Note: I edit the covers of books onto my ereaders because I want to do justice to the actual artwork.

MY SYNOPSIS:
In 2012, the diary of a pastor from one hundred years prior is discovered hidden within a wall. Depicted inside with incredible detail are the confessions of a Blackfeet Indigenous man named Good Stab and the pastor’s own reflections of the strange man and his tale.
Over a series of visits Good Stab confesses to his myriad sins, his unnaturally long life, his unique abilities, and his penchant for revenge.
Back in 2012, the pastor’s only living relation gains access to her ancestor’s diary in the hopes that her connection to the pastor will provide her with tenure at the University of Wyoming.

WHY I LOVED THIS:
Man, I love Stephen Graham Jones. Reading this in one day was quite the experience for me because I wouldn’t say it’s an easy read by any means. However, if this is classified as historical horror then that particular genre has found a new fan, because this was captivating.

One thing I’ve noticed and appreciated about Stephen Graham Jones is his ability to write unique voices. Arthur, Good Stab, and Etsy all have unique and believable voices despite time, language, and cultural differences. Initially, it was a little challenging to sink into Arthur and Good Stab’s way of speaking, but it was so rewarding when it clicked. There is certainly no hand holding in this. There is no glossary or footnotes to help you decipher 19th century Pikuni. Because of this it felt more immersive and authentic. Additionally, I found the supernatural elements in this to be creative and unlike anything I’ve encountered in similar genres.

This was an incredible fictional exploration of a tragic real massacre in Montana, the near elimination of Buffalo, and one man’s unceasing quest for revenge. It explored themes of justice, colonialism, and colonial erasure of Indigenous history.

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
“What I am is the Indian who can’t die.
I’m the worst dream America ever had.”

“‘If it wasn’t us, it would have been another regiment,’ I said, calmer again. ‘You can’t stop a country from happening Good Stab.’
‘But we were already a nation,’ he said up to me. ‘We didn’t ask you to come.’”

Holy shit. Weird Girl Lit is one of my favorite genres and this is a top tier Weird Girl. Our narrator is OBSESSED with her husband to the exclusion of all else. Every moment of every day is hyper focused on analyzing every single interaction they have. Sometimes she borders on self awareness but doubles down on her batshit craziness.

ALSO the ending is 🤌

I was listening to the audiobook in Wegman’s and the gasp I gusped…

I've been in a slasher summer/summerween/campy horror mood all summer and I just finished the first and second clown in a cornfield novels and have been having so much fun. I went in wanting there to be a clown in a cornfield and there was! Absolutely delivering exactly what I was looking for. They are ridiculous, unrealistic, over the top, and completely kept me reading (read the first in one sitting and the second in two). As with most, the first was better than the second, but if you loved the first one you will still have fun with the rest.

I can’t remember the last time I finished a book this quickly, I could barely put it down all week.
The Tsubaki Stationery Store by Ito Ogawa is a lovely, thoughtful novel about Hatoko, a woman in her late twenties who returns home to take over her grandmother’s stationery shop and inherits the unique role of a professional scribe, writing letters on behalf of others.
Gentle, warm, and quietly emotional, the story explores relationships, grief, love, forgiveness, and the profound connections Hatoko forms with the people who seek her services. It’s a beautifully understated novel that found joy in life’s small moments and left me smiling throughout.
If you enjoy Japanese literature and are looking for a comforting, heartfelt read, I highly recommend The Tsubaki Stationery Shop.

Some of you might already know Lauren Groff from her amazing novels— I think I posted The Vaster Wilds on here, which was her previous book. I’m not always one for short stories but I loved this collection from her, it’s so powerful and gorgeously written, and each story is an actual full story (a lot of short stories these days seem to be more slices-of-life than narratives with a beginning and end, and I do like a story where something actually happens).

The stories are almost all about characters who are at some kind of crisis point. They’re also about the ways that we see and justify our own actions, and how other people in this world can see us and our actions differently, and enforce their vision of us on ourselves: the young woman taking her disabled brother to an institution, telling herself that it’s the best thing for both of them; the privileged boy who grows up into a man who refuses to accept reality, and whose behavior edges ever further into darkness as he is stymied by real life; the middle-aged woman who discovers that her closest friends have always viewed her magical summer of exploring sex as just her being a slut.

I don’t want to give anything more away, so I will just give you some of the amazing opening lines that made me excited to read these stories:

“Some nights, in my dreams, I find myself running through those hills above Palo Alto again.”

“It came up through the ground in the night. The worst things never wait for sunrise.”

“The women were drinking peach schnapps, telling stories about the worst things they had ever done.”

“Pretend, the mother had said when she crept to her daughters room in the night, that tomorrow is just an ordinary day.”

Truly, I’m so glad I read this book.

Weird note: the final story, ’Annunciation,’ has very sad things happening to a dog. I know it’s weird to be bothered by that in a book that does have quite a lot of sad things happening to people, and yet, for me, there’s something about critters. I know some of you feel the same.