Yes! I think it’s extremely important to know which books reviewers disliked. It allows me to measure my trust in their recommendations. I started Tomorrow x3 and did not finish. I just couldn’t get into it. There is a certain cadence to writing that really attracts me. Some authors always have it. Others, I can never get into. I don’t think it’s a slight against the author at all, different strokes.
I’m actually reading The Secret History right now. I love it so far. I loved The Goldfinch as well.
I’m extremely particular about books and if it doesn’t have my attention in a chokehold, I move on. If I reviewed books I would probably allow more room for some ennui.
I’ve had other artist friends mention the Rick Rubin book and I’ll probably read that soon.
I watched Saltburn. It was meh. Grossly gratuitous in some parts. Basically a ripoff of The Talented Mr. Ripley. The most memorable character in the entire movie was Saltburn itself. Some of the cinematography was beautiful but I would have been more entertained had I just re-watched TTMR.
My reading red flags for recommendations are if you haven’t read any classics and recommend authors who write like they didn’t make it past 6th grade.
(Which is not a slight on the author, some people want/need easy to unwind.) I need great vocab and beautiful cadence for me to be invested.
Absolutely about the cadence to the writing, and different styles - it would be boring if we all liked the same things! Usually I can understand why people might still like a book I didn't and try to communicate that in a full review. I try to finish most of the books I start if they have any merit since it makes for great discussion/reviews/writing - I am considering finishing Yellowface even though I dislike it just to discuss with others! I heard Saltburn was entertaining but shallow & lacking in any real message or themes, which is a big fat bummer because I wanted to also discuss this along with TTMR and Brideshead Revisited, but maybe it being bad will once again make a better review!! Lets just read everything that is bad and write about it lol Yay for kittens :)
Def watch Saltburn, I’m interested to hear your take on it! I love all your reviews...good, bad, they’re always wonderfully entertaining. It’s so fun experiencing art through the eyes of others. 💞
You are brave to name the books you hate. I just can't do that, even though every year I have one or two books that I HAAAAAAAATE that the rest of the world loves. (Hint: one of the books you liked was one of my most-hated a couple of years ago!) I am finishing an even more irritating award-nominated book right now. I can't stop reading because it's very short and I'm curious what the heck will happen since not much has happened yet. For the first 50 or so pages I also enjoyed locating the strained metaphors and questionable POV choices and laughably bad language on every page. But unlike you, I don't feel comfortable naming the book! As for book club, they've helped me read great books I wouldn't have read this year (Birnam Wood and The Golden Notebook) but just as often they pick weak books and I feel comfortable dropping those early--usually 1/4 or 1/2 the way through. They're not bad ENOUGH to make me curious to get to the last page.
ok wait I NEED TO KNOW what book I liked that you didn't!! I would never be offended, but I understand not wanting to put the bad juju out there. I think the approach is to just not be super mean about it. I usually have constructive things to say about the books I hate, and recognize who might actually like it (which is fine, I dislike most of TSwifts music and I know I am the weird one). Fourth Wing is objectively a very bad book (poorly written, confusing, so many tropes) but it was one I couldn't stop reading regardless. Most bad reviews are fully justified and thats ok that everyone still loved it.
Love your categories and the range. Taste is not only what you like, but what you would "burn for warmth." My reading red flag is also book club picks. Group taste dictating not only my read but also the deadline? Only if I need a new flyswatter!
Oh my - I’m taking a break right now between cleaning tasks (managing my spoons - your new fave phrase 🥄) and I just enjoyed the HECK out of this post. You just continue to bring it, every week.
The quote about not knowing which books you’d burn was excellent. I restacked it.
I LOVE these book categories. These characterizations make tremendous sense to me.
Little Jodi Picoult story: so I worked at a large non-profit that had a shit ton of white people on the executive staff (including yours truly) and a lot of POC in the lower level jobs. I didn’t really know this when I started there. I helped co-lead the agency’s Undoing Racism committee with a Black woman, and one of the things we implemented were agency-wide “lunch and learns” around different anti-racism topics (this was a 900 person agency, so not easy to pull off these lunches). Anyway, once I became known as one of the co-chairs, an older white woman approaches me to tell me I should read that one Jodi Picoult book where one of the characters she writes is a Black woman. She even loans me the book. I got like ten pages in and could not go any further. It was one for the burn pile. I handed it back to her and told her the dialogue for the Black woman was entirely inauthentic and with thousands of books out there about a Black woman written *by* a Black woman, I could not justify spending my time on it. She clutched her pearls and said I didn’t give enough of a chance and that she really enjoyed it. This really drives home your book-burning and recommendation point, so this example is a two-fer!
Book clubs (I may have told you this already): I was only ever in one, and it was at the sane job referenced above. I quickly figured out a hack to the problem you mentioned with book clubs, as a loud-mouthed influencer of sorts. When it came time to book a new book, I would talk excitedly about a book I was already reading as if I hadn’t started reading it yet 🤭🤭. This worked 4-5 times over the two years. I highly recommend this. Dishonest? Maybe. But harmlessly so, really.
Rick Rubin: have you seen the Beastie Boys documentary (I think it’s on Apple)? It seems that RR really treated them badly or fucked them over somehow when they were just getting started (after Licensed to Ill). So I have a bad taste in my mouth about him, even though Andrew Huberman is my hall pass 😂 and I believe anything that comes out of his mouth.
Daniel Levy: I watched Good Grief last night on Netflix, the new movie he’s written/directed/stars in. I really liked it. Nice to see his dramatic chops vs. comedy. Schitt’s Creek is one of the best sitcoms of all time, IMO.
Rizzie the no-nonsense train conductor! Great caption 😅
Thank you for the restack!! I've been having issues clicking through to restacks and its making me feel old and technologically challenged.
I am not suprised by the Picoult story at all sadly, its all very The Help to me. Cringe and tone deaf. That is a genuis way to get a book club to pick something good! This last round there were three amazing books and they picked some random non-fiction that I could not stay awake for. We vote on What's App but I could still make my pitch...
Ah Rick Rubin. Honestly I am not surprised once again. It seems anyone in power got there by literally stepping on others. Is everyone just a pile of poop??? Huberman as your hall pass lol I can appreciate that
I am afraid to watch Good Grief, I have been afraid to watch super emotional things after losing the cat, which seems a bit melodramatic but there has been a lot of emotion in this house the last few months lol.
Good Grief didn’t make me emotional. I was worried it would too, because my long haul nervous system is so fragile and I’m supposed to be watching comedies and other light-hearted fare. I’d say it was well done but not tear-jerker material. And, as an avid pet lover who has had a number of tragic losses in that department, I can totally appreciate wanting to avoid grief at times. Hugs, my friend.
I completely agree - context on book recommendations is CRUCIAL! I love what you’ve done in this post this is so fun?? I also don’t understand people who say they can’t say they hate a book? What on earth? Hater through and through x it’s good for the soul to know what you hate haha. I also think it’s even more important for us when we have newsletters that our readers know what we don’t like so they can decide accordingly to follow along or not. It’s so subjective but that subjection is made by getting a full picture understanding of someone’s tastes!
I was also a little bit disappointed with tomorrow x 3 - I guess because it was SO raved about I had expectations that did not match the end result. I felt it was a really true example as why I don’t pay attention to the bestseller list and it is sometimes a load of shit 🫣 I often say the books on the bestseller are for people who don’t read very much, and by much I mean like 2-5 books a year (maybe that’s my reading red flag being a bestseller list hater haha) I’ve wanted to read Notes on an Execution for a while (not a burning desire just curious) but maybe I’ll reevaluate now bc I trust you so much!
Also. Watch Saltburn. I watched it last week - so weird, so funny! so bizzare - me and Patrick finished it not entirely sure what was going on but the vibes were great! And Rosmund pike was exceptional. Some people are beyond horrified by it but I don’t think it was THAT horrifying but I’d be interested to see what you think. Also such an impeccable soundtrack.
I listened to a very uppity podcast on Saltburn so I think it pre-ruined it a little for me. Hopefully I’ll still be able to enjoy it bc I heard it’s at the very least entertaining!! I really want to write about it.
And yes bestseller is SO distinct from best of! I’m ok with popular but sometimes it just doesn’t work for me. Tomorrow felt so bland tho so that really surprised me!
Booo the uppity podcast !!!! Wish u could rewind and not have listened to that (what podcast was it?!! I’m curious) it is very entertaining and I’d love for you to watch it and then write about it! I want to read your thoughts!!
Bestseller is always so off. Probs bc it’s just based on what people are buying. Who knows if anyone is actually reading them. Bestseller list is just a capitalist reading list. Yeh tomorrow started quite strong I thought and then fell off a lot by the middle & end.
How can you be a book lover if you’re not also a book hater hey !! 😉
Not getting The Secret History is such a red flag-- I agree!!! All the books I’ve truly despised over the past few years have been recommendations from friends 🙈 though some of my favorites have too.
I just finished North Woods last night... and wow, what a masterpiece. I wanted to start from the beginning and read it all the way through again (and I am not much of a rereader!).
“An impartial investigation of the last war, of what preceded it and what has come out of it, would show beyond a doubt that there is in the world a group of men with vast powers of control, that prefers to remain unknown, that does not seek office or any of the tokens of power, that belongs to no nation whatever but is international—a force that uses every government, every widespread business organization, every agency of publicity, every resource of national psychology, to throw the world into a panic for the sake of getting still more power over the world.” ― Henry Ford
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“For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence–on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific, and political operations.” ― John Fitzgerald Kennedy
I love the categories and descriptions, Natalie! And the red flags 😂. I love seeing which books people didn't love, it definitely gives a glimpse into their reading taste (we underestimate this as a way to understand what people like to read, I think).
The Creative Act was one of my fav non-fic reads last year, I hope you continue to enjoy it!
I love your categories in this post. The descriptions made me laugh! My red flag is that I listened to way too many romances on audio in 2023 that I won't remember but still probably gave 4 stars. Oops. I also couldn't get into Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.
Thats why I had to make that special category of mostly audiobook memoirs that I loved even though they are totally forgettable lol. Glad someone agrees with me on Tomorrow x3! :)
I can't tell you how much I love this! We need more book talk about what we hated/didn't work for us imo. Your red flag of "didn't get" The Secret History is shared by me! Made me laugh.
Also, would be curious how Tomorrowx3 let you down? I've been resistant to trying it despite persuasion by others...
As for Tomorrow x3: The characters felt flat, like cardboard cutouts of what real people would think or do. I felt like I was actually watching a video game of characters moving about life. I reviewed this in my very first (!) newsletter which wasn't very good but I did say this: "As one NYT book review by Tom Bissell noted, it "traffic[s] in what could be called whimsicruelty - a smiling, bright-eyed march into pitch-black narrative material”. If you've read A Little Life, this is on the opposite end of the spectrum of trauma as art. If A Little Life is trauma p*rn, then Tomorrow x3 is trauma church - reserved and dry."
Thank you so much for this! Have to go back and read your first newsletter. I have a strong feeling this one won't be for me either and this helps confirm!
Heinrich Himmler on How Bolshevik Christianity Spreads Homosexuality and Hatred of Women . . .
❝150 years ago someone at a Catholic university wrote a doctoral thesis with the title: “Does a woman have a soul?” From this the whole tendency of Christianity emerges: it is directed at the absolute destruction of women and at emphasizing the inferiority of women. The entire substance of the priesthood and of the whole of Christianity is, I am firmly convinced, an erotic union of men (Männerbund) for the erection and maintenance of this 2,000-year old Bolshevism.❞
I also loved Demon Copperhead but oh it made me cry so hard I’ve been trying to forget about it, but such a beautiful book. I need to get my hands on Jonathan Strange & Dr. Norell I’ve heard nothing but good things!
Also, I think the world needs more Riley Sager slander 🫢 but you didn’t hear it from me!!
Riley Sager slander lol poor guy. Jonathan Strange is SO WEIRD so be prepared and like I said before, give yourself at least 50 pages before you give up. Demon made me cry for sure!
Lots O Books. Unlike you I am committed to the ebook delivery system except for emergencies. I haven’t pawed through all of your previous contributions, but if you haven’t yet you might share the whens and hows of moving your bound books to new homes, libraries, or wherever out of your place. I mean, yikes. If that’s just one year worth of living space volume suck....
I would be more committed to e-books IF I didn't also use my books as props for bookstagram and as art for the house 😁. 13 of these on the list I listened to or read e-book. I already have run out of room so I have tubs in the garage, and I sell the ones I hated on Pango or to my local used book store. Thank you for thinking up my content for me! I love it
Fourth Wing is a definite stay the night book. Was it good slash written well? No. Do I care? No. Will I read all of the sequels and enjoy them? Yes. A gal needs her brain candy.
Yes! I think it’s extremely important to know which books reviewers disliked. It allows me to measure my trust in their recommendations. I started Tomorrow x3 and did not finish. I just couldn’t get into it. There is a certain cadence to writing that really attracts me. Some authors always have it. Others, I can never get into. I don’t think it’s a slight against the author at all, different strokes.
I’m actually reading The Secret History right now. I love it so far. I loved The Goldfinch as well.
I’m extremely particular about books and if it doesn’t have my attention in a chokehold, I move on. If I reviewed books I would probably allow more room for some ennui.
I’ve had other artist friends mention the Rick Rubin book and I’ll probably read that soon.
I watched Saltburn. It was meh. Grossly gratuitous in some parts. Basically a ripoff of The Talented Mr. Ripley. The most memorable character in the entire movie was Saltburn itself. Some of the cinematography was beautiful but I would have been more entertained had I just re-watched TTMR.
My reading red flags for recommendations are if you haven’t read any classics and recommend authors who write like they didn’t make it past 6th grade.
(Which is not a slight on the author, some people want/need easy to unwind.) I need great vocab and beautiful cadence for me to be invested.
As always YAY FOR KITTENS!!!
Absolutely about the cadence to the writing, and different styles - it would be boring if we all liked the same things! Usually I can understand why people might still like a book I didn't and try to communicate that in a full review. I try to finish most of the books I start if they have any merit since it makes for great discussion/reviews/writing - I am considering finishing Yellowface even though I dislike it just to discuss with others! I heard Saltburn was entertaining but shallow & lacking in any real message or themes, which is a big fat bummer because I wanted to also discuss this along with TTMR and Brideshead Revisited, but maybe it being bad will once again make a better review!! Lets just read everything that is bad and write about it lol Yay for kittens :)
Def watch Saltburn, I’m interested to hear your take on it! I love all your reviews...good, bad, they’re always wonderfully entertaining. It’s so fun experiencing art through the eyes of others. 💞
Thank you so very much ☺️
You are brave to name the books you hate. I just can't do that, even though every year I have one or two books that I HAAAAAAAATE that the rest of the world loves. (Hint: one of the books you liked was one of my most-hated a couple of years ago!) I am finishing an even more irritating award-nominated book right now. I can't stop reading because it's very short and I'm curious what the heck will happen since not much has happened yet. For the first 50 or so pages I also enjoyed locating the strained metaphors and questionable POV choices and laughably bad language on every page. But unlike you, I don't feel comfortable naming the book! As for book club, they've helped me read great books I wouldn't have read this year (Birnam Wood and The Golden Notebook) but just as often they pick weak books and I feel comfortable dropping those early--usually 1/4 or 1/2 the way through. They're not bad ENOUGH to make me curious to get to the last page.
ok wait I NEED TO KNOW what book I liked that you didn't!! I would never be offended, but I understand not wanting to put the bad juju out there. I think the approach is to just not be super mean about it. I usually have constructive things to say about the books I hate, and recognize who might actually like it (which is fine, I dislike most of TSwifts music and I know I am the weird one). Fourth Wing is objectively a very bad book (poorly written, confusing, so many tropes) but it was one I couldn't stop reading regardless. Most bad reviews are fully justified and thats ok that everyone still loved it.
Love your categories and the range. Taste is not only what you like, but what you would "burn for warmth." My reading red flag is also book club picks. Group taste dictating not only my read but also the deadline? Only if I need a new flyswatter!
This is hilarious lol so true!! Thank you so much 😊
Oh my - I’m taking a break right now between cleaning tasks (managing my spoons - your new fave phrase 🥄) and I just enjoyed the HECK out of this post. You just continue to bring it, every week.
The quote about not knowing which books you’d burn was excellent. I restacked it.
I LOVE these book categories. These characterizations make tremendous sense to me.
Little Jodi Picoult story: so I worked at a large non-profit that had a shit ton of white people on the executive staff (including yours truly) and a lot of POC in the lower level jobs. I didn’t really know this when I started there. I helped co-lead the agency’s Undoing Racism committee with a Black woman, and one of the things we implemented were agency-wide “lunch and learns” around different anti-racism topics (this was a 900 person agency, so not easy to pull off these lunches). Anyway, once I became known as one of the co-chairs, an older white woman approaches me to tell me I should read that one Jodi Picoult book where one of the characters she writes is a Black woman. She even loans me the book. I got like ten pages in and could not go any further. It was one for the burn pile. I handed it back to her and told her the dialogue for the Black woman was entirely inauthentic and with thousands of books out there about a Black woman written *by* a Black woman, I could not justify spending my time on it. She clutched her pearls and said I didn’t give enough of a chance and that she really enjoyed it. This really drives home your book-burning and recommendation point, so this example is a two-fer!
Book clubs (I may have told you this already): I was only ever in one, and it was at the sane job referenced above. I quickly figured out a hack to the problem you mentioned with book clubs, as a loud-mouthed influencer of sorts. When it came time to book a new book, I would talk excitedly about a book I was already reading as if I hadn’t started reading it yet 🤭🤭. This worked 4-5 times over the two years. I highly recommend this. Dishonest? Maybe. But harmlessly so, really.
Rick Rubin: have you seen the Beastie Boys documentary (I think it’s on Apple)? It seems that RR really treated them badly or fucked them over somehow when they were just getting started (after Licensed to Ill). So I have a bad taste in my mouth about him, even though Andrew Huberman is my hall pass 😂 and I believe anything that comes out of his mouth.
Daniel Levy: I watched Good Grief last night on Netflix, the new movie he’s written/directed/stars in. I really liked it. Nice to see his dramatic chops vs. comedy. Schitt’s Creek is one of the best sitcoms of all time, IMO.
Rizzie the no-nonsense train conductor! Great caption 😅
Thank you for the restack!! I've been having issues clicking through to restacks and its making me feel old and technologically challenged.
I am not suprised by the Picoult story at all sadly, its all very The Help to me. Cringe and tone deaf. That is a genuis way to get a book club to pick something good! This last round there were three amazing books and they picked some random non-fiction that I could not stay awake for. We vote on What's App but I could still make my pitch...
Ah Rick Rubin. Honestly I am not surprised once again. It seems anyone in power got there by literally stepping on others. Is everyone just a pile of poop??? Huberman as your hall pass lol I can appreciate that
I am afraid to watch Good Grief, I have been afraid to watch super emotional things after losing the cat, which seems a bit melodramatic but there has been a lot of emotion in this house the last few months lol.
Rizzie says hi 😊
Good Grief didn’t make me emotional. I was worried it would too, because my long haul nervous system is so fragile and I’m supposed to be watching comedies and other light-hearted fare. I’d say it was well done but not tear-jerker material. And, as an avid pet lover who has had a number of tragic losses in that department, I can totally appreciate wanting to avoid grief at times. Hugs, my friend.
Oops, I just realized you weren’t the one who commented on the term ‘spoons’ - ignore me!
I just rolled with it in my head lol
I completely agree - context on book recommendations is CRUCIAL! I love what you’ve done in this post this is so fun?? I also don’t understand people who say they can’t say they hate a book? What on earth? Hater through and through x it’s good for the soul to know what you hate haha. I also think it’s even more important for us when we have newsletters that our readers know what we don’t like so they can decide accordingly to follow along or not. It’s so subjective but that subjection is made by getting a full picture understanding of someone’s tastes!
I was also a little bit disappointed with tomorrow x 3 - I guess because it was SO raved about I had expectations that did not match the end result. I felt it was a really true example as why I don’t pay attention to the bestseller list and it is sometimes a load of shit 🫣 I often say the books on the bestseller are for people who don’t read very much, and by much I mean like 2-5 books a year (maybe that’s my reading red flag being a bestseller list hater haha) I’ve wanted to read Notes on an Execution for a while (not a burning desire just curious) but maybe I’ll reevaluate now bc I trust you so much!
Also. Watch Saltburn. I watched it last week - so weird, so funny! so bizzare - me and Patrick finished it not entirely sure what was going on but the vibes were great! And Rosmund pike was exceptional. Some people are beyond horrified by it but I don’t think it was THAT horrifying but I’d be interested to see what you think. Also such an impeccable soundtrack.
I listened to a very uppity podcast on Saltburn so I think it pre-ruined it a little for me. Hopefully I’ll still be able to enjoy it bc I heard it’s at the very least entertaining!! I really want to write about it.
And yes bestseller is SO distinct from best of! I’m ok with popular but sometimes it just doesn’t work for me. Tomorrow felt so bland tho so that really surprised me!
Haters gotta hate!!!! 😂
Booo the uppity podcast !!!! Wish u could rewind and not have listened to that (what podcast was it?!! I’m curious) it is very entertaining and I’d love for you to watch it and then write about it! I want to read your thoughts!!
Bestseller is always so off. Probs bc it’s just based on what people are buying. Who knows if anyone is actually reading them. Bestseller list is just a capitalist reading list. Yeh tomorrow started quite strong I thought and then fell off a lot by the middle & end.
How can you be a book lover if you’re not also a book hater hey !! 😉
it was The Big Picture, a ringer podcast. I too wish I had listened after watching I don't know what I was thinking. https://www.theringer.com/2023/11/27/23978672/saltburn-iconic-or-disastrous-plus-alexander-payne
Not getting The Secret History is such a red flag-- I agree!!! All the books I’ve truly despised over the past few years have been recommendations from friends 🙈 though some of my favorites have too.
I just finished North Woods last night... and wow, what a masterpiece. I wanted to start from the beginning and read it all the way through again (and I am not much of a rereader!).
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“An impartial investigation of the last war, of what preceded it and what has come out of it, would show beyond a doubt that there is in the world a group of men with vast powers of control, that prefers to remain unknown, that does not seek office or any of the tokens of power, that belongs to no nation whatever but is international—a force that uses every government, every widespread business organization, every agency of publicity, every resource of national psychology, to throw the world into a panic for the sake of getting still more power over the world.” ― Henry Ford
-
“For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence–on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific, and political operations.” ― John Fitzgerald Kennedy
-
I love the categories and descriptions, Natalie! And the red flags 😂. I love seeing which books people didn't love, it definitely gives a glimpse into their reading taste (we underestimate this as a way to understand what people like to read, I think).
The Creative Act was one of my fav non-fic reads last year, I hope you continue to enjoy it!
Its our differing opinions that makes it all interesting, right? lol So far loving The Creative Act!
We can't afford healthcare for American children because we need to keep bombing everyone else's for the love of Jesus and Israel . . .
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/satanism-is-a-jewish-cult
I love your categories in this post. The descriptions made me laugh! My red flag is that I listened to way too many romances on audio in 2023 that I won't remember but still probably gave 4 stars. Oops. I also couldn't get into Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.
Thats why I had to make that special category of mostly audiobook memoirs that I loved even though they are totally forgettable lol. Glad someone agrees with me on Tomorrow x3! :)
I can't tell you how much I love this! We need more book talk about what we hated/didn't work for us imo. Your red flag of "didn't get" The Secret History is shared by me! Made me laugh.
Also, would be curious how Tomorrowx3 let you down? I've been resistant to trying it despite persuasion by others...
Thank you! We need to be brave don't we.
As for Tomorrow x3: The characters felt flat, like cardboard cutouts of what real people would think or do. I felt like I was actually watching a video game of characters moving about life. I reviewed this in my very first (!) newsletter which wasn't very good but I did say this: "As one NYT book review by Tom Bissell noted, it "traffic[s] in what could be called whimsicruelty - a smiling, bright-eyed march into pitch-black narrative material”. If you've read A Little Life, this is on the opposite end of the spectrum of trauma as art. If A Little Life is trauma p*rn, then Tomorrow x3 is trauma church - reserved and dry."
Thank you so much for this! Have to go back and read your first newsletter. I have a strong feeling this one won't be for me either and this helps confirm!
It wasn’t a very good first newsletter I basically just told you everything 🙃
Heinrich Himmler on How Bolshevik Christianity Spreads Homosexuality and Hatred of Women . . .
❝150 years ago someone at a Catholic university wrote a doctoral thesis with the title: “Does a woman have a soul?” From this the whole tendency of Christianity emerges: it is directed at the absolute destruction of women and at emphasizing the inferiority of women. The entire substance of the priesthood and of the whole of Christianity is, I am firmly convinced, an erotic union of men (Männerbund) for the erection and maintenance of this 2,000-year old Bolshevism.❞
https://cwspangle.substack.com/i/138320669/heinrich-himmler-on-how-bolshevik-christianity-spreads-homosexuality-and-hatred-of-women
I love how comprehensive this list is!
I also loved Demon Copperhead but oh it made me cry so hard I’ve been trying to forget about it, but such a beautiful book. I need to get my hands on Jonathan Strange & Dr. Norell I’ve heard nothing but good things!
Also, I think the world needs more Riley Sager slander 🫢 but you didn’t hear it from me!!
Riley Sager slander lol poor guy. Jonathan Strange is SO WEIRD so be prepared and like I said before, give yourself at least 50 pages before you give up. Demon made me cry for sure!
Lots O Books. Unlike you I am committed to the ebook delivery system except for emergencies. I haven’t pawed through all of your previous contributions, but if you haven’t yet you might share the whens and hows of moving your bound books to new homes, libraries, or wherever out of your place. I mean, yikes. If that’s just one year worth of living space volume suck....
I would be more committed to e-books IF I didn't also use my books as props for bookstagram and as art for the house 😁. 13 of these on the list I listened to or read e-book. I already have run out of room so I have tubs in the garage, and I sell the ones I hated on Pango or to my local used book store. Thank you for thinking up my content for me! I love it
Fourth Wing is a definite stay the night book. Was it good slash written well? No. Do I care? No. Will I read all of the sequels and enjoy them? Yes. A gal needs her brain candy.