Last time I posted a books and things my first (but hopefully not last) Fluke event was on the horizon. Now it is in the rearview mirror of life *wave bye* but dang did I have fun while I was there! And I learned a lot during my turn as an exhibitor for Southern Cemetery – good and bad and it was mostly good. A big thank you to everyone who stopped by my booth to say hi! It was so nice to meet so many of y’all face-to-face.
My weekends since then have been pretty stacked but luckily last week I was able to escape to the mountains for a bit and there I read six whole books in the course of 3 days. I picked up a book as soon as I woke up and was reading one when I fell asleep every night. It was awesomeeeee! So here’s a peek into those books and more…
The Most Unusual Haunting of Edgar Lovejoy This was such a fun yet surprisingly heartbreaking read about Edgar, Jamie and their friends + family. It was much more of a love story with a smattering of horror mostly used as analogy (aka the past haunts you, if you let it) so don’t let the cover fool you too much. Extra love for the setting of New Orleans ’cause it is one of my favorite places in the world to visit!
(L to R) Thorn Hedge Never met a Kingfisher I didn’t like! A retelling of Sleeping Beauty that feels much more like the old, old tale complete with a bevy of magic creatures. Quick read and perfect for an spring evening in the garden watching the toads/frogs hop about. *hint*
Other Minds and Other Stories Bennett Sims came recommended to me by Ian at Rec Room Books and if you love short stories then you’ll LOVE this collection. Bonus: rough cut paper edges in this publication. YES.
Bog Queen Oh, this one grabbed me from the first page when they introduced the main character. I love her in all of oddly endearing glory. Part mystery and part drama, and filled with interesting twists and turns (giving the perspective of the moss in the bog is an phenomenal addition) you’ll find that you can’t put it down. Or at least I couldn’t. I finished it lickety-split!
St. Eom in the Land of Pasaquan: The Life and Times and Art of Eddie Owens Martin I recently took my Mom to visit one of Georgia’s most documented outsider art installations – Pasaquan – and the memory of its creator, Eddie Martin aka St. Eom. There’s an incredible backstory for the building of the center that includes: a move to NYC, a vision from aliens, transcendent experiences, lots of beads and brightly colored paint, and a technicolor phoenix rising from neglected ashes in Buena Vista, Georgia. Want to see some photos of Pasaquan I took this month (April) and read a bit more about the whole story? Visit ASRA (my other blog) here for a brief journey into the flowy and glowy world of St. Eom.
Graves of the Great and Famous Mostly pictorial and very much what it seems in all the good ways – artists, politicians, scientists, you name it – and their graves both humble and grand. I’ll break this one out on a rainy day and dream about traveling…
Ruby Falls Chattanooga, Tennessee is full of caves and tourist attractions, and this book is set with a straddling of fiction and non-fiction with one foot in the true tales of discovery and the other foot in a series of murders that are all imagination. I love a good combo story like this one. There’s nothing like learning about some regional history of an iconic spot and then tossing in some murdery made-up tales to bump up the excitement even more. Bonus points: waterfalls. Love ’em. More bonus points: the author based the main character on a real person – Katie Stabler, a female guide at Wind Caves in South Dakota during the late 1800’s.
Early New England Gravestone Rubbings A controversial topic in the taphophile community! To rub or not to rub, that is the question. When one sees the incredible works captured in this book it’s easy to understand why it happens because dang. Beautiful and soooo cool. And some of these graves are now destroyed – vandalism, nature, etc – so this is all that remains of them…
Beta Vulgaris I have to admit that this one I have put to the side for now. I love the artwork but I just can’t get into the story? It has all the things I think I would love – beets, horror, talking beets, deconstructing industrialized agriculture, more beets – but alas no. Maybe I should give it another go this weekend.
The Last Word I wrote my Dad’s published obituary last year and it was such a daunting task. How do you sum up someone’s life in like 5 paragraphs? Answer: you don’t. You can’t!
This book made me feel a bit better about the whole thing and made me realize that my Dad would’ve gotten a kick out of an obituary that realllly talked up his golf game a bit more. Ok, maybe to the point of lying. A secret between us that would’ve gone to the grave.
I laughed, I cried, I cringed. It also made me realize that obituaries like these are going the way of the ghost. Pun intended.
If you’re in the Athens area then I’d love for you to join my new book club! Like, I started the idea last week and here we goooo.
The RIP (Read In Peace) Book Club will meet May 20th, and it’s for everyone. There will be an area for chatting and an area for quiet reading. Pick your poison! Go here to see more.
Visit my Goodreads to see what I’m reading and what I’ve read. Fair warning: I’m a little loosey-goosey with my updating but I would still love to be reading friends on there if you’d like to add me. And always down with suggestions for new or new-to-me books…
