Brendan
@brendanbe
monthly reading updates; occasional reply guy
My July in books: this is what peak performance looks like for an English teacher home for the summer with few responsibilities other than walking a dog and cooking. (Books read on the left; books bought on the right) YTD: 33 read, 21 bought #booksky #litfic #poetrysky
I'm finally reading Under the Volcano, and (sort of inspired by a classic @backlisted.bsky.social episode that re-ran this year), I'm going to pair it with a bottle of $60 mezcal. Bad idea? Probably, but I'm on summer break, so. Watch this space to see which I finish first ... or vice versa #booksky
pleased to report that she was cooking even in her very first book #poetrysky
whoever lives in this house in my town never took down their twelve-foot skeleton last fall, and now it's an all-holiday decoration, like the pole in George Saunders’s story “Sticks”
Finally got deep enough into my TBR pile to read the subject of one of the most poignant @backlisted.bsky.social episodes ever, released less than two weeks before the author died at 96. It's great, and not enough people know about it — echt Backlisted. www.backlisted.fm/episodes/222... #booksky
Here are a few highlights from the piece for those not clicking through. I also like this sentence: “Washington is a part-time home to the third-oldest Congress in history, and if Mr. Trump completes his term at age 82, he will be the oldest president to have held office.” “IF.” 🍾🥂
Books read (l.) and bought (r.) in May. The McNally Jackson reprint of "The Planets" is a gorgeous resurrection of a seventies artifact — a decorated hardcover with no dust jacket (although, weirdly, whoever designed it gets no credit inside) YTD: 19 read, 13 bought #booksky #litfic #poetrysky
Books read (l.) and bought (r.) in April. (The Lerner and Riley are rare examples of me reading books as soon as I got them, so they count toward both totals.) YTD: 15 read, 11 bought #booksky #litfic #poetrysky
The art for the hardcover went harder, imo. Very funny to me that the publishers plugged Dreyfuss as "OSCAR WINNER," because everyone knows that being able to deliver Neil Simon dialogue convincingly is a skill that always translates into good-novel-writing
this fellow seems to have quite a social media presence (now of course i want to go read all those "good faith reviews" but it's too late)
No way this wasn't based on Robert Redford and Jane Fonda (The Electric Horseman, 1979)