In a hypothetical future where Ferris survives, meets Jacob again in New England, and forgives him, Jacob tells a tale of his god-fearing father.
Jacob turned his back to me, making none of his usual gestures of possession, and shivered despite the day’s heat. I kissed his shoulder, clammy with sweat. “Have I hurt you?”
“Nay.” He gripped my hand as I slipped it over his waist, fitting my body around his as best I could. “You know I had never—“
“I know.”
“Only I think I had.”
He sounded calm, but I felt a tension in him that put me on alert. “I don’t understand.”
“Somehow I’d not thought of it once, all these years. But I remember it well enough now, unlike some other things.”
“Remember what, Jacob?”
“How he punished me.”
“Who?”
“Father.”
Continue reading Father
If my Goodreads summary is to be believed, I managed to read 53 books by the end of 2023. I don’t think that’s exactly right, but it might not be very wrong either. Some of these “books” were novellas that felt more like really long short stories. Others were actual short stories that are, for the lack of a better alternative, also labeled as “books”. If five substantial short stories or two novellas make a “book”, then the honest count would be 45. But, this year I read dozens of short stories that are not on Goodreads at all; also, I read some (gasp!) book-length fanfiction. So I’m good with “around 50”. It’s still twice as many as usual.
Let’s dive in!
Continue reading Books of 2023, part 2
This is really news from June, which I forgot to post amidst the excitement regarding original fiction stuff. For the first time in years, I ordered a physical copy of a book, and of course, it’s the book. I took pains to get my hands on this specific edition, for the sake of the cover, and it meant waiting a good long while for the delivery. I didn’t expect it to be so fat! “A fat juicy masterpiece” nails it.
It’s odd to be reading a physical book. I can’t highlight a selection to save it, and I can’t click on a word for an instant dictionary definition. I’ll admit that a physical book gives better progress feedback, and is able to embody certain sentiments that you can’t really attach to a file. Otherwise, however, it’s a vastly inferior experience.
Which isn’t to say I regret the purchase or the wait. My main reason to get the physical copy, at least as far as I could rationalize it, was that the digital edition misses some words! But really, I just wanted to be able to, like, hug it. Yeah.
It’s not even June yet, and I’ve already read 25 books. If I keep this up, I might reach the unprecedented count of 50 books in a year! This is the first time I’ve had reason to split my yearly reading report in two parts, and it feels good.
Continue reading Books of 2023, part 1
Like, literally. Two months ago, I had a dream where I was in possession of an actual, 100% official sequel.
Continue reading As Meat Loves Salt: Dream of a Sequel
This is the second post in the series about the book As Meat Loves Salt by M. McCann, which has wounded me so deeply that months after reading it, I still can’t pass a full hour awake without thinking about it. In the first post, I made some introductory remarks and then talked about the cover and the blurb. In this one, I’ll talk about the title, and what it means.
Continue reading As Meat Loves Salt: On the meaning of the title