Anthony > Recent Status Updates

Read the brutally shocking, indelibly detailed title story.

There’s a rich, authentic, subtly drawn emotional life coursing through these characters that’s very moving to me.

I’m enjoying its compassionate subtlety very much. I’m also alternating between eye-reading and listening, and I have to say that the audiobook actors are all doing a fantastic job.

I always enjoy when an author is able to successfully alternate between different narrators’ first-person voices, as Lalami does here.

Finished Part Two. It’s interesting in many ways, and also very serious in tone, and also, perhaps, a bit too in love with its sense of its own importance.

Finished Part One. I can well imagine that this novel, when it appeared in the early 80s, was quite unlike any other fantasy literature of its time.

An intriguing beginning. It’s *very* British in style and setting. Since this book has appeared on a number of lists of the best fantasy novels, I’ve been curious to see whether or not I will agree.

Read “Escape from Spiderhead,” a magnificent story by George Saunders. It’s the second story of his that I’ve read, and both were fantastic.

Read Jess Row’s “The Call of Blood.” The story of a nurse and his relationship with his Alzheimer’s patient and her daughter, it’s quite moving. Very intimately told, complex, featuring keen, clear-eyed depictions of wonderfully human characters.

I was having a hard time picking my next book after being knocked out by my last one. Happily, this is a substantially different reading experience than that was, so I’m satisfied with my choice.

Read “Slim in Hell,” a dark, intense continuation of an earlier story; and the next story, the incredibly long title of which I can’t fit into this status update. It’s wacky, often hilarious, and twisted, and with, as everything else in this collection, profound ideas about the intersection of the past on the present when it comes to racial inequities.

Read “Mercury in Retrograde,” a companion piece to an earlier story, which brutally and hilariously satirizes how we can escape our programming; and the brief, haunting “On the Occasion of the Death of Freddie Lee.”

Read “A Rare and Powerful Employee,” a brief, disturbing examination of hypocrisy; “Numbers,” a fascinating mashup of early-20th Century mafia antics and a tale of Siren-like Water Women; and the brief horror tale “A Loudness of Screechers.”

Read “The Electric Joy of Service,” about an inventor’s diabolical approach to creating service robots; and “The Temple of Practical Arts,” a kind of companion piece to the first story in the collection. The author’s audacious, fearless approach continues to impress. In the second story, the sharp turns from humor to darkness are especially bold.

Read “The N***** Knockers,” which is as provocative and intense a story as its title suggests. This author makes big, bold choices that explore tragic themes and situations with tremendous freshness.

Read “David Sherman, the Last Son of God,” which is inventive, strange, and very evocative.

Read “To the Measures Fall” by Richard Powers. This was my first encounter with Powers’ work, and it won’t be my last. His story here is inventive, urgent, crisply and wittily crafted, and packed with ideas. I understand why he’s so acclaimed.

Read Joyce Carol Oates’ “ID,” a harrowing, sad portrait of a neglected, emotionally scarred and stunted 13-year-old girl.

The writing is crisp, subtle, and intensely unsentimental.

I’ve had this book for a long time. Something is calling me to read it now, and it’s quite (sadly) resonant to the moment we are living through in 2025.

Read Ricardo Nuila’s “Dog Bites,” a fascinating portrait of an eccentric doctor and his eccentric son.

Finished Part Seven. Vive la révolution!

Finished Part Six. This part displayed some of KSR’s excellent abilities at grounding philosophical, political, and economic debates within dialogue between characters who are believable engaging in such matters.

Finished Part Five. There’s a wee bit of coincidence creeping into some of the interweaving of plot points, but so far that isn’t overwhelming the overall narrative in any significant way.

Finished Part Four. Still very intrigued and finding it quite enjoyable and compelling.

KSR’s approach here feels liberated and experimental in very fun ways. And the sequence involving Vlade being called in to help with a rescue was quite moving.

Finished Part Two. Spending time in the company of the first-person chapters of a pitch-perfect Finance Bro is effectively icky.

Finished Part One. This is written in a refreshingly zippy, sometimes even jazzy, rhythm, people with characters who feel alive. And as always with KSR, the science undergirding his worldbuilding feels utterly plausible.

A fascinating start. I’m a big fan of KSR and am glad to be in his wildly intelligent company again.

Finished Part III. I have such a deep admiration for authors such as Butler who have an incredible knack for creating truly *alien* alien species.