lucas > Recent Status Updates

what do i even say about what i just read. this certainly is gothic horror and plays well on the reader's discomfort and uncertainty . intrigued to see how it continues

one must imagine sisyphus happy 👍

i have never been particularly philosophical, but i am fond of sisyphus (i ended up with two capybara plushies, and dubbed them 'sisyphus' and 'the boulder'.), which i am sure has nothing to do with having a corporate job in the capitalist hellscape of this century, and i have enjoyed 20th century absurdism in the past. plus, i want an intellectual challenge, and stepping out of my comfort zone should provide that

there was an indie book and zine fair in the city today, so naturally i went to have a wander, and visited a few other book shops and such while i was at it. bravely didnt enter the book hive because i bought three books there last week. and then got the jumpscare of my life when im browsing, see someone waving at me, and realise it is none other than my boss / manager of my team. was not prepared for that one

what do i even do with myself once i finish this. 545,000 words. a month of my life. never have i been so glad to spend so much time with a book, but the thought of reading something new feels wrong. even if i have planned a vicious reread because i need some light reading

the number of character deaths in this book has more than doubled in the past fifteen pages. not including all of the 'this person said this thing about this event before dying in a meat freezer' incidents as that would put the death count of tom's crossing comfortably in the hundreds. bloody hell.

too many terrible moments in this book for me to know where to begin talking about them. utter devastation, mixed in with some damn good social commentary integrated perfectly into the narrative

overall pretty upsetting local election results today, but my division went green (: and reform didnt get enough seats for a majority. mostly and ironically thanks to rupert lowe

it may or may not have taken me almost nine hundred pages to realise that orvop is an anagram of provo. in my defence i dont tend to think about utah and did not make the connection until i saw provo mentioned on mark z danielewksi's wikipedia page. the more you know

starting to regret not taking notes now. there are some beautiful passages in this book, and i admire mark danielewski as a writer, but the only quote i could actually locate is the orpheus one on page 309. alas.

halfway through at last. this book is so very dense

picked up a beautiful hardback of thomas mann's collected short stories from an antique shop today (: and also got a miniature workout when my niece and nephew insisted i chase them around the garden for twenty minutes. still crawling through this book but the activities taking up much of my time are worthwhile

the rage old porch and his sons inspire in me is too great for a goodreads update. egan porch when i get you

going on holiday tomorrow and plan to make the most of the five+ hours in the car to make a proper dent in this book. all these work events have left me lucky to read twenty pages a day, and that is not the way to read a book like this. at least it is slowing down a bit in may. only thing of note is they want to get me on a wind turbine

i keep forgetting most of these characters are mormon. they're even worse at following their religion than those disney+ tiktok mormon housewives were. at least none of them drunkenly killed one of their children and then pinned the blame on a random kid. as far as im aware, anyway. i didnt let my friends force me to sit through the entire first series

decided to go to the book hive and buy a book today, despite having a thousand pages left of this and several unread books on my shelf, and the world got me back for it with a norwich labubu jumpscare. the soulless eyes of a giant labubu are more haunting than words can say

been sentenced to our sinister capital for work today and managed to get some reading in on the train, but a book this size does not make for easy commute reading. absolute brick of a hardback

barely read last week, thanks to work, and have a similarly busy week ahead, but i am enjoying this. western is not my genre (i attempted blood meridian twice, could not get into mccarthy's writing style and it was just a bit dull), and the writing here has taken some getting used to, but there is a reason i put my trust in mark danielewski. he is a talented storyteller

definitely do not have the time to read a book of this length, but it's been calling to me from the top of my bookshelf for several months now. the last time i put my faith in mark danielewski, it more than paid off, and if this is half as good as house of leaves i will be content

had a catch-up via discord with hans, my freak in arms, and we were talking about the simple joy of going into bookshops and picking up random books you've never heard of instead of seeking out something specific. i mentioned this and the plot, because it seemed up their alley, and it turns out they have already read it. no book is too niche

always intrigued by how different authors characterise the devil. most of the time, they go for somewhat suave, whereas here he calls a sixteen year old a pussy and says fuck a lot. which is somehow eerier than the likes of mephisto. who was, admittedly, pretty damn silly, but the names given most of the other demons of faustian novels ive read (save luc) are escaping me in this sleepy state

this book is fascinating, but fucking hell, it is bombarding me with fact after fact about religious history. i am an atheist geographer who specialised in equitable sustainable. it could not be further from my knowledge base. several reviews say this isn't particularly accessible to people who aren't experts in the field, and i do agree. may read some fiction alongside this, and also take some notes. for my sanity

yet another book that has been sitting on my shelf since my birthday, simply because i wasnt in the mood for dense nonfiction when i read the first forty pages last year and promptly forgot about it. come to think of it, i attempted death + the penguin and the vorrh at the same time, couldn't get into either one, and then probably reread adsom. that says it all

accidentally made an adsom reference while tutoring. in my defence, it was because of a discussion about comparisons between two different poems about london, and 'i dont know what london he's in, but it isnt ours' did just slip out

had a ten hour work day yesterday (eleven including travel), and today my 9-5 has been supplemented by a two hour driving lesson and an hour of tutoring. how am i supposed to sit and read in these conditions. at least i had a chance to update my little 2026 media notebook yesterday, so half the books ive read and games ive played this year have a page. small wins

had friends visiting over the weekend, so didn't read as much as i normally would, but an incredibly worthwhile trade. went to the beach and gave a tour of my fine city.
also need to get my hands on a copy of project hail mary at some point, want to read it soon because my boyfriend would like to watch it with me (he has already seen it once) and i have to read it first

a friend got me this for my birthday last year, and another friend is very fond of the book, but i never did get around to reading it. better late than never.

the most horrifying thing about this book is that it is based on a true story. and when i looked up the name of the woman who inspired luciana, elena milagro de hoyos, every single search result was the name of the man who desecrated her corpse, and sensationalist articles about the 'real life corpse bride'. i wish that were more surprising.

i am not a particularly squeamish person. ive read american psycho several times and used to watch hannibal while eating dinner. but i was not prepared for the semi-graphic on-page depiction of a diy abortion via small needle. this fictional teenager is considerably braver than i am

discovered my old secondary school and sixth form is currently under lockdown because a girl was stabbed. it's never been a great school (minor acts of violence while i was there. the gun lockdown. history of racism. and the murder) but fucking hell. glad i am not there anymore. poor kid