Grab the Lapels

Sunday Lowdown #254

THIS WEEK IN REFLECTION

Mostly I have been reading articles for my Sociology of Religion class, and I’m trying to get ready for Christmas (wrapping presents, writing the yearly Christmas card letter, watching Christmas horror movies, etc.). But for now, I am being waylaid by a cold, the first illness I’ve had since before the pandemic started in 2020.

IT DIDN’T MAKE IT TO GRAB THE LAPELS

Because we all know the holidays are busy, I chose a novella for the monthly Huntsville Horror book club meeting. A Christmas Horror Story by Sebastian Gregory suffered from a lack of rules within its own universe and an abundance of telling instead of showing.

THIS WEEK’S BLOG POST

I hadn’t realized how many people either haven’t read L.M. Montgomery or have only read her novels, but it’s a lot of you. Although one book about getting characters At the Altar sounds boring, Montgomery does have a way of playing variations on a theme, much like the great orchestral composers do.

NEXT WEEK’S BLOG POST

She’s been on here a few times, but it is because I love her writing and characters so much. Jane Hamilton crafts some interesting folks in her novel Disobedience, in which a young man recounts the time during which he was seventeen and tracked his mother’s affair largely via AOL email. Review Wednesday.

BOOKS I BOUGHT

Books I paid for (that are not textbooks) since January 2023: totaling $68.04.

BOOKS ADDED TO THE TBR PILE

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Published by Grab the Lapels

I'm a graduate of the MFA fiction writing program at the University of Notre Dame, which inspired me to follow along with trends in teaching, publishing, and reviewing. I also have an MA and BS from Central Michigan University. I used to teach composition, creative writing, and literature in higher education, then did a brief stint at a civic theater, followed by two years at a references desk at a public library. I'm now working toward my ASL Interpreter license.

27 comments

  1. I’m sorry you have a cold! There’s a lot going around right now. Hope you feel better soon.

    I tried to listen to the audiobook of the Christian Cooper memoir and I didn’t finish it. I feel like I would maybe enjoy it more in print form. I’m just not a good audiobook listener! I don’t have the patience. And I love music and podcasts too much. But I did enjoy the bird song interludes! Those were cool.

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    • I’m hoping he touches on what happened to put him in the media spotlight and then immediately moves on to bird stuff. I used to HATE birds because I was so scared of them, and then the pandemic happened and I bought a book about birds that I saw on CBS Sunday Morning News, and I’ve been sold on their goofiness ever since.

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  2. Yeah, I’d assumed Montgomery wrote short fiction because she writes so extensively about it in the Emily novels, but I haven’t read any of her short stories.

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    • I think it’s interesting that a family is a unit, but then within the unit there are alliances and secrets, too. Alliances between parents, a mother and the children, between siblings, between some siblings but not all. And then there are the invisible lives that some pairs or small groups live, namely parents and then kids. So, I’m not sure I feel entirely gross about what Henry is doing . . . it’s his family, too, and his mother’s infidelity shakes the stability he is provided by having married parents.

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  4. I’m sorry you have a cold too. I hope it’s better now. I’m sorry I didn’t post on Montgomery when it came out. I was completely tied up with Christmas functions and writing our own Christmas card letter. And then, when this post was published, I was driving to Melbourne. We arrived yesterday lunchtime and now I have a relatively quiet week to relax, see family, and hopefully do some reading.

    I don’t think I have much more to add, but I think I’ve heard of Jane Hamilton before I will look for your post.

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    • I’m curious about Atomic Habits because if I’m told I need to make a big life change, I’m not awesome at sustaining that. What if I had a small goal, like drink a water?

      I’m feeling better today, and I’m grateful because we’re traveling soon.

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