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O RARE AMANDA!

TRUST ME, IT'S OKAY TO MAKE FUN OF HER
If you've even glanced at my social media in the recent past, you've probably seen me talking about this piece I wrote for the Millions about Sean Penn and Amanda McKittrick Ros. Sorry to repeat myself yet again, but I'm CUCKOO WITH JOY about this piece being out in the world. I am slowly building a body of criticism about bad art, and this is a gleeful part of it. Read it, or read it again, or send it to someone who likes reading. If you're bored at work, check out Irene Iddesleigh on Gutenberg

I interviewed Kelly Sundberg about her memoir, Goodbye, Sweet Girl, for Proximity/TRUE. It's a hell of a book and I think it's going to be big. This interview went awry in every possible way, except for the subject's willingness and friendliness, but it's over now and the results speak for themselves. 

For Books I Hate, I got Eileen G'Sell into my little clubhouse. She claimed she had no ability to be a hater and then she gave me all kinds of good stuff
Recent Book Reviews:
  • For Cleaver, Gaslight, by Joachim Kalka. I don't know quite what to say about this book, except for what I said in the review. I can't recommend it, exactly. 
  • For the Arts Fuse, Never Anyone But You, by Rupert Thomson. A lovely involving novel about two figures of Surrealism who should not be obscure anymore. 
  • For LARB, The Captives, by Debra Jo Immergut. I really recommend this book to thriller readers. It's not as dramatic as most thrillers, but its character development is unusually potent. 
  • For ANMLY, Assumptions We Might Make About the Postworld, by Katharine Haake, my mentor. Our names are a coincidence. This book is not. It's beautiful and complex and sly and profound. For her part, Kate says she loves having a small book. 
  • For Locus, MEM, by Bethany C. Morrow. Kids are going to read this in 20 years the way they're reading The Giver now. If you feel like thinking, and then feeling, and then thinking some more, read it. 
What I'm thinking about:
  • Nationally, things are bleak. I keep turning off social media to go read. It's never been a better time to do that. 
  • This essay says pretty much everything you need to know about coercive rape and how it works in one's head. It's not fun, but it's important. 
  • I'm participating in Jami Attenberg's Twitter-supported #1000wordsofsummer. I'm not doing that well, in truth, but I'm trying.  
  • Mountain-climbing keeps appearing in every corner of my life lately - both as metaphor and as literal activity. ??? 
What I'm reading:
  • Stoner, John Williams. I audiobooked this a couple of years ago and hated it, and a forthcoming book has made me decide to focus my anger into criticism. But that means I have to reread it. 
  • Junk, Tommy Pico. I read his work in an anthology and just had to read more. 
  • No Moon, Julie Reverb. I've been sprinkling experimental writing in with my normal diet, but this is the first thing in that category I've full-on enjoyed in quite a while. 
Upcoming:
  • A listicle on too-obscure writing reference books. 
  • Reviews of a few books from the University of Texas Press. I haven't delved that deeply into UP books yet as a critic, but this press appears to be a good place to start, because it does amazing work. 
  • Books I Hate interviews with surprise mystery guests. 
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