March reading was predominantly horror — three short story collections from three different authors, each with their own approach to the genre. Outside of horror, the continuation of a walking pilgrimage along the Silk Road, a guide to lucid dreaming, and a completely unexpected hit about beavers. Work and a prolonged illness kept me from reading more, which I’m embarrassed and sad about. At least in March I also wrote something — once it passes peer review, I’ll show you too!
Walking to Samarkand: The Great Silk Road from Persia to Central Asia
Bernard Ollivier
I really enjoyed the first part of the journey (Out of Istanbul), but somehow couldn’t connect with this one. I didn’t feel like I was getting to know the countries and people, many of the stories and incidents along the way felt a bit stale/forced, and in a few places I was very surprised by the man’s heroic feats. We listened to it before bed with my wife and it was still a pleasant experience, but we’ll probably take a longer break before the next installment.
A Collapse of Horses
Brian Evenson
An excellent collection with strong ideas and something that horror doesn’t give me very often anymore: a kind of aftertaste, a feeling of having experienced something disturbing just enough to be interesting, rather than just trying to overdo it. Recommended.
Hasty for the Dark: Selected Horrors
Adam L.G. Nevill
As usual with collections, some didn’t quite land for me, others worked beautifully. Nevill is GREAT at domestic horror, building the most anxiety-inducing and menacing environments, genuinely engaging with real-world horrors: the climate crisis, poverty, domestic violence, toxic relationships, false escapes, etc.
The only thing that didn’t work for me, and didn’t work quite often, were the endings — most of them just elicited a shrug and a feeling of “well, okay, fine.” Still worthwhile reading though!
Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming
Stephen LaBerge
I’ve been experimenting and working with lucid dreaming for about 20 years. Despite a few tips that didn’t work for me and were perhaps too rooted in philosophical traditions (dealing with nightmares), this is a great book for “how to get started with lucid dreaming and how to approach the practice.” Recommended.
Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter
Ben Goldfarb
Okay, I’m now also a beaver believer, nothing more to say.
It may not be the most factual book out there, but it’s definitely extremely fun, full of hope, and somehow even creative.
Corpsemouth and Other Autobiographies
John Langan
The writing is excellent, the fascination with parallel worlds didn’t do much for the collection. The strongest punch came with The Supplement (even though the concept has been done many times, it was done brilliantly here), Home-Made Monsters and Kore were quite fun. Corpsemouth itself felt more like a “novel introduction,” Anchor like a novel — one that doesn’t say much, but can still be read with pleasure.