Mstrust's Year of Swell Stuff

Welcome to my Category Challenge, which has about the loosest theme I could come up with, which is "stuff I like". As the year goes on, I imagine the category toppers will switch out, but for now...yeah, it's food and drink.

I'm Jennifer and I live in Phoenix with husband Mike and frantic Boxer Coral. I'm in Vegas a lot because Mom lives there, and my sister, brother and nephew live in California, while my niece moved to Texas recently.
I write a weekly Substack called Autumn Lives Here that covers horror, true crime and Halloween all year long. I do book reviews, cocktail recipes, spooky travels, and weird true stories. I drop in an original short story sometimes too, and my story "Sitting Up with Granny" was featured in Season 5 of the Full Body Chills podcast.

Hosting duties: February's MysteryKit-True Unsolved Mysteries theme. https://www.librarything.com/topic/357392#n8377655
March's ScaredyKit-True Crime theme. Is there an echo in here?
October's ScaredyKit will be Contemporary Horror.
I considered having a theme of slow things like molasses and turtles to depict what a slow reader I am, but then people would stop by just once a month to see if I'd made any progress.

jelly filled donuts

True Crime

1. Murder in Hollywood: Solving a Silent Screen Mystery- 3.5
2. The Devil's Rooming House-4
3. Little, Crazy Children-4

Non-Fiction

1. Living Like A Runaway- 3.5
2. Joe Gould's Teeth- 4

pumpkin waffles and maple syrup

Favorite Authors

1. The Seventh Bride- 4
2. Lost Hills-4
3. Cut & Thirst-3
4. Dearly Devoted Dexter- 4.5

Japanese cheesecake

New To Me Authors

1. Muckross Abbey-4.5
2. My Year of Rest and Relaxation- 4.5
3. The Dinner- 4.5
4. Last Night at the Lobster-3.5

coffee!
Mystery, Thriller, Noir

1. Phoenix Noir- 3
2. The Christmas Guest- 4.5
3. Death in the Sunshine- 3.5

French Breakfast Radishes
ROOTs

1. The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread- 3.5
2. The Bookshop-4

Hot Weather Reads

Horror & Halloween

1. Vexed To Nightmare- 3.5
2. H.P. Lovecraft: Great Tales of Horror-4
3. Nightbitch-3
4. A Certain Hunger-4.5

dried mango slices. I go through bags and bags of them.
Cookbooks, Travel & Other Things

1. Killer Plants-3.5
2. Recipes from the World of H.P. Lovecraft- 4.5
3. The Mysteries- 3
4. I Must Be Dreaming- 3
5. Edible Houseplants-4

This is French Silk Pie, the most delicious pie on earth, which I haven't had in years because the filling alone has two whole sticks of butter in it. But it's amazing.
Finally: The Books I've Been Meaning To Get To

1. Starter Villain- 4
2. The Eyeball Collector- 4
3. Don't Point That Thing At Me-4

Welcome!

Wow, look at you - the first one to post their 2024 thread!

Looking forward to following along and maybe, when you're not looking I might just grab that French Silk Pie!

Woot! I love your cats and the pics you chose to represent them. Good luck with your 2024 reading!

Fabulous theme! Looking forward to following your reading, especially with Coffee and Japanese cheesecake!

Congrats firstie! I'm all for loose themes!

>13 DeltaQueen50: Ha, I swear I didn't even notice that I was first. In fact, I glanced at all the posts and thought I would be falling behind, not noticing that they were all KITs. I guess I won't be making detective.
I won't blame you for grabbing the pie!

>14 Tess_W: Thanks, Tess, and good luck to you!

>15 VivienneR: Thanks, Viv! And what a delicious combination!

>16 majkia: Thanks! It was surprising to see the difference in how little time it took to come up with my categories versus how much time it took to find the topper pics.

>17 mstrust: Pictures are *always* the hardest part. Happy reading in 2024!

You're not so slow! Happy reading!

Thanks for being the first! I have been eyeing off the list, wondering if it was too early to set up yet. :)
Love the eyeball cake!

>18 NinieB: Ain't that the truth. Thanks, and I wish you a good reading year!

>19 pamelad: Ha, thanks for the support! I am constantly amazed by the LTers who are reviewing 4-5 books a week.

>20 JayneCM: Think of me as the explorer who radios back that it's safe. Oh, wait, the Yeti heard me!
Isn't that cake both scary and tempting?

I'll admit that I'm mostly ready to post my thread, but I'll wait until the Bingo card is ready and the Cats/Kits are all set up.

Great pics, now I am hungry. Thanks for starting out the new year. My thread will be up the last week of the year.

>22 dudes22: Sure.
>23 lowelibrary: I know, I considered non-food pics, but these are so relatable, aren't they?

Congrats on being the first off the starting block! And so much delicious food in here...

I wondered who would be first this year, and now I know! :) (that cake looks amazing!)

>25 MissWatson: Thanks! I think I'll be wandering around here on my own for a bit...
>26 Jackie_K: Me! I love that cake, and all the others too. I'm looking forward to filling in my categories and hopefully not taking too long.

>27 mstrust: I'd had my own challenge pretty much set up and then I lost the file, and I haven't had the time yet to fix it. This year has turned out to be quite the disaster zone.

Awww! I hope you're able to fix it.
This has been a not-too-bad year for me, with the highlight coming last month with my biggest writing accomplishment so far. I hope you have a turn for the better before the year's end.

Another swell thing is Portillo's. A Chicago staple for decades, where we first tried them, they have a few locations in Phoenix now and we were there today. Authentic Chicago dogs and the best chocolate cake anywhere.

>30 mstrust: Yummy!

It is! A Chicago dog is like eating a smoky garden.

Just an update, I'll be hosting the October ScaredyKit too. Updating my >1 mstrust:.

Great setup! I'm looking forward to the February MysteryKIT, I think it is an exciting theme.

I won't even put up my 2024 thread until late December, so congrats on being the first from someone sure to be close to the last. A Chicago dog is indeed a delicious thing, although that picture makes me think that they skimp on the celery salt.

>34 MissBrangwen: Thanks, glad to see you found me! I do like true crime.
>35 RidgewayGirl: Thanks, and I'm sure I'll find you. Portillo's knows their stuff, though I don't like the onions. Or peppers. Everything else is good, ha!

A swell thing to grab before it's gone: pumpkin spice whipped cream. I have three in the fridge.

>37 mstrust: I do get jealous of all your pumpkin spice stuff. It just isn't really a thing in Australia!

Gotta love a "stuff I like" theme! And I'm with you on radishes -- they are my favorite vegetable!

>38 JayneCM: Oh no! The pumpkin-spice-everything didn't happen there?! I have pumpkin spice lip balm on my desk right now, ha. Next year, it's up to you to start it. Begin hoarding nutmeg and cinnamon now.

>39 christina_reads: Yep, I figure I like so much stuff that it'll be easy, just look around me.
I never cared for radishes until I started buying the French ones at the farmer's market. So light and crispy! Now I grow them myself, and I've got a few ready to pull. The Hungarian wax peppers are also just a week or two from being ready. I don't know what they taste like, but I liked the picture on the package.

I forgot to say Good luck with your reading this year on my earlier post.

Thank you, and good luck to you!

>4 mstrust: Those pumpkin waffles look delicious!

Have a great reading year :D

I always make pumpkin spice waffles at home rather than plain. Even Mike, who avoids anything pumpkin other than pie, prefers pumpkin spice waffles.
I wish you great reading in 2024!

This week at Autumn Lives Here, a new short story. "Friendly Neighbors" is about the joy of new home ownership, and the realization that you don't get to pick your neighbors.
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/

>45 mstrust: I loved "Friendly Neighbors" - gave me both chills and that fun icky feeling!

I am on a strict diet, your challenge makes me hungry. I especially love jelly filled donuts and true crime so I will certainly keep an eye on that category,

>46 DeltaQueen50: I believe "Friendly Neighbors" features more vomiting than any other short story ever written! Thanks for your comment, I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

>47 Zozette: Ha, I know, all that food! I promise that there will be inedible swell stuff along the way.

Shining Vale is definitely swell. The Phelps are a highly dysfunctional family that moves to a small Connecticut town to rebuild their relationships. The worst of the family is the mom, who is the one their new haunted house is focused on. The season two finale airs Friday.

Am I the only one pointing out that today is Pretend To Be A Time Traveler Day? That's pretty swell.

Time travel is my favourite! I would happily devote a whole category for a year to just time travel reads.

Why not? There must be tons of great time travel reads!

Happy New Year!
Let's see if 2024 will be swell. Which reminds me...

My first swell thing of the new year is-



Kirkland Champagne! For $20 you get a big bottle of real French Champagne. It's made by Verzenay of Manuel Janisson in the Champagne region, and it's very good. I wish a had another bottle to pop open to toast the new year.
(This is an internet pic. I drink Champagne out of a coupe that belonged to my mother. Such a snob.)

I hope you enjoyed Champagne on New Year's Eve! Have a great year!

I did! Thanks, and I wish you a Happy New Year!

Hi Jennifer. I love how your thread theme is "stuff" and your categories pictures are all food! Looking forward to seeing what you get up to - both reading and everything else - in 2024.

>37 mstrust: - I love pumpkin spice anything... my other half, no so much (he is not a fan of pumpkin in general). If I had pumpkin whipped cream, it would be safe in the fridge until I consumed it. :)

Hi, Lori! Yep, I expect I'll post a lot of favorite foods here, but I will force myself to choose other swell stuff too.
Mike is the same about pumpkin spice, won't touch it with a ten for pole, except for my pumpkin spice cake. And I don't tell him that I sneak pumpkin puree into things like spaghetti sauce to cut down on the acid and make it creamy.

Autumn Lives Here is back today, with a short story, "January, the Most Miserable Month". Don't feel sorry for her, she likes being miserable. It's a free week, so drop in.
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/

1. Muckross Abbey and Other Stories by Sabina Murray.

A collection of spooky short stories, each involving academia in some way. In "The Long Story", a doctoral student becomes lost in the foggy English moors and is rescued by an art scholar who lives nearby. She invites the student into her home, where she tells him about the death of her son. In the title story, a literary agent travels to a gloomy Irish village to help search for her old college roommate, who has gone missing from her honeymoon. In "Apartment 4D", a mother surprises her nearly grown children by recounting a horrifying story about the apartment she lived in when she was young and single.
Each story drew me in quickly. Murray writes about unsettling circumstances and spooky events, yet these work on another level too, that of people working out their relationships. It's a good read.4.5

2. My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh.

The narrator has it all, from the outside. She's young, thin, beautiful, and has inherited wealth. That she's a miserable wreck, cold and hateful, is mostly hidden from other people. She barely interacts with anyone other than college friend Reva, the only person who seeks the narrator's company, but in these encounters the reader wishes Reva would run and never come back.
The narrator, severely depressed, decides that sleep is the answer. She finds a terrible psychiatrist who is easily fooled into prescribing enough sleep medication to kill an elephant (these scenes are actually hilarious), and spends the year barely doing anything other than sleeping, watching Whoopi Goldberg movies and terrorizing an ex-boyfriend.
It's a page-turner. The narrator is an awful person, but through her backstory, we find that she was raised by selfish, neglectful parents and never learned empathy. Her desire to sleep for a year as a way of healing her painful loneliness is broken by the presence of Reva, someone so emotionally dependent on others that she even seeks out the approval of someone as cruel as the narrator.
The story has startlingly graphic sexual and scatological passages throughout, contrasting what you'd expect from a story of someone who wants to be left alone to sleep for weeks at a time, and the ending is bizarre, sad, and somewhat unexpected. I see that the book gets some bad reviews, but I found it to be unique and well-written.4.5

>58 mstrust: LOL to sneaking items into other foodstuffs. I do that with zucchini, which is always prolific in the garden. I shred it and freeze it hockey puck size. Then I sneak a few pucks into spaghetti sauce, chili, etc, to just bulk up the veggies. My husband claims not to like zucchini except in bread;)

Ha, husband's don't know what's good for them. I often sneak ground sage into things because it's my favorite herb. He claims to not like it but he can't taste it in our salad dressing or chicken.

3. Killer Plants: Growing and Caring for Flytraps, Pitcher Plants, and other Deadly Flora by Molly Williams.

This book covers many poisonous plants, but the majority is about plants that capture their food, such as Venus flytraps, pitcher plants, flypaper traps, and rarer carnivorous plants such as the Rainbow plant. There are several that I'd never heard of, such as the waterwheel and sundew. The workings of the plants and how to care for them in a domesticated setting are provided, and if I was going to attempt that, this would be a handy guide. The illustrations are very cool, but I would have preferred photos. 3.5

4. The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread by Don Robertson.

Set in Cleveland in 1944, this is the story of nine year-old Morris Bird III, who is a good athlete and a nice kid, though he unintentionally causes an uproar at school with "the salami sandwich incident" and allows the school bully to be blamed. Morris is an independent thinker, choosing a strange kid named Stanley Chaloupka as his best friend when the other kids think Stanley is weird. Morris is also loyal. When Stanley moves to a far away neighborhood, Morris tells him he will come see him, ditching a class field trip to spend the afternoon walking to Stanley's new home. He had expected to go alone, but at the last minute, he's saddled with taking his annoying six-year old sister with him and renting a classmate's wagon to pull her across town. Along the way the two bicker while encountering unusual and comedic situations. This is the story of a boy's daily life, and it reminded me of Jean Shepard's In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash, the basis of A Christmas Story.
*SPOILER* And then, three-quarters of the way through, it was as if the story was passed to Stephen King, because a horror befalls Cleveland and Morris and his little sister have front row seats. The characters, including children, are decimated. It's rare to find a book that goes along as a humorous slice-of-life tale, then turns on a dime like this. If Robertson wanted to startle his reader, he did it. 3.5

Ha, I've got something swell that isn't food! I knew I could do it!



HEMPZ Candy Cane Body Moisturizer. Granted, you have to like the scent of peppermint to enjoy this, but it's a light scent rather than overpowering. Just smells clean and the lotion isn't greasy. My mom has been using this brand for years.

The latest Autumn Lives Here is up. I have The Big Scary 10 of horror books & movies.
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/

>67 mstrust: I love the peppermint scent(s), so fresh and clean! I just read your January opener and wow!, that was magnificent!

Another fan! I've tried the pineapple scented version too, and I especially like this brand because it doesn't give me an allergic reaction. Most scented hand products tear my hands up, turning them red and splitting my knuckles open, but so far, the HEMPZ doesn't.
By opener, are you talking about my topper and the categories? Thank you!

Swell Stuff:


It's orange and tangerine season here and Mike's friend sent over big bags of tangerines, and one big bag of lemons. So far, I've made tangerine sandwich cookies, lemon cupcakes, tangerine simple syrup, and zest has gone into soup and chicken.

>61 mstrust: I really loved this book and how Moshfegh managed to create a character so self-involved and deeply sympathetic.

>70 mstrust: I remember those days, with people bringing bags and bags of citrus to work in the hopes of finding takers. Now that I'm in the midwest, citrus is replaced with zucchini, tomatoes and cucumbers. I am always willing to do my part in relieving people of their home-grown bounty.

>70 mstrust: How delightful! I have a 2lb bag of tangerines on their way to me from California. Should arrive in 2 days.

>71 RidgewayGirl: I never thought I'd be absorbed in a book that gets that gross, but she's an excellent writer. You nailed it, "self-involved and deeply sympathetic".
Between this friend's own citrus trees and those of his mom and siblings, he has all the major citrus fruits covered. I said I'd take anything but grapefruit, which gets bitter when cooked and I just don't like it. So then my mom pipes up with, "I love grapefruit!"

>72 Tess_W: Enjoy! The ones I'm using are so sweet. I made tangerine cookie bars this morning and used some juice in a pork fried rice dish last night.

I'm slightly jealous. We spent a month one year at my Husband's Uncle's house and he had satsuma trees and they were delicious. I hardly ever see them in the stores up here in the northeast.

Satsumas are delicious so I can imagine how you would miss having them. We get the sumos in the store here and Mike loves them, but they sell for about $4 a piece, and that was last year. I don't know what they're going for now, but prices for everything have doubled.
I've saved some of the tangerine seeds and will waste my time planting them in my clay soil.

5. The Seventh Bride by T. Kingfisher.

When Lord Crevan appears at the miller's and asks to marry their daughter, no one can figure out why, but peasants are not in a position to say no. Fifteen year-old Rhea is not beautiful or talented, she just minds the mill, but the Lord tells her to arrive at his mansion in the woods, a place that no one in the village was aware existed. She discovers that the Lord has been married at least six times before, with five of the wives still living. The Lord is a sorcerer, and as wife #1 explains, he takes something of value from each wife. Rhea is determined not to be the seventh wife, because once married, the Lord has control over her life, death, or limbo.
This is a magical fantasy, part medieval, part modern. Usually not my kind of book, but I enjoyed it. 4 stars

This week's Autumn Lives Here looks at the Women of Horror, including Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Darcy Coates and more. Also, listen and watch stories about unbelievable scammers. I love it when they get caught!
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/

I'm hosting February's MysteryKit, True Unsolved Mysteries. Join in: https://www.librarything.com/topic/357392#n8369157

6. The Dinner by Herman Koch.

The narrator and his wife are meeting another couple in an exclusive, trendy restaurant that the narrator doesn't want to eat in, but the other couple chose it. He doesn't like anything about the restaurant, seeing it as snobbish and expensive. He also doesn't like the man of the other couple, who is stupid and snobbish. This turns out to be his brother. As the night wears on, the reader is given more and more reason to dislike our unreliable narrator, but we discover that the two couples have a very important matter to discuss over dinner, one that involves the future of both their families.
Taught and intense, these four diners should have been kicked out of the restaurant by the time the main course arrived. 4.5

>79 mstrust: I like The Dinner. It seems to be in most of the high-school anthology textbooks. I only taught it twice and both times the students struggled to understand, let alone like it!

I have to ask, what made it so difficult to understand? Was it that the narrator becomes more unreliable? I thought it was so well-written.

Just noting that The Haunting of Maddy Clare showed up yesterday.

Here's something swell-


Beetlejuice 2 will be released in September, starring Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and Jenna Ortega.

>81 mstrust: I think (it's been years) that it was not exciting enough for them. It's all dialogue taking place while eating dinner. I also believe that the students didn't like any of the characters, so therefore they talked themselves into not liking the book. More than one student commented "what's the point?" They were 15-16 year olds. I'm not sure if they were mature enough to understand the real story.

That's true, it is all dialogue, with the critical action being discussed after the fact. Well, it was good of you to introduce them to such a writer :-D (I so want to make a "pearls before swine" comment but I won't. I won't!)

Late to the party, but following along now. Love your "loosey" theme. French silk pie-Yum!

This week at Autumn Lives Here, I've made a thermos of ginger ale cocktails for my Gloriest Goriest members and we're headed to a scarecrow festival and the Library of the Dead.
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/

>85 beebeereads: Glad you made it! Late to the party means you've stopped for ice, right?

7. Phoenix Noir edited by Patrick Millikin

This collection of sixteen noir short stories placed in Phoenix and the surrounding areas by authors including Megan Abbott, Lee Child, James Sallis, Diane Gabaldon and other known writers. Some stories, such as Gabaldon's and Child's, are more traditional detective stories. Luis Alberto Urrea's has a modern Romeo & Juliet angle, and Abbott's is a fictionalized account Bob Crane's death in Scottsdale.
Good writing, though some of the stories just peter out to an unsatisfying end, and I skipped over most of Sallis' because it featured graphic child abuse that was gross.
3 stars

Something Swell! This is @emilytwirls, an instagram account by Emily Rodriguez, who is super obsessed with Mid-Century home furnishings. She travels all over the US and Canada to bring home her treasures and show them off.
https://www.instagram.com/emily_twirls/?hl=en

>89 mstrust: She's found some great stuff, wow. Now that modern farmhouse is thankfully on its way out, maybe there will be a new love for color and fun. We all already have the bookshelf wealth trend mastered.

I am a mid-century "oddball," On all those home redecorating or house flipping shows, I just love those mint green or pink tiled bathrooms. They always tear them out, but I love 'em. Of course, I lived in a 1970's where the bath tiles are all white or beige....boring!

>90 RidgewayGirl: I admire her ability to find fantastic MidCentury stuff that's still in mint condition. She posts reels of walkthroughs in her home and it's amazing.

>91 Tess_W: My parents bought the house I grew up in from an artist in the early 70s. The house was Pepto-Bismol pink with black trim, and I don't know when they got around to re-painting it, because I remember it being that color when I was in elementary school. And the bathroom that was wallpapered in red velvet, and the bright orange kitchen. Eventually everything was redone but we kept the waterfall and fish pond in the back and one of the artist's paintings stayed on the wall for years until someone lifted it and we all discovered a small, oddly placed window.

>91 Tess_W: Neighbors have a house with a perfect purple bathroom, put in the 1940s. When they bought the house, they originally planned to redo it, but it's so odd and perfect, they have kept it. Tiles, sink, bathtub and toilet all in the shade Pantone calls "pastel purple."

>93 RidgewayGirl: WOW! Never seen a purple one before!

8. Recipes from the World of H.P. Lovecraft by Olivia Luna Eldritch.

A richly illustrated hardcover of recipes that are inspired by Lovecraft's stories and the man himself. A cookbook based on his own diet would likely surprise Lovecraft, as his poverty didn't afford many luxuries and his palate made donuts and cheese a favorite meal.
Each recipe has a fairly long introduction of how it's connected to the writer's life, along with passages of the short story that inspired it, or from a letter Lovecraft wrote in which he speaks about a certain food. This really is a cookbook to be read.
He loved ice cream, so there are a few recipes for that. And it's surprising that in the 1920s, when any ethnic food had to be sought out, Lovecraft liked spaghetti so much that he splashed out for it once a week, a great expense for him, and he was very proud to have tasted ravioli. This book contains multiple pasta dishes, such as a spaghetti attributed to Lovecraft's wife. Of course there are seafood dishes. You have to have tentacles in a Lovecraft cookbook.
It's a beautifully put together book that contains many recipes I'll try, like "H.P.'s Favorite Baked Beans", "Mi-Go Soup" and "Curwen's Spiced Cookies". 4.5

9. Living Like A Runaway by Lita Ford

I can't say that I followed Ford's solo career that much, but I'm a Runaways fan and she was the guitarist. I've read Cherie Currie's book, along with Queens of Noise, so now I've gotten to Ford's version of the Runaways years. And any way you look at it, they were tough on these teenage girls who were breaking the gender barrier in rock music, traveling over the world and going from high school kids to being idolized in other countries, while being hugely ripped off by their manager. And I have to comment on how creepy men were around teenage girls in the 70s. There are people who should be in jail.

Ford discusses the difficulties she had at a time in the industry when she was one of just a handful of female musicians who had a name. If you're interested in the names and circumstances of the famous men she's slept with, she delivers more than you might have expected. But she also has a tendency to deflect blame, whether it's for damaging a stranger's car or being fired by Michael Jackson for "having too much credibility". She's had an interesting, fast-paced life, and once she became famous, she seems to have hung out with every famous rock star. Don't expect Hemingway here; she uses an awful lot of exclamation points and sounds amazed by everyone she meets, and even amazed by herself, but it feels like she actually wrote this book on her own. 3.5

The new Autumn Lives Here is celebrating Poe, new book releases and jiggly cocktails. Plus, read about "Sahara Sue Doe", a cold case from the 70s that can still be solved.
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/

10. Joe Gould's Teeth by Jill Lepore

Joe Gould was well-known among the Greenwich Village literati of the 1920s-40s, counting e.e. cummings, Ezra Pound, John Dos Passos and William Saroyan among his friends. For decades, Gould called himself a historian who was writing the longest book ever written, "The Oral History of Our Time". Some friends claimed to have read chapters, some even had bits that Gould gave for safekeeping, but when editors or publishers asked to see a manuscript, he dodged them.
A profile of Gould in The New Yorker in 1942 created an image of him as New York City's lovable, eccentric uncle, and Gould used this to his great advantage, constantly hitting up people in the literary world for money. The problem was, that when people cut off contact with Gould, his bad side appeared. He frequently harassed people for years.
Gould was a man of contradictions. He had many famous friends who believed he was a genius in the making, that once his book was published, he would be celebrated. But many people, including the author of The New Yorker piece, who had helped create his image of a friendly eccentric, came to believe there was no book, just a figment of Gould's grandiose imagination.
Gould believed in eugenics, even working as a field researcher, but was a hanger-on among the Harlem Renaissance. He was obsessed with Augusta Savage, a sculpture whom he stalked for decades, harassing her very badly and even roping his famous friends into keeping tabs on her. When one friend finally told him to leave Savage alone, Gould responded by harassing the man and his family non-stop, calling and sending vile and threatening letters, even addressing some to their child.
Gould had several stays in mental institutions, but even there, one psychiatrist said he was eccentric, not insane, while another said he was a psychopath. It depended on which Gould was present that day.
People have searched for the complete manuscript of "The Oral History of Our Time". Though he did not go down in history as a literary genius, Gould is credited with coining the phrase "oral history". 4 stars

>98 mstrust: Hit me with that BB!

Gotcha! The extensive notes of this one are a goldmine.

11. The Mysteries by Bill Watterson and John Kascht

A slim hardcover fable, set in the Dark Ages. A community has always been afraid of The Mysteries, who live in the surrounding woods. No one has ever seen The Mysteries, yet the people know they are there.
The text is minimal, and the dark and grim illustrations are far removed from the Calvin & Hobbs style Watterson is known for. 3 stars

Autumn Lives Here has a warming cocktail to sip while we watch an old horror movie you've never heard of. And, an update on the legal wranglings of the Delphi murders.
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/

12. Starter Villain by John Scalzi

Charlie had been a financial journalist for a big newspaper, but as the industry slumped, he lost his job. Somehow he had failed to invoke all the advice he had written about, so now he was a substitute teacher and living in his father's house, his only inheritance. Then he sees on the news that his uncle has died, a man who was a titan in the parking garage game and who Charlie hasn't seen since he was five years old. The man had no other family and has asked that Charlie represent the family at the funeral. And so begins Charlie's new and unwanted life: unimaginable wealth and power that comes with the occasional assassination attempt.

It's a fun, goofy story of a dull life being suddenly and drastically changed, and finding out that some cats are hiding a secret. 4 stars

I read Starter Villian later last year and I also thought it was a fun read. I loved the cats and dolphins.

> I have this book on my bullet challenge, your review bumps it up the list.

>104 Zozette: Yes, the cats and dolphins! The dolphins had potty-mouths ;-D
>105 lowelibrary: Hooray! I hope you like it.

It's a cold, windy day here with drizzle on and off. We had a good rain last night and it should continue on and off tomorrow. But I went out anyway and pulled up a bell pepper plant that is nearly a year old and has never produced a single pepper no matter what I add to the soil. i transplanted that to its own container and sowed black pepper, blush tiger tomato and marigold seeds in its place.

>102 mstrust: Scary! Looks like the Tinman melting!

Ha, it does! Maybe the Tinman's conehead cousin?

Here's something swell:


Season 5 of Full Body Chills has been nominated for an iHeart Radio Award in Best Fiction Podcast. This is the season that included my story, "Sitting Up with Granny". The awards will be presented in March. Listen to SUWG:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3egGJYQ622vAhZBM8yyGFn

Also, I'll be writing a guest post about true crime and horror books for the Substack "Novelicious". It's still far off from posting, but I'll link when it does.
AND, I'm still weeding books on my shelves to make room for the haul I'm bringing home from the VNSA book sale on Sunday. I need to bring out my rolling cart and check the wheels, decide on the shoes that can get me through hours on concrete, stretch out with downward facing dog and plank, practice karate chopping my books out of other people's hands. Everything must run like clockwork.

>109 mstrust: Congrats on the podcast award! And that book sale sounds like a workout, lol -- be sure to get in some cardio as well. ;)

I do hope FBC wins!
And let's just say that every year, on the morning of the sale, Mike ends up telling me not to freak out. Ha! Me?

We went to the yearly VNSA book sale this morning! Once again, they've raised the prices of the parking and the books, but for us, the morning went smoothly. I did NOT flip out over running late. We spent $99 and Mike found three old shooting books for himself. I did more damage.
FICTION
Unaccustomed Earth
Little Fires Everywhere
Mr Wilder & Me
Blood and Lemonade
Meddling Kids
She Needed Me
American Housewife
Parasites Like Us
Shaman Pass
The Silkworm
More Better Deals
Killing Yourself to Live
With A Mind to Kill
One of Our Thursdays Is Missing
The Temple House Vanishing
The Ghost Clause
The Gold Bat and Other School Stories
Down the River Unto the Sea
Storm Front
Disappearance at Devil's Rock
Reverend America
The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper
Mud Season

HORROR/GHOSTY STUFF
Guest: A Changeling Tale
The Last Kids on Earth and the Zombie Parade
Vampires in the Lemon Grove
The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb
Attack of the Jack!
Wormwood

NONFICTION
The Haunting of Alma Fielding
Out of the Flames
Art Hiding in New York
The Devil's Tickets

MYSTERY/THRILLER
A Pinch of Snuff
Death by Jack-O-Lantern
Ghost Ship
White Butterfly
Hundred Dollar Baby
The Yellow Room
A Touch of Death
The Dead Man's Brother
Rather Be the Devil
Beyond the Grave
Death at the Opera
The School of English Murder
Winter Water
What's So Funny
A Monstrous Regiment of Women
Cold in July
The Dartmoor Murders

There, done.

Great haul.

Thanks, it was fun.

13. The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald

Widowed Florence Green has decided that she must do something with herself, and so opens a bookshop in her little English coastal town. She expects to just make enough to get by while providing some entertainment to a town that hasn't had a bookshop in a very long time, but the importance of the shop grows among the locals. It also makes quiet, polite Florence an enemy in the form of the wealthiest woman in town, and because she must, Florence finds that she's capable of standing her ground.
It's a slim book that is packed with a lot of story and some book talk, especially about the merits of Lolita. 4 stars

Wow, what a great selection you managed to get! Looking forward to reading lots of reviews.

Thanks, Judy! We went on the second day, and I'd hoped for more in the true crime and horror, not to sound greedy even though I am. I'm happy with my haul!

It's a free week at Autumn Lives Here. Isn't it time you warned the kids about the Chomper?
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/

If you'd like to join in, the March ScaredyKIT is up. True Crime! https://www.librarything.com/topic/358517

14. Murder in Hollywood: Solving A Silent Screen Mystery by Charles Higham.

In 1922, Hollywood director William Desmond Taylor was found dead in his bungalow. He'd been shot, then laid out neatly. Though the police investigated, even hounded Taylor's sketchy valet across the country until he finally killed himself, there were just so many moving pieces in Taylor's world of overlapping affairs and flings with both men and women, large amounts of money that were spent quickly, and his ability to infuriate people. As cold crime investigator Paul Holes says, know the victim and you'll get a better idea of who the killer is. In this case, it was obvious that Taylor knew his murderer.

Higham, growing up as the son of a director, knew or at least met many of the people who worked in Taylor's movies. In his research, he includes King Vidor, Betty Compson, Adolph Zukor, and most of all, the silent era star Mary Miles Minter, whom he believes was Taylor's killer. He backs his claim with damning evidence that was mostly kept out of the press at the time because Minter's mother was friends with the L.A. Police Commissioner, who made any fingers pointing at Minter go away. If true, it's an incredible story of high-level corruption that protected someone stupid who should have been in prison (things don't change, huh?), but even if Higham is wrong, the knotted up, libertine lives of the silent era moviemakers is quite a story. The prologue is the most entertaining I've ever read in any book, as Higham meets with his friend, famed director King Vidor in 1971 and they discuss the long ago murder of Taylor. This sends Higham in search of several actresses from the era, including delusional Minter, whom he describes as "Baby Jane". The elderly actresses all have their own version of events, and they all still harbor deep animosity towards each other over things that happened 50 years before. 3.5
I read this for this month's MysteryKit.

15. The Christmas Guest: A Novella by Peter Swanson

Ashley is studying in London for a year and she's so excited to be in England. When Christmas season approaches she expects to stay in her room alone, as she has no family left in America to go to, but surprisingly, Emma invites her to spend the holiday with her own wealthy family at their Cotswold estate. Ashley can't believe her luck, especially as she and Emma weren't close.
It's everything Ashley had dreamed of: a grand house, even though she's put in the servant's quarters, and Emma has a handsome brother who fulfills Ashley's hopes of romance. But this family's behavior keeps Ashley on eggshells, and going to the pub doesn't make it any better as the locals react to Ashley's presence.
At less than 100 pages, this novella mystery is mostly told in the form of Ashley's diary. Though she gets deeper into the strange lives of Starvewood Hall, believing she's unraveling the complex personalities bit by bit, she's just as wrong as the reader who believes they have the ending all figured out. This one is hard to put down and I'm glad I have another by the author already on the shelf. 4.5

This week at Autumn Lives Here, we meet W.W. Jacobs, the guy who made us all wish for a monkey paw. Then, do you believe in The 27 Club?
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/

>123 mstrust: Love The Monkey's Paw. Use it each time I teach English 10.

>122 mstrust: Definitely a BB for me! I love the cover which looks so pretty at a first glance, but then becomes eerie when you look at it more closely!

>124 Tess_W: For a second there, I thought, "She's got a monkey paw!" ;-D

>125 MissBrangwen: I almost mentioned the cover art, to tell readers to look closely at the dripping holly. I liked this one so much and I hope you do too.

I talked to my sister in Riverside, Ca. this morning, where it rained all day yesterday and was starting up today too. In Phoenix, we're going to be about 76 today and it's sunny. I've been out sowing chocolate daisies and my new Tom Thumb lettuce seeds. It's an heirloom Bibb, with each head of lettuce is an individual serving about the size of a baseball.

>122 mstrust: I have one of Peter Swanson's books and after reading your opinion, I will definitely move it up higher on the tbr pile!

>126 mstrust: Wishing you lots of success with the Bibb lettuce. You must have a green thumb, all your gardening efforts flourish (unlike my dismal failures).

Thanks, Vivienne, I need whatever gardening luck I can get. It's very difficult to grow flowers and veg on the low desert and it took me a couple of years to get something of a hang of it. I still have to constantly look up what is going wrong, but I'm having some success.

>126 mstrust: Oh my! Now, that's not a bad attention getter, is it?

😄

It's a free week at Autumn Lives Here and I've got a devilish cocktail for us, then we'll add up the value of all your haunted stuff. Plus, go deep into the infamous 'Plane Crash in the Andes'.
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/

16. I Must Be Dreaming by Roz Chast

Long-time New Yorker cartoonist Chast explores her dreams, most of them being incredibly weird and surreal, to find out what they mean. She also looks into the traditionally accepted meanings for what we tend to dream about, like the loss of teeth. The highlight of this book is Chast's frantic illustrations of her strangest dreams. However, I'm pointing out that about three quarters of the way through this book of dreams and dream interpretations, the author drops in a cartoon of her political ideology, which jerked me out of an otherwise fun-ish book. 3 stars

I was in Vegas for a long weekend for Mom's birthday. We took her out for steaks, brought presents, got her a vanilla/vanilla cake from Freed's bakery, and planted a firestick, a Spanish lavender and an elephant's foot succulent in her backyard. We didn't get over to Frankie's this visit, time got away from us. But Mom and I won just a little in the casino and I came home with three bottles of wine, a rosemary bush and two Early Girl tomato plants.

17. Death in the Sunshine by Steph Broadribb

Moira took an early retirement from the London police and moved to a planned retirement community in Florida. She intends to start a new chapter, one where no one knows that she was an undercover officer who left the job under a dark cloud. But then she meets Lizzie and her husband Philip, both of whom are also retired detectives from the UK. Moira does everything she can to avoid them, until she discovers the body of a woman in the community pool and Lizzie and Philip are all over Moira. They bring in their retired DEA friend. Moira is again working a case, but this time her team is competing with the police to find information.

Good murder mystery with physically active retirees who have investigative skills. Moira seems too emotionally fragile to have been a career detective and the local cops are written with a heavy hand, but overall, entertaining. 3.5

18. The Eyeball Collector by F.E. Higgins

Hector Fitzbaudly is fascinated by the bad side of town until his wealthy father is ruined by a one-eyed blackmailer. Forced to sell everything they own, Hector is soon left an orphan and has to live among the desperate people he had been so curious about. He finds friends, but he swears to avenge his father by making the man responsible pay. As it turns out, the villain is currently living among the depraved local nobility, and Hector finds there's a job opening. Living among them, he can observe and carry out his revenge.
A grim and well-written tale of revenge set in a fictional version of the Victorian era. 4 stars

>126 mstrust: You influenced me to shop around for lettuce seeds. It is my goal to grow enough lettuce to eat it daily from the last of May-mid September. I bought 11 different types of heirloom seeds and want to plant some every 6-7 days so in theory to have a fresh lettuce(s) once a week. We'll see!

Oooh, I never thought I'd be a lettuce influencer, but I'm glad! And wow, 11 varieties! You must have gotten some unusual ones. I love going out back and getting everything for a salad. Today I pulled a terra cotta tomato, a French radish, some basil and rosemary to marinade tomorrow's chicken in.

Here are a few swell things:


My brother and sister are in New Orleans and have visited tiki maven Beachbum Berry's Latitude 29 restaurant and bar. My sister had the Outcast in the Islands cocktail, a ginger and gin concoction that she loves now, so I looked up the recipe. The pic in the article looks exactly Berry's: https://summitsips.com/2021/08/outcast-of-the-islands/

I'm all caught up with Feud: Truman Capote vs. the Swans. The backstabbing!
I made lemon bars last night and a small tomato, basil and mozzarella salad. That's the last of my homegrown basil, I've pulled up with woody stalks and sowed the rehza pepper seeds in it's place.
I'm marinading tonight's chicken in fresh rosemary, garlic and slices of the preserved lemon that I made up a few weeks ago.

This week at Autumn Lives Here, check out the fantastical artwork of Gustave Dore, and connect the dots to your favorite scary movies and books.
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/

Here's a little pressie, if you'd like to read some free short horrors. It's the new Substack anthology e-book called "Vexed To Nightmare", containing the winning stories from the first two Wicked Writing competitions. My story, "Gnaw" is there. You can either download the PDF or the Kindle/e-reader version. Free!
https://macabremonday.substack.com/p/vexed-to-nightmare?utm_source=substack&...

>140 mstrust: Thanks for the download. I am going to put it on my Book Bullet list and hopefully read it this year.

Great! I've just finished it.

19. Vexed To Nightmare

This contains eight short horror stories, the winners of the first two "Wicked Writing" competitions on Substack. My story "Gnaw" is here. There are some excellent writers, I really liked "Spiral Cavity" and "Julie" and will look for more from these authors. I do wish the editor had taken a hand in correcting some basic punctuation mistakes, including in my story, but I was happy to see this e-book finally released. 3.5

>143 mstrust: Congrats! Remember us little people at LT when you are the next Stephen King!

>143 mstrust: Congrats!

>144 Tess_W: Ha! I've been on LT too long to get away with pretending I don't know you all!
>145 MissWatson: Thank you!

20. The Devil's Rooming House by M. William Phelps

This is the true story of the Archer Home in Windsor, Connecticut, run by Amy Archer in the early 1900s. Billed as a home for the elderly and invalid, Amy charged $1000 for total care for the rest of a person's life, a business plan that only worked out for her if she kept bodies coming in with money and going out in body bags. Because of her saintly persona in the small town, and her constant letters telling relatives and officials how "hurt" she was whenever someone pointed out how high the death rates were in her house, she was able to hold off a real inspection of her house for too many years.
This is the basis for Arsenic and Old Lace, but there is a psycho, dead husbands, and a lot more dead people in the real story. 4

Something swell:


We're going tonight, and glad we didn't have tickets for last night as it rained hard. It's like a flea market, but all food, mostly Asian. We first went to a Night Market in Richmond, just outside of Vancouver, BC a few years ago. They are fun and you can experience foods you likely aren't familiar with. This company is popping up all over the states, so you might have one near you.

>140 mstrust: Congratulations on the win for Gnaw. I have read it. Gruesome!

:-D Thanks for reading! To be honest, I expected the majority of the entries to be bloodier than they were. I was surprised when, after the organizer read it, he mentioned that my story was "brutal". I just thought I was delivering some scares per requested.

Something swell that I "discovered" this weekend:

Coffee jelly from a Filipino dessert stand. Chunks of coffee flavored gelatin in a light coffee cream. Well, now I'm obsessed.

>152 mstrust: That is an interesting dessert, I would add a dollop of whipped cream on top cause I find whip cream makes everything taste better!

Have you been watching the Rick & Michonne "Walking Dead" show? I looked at the first one but wasn't very impressed. I will give the second one a try but I think I am done with the Walking Dead universe. :(

I never say no to whipped cream.
I've watched the first episode so far. I'm willing to watch more. I know it's never going to be the same, mainly because they slaughtered all our favorite characters, but I'll give it a chance. But Rick's female partner seems be suffering from "Lori Syndrome", with every line being milked for utmost drama.

A new Autumn Lives Here is up! You'll meet a popular undertaker, make a cocktail inspired by Lovecraft, and we'll go over the movie that caused me childhood trauma. Come get creeped out!
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/

Big Bad by Chandler Baker

The story of a family living in a farmhouse, where the resentful husband sometimes locks his wife in the barn. Is he a horrible man or is he forced to take these steps? The story peels apart with a little info at a time. I think this might be the best of the Amazon Creature Feature collection. 4

21. H.P. Lovecraft: Great Tales of Horror

Reading Lovecraft, you'll see exactly where American horror of the 20s and 30s made a turn, and it was with him. At the time, scary stories were something for children, still primarily Victorian in style, and written with the bloody parts alluded to but rarely shown. Though he had limited success in his lifetime, Lovecraft wrote stories of horror, but also of strangeness. Here you have multiple stories of odd young men being drawn to the odd behavior of neighbors, of devoted friends who are dealing with body invasion, reanimating the dead, and the raising of the great sea creature Cthulhu. "The Thing on the Doorstep" is one of the few that straddles the old, Victorian style while dealing with Lovecraft's modern weirdness. "Pickman's Model" deals with acute mental illness in the art world, but "The Dunwich Horror" is the greatest of Lovecraft's stories, managing to feel modern even though it's nearly 100 years old.
This volume has his greatest hits, and probably a few that are deep dives. 4

It's a big week at Autumn Lives Here. We're looking into two infamous murder cases: punk singer Mia Zapata's, and the true story behind The Town That Dreaded Sundown. Plus, cocktails.
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/

>147 mstrust: On my WL is goes!

You have fun with that, Tess!

Swell stuff (if you like baking):

Season 10 just started!

>140 mstrust: Thank you for the e-treat, Jennifer! I downloaded Vexed to Nightmare and I'm looking forward to reading the collection, especially your story Gnaw.

You're very welcome, and I hope it scares you!

>161 mstrust: I don't bake, but love this show.

I do a lot of baking, so I like seeing the unusual flavor combinations the contestants come up with. And I hope they do the Summer Baking Championship again. I rarely bake in the summer though.

>165 mstrust: Why wouldn't you want your air conditioner fighting with your oven for dominance in the height of summer? When I lived in Phoenix, we pretty much grilled anything we ate eight months of the year, this despite having the best stove we've ever owned -- an old gas range with six burners, a built-in griddle and a warming oven.

22. Don't Point That Thing At Me by Kyril Bonfiglioli

Alcoholic, unethical, and having received a good, if abusive, British education, Charlie Mordecai is an art historian who writes on the subject and facilitates sales of great art. But he's also willing to dabble in blackmail and murder.
In this first of the series, Mordecai is persuaded, through extreme torture, to travel across America in a Rolls Silver Ghost that will be delivered to the man who is the hit.
If you enjoy the snappy British dialogue of Wooster and Jeeves but would like it raunchier and more violent, Mordecai is a fun alternative.4

>167 mstrust: Taking a BB for this one. I love the movie Mordecai (Starring Johnny Depp) and did not realize it was book series.

It's a free week at Autumn Lives Here, and I'm taking you to Paris for Shakespeare and crime. It's a new short story.
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/

>168 lowelibrary: I think there are three in the series? I liked the movie too, but it turns out that it was very sanitized from the book.

>167 mstrust: I love Charlie Mortdecai. He's wicked and very funny. I've read The Mortdecai Trilogy and All the Tea in China and wish Kyril Bonfiglioli had written more books.

Luckily, I have After You with a Pistol on the shelves too. I was surprised to find this was published in 1972, it seems very modern.

23. Lost Hills by Lee Goldberg

Eve Ronin has just been promoted to the robbery-homicide department in the Greater Los Angeles area police because of a viral video of her arresting a famous and violent actor. The other detectives don't like that she got there in that way, and Eve knows she has to prove herself. When she and her partner are sent to look over a blood soaked house, it's clear that multiple murders happened here, but that's all they have to go on. No bodies, no DNA. Eve, along with the task force she's heading for the first time, must find enough evidence before they can make a case of who did it.
This is the first of the Eve Ronin series, written by the author who wrote the best of the Monk novels, and the characters here briefly discuss the show. This is a gritty crime story, with both children and animals faring badly, but I'd like to continue with the series. 4

Here's something swell:Grady Hendrix is working on the final edit of a new book. The working title is "Witchcraft for Wayward Girls".

Happy Easter!

It's National Sourdough Day, but I don't like sourdough so I shall not celebrate.
New purchases:The Inheritor's Powder, Blood Will Out, Murder By the Book. All true crimes.

Elon Musk keeps coming up with unusual ideas, like the one on the news this morning about his plan to address high housing costs with inflatable houses. Made from the same material as bouncy houses, these are cheaper, mobile and some models even have a second story. The bottom floor is still bouncy, but as long as the house is well-anchored to the ground, the residents can have fun all day.

Our rain started again last night and will continue today until this afternoon. My poor plants have had enough. Even when I put them under the awning, the rain lashes sideways and drenches everything. But I have been getting lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, onions and kale nearly every day.

24. Edible Houseplants: Grow Your Own Citrus, Coffee, Vanilla, and 43 Other Tasty Tropical Plants by Laurelynn G. Martin and Byron E. Martin

This book explains how you can grow trees indoors, usually dwarfs, that bear fruits, cocoa pods or coffee beans. I'd never heard of some of these fruits, such as orangeberry or Australian Beach Cherry, but now I want to grow 80% of the trees in this book. The authors have successfully grown nearly everything included here, and they give the rundown of what conditions that plant needs, how to care for it and any problems you'll likely run into.
The plants included don't necessarily need to be grown indoors, but because they are mostly tropical, sub-tropical or from arid lands, they do well indoors where the atmosphere can be controlled. 4 stars

This week on Autumn Lives Here, a delicious transfusion, some upcoming book releases, and the true story behind The Conjuring.

https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/

25. Little, Crazy Children by James Renner

In 1990, sixteen year old Lisa Pruitt was found murdered in her affluent neighborhood of Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland. She had snuck out of her house after midnight and was stabbed just a few yards from her boyfriend's home, a boy who had invited her. He had been released from a psychiatric hospital just that day and they had been apart for several weeks.

The police investigation focused on a schoolmate who had long been known as am angry weirdo, and the police may have seen him as their only suspect due to a group of high-achieving school mates who pointed the finger at him. He was put on trial, his life ruined, but was he the murderer?
Renner's account of the murder, the trial, and the lives of this group of wealthy, nerdy kids is fascinating. The problems I had with the book are when the author injects his own opinions, swearing to let us know he believes something was unfair, or contriving to tell a backstory of one of the players in order to inject his own politics. Even stranger, he includes a text he received from another reporter telling him that his previous work has been irresponsible. When he sticks to reporting the facts of the case, he does so in a riveting style, but sometimes he goes off on a tangent about himself. 4

Something swell:

Have you watched Nolly on Masterpiece Theater? A three part series starring Helena Bonham-Carter as British actress Nolly Gordon, it's pretty great.

>180 mstrust:

I get quite annoyed if an author put too much of their own speculations or opinions into a true crime story. I read a book a couple of years ago in which the author insisted on telling her father’s opinions of a case which I thought was quite unnecessary.

I hate that too, mainly because it almost always comes out of nowhere and is inserted as smoothly as a cactus. I rarely read about politics because I don't want to, there's more to life, but it seems so many authors can't stop their compulsion. That's why, after many years of just letting it pass, I now want to let other readers know they'll find such unprofessionalism.
...the author insisted on telling her father’s opinions of a case which I thought was quite unnecessary.
That sounds even weirder than usual :-D

Mike and I will be attending a bowling league banquet tonight. Neither of us bowls but Mike's shop sponsored a team that won and we were invited. I'm going because it's happening in an excellent dim sum restaurant.

It's a free week at Autumn Lives Here! I've got Netflix scares, a pear cocktail, and the story of Madalynne Obenchain, a lady with too many boyfriends.
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/

Something swell: I won a custom made wooden cutting board at the banquet last night. The man who makes them came over to see what size and wood type I wanted, but from the laugh that went up when I won, and the announcer saying, "Maybe you'll get it at next year's banquet," I think it will be awhile.

Okay, something weird is going on here. For about a month, my posts don't appear on this thread until I hit the refresh button, but I had to type the last post twice because the first one just disappeared. The "post" button has turned into "save".

26. Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder

Told from the pov of 'The Mother', this is the story of a woman who hates motherhood, most likely due to severe post-partum depression. She has a son who is around two years old, and a husband who travels for business, making him a visitor who arrives for 48 hours, barely interacting, and dismissing her need for help. The mother tells him she thinks she is turning into a dog, growing fur and sharp teeth, but no one else sees it. Her progression, or her belief that she's becoming a feral canine, leads to some disturbing and brutal behavior.
The story is part surrealism that addresses a woman who feels she has lost her own self in motherhood. While she loves her child, she deeply resents that she is the primary caregiver, and the book is told from the perspective of a wildly angry woman who does some incredibly violent things. I can't say that I liked this book, it's too one-note, all rage. If you love cats, you might want to avoid it. 3

27. Cut & Thirst by Margaret Atwood

A short story about three older women who have been harboring anger for years on behalf of a fourth friend. They finally decide it's time to exact revenge on the group of men responsible for ruining Fern's career.
A humorous story about friendship and dialing down your fantasies. 3

Autumn Lives Here is covering the best true crime on regular ol' cable this week. Plus, the ancient backstory of The Wicker Man, and a mapley breakfast.
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/

I also got to write a guest post for the popular booky Substack called SoNovelicious. My essay, "The Darkest Corners of the Library", posted today. i dig into how I started reading horror and true crime as a kid. Drop by:
https://substack.com/inbox/post/143357741

28. Dearly Devoted Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

The second in the Dexter series, this time the Miami PD and Dexter, our charming psychopath serial killer, are trying to find "Dr. Danco", a nickname that refers to his method of turning ex-Special Ops into vegetables. Sergeant Doakes, the man who hates Dexter the most but can't figure out why, has a history with Dr. Danco and may be on the list of men being hunted. That leaves him with no choice but to work with Dexter.
It seems implausible to say these are fun reads, but Dexter is such a witty guy that they are fun. 4.5

29. Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O' Nan

While a blizzard rages outside, Manny, the manager of a Red Lobster restaurant, conscientiously goes through all the hassles and policies as if it's a normal day, but it isn't. Just days before Christmas, this is the last day of operation for this location, a place Manny has worked for years. Though he's been placed elsewhere by the corporation, he believes he will never again see Jacqui, the server he loves.
Told from hardworking Manny's POV, it's the story of a man who knows the most joy he's found is in the past, so he tries to keep his mind on his work. 3.5

This week at Autumn Lives Here: food horror, the inspiration for Arsenic and Old Lace, and digging into all The Walking Dead spin-offs. Plus a cocktail!
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/

Something swell: have you ever listened to a bedtime podcast? I've checked in to several, but Night Falls hits the sweet spot for me. The narrator has the most gentle voice and a Cornish accent, which just makes it better. Plus, some of the stories feature characters from Father Brown, Shakespeare, even one mild mystery starring Agatha Christie herself.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/night-falls-bedtime-stories-for-sleep/id16...

30. A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers

The story of Dorothy, a psychopath who indulges in her lack of empathy. Coming from a moderately wealthy family and left an inheritance, Dorothy becomes an exceptionally well-traveled, well-read food critic. She knows the best restaurants and enjoys cooking, describing the both the exotic and traditional dishes she eats, especially in Italy, her adopted second home.
She also relishes finding new lovers, especially if her research on the person turns up something Dorothy can use as leverage in the future. That she can destroy them is always in the back of her mind. As she matures, Dorothy's pleasure in the forbidden includes murder and cannibalism.

It would be too easy to say that Dorothy is a monster and her story is one of vulgar brutality, but that would ignore the times when she discusses the beauty of Italy and the care that goes into the cuisine, or the magazine trade of the 90s, the art of Ivan Albright, how Kosher meat is processed and how the USDA works. All these asides of a page or two combine to show how intelligent and curious Dorothy is about the world. The brutality is mixed with her version of sensuousness, which can be gross, but Summers is a superb writer who has created a fascinating character. 4.5

>193 mstrust: This looks really good! I read an O'Nan a couple of years ago, Circus Fire and I rated it highly.

I liked it. I didn't know he wrote non-fiction too, and that one sounds interesting. Look, we're passing recs!

This week's Autumn Lives Here has workplace horrors, a well-preserved English gent, and a dee-licious Walker cocktail.
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/

My new thread is up, come on over.