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What I Read -- March 2015



“The Brides of Rollrock Island” by Margo Lanagan. The first section was a challenge. You know sometimes you read something and you think “I wish I’d written that”, and other times you read something and you think “I could never write that”? This book was the second type. I have a hard time being mean to my characters. Margo does not have this problem. The sense of place was brilliant as well – so well drawn, and yet it could be Scotland, or Newfoundland, or Maine… This was a different way of coming at lovecraftian horror, really. Wow.

“Authority” by Jeff Vandermeer. So I read http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2015/01/from-annihilation-to-acceptance-a-writers-surreal-journey/384884/ and thought I should read on in the series. And then my library got flooded.

“Red Spikes” by Margo Lanagan. I needed some short stories, and she had some! Short stories are always a mixed bag, I never connect with everything in a book, but the one about the budgie was truly fantastic. I want to force that story on people. And the one about wandering around purgatory, so cool. Her voice is something I can't imagine pulling off, but I love the themes she tackles.
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