Snowed in and housebound
Everything that happened on the blog last week with a couple extras.Too much? Not enough? Let me know what you think.
Hi! You’re here! Thank you.
Been a rough week. The things I was looking forward to fell apart. Some new things to worry about showed up. Insomnia and stress have amplified it all. I got about 3 feet of snow and I haven’t seen in the sun in days. I broke my Wordle streak and biffed on Connections like 3 times.
It’s been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week.
So it goes.
So what breaks through the fog? Routine. Normalcy. Diversions, like a good book or album or conversation. Basically, work, this website project and you. Thank you for being here and reading and clicking and reaching out. I hope there’s something here that brightens your Friday.
Here’s what I got up to this week:
Read
There were six short pieces in the link stash on Monday. The ones that are lingering in my memory today are The Invisible Man, by a successful writer who now lives in his car, and Black Heart, a fiction piece that made me think of my dad.
Books: I missed the point of Greek Lessons. I didn’t like the book upon finishing it, but I’m sure if I read it again now it’d be a completely different thing. It’s short enough that I’ll probably read it again over the holidays.
The Fire Next Time is essential and timeless, and you should read it.
A Manual for Cleaning Women is a collection of short stories that’s best read slowly and around other things, rather than as a single volume. If you dig Raymond Carver, you’ll like this one.
I also continued with compiling year-end book lists, and now I’ve added music lists as well. There’ll probably be another one for ‘other stuff’ like movies and TV and other things that fill lazy holiday afternoons.
Got something to share? Want your first reader or listener?
I’m always looking for good writing and good music. If you have something to recommend, either your own stuff or something you’ve found, lay it on me.
Listen
A while ago I featured Niina’s debut record Honestly, Does This Smell Off to You? and in it I mentioned her DJ mixes. Here’s a specifically special one from last week, it’s worth putting on as you’re working or focusing (or shoveling snow) or whatever:
Four music features this week:
Drook, whose lead single “Sprinter” is an overnight favourite
Dominique Way’s indie-folk-with-funky-beats sound and great songwriting
onlydigitally - a grower of an EP, it’s been creeping into my playlists for weeks
CIAO MALZ - I included a song of hers on last week’s playlist, and now her EP is out and it’s great
The playlist reflects the mood I’ve been in this week. It’s fairly sombre and low-key, but there’s some unbelievably beautiful stuff on it. It features singles from previous faves Sunken, SOFY, Kassie Krut, ALBI., mary in the junkyard, Marta Vega, and Lenn.
New discoveries from:
Korda Korder
Blush
Saya Gray
Paint
Fever Cult
girlpuppy
Rachel Prancer
Speedial
Sorry
20 songs, 72 mintues. Hear it all on Apple Music or Spotify
NEXT WEEK: I read all the short books to clear some space to read Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain, in preparation for reading the new Olga Tokarczuk novel.
If I’m honest, it’s a grind, but there’s lots of time for my mind to change.
Have a great weekend. If you read or hear anything you want to share, please do.
Copyright (C) " target="_blank">unsubscribe