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Books I read in April, 2025
Total: 8 books
-- The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones;
-- Appetite by Aaron Smith;
-- Albert Nobbs by George Moore;
-- The Judas Kiss by David Hare;
-- Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones;
-- Filming T.E. Lawrence: Korda's Lost Epic by Andrew Kelly;
-- The Last Days of T.E. Lawrence: A Leaf in the Wind by Paul Marriott;
-- Christopher Walken A to Z by Robert Schnakenberg.
Journals:
-- Paris Review
-- Iowa Review
-- Poetry Foundation (latest issue)
Reviews:
Absolutely fucking in love with Stephen Graham Jones again. I read Mongrel when it first came out and adored it; then I fell off horror for a long time, came back to it and read Night of the Mannequins, which I loathed. I decided I must have just been Young and Stupid when I read Mongrel, and that Jones wasn't worth another read. But I was so deeply wrong. Blitzed through "Buffalo Hunter" and then "Mapping the Interior," an older novella that was recently republished. "Interior" was my favorite - sort of a Pet Sematary retelling, but far more complex. Both books have some of the most inventively creepy scenes I've ever read.
"Appetite" is a poetry collection I read for class, 100% recommend. Funny, well-crafted poems about the experience of growing up religious + secretly queer. Raw sexuality. Pop culture references in a pithy but interesting way -- sort of an undercurrent about what queer people latch onto when they're discovering their identity.
Albert Nobbs - not better than the movie, not worse. Just different. It features the exact same events in a very different tone, almost wry and humorous, which makes the ending that much more of a gut-punch. I looked up the author and was surprised to see how transgressive he was. THe local used bookstore had an ancient two-volume edition of his Heloise and Abelard book, but I decided not to get it. I would love to read Celibates, the collection from which Albert Nobbs is extracted.
Judas Kiss - a play about Oscar Wilde and Bosie, split into two parts. Immediately before prison and a year or so after prison. Focuses solely on the twisted dynamic between Oscar and Bosie, showing viewers without preaching to them the uncomfortable threads of manipulation that Wilde's friends protested about, while also fostering enough affection to make you understand why Wilde stayed.
Filming T.E. Lawrence - this little book includes a brief history of the Lawrence of Arabia film that never happened, back in the 30s. It also has an interview with the actor cast to play Lawrence and one of the surviving screenplays, which isn't very interesting on its own -- reads like a condensed, less-beautiful version of Seven Pillars, basically.
Last Days of T.E. Lawrence - sometimes dry, always more detailed than it needs to be (which I love), this is not a pop history book with a fun narrative. It's more like a compiled resource for historians. Everything we know about the last few months of Lawrence's life, with a lengthy section dedicated to witness testimony in the inquiry after his death. I like that the authors take the time to explain which testimony they believe is factual and which testimony they dispute, and why.
-- The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones;
-- Appetite by Aaron Smith;
-- Albert Nobbs by George Moore;
-- The Judas Kiss by David Hare;
-- Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones;
-- Filming T.E. Lawrence: Korda's Lost Epic by Andrew Kelly;
-- The Last Days of T.E. Lawrence: A Leaf in the Wind by Paul Marriott;
-- Christopher Walken A to Z by Robert Schnakenberg.
Journals:
-- Paris Review
-- Iowa Review
-- Poetry Foundation (latest issue)
Reviews:
Absolutely fucking in love with Stephen Graham Jones again. I read Mongrel when it first came out and adored it; then I fell off horror for a long time, came back to it and read Night of the Mannequins, which I loathed. I decided I must have just been Young and Stupid when I read Mongrel, and that Jones wasn't worth another read. But I was so deeply wrong. Blitzed through "Buffalo Hunter" and then "Mapping the Interior," an older novella that was recently republished. "Interior" was my favorite - sort of a Pet Sematary retelling, but far more complex. Both books have some of the most inventively creepy scenes I've ever read.
"Appetite" is a poetry collection I read for class, 100% recommend. Funny, well-crafted poems about the experience of growing up religious + secretly queer. Raw sexuality. Pop culture references in a pithy but interesting way -- sort of an undercurrent about what queer people latch onto when they're discovering their identity.
Albert Nobbs - not better than the movie, not worse. Just different. It features the exact same events in a very different tone, almost wry and humorous, which makes the ending that much more of a gut-punch. I looked up the author and was surprised to see how transgressive he was. THe local used bookstore had an ancient two-volume edition of his Heloise and Abelard book, but I decided not to get it. I would love to read Celibates, the collection from which Albert Nobbs is extracted.
Judas Kiss - a play about Oscar Wilde and Bosie, split into two parts. Immediately before prison and a year or so after prison. Focuses solely on the twisted dynamic between Oscar and Bosie, showing viewers without preaching to them the uncomfortable threads of manipulation that Wilde's friends protested about, while also fostering enough affection to make you understand why Wilde stayed.
Filming T.E. Lawrence - this little book includes a brief history of the Lawrence of Arabia film that never happened, back in the 30s. It also has an interview with the actor cast to play Lawrence and one of the surviving screenplays, which isn't very interesting on its own -- reads like a condensed, less-beautiful version of Seven Pillars, basically.
Last Days of T.E. Lawrence - sometimes dry, always more detailed than it needs to be (which I love), this is not a pop history book with a fun narrative. It's more like a compiled resource for historians. Everything we know about the last few months of Lawrence's life, with a lengthy section dedicated to witness testimony in the inquiry after his death. I like that the authors take the time to explain which testimony they believe is factual and which testimony they dispute, and why.
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