Charcuterie of Written Words (vol. 26)

books, stories, poems, etc.; January this year

January has been a strange and busy month. I traveled, and reveled, and got stranded, it snowed a lot, it was cold and quiet without being all that calm. The lack of calmness may have been my own damn fault. I embarked on my no new books experiment with great aplomb. It has, thus far, been a smashing success, and as of last night I have read eight books this month (possibly a record?). They are The Sun Also Rises, Play It as It Lays, Ariane, a Russian Girl, The Little Friend, The English Patient, The Hours, Loved and Missed, and Washington Square. Will be back next week to tell you what I thought of them.

I additionally consumed the To Be Young edition of Hotshoe Magazine, which I acquired at Casa Magazines, probably on a Saturday when I suddenly felt spendy while out for breakfast. I have not yet determined whether this type of behavior is acceptable in the year of no new books. Technically a magazine is not a book, but some of them can be suspiciously book-like. Not Hotshoe though; Hotshoe is a photography magazine (wonderful!). From what I can gather, they bring together collections from a variety of photographers around a central theme. In this case, youth, and more specifically teenagerhood (a word?). Featured photographers include Sally Mann, Davide Sorrenti, Claudine Doury, Raymond Meeks & others. It’s mostly photographs, but interspersed are the featured photographers’ responses to set questions (When is the first time you remember no longer feeling like a child?, What advice would you give to your young self?, etc.).

In the world of less long things to read, I stumbled upon this piece in the Atlantic from nine years ago about a Filipino family who came to the United States in 1964, bringing with them their slave, Lola. They kept her up to the end of her life. It’s by Alex Tizon, one of the children who Lola helped to raise.

I was delighted to find a short story by Bud Smith in the Fall Paris Review that had been sitting on my bedside table for 4ish months. I love Bud Smith and will be buying more of his books as soon as I’m allowed. Everyone should read Teenager, it’s fantastic.

This month I also liked “The Quiet House” by Tessa Hadley in The New Yorker. I like reading about old ladies and their memories right now (see All Passion Spent). I also like her depiction of female friendship.

Also from The Paris Review (but this time on Substack, I guess?) I loved Mold and Melancholia by Madeline Cash. Kathryn is reading Lost Lambs; will buy when allowed.

In better news about books that I can read, this month EJ Johnson wrote about Brett Easton Ellis and Molly Young wrote about Iris Murdoch—or at least about The Black Prince. What a boon that I already own that one, AND I own Less Than Zero. My cup runneth over. I will perhaps read them both in February.

Frank O’Hara

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