it seems when dealing with magicians — including the prison, the guards, the mage and even the job itself. Magical!

Link: https://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/a-magician-did-it/

Non-fiction

Stop Walking on Eggshells by Paul T. Mason and Randi Kreger

Does someone in your life have you “walking on eggshells” because of their volatile behaviour? If they lack emotional regulation, are disassociated from reality, see the world through feelings rather than facts, are estranged from most of their former friends and family, have substance use issues, engage in risky sexual behaviour, and fly into a rage over inconsequential things, then you may be dealing with someone who has borderline personality disorder (BPD). If your personal situation is hitting more than a few of the checkboxes here, then you’ll likely want to read Stop Walking on Eggshells by Paul T. Mason and Randi Kreger to educate yourself about BPD and learn how to navigate this confusing and often frightening scenario.

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/188013.Stop_Walking_on_Eggshells

Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport lays out the challenge faced by all of us in the attention economy: how do we have a healthy relationship with technology that is increasingly designed to hijack our minds to keep us glued to apps? The answer is not to stop using technology — who can really manage that, after all? — but to be more intentional and focused in our use of tech. That involves taking a digital detox in order to figure out which devices and services you actually need, then using them in a mindful and deliberate fashion to serve those needs (when too often we serve the needs of the tech companies). In other words, use the apps and don’t let them use you. Ideally, the resulting transformation should allow you to use tech effectively and efficiently, giving you more time to be present in the real world and your own life. Digital Minimalism should be required reading for everyone that owns a phone or has ever logged into social media.

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40672036-digital-minimalism

Apples on a Windowsill by Shawna Lemay

A collection of beautiful and thoughtful essays from one of my favourite writers, Shawna Lemay — who is also the publisher of Transactions With Beauty. The essays in Apples on a Windowsill cover topics such as still lifes, Springsteen, creativity, marriage, photography and so much more. The subjects are all deeply personal to Lemay but at the same time thoughtful meditations on art – process, history, motivation and even technique. Lemay’s writing is so powerful and transcendent that you’ll find your own life reflected in these essays over and over again — I feel like I’m sitting at the kitchen table with her or walking the streets of Venice with her and her husband (the incredibly talented artist Rob Lemay). A warning, though: read each essay slowly as they are like sinking into a warm bath made of words. Savour the moment.

Link: http://www.shawnalemay.net/applesonawindowsill

The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor

Do you choose to be happy no matter the circumstances or do you wait for something external to make you happy (a lover, a good job, a lottery win)? If it’s the former, you are operating at an advantage over most people. If it’s the latter, then you should probably read The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor. The book has echoes of Stoicism, in that it says you can’t control the world but you can control how you react to it, and you should always be trying to find ways to be grateful, positive and optimistic no matter what your circumstances. According to Achor, happiness really is an advantage — we perform better in every aspect of life when we are happy, we have more friends (and a strong social network boosts your happiness in a nice feedback loop), we are more motivated and resilient, we are better at problem solving and more creative, and so on. Meanwhile, those who wait for happiness to come to them tend to be more stressed, more likely to be lonely or have anxiety, less productive and motivated, and stuck in a fixed mindset vs. the growth mindset of happiness.

The book isn’t just observations, though. Achor also has some tips on how we can learn to embrace happiness: see the opportunity in setbacks and learn from defeat, focus on changing the world in a small circle around you and then gradually expand that circle, learn how to decatastrophize, embrace “active leisure” where you must participate (games, sports) over mindlessly doomscrolling social media or binge watching Netflix, increase your social connections, and work to make those around you happy to better the mood and ability of everyone.

In short, choose happiness and you will indeed be happy.

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9484114-the-happiness-advantage

“More reading, more books”

Read more, just read more. It’s good for your soul of whatever you want to call your inner self.

Link: http://transactionswithbeauty.com/home/morereadingmorebooks

“This Business Is Crazy”

Did you know that more than half of all books published sell less than a thousand copies? You may have thought publishing was a crazy business before, but you’ll really think it’s crazy after reading this SHuSH post.

Link: https://shush.substack.com/p/this-business-is-crazy

Poetry?

Total Party Kill by Craig Francis Power

I don’t even know how to describe Total Party Kill by Craig Francis Power. The cover says “poems” but it’s more a collection of dungeon crawls through the soul. Total Party Kill fuses Dungeons & Dragons adventures with addiction memoir with trauma chronicle with pop culture fever dream and the result is as brilliant as it is indescribable. A natural 20 of artistic accomplishment.

Link: https://breakwaterbooks.com/products/total-party-kill