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Fan Mail: A Guide to What We Love, Loathe, and Mourn
294 pages, Paperback
Published October 23, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 16, 2026
More accurately titled "Collected blog posts of some guy you've never heard of".
In a blog post about how "reading widely" is bad actually, Guriel exhorts you to "shutter your ear to mediocrity," and so I stopped reading then and there.
In a blog post about how "reading widely" is bad actually, Guriel exhorts you to "shutter your ear to mediocrity," and so I stopped reading then and there.
November 10, 2025
We measure books of this ilk by a strange metric. If they are successful, we want to read something else immediately. We also want to listen to it and watch it because the author makes such a persuasive argument. And when we have already experienced that media, we see it through new eyes.
I do not know Guriel. I have read nothing else of his (though he does push his verse novel pretty hard...), so I do not go into this wanting to like the book for his personality. This can be the downfall of this genre, as it frees that author from having to be convincing. They just have to be famous, and their recommendation of [LONG RANT ABOUT NEIL GAIMAN EXCISED] is prized over the actual quality of the media.
Guriel largely succeeded. I had highlight upon highlights, lists of books and movies I would acquire. Sometimes, the prose was a little reaching, but we are authors and should be forgiven for playing with language.
He might have been so convincing that I actually may pick up another one of his books, which is high praise indeed.
I received a free copy from Netgalley for my honest review.
I do not know Guriel. I have read nothing else of his (though he does push his verse novel pretty hard...), so I do not go into this wanting to like the book for his personality. This can be the downfall of this genre, as it frees that author from having to be convincing. They just have to be famous, and their recommendation of [LONG RANT ABOUT NEIL GAIMAN EXCISED] is prized over the actual quality of the media.
Guriel largely succeeded. I had highlight upon highlights, lists of books and movies I would acquire. Sometimes, the prose was a little reaching, but we are authors and should be forgiven for playing with language.
He might have been so convincing that I actually may pick up another one of his books, which is high praise indeed.
I received a free copy from Netgalley for my honest review.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews