Eve Castle > Recent Status Updates

It was slow to get into it but I’m enjoying the interactions of the Black and Jewish characters who are neighbors struggling to make a good life in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, during the 1920s.

Story titled Wandering Devil - Cadwell Turnbull - story of a man’s leaving. Despite a mysterious warning from a blind street musician to put an end to his wanderlust . . . Freddy can’t put aside his inherited generational habit of leaving a place and all others behind.

I first read Turnbull in The Dystopia Triptych series. He’s got a great way of emotionally connecting you to his characters.

Another great short story titled Eye & Tooth by Rebecca Roanhorse. Author introduces sister and brother, Zelda and Atticus, who are a monster-hunting team for hire.

Roanhorse is a NYTimes bestselling author and a Nebula, Hugo & Locus award winner for speculative fiction. Unique style in this horror short.

I’m sensing this ride with Jordan Peele’s curated story collection is going to be wildly exhilarating.

Curated short stories by Jordan Peele. The first story, Reckless Eyeballing, is impressive! Author is N. K. Jemisin. Bio: Shes won 3 consecutive Best Novel Hugo Awards, for her Broken Earth trilogy. Her work has won the Nebula and Locus Awards, & she’s a 2020 MacArthur Fellow. The 1st book in her Great Cities trilogy, The City We Became, is a New York Times bestseller.

Wow! I followed Jemisin here on Goodreads.

I’m a slow reader of full length poetry. I prefer to read a poem out loud first - and so I need to be home alone. I should rethink this or I’ll never get through my endless poetry shelves. The Good Thief, 1988, is Howe’s 1st published collection. Of 17 poems I’ve read so far I have 4 marked as favorites. I’ve yet to find that one unforgettable poem . . . It may not be in this early collection.

I’m close to the end and I can say it’s superbly written. I don’t want it to end yet!

Listening on audio. Talented narrators. Debut novel 2021 by Sara Nisha Adams. Partly based on her grandfather. A young teen, Aleisha, who works at a library, connects with a lonely widower, Mukesh. A mysterious book list drives the narrative. Both characters reflect on how the novels they are reading relate to their lives. Heartwarming, easy read.

I’m in awe of this excellent pathological horror story. I’ll keep you posted - but so far it’s a 5. Curious to see what the author has in store.

Collection of quotes on solitude and silence I’m enjoying in my often noisy world. Here is a short one from page 12:

The world would be happier if men had the same capacity to be silent that they have to speak.

—Spinoza, Dutch Philosopher

Amazing and truly dark tale… riveting.

Raw stories of various lengths. Some are snippets of a life or lives that are futuristic. All open up the mind like a whiff of strong coffee.

It’s ticking along. Three story lines in three separate locations and time periods. Not all equally exciting. This is not a 4 rating so far and doubting it will get there. Will see. It seems worth continuing.

I’m intrigued but not yet impressed. Listening to the audiobook.

I’m glad to be listening to the audio version of this novel but it’s significantly stressful listening.

High tension is keeping me riveted. Enjoying the characters, the subject matter, and I’m learning about healing, and resilience. I know we, as a society, can be quick to judge others. It’s a good reminder to be best.

Listening to the audiobook. Enjoying learning about beekeeping. The characters are strong & likable. This book’s been banned in some high schools along with about 20 other books by this author who writes about realities in today’s world as well as historical struggles. Perhaps she’s too honest?
It’s an easy listen so far. Domestic abuse is a central theme, the death of a teen, & her boyfriend arrested.

A bit of a plot twist I didn’t expect and another chapter on the evil woman with no name. Curious to see how the author closes this one. Enjoying it so far.

In this 2nd reading of this poet’s book, I realized a couple of poems have lengthy similes. I loved this one in her poem Deer Rub:

… washes the antlers
of blood, like a curator cleaning the bones

of a saint in the crypt beneath a church
at the end of a century, when the people

have begun to think of the bodies
as truly dead and unraisable,

when children have begun to carry knives
in their pockets…

I’m in Chapter 5, the final one of Part 1, Human Networks. The title is: Decisions: A Brief History of Democracy & Totalitarianism. The Prologue was an hour long. The first four chapters of Part 1 laid groundwork: What is Information, Storytelling as information sharing, Documentation as record keeping, and Errors: The Fantasy of Infallibility.

Yuval knows this stuff and is a great historian and researcher.

Full of surprises. Magic, evil, greed… great novel so far.